GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2234, 3 February 1921, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

The death occurred at Wanganui last week of Mr D. G. Polfon,. one of the oldest and most highly-es-teemed residents of the district. Mr Poison was born in 1837 in the Highlands of Scotland, where his father was a farmer. In 1857, when Mr Poison’ was 20 years of age, he caiue out to Xew Zealand

and went to Dunedin. After working as a shepherd on one station, Mr Poison and another Highlander —a Mr John Sutherland —took over the Wailahuua run, and they were amongst the first breeders of half* bred sheep. At that time Mr Poison Owned-a piece of land which to,i;;y is almost in the centre of Dunedin. Forty-eight years ago Mr Poison went to Wanganui, and from that time he had been closely associated with the progress of that district.

The late Rev.- J. A. Luxford, C.M.G., whose death occurred at Auckland last Friday, was senior Methodist chaplain to the Xew Zealand Expeditionary Force, and one of the most esteemed and respected of “padres” (Hiring the war. The late Colonel Luxford, who was a son of t.Jic late Mr G. 11. Luxford, one of the early pioneers of: Wellington, was ordained to the ministry in 1870. He served as a chaplain with the Xew Zealanders in the South African War in 1902, and was awarded the Queen's Medal with clasp. When the Main Body nf the Expeditionary Force left for Egypt, the, deceased accompanied it,find he went subsequently to Gallipoli, where he was badly wounded, and,'as a result, had to have one of his legs amputated. After this the deceased remained at the Wnlton-on-Thames Hospital, first as patient, and then as chaplain, and his cl-eery greeting and warm handshake will he remembered b.v ail the men who passed through that institution.

The other day the Wuirarnpa Staudard management sent out a hoary account—contracted in' Hie year of our Lord 1915 —for the sum of 3s fid, to a settler who lives not a hundred miles from a .neighbouring district of Greytown —it was about the tenth time, of rendering. Xaturniiv the account form bore on it an intimation that “patience as a virtue” was completely exhausted, and the pains and penalties of the S.M. Court were foreshadowed if the settlor in question failed to toe the mark with the necessary spondulix. This the settler did, after deducting 1 (he cost of postage of reply, the eost-of the postal note enclosed, arid the sum of ninepenee for his time in going to the post office to obtain tlie postal note and posting the much Delated missive. For cool impudcncti, says the Standard, we award the settler in question the cake, and we intend*presenting him with a summons for the several deductions.

‘A peculiar case is reported in the North Auckland Times, Dargavilla. Mr Louis Ringrosc was riding a horse through ihe bush at Toka Toka,'looking for a young calf. As lie was passing some small trees he put In’s hand against one and pushed it out of his way. As lie did so n swarm of bees that had settled on top of this tree fell on the horse's hack just behind the saddle. The rider immediately jumped off the animal am! let it go, The mare gal-

loped away until it was free of the bees. Tiic animal was then taken

h >me, and sever: 1 treatments were tiled, but it got worse during the afternoon. About 3 o’clock il started to breathe very fast, and frothed at the mouth. It made a dash f<w the dweliing-house, and the occupants had some difficulty in closing f';*o dbor. 'The horse then turned round and broke down two reran - lab posts. It then reared up and spiang forward.- In doing so it uprotted two plum trees, then renal' over and over and died. It was badly stung on . the small of llie hack. The mare was valued at £2B. According to the Westport News, the town (if Westport is destined to become Ihe great manufacturing ctlitre of New Zealand. It states: “An effort to limit, another steel manufactory concern in- New Zealand is doomed to failure because the locution of IDo factory is jo be in the vicinity of: the iron ore in-

stead of.in the coal producing district. That it is cheaper to carry the iron ore is proved both in the Old Country and in Australia, where failure after failure occurred through trying to reverse the order of things. One of these days the promoters of such schemes will realise that the site of the factory must hr Westport, which is richly endowed with the coal required for steam raising and cooking purposes. Vessels bringing the ore to iiie coal mining district arc able to get back freights in the manufactured article. and in coal, an advantage that does not accrue when ihe coal is carried to. the site of the iron ore. Newcastle, New South Wales, is becoming the great manufacturing centre in Australia, and Westport must become likewise in Xew Zealand.”