NEWS ITEMS.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 55, 21 February 1902, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

While the Premier was on tour through the West Coast districts he received two telegrams typical of the personal appeals that are now-a-days made to Ministers. One of the messages read as follows : “ Registrar’s office closed for last two days, cannot get married, you are only man who can put it right. Do so.” Mr.Seddon did so. ' The second telegram said : “ My brother Bill enlisted Ninth Contingent; stop him.”

The Tasmanian Mail estimates that approximately 230,000 cases of Tasmanian apples will be shipped from Ho(bart for the English market during the next three months.

An East Coast correspondent of the Poverty Bay Herald, reports that two digesters are Ijeing erected at Waipiro station, where, in view of the low price of mutton, it is intended to go in extensively for boiling down. At present (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph) the range of prices for beef cattle is about as under :—Melbourne, £8 10s: Adelaide, £8 ; Sydney, £7 ; Brisbane, £6 10s ; Townsville, £5 10s; Buenos Ayres, £4 10s. A Liverpool paper mentions that Mr Thomas Fleming, chief purser of the Umbria, who is retiring from the sea, has crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic coatinu ously. for 46 years. Tie has travelled 2,670,000 miles, beating Captain Horatio M’Kay’s record of miles of ocean travel.

"Writing of the lambing in the Argentine a correspondent spates that twins have been of extraordinary frequency, so much so that one estaneiero in Cordoba solemnly asserted in the Buenos Ayres Standard the other day that he had secured an increase of 120 percent., and that a.neighbor had 150 per cent. This is hard to beat, but the happy man must have referredto small stud flocks carefully tended. Be that as it may, 70 and 80 percent, may be accepted as the increase in many stancias, reckoning on the basis of flocks of mated ewes.

The Victorian Education Department is bringing forward a scheme for a superannuation fund for State school teachers. It is intended to apply compulsorily to all teachers appointed to classified positions. It has been found that the compulsory insurance regulations at present in force are inadequate, as the policies taken out during recent years have been for very smal amounts. The new scheme provides annuities for officers who are incapacitated by infirmity, or who, in the case of men, reach 65 years ; or of women, who reach 55 years of age ; annuities for the widows and childien of such officers, and if a subscriber, being a married man, die during the first five years of membership, his widow or children are entitled to two-thirds .of the amount paid in premiums. Subscriptions will be : —Males, £l6, LI 2, LB, and L 4 per annum ; and females, LI 2, L9‘ L 6, and L 3 per annum, according as full, three-quarter, half, or quarter benefits are desired. The scheme is based on that adopted in South Australia 12 years ago, which is actuarially solvent. Mr H. Stewart, Tamworth . Farm, New Brighton, has this month sent 4500 head of poultry to the Christchurch Export Depot for shipment to South Africa. Owing to the lapse of the direct service, shipment will have to be made via Australia,

An important step has been taken by the Gisborne School Committee in throwing open the secondary classes free of charge to all children who have passed the: Sixth Standard. During the Christmas season in England, Canadian turkeys were fetching from 6d to 7|d per lb in the London markets.

In connection with the irregular running of the Sounds and Golden Bay S.S. Co’s steamers,. Messrs Daei;y and Co., agents, have forwarded an explanatory circular. In it they state that the Te Kapu was delayed on the West Coast by bad weather for about three weeks, which completely disorganised the arrangements made. With reference to the Manaroa the agents state : —“ Arrangements were made last year for the removal of sheep from the Sounds, and the steamer after meeting with adverse weather on her GoldenBay trip, arrived in Wellington several days late. She immediately commenced to move the sheep, but prior to leaving here we were daily expecting Tekapu, rnd cargo for her had been down. Unfortunately the 1 lack of telegraphic communication with West Wanganui prevented us from finding out the position of the boat unf til too late to recall the s.s. Manaroa. The unfortunate * circumstances were absolutely beyond the control of the company ; at the same time, as previously indicated, we think that it is due to the Various shippers by the “TeKapu” and “Manaroa” that they should be male acquainted with the circumstances under which the delay has ‘taken place. The utmost was done to charter another steamer, but unfortunately none were available, as the owners of mail steamers were similarly situated. Out of a considerable number of applicants, Mr Cooper, M.A , of the. staff of the Christchurch High School, lias been appointed t > the position of assistant master at the Marlb >rough High School. “Spray Grove’’ writes to the Christchurch Press from Waikari :—Having heard a good deal about the Waverley - oats, I have taken particular notice of an acre that belongs to a neighbour of mine. He sowed rather late in the autumn, and the crop suffered 1 adly with the bii ds, but it has stooled out wonderfully. On one root I counted 52 stalks, with an average of 38 grains to a stalk, which is close on 2000 grains from the one root. The Melbourne Age understands that three jam factories—one in Melbourne, the second in Sydney, and the third in Hobart —-are to be c nibined. His Majesty's ship Good Bore, the first-class armoured cruiser which the Cape Government has presented to the British Navy, arrived at Port mouth recently in charge of a navigating party. The Good Hope is 500 feet in length, has a tonnage of 14,100 tons, and speed of 23 knots. She will carry some 35 guns of various kinds. The - vessel has been built ou the Clyde. On Friday week the Meat Freezing Works at Picton put up the Marlborough slaughtering record by disposing of 741 sheep and lambs, and are at present dealing with a daily average of over 600. As an example of the class of stock that can be produced in the Petorus Sound, the Works have just dealt with 870 half-bred lambs, prime freezers, drafted out of a mob of 1100 from Mr Toswill’s, Maud Island, property.^ The hat was* passed round in a cer-

tain congregation for the purpose of a collection. After it had circuit of the church, it was to the minister, who had exchanged pulpits with the regular ameacher, and he found not a single penny in it. He inverted the hat over the pulpit cushion and shook it, that its emptiness might be known ; then looking towards the ceiling, he exclaimed with great fervour, “I thank God that I got back my hat from this congregation.” TO THE CITIZENS OF MOTUEKA. We have just opened a parcel of Spectacles. A fist class pair for ss. No fancy price charged: Y >ur eyes tested free of charge.—BßOWN cS* KERR .