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Opunake Times, Volume II, Issue 98, 11 June 1895, Page 2

Owing to pressure on our space this issue our Kaponga and Rahotu correspondents’ notes and letters to the editor are unavoidably held over. Tenders arc called for gravelling on the Eltham Eoad which are returnable by Saturday next. We give a reminder of the concert and social, which is to take place in the Awatuna Town Hall on next Friday evening. A meeting of subscribers to the Newman Memorial Fund will be held on Saturday evening to decide on the form the memorial shall lake.

The Dear Meat Company has declared a ten per cent dividend. Mr Kappley has the bricks on the ground* and is just about starting to erect a baker’s oven at Awatuna. This will be a great convenience to the people of that rising township when completed.

A public meeting is to be held in the Opuoake Town H,all on Friday evening next to consider whether a rating area shall be formed for hath nr purposes. A meeting for the same purpose will be held at Pungarehu on Saturday, at 10 a.m. At the Dunedin Show the Opunake factory cheese secured third honors. The first prize was carried off with 9? points, the second prize was taken with 96J points, and the Opunake Factory came third with 96 and was highly commended. Mr Dempster, the local manager has every reason to be highly proud of this result in such a big show and against such a number of competitors. The Awatuna Hall Co, finding themselves out of debt and with a credit balance, have decided on enlarging their neat little hall by adding another twelve feet to it, which will then make the main building 4i feet by 25. In addition to this they intend erecting two rooms at the back as dressing rooms, or other purposes for which they may be required. They have done_ remarkably well to have made such progress in so short a time.

A Chamber of Commerce has been es* tablished at Hawera. The following are the officers: —Chairman, Mr B. C. Bobbins; deputy-chairman, Mr N. Newcombo; hon secretary and treasurer, Mr F. J, Wrigley ; committee, Messrs Suttou, A. Paterson, A. H. Parkinson, Fake, Henderson, J. E. Wilson and Brunette. The rules are based on those of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

A sad and sudden death occurred at Wanganui on Friday evening, when Mr Garland W. R. Woon, a very old resident, fell into the river, owing to failure of the heart. Mr Woon was 16 years clerk of the B.M. and District Courts there. He was retrenched in 1892. His eldest son was the late Bev William Woon, Wesleyan Methodist Missionary to the New Zealand and Friendly Islands. Deceased was founder of the first newspaper in New Plymouth.

During the hearing of a charge of theft at the Supreme Court, Wellington, the Chief Justice said that any police officer who went to a person against whom an information was laid for the purpose of extracting information to be used in evidence against such person, deserved to be dismissed from the service. The officer had no right whatever to put questions to a person against whom he knew a criminal prosecution was likely to be instituted.—N.Z. Times.

The response made (says the N.Z. Times) by local bodies to the circulars issued by the Land Department requesting information and an expression of opinion with reference to a Fair Bent Bill has been rather meagre. In most cases the local bodies say they are not in possession of the data to enable them to fill up the schedule for detailed information as to leases, rents and so forth. Opinions appear to be very much divided as to the necessity for a Fair Rent Bill, but a good many seem to think it is desirable, particularly in the case of Crown lands. The replies are now being classified and summarised.

We (Evening Post) are sincerely sorry to learn that the illness from which the Hon John McKenzie, Minister for Lands, is suffering is of a very serious character, necessitating complete : eat and abstention from business. Much as we differ from Mr McKenzie on political and other subjects, he is an opponent worthy of respect, and possessed of many personal qualities which command admiration. His retirement irom public life would bu a loss to the colony, and it would be especially regrettable if caused by failing health. We hope soon to hear that Mr McKenzie has regained his wonted health and strength, so as to enable him to occupy his usual post when Parliament meets.

At the Goulburn (N.S.W.) Police Court, George Eugene Kothe was committed for trial on a charge of attempting to murder his mate, John Gottwald, on the Sydney road. Gottwald gave an extraordinary account of the affair. • He said he was asleep by his camp fire, when he was awakened by a heavy blow on the head. On jumping up he was attacked by Kothe, one of his fingers being smashed in defending his head. The blows were aimed with a heavy iron bar, but Gottwald seized the bar in the middle with his uninjured hand, and Kothe, holding each end, tried to wrest it away. Gottwald says he was dragged by Kothe in that fashion for four miles, until his cries for help brought assistance.

Mr Hutchison, S.M., in March last, fined W. D. Day, Greytown North, for keeping his shop open on Saturday, the day appointed by the Borough Council for half-holiday, and this decision was appealed against. Mr Skerrett, who appeared in support of the appeal, submitted that “January next,” where used in section 9 of the Shop and Shop Assistants Act, must be held to mean January, 1896, and also urged that the Borough Council meeting, at which the special resolution was passed, was improperly called. Mr Chapman, for respondent, argued that the Statute must be taken to speak from the date of royal assent. Mr Justice Richmond remarked that at present he did not think there was much in the contention that January next meant January, 1896. Judg. ment was reserved. •

Referring to the now Government £5 notes, the N.Z. Times says :—“ These notes will be received by all Government departments in payment of fees due or for tho lodgment of deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank. They will be cashed on demand at any money order office in the colony. They will be issued at a poundage fee of sixpence for each note, and for the transmission of money they have several advantages over money orders. In the first place, no letter of advice from the office is needed to ensure payment; secondly, their currency is unlimited as to time, and consequently they may be cashed as soon or as long after delivery as the holder may determine. It is intended that both the £1 and the £5 postal notes may, if desired, be made payable only on order or to the endorsee, so as to guard against miscarriage in transmission and delivery. The primary object, of course, is to furnish a convenient form of remittance, but it is hoped that the effect of making the time of payment unlimited may be that the public will come in time to treat them as current notes. At any rate New Zealand now enjoys the distinction of being the first country in the British dominions, and if we mistake not in tho world, to introduce this notable innovation. In evidence of the extensive use now made of the £1 postal notes, it may be mentioned that 9000 were issued during the first, quarter of the present year.

Mias Sergeant, of Nelson, committed suicide on last Tuesday by throwing herself in the sea. The Sydney Morning Herald says With the details of the New Zealand loan before us, the first issue of the 3 per cent Australasian stock must be pronounced a success. It is reported that a paper mill is to be erected on the West Coast, and it is probable that Shannon will be the site. The cost of building . and machinery is estimated at £50,000. J. Si. leaser, a farmer, at Balfour, and living alone, oat bis throat last Tuesday, and was found -dead seated in a chair. Fraser, who had been in easy circumstances, had been queer in his demeanor for some time. The Financial Times (London) states that the Midland Bailway Board has been advised that the seizure of the line by the Government is illegal, and is likely to injure the company’s credit. A boat laden with nitro-glycerine exploded on the Ohio River, at Parkesburg, West Virginia. The crew, numbering 20, were all killed, ard two girls on shore injured. Over 100 steamers were more or less shattered, and houses for a mile round were wrecked.

The possibilities of modern asceptic surgery seem well-nigh boundless. It stops at nothing, even daring to remove the greater part of important organs whose preservation intact has generally been regarded as necessary to life. Thus, large portions of organs like the brain, liver and lungs, and the entire kidney and spleen have been removed. A recent case in which nearly the whole stomach was removed, to get rid of a malignant growth, is reported in the Medical News (Philadelphia):— l4 The newly formed stomach had a capacity corresponding to the volume of a hen’s egg. . . After the third day the patient was able to take meat, and when dismissed, after a lapse of . several weeks, she had regained twenty-two pounds in weight, although in the interim she had been attacked with pneumonia.”