GENERAL NEWS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8739, 13 February 1907, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

The “toll"'telephone system came | into operation in Melbourne on Fehru- | ary Ist. Subscribers who adopt this | system will be allowed 2000 calls per | annum for the annual rate payable in | the centre. For all additional calls a | harge of Id each will bo made. | A fter 20 years hard fighting Sir C. | )E. Howard "Vincent, M.P, has man- | ( aged to persuade the Imperial Parlia- 6 ment to pass a Public Trust Act, on | the lines of the New Zealand legislation. . Endeavour Inlet will b« thosccne ot considerable energy and activity in the immediate future, all arrangement* having been completed for working the antimony mines in the locality (says the Marlborough Herald). Workmen are arriving in Picton every

week en route for the Inlet, and inquiries arc continually being made for j houses in Picton, in order that they may bring their families to the closest towns. “ Whether we want the dairy school or not is open to question. In my opinion we don’t want a dairy school, but an experimental station.” Thl* is , the opinion expressed; by Mr D. L. Nathan at the meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. He went on to say that ho would not like to see the station tied on to the Levin State Farm, because there was some fear that the farm would not pay, and that 1 might be attributed to the experimental station. The Rev. J. L. Pattullo has resigned his position as minister of the Wailu Presbyterian Church. Mr Pattullo states that he has done so because the committee ha* passed a resolution against his action of being a member of the Waihi Golf Club, for dealing in mining scrip, and for being a member of the Waihi Hospital Trust. There will probably be a meeting of the congregation shortly to consider the matter. Mr Pattullo is one of the most popular ministers in the Waihi district.

Circumstantial reports' of Mr^ Chamberlain in extremis continue, writes Mr Lucy in the Sydney Morning Herald, to he followed by contradictions issued on the authority of the family affirming that he is mating steady progres to. wards conva asesnee. These last arc welcomed by the public of all shades of political opinion. Whilst we may heartily join in hoping for the best, there is no doubt that, should the champion of 10 th century Protection return to the field of active politics, h bantling is dead. Never since the withdrawal of Mr Gladstone from the scone of the rejection of his second Home Hide Bill has there been such a collapse of a political crusade._ As Becky Sharp remarked, it is easy to bo virtuous on £SOO a year. - We quote from memory and the sum may not be quite accurate, How much easier is it to bo virtuous assets are somewhere m the neighbourhood of £100,000,000 ! Two days before Christmas Mr John 1). Kockfeller delivered a beautiful little sermon on the curse of riches and the national sin of extravagance. The American people, he declared, had acquired spendthrift habits, which were rushing them to disaster. Life was one long race for pre-eminence in dissipating fortunes and unless the nation came to its senses there would bo a terrible crash. — Press.

Interviewers put some quaint questions to the llev. Dr. Grattan Guinness, of missionary fame, who is now in Wellington, while he was passing through the United States (states the Post). With a persistency that could not be discouraged, they pursued him and caught him. They asked him whether he had been the hero of any ozejiing adventures. “ Were you ever shipwrecked ? Were you ever chased by lions in Africa f” are samples of myriad of strange questions, “ But I like the Americans,” confessed Dr, Guinness. They are frank and open, hearted. They make friends with you in two minutes.” A correspondent write* to the Christchurch Press —The cable message reporting tho recovery, near Cape Shanck, of a bottle which had been thrown from the Antarctic ship Discovery in December, 1903, is interesting, but, unless the date is incorrectly stated, must be another one of those bottle “ jokes ” which some foolish persons are frequently playing. In December, 1903, the Discovery was fast frozen in tho ice, separated some SO or 40 miles by an unbroken sheet of ice from the open sea. Tho thrower must have had a long arm.