LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2109, 2 June 1898, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Col Pole-Penton will visit Auckland this week. . ’ ■ v ■ , ;

Mr Humphries, solicitor; of Tauranga, is dead.. ; T-v'v

At the annual Licensing Bench which sat at Paeroa yeßterday every application was granted. • „ " Father Ginaty, . whose name is so well known in connection with recent revivalist meetings in the Upper Thames Goldfields, is at present staying in Te Aroha at O’Meagher’s Family Hotel.

Seven new volunteer corps h ave bee a formed in Wellington recently and an eighth is projected. A rumor was In circulation yesterday to the effect that Mr Bossons had discovered that it is a seam of coal (lignite) that has been burning underground on his property across the river. Whether the find has any commercial value or not remains, to be seen.

The following extraordinary incident that would do credit to the imaginative Yankee journalist, is reported inTues day’s ‘ Fielding Star': A man was blasting a stump in a suburban section, which he desired to cut into firewood, and after setting he. went to a safe distance from the stump. Iu due course the charge exploded and threw a piece of the stump, about ( the size of a man’s head, for a distance of two and a half chaius, over a fence. It struck a heifer on the forehead, killing her instantaneously.

A Gazette notice dealing with the approaching municipal elections appears elsewhere in this issue.

Quite a number of cases of influenza are reported in Te Aroha. Native rats have been seen in Pelerus Sound. Old settlers say these are the. ads vance guard of a great army which is to follow. .

It is proposed to add a portrait or bust of Mr Gladstone to the Art Gallery eollec* tiom.

The ' following may interest those who possess small telescopes. At five in the evening of June sth Encke’a comet may be sought in the constellation of Gemni, near the star Gamma. Its altitude will _he about 18- degrees, and its magnetic bearing W,N,W. It will then travel slowly along the borcfer of the Milky Way in Moneceros On the 19th, at the same hour, its altitude will be 22 degrees, bearing W. by N., and its place a little to the left of Procyon.

We understand that the members of the To Aroha Literary Society are shortly to give an entertainment in aid of the funds of this deserving institution at the Public Hall, particulars of which will appear in our next issue, From what we gather the performance in question is to be of a mis - cellaneous character;, the first part con* sisting' of vocal and: instrumental music, while m the second part will, be presented a farcical comedy supported ; Jay local amateura , v . " •"’* .

A contributor to the Melbourne Argus, ip a collection of-anecdotes illustrating Spanish characteristics, relates the following incident of of Trafalgar—if is given by the historian' Mariana —which s owa that valor was not exc usively on the the English side;—* Gravina ’’the Spanish admiral, was standing Sh tl\o quarter-deck of the flagxship. An English cannon-shot carried off both his legs. Without losing hold of his sword, he ordered a marine to put what remained of him info a bag of uawdnst which was clese by. Ship after ship struck its colours, but Gravina calmly gave Li* commands from the bag, ‘How long have I to live ?’ he asked a surgeon- ‘ Perhaps an hour, sen Or. ’ / Well.’ observed the admiral,'we may hold out for an • hour. The close of the story is touching—it reminds one of a passage in the Apo'ogy of Socrates. As Gravina lay dying, someone tcld him that Nelson was dead: ‘Then/ said Gravina, ‘ I go to join the' greatest commander that ever trod deck, in the laud where there are no battles-’ ” 1

V For Cougbs and -Colds t ake Wood’s A. Great Peppermint Cure, 1/6 and 2s,

One of the newspaper-carrying cyclists who scoreh through London from the publishing offices-of evening papers to the various terminal stations with bundles of red-hot-fr«?m-the-press special editions, has knocked down a child, and been fined the extraordinary sum of two shillings. These paper-carriers are employed on the understanding that they find their own cycles, hut any fines for furious driving and the like are paid by the office. Speed is everything to the London paper in despatching its news broadcast, and therefore, naturally the eyrie is an essential adjunct in the distribution of the papers, and the offices by paying fines encourage the defiance of traffic regulations, and give the boy s no excuse for delays or missing trains. And their general dexterity is one of the marvels on London’s traffic.

An officer of the steamer Empress of Japan, jnst arrived at Vancouver from the Orient, tells of an exciting street fight which he witnessed in the streets of Hong Kong prior to the sailing of his vessel. There are many sailors j.n that harbour attached to the war vessels of various nations, and they imbibe strong national prejudices as they watch the international game in the East. The trouble/ started in a saloon. The Bussian sailors combined with the French and Germans, and formed a double line across a narrow street and dared any Johnny Bull or Yankee to pass, The English and American sailors joined forces, and found they mustered 150 to the enemy’s 400, Nothing dannied they seized a lot of jinrikshas, formed a wedge with them,and rusned upon the foreigners with a cheer. They broke the line, smashed the jinrikshas, and continued the fight with fists and and pieces of debris, until, as the informant relates, they had the 400 allies badly whipped. The din was dreadful. but above it rose the singing of ‘ America’ and ‘ God Save the Queen.’ both, of course, to the same tune. The authorities were powerless, and appealed to the commanders of the warships, who ordered the men to stop, and the hostilities ceasedThus has been begun the much talked of Anglo Saxon alliance rgainst ths world.! . A stalwart young Maori walked into Mr Gatenby’s chemist shop at Wanganui and said he wanted t > learn the business. The suddenness of the offer almost took the chemist’s breath away, but he thought he would cool the ardor of the dusky aspirant when he stated that a premium of £IOO was required. . The Maori, however, followed lip his importunity by planking down the £IOO, and has since sighed an agreement for three years’ apprenticeship. The young man. in question nuff;being an old Wellington College boy, and he came ont with ere < dit in a recent medical preliminary examination. ft is said he can translate Latin and French like a book.

Wheels in your head, ungreased. That’s awkward. Not-drink ? No. Flu Flu, you know what that is? /Inflenza, that’s not brought on by swallowing a box of dominoesIt’s a very severe cold in every part of the body; the treatment is pure, simple and effective. Take Wood’s Great Peppermint C!re; it knocks it out every time. Paste this on the kitchen clock.

Apropos Admiral Dupont’s suggestion that in the event of war the French could do great injury to British commerce, the following from a contemporary is interesting.—Much interest has been aroused in England by the consultations which have taken place in regard to the protection of merchant shipping in. case of war. ' The naval authorities have come to the conclusion that the old system of convoys would in most cases be impracticable. The extent of our commerce, and the enormous length of the routes to be traversed, would make it impossible to give protection by convoys. Sailing ships would be driven from the ocean, and steamers would have to depend largely on their own speed. The Government would, however, endeavour to protect the great trade routes/by armed cruisers constantly moving between different points. The route to Gibralter;would be protected t> a large extent by the Channel squadron, and Gibraltar to Su*z by the Mediterranean fleet. The routes from the Cape, from America, and from Australia and the East, would be more difficult*, but the Admiralty believe that, by having swift and heavily* armored vessels at certain points in the lines which steamers take, they would-be able to ensure practical safety to our . over-s a commerce. The problem is one, however, which has ne.ver had. to be solved before, and it is difficult to say how the plans of the Admiralty would work out in practice.

Yesterday the bar in the new Hot Springs Hotel was so far finished as to allow its being opened to the public. The Inspector (Mr H. W. Westby) of the N.Z. Society for the Protection of Women and Children and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who has been staying in To Aroha a couple of days, called on us yesterday. The society is eminently worthy of support. Donations or subscriptions in aid of the Society should be forwarded to the Secretary, Miss Porter, who attends daily from 10 a m to 1 p.m, at the Society's offices, A.M.P. Buildings, Queen-street, Auckland. There is a dentist in Auckland (says a Nelson paper) who is noted for his musical tastes and his high charges. Some time ago a lady was in his chair, and the dentist was conversing with her while her mouth was filled with rubber and things. Carried away by his enthusiasm while talking of a certain song, he offered to sing it fdr her. Taking an inarticulate, , rubberintercepted sound for an affirmative, he skipped lightly to the piano, which stood in one corner of the operatingroom. There he toyed with Polyhymnia, the music of music, doubtless much to his satisfaction, and, turning to his patient, asked how she liked it. “ Very much, indeed, doctor,’ came the reply in muffled tones, ‘ but it would have been cheaper at a concert.’ <

Let the croaker croak, and the hard time howler howl. We know hard times as bad as those in a sick household. The start—aalitrhtjcongh, gets worse, keeps everybody in the house awake, father swears, mother ditto. Avoid these troubles. Keep a bottle of Woods’ Great Pepperment Cure in the house; it never fails, a half crown

At the present time a Russian gentlemen, the representative of an influential syndicate, is in Auckland making enquiries as to whether silkworms and the cochineal insect would thrive in the colony, and whether there is inducement for the establishment of such an industry in this province. We learn that so far his investigations have resulted most satisfactorily. The climate, he has discovered, is suitable for both silkworms and the cochineal insects, and, should other investigations result as satisfactorily, there is every probability of 'he industries mentioned beingpormanently established in this province. Spasmodic efforts have been made on previous occasions to cultivate the silkworm and cochineal insect, but though the insects throve, there was nothing permanent about the affair, and those making the experiment did not persevere after having satisfied themselves tkat the climate was favorable,