LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1902, 11 June 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Winchester Fair.— Messrs Gray and Montgomery sell sheep, cattle, etc., at Winchester Fair to-day. The Unemployed.— There are at present 168 unemployed on the Government Works, against 784 last November. Of these there are 148 in Otago, 20 in Canterbury; 42 are engaged in road making, and the rest on railway works. Just So. —A good story is told of Mr A. J. Balfour in reference to one of his recent visits to Ireland. He put the following question te an Irish priest with whom he sat at dinner—“ Do the Irish hate me to the extent that the Farnallike papers say they do ? ” To which the candid priest’s good-humored answer was“ My dear sir, if they hated the devil half as much as they hate you my occupation would be gone.” Lost.— One of tho players in the foot, ball match at Geraldine on Saturday unfortunately lost his watch somewhere on the ground. The owner thoughtlessly kept his watch in his pocket while kicking before the match commenced, and shortly afterwards found to his dismay that the chain was broken, and the watch gone. As it is a trophy won at an athletic sports gathering the loss is particularly unfortunate, and the leser offers in another column a substantial reward for its recovery l

Geraldine Racing Club.— I The annual meeting of the members of the Geraldine Racing Club takes place in the Geraldine Hotel this evening at 8 o’clock. Sale ov Fruit and Forest Trees.— Attention is directed to the large sale of fruit and forest trees to be held by Mr Maslin to-chy at Mr Coombs’ Nursery, Geraldine. The sale is hell in consequence of the lease of the nursery having expired, and offers a grand opportunity to farmers and others, as it is just the right time for planting. A Fortuhxth Board.—At the Geraldine Bond Board yesterday the olsrk reported that all the rates for the previous year with the exception of £1 Hssd had bean collected, and this amount was owing chiefly by absentees. The report was considered highly satisfactory. Mr Shier*, the clerk, is to be congratulated on his having suocseded in placing the board in such a very satisfactory position, and one almost unique with regard to the boards in this district, R.M. Court, Temuka.— At the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Temnka, yesterday, before 0, A. Wray, Esq., R.M., only one small debt case was sat down for hearing, that of J. W. Miles v. J. L. Cooke, claim £2 15s 2d. Mr Aspinall appeared for plaintiff. The case had been twice adjourned at the request of the defendant. Plaintiff proved the debt, and judgment was given for the amount claimed and costs. The Fisher, Fuddle.—lt is rumored that another chapter has been added to the already voluminous mass of correspondence relative to Mr Fisher’s retirement from the Ministry in the shape of a new letter ot most portentous dimensions from Mr Fisher to the Premier. This tremendous epistolary effort fills nearly seventy foolscap pages. It will be printed, together with the rest of the correspondence, for presentation to Parliament at an early period of the session. It is expected that a Committee will be moved for to investigate the whole mutter. . Timasu a. and P. Association,—A meeting of the committee of this Association was held on-Saturday. Sixteen members were present, and Mr A. M. Clark, President, occupied the chair. A letter was received from the Hawkes Bay society advocating the imposition of a license lea of £lO per annum for entire horses, the amount obtained to be distributed ineach district as pi emiums on the best horses.—lt was decided to discuss this subjest at a general meeting of the association to be bald on the second Saturday in Jnly. The following were appointed a committee to revise tho prize Hit for the next show : —President (to be convener), the vicepresident, Messrs B, T. Rhodes and H. Ford, and Messrs J. Goldie, A. Grant, W. Hay, J. Bing, T. Langdon, E. Xelland, C. N. Obeli, W. Pringle, and W. Quin ; five to be a quorum. The oommittee will meet on the Saturday next after the general meeting in Jnly. Two new members were elected. Accounts to the amount of £lB 13s wore passed for payment and the meeting ter* minated. Bad Management.—Mr 0. D. Stone, a member of the Auckland Harbor Board, who has just returned from a tour of the Australian colonies, said, on being interviewed by a reporter on various matters —" I was sorry to see the disgraceful way in which most of our farming produce was being sent to the Australian market. While Australians admit that New Zealand is the garden of Australasia, and while they can take all we produce, they are fast becoming disgusted with the shameful way in which .we send our produce across to them. It’s the old cry with ns, * Oh, it’s good enough,’ forgetting tho adage that * what will pay to do, will pay to do well.* ” We hope that our farmers will take the hint.—Mr Locke, ex-M.H.R., has received letters from American manufacturers, complaining of improperly prepared flax from New Zealand, and stating that unless an honest article is shipped the penalty will be a fall in prices.—lt is so with everything in New Zealand, People want to get good prices without expending any labor on it. The price of flax certainly allows a splendid margin to do it properly. There is a groat deal of the penny-wiae-pound-fooliah business about those in New Zealand. • Local Industry; —On Monday morning the first consignment of dressed fibre from the works of the Temuka Flax Mill Company, consisting of fifteen bales, passed through Temuka on i's way to Christchurch. The works have been closed for a considerable time, but the proprietors now seem determined to prosecute the flax industry with vigour, under the superintendence of their energetic managing director, Mr W. Poatlethaite. The plant at present consists of two of Messrs Anderson’s large doublefeed strippers, and a double scutcher, with dumpy hackler from the establishment of Messrs Scott Bros.’,driven at present by a nine-horse power engine, which will shortly be superseded by electricity, the turbine, poles, and wires being already in position, and only awaiting the arrival of tho motor from Wellington. The electrical apparatus is being erected by Mr R. H. Postlethwalte, and will be the first instance in the colony of electricity being used as as a motive power for flax dressing. The works proyide employment for fifteen men and boys, under the charge of Mr G. A. White. The quantity of green leaf required is from twenty-five to thirty tons per week, which is supplied by the farmers in the district. The proprietors are to be complimented for providing employment for such a number of hands, the wages of whom, tpgether with the money paid for the green leaf, must be a great benefit to the district.

Gold at Bldeskiit. —At Blua'skin, a town this aids of Dunedin, a gentleman glorying in the name of Hugh Poole, has been creating a sensation. He first inserted an advertisement in the Otago Daily Times, inviting the inhabitants of Blueikin to meet him at the hall there to hear him make a very important statement. This of course put everyone on the tiptoe of expectation, and when the hour came about 60 persons assembled in the h«ll. Mr Poole arrived, and would not allow the lights to be turned more than half on. Fe then mounted the platform, and told them he had not intimated what the object of the masting was, because if he had done so the hall would have been crowded. Indeed, he would not have been there at all only for Mrs Poole, who said “ It is your duty to tell the people what you know.” If they knew what be knew it would simply take their breath away ; and thus he went dilating on the information he carried in his knowledge-box for some time, without making anyone the wiser of the object of the meeting, till the people were growing impatient. Fe then ordered the lights to be turned on, and this being done be produced some mineralogical specimens, and said the whole object of bis meeting was gold! and gold at Blueskin ! He then dilated on the discovery he had made two years previously; told where he found the specimens, and said the plees wis “another Mount Morgon,” Mr Poole’s speech created no great amount of enthusiasm, judging by the report in the papsr, but whether ha was right or wrong the eccentric method ho adopted in making the thing known was enough to throw cold water on it for the time being at any rate. No doubt if there is anything in it we shall hear more about it. .

Ball at Geealdin*,— The annual ball under the auspicaa of the Geraldine Rifles wiil take place in the Geraldine Driilahed on Thursday evening next, and promises t.O be very miccv.PHful. Admission tickets can be i h*ained from the committee. The Queen’s China.—Writing on this subject Mr Labouehera says“ I rend in a contemporary that the value of the china at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor Castle ‘ exceeds £200,030.’ I should think it does, and £400,000 would not bo an extravagant estimate, considering that (he Sevres dessertaarvica in the Green Drawing-room at Windsor is valued at £IOO,OOO, and lh« Rose da Barri vases, in the corridor, at £50,000,-whils there ore six Sevres vases at Buckingham Palme, for which there would bean eager tion if they were put up to-morrow'/ai ■ £30,000.” J The Bankruptcy Act —ln ihe Bankruptcy Court, Wellington, last Friday, a , solicitor for a bankrupt said thit it had been notified by counsel for the creditors that charges would be preferred against the bankrupt. The Court would be asked to dirsot that bankrupt having been guilty of mildemeanor, should be prosecuted m the Magistrate’s Court in the usual way. Mr Justice Richmond said that was his opinion. He objected to taking the pi ice of a .magistrate. The parties should follow the ordinary course of the criminal law, and not com* to that Court to invoke summary prosecution. Ha could not docline jurisdiction, but if the creditors bad a case against a bankrupt whith could be prosecuted by indictment, it was very undesirable they should also attempt to prosecute summarily. He might, have to try a man be had himself committed for trial. The Loans,—A Wellington correspondent of the Press says:—“ The accounts of tho loan expenditure have been made up, and the Government are in a position to judge approximately what they can do. It appears that there remains about a million and a half loan money still unexpended. Last year’s expenditure was just over £600,000, but oL this more tban £IOO,OOO went in charges aiuA expenses of raising the loan, which of ooiiir will not recur. This leaves roughly half a million as the year’s expenditure on public works, etc., but of this a considerable proportion was due to liabilities previously incurred, which also will not recur in after years. Taking last year’s experience with these qualifications aa a basis of computation, the Government consider that the unexpended balance of loan money will last four, years longer at the rate they deem the highest at which the colony ought to spend on public works out of loan. Consequently the loan money should last until March, 1893, and n& further borrowing would be necessary until that date. S.O. Harriers.—The South Canterbury Harriers met, by arrangement, at Temuka yesterday, and after a brief interval, during which they were joined by sportsmen from Timaru and ihe locality, proceeded to Winchester. The field was here considerably increased, and a move was made to some paddocks osar the Winchester estate. A litre was quickly found, but it was not uni. lata in the afternoon that anything like a genuine run took place. One hare was started that promised to give some sport, but when nearly spent puss managed to give her pursuers tho slip, and, a fresh one starting up, tbe field had the benefit of a smart run of a few minutes, resulting in a kill. Hounds were then whipped:offj and a start was mado for home. The country was altogether too large for the bulk of the field to be expected to follow straight, the more especiafly as. owing to the, Infrequency of meets in Ihe district, vjjfy few ura possessed of hore-s in bunting condition. Tbe day, however, in spite of a rather cold wind, was an enjoyable one, and tho thanks of those attending are du& to the master, Mr E. T. Rhodes, and his satellites, who did their inmost to afford them a day’s sport. Th .re was a fair attendance, and among them a sprinkling of ladies.

Complimentary Dinner. A complimentary dinner will be given next Friday evening, at 7.30 o'clock, to Messrs Talbot and Quinn, lata members of, the Tensuka Bead Board, in recognition of past services. Th* affair promises to be a great success, seventy* five tickets having already been sold. Mr f Ooira, who is caterer, baa already commenced active preparations for it, and. will leave nothing undone, so far as he is concerned, to make it worthy of the occasion, If ever a man deserved honor, Mr Talbot at any rata has deserved it, but we should like to see his services recognised in a more substantial manner. For years he has filled the position of chairman of the Tomuka Eoad Board with credit to himself and advantage to the district. No one could have been more painstaking or more just to all than Mr Talbot has been, and the time he gave to the public was really Undoubtedly he has given half his time for many years to the public for. nothing, fie has never occupied a position to which pay was attached, although he has filled every local position there baa been. He has been a valuable s public man, and it is a loss to the district! f that ha has decided on retiring from publio positions. He therefore has deserved.a more substantial and lasting recognition of hfv services than a public dinner, and it is to be regretted that the promoters of the proposed dinner did not look upon the matter jn this light. Important Land Transfer Case. —An important decision under the Land Transfer Act was given in the Supreme Dunedin, on Friday, by Mr Justice Williams. Certain laud at St. Clair was, His Honor said, granted by the Crown in 1864 to one Yalpy, and it subsequently became vested in one Jeffreys, who, in 1874, made an application under-the Land Transfer Act, and obtained a certificate of title. The land comprised in the certificate was in 1878 transfeired to Cargill and Anderson, who became registered pro-

printers, and remain so. It was alleged that by n mistake the certificate to Jeffreys included not only the land to which he was entitled but also a piece which was not included in the grant to Yalpy, and which the Crown had never disposed of. If Jeffreys had remained the registered proprietor there could be no question that the mistake conld hare been corrected, as the 4th sub-section of section 56 expressly preserves the rights of persons deprived of land by a misdescription to recover from the registered proprietor, not being . a transferee bona j?cfe for value. Hire, however, it was admitted that Cargill aua Anderson were transferees for value and bona fide, and therefore had a private person suffered loss by the misdescription he would have been without a remedy. The question was whether the same rule applied where the" land erroneously included in the certificate was land that had never been alienated or contracted to bo alienated by the Grown. It seemed lo him (the Judge) clear that it did not. Apart from the general question how far the Act. bound the Crown, it was ,ch?ar'' that the terms of the Act were in k sS?ct equivalent to an express exemption from its operation of land not alienated or con* tracted to bo alienated by the Crown,

Lecture on \Vatek. — A synopsis of Mr Aitken'u lecture on “ Water,” delivered in Geraldine nn Thursday evening last, will be found on onr fourth page, Zbalandia Rink, Temuka.— On Saturday there was the largest attendance at the above rink that has been witnessed. Every available pair of skates was in requisition, and at intervals the floor was simply crowded. . Shortly after nine o’clock a two-tnile race for a season ticket took place. There were six competitors, and after a capital contest G. Clinch succeeded in landing himself the winner, C. Clinch was a good second. The proprietor has spared no trouble in keeping the floor iTOJfOOd order, and in maintaining the favorreputation the rink has acquired. He has a good staff of assistants, who are distinguished by a uniform. They are assiduous io their attention. Rood Pbksebting Process. — If the new eheaioal preservatop is capable of doing all that is claimed for it, quite a revolution in the export butter industry ought to be brought about by its agency. Instead of salting the butter here, as at present, the article could be shipped entirely fresh, and consigned to agents at Home, who could have it made up and salted on shippers’ account. By this means the cost of the salt would be lass than one half, and there would also bo the saving of freight, for every pound of salt would cost'as much as a pound of butter to take Home. Eggs could also be preserved by this new agent, and placed on the English market as fresh as when laid. The seasons in England and here being exactly opposite we should be able to ship our surplus eggs at a time when they would be most plentiful here and scarcest in the Old Country. On Saturday night a safe was taken bodily from the Upper Halt railway station, the thief having apparently employed a trolley to remove it. Iho safe contained about £4fi in notei and stamps. Yesterday mo.iing Herbert Allendale, who has just completed a sentence for burglary, was arrested on bus'pfoion of being concerned in this and a similar burglary at Eeilding railway station. There is no trace of the missing property as yet. The verdict of all who have used the “ Jumbo ” brand Baking Powder, is that it makes light, nutritious, anl digestive bread, cakes, pastry, etc. As the ingredients are of the finest qualities, and no injurious elements being used in the preparation, bread, etc. made with this powder will keep fresh and, moist longer than with any other powder. Ask for Anderson’s " Jumbo ” brand Baking Powder.—[Adtt. 11. SYNOPSIS OF ADYERTIBBMBNT3. Guardian Office, Geraldine —Reward for recovery of lost watch. . Cowan’s Clothing and Outfitting House— Magnificent range of patterns new season’s tweeds to hand. J. ilundell and Co.—Hold clearing sale of live stock, timber, household furniture, eto., at Kakahu Busb, on aooount of Mr Jas. McDonnell, on June 25th. J. W, Pye, General Draper and Outfitter, Geraldine—Draw* attention ,to hie stock of general drapery, clothing, boots and shoes, and all kinda of fancy goods 5 very best value in dress goods, flannelettes, shirtings, sheetings, eto., etc.