LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9116, 16 June 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Already more than half the signatures required have been obtained to* the petition in circulation asking for a continuous .telephone service for Master ton. The members of the Carterton Hockey Club are taking advantage of the clear moonlight nights, and are putting in some good practices in the Recreation reserve. The Knox Church choir has netted about £ls from the production of the oratoria, "Christ and His Soldiers." This amount is in aid of the new organ fund. At a special meeting of the Mastertm A. and P. Association, to be held un Wednesday, July Ist, a proposal to amend several of the Association's rules will be brought up forcunsidtration.

The parishioners of St. Patrick's Church, Masterton, have decided to hold a social gathering next month, and a bazaar early in December, with the object of raising funds to liquidate the existing parish debt.

The Masterton South 3rass Band intends holding a costume football match on the Mastertoh Showgrounds on June 25th, and a social and dance in the evening. The funds raised are to go towards the purchase of instruments.

Te Wharau and East Coast are to the effect tliat the roads are in excellent condition for travelling, which is unusual for this time of the year. There is also an abundance of grass in spite of the drought experienced last suugper. A Mastcrton >JHH">t, just returned fiom GisHjl,' states that the no-license sanguine of the success of their cause at the polls thi« year. Last election 37 votes only were wanted to carry nolicense, and this year an active campaign is being prosecuted.

A horse attached to a waggonette, belonging to Mr M. T. West, took fright at a traction engine in High Street, Carterton, yesterday, and collided with a trap in which was seated a lady. Both vehicles were slightly damaged, but the lady escaped injury.

Te Nui i.s to have its quarterly sitting of the S.M. Court to-day, when the Magistrate and the Clerk of the local Court will require to be present. These officials will find their labours light, however, us the sole case listed for hearing is an adjourned civil action, in which the amount involved is a matter of shillings. A meeting of the management committee of St. Matthew's Club was held last evening, the Rev. H. Watson presiding. A tvllabus for the season was drawn up. It was decided t) hold a concert on August sth, and play a pmg-pong tournament agiiirat the Knew Young People's A-s>ciatiou. Card tournaments were' also arranged. The weekly meeting of the Club will be held to-morrow evening.

St. Mark's choir, Carterton, now las a membership of twenty-five.

Mr Kara te Huki has penerously presented the Te Ore Ore Football Club with a full set of jerseys. The annual social of the Carlton Cricket Club is to be held in the Foresters' Hall on Thursday evening next.

Last year there were 11,655 bales of wool railed from Masterton to Wellington. In 1907 the number was 10,955. There are over forty members on the roll of the Caiterton Methodist Band of Hope. Meetings are held fortnightly, and are largely attended.

Of thirty-two applicants, Mr Jones, of Masterton, has been appointed by the Wellington Education Board to supervise the erection of the new school at Laosdowne.

A handsome silver cup, presented by Messrs Ryan Bros., jewellers, of the Exchange Buildings, to the Wairarapa Rugby Union for senior com petition, is on view in Mr J. L. Murray's shop window.

During the past month two shipments of Oregon pine have been received at Wellington. There is great demand in tha Empira City for this timber, as it is said to be cheaper and more durable than the iocal article.

Massrs Hoge, Buchanan and Vile, the representatives of the Wairarapa Ward on the Wellington Education Board, will pay a visit of inspection to the Kaiwaiwai and other Wairarapa schools in the course of a few days. At the Masterton Police Court, yesterday, three second offenders, John Lavin, George Donahue and Hugh Frederick Matthews, appeared before Mr J. Hessey, J. P., on chaiges of drunkenness. Each was fined 10s, in default forty-eight hours' hard labour.

"Explode," a prized homing pigeon owned by Mr J. Bradbury, and only recently purchased from Mr R. W. Dixon, the well-known New 1 lymouth fancier,was found dead in its loft on Sunday. The bird had some notable performances to its credit, and its death seems to have been caused through it eating the leaves of the marsh mallow. The potato market in Dunedin is in a bad state at present. Quotations from Tasmania are very weak, and some as low as 50s per ton have been offered to the North Island. This means that vajues must go back there at least £1 per ton, and it iB anticipated that prime potatoes will be difficult to sell at over £3 5s to £3 10s.

A commencement has been made with a very necessary'work in Queen Street—namely, the grading of the roadway along which the new channel has been cut between Renall Street and Renall's Creek. The brown of the road at present is very much higher than the footpath in places, and the grade from the centre of the road 11 the water tables is dangero\ii\y steep. The Wellington Education Department has advised the Wellington Education Board that a sum of £350 has been granted lor the provision of an additional cla--s-room at the Maslerion Dis'r Hign School. It will be remembered that the Masterton School Committee urgfd some months bade that the accommodation for the secondary classes was so small that the cookery room had to be encroached upon. The annual meeting of the Y.M.C.A. Chess Club was held last evening. M 1 * W. H. Rummer, senr., occupied the chair. The election of officers resulted as follows:—Secretary and treasurer, Mr Harry Lett; general committee, Messrs Kutnmer, senr., Jones and secretary. It was decided to hold practices on Monday and Wednesday evenings, Monday to be the main practice night. A telegraphic match has been arranged with Wanganui for Wednesday, 24th. "Should the Labour Party be in power?" was a question which was very earnestly discuss2d by the Y.M.C.A. Debating Society last night Mr A. G. Wise led the debate in the affirmative, Mr E. Flana gan taking the negative. Contributors to the debate were—Messrs R. Rigg, D. Hetenton. A. P. Feilding, J. Hunter and Oxenham (ayes), and W. Kemp. L. Daniell, J.. S. Alpass and F. Junei (noes). The question was dicided in the affirmative on the vote of the chairman (Mr Hunter).

The Coiciliation Board sa*: for a few minutes at Masterton, yes'errlay morning—in fact the proceedings were almost mystical in their swiftness. The engineers' dispute was the menu arranged for the Board for the sitting, but neither local employers nor employees appeared. The Board comprised Messrs A. H. Cooper, A. Collins. H. Inniss and F. Bedford. Messrs VV. H. Westbrooke and A. Stevenson were present on behalf of the Wellington Union. The latter reported having found the conditions in local engineering shops similar to those in Wellington, and intimated that no evidence would be called. The Board then formally adjourned to Napier. An interesting function will be the assembling of the Mock Parliament of the Y.M.C.A. Debating Society, which will take place next week. The constitution of the Cabinet is as follows:—Governor-General, Mr P. L. Hollings; Prime Minister, Postmaster-General, and Minister for Defence, Mr 0. N. Pragnell; Minister for Railways and Public Works, Mr J. Hunter; Minister for Labour and Marine, Mr Alex. Donald; Minister for Justice, Mines and Immigration, Mr A. J.-Parton; Minister for Education and Public Health. Mr R; Rigg; Minister for Lands and Agriculture, Mr W, Kemp; Chancellor of the Exchequor and Minister of Finance. Mr D. H. rlebenton; Minister for Native Aif airs and Stamn Duties, Mr J. Cole. The Speaker is Mr R. Brown; Leader of the Opposition, Mr E. Flanagan.

Mr Bedford haa definitely decided *o stand for the Taieri seat in the Liberal interest.at the General Election. Vr London, ex-Mayor of Dunedin, and Mr T. MacKenzie, M.P., are also mentioned as probable candidates in the Ministerial interest.

At the Water Police Court, Sydney, recently, Captain F. Muissen, of the steamer Manila, was fined £2OO for having allowed two Chinese to escape from his vessel into the Commonwealth. Captain G. W. Eedy, of the steamer Changsha, was fined £IOO for having allowed one prohibited immigrant to escape from his vessel.

A "ladyiciller," received a sharp lesson in Cathedral Squaro, Christchurch, on Friday evening. He went up to a well-dressed young lady and spoke to her, but received no reply. He persisted, however, in walking alongside the lady, when she suddenly turned no him, and with a walking stick she was carrying began to convince him in a practical manner that his presence was undesirable. The intruder beat a hurried retreat, the lady meanwhile pursuing and raining blows on his head and shoulders. It was not until he liad negotiated the chain fence into the Cathedral grounds that he escaped further pursuit.

At 11.5 on Saturday night, at Dunedin, Tom Burrows laid down his clnb3 after swinging them /continuously since 5.55 mi Thur. day morning—a period nf 62 tours ,10 minutes. He thus broke the world's recoid put up by Griffiths in Sydney by five minutes. Burrows got a reception from a very ; arge audience on completion of the task. He .finished strongly, giving a brisk exhibition for the las'; five minutes. Burrows left for Australia on Sunday. He . meets Griffiths for t> e chamoionship of the world at Adelaide on July 3rd. Then he proceeds to the FranceBritish Exhibition. Probably he will return to' New Zealand next April. A proposal is on foot in Sydney to organise a midsummer pleasqre expedition to the Antarctic circle at the end of December next. It is the... intention to leave Sydney abcut Christmas for Hohart, and then steer a direct course for the ice pack, covering a route which has not been traversed by any vessel for seventy years. The excursion would occuny about a month, and would allow five or six days within the Antarctic circle. Messrs Burns, Philp, and Co. have been approached on the subject of providing a steamer. A guarantee has [been given for forty passengers et £25 i a head, but eighty to one hundred would be necessary to make the trip remunerative. Mr Perry, New South Wales Minister for Agri:ulture. referring to the shutting out of New Zealand potatoes from that State, said New South Wales had done nothing in the matter until information was received from New Zealand Government that blight existed all o.Yer the Dominion. The disease cpuld not be detected in the seed, and develops only when the crop grows, and consequently New South Wales had no alternative but to abspjufcely prohibit importations!'!*" The New Zealand '• Minister for Lands had suggested that a sample .uf .the diseased .mandarins which ha.l Tecehtlyarrived at Dunedin might be placed in a jar and labelled with a certificate of the State officer declaring them, clean, to be used as a shelf-decoration for the Minister's room. In reply to this, Mr Perry said. "I suggested he should send the fruit back to Sydney. It would look just as well on my shelf as on his." A business firm in Sydnev recently imported 3ixty nigger wigs, which,. cost £2 os' *6d, or about B£d each. On landing in Svdney they suggested to the Customs Department that they should he passed as fancv goods, under which the totnl amount of duty would be about 10s. Th* "Sydney Morning Herald" says that the local Customs officials, being unable to definitely solve the grave problem as to the section of the Act that should be apolied to this ereat importation, consulted Melbourne. Melbourne replied that "the items specified, to wit, nigger wigs, must be charged under the tariff item 137 a. 10s each or 20 per cent., which ever is the highest. According to this the total amount of duty on the £2 of nigger wigs would be £3O, and the importer was informed that before entries could be passed the amount of duty (£3O) must belaid. Thirty pounds works out at about 1,500 per cent., and the importer, or rather the would-be importer, is row considering 1 the best means of getting rid of his importation without running the gauntlet of the Customs. Matters political ara assuming quite an interesting} phase in Wellington. It is probable that there will be a keen contest for every seat in the city and suburbs. For Wellington North it is reported that Mr Herdman will be a contestant with Mr Izard, the sitting member. The Hon. T. W. Hislop is mentioned as the Government candidate for the Central seat, In opposition to Mr F. M. B. Fisher. Mr W. McLean will ' again contest Mr Aitken's seat, whilst Mr W. H. P. Barber will Le a candidate for Wellington South. Fully half a. dozen names are mentioned in connection with the new Suburbs seat. In the Hutt electorate Mr Wilford will have opposition; though it is not regarded as serious. Mr Byron Brown will again peek the suffrages of Otaki against Mr W. H. Field. It is probable, "lso, that Dr Newman will enter the lists for ono of the City or Suburban seats. The Trades Unions have intimated their intention of running their own candidates for four of the Wellington seat?.

Diphtheria is prevalent in Dunedin at the present time. Dissolution of marriage by reason of desertion is greatly on tho increase' in Australia. Sir Joseph Ward is to deliver a political address at Greytown on the :24(h inst. This will be his first political speech in the Wairarapa since Ihe attained the Premiership. The postal authorities advise that -■the Yeddo, whi?h left San Francisco ■on the 11th inst., for Auckland, has •en board an American mail for New :Zealand. She is due in Auckland ;abotit the Bth July. It i 3 understood, in regar.l to the 'declaration of the Hon, C. H. Mills -.that he has a standing promise from the Premier that he will be translated to the Upper House whenever he ceases to be a member of the popular chamber. Mr W. F. Massey, Leader of the Opposition, has made arrangements with the Railway Department.for the conveyance of the northern members of Parliament over the Main Trunk ± line in readiness for the opening of h the session. The through trip, it is tailiicipated, will occupy not more than two days. $e have it on unimpeachable authority (says the "Timaru Post") that Mi J. T. M. Twomey, of Temuka, is so incensed at some of the •remarks made by Mr Flatman in his .speech at leoraka, on Tuesday night, that he has declared his intention to stand for the Ashburton seat, in opipcaition to Mr Flatman at the coming -.general election. By the consent of the defendant judgment was entered at Wellington yesterday for plaintiff by Mr Justice Chapman in the case Dalgety and Co., Ltd., v. Frederick Pearce, farmer,Featherston, says the "Post," Th''s was a claim for £653 13s lid, mpon an account current between the pat lies, anu lor balance of money lent, stock sold, money paid, and interest on it. The condition of the military cemetery at lauranga, in which are lying the remains of the regulars who fell at the Gate Pah forty-six years ago, is said to be anything';,but creditable. The seawall has been almost washed away, and the headboards on the graves are rotten. It ia understood that the Government is willing to assist the Tauranga peoplu tto effect repairs and keep the cemeterarin decent order in future. While waiting on the Milton Railway station one day last week, there came under the notice of Inspector Gladstone, of the Public Health Department, a state of affairs which is anything but and which seems to be all too prevalent, says the "Otngo Daily Times." By a blow train from the south there arrived

aome twenty carcases of pigs, which were being forwarded for curing purposes, 'f he-e were mixed up with vfche general goods, and three of them were taken out and dumped on a piece of wood," while the remaining seventeen were thrown out on the platform, which was by 10 means clean, the carcases being in no way covered or protected. Unfortunately, thire ar« no regulations in legard to the nroner handling of the carcases of pigs while in transit over the railways, notwithstanding the that the absence of such has tfor a long time been the subject oft repeated remonstianees from different quarters. A silver name brorch, lost .between Kuripuni and the Post Ofikc, ■\S advertised for. Messrs W. B. Chennells and Co. advertise to ltt one and a-half acres ■of land and dwelling known as "Durcroft," at Fer.therstcn. Messrs Krahagen and Chapman, •nitfchant tailors, Masterton, are at piroent making a speciality of evening and dress suits, and invite orders for the present season. Particulars of their time-payment • System ia announced by the Wellington Piano Company. The firm's in- : struments and terms of payment can be obtained from Messrs McLecd and Young, Masterton. A great reduction sale is announced by Mr P. Hamill, to commence at his • establishment to-morrow. In order to make room for the new stocks now coming to hand. Mr Hamill has consideraoly reduced the prices to ensure a speejy clearance of his present up-to-date stock.

Thu display of costumes, skirts =and opera cloaks made in the Exchange Buildings by Messrs GoldHloom Brothers, of Wellington, was in-pected by a large number of ladii| •* yesteiday, and several orders were taken. Mr Goldbloom will leave Mastterton on Thursday morning. One of the largest exhibits of Jiair.s, sides of bacon, and rolls ever made in the Wairarapa will be exhibited at the Po9t Office Auction Mart on Friday next. It will comprise 300 hama, 200 side 3 and 50 rolls, and is the product of one of tiie leading bacon factories in the Dominion, A sale of the whole consignment will open on Friday, and *ithe Mart will be open till 10 o'clock each evening. Mr W. H. Cruickshank, estate agent, advertises a fresh list of Queensland properties which he has for sale, and which should interest intending investors in property in the Australian State. Mr Cruickshank intends accompanying several intend- . ing purchasers to the Darling Downs in the course of a few weeks, and invites others to join in the expedition. , / Mr Harold Sinclair, the enterprising motor and cycle agent, of Masterton, has been appointed sole agent for the district for the sale of the famous La Motosacoche(both ladies' and gent's). In another column he announces a sweeping reduction in price, these machines now being obtainable for .£45, fitted with all the latest improvements. Mr Sinclair carries complete stocks of cycles and acces- ■ .sories.

News concerning the widespread and serious" effects of the American financial crisis continues to come to hand. The latest information on the matter to come under notice is from France, ahcl is contained in a private letter just received in Wellington. The writer, a merchant of Bordeaux, observes .in the first place that the crisis by an economic panic, and that in France all colonial products had fallen in value by some 50 or 60 per. cent., thus creating immense losses everywhere in the country. France stood the strain fairly well, he says, but nevertheless capitalists there lost a good deal of money as mining and other shares went down by half their normal value. Tin consequence of this was a complete and absolute stanlstill. Confidence had been lost, and but few undertakings could find favour with moneyed men. According to Mr Macpherson, M.P., it is probable that the Land Laws Amendment Billot last year will come before Parliament in the coming session for amendment. Mr Macpher.wn considers that clause 80 will, in all probability, be amended by the Government in the direction of. restricting the preference conditions, and, if so, an attempt will he made to also amend the clause dealing with the removal of the covenants of a tenant's lease so as to give more equality of protection to those settlers who took up land in the earlier stages uf the land for settlements policy; also, to amend the clauses denling with the term of lease, the desire being to substitute a 66 years' lease for the first term in respect of land for settlements lands and Crown lands, with a renewable lease in each case of 83 years, thus removing an anomaly where Crown lands and land for settlements lancl3 are coupled as one holding.