LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9175, 26 August 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The local labour market is gradually brightening. Labour agnnts are placing shepherds, ploughmen and milkers. Shearers are being booked for early sheds. A visit of inspection is being paid to Eketahuna and surrounding districts by District Inspector Jenlcinson and Inspector Ussher (Masterton) of the btock Department. A lata feo tetter box has been fixed at the local Post Office, in which late letters bearing an extra fee of one penny may be posted fifteen minutes after the advertised time for ordinary correspondence. The work of raising the stop-bank on tie Park extension on the eastern bank of thi Waipoua River has been completeu as far as the Council has authorised at present. The bank is now very much higher than the river is likely to rise at that particular spot and the strength of its construction has made it unquestionably a permanent resisting force to the river's encroachments on the Park area from the western side. Although the condition of local pastures at the present time is none too good on account of the severity of the frosts, there are to be seen fat stock whose appearance does not indicate any shortness of feed. Daily mobs of cattle are driven through Masterton in the primest of killing condition. On the other hand, there are farmers whose pastures are so poor that their cattle are little else but skin and bone. The new Technical School is now practically completed. A few hands are still employed in clearing-up and putting a few finishing touches to various parts of the building. It is not intended now to erect a fence in front of the edifice, as when the street is widened the front step will have its outer edge just about to the boundary of the reduced section. The contractor for the building (Mr A. Haughey) will have the work entirely out of hands this week.

Tha bankruptcy business to be dealt with at the Wairarapa District Court at Masterton at the coming session is as follows:—Applications for discharge: Benjamin Speight, hotelkeeper (adjudicated bankrupt in May, 1906); Charles Henry Gayfer, stock-dealer, Carterton (filed last month); William Henry Wilton, Taratahi, farmer (filed last year). The latter application was adjourned by the Court from November last. A petition is being made by C. A. Pownall, solicitor, to adjudge Henry William Clay, of Hamua, a bankrupt. Prompt * Delivery. Importers requiring immediate delivery of their goods cannot do bettor than entrust their Customhouse and Forwarding work to J. J. CURTIS and Co. Ltd., Customhouse Quay, Wellington. Eilicknt service and moderate charges assured. 1

Mrs J. Caselberg, of Masterton, has donated the sum of one guinea to the District Nurse's fund. A full rehearsal of the Masterton Choral Society will be held in St. Matthews' Schoolroom, at 8 o'clock, to-night. A meeting of those interested in the formation of a Cricket Club in connection with the Borough Staff and Fire Brigade will be held in the Brigade Station to-night. A Masterton labour bureau proprietor informed a Wairarapa Age reporter yesterday that the prospects were for a later shearing season than usual this year. At the weekly meeting of St. Matthew's Club to be held this evening the subject for debate will be "Should Asiatics be excluded from New Zealand." Mr Cole will lead in the affirmative, an J Mr Bennett in the negative.

The annual examination for Ambulance certificates in first aid and home nursing are set down for next month for Masterton, although it is not improbable that they will be postponed until a little later in the year. There will be about twenty candidates for the first aid examination, and fourteen for the home nursing subjects.

At a meeting of tho ladies' committee of the Masterton Football Club, held to discuss matters in connection with the Club's annual social and dance on 'lhur»day, September 3rd, it was reported that all arrangements in connection therewith were well in hand, and that there was every prospect of the function being a success.

A rather important practice by the ladies' division of St. John Ambulance Brigade is to be held this evening. Tne practice is for first aid pupils, and is being held in view of the approaching visit of Mr H. H. Seed, District Superintendent. It may not be generally known that attendance at district inspection is compulsory, unless a reasonable excuse is sent in writing. Pupils who' do not attend may be struck off the roll. Inspector Seed will go to Napier next week and will visit Masterton on his return to Wellington. ' The following is tne balance-sheet 1 in connection with the hospital ball held on July 2nd last:—ReceiptsDonations, *6* 9s; tickets, ball, £563 16s 6d; tickets,' dance, £lO 7s; refreshments sold, £3 10s. Disbursements—Hire of Town and £ll 10s; hire of crockery, cutlery, flags, etc., £7 14s4d; advertising and printing, £7; music, £6 6s; assistance, waitresses, etc., £6 ss; cartages, £1 18s 3d; cordials and sundries. £1 3s 6d; by balance handed to hospital trustees, £9O 5s sd. The Government subsidy on £9O 5s 5d is £IOB 6s 6d, so that the total benefit amounts to £l9B lis lid.

The custodian of the Park (Mr D. Jackson) has just completed the replanting and digging of the botanical section of the PaWc, a large numoer of new varieties of flowers having been put in. The plots present their usual neat and attractive appearance, and when the spring blooms are out the place will be a maze of colour. The Oval has suffered from the nipping: frosts, but the new top-Jtesting will assure a fine pitch for cricket next season. Some general clearing up and pruning has altered for the batter the appearance of the lake and its vicinity.

After all one particular woman had a gooJ deal to do with the comfort of the American fleet. Miss Anna Gould, at the time of the Spanish-American War, presented her country with the hospital ship Relief. Or, rather, she sold it for a dollar, in order that she might keep the dollar aa a memento. It is marvellously fitted up with all the latest and most fearful inventions in instruments and medical appliances, and it is manned by a magnificent staff. The commander is a doctor—the only instance, it is saK of such a combination in the wprld. The following concerning the Antonio's Flat Dredge is taken from the "Star," of August 15th:—There was a fairly large attendance of persons interested in the gold dredging industry in Messrs G. W. Moss and Co.'s sale rooms, this morning, when the firm auctioned the claim and dredge known as Antonio's, which elicited considerable competition, and was subsequently sold to Messrs Hessey and Cameron, of Masterton, for £440. The new proprietors intend to go ahead with the work immediately thd necessary transfer is made, and seeir.g that the pontoons and machinery are all in thorough wo king order there will be no delay caused.

A sitting of the Masterton Police Court was held yesterday morning. A first offender was fined 5s for having been drunk in a public place. William Todd was charged with having obtained goods to the value of 15s from Henry Crowder by means of false pretences. Accused was arrested at Eketahuna, and pleaded guilty to the charge, A fine of £5, in default a month's imprisonment, was imposed. George Markham, an exinmate of Renall-Solway Home, was charged with having insufficient lawful means of support. The police statsd that the authorities did not desire to have accused back in the Home, and the case was adjourned for a week to see if the Ohiro Home would receive the accused. Begin this clay well, and furnish the home with a piano—but get a good one! It is so difficult <o judge piano values that exports themselves hesitate until they have thoroughly tested touch, tone, action and architecture. Even then they greatly rely on the reputation of the maker. It the expert could be deceived, how can the purchaser of a single piano hopo to escape F Why, only by buying an instrument from a warehouse which can be trusted. Now, the Dresden Piano Company, Limited, Wellington, has a wonderfully good mime in this respect. It is a firm wit i years of fair dealing behind it—and a reputation to bo sustained in the future. Their prices are surprisingly low for high-grade instruments. It won't coaio hard on you with "The Dresden's" systems of timepayment—just a small sum down and then instalments from 20s monthly Local Representative; T. B. Hunter. Beware of the dealer, salesman, or traveller who casts reflections upon his competitors. He does so from interested motives—perhaps to back np his own weak position. Our Agents are instructed not to discredit rival firms. They are to rely solely on the merits of the Company's 'instruments. For Bronchial Coughs take Woods 'rr'eat Peppermint Cure, 1,'6 and 2/6.

The Patoa Bowling Club is to con-;"V aider the advisability of playing by electric light.

A nunedin firm is shipping 10,000 feet of timber, chiefly red pine, to Vienna. This is the fourth lot the firm has despatched. The medals the Government has had struck, to commemorate New Zealand's change of status from a colony to a Dominion will be distributed to the State schools on Dominion Day—September 26th. The revenue benefited to the extent of £I,OOU last week, this sum being derived from the poll-tax collected from ten Chinese who arrived by the Warrimoo from Sydney. They varied from 14 years of age to about SO vears,

Mr J. G. Harkness, secretary of the National Dairy Association, has been in the Taranaki district during the past week on business connected with the scheme of co-operative marketing. Mr Harkness states that the scheme appears to be going ahead satisfactorily, despite what might be said to the contrary. So far as the prospects of the butter market the ensuing season were cotfcerned, Mr Harkness considers they are exceedingly bright. Efforts are to be made with a view to strengthening the membership of the various Auckland suburban branches of the National Defence League, and bringing the objects of the league before the electors priqr to the general election. Suggestions have been made towards arranging a public demonstration in Auckland before election time, and during the actual campaign. All candidates will be requested to consider the following question: "Do you consider that the time has arrived for tho adoption in New Zealand of a system of universal training for defence of all boya and young men up to the age of twenty-one?"

There was a very interesting sight at Mittagong (New South Wales), when Mr R. Shipman and family, consisting of wife and three daughters, made a halt to replenish supplies while passing through Mittagong, en route to the Dorrigo. The means of conveyance consisted of a 14-bullock team and waggon, aud three paddle horses. They left Mount Murray, Kangaloon, on the 11th inst., and expect to reach their destination in six weeks, a distance of 500 miles, where they intend entering into timber-getting and farming pursuits. The whole; turn-out, showing enterp-ise and energy under adverse conditions, reminded one of the pluck and dogged determination of settlers preceding; the advent of the railway.

The effort of Mr Courtey to interest Wellington in the undoubted possibilities and potentialities of Tauranga, though ably seconded by a massive old-man pumpkin, were without success, says the "Post.'" Un Monday the bulky vegetable wast again carried down to the meeting: room, there to do its little part in spreading the good news of cheap and! fertile soil whence it came, but th& hearers were few. When one approached it enquiringly, the pumpkin? gave the information that it weighed! 701b. and though cut last May, was still in a healchydd-age and sound condition. He was one, he might have said, of a family of fourteen, whose aggregate weight tipped the scale at 5191b; and they wfre all born in a piece of erround 14ft by 9ft; as sworn to by reputable people in the birth certificate. Bat, it was a disconsolate vegetable when it wasn refused a hearing, and was borne away—most probably to oblivion or the hatchet of the dissector on th& look-out for good seeds.

At the Carterton Magistrate's Court, yesterday, before Messrs Jas. Brown, J. Baillie and W. T. Roydhouse, J.'aP., a man named Ernest Sinclair, alias Walter Sinclair, was charged with the theft of a Panama hat valued at £2 10s, a petrified wood pendant valued at 15s, a mother of pearl penholder value ss, and four ornamental paper fans value 4s, from the dwelling-house of Purukau Maika, Belvedere Road, Carterton. The accused, who was represented by Mr Lavery, pleaded not guilty. For the prosecution, evidence was given by Purukau Maika, who stated that: the accused had had possession of the> key of his dwelling for a day and a. night. The articles missing were: identified as belonging to him. For the defence, the accused said that. Purukau Maika owed him 9s for* games of billiards that he had paid for him, and that the articles alleged to have been stolen were held by him as security for repayment of that amount. The accused was sentenced to two months' imprisonment Three or four small boys recently started in the newß agency business in Palmerston North, says the "Standard," and were conduct?: ing a thriving business when the police intervened to stop th* little game. Their plan of operations was. certainly original. They marchei holdly up to the railway station whet tha trains came in and grabbed tie bundles of magazines as they wee pitched out of the mail vans. No oo suspected anything, as it was tfe invariable custom for small boys k take these bundles to the differen booksellers. The magazines behr rather bulky the hoys coolly borroweL the railway hand-truck, and the: wheeled their prizes along Domai. Street to the Cuba Street Methodia Church. Here they effected an en trance to the lumber room and tool charge of the ladies' sewing box ir. which to store their goods. From this centre they supplied the surrounding populace with cheap literature, sold at half price, and for some time past have been doing handsome- ] ly. However, the custodhn of the i church came suddenly on the plant. yesterday, and the police have now taken; charge of the literature, also the vendors. It is said that about £$ worth of magazines were taken, from the station. ONCE A MAN BUYS A suit from us he is most unwilling to wear any otlnr make: That's why we re making suits tor gentlemen all over the Dominion—gentlemen who have tested, the fit, comfort, style, and quality of our clothes, and have found them the best: Why not leave your order with us when next in Wellington. Our cash prices, mean money saved to you. Morrison. andPenney, Tailors, 73 Willis Street,. Wellington. Woods' Great Peppermint Cure for Coughs and Colds never fails. 1/6 and! 2/6.

Strike pay is atil 1 being paid out to about thirty bakers concerned in the recent trouble in Wellington. Single men are receiving £1 per week, and married men £1 7s 6d, with 2s 6d per week added for each member of the family not working. The New South Wales Intelligence Department reports a striking example of the "slimness" of the modern American advertiser, as shown by a recent number of a prominent United States review. An arrangement was recently made by the Department for the publication in the journal of an illustrated article dealing with the resources of New South Wales. The article appeared, illustrated by a number of blocks prepared from photographs which had been supplied for the purpose. One photograph, ho- ever, depicting a flock of sheep, seems to have gone astray, and drifted into the hands of an advertising expert, who was swift to profit by the opportunity. A wire fence has been neatly "faked" across the front of the picture, and the view now figures as the centrepiece of a large advertisement of fencing material, with the proud announcement that "this photograph shows one of the great Australian sheep farms protected by the famous sheep fence."

Messrs Varnham and Rose invite tenders to close on September Bth for additions to the Presbyterian Church.

The goodwill of the lease of 230 acres, with five years to run, is ad vertised for sale by Mr R. Brown, estate agent, Masterton.

Particulars of several good farms in the Auckland district are advertised by Messrs Hipkins and Madill, land-agents, Auckland, in whose hand 3 the properties have been placed for sale.

Mr J. Scott, watchmaker and jeweller, of Queen Street, Masterton, has on hand a well-selected stock suitable for wedding or birthday presents. The repair branch is under the direct control of the proprietor, and every caro is taken to ensure satisfaction. The sale of furniture and effects, to be sold on account of Mr P. A . Hoskmg, at the residence, Hogg Crescent, this afternoon, will commence at half-past one promptly. The catalogue list is a very extensive one, and every line will be sold without reserve. Mr This. R. Husband, who recently aevered hin connection with the firm of Husband Bros., land and estate agents, Pahiatua, has commenced business on his own behalf in Woodville. A list of properties which he has for sale will be published in these columns in a day or two.

Messrs Williams and Bruce, Ohura, advertise particulars of a first-class farm property in the Ohura Valley. The farm consists of 253 acres lease-in-perpetuitVj and 395 acres of native lease, with 38 years to run. The property is well-improved, 430 acres being laid down in grass, and suitable Duildings are have been erected.

Mr H. A. Thomson, formerly proprietor of the Hunterville "Express," has purchased Mrs Milne's stationery business at Pahiatua. Mr Thomson is an energetic citizen, and has been connected with a number of public organisations in Hunterville, besides being an ardent follower of cricket and football.

The Spencer piano used at the Or chestral Society's concert, la3t evening, was supplied by Messrs Inns and Goddard. It was remarkably rich and powerful in tone, and of liquid pruity. Messrs Inns and Goddard are local agents for these fine instruments, and will be pleased to supply particulars to intending purchasers.