LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3139, 17 March 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Apple and plum trees are to be seen in bloom, and, also, young leaves shooting, in a garden in the township, writes our Tinui correspondent. The fever ward at the Grey town Hospital >s now empty all the recent <"res having been discharged a.-s c red. Mr Edward Kibble, employed as a cadet on Mr John McLeod's Whakapuni property, Lower Valley, met with an accident last Saturday, while mustering cat'le. He was rushed by a bullock and had several ribs broken. He is now an inmate of the Greytowr Hospital. The following classes at the Technical School commenced work yesterday, and were on the whole well at-tended:-Bookkeeping (Mr Haslam), dressmaking (Miss M. Johnston), sign and ticket-writing, Mr E. J. Chilton. The classes meeting: to-day are as follows:—Dressmaking, woodworking (Mr C. J. Ashton), light and shade (Mr G. R. Irvine), geometrical drawing (Mr F. Edward Lamb) and Pitman's Shorthand (Miss M. Butemant). Miss Johnston's dressmaking class at Hastwell will commence as soon as the necessary arrangements can be* made. On Saturady last the Gun Club fired the second competition for the stag's head presented by Mr P. McDonald. The match consisted of two ten-bird sweeps. The first was won by C. Burt, with a score of 26, and the second by T. Skippage, with a total of 29, the competition being finally won by the latter, who's score was 51. T. C. Irving was second with 49 points. Thess two Competitors have now each got a "lag in" for the trophy. Other sweepstakes decided were won *by F. Burt, C. Burt, T. Skippage (3), andT. Irving. At a meeting of the Borough Works and Finance Committee, on Tuesday, 9th inst., there ware present—The Mayor, and Crs Ewington, Haughey, Hunter, Morris, Pauling, Pragnell, Prentice, Yarr. An application was received from the Very Rev. Dean McKenna, for an extension of the Queen street sewer along Princess sti-eet so as to permit of the Manse being connected thereto about three chains, the Dean offering to contribute £ for £ of cost. Subject thereto the Committee recommend that the said sewer be so extended. The Town Clerk reported that Thursday had been Gazetted as the Statutory closing day for the Masterton Borough under the provisions of the Shops and Offices Act. An application was received from Mr Geo. W. Blane for the extension of the water mains into and along Vivian street to his residence. The application was referred to the Engineer for his report. White Muslin Frocks with dainty trimmed blouses and tucked skirts at 15s 6d, 18s 6d and 21s. White Lawn Dress Skirts, tiuartly made, at 6s lid, 9s Gd and 12s Cd. White Underskirts 5s lid to lis 6d. These prices are not an indication of the value of the goods. I am clearing these lines—whilst summer lasts— a t prices much below usual. You should come and inspect them for yourself.—Mrs Mathewson, Melbourne Ho'iae. Lambton QuaV, Wellington (opposite Sank «f Kew Zealand),

Mr W. Pryor, representative of the Employers' Association, will reach Masterton to-morrow in connection with matters relating to the drivers' dispute. The annual meeting of the St. Patrick's Sports Association will be held to-day, in the Park, and given fine weather there should be a large attendance, as an excellent programme has been drawn up, and several well-known runners are competing. In the evening a social and dance will be held in the Drill Hall. The Roslyn (Dunedin) Fire Brigade met with an unexpected delay in dealing with a fire last week. It seems that the ingenious children of the Kaikorai School hard by have cultivated a habit of removing the covers and filling in the fire-plugs with earth, which has to be dug out before the hydrant can be affixed. Passengers from Auckland by the Main Trunk line for Rotorua or Cambridge don't enjoy the habit of early rising thrust upon them by the Railway Department (says the Waikato Independent.) Arriving at about three a.m. at Frank ton they are calmly deposited on to a cold platform, and have to wait seven hours and a-half for the first train onwards to their destination—if they are in a hurry they "walk! At the last meeting of the Borough Works Committee an application for the remission of rates was received from a person liable for rates for the financial period of 1905 to 1909 in the sum of £4O 13s Id, including costs, on the ground of advanced age, enfeebleness and extreme poverty. The Committee have recommenced , that the said sum be written off under section 59 of the Rating Act.' A practical engineer informed a Press reporter that he was of L the opinion that the work of repairs to the Huddart-Parker Company's steamer* Ulimaroa, |which grounded in Otago Harbour, would occupy about eight or 10 weeks, and that the cost of the job would be from £B,OOO to £IO,OOO, which would include over £2,000 for dack dues—a "windfall" for Lyttelton Dock. It is stated that the plates to be renewed in the vessel will probably have to be specially imported owing to their great size. The present position in regard to the Wellington Mayoralty is that Mr G. W. Shirtcliffe has decided that, owing to business calls on his time, he will be unable to contest the Mayoralty this year, but he may come forward on a future occasion. Dr Newman and Mr Wilford are definitely announced, and Mr Fisher is regarded as a certainty. Mesres Bolton and Biss have not yet decided as to whether they will come forward. At the annual meeting of the Featherston Golf Club the following officers were elected for the ensuing year:—Patron, Mr A. Matthews, (re-elected); president, Mr John Cotter (re-elected); vice-presidents, Messrs B. Speedy and G. Fenwick (re-elected); captain, Mr Frank Bladen; vice-captain, Mr J. C. Bicknell; secretary and treasurer, Mr J. W. Card, (re-elected); general committee, Messrs Everton, Toogood, Allen Williams, and McCarty; handicappers, Messrs Fenwick, Toogood and Allen. The continued slackness of the building trade in Wanganui is proving a very serious matter to carpenters and allied tradesmen, painters especially. The ''Herald" states that some of the local firms have discharged practically all their hands, including many of their oldest employees. Several fairly large contracts are expected to be in band in the near future, which should relieve the depression, but it must be some time before all hands are again employed. It ha 3 been reported that the cargo of Baltic pine brought out* from Sunds #all by the barque Ophelia for I Dunedin and Lyttelton is the first j direct cargo of that timber landed in New Zealand. A "Lyttelton Times" reporter was informed on Friday by an "old-timer" in shipping circles that such is not the case, although the mistake is quite excusable. The first direct cargo of "Baltic" came to New Zealand in 1866 or i 1867, probably in a vessel called the Helga, arid there were one or two previous similar importations. The late Mr Ludwig Bergh, of Ashby, Bergh and Co.,- was a passenger to New Zealand by the vessel which brought out the first cargo. The proposal of a Norwegian firm to establish a whaling station at Campbell Island, south of New Zeal.i.i.i, has led an old whaler to send the following note . to the Bluff "Press":—' Since I went out on the Antarctic expedition, when we got as far south a? 74deg. in search of right whales, no fewer than a dozen whaling companies have taken up whaling in the southern seas, notably at Falkland Islands, South Shetland and South Georgia, and more recently at the Kerguelens. . Enterprising Norwegians have had an eye to the promising fields along the coast of South Africa, and one or two more | companies were being formed in Norway when I left to go in..fi.r whaling along the African coasts." From Denver, Colorado, comes the , story of a somewhat unusual feat j)f courage, nerve, and strength. A lineman was working fifty feet above the ground, when he touched a live wire, and was shocked into unconsciousness. He was held in the position in which he fell by a tangle of wires, and was literally being electrocuted. Another lineman was working on a pole about eight feet distant. He did not wait to go down his pole and clinib*' the other; by that time his comrade would have been dead. He made a flying leap through space, and jabbed his climbing irons into the pole at which he sprang. They held. Then he leaned from his perilous position and began to lift his friend from the wires. The only thing that supported him was the climbing irons, and if they had broken under the strain, nothing could have saved either man. But they held, and the pluck, agility, and presence of mind of the gallant lineman had their reward in the rescue of his vscrkmate.

Mr A. Wan.er, Stafford, N.Z., writes "A few weeks ago while working in a store at Utiku I had a severe attack of colic and diarrhoea. As I was steadily growing worse I decided to try Chamberlain's Coiie, Cholera and Diarrhoea Remedy, and I was surprised to find that it only took a few doses to cure me. Since then I have never ISst an opportunity to recommend it to any of my friends suffering from the same complaint. For sale by all chemists ;and store, keepers.

Sixty-five hen birds, from seventeen lofts, took part in a pigeon race from Waipawa last week, flown mdaE the direction of the Wellington Homing Pigeon Society. The erection of a new Salvation Army hall at Dannevirke, of brick.. with a seathg capacity of 350, is now being commenced. It is estimated that as no licensing elections took place in t» e Welling--ton, Wellingtpn South, cr Wellington Suburbs electorates, nearly £I,OO0 j was saved by the City Council. At the meeting of the Masterton >. County Council on 13th April next, resolutions will b 3 . brought up for ' confirmation in connection with a loan for metalling on the AlfredtonWeber road. It is stated that Mrs Hannam, the 1 only woman survivor of the Penguin disaster, has been offered by the Union Steamship Company a position as a stewardess. Humanised milk for babies (says a Dunedin correspondent) seems to be corning into general use. It was reported at the Dunedin meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children that 134 babies were being fed on this milk. The turnip and rape crops in the Ashburton Plains district have gone off Jin a most remarkable manner during the past week. The majority of those crops that to the eye looked fresh and green 10 days ago have been reduced to a withered mass as a result of the dry weather and' the blight, and an examination proves that the bulbs of the turnips have already become spongy. This will be a very serious matter for the farmers who were depending, as in former years, on the root crops to finish off their sheep and lambs. Myriads of insects are on the wing in' the evening, known as the turnip. fly, and there is every probability that the disease will spread from one end of the country to the other. What is required to successfully combat the disease is a heavy downpour of rain, and until this occurs there is no hope of the disease being checked in its spread and > effects. The jubilee of the Waireka fight, in Taranaki, the first engagment of the Maori war in which volunteers took part, will be observed in March of next year, when it is hoped £that most of the survivors will assemble to commemorate the anniversary. , From a list which has been carefully revised from year to year, arid just brought up to date, • * it appears '■ that 158 volunteers and militja had a share in the engagement. Of these 88 are dead, having fallen in the battle or died since. .* About 40 were past their prime when the fight took place. Among the sur- " vivors are'Mr T. Humphries (Commission of Crown Lands for the Wellington district,) and Mr C. W. Hursthouse (chief engineer of the Roads Department), who were youthful comrades in the Lands and Survey Department when the war broke out, . and happen now to be .retiring together under the Superannuation Act. Another survivor of Waireka is Mr • R. C. Hamarton. of Wellington, who was formerly Public Trustee.

Mrs Mathewson, on e of the leading millinery experts, of Wellington, arrived in Masterton last evening with a fine assortment of new seasen's goods, and will make an elaborate display of same this morning in ■ premises in Queen street recently occupied by Mr" C. C. Aitken (next to Mr Carpenter's!. Mrs Mathewson has brought to this town a selection of really beautiful and serviceable millinery, and extends an invitation ■ to the ladies of Masterton and district to inspect the same. The goods will be on view and for sale until . Saturday evening n°xt. A reward is offered for the recovery of a three-bar gold brooch, set , with rubies and pearls. Mrs T. Hill and family iricert a notice of thanks for sympathy on account of their recent bereavement. A meeting of Justices to revise the jury list will be held at the Courthouse, Ivla3uerton, at 11 o'clock on April 2nd. N The sr>\s use of the oublicbsths has been granted to the District High School op Thursday and Friday next. The baths will be closed to the public on those days. Mr Newton King, land agent, New Plymouth, has tor sale several. first-class dairy farms, particulars of which will be found on page 8 of this issue. . ; An excellent luncheon may be obtained daily at the Arcadia Luncheon and Tea Rooms for one shilling. Afternoon tea is also supplied Patrons of the Arcadia Rooms can rely on a first-class meal and prompt attention.. The attention of local investors is directed to the sale by auction of houses and sections, which will be held by Messrs W. B. Chennells and Co., at the rooms, Perry Street, un Saturday next. Every lot wi!l be submitted on a bedrock basis, which' should encourage keen competition. On Wednesday next, 24th instant; Messrs J. A. J. Maclean and Co., acting under instructions from Mrs Tait, Devonshire House, will sell at auction the whole of the household furniture and effects, full particulars of which will be duly announced. Messrs Harcourt ,and Co., estateagents, Wellington, advertise particulars of a dairy farm of 99 acres, and a fine fattening property of 600 acres, on the Manawatu line. Both properties are highly improved, and worthy the attention of those who are looking for good properties. Ihe attention of readers is directed to a sale by auction of a 472acre farm situated at Upper Opaki, on account of Mr A. E. Reader, which will be held at the offices of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., Masterton, on Saturday, March 27th. The property in question is situated twelve miles from the Masterton Post Office; good metalled road past the door, which road will be ultimately the- main road to Eketahuna.' The land is flat and low terraces, been principally bush and now cleareed and in best Eiglish grasse3. A great proportion brought under the plough and produced good crops of oats, rspe, turnips, etc. Dairying has also been carried on. Fences, buildings and yards all good. The whole [a really good healthy property for mixed, farming.