LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3168, 20 April 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is understood that the Government has decided to abolish the District Court at Masterton as from June 30th. The final sitting of the Court will commence on May 30tb. The Greytown golf links will be formally opened for the season by the club's President, Mr John Cotter, on Saturday next. The Y.M.C.A. Tennis Club will hold a social everw'ng in the rooms on Friday n:jxt, at 8 o'clock. The first part of the evening will be devoted to a "book" party Recitations and songs will be e idered by the members and their friends, and games will be indulged in till supper time. The troph es won at the recent tournament will be presented.

A petition has been loaged against the return of Henare Kaihau, as M.P. for the Western Maori electorate. At the Masterton Police Court, yesterday morning, before Mr J. R. Nicol, J.P., a first offending inebriate was convicted and discharged. Apparently retrenchment in the lourist Department has already set in. It is understood that ten girls in the Wellington office have received notice, or are about to receive notice of dismissal. In connection with the recent burglaries in Masterton two men, who are now undergoing sentences for burglary at Featherston, will be called upon to answer the charges at ' the Magistrate's Court to-morrow morning. j The work of forming Kuripuni street is now completed, except as to the putting of some chipping on the remaining portion of the footpath. Makora street extension is in the same position. With the weather conditions favourable the work of tarmacadamising Queen street will be finished by the end of the present week. The usual meeting of the 1.0. G.T. was held in the Dominion Hall last evening, C.T. Bro Gilbert being in the chair. There was a record attendance of members. Routine business was transacted. Three new members were proposed, and duly elected. Addresses were delivered by Sis. Richards, Nelson, Bros. Anderson, Collier, McLean, Bedford, Morris and King.

It is interesting to note that the Engineer's staff and the Town Ulerk's staff have responded generously to the Mayor's appeal to found a Stewardesses' Bed in commemoration of the bravery displayed in the wreck of the Penguin. No less than £3 15s has been subscribed by the staffs. This contrasted with the total of £4 4s subscribed by the general public speaks well for the generous spirit existing among the Borough employees. During the past season the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society liberated 302,130 trout fry in the different streams and lakes. The greatest number went into Victoria Lake, which received 70,000. The Ashley River 'received 50,000, the Waimakariri 35,000, and the Hurunui 30,000. Other lakes and rivers were stocked according to their size and requirements. Many complaints were made by sportsmen last year of the wholesale disregard for the law in regard to deerstalking in and around Kaiwhaiki, in the Wanganui district. The deer were hunted and indiscriminately slaughtered for a month or two before the season opens, and the bona fide sportsmen, consequently, had no chance of securing any heads. The "Herald" states that this year the same thing has again happened. Last season 29 deerstalking licenses were taken out, which meant a revenue of £29 to the society; this seaaon only 15 licenses have been issued. The sport has been practically ruined in the district. A meeting of the shareholders of the Workers' Mutual Benefit Building Society, convened for the purpose of receiving tenders for the sum of £3OO free of interesr, was held last night. Mr R. Krahagen occupied the chair, and there were also present,— Messrs J. Prentice, W. H. Cole, J. W. Gordon, A. Gardner; H. O. Fowles, J. Candy, T. S. Cresswell. Mr J. W. Wise's tender for £l5O at £4O 10s was accepted. Mr G. Boagey's tender of £22 10s for the other £l5O and claimed another £l5O at the same price, under Rule 130, which was accordingly alloted to him, making in all £450 allotted during the evening, the profit to the Society being £BS 10s.

St. Matthew's Club will open its winter session to-night, when a concert will be held, commencing at--7.30. Songs and recitations will be rendered, and an enjoyable evening is anticipated. An excellent syllabus' has been drawn up, including, as well as papers on religious subjects, a lantern lecture on English Cathedrals by the vicar, lectures by Messrs W. £l. Jackson and R. Brown, and paper o by several club members. The Rev. W. Raine has been appointed secretary, and intending members are invited to communicate with him. The function will be held in St. Matthew's Schoolroom, and an invitation is extended to young men to attend.

An enjoyable game of bowls took place at Carterton on Saturday last, when four rinks from the Masterton Club played a match against the Car tert'm Club. The victory went to Masterton, who scored 34 points to their opponents' 70. The results are as follow: —Messrs Inder, Ashton, W. Pragnell, O. Pragnell (Masterton), 19 points, lost to McPhee, Steer, Roydhouse, and Whyte (Carterton), 20 points; Jones, Haughey, Ewington, Prentice (Masterton), 22 points, beat Cave, Reid, Booth, Downard (Carterton), lr> points; Wingata, Beale, McEwen, Reed (Mascerton), 18 points* beat Hill, Brown, G. Leach (Carterton), 17 points; Feist, Smith, Hunter, Rigg (Masterton), j25 points, beat A. Leach, Barry, ! Lindop, Lightfoot (Carterton), 18 points. On Thursday next, Carterton will send several rinks to Masterton, when an enjoyable game is anticipated. A party of seven residents of Manunui made an ascent of Ngauruhoe on Good Friday. On the previous day they walked across the Waimarina Plains for 20 miles, and then camped for the night. Friday was a perfect day, and by noon the party completed the ascent. All the way up great clouds of smoke could be seen issuing from the crater, and when they reached the summit a great sight was presented. One of the party, Mr W. Wilson, in referring to the expedition, said that columns of dense smoke were going up a height of fully I,oooft, while showers of stones were also sent up, but fell back into the crater again. Loud rumblings were heard away down in the crater, and later, a* the party descended, great clouds of steam were seen issuing from cracks in the mountain side. It was also noticed'that the river, which had been running down the mountain side a month before, had disappeared, and chasms 20ffc wide and 10ft deep were seen running off into the bed of the creek. When the foot of the mountain was again reached, many loud explosions were heard, like the report of many cannons being fired at once.

The annual meeting of the Masterton Morris Tube Association will bo held at eight o'clock on Thursday evening next, in the Drill Hall. The oyster season opens on May Ist next. The supply of Auckland oysters is not likely to be so large as it was last season, when the best of the Waiheke beds were pretty well depleted. Mails for Raratonga, Tahiti; Mangaia, Penrhyn, Aititeki, Marquesas Islands, also Unitea States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, and Continent of Europe, via San Francisco, will close at Masterton, at 4.45 p.m., to-day. The following will represent the Mauriceville Rifle Club in a match against the Alfredton Rifle Club, at Mauriceville, on Thursday next:— Captain Wilton, Riflemen Kummer, Blewett, Larsen, Dagg, Wilton, Dagg, Rose. Dagg, Brenchley. In these days of militarism it is i noteworthy to be able to point to a record of 45 years' soldiering, or 0 rather, soldiering and volunteering (remarks the Feilding "Star"). Mr Owen Pleasants, sen., who has applied to be placed on the reserve list,, can claim all that. He spent eight years and a half as a sergeant in the famous Grenadier Guards, and the remainder of the term in the New Zealand Armed Constabulary and volunteers.

Sir Edward Clarke, speaking at a meeting of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League at Esher, said women's politics were almost always *" personal. "A handsome young Guardsman or the son of a peer will," he said, "be an irresistible candidate to a woman. A woman generally says of a man either that he is 'a dear' or that he is *a wretch.' To vote for 'the dear' would be a matter of course, and to embroil women in the activities of political life would be an invasion of the home against which every woman has a right to protest." "There is no doubt about it," said Colonel Tuson, a member of theDefence Council, to an Auckland "Herald" representative, "that a week's training evsry year is the least volunteers ought to get. At Home the volunteers go into camp for eight days' training, and they go in by brigades, so that we generally get , between 2,000 and 3,000 in one camp, and can get very good work out of them. Here we get very small camps and a very short time in which to get any proper training in at all. Considering the limited training they get I consider thp volunteers here arft very efficient indeed." It aopears that the Tasmanian timber trade with New Zealand will shortly be placed on a much more satisfactory basis than hitherto (says a Hobart telegram to the Melbourne "Argus"). Tasmanian exporters and New Zealand importers have both felt the need of a regular service, so that orders can he promptly executed, and it has transpired that negotiations for forming a syndicate of merchants in the Dominion and Tasmanian exporters for the purpose of running a steamer of their own in the trade have been brought to a successful termination. The steamer, which will be aole to carry about 1,500 tons dead weight, is being procured from England, and the vessel is to De delivered at Albany about June next. It is stated to be the intention of the syndicate to also employ a steamer in the coal carrying trade between Australia and New Zealand.

In an interview with a Christ* church pressman, Mr T. T.. Smail, city missioner, had a few interesting remarks to offer on the subject of prison camps. The idea, he said, was a good one, and the camps had no doubt done a lot of good. They could only be carried on successfully, however, as long as the greatest care was taken in the selection of the rr.en who were sent there. In the majority of cases there were four men in a hut., The gaoler in charge should endeavour to get men together whose tastes and ideas were congenial, be- . cause there could be nothing rmire productive unpleasantness than the enforced company of one who was totally out of sympathy with the others. The ideal system would be one man one hut, but if that was' an impossible ideal a sympathetic observance of the characteristics and , tastes of the prisoners at the camp mighi have a good result, by giving them at least the most congenial company possible.

Th 3 Invercargill correspondent of the "Otago Daily Times" states that the flaxmi,ll industry is in a bad way, and the mills that are going are doing very little for export, their principal work being to fill New Zealand orders for twine. Several.Southland mills have closed down owing to the poor prospects of the market, and millers all over the district are waiting for a rise in the market before re-starting. An Invercargill labour agent said that the whole trouble lay in the royalties that flaxmiilers were called upon to pay. These were always about the top figure that could be demanded, and when the market fell the royalties were not reduced, and so millers had to close their mills. The wages had gone down to 6s a day, and they could not go much lower than that. In his i opinion the only solution of the difficulty, other than a rise in the market, lay in the Government considering the question of royalties. Experiments have been carried out on German warships with acetylene shell 3, which, it is believed, will take the place of the electric searchlight used hitherto by warships. These shells contain calcium carbide, and the water can reach it through a tube. The shells are fired by a gun specially for the purpose. On being fired the shell goes under the water, and then rises to the surface, and the action of tha water upon the calcium carbide produces the acetylene light. Each shell is said to have 3.000 candle-power, and will bum for three hours. The great drawback of the ordinary searchlighc is that, although it affords some protection from the unobserved approach of torpedo-boats, it yet makes the warship using it an excellent target. The new acetylene shell referred to will have the great advantage of lighting up a given space, while the vessel that fires it will be left in darkness. Medicines that aid nature are always most successful. • Chamberlain's Cough Remedy acts on this plan. It allays the cough, aids expectoration, relieves the lungs, opens tbe secretions, thereby aiding nature in throwing off a cold and re storing the system to a healthy condition For sale by all chemists and storekeepers

F. P. Welch requires married couples for farm and station work. Mrs A. Beetham, Cole street, requires a good general servant. Winter sporting goods are in full supply at the Fancy Department of the W.F.C.A. Mr W. I. Husband advertises particulars of a number of first-class farms which have been placed in his hands for sale. Particulars of a number of town rand country properties for sale by Mr .R. Brown, Masterton, will be found «on page 8 of this issue. Mr W. H. Cruickshank advertises for sale or exchange a number of town and country properties. The ease id also advertised of a farm of 456 acres of well improved land near Masterton. Comparison is really the test for -value." Veitch and Allan want everyone to test the values they offer. They are satisfied that they give the ■very best value, and that the quality of their goods and the prices cbargej are not to be equalled elsewhere. Veitch and Allan carry large, up-to-date stocks, and in this issue are -offering special value in bed coverings. The s.a. "Corinthic" brought a i large shipment of the latest Welsbach lamps. These new lamps are an improvement upon the ulder, inasmuch as the mantles cannot blacken even in a draught, or by careless handling. Of course everyone knows how mu"h •y4he Welsbach burners and mantles improve gaslight; well, the same principle is adopted in their kerosene lamps, and the improvement is just at great. Welsbach burners and - mantles can be readily fitted to ordinary lamps.