LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9548, 21 July 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The "Englishman's Home" Company have pencilled the Masterton Town Hall for October 13th. The monthly meeting of the Technical School managers will take place on Friday evening next, at 7.30 o'clock. According to one of the "unemI ployed" agitators, there are over 40,000 men out of work in Sydney, at present, and it was decided to carry out a demonstration in force against Parliament. At Thames, one day last weik, a local resident played a piano ior eleven hours without a stop. He played 938 pieces of music from memory during the time he was at the piano. . Mr Thomas Horton, proprietor of the welf-known orchards at Hastings and Pahiatua, has offered to present , to the Wellington City Council 10,000 trees for planting in and about the city on Arbor Day or other occasions. The offer has been gratefully accepted by the council. It is rumoured, says the Milton "Mirror," that the Railway Department is claiming four times the ordinary freight from several farmers in the Tokomairiro district on account of the sacks of grain consigned by them weighing more than the regulation amount of 2001b, which recently came into force. The "Besses o' th' Barn Band are likely to pay the colonies pother visit, to that effect has beeil received by Mr Wade, conductor of the Wangauui Garrison Band The famous English band toured New Zelaand in 1906-7, under the management of Messrs J. and N. Tait. At the annual meeting of the New Zealand Axemen's Association, at Eltham, the report stated that the attendance at last carnival created a fresh record. There had been a falling off oi axemen's licenses issued by the Association during the year, owing to a number of mills closing down. The net profits for the year were £73 10s 9d; the balance of assets over liabilties was £335 19s 9d, nearly all of which is in cash. The Acting Premier stated yesterday that since 1906 an aggregate of 1,530,129 acres of Crown larra have been leased or sold in various provincial districts. The area in the hands of the Land and Survey Office to be ready for opening and settlement before the end of August was 110,094 acres. It is understood that some 30,000 acres jeclaimed from the Piako swamp will be available for settlement in early autumn. The Chinese of Wellington, encouraged by their Consul, Mr Yung Liang Hwang, have established a club in Ghuzriee Street, which is intended to be a social and intellectual centre for the members of their race. It contains a reading room, where, in addition to English newspapers, there will be a good supply of high-class Chinese magazines and journals, a social room, and a lew class rooms for teaching English and Chines;?,' , ■ On behalf of the Masterton sub-branch, the Wellington hon. secretary of the Navy League, has invited the captain and ward-room offices of H.M.S. Encounter to be present at a smoke concert beine organised by the league at Masterton. Captain Colomb hopes to be able to attend. Lieutenant Knox served under his father, the late Admiral Colomb; and when giving his final lecture in Wellington last January, Lieutenant Knox made special reference to Admiral Colomb's advice to the British nation, viz.: "Keep the command of the sea as you value national life. With it you can do everything; without it you will speedily be blotted out of the list of nations." In the Arbitration Court at Auckland yesterday, in the Kiripaka coal miners' dispute, Mr Manning, Secretary of the Federated Coalminers' Union, urged that the wages should be increased all round, and brought into line with the wages elsewhere. Since the passing of the Arbitration Act, he asserted, the minimum wage had come to be looked upon as the maximum, and workers had no longer the right to strike. Judge Sim: "You cancel your registration, and you can strike." Mr Manning: "I understood that in an industry to which an award would apply we should be liable if we struck," Judge Sim: "K. " at all. If you are not registered you can strike." ' In England it is customary fc the parents of triplets to claim the Royal bounty; in Germany, a military nation, it is the seventh son who obtains Impsritfl favour, and is able to claim the Kaiser as god-father, and to receive birthday good wishes and presents from His Majesty, sa.vs the Berlin correspondent of the London "Standard." An exeeptional case, however, is that of the family, all boy?, of a mason named Hausche, of Wi.ssingen, in the province of Hohenzollern. The seventh son is god-son of the Kaiser, an eighth was born, to whom Prince William of Hohenzollerti stood sponsor; a ninth arrived, and this t-me the Crown Prince became god-father. Only recently a tenth son has been born, ; and the parents are now anticipating ; another Imperial mark of appro- I bat ion. •

The improved farms which are being thrown open along the Main Trunk line for the benefit of retired: civil servants wil be ready for occupation by the first week in September. Altogether about 100 such farms, each containing from, 100 to 200 acres, will be offered under the optional system in the Auckland district. Te Akau block, containing some '14,000 acres, about eight miles north of Raglan, will probably be avaiable for selection about the beginning of the spring.

Birth marks, some striking and some very peculiar, frequently appear on children, but it is not often that letters of the alphabet are plainly distinguishable, still less the letter designating the surname of the family, There is a least one child in Wanganui, says a local paper, whose parents should have mi difficulty in recognising it should ever the circumstances arise whereby its identity should be in doubt. The baby has the letters "W.N.the latter being the first letter of the surname of its parents, plainly discernible on its body.

A recent Canadian invention, worked by two men, and a boy, will lay 400 to 600 bricks an hour. Door and window spaces cause only a slight flelay. The machine is suited for all plain work, such aa walls, sheds,, mills, factories, rows of cottages,, and piers or bridges. Considerable pressure is put upon the bricks, and ' it is alleged that the work is more firmly done than by hand. The invention will do the work of six or seven skilled bricklayers, and it is believed that a machine adapted to buiid a factory covering about sixty feet by forty leet could be put on the market for £IOO.

Echoes of the notorious Thaw murder trial, are still apparent. The London "Telegraph's" New York correspondent, writing on May 24th, says: "American counsel are permitted to sue for their fees, and Mr, Clifford Hartridge, who defended! Harry Thaw in his murder trial„ i& availing himselt of that privilege. Mr Hartridge claims, inter alia,, £B,OOO a3 'hush-money paid to conciliate persons who would otherwise, have injured his client' Harry 1 Thaw has always be<m rather thrifty in paying profeusional bills, and* aided by his mother, is now putting* up what he calls 'a very good fight; against extortion.' He has tbe- advantage of being immune from BT*\ rest, because he is in a State lunatic asylum, while his property has; been transferred to trustees. Both\ Mrs Thaw and her son rate the services of Mr Hartridge rather low,, and decline to reimburse him without full particulars of the sums alleged to have been paid in 'hushmoney,' which so far are not forthcoming. Harry Thaw Issued a statement yesterday in which he says that the affidavit published by Mr Hartridge in support of his claim for scms spent in 'hush-money' has no foundation in fact. Both Mr Hartridge an«s the Thaws have taken the newj>~ papers into their confidence, and are* issuing their statements to them publication, and the strife, as ie~ vealed to-day, promises still moreinteresting developments."

Some mothers ard evidently peculiarly constituted, remarks theTimaru Post, in introducing the story of a woman who sued another at the local court for the maintenance of the latter's children. It appeared! that the defendant's three were boarded out with plaintiff, and' defendant, who is alleged to nospess money, had been ordered to pay 2a ,6d per week towards the n ainten> ance of each child. She had, however, failed to fulfil the obligation, and in reply to plaintiff's request, had expressed,the opinion that "the Government should keep her children." The poor Government! And' the poor woman so unmotherly in her desire to loose her children and leave' them to the tender mercies of charity and "the Government." All are to' be pitied—the unmotherly woman, the motherless children, and the harrassed, paternal Government.

A writer in the Auckland "Star'V complains of the decision of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society in. introducing the red-legs, or French parridges. He says that they are not sporting birds; they are fast runners and are very difficult birds to make rise, and spoil even the very besttrained dogs. Those who have largeslrooting'iri England will not allow these partidges to live, and if any are heard of—they sometimes go over from France, probably being blown across by a gale of wind—steps arfe at once 1 taken to exterminate them. The red-leg partridges, he believes, would be not better for sport than the kiwi or weka, and he hopes that the Government will not allow the French partridge to be landed in New Zealand. The Hungarian partridge he describes as a strong biid on the wing, very hardy,, and able to take care of itself better than the English partridge, and for this reason, together with the fact that it is an inexpensive bird to rear, it is a most suitable bird for the arable lands of New Zealand.

Mr Clement L. Wragge writes to the "Otago Daily Times" as follows As some people do not appear adequately to appreciate the honour intended to prominent gentlemen by giving their patronymics to . meteorological disturbances, and since we would not willingly wound the susceptibilities of any man—and- : if we have done so, salaam profoundly—a new plan will shortly be adopted. After 'Gibb' has played ■ his part, called in honour of the famous cleric, and after 'Arnold' has duly followed, timed tc arrive near the end of July, the disturbances that later will affect the Dominion•< will be called by the name of the simple 'Nemo.' Thereafter tites will be called from the Aeneid, and the Hind will furnish many more. Old Father Anchiss shall pipe and sing, and init- Aeneas occupy the stage; while Priam in his sorrow shall weep from the west, and ihe perjured Sinon wail rn remorse. It is claimed that the method of 11 aming storms has much to commend it. Farmers, for instance, experiencing good rain can mark the ■ event by the title of the disturbance, . and enter it in their chronicles for future reference; wliil* weatherbound vessels and ladies sea-sick can > not but remember the pithy cognomen. But if it is desired that, the system shall cease, so mote it be, good people all—we would not offend i you to save our iiie; —the winds shall blow and none shall name ' them.'

• The difficulty of seeing sheep oi dry roads at night was explained b; a tram motorman at the Christchurcl Magistrate's Court. He said tha their colour made them almost in visible on a dusty road, and alway; the first notice of their oresenci Was th° gleaming of the light oi their wyes. On Sunday week a six-oareo . whalebont, twenty feet long, waf found on the beach between Nukujuar'i road and the month ot the "Waitotara river, north of Wanganui. In it was a kapoc pillow and a lady's white felt hat, bound with brown velvet, but there was no name or mark whereby the boat -could be identified. Cr Hoar's notice of motion: "That before informing Mr Stantm that he is appointed to the position of clerk at the Gas Office, that the whole position be reviewed by the Council, with a view to appointing a local applicant at next meeting of the Borough Council," was not dealt with at the Borough Council meeting last evening, Cr Hoar not being 'present. The usual meeting of the Masterton Fire Brigade was held last evening, .Superintendent Jenkins presiding. An invitation was received from the Wanganui Brigade to their annual dinner. The committee of Ways and Means reported in favour of holding a ajcial a.id dance at a date to be arranged, and a strong committee was appointed in connection therewith. It was decided to hold a progressive euchre tournament on Thursday week for members and their wives, arrangements for which were left in the hands of the Amusements Committee. Two honorary and one working member were proposed for membership. Lepers on Quail Island hava a reasonably guod time of it, but the monotony of their isolation must pall at times (says an exchange). However, they have the juy of knowing that on the mainland they some friends. In a letter from one of them to a lady, thanking her for an offer of books, 0"3t3 of the lepers writes that reading matter and games are always welcome. Draughts, ludo ar.d cards, they have, also a gramophone and a phonograph, but new records will be welcome, although the writer does not say'the make ofjjthe machine. "We are very comfortable," he writes, "and we each have a oneroomed cottage, and get everything we want supplied to us. Our meals we get from the caretaker, so we do not have to do any cooking; but we do everything else ourselves." An advertiser wishes to rent a four-rojmed cottage with modern niaetliig of thiise infcgfggttfd io elocution will be held in the Y.M.C.A. rooms at 7.30 o'clock to-night. Mr W. H. Cruickshank. land agent, Masterton, offers for sale two handy and well improved dairy farms. Particulars appear elsewhere. Mr W. Inglis Husband, land a?ent, Pahiatua, advertises particulars of several gpod farm properties, which have been placed in his hands for sale. During tbe continuance of their great fire sale, Messrs Warnock and Adkin are making special inducements to those who require winter goods. Particulars and prices will be found elsewhere in this issule. The annual winter sale at Messrs Smith, Ltd., is now in full swing, and is proving satisfactory. The firm a re making special reductions on the whole stock, whereby the public are able to secure exceptional bargains. The attention of lady readers is directed to an announcement made elsewhere by Madame Carle, millinery specialist, Queen Street. During the present season Madame Carle is offering hats, toques, and bonnets at special rates. An inspection of the goods is cordially invited.

There is no occasion to carry an unreliable watch and be incessantly annoyed by its falsity, when a good dopendable, and serviceable watch is procurable trum Mr Frank Dupre at a very reasonable rate. His stock is large and comprehensive, in fact one can select from the world of worthy Watches at his establishment. In the more expensive time nieces he has some very handsome gold watches a number of which were imported to fill lwcal orders. A guarantee is given with each watch sold by Mr Dupre, irrespective of price. Those in search ut a handy block

of sheep country should bear in mind the auction sale to be conducted by Messrs W. B. Chennells and Co., at the Fire Brigade Hall, Broadway, Carterton, on Saturday next, the 24th inat., at 2.30 o'clock, when 714 acres, situaled at Te Wharau, with five-roomed dwelling and outbuildings, will be submitted for public competition. The sale is being held under instructions from the Registrar uf the Supreme oourt, and the auctioneers will be pleased to arrange for prospective buyers to inspect the land at any time. A grocery price list, issued by Mr J. Whittaker, is circulated with this issue. The list contains practically every article to be found in a well cpnducted grocery establishment, and prices are down to bedrock. Mr Whittaker gives extra inducement to patrons by means of cash discount off the prices quoted in the list on all cash purchases, and on all accounts paid by the 20th of the month. In addition to a large and well selected stock of groceries, Mr Whittaker's splendid selection of crockery, glassware, and fancy goods is offered to very tempting prices. Housewives are invited not only to carefully peruse the price list, but also to pay a visit of inspection to Mr Whittaker's well known emporium in Queen Street. Messrs McLeod and Young, of "The Academy," announce the arrival of many new novels and new editions of standard works. The new novels include: —"Barbary Sheep" (Robert Kitchens), "Great Amulet" (Maud Diver), "Daphne" (Mrs Humphrey Ward), a small supply of the "Englishman's Home" (Du Maurier), "Beyond" (Frank Bullen) "The Red Mouse" (Osbourne), "The Disappearing Eye" (Fergus Hume), "Pomp and Circumstances" (Gerard), "The Girl in the Blue Dress" (Marsh), "The Love Brokery" (Albert Kinross), "The Perjurer'" (W. ,E. Norris), "Set in Silver" (C. and A. M. Williamson). Book-lovers are invited to look over the new stocks always coming to hand. For Chronic Cheat Complaints,Wcode Great Peppermint Cure, 1/6 and 2/6.

, Right through the depression ex- , perienced during tbe past twelve , months, the business conducted by . Messrs Walsh and Co., manufactur- ! ing jewellers, has progressed. This is due in the main to the splendid workdone.by this principals and staff, and to the. excellent business methods pursued. During the past fortnight the premises have been renovated, and considerable improvements effected. A neat show window has been putin, with plate glass background, and show ca-ies provided on the counters and walls. The firm do not carry a large stock, but what they have got is pool and reasonably priced. It is in the manufacture of jewellerv that they specialise. Country residents visiting Master- 1 ton and requiring good reading mat ter for the winter are invited to make a point of calling and inspecting the various lines which Messrs 5. and W. Mackay are offering in connection with their sale of books and stationery. In addition to the regular lines in current and standard literature the firm this week are offering a special consignment from their Wellington stock. This compri es some hundreds of volumes that have had the cover.3 siightly soiled by shop wear. Tbe selection includes most of the works of the popular standard prose-writers and poets, besides a great number of works that should be of particular interest to farmers and people living in the country. The published and sale prices of these lines have all been | marked in plain figures, but the firm state that as regards prices they will refuse no reasonabe offer from anyone purchasing in quantities. Customs and Forwarding Agents—J J. .CURTIS & CO., Customhouse Quay Wellington, will clear your goods and forward to you, or you may consign goods ( to them, and they will forward to their ultimate destination. Moderate charges. 3