LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9637, 1 November 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The latest return from the Wortcsop Dredge is 290z 12dwt for the week. A new theatre is being built in Gore by private enterprise. Several sales of this season's wool clip in Marlborough have been reported'at prices satisfactory to farmers, who are accepting the good rate off ering in preference to risking a future fall. Several clips have changed hands at as high a price as lOd per lb, for half bred wools. At the annua! meeting of the Parkvale Hall Society the following officera were elected:—President, Mr J. G. Oates; Vice-President, Mr A. E. Maunsell; Secretary, Mr N. Johnston ; Management Committee, Messrs R. G. Kemble, H. R. Burgess, J. Johnson, J. Martin, J. S. Mattin; Auditors, Messrs F. a. W byte and W. A. RenaU; Trustees. Messrs W. J. Denbee, G. W. Deller and A. E. Maunseli.

Mr Gold, proprietor of the Lake Ferry Hotel, Palliser Bay, picked up three cork jackets on the Palliser Bay beach on Friday last. She jackets were in good condition, the lashings of one Being tied as if it had been worn The shoulder straps on another were broken. There were no names on the jackets, which had a blue pattern running through them. They were picked up close to one another, the ir'ift of the bay being from the west. In the course of an interview. Mr A. Mathews, of Waiorongomai, Western Lake, said that Ayrshires were first introduced into the Wairarapa by Messrs Hoggart Brothers, who had a farm in the vicinity of Wairarapa Lake, about 40 years ago. The animals were very wild, and became so unmanageable that they had eventually to be done away with. The first purebred bull of this strain was also imported by Messrs Hoggart Bros., and was strangely named "Ladv Kirk."

"Shakespeare Evening" will be given on Friday njxt by the members of Knox Young People's AssociKnox Hall. This is the third year that they have ' arranged a Shakespeare evening. On former occasions they have been vtry successful, and the hall has been taxed to its utmost to accommodate the audience. This year fourteen scenes are being taken from "As You Like It,'' and thirteen charaetns (five ladies and eight men) will \m represented. Most of the scenes take (ilace in the forest of Arden, and a vcty pleasing representation of this should be the result of the natural scenery that it is proposed to use. Brisker times for trade were re- , ported in various circles in Wellington last week, the fine*weather having combined with other circumstances to give a filip to many avenues of employment. Even the carpentering trade is improved, but to a large extent the bettsr prospects for workmen in this branch of industry are due to diminution in tlieir numbers caused by an exodus to Au&tralia and places further afield. Plastering is reported to be still slack, but there are prospects of an early improvement, and the same remark applies to some other kindred trades. Tailors are very busy, but as this is their busy sea-1 son every year, the fact is not' specially notable.

■ At the meeting of the Wairarapa South County Council on Saturday last Dr. Smyth reported two cases of diphtheria and one of scarlet fever in the county, and Dr. Johnston re» ported a case of diphtheria. Out of 689 applications for the 102 sections made available for selection by the Crown Lands Department for the benefit of retrenched Civil Ser-* vants, ex-railway workers, and unemployed, only seven applications were received from ex-Civil vants. There was a large congregation at Knox Churh last evening, Rev. A.' T. Thompson preaching an eloquent sermon, During the evening Mr P. W. G. McLeod played "The Lost Chord" on the cornet, with organ accompaniment, the solo being beautifully played and much ap-' preciated. The advanced guard of the tourist traffic is now putting in its appearance in Auckland says the "Herald." In a month's time it is expected that all the hotels and boarding houses will be taxed to their utmost limit,' whilst the local officers of the Tourist Department will have no mean task assigned them in attending to the countless inquiries of visitors.

The value of a patch of kauri guflS was illustrated recently in the north, 1 says the "Auckland Star,'* where a farmer with only 19 acres of lands was engaged blasting out some stumps. Finding some ( gum, he started to dig and got some more.! Finally he decided to pet the whole 19 acres ploughed, with the result that he got gum which realised £SOO, it being sold at £IOO per tan.] The Wellington Farmer's Meat Company, wrote to the meeting of the Wairarapa South County Council on< Saturday last, asking for the . Council's consent to the erection of freezing works on a site to be selected near the Masterton abattoir. The Chief Health Officer and the Government Veterinary Surgeon had both approved of the locality. The request was granted. The Carterton borough Council l forwarded particulars of the proposed abattoirs to the meeting of the South Wairarapa County Council on Saturday,last, and a deputation from the Borough Council attended the* meeting subsequently in connection with the matter. A committee from , the County Council was set up *.o confer with the Borough Council's committee on the subject, and report at the next meeting. On Wednesday last there died at Wikirere Hawke's Bay, at the reputed age of 103, Kawinia Apatu) (Mrs Christy),\ daughter of the famous chief Apatu. She was the last ink between the old and new Wairoa,and was noted for her kindness to Europeans in -the earljf thirties. As a young girl she de*fended for several days with 3t whale lance a young whaler condemned to die for breach of tapir, 1 finally securing his escape.

Anniversary services in connec* ' tion with the Master ton Methodist M Sunday School will be held on Sunday ™ next. The Rev. C. E. Porter will officiate. Special hymns will be rendered by the children, who have for some time past been practising assiduously under the baton of the choirmaster, Mr S. H. Ralph. It is estimated that the choir will.number 200, and special arrangements have been made to accommodate them on a raised phtform in the church. The church will be dcorated with florai arches tor the occasion.

Following is the result of the weight-guessing competition, held under the auspices of the Wairarapa > _ P. and A. Society at the recent Show: j —One bullock (correct weight 954 lbs), T. I. Harvey, Belvedere, 953 lbs; S. W. Feast, Grey town, 955b1sIn the ballot, Mr Harvey secured! first place* Five sheep (correct; weight 3571b5), T. Taylor, 3571b5; A. McKenzie, Lnngbueh. 357" lbs. The ballot for first place was: won by Mr Taylor. Five lambs (correct weight 1581bs). W. Dalrymple,. * Masterton, 1591b5, 1; 0. T. Meenkin, Clareville, 1561b5. 2. Four pigs(correct weight 3401b5), Miss Ers--kine, Carterton, 3401b5, 1; E. A.. Beard, Carterton, 3381b5, 2. The Kev. l>. E. Porter conducted l i the morning and evening services' I at the Methodist Church yesterday,, good congregations being present on each occasion. In his-morning address to the children' Mr Porterspoke on the subject of "Hidden. Treasure," and in his sermon to theadults he took his text from Matfc. 19-20, "What Lack I Yet." In the evening he took for his subject; . "Keasons Why Men Do Not Become Christians." During the service the choir rendered the anthem "Safvutin," and a solo "The Lord is My Shepherd," rendered by Miss Prentice, jjj

The monthly meeting of the Wai* , rarapa South County Council was held at Carterton on Saturday,, Cr W. Perry presiding. A credit balance of £420 7s 2d was reported, and accounts amounting to £365 7s 2d A , were ptassed for payment.., It wasfti resolved to expend £i 5 in- puttingthe Admiral Road in order. It was decided to draw the Department's at» tention to the state in which the work, on the Cragie Lea Koad had been left. Tenders are to be calied for the erection of a bridge to replace the one known as the bridge, leading to Swamp Road. Thetender of G. Lett was accepted at 2s 6d per yard for metalling on Flat j Point Road, and the tender pf John- * son Bros, at £lB4 was accepted fot the Admiral Road deviation.

The following extract from a letter received at Hamilton from the Old Country appears to throw mora light on the fate of the Waratah than anything that has yet,appeared in the colonial ,'Fress: —"I fear there; is no hope of seeing the Waratah re- • ported found. An.officer of the Ortona says tt ere is ro chance of it. 1 It appears that when she arrived at Durban the agentp, finding the price of frozen "•■eat was better there than in London, took it allout and sold it, "leaving the middle of the ship empty. They arranged to . load w»th maize at Capetown, and so trim the ship, but, having met with very bad weather upon leaving Durban, she could not stand it. To make matters worse, they loaded coal on her decks in a very large quantity,and,. the hold being empty, this made her too heavy to lift.to high sea. The captain of the Waratah had been 50 > odd years at sea, and this was tP be his last voyage. He had bought a little house at Liverpool to live in oni his retirement."