LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9674, 13 December 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The latest return from the Worksop Dredge is 220z 15dwt for 95 hours' work. Haymaking is in full swing in the Pahiatua district. The potato blight is playing havoc with potato crops around the Hastings district, many fir3t rate crops having been destroyed by the blight. The following new members were elected at the meeting of the Committee oi the Masterton A. and P. on Saturday Iftst:— Messrs R. L. Robinson (Te Parae), J. R. Gillies (Pirinoa), R. McDougall (Pinnoa), E. R. Dymock (Wellington), jiyjd E. Welch (Masterton). < "Members' subscriptions are coming in satisfactorily," said the chairman of the Masterton A. and P. AssociatiDn at the meeting of the Committee on Saturday. "The amount at present stands at £2lO, as against £SO for this time last year.' At the Magistrate's Court, Eketahuna, to-day, Maurice Kelliher and D. H. Johnston will be called upon to answer charges of breaches of the Licensing Act. in selling and keeping liquor for sale. Defendants will be represented by Mr C. A. Pownall. A special meeting of St. Patrick's Day Sports Association was held on Saturday evening, to consider the advisability of windinx up the Association. Mr W. L. Falconer presided over an excellent attendance of members. After considerable discussion it was decided to adjourn the meeting and invite Very Rev. Dean McKenna to be present, and state Ms views on the matter.

At a fleeting of the , Wellington Education Board on Thursday , last, Meesrs Lee, Hogg, and the Secretary (Mr G L. Stewart) were appointed a committee to make arrangements for fencing in the Trust Lnsds Trust building at Masterton. An estimate has been placed by the clerk of works before the last meeting of tho Beard, but it was thought that the work ould be done cheaper. „ A vote of thanks was passed to the trust for the use of the building.

A special meeting of the Masterton Racing Cl'n was held on Saturday to revise the programme for the autumn meeting, to be held on March 17th and 18th. There were present Messrs C. A. Pjwnall (chairman), W. Cooper, R. Buick, D. McLachlan, F Dorset, D. Donald, J. Cress, D. Caselberg, A. Cooper, and J. lorns. An apology for absence was received from Mr C F. Vallance. The programme as submitted was approved air! ptsse l without alteration. Mr T. Gh.ii i of Feilding, was appointed starter. Mr D. McGregor jjnr , stated at the Masterton A. and P. meeting on Saturday last t iat he thought the j Carterto i people should be approach.ed with a view to their declaring a half holidny in Carterton, on the occasion of the second day of the Masterton Show. There was no doubt that the support accorded to the Cartertun Show from Masterton in the way of donations and attendance went a great deal towards making it a success Not only the schools but the shops were closed earlier in Mastertoia for the second day ot the Carterton Show on the Thursday, and he was quite sure that if they were approached a half holiday would be I declared in Carterton. The sugges-' tion was adopted, and a committee I consisting of Messrs B. Rayner, H. i Morrison, R. Cuoper, J. McGregor, , junr., ami H. McFhee, were deputed to deal with the matter.

Good progress is being made with the contract for painting and renovating the Fernridge School, by Mr F. Harding.

Mr G. C. Summerell, chairman of the Masterton A. and P. Association, reported at the meeting of the committee on Saturday that the canvassing committee had spent two days in Wellington last week, and had been exceptionally well received. The total amount received in cash donations and trophies amounted at preb.n; to £144, and there ara promises of still further assistance.

Dr. J. A, Cowie was the speaker at the Y.M.o'.A. yesterday afternoon, giving art excellent address on a very wide topic—Physical Development. A hearty vote of thanks was moved by Mr G Falla. Mr K. Brown,., the Hon. Treasurer of the Association, occupied the chair at the meeting, and at the strangers' tea which followed. The fortnightly Solway Home service was conducted, a number of young men going to the home for the purpose, Mr H. McHattie being the speaker.

Apppointments have been made by the Wellington Education Board as follow .' —Belvedere—Headmaster, Mr Robert Stout; assistant, Mrs F. Bodell. Hamua—Headmaster, Mr J. Ashley. Carterton District High School—Set.ondary assistant, Mr H. Miller, formerly of Greytown, and at present in Victoria. Ponatahi—Sole teacher, Miss M. Martin. Rakanui —• Sole teacher, Miss Linswortn. Putara—Sole teacher, Miss I. Stace, of the Training College. Taita— Assistant, Miss C. Tuely, of Ballance. *lt the Anti-Chinese meeting on Saturday evening last, Mr Cameron stated that it had been estimated that there were not more than one hundred New Zealandersin all China.. At the present time there were over 5,000 Chinese in New Zealand", or one for every 200 whitas. In China there is only about one" person of all' white nationalities to every 6,000 Chinese, and in comparison with the proportion of Britishers there is only about one Britisher to every 50,000 Chinese. "Surely, then," said Mr Cameron, "the exclusion of New Zealand people from China would be a small price to pay for our racial purity in this country."

The Masterton Homing Pigeon> Club held a very successful race from Frankton Junction on Saturday. The first bird "clocked in" here at minutes past 3 o'clock, negotiating the distance of 219 miles (airlins distance) in 6 hours 3 minutes. The winning bird was Mr J. Bradbury's "Mystify." The following is the official result:—Mr J. Bradbury's "Mystify," velocity 1,060 yards per minute, 1; Mr J. A . Syverston's: "Ironsides," velocity 1,055 yards per minute, 2; Mr H. M. Wilton's "Dreadnought,'' velocity, 1,054 yards per minute 3; Mr J. Dixon's "Blue Ribbon," velocity 1,050 yards per minute 4 : Mr H. F. Billington's "Deerfoot, velocity 1,047 yards per minute, 5. Mr W. Dowlioft acted as judge in his usual competent manner.

. "Lots of people besides farmers would like to be able to vary their contracts at their own sweet will," gays, the "Dunedin Star," "but they are Hot sanguine enough -we had almost said impudent; enough—to ask Parliament to free them from their obligations. The proposal to concede the freehold to tenants under the Land for Settlements Act. should be denounced, scouted, resisted, even if it came from :he Conservative Ojjpusition or a Conservative Government; coming from aLiberal Ministry, the supposed custodians of the Ballance-Seddon-McEenzie tradition, it amounts to a betrayal of trust and an outrage on political consistency without parallel in the Parliamentary annals of New Zea and."

Five teams have entered tor the "Country Cup, Competition" organised by the Wellington Lawn Tennis Association, as far as the Wairarapa centre is concerned. There are three centres included in the competition, Wairarapa, Palmerston North and Wanganui. The winning team in the two latter centres will play off, and the victors will then .meet .Wairarapa in the finals. Mr C. 0. Cox, who has been appsinted a sub-com-mittee by the Association to arrange ,the Wairarapa matches, expects the first round to be concluded by Christmas. The arrangement for the first round is:—Masterton, a bye;',Pflhiatua v. E'-etahuna, at Pahiatua; Carterton v. Martinborougfc, at. Carterton. A telling argument for the freehold was put forward by Mr Wilford in the House on Thursday, in a speech which lasted only five minutes. Mr Wilford said he held in his-Hand ■ three photographs. The first showed a four-whealed vehicle with five horses stuck in the mud of a roadjinci , the ijiaborrie district] The second showed three horses laden with six boards, which were being carried through rough country broken by precipitous gullies, where settlement was supposed to havu been in progress for eight years The third was of the same horses with aix boards on their backs climbing over mountains and through forest before the settler could build his rough whare. "To whom," asked Mr Wilford, "does the unearned increment belong?" In Sydney a few days ago, according to the "Sydney Morning Herald," a unique specticle was witnesses. A man entered a wellknown Pitt Street hotel leading a small pony. Hd went up to the counter, the pony following, and ordered a drink. The pony was asked if he would have any objection to a beer, and as it said nothing the owner, taking silence for consent, held a glass of "English" to its mouth until it wis drained. The fact of a pony drinki'iL' beer attracted considerable attention, and Lin result was that several rounds of drinks were served within a short period, the nony polishing off six "i wig ones" within half an hour. A remarkable fact about the po;iy\s performance was that whereas the owner seemed cemmuriicative, the quadruped was quiet and meditative. . Even when the owner related the fact of the' pony's imbibing beers to a policeman the animal showed complete indifference, and it is questionable if any member of the temperance pnrty could have made it feel ashamed of itself. Perhaps what was most remarkable of ail was that it walked down Pitt Street without its tracks deviating by a hairbreadth from the tramway lines..

A return presented to Parliament shows that the cost of Licensing Committee elections was £5.430. The asphalting of the boys' playground at the Masterton District High School is being carried out by Mr A. E. Franks, at a cost of la lid per yard (labour only). The Woodville railway staff has een reduced by eight in consequence of the new time-table These employees have been transferred to various places. The average value of a bale of wool in London on October 23rd, according to Messrs Willans and Overbuy stood at £ll 10s. as against £l2 l fi s at the September-October seriea, 1908. Mr Frank E. Seagrave. the Rhode Island astronomer, announces that the earth will be swept by the tail of Halley's Comet on May 19th next but the "s*.ar dust" of which the tail is composed will not endanger the «arth. ...... A party of sportsmen recently made a raid on a shaggery, situated at the upper reaches of the Mangahao River, and obtained 38 pairs of feet. These were disposed of to the Eketahuna Sub-Committee of the Acclimatisation Society, and realised £4 355. . ; • Mr Clement Wragge write aa lows to a contemporary:— The drought in South America and the present drought in New South Wales ar§ intermittent preludes to the coming deficiency of rainfall in the Southern Hemisphere and Australasia generally. Moral: Conserve water." ™ The young man Johnston who was drowned recently at Akitio had apparently considered the crossing of the river to be a difficult undertaking, as he practically divested himself of all clothing, which he left on the river bank with some parcels. His dogs were afterwards found keeping watch over these belongings. Tbe funeral of the late Mrs William Bennett took place on Saturday afternoon last, the cortege being a large and representative one. Messrs J. H. Pauling, H. T. Wood, E. Welch, and R. J. King acted as pall-bearer?, and an impressive service was conducted at the graveside by Rev. H Watson. On the motion of Mr A. H. Vile, seconded by Mr A. W. Hogg, it was resolved by the Wellington Education Board on Friday last: "That the Masterton School Committee be informed that under the existing regulations of the Board permission cannot be granted for religious instruction in board schools during school hours, which at present are fii'e hours per diem." ■ • A partyiqf aixty Madris left Auck. land by the Maheno to take part in a series of nativp entertainments at Manly, the Sydney seaside resort, during the holiday season. They came most from Rotorua, and were irs fharire of Maggie Papakura, the well-known guide, under whose direction the entertainments were organised. Dealing with the fact that patent foods were often responsible for fattening rather than strengthening an infant, Lady Plunket said She was recently shown a baby who had been brought up on patent food. "Is it not a fine baby?" proudly asked the mother. Her Excellency tactfully replied, "It is a large baby." The idea that apparently prevails among some country contractors that receipts of £2 and upwards do not entail the affixing of stamps on country vouchers was sworn at the Dargaville Magistrate's Court to be an erroneous ont. Quite a large number of convictions were recorded, and defendants who had failed to stamp vouchers were ordered to pay costs. In New South Wales Legislative Assembly Mr Fitzpatrick produced three cardboard sheets, about 14 or 15 inches square, covered with nev*js : paper clippings. These, he. said, were the recirds of five years' accidents with firearms. There were in thai; time, be said, no less than 117 accidents, of which 87 were caused through the careless use of pea rifles. Mr J. C. Gleeson, whc acted manager of the New Zealand professional football team at Home, and afterwards took a somewnat active „part in Irish political affairs, is at present in Hawke's Bay. It was Mr 'Gleetion's intention to contest an Irish aeat at the next general election, but fie finds it impossible to leave New Zealand to participate in the fight, although lie hopes on a future occasion to get into Ireland's political fighting line. A particularly fine lot of samples of merino arid merino cross wools was exhibited at the meeting of the Masterton A. and P. Association on Saturday afternoon last. The wool had been collected by Mr R. Corn-, fQot, representative of Messrs •CJuibell Company, at Palmerston North, during his recent trip to Australia, and had been taken from some of the fineit flocks m the Commonwealth. The members generally expressed their appreciation of Mr Cornfoot's action and accorded him a hearty vote of thanks. Particulars o* a 420 acre improved farm and. pronounced three sheep and suitable for mixed farming, is advertised by Mr A. H. Rudd, Martinborough. The Master Bakers' Union, of Masterton, announce elsewhere in this issue that on and after to-day they will sell bread at 3d per loaf for cash at the counter. Messrs W. B. Chennells and Co. , advertise particulars of a number of ■ first-class sheep farms varying in area from 360 acres up to 3900 acres. The properties in question are all situated in Wairarapa, are well improved and capable of giving returns on the purchase money. Visitors and holiday-makers, who vist that ideal holiday and health resort, Napier, should note that the Terminus Hotel adjoining thg Napier railway station, is under the capable management of Mr and Mrs C. J. King. Mr King, who only recently entered into poaeasion, has had the house completely renovated, ready for the Christmas trade. A visitor *- from this district states that the proprietor seems bent on catering for the travelling public, the cuisine and accommodation being exoeilent For the convenience of those travelling by the through train which leaves Napier at 7.30 a.m. the breakfust gong sounds at 6.45, patrons thus being assured of a substantial meal before starting, on what ia now a slow journey. Particulars of the tariff charges will be found on page 1 of this issue.

A meeting of the Old Boys' Association will be held in the Central Fire Station at 7.30 o'clock to-night. Mesrss Sheath and Harris notify that stock grazing on the Whakataki Reserve must be removed before Ist January next. All persons are also warned against the removal of firewood or other material from the Reserve. The New Zealand Railways Department announces that holiday excursion fares for the Christmas and New Year holidays will be issued from December 17th till January 3rd next. These tickets are available for return up to February 15th, 1910. ...