LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10113, 7 October 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The latest return from the Masterton dredge is 20ozs. 16chvts. for 93 hours' work. Forty-eight draught horses . were shipped from "Wellington yesterday for Melbourne. The Duiiedin City Council has affirmed the desirability of giving effect to Lord Kitchener's defence scheme in its entirety. Mr «T. C. Boddington reports that the .rainfall registered at the Upper Plain for the 24 hours preceding 9 a.m. on Thursday was 16 points. Several letters dealing with the No-license question have been forwarded to the Sydney newspapers by No-license advocates in Masterton. A heavy snowfall occurred in Southland and some parts of Otago on Wednesday night. The mortality amongst jambs in some districts will be very heavy.

The cricket match between Lowe Taueru and Blair] ogie has been post poned in consequence of tlie captaii of one of the teams being away 01 a holiday. Mr J. H. Pauling stated at the meeting of the Masterton Fire Boarc yesterday that the new fire well ir Chapel Street was now completed It had been tested by the engine, and proved in every way sufficient. In formally declaring the Masterton bowling green open yesterday, the President of the Club (Mr J. Whittaker) expressed the hope that during the coming season they would be favoured with a greater number of inter-club visits than in the past. . Denis McMullen, an unfortunate victim of the drink habit, appeared before. Mr Reid, S.M., in Masterton yesterday, to answer a charge of drunkenness. He was fined 10s and costs. Advice was received in Masterton yesterday that the freezing plant for the Waingawa meat freezing works had been despatched from the Old Country by the Ruapehu, which is due to arrive early in November. Holiday excursion tickets will be issued on the New Zealand railways on the 12th inst., that being Labour Day. The tickets will be available by morning train only, and will be available for return up to and including the 15th inst.

Tko hew iire station in Mastortor is practically completed. The worl of furnishing the station is now ii hand. At the meeting of the Fire Board yesterday, it was decided thai the new station be officially openec on a Thursday during the coming month to be fixed upon by tin chairman (Mr 0. Pragncll.) Tin Hon. D. Buddo is to be invited tt perform the opening ceremony, ant invitations are to be extended t< Superintendent Hugo and officers o the. Palmerston North, Feildinj Pahiatua, Eketahuna, Carterton and other Fire Brigades to be pre?, ent. The opening ceremony wil probably take the form of a ban qitet, and will be followed by a soc ial in the Brigade Station. The ar rangements have been left in tin hands.of the local committee of thBoard.

Mr Skinner, of Feilding, has been appointed Truant Inspector for Feilding and district for the Wanganui Education Board. Many horses are stricken with influenza in the Mayfield and surrounding districts. After contracting the disease the animals became quite giddy and weak, and unable to work. The Christchurch Tramway Board made a proiit of £604 for the first six months of the financial year, compared with a deficiency for a corresponding period of last year. Hawks are now reported to be considerably on the decrease in the Cambridge district, the Auckland Acclimatisation Society having paid for about 600 of their heads during the past few months. The Ashburton Dairy Factory Company expects to have the creameries situated at Methven, Springfield, Anaraa, Lowciiffe, and Hines, open at the end of the present week, to receive milk from suppliers. Mercury, Venus, and Mars, are the morning stars. Venus is sinking towards the sun, and in December will revisit our evening sky. Jupiter is deserting us, and sets almost with the sun. By and bye he will appear agai nin the morning.

"Middle-aged people will agree with me that there is no one so clever as the young man or young woman between eighteen and twenty- . four. They know absolutely everything."—Mr Will Crooks, at Exmouth. The Patea Shipping Company, on account of the risk to their vessels in crossing the Patea bar, has felt compelled to raise freights, the charge on general cargo from Lyttelton to Patea being now 16s per ton, on produce (10 sacks to the ton), 15s, and on hay (by weight) v 34s. Some good lambing percentages are reported from Canterbury. Messrs John Grigg, of Longbeach, and Frampton Bros., of Willowby, have each had increases of 130 per ; cent. The average percentage in the Ashburton County, it is expected., will exceed 110. The Christchurch Wpolbrokers' Association has decided, in the interests of wool-growers, to limit the number, of lots offered at the December and January sales. Fcr this purpose single and two-bale lots will be grouped as far as possible, and all two-bale lots not grouped will be treated as "star lets." Mr .E. Kempthoine, who is pioceeding on a business visit to India, has tendered his resignation as a member of the Masterton Fire Board. At the meeting of the Board yesterday, the resignation >as aci cepted with regret. An election, to fill the vacancy is to -be held by the Insurance Companies on October ; 10th.

It is hoped that the electrical fin alarm system in Masterton will b( installed at an early date. It was stated at the meeting of the Fir< Board yesterday that everything was now in order, and that the wori would be put. in hand without de lay. The alarms will be fixed a 1 twelve points in all. The , following are ' the causes given by the Superintendent of th< Masterton Fire Brigade for th< outbreak of fires during the pasl year:—Phosphorus, 1; kerosene lamj 1; unknown, 5; child playing witl matches, 1; hot ashes, 1; incendiar ism, 1; gas explosion, 1; total, 11. Says the New Zealand Herald : "Self-government in Egypt woulc mean anarchy, lawlessness, cruelty robbery, outrage, and despair—yei it is asked for Egypt by self-consji tuted patriots, who do 'not hesitate to applaud assassination, and sym pathy is expressed for them "b\ British members of Parliament wlu are sworn to uphold the Crown anc to assert the laws.". In his annual report to the Masterton Fire Board, Superintendent Jenkins expressed the opinion thai the. present arrangements for the custodianship of the fire-station wert not as satisfactory as they might bo. Several members of the 'Board expressed their entire satisfaction ai the manner in which Mr -Stewart (the caretaker) did hia work, and i.o action was taken in the matter of disturbing the present arrangements.

The paddocks in crop and pasture alongside the railway line between Ashburton and Bankside show unmistakable evidence of the ravages oi the grass grub, and a loss of feed and cereal crops this coming season will have to be debited against this pest. - Some of the young crops in the paddocks by the railway line are as spotted and striped as an Indian pony, and will have to be re-sowi or eaten down as green feed. Dairy factories throughout Southland are preparing for a busy season. The secretary of a Southland dairy factory, who was in Invercargill recently, spoke in glowing terms of the prospects of the season, and stated that the prices promised to be on a high-level. He had received communications' from firms resident so far away as Auckland regarding the season's output, and an offer of ■5i l d had come to hand. At the opening of the newly-form-ed Wellington Suburbs Defence Rifle ; Club range, Lord Islington said bulls- ! eye shooting was very important in i its way, but it was becoming more ! and more widely recognised in the j modern military system that soldiers | must be quick and ready to fire. He j advocated practice at snap-shooting I and quick firing as a very important adjunct. He hoped the clubs would go in for this, as it made them han- j dyjindj-eady in the use of a weapon.

In his presidential address to the South Canterbury Teachers' Institute, Mr Goodall spoke pessimistically of the present generation as compared with the early pioneers, both physicially and intellectually. The people to-day suffered from laziness, which was partly due to the kinder climate, and partly to lack of home influence. Manners, too, had greatly deteriorated, and courtesy was at a discount. Reverence and obedience wore also lacking. Other teachers spoke in similar terms. ' The Lansdow'.io School Committee applied to the Wellington School Commissioners on Wednesday, to be allowed to lease about two. acres of land near the site of the school, but the commissioners could nolt comply with the request, as the- land is included in the properties to be submitted this year to auction. It is reported that some fencing had been torn up and removed from the land recently granted to the Lansdowne School, and the Commissioners decided to communicate with the proper authorities on the subject.

Within the last few months 50 carpenters have left Dunedin for Australia and South Africa. The United Friendly Societies' Council of Carterton, at a meeting on Tuesday evening, decided to write to the Masterton Council for further information before accepting an invitation to the picnic at Pigeon Bush on Boxing Day. The special committee set up by the House of Representatives to investigate the Hino charges met yesterday, and appointed Mr Hanan chairman. The committee sat for forty minutes, and then adjourned till Wednesday next. Mr Hine did not put in an appearance. I Sergeant Miller, of Masterton, has received instructions from Wellington to procure fresh living quarters for himself and family. This may be taken as an indication that the site of the present station is to be handed over to the Trust Lands Trustees almost immediately. A tender for the new Courthouse has not yet bee'n accepted. The usual meeting of Endeavour Lodge, 1.0. G.T., was held last evening, Bro. King, C.T., in the~ chair. Routine business was transacted. An invitation from the Rechabites to members of Endeavour Lodge to attend their annual social was accepted. A reading was contributed by Sister Iveson.

Lovers of Scottish songs will be interested in a lecture on the subject by the Rev. Lawrence ' Thompson, M.A., in Knox Church, Masterton, .' to-night, at 8 o'clock. The lecture will be interspersed with 'Scotch songs, and a most enjoyable ..time may be anticipated. . - The South Island Dairy Association have received private cables from London, says the Southland News, indicating that the prospects of the market are improving arid likely to contimie to do so, as both Canadian and Dutch imports into the United Kingdom since January are considerably less than last year. The directors have also been advised that a large consumption is probable owing to the dearness of meat and bacon. In the Magistrate's Court at Masterton yesterday, before Mr L.; G. Reid, S.M., judgment by default was given in the following civil cases': —McLeod and Young v. John Bentley, £2 16s and 13s costs; C. H. Owen v. Philip Gruchy, £4 7s Id and 5s costs; Wilfred H. Shute v. Ar- : thur Ralph, £2l 19s lOd and £1 3s costs; Charles Lett v. John A. Cotter, £6 iSs 7d and 8s costs; and Boyd and Cook v. Maud Thompson, £4 3s and 14s 6d costs. An Argentine correspondent of the Pastoralists' Review says: "A big land sale is reported from Entre Rios. Six leagues of a large family ! estate were in the market, and so many buyers appeared interested -

that the executors put the whole lot up to auction. Result, nearly double the price. And the Leibig's Meat ■Extract Company secured the whole, over 40,000 acres at £3 10s 8d sterling per acre. This brings this company's holdings and leases in Entre Rios to a very large total." "Do the ratepayers have to pay for the good time you had down in Wellington?" asked an indignant lady ratepayer of the chairman of the Mount Albert Road Board at a meeting of district ratepayers last week. "Yes," replied the chairman (Mr M. J. Coyle). "I believe you will have the pleasure of paying your share towards that." "It'ought to have been spent on the roads," indignantly retorted the lady: The . "good time" to which the'lady ob- • jected. was a deputation of members of the board to Wellington en road board business. ! "In twenty years we shall be the I finest race jn the world," was the j rose-coloured opinion expressed by I Mr M. F. Luckie at the annual meet-

1 ing of the Wellington Cricket Association, while descanting on the advantages that the Daylight Saving ■ j Bill would confer on summer sports ; and sportsmen. Mr Luckie, going ; beyond the provisions of the Bill, s advocated tho putting on of the > clock two hours on September 30 and bringing it back, on March 30. His • proposal, he said, would be support- ; ed by all sportsmen when they rea- ; lised its possibilities. In these days ; of decadent civilisation, the best : , hours of the day were wasted. The | speaker, with optimistic foresight, | pictured New Zealanders throwing j aside their tools and pens at three I (having begun at seven) instead of , five o'clock, and breeding a race of cricketers tliat would defy the Australian teams, and, as the opening < j words gave it, we should be the I finest nation in the world.

i . Orders on judgment summonses I were made as follows in the Magis- . trate's Court at Masterton, yesterday, by Mr L. G. Reid, S.M.:—P. Hamill- v. Remini, claim, £2 6s; order made for payment forthwith, in default 48 hours' imprisonment, the order to be suspended if the debtor pays the amount within one month. William ~onaldson v. Frederick Palmer, claim £3 10s ; order made for payment forthwith,, in default 48 hours imprisonment, the order to be suspended on the payment of £1 per month. Hugh Kea v. Koto Mini, claim, £9 15s 6d; order made for payment forthwith, in default seven days imprisonment, the order to be suspended if the debtor pays £5 on I November 4th and the. balance on I December 4th.' John Jones v W | Leach, claim £4 9s 9d; order made for payment forthwith, in default 48 hours imprisonment, the order to be suspended if the debtor pays 10s per month, first payment to be made on October 31st. David Brown v. James Bentley, claim, £1 19s 6d • order made for payment forthwith! m default 48 hours' imprisonment the order to be suspended if the debtor pays the amount in two instalments, the first instalment of £1 to be paid on November Bth.