LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10153, 25 November 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Masterton Technical School concludes its present term to-day.

Mr L. G. Reid, S.M., heard tlire'e claims of old soldiers for military grants at Pahiatua on Wednesday.

The turnip fly has made its appearance in some of the turnip crops in the Masterton district.

A Masterton poultryman has lost several fowls lately from a mysterious cause. He attributes their death to sunstroke.

The Masterton Homing Pigeon Pigeon Club flew a race from Dunedin yesterday, but up till last night none of the birds had arrived home.

A Masterton resident received advice by the last English mail that he had been left a considerable legacy by a deceased relative in the Old Country.

It is just forty years ago since the first Scandinavian settlers arrived in the Masterton district. For a time they occupied what were known as the "immigrant cottages.," cn the bank of the Wainoua River.

- William Skillen, a prohibited person, was fined £2 and costs at Pahiatua on Wednesday for procuring liquor during the currency of the order.

The Navy League excursion train reached Masterton with its weary freight of youngsters shortly before eleven o'clock last night. Everybody seemed happy, ; even the caoby.

The' new Licensing Act will come into force as soon as it receives the Governor's signature,, probably in the course of a few days.

The entries for the Nelson A. and P. Association's show on the 29th and 30th insts. total 1053, which, the Colonist says, constitutes a record.

Census figures for Toronto just completed show a population of 341,991. This is an increase of 16,689 over last year, and an increase of 103,349, or 43.4 per cent, over five years ago.

A well-dressed young man came to Masterton to buy oats. He left without paying for his board, and is probably trying his luck elsewhere. This will serve to introduce him to hotelkeepers in adjoining townships, and to those having oats to sell.

A commercial traveller has been anxiously awaiting the arrival in Masterton of a parcel of samples which was consigned .at Wellington three days ago. The train service is a fearful institution on the Wairarapa "branch" line.

Though the shearing rate has been causing trouble in other parts, everything is passing off smoothly in Hawke's Bay. The employers are paying £1 per hundred for sheep and 18s Gd for lambs,and in. some sheds £1 per hundred all round, says the Dannevirke Evening News.

It would be wearisome to enlarge the list of Ministerial back-downs. Is there any conviction that Ministers have ever formed which, for sufficient consideration, they are not prepared to abandon? Perhaps only one—and that is the conviction that at whatever sacrifice they must remain in office.—Evening Post.

A Hawera resident has patented an improved method of ear-marking cattle. The invention takes tlie form of a piece of thin metal bent double, to one end of which a small end is attached, the other end being pierced by a hole into which the spike locks after being forced through the animal's ear; thus making it impossible to remove the metal tag except by cutting "it . out;

The morning cup of coffee is likely to become something of a luxury if the present famine,in coffee beans lasts long. The visible supply of beans amount to 2,600,000 bags, or 2,220,000 short of last year's supply. The stocks on hand and afloat represent over sixty days' consumption, the bulk of which is held by the Brazilian Government under bond.

| Mr A. C. Pragnell, secretary of the Wairarapa .Hockey Association, has received a letter from the New Zealand Hockey Association* offering a match to a combined Wairarapa and Manawatu team against the Australian hockey team which is to visit New Zealand next July.' The New Zealand Association requires a guarantee of £2O, which would no doubt be forthcoming if the match were played in Masterton, but under the terms of the present offer the match would be played at Palmerston North. A special meeting of the Association is being called to discuss the proposal.

CANNOT KEEP COOL? It may seem almost impossible to keep cool and fresh thjs hot weather, but it has been proved that anyone may bear the excessive heat, without feeling its oppressiveness, if attention, bo directed to keeping the blood cool. Do that and you will be all right. The very best article to use is either a bottle of our "CITRATE of MAGNESIA," .(price Is), or a bottl6 ;t»f our . :''EFFERVES- ; CENT FRUIT SALINE" (price 2/6). • Both malte Excellent palatable drinks, and while keeping the 4ystetn cool and fresh, they invigorate and prevent summer, troubles, If you are unable to get into town, write to" us, and we will post your goods out. J. V. GORDON, Prescription Pharmacist, (by Exams.), Masterton.

Three Pahiatua parents were fined on Wednesday for breaches of the Truancy Act.

A team of Masterton bowlers will proceed to Pahiatua on Wednesday next —St. Andrew's Day—to compete for the Dixon Cup.

Members of the Masterton Musical and Elocutionary Competitions Society will be interested to know that there were 1200 entries for the Auckland contests this week.

Negotiations are proceeding for the sale of the Oil and Freehold Company's property and rights at New Plymouth to a wealthy English combination.

During the thirty-eight years in which trains have been running. in Tasmania in no case have the State railways been responsible for the death of a passenger.

According to the president of the New Zealand Alliance (Mr Wesley Spragg) the Temperance party will, at the next General Election, concentrate their forces on the bare majority question.

There is a scarcity of labourers in the Gisborne district. On Saturday some difficulty was experienced in getting a full complement of men to work the dozen lighters which were busily employed loading the three Home wool boats.

"Things are bad in Masterton," said .a commercial traveller to an Age reporter yesterday., "but they are worse in Palmerston North, and much worse in one or two townships I can name." There may, or may not, be .'jatisfaction in this.

In s, certain no-license district six bottles of whisky were consumed by four persons in two hours, and it was considered to create a ''breeze." It would require the aid of higher mathematics to calculate the consumption required t» create a "gale."

"I .want to ask your advice about my wife," said a young man, addressing Mr Hopkins, a' Loudon police magistrate. "1 married her last March. She gave her age, as eighteen, but I have since found out that she is only sixteen. She knows nothing aboiit domestic affairs. I want to ask your advice as to what I can do." Mr Hopkins: "Nothing."

The New Plymouth Borough Council has decided to instruct the Borough Engineer that permits for verandahs are only to be given on an undertaking by the owners that the verandah, will be erected to the full width of the footpath, and also with an undertaking to reduce the width of the verandah whenever required to do so by the council.

An exciting accident, which, fortunately, was not attended with serious injury, occurred on thg Ma-"kuri-Pahiatua road yesterday. The mail coach from Makuri was passing a trap on a narrow portion of the road, when the coach turned completely over. There were nine passengers aboard, and all scrambled out without sustaining injury. Several were severely shaken, and the shock was necessarily very great.

| At the Dannevirke races an unusual circumstance arose through a man being arrested on the charge of attempting to pick a pocket. Qn being brought into the stewards' room he complained bitterly that an extraordinary mistake had been made, and it is understood that, besides .being the owner cf an expensive motor car, which was on the ground, and in which his wife was still seated, he had a fair sum of money upon him. Anyway, the police took him into custody, and he was removed from the course.

The Binemoa has been searching for uncharted rocks near the entrance of Paterson's Inlet and in the vicinity of the South West Cape. She left Bluff on Friday for Centre Island and Puysegur Point lighthouses. The vessel then proceeds to the West Coast Sounds, Westport and Wellington. The Hinemoa is due at Wellington at the end of the week, and afterwards will visit the Cook Strait lighthouses.

The prospects of the frozen meat trade for the 1910-1911 season are very, promising. Last season the prices ruling for lambs were 3sd per :Ib. This season there is an increase of o.ver Id per lb, the prices being quoted at -ljd. With the increase in pi-ice it is anticipated that there will be a much greater export of lambs from New Zealand than was the case last season.

' A man who spoke .only six words m eleven years has died in Winchester Workhouse. He was George Montague Hawkins, aged fifty-eight,' who had no impediment in his speech and whose intellect was normal. His time was spent in walking round the workhouse grounds, maintaining complete silence all the tinie. When he wished for leave two or three years ago he said: "I want my clothing," and during his last illness lie tried to get up, saying to the nurse, "I want."- If spoken to he would simply smile.

'Monday's Kaikoura Sun says:—On almost every day during the past fortnight. Kaikoura has experienced an earthquake shock. Some have been mere tremors, while others have been more violent. At 10.30 on Saturday morning- there was a sharp shake preceded by a boom report from the east, and since then, right up till just before 9 a.m. to-day, less severe shocks have been experienced. The disturbances have continued for so long that a number of residents are beginning to lose their nerve.

Referring to a verdict recently given by a coroner's jury that death was "caused by the medical evidence," the British Medical .Journal says:— This verdict may be added to those cited in the report of the Select Committee on Death Certification, where Dr Ogle is quoted as saying: "One verdict came before me a little time ago, which was this—'A man died from stone in the kidney, which stone he swallowed when lying on a gravel path in a state of drunkenness.'' That* was .given as a f verdict. I thought gome joke had been played, and I wrote down about it, and found it wass an absolute fact. Another one is this"Child throe, months old, found dead, but no evidence whether bora alive.'" Juries may, however, be excused if they sometime? find the medical evidence puzzling;.

Approximately £IOO,OOO worth of wool from Gisborne and the East Coast, the first of the season's clip, will .be landed in London in time for the January sales by the three steamers that have been loading in the baj' during the past few days. The shipping of this quantity of fleece should mean the circulation of about £50,000 to £60,000 in the way of-advances upon the clip. The initial consignment of frozen meat represents a value of about £40,000. •

One of the impressions gathered by the Rev. J. Mackenzie, of Christchurch, during his travels, is that New Zealanders are not regarded as modest persons. On the way out from England he met a young Englishman, who remarked to him: — "Yes, Australians are pretty bad; they think a great deal about Australia, and a great deal more about the State they happen to live in; but for full-blocd 'swanky' commend me to New Zealanders."

In the Observer, a new weekly paper printed at Johannesburg, there appears an extensive pawnbroker's advertisement, carefully headed with the sign of "the three spheres pendant." But the most important portion of the "ad." is a statement that the firm is "patronised by royalty." The Duke of Connaught was the only foval personage in the vicinity when the "ad." appeared.

As an indication of the number of new buildings that are being erected in the borough of Stratford, it may be mentioned that from the first of January up to the present date the Electrical Supply Co. has connected no less than fifty-one houses, and there are still ten more waiting to be supplied with light. The number of connections for 1910 is by far tho largest for nine years.

The Thermal Springs Act is now before the House for repeal, and what is the Maori going to do? Will lie develop industry? Let him retain. broad acres of his land and in his present mood and temperament the industry of the ambitious and persevering farmer will make the Maori lands a by-word and a. reproach. Ti-tree is no match for good cream, nor briar for butter.—Rotorua Times.

The young colonial is credited with knowing more about the stud book than the Bible, and this is borne out by the experience of a Sunday-school teacher, who asked one, of her pupils the meaning of "Absolution." The boy was the son of a bookmaker, and the paralysed teacher listened to the following:—"Absolution, bay filly, three-year-old, by Newminster from Penitent. Penitent the dam of Penance. The colt has run Carbine * to a head and bust ese-self up a doin' it!"

When the Scottish Agricultural Commissioners visited the New South Wales Government farm at Berry, a cow of great type, Calm 11., bred oil the farm, was much admired. Mr Dunlop, who is lecturer and demonstrator of live stock to the West of Scotland Agricultural College, declared that she was a better cow than the one he, as judge, had placed first at the Royal Show in England. He inquired of the manager what price this cow would bring in New South Wales. The reply was £250 to £3OO. Mr Dunlop remarked that it was evident the value of Guernseys of this class was not known in the State. This particular animal would, he said, bring 1000 guineas in England, as she was superior to the Royal winner, for which that, sum had been refused.

A young married man, with eleven years' Home experience in grocery and bookkeeping, is in want of a situation.

Mr R. Russell, whose second-hand shop is situated in Queen Street; opposite Hyde and Co.'s, has a change advertisement in another column which, should be of special interest to town and country residents.

Mr T. McCracken is making a. display of art goods at his furniture warehouse, Queen Street, Masterton. To anyone requiring plain or artistic furnishings, a wide range of choice goods are offered at this establishment. Inspection is invited.

Mr Milligan, the well-known tailor, of Kelburne Avenue, draws attention to the Wellington wool sales, which, will give town and country gentlemen an oportunity to visit his establishment to place their orders for Christmas suits. He draws attention to his large stock of pure-wool English suitings, to the value of £2OOO.

In a replace advertisement, the Cement Pipe Company, Ltd., draw attention to their pipes for culverts and sewerage in sizes from 4in to 42in. in diameter. The Company makes concrete flags, rollers, troughs and salt pans, etc., and are agents for the well-known "Star" brand of cement.

The unexpired term of the lease of the old Fire Station, cottage, stable and sheds adjoining, and situated in Church Street, will be offered for sale by public auction to-mor-row, at 12.30 o'clock, by Messrs Finnegan and Bushell at their rooms. Full particulars can be obtained on application to the auctioneers.

Light, comfortable, well-fitting summer clothing is certainly an attraction, and on this account readers should be interested in Mr Alex. Donald's new advertisement, the title of which is "Something smart and serviceable." Patrons are assured of evorv detail that goes to make a satisfaction-giving suit or costume. The stock of new goods is of the vorv latest.

The provident farmer will this season need to look well after*' things about the farm. Care should therefore be taken of every rick, and that it be well covered. In this connection, Messrs Elliott and Co. announce' that» ; tliey just landed nine bales of tarpaulin and rick cover canvas of the best at a very low figure. They have new lines in hahies and harness, English hunting saddles, and other leather goods. and anyone contemplating a purchase along these lines would do well to call at this old-established firm.