LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10152, 23 December 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Wairarapa Age will not be published on Monday and Tuesday next, (December 26th and 27th), and on Monday, January 2nd. Advertisers will please note.

The Nelson freezing woncs are to.be opened for the season on January 4th.

"A beverage of Hell" is how Dr. Henry described alcoholic liquor to the business men of Nelson.

The Waiwera, with 260 third-class passengers aboard, arrived at Dunedin from London direct yesterday.

The Stratford Dairy Company paid out £7391 on Tuesday for its November milk supply.

The ratepayers of Dunedin have rejected a proposal to raise a loan for the establishment of swimming baths. The record piano-playing fiend has' reached the Bay of Islands, and it is confidently hoped that New Zealand has row been played "dry."

Two-tooth wethers sold at from 9s 3d to Us at the Addington sale on Wednesday. Forward four and sixtooths brought from 13s Id to 14s 6d.

Business men of Masterton, and others interested, should remember that the banking institutions in the town will be closed from to-morrow until Thursday morning.

A Christchurch member of Parliament states that during last session he had to get 1000 letters typed. Besides that ho wrote a large number himself, and sent many telegrams. The infant daughter of Mr I). Prentice, of Foxton, fell into a hole in a back yard and was suffocated. The hole had been dug by the child's small brother while at play,

We have it on the authority of the Palmerston Times, the Wanganui Herald, and other influential papers of the West" Coast, that Wednesday last was the longest day of the year!

According to the Southland News, something little short of a school strike occurred at the Bluff on Monday. Wirth's circus had arrived, and 29 out of a total of 70 pupils played truant.

Palmerston North and Feilding are quarrelling as to whose fault it was that the Lord Hawke Cup match, recently played in Masterton, was not won by Wairarapa. The Feilding Star alleges that Feilding, and not Palmerston, was responsible.

The growth of settlement in the Hawke's Bay district may be gauged from the fact that during the past 12 months the County Council have added the names of 250 additional ratepayers to-their books.

The Taranaki Centre of "the New Zealand Athletic Union has decided to remove the disqualification from A. Coster and R. W. Scalley, competitors at the Wanganui meeting in 1909.

The item is being industriously circulated throughout the press of New Zealand that fourMasterton firms have assigned, their estates during the last six weeks. Presumably in other townships assignments are unknown.

A number of members of the Masterton Lawn Tennis Club intend participating in the Dannevirke Club's tournament, during the third week in January.

When chased by a police sergeant, a Dublin bookmaker jumped into a canal, but the officer followed, and, after a struggle, succeeded in getting him to land. The defendant was fined £lO.

There are three varieties of dog that never bark —the Australian dog, the Egyptian shepherd dog, and the "lion-headed" dog of Tibet. The average dog of Masterton barks pretty well. Particularly that of the next door neighbour.

Monty Andrews, who is to box Rudd, the New Zealand heavyweight champion, at Westport on Tuesday night next, arrived from Sydney by the Moeraki on Wednesday, and will leave for the West Coast by the Arahura on Saturday.

A conference of the Labour Party—of which Masterton is one of the few townships in New Zealand which have a live branch —is to be held at Christchurch at Eastor, to consider the question of a Labour campaign at the next general election.

An unfortunate man, suffering from the hallucination that he was capable of performing daring feats of equestrianism, was apprehended by the"police in Masterton yesterday, committed to a mental hospital by Justices in the afternoon.

During the past few months a greater number of persons have been committed to mental hospitals from Masterton than in any previous period in the history of the town. ' The committals have averaged about on© a week.

In its annual report to the Minister of Education, the Wellington Education Board says: —"The report would be incomplete without mention of the substantial support accorded to education in their respective districts by the Masterton and Greytown Trust Lands Trusts."

A distinct fall in the temperature occurred in Masterton yesterday. The wind changed to the south, and quite a cold "snap" came up, accompanied by light Showers of rain. At the time of writing the prospects of a "New Zealand Christmas" are not""nearly-as-bright as they might be.

As a result of the operatic bazaar held in Dunedin in aid of the. funds of the Dominion Convent, the sum of £3539 Is lOd was raised. The expenses only amounted to £523 15s 2d, and a cheque for the balance was handed over to the Mother Prioress on Monday evening last. : Ladies and gentlemen attending the sports in Masterton on Tuesday next will appreciate the committee's action in arranging for afternoon tea to be' supplied in the kiosk at the reasonable charge of 6d. The arrangements are in the capable hands of Miss Thomas.

The Masterton Homing Pigeon Club will fly the last race of the old bird programme on Wednesday next, the race being from Patanga, one of the northern-most, settlements in the North Island.

At the meeting of the Wellington Land Board on Wednesday, the Commissioner of Crown Lands paid a compliment to the highly satisfactory; manner in which the Crown tenants' representative (Mr H. ,T. Ellingham) had Carried out his duties as a member of the Board. - • ;

Some people are never satisfied. The farmers around Glen Oroua (Palmerston) are said to be complaining because there is so much grass that they have a difficulty in finding their cows at milking time. Reminds us of a Scottish farmer who admitted that everything on the farm was doing well, "but it was a bad year for mushrooms."

A correspondent of the Stratford Post says:—"The breaking of prohibition orders in the town has become a great scandal, and the general public are indignant that the law is flouted in the way it is. There is scarcely a day passes but what you see one or more prohibited persons under the influence of liquor. The dogs in the street bark out where it is being supplied to some, at least."

A North Auckland paper states that arrangements have been made with financiers in England, and that shortly active operations will be commenced in the direction of developing copper country at the head of the Otamatea rivers and adjacent to the North Auckland railway route. Representatives from the London financiers arc expected to arrive at Kaipara this month or during January.

A religious revival of a very farreaching character is in progress amongst the Maoris of Taharoa, in the Kawhia district, (says the Kawhia Settler), and some very curious occurrences are reported. It is said that the Natives expect a providential supply of food, and are passively waiting the provisioning of the settlement by the scriptural "ravens"—holding daily services with an extraordinary mixture of ancient and modern rites.

Recent observations in Australia go to prove that the practice of "greening" seed potatoes, practised by many farmers prior to planting, does not prevent blight, although it assists to some extent by producing more vigorous sprouts. Attention is now being turned to disinfecting the seed before planting, and the following treatment is recommended. —(a) Soak for two hours in a solution of one-half pint formalin to 15 gallons of water; or (I)) one and a-half hours in 2oz. corrosive sublimate dissolved* in 20 gallons of water.