Local and General.

Waipukurau Press, Volume I, 15 May 1906, Page 2

Local and General.

:O: Waipukurau School Committee meets on Thursday evening.

Two quiet springing heifers are advertised for saie. Lost collie dog. Public meeting to-morrow night re social. Football match at Waipukurau to-morrow. Admission 6d, ladies free. No less a sum than twenty-eight million pounds has just been voted by the House of Representatives at Washington for the payment of naval and military pensioners in the United States during the present year. The pension roll now numbers close upon a million names including some from every war in which the American nation has ever been engaged. Mr J. Win lie has purchased Mr Harris’ property in the main street lately occupied by Mr Gunzel, the price being £450. For the present the premises will be used as a dwelling.

So scarce is the supply of domestic servants m New York that an untrained girl can obtain £5 a month as wages, while a properly trained young woman receives two guineas a week. It is stated that the Napier Licensing Committee will probably extend the closiog hour for hotels to 10.30 p.m. At the Postal Congress in Rome Sir Joseph Ward’s proposal to give New Zealand a separate vote was carried by 22 votes to 20.. Sir Joseph made a speech in French. Mrs Matthews, the newly-appoin-ted Porangahau postmistress, and children arrived from Denniston last week. Over twenty years ago and up till recently, Porangahau sported a male postmaster. An advertisement in the Singapore Free Press: — “ Mohammed Ben Ali Jusuf begs to announce to nobility and Cairo smart set that he has opened first-class restaurant at No. 3, Sharia Manakir Muski. Everything Al and dam cheap. Prives [? prices] quite wonderful. N B.— Delectable music and dancing ladies every evening.”

The Roman Catholics of the Unite d States have decided to erect in New York a cathedral which will be the largest in the world. Its length will be 22ft longer than St. Paul’s —that is, 547 ft. The height of the dome will be 475 ft, topping the dome of St Peter’s at Rome by 40ft, and St Paul’s by 75ft. The Cathedral of St Sophia, as it is to be called, will cost £5,000,000, and will, when completed, hold seventy thousand, people.

Mr John D. Rockefeller, the millionaire, who was hiding from process servers at his Lakeside, New Jersey, estate, is under the care of a medical specialist. Mr Rockefeller’s habits have changed greatly within the past twelve months. He now wears a waistcoat made of newspapers. He insists on walking barefooted through the park before breakfast. A few weeks ago he sent a bushel of potatoes, stuffed with five-dollar gold pieces, to the pastor of a Cleveland church. The millionaire is said to have been greatly affected by the illness of a near relative, who is suffering from the delusion that he has suddenly been reduced to poverty.

It was expected that the second trial in the Napier criminal libel action, in which Police Inspector Macdounell proceeded against A. A. George, printer, of Hastings, would have come on before the Chief Justice yesterday morning. The matter was referred to, but in the absence of counsel, no date for the rehearsing was fixed. The matter was heard at the last siltings of the Court at Napier, but the jury disagreed, and a change of venue having been applied for, it was set down for trial at the present Wellington sitting. — Saturday’s N.Z. Times.

A portrait group of the British Labour party, taken on the terrace of the House of Commons on th 6 opening day of the session, has been published in postcard form. Mr W. S. Furby, Superintendent of Electric Lines, visited Waipukurau on Friday, chiefly in connection with the proposed town telephone. It is understood that, in accordance with the usual custom, the installation of the system will be proceeded with so soon as those who signed the petition deposit £1 with the local postmaster. The meeting of creditors in the estate of G. P. Hunzel lapsed for want of a quorum, only one creditor attending. In a statement to the D.0.A., debtor attributed his position to starting in business with insufficient capital and poor health. He had no offer to make.

Mr Seddon, who left for Sydney on Saturday by the Warrimoo, will be away from New Zealand for about three weeks. While in Sydney he will be the guest of the New South Wales Government. He will be met on arrival by Mr Deakin, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, and arrangements have been made for each day of his stay. Mr Seddon will leave Sydney for Melbourne on the 21st, and a few days later will proceed to Adelaide. New Zealanders living in Sydney are arranging to entertain the Premier during his sojourn in that city. Mr Deakin has cabled, expressing pleasure at Mr Seddon’s pending visit. There will be no steamer for Auckland for San Francisco on 25th inst., and none on 15th June. Service from San Francisco will be resumed by steamer leaving for New Zealand on 31st inst. In the meantime use is to be made of Brindisi, Vancouver and direct steamers for mails from the Colony, as may be most advantageous. The oil-bearing country around Gisborne is again being prospected. During the past thirty years a good deal of time and money has been spent on this field trying to catch oil, but improved methods may now prove successful. A Greek named George Cassidy died suddenly in a cart at Wellington on Saturday. At the inquest a daughter of deceased stated that she and her father came from Fiji a few weeks ago, and when her father first came to Wellington he was wearing a belt which contained £5OOO in notes. This belt cannot be found. The police are investigating. A Dunedin doctor, who had followed the practice of* placing his initials without the date on the stamp when giving a receipt, was brought before the court on three charges of having failed to cancel the stamp in the manner required by the Stamp Act. He had to pay 24s in fines and costs. Parliament will be opened on the last Wednesday in June. Mr R. Smart, of the Bank N.Z., while-driving the inspector to Takapau on Friday, had an exciting time with the buggy. One of the horses became restive and tried to get away, and only by good driving was a catastrophe averted, as the road is rather rough in places. The biggest cannon-ball eve r made weighed 26001 b, and wa s manufactured at the Krupp Works, Essen, for the Government of the Tsar. The gun from which this projectile was fired is also the largest in the world, and is placed in the fortifications of the Cronstadt. This gun has a range of twelve miles, and it has been estimated that each shot costs £3OO. The Turks have agreed to Great Britain’s demands in regard to the Egytian frontier dispute. Madame Curie has been appointed to her husband’s chair of chemistry at the Sorbonne Laboratory, Paris. This is regarded as a triumph for feminism.

A well-attended meeting of railwav employees was held at Waipukurau on Saturday night for th© purpose of taking steps to assist an ex-fellow-employee, who is laid aside through illness. Subscriptions were received in the room, and it was decided to canvas between Napier and Woodville. The case is a very deserving one, and any person outside the department desirous of contributing may leave donations at the railway station or hand to any employee.

While reciting at the school entertainment the other evening Mr Gay made a slip in one of the verses. When returning to his seat, his four-year old child called out, *' You said that wrong!”—an exclamation that caused consider able amusement.

Upward of forty couples attended the return ball given by the ladies of Wanstead on Friday night. The committee, with Miss E. Fleming as secretary, had all details in perfect order, and visitors were loud in their praise. A sumptuous supper was provided. Miss Moroney supplied the music, extras being given by Miss Bailey, J. Bailey, and J. Hitching; while Mr Geo. Helm played two or three dances on the bagpipes in good style. Between the dances there was some singing and reciting, the items being greatly appreciated. Nearly all the invitations sent out were accepted. Waipukurau was well represented at the ball.

Cables have been announcing the mysterious disappearance of Rev. T. A. James, Methodist minister of Albany, who drew a large amount of money from the bank and left for a trip to Sydney to see friends whom he did not visit. Bimeby a disguised letter came signed by supposed one Hunter, stating that the minister had been drowned. Hunter was hunted for, but could not be found. James, however, was seen in Sydney minus his beard, illl the circumstances go to show that the rev. gentleman is having a little picnic all to himself. The police disbelieve the drowning statement. [Later information is that Rev James and wife booked passages for Winnipeg.] The Hon. J. Carroll is attending to native land.matters in the Wanganui district. The opening of the Ohotu block has been entirely successful, and Mr Carroll hopes to be able to arrange for the opening of a further area of thirty or forty thousand acres of adjoining land, extending from Pipiriki to Raetihi. The Minister will lay before the natives and discuss with them his scheme for the cutting up and roading of the land, and he hones the result of the interview will be that, provided the weather does not seriously hamper the work, he may be able to submit something to the public in two or three months.

Stock Inspector Miller, of Hawke’s Bay, says i he stock in. that, province are, generally speaking, in a very healthy condition. As the country becomes settled, and occupied in smaller areas, farmers are giving more attention to the matter of providing artificial winter food. A Wanganui college boy named Fancourt Harrison, aged 15, grandson of Archdeacon Fancourt, has been bewildering the police and relatives by a rather erratic trek. The lad was to spend a holiday iu Patea, but he went to Wanganui, back to Patea station, and is then supposed to have taken a ticket for xMasterton. .He managed to evade all attempts at location, but as he had only 30s when he left school he is likely to surrender ere long; The chance of a skip after a period of strict school routine evidently proved irresistible. The rabbit pest has recently become more troublesome than usual in the high country of Hawke’s Bay—particularly in the neighbourhood of Kuripapanga and inland Patea. This is partly accounted for by the continuous wet weather experienced there for some months, which has rendered the poison sour, and to a great extent,, ineffective. It has been decided by the authorities that more stringent measures will have to be taken to deal with pests in the districts indicated.

The continuance of dry weather is noteworthy. Only a month off' midwinter, and there has been no heavy rain for many weeks. Those residents who have wells are fortunate.

The Meikle Commission concluded its sitting at Wellington yesterday, and adjourned sine die. One of the victims of the ptomaine poisoning at Palmerston, C. Hosking, an elderly man, died on Saturday.

Wool prices were maintained through the London sales, and possibly a little higher. Dalgety and Co., Limited, have received the following cablegram from the London office: —“Greasy, fine crossbred and medium crossbred wools, suitable for America, market easier, owing to American buyers operating very little.” The other day Mr Gow lost a. diamond valued at £5O. The stone had become loose in the ring and dropped out. ;