Local and General

Waipukurau Press, Issue 283, 16 July 1908, Page 5

Local and General

Mr C. J. Cooke informs us that the rainfall for the twenty-hours ending at 9 a.m. yesterday was three-quarters of an inch.

According to the approximate time-table given in the annual report of the Railway Department’ a passenger by the train leaving Auckland at 8.30 p.m. on Monday would be able to reach Invercargill by 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The committee who managed the Railway Ball have been annoyed by a rumour that dancing had not concluded till after midnight on Saturday. We are assured that everyone was out of the hall and the doors locked by a quarter to twelve.

The secretary of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union waited upon the Alpha Lodge last night and asked for support in reorganising the Band of Hope. The Lodge decided to assist the Union in every way possible.

It is the intention of the Alpha Lodge to hold a public entertainment at Hatuma, at a date which will be announced in our columns shortly.

It was decided at last night’s meeting of the Juvenile Lodge of Good Templars to hold a discussion on “ License v. No-License,” at the next meeting. Messrs Horace Baker and Son, advertise particulars of a number of farm properties they have for sale.

The Maori Congress was opened on Tuesday afternoon in the Wellington Town Hall, under the presidency of Sir Robert Stout, who welcomed the visitors and delegates. Lord Plunkett declared the Conference open, and wished it every success. Addresses of welcome were also given by the Premier and Mr James Allen. A Suffolk coronet made strong remarks recently at an inquest ■when he found that there were two absentees from the jury. He would fine them, he said, for disobeying the summons to attend. “We have had too much of this lately ; I will ‘ wake them up.’ ” It turned out that the absent ones had been dead for several years.

Mr A. Birrell, in an address in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, recalled the noisiest meeting he ever attended in the hall. It was at the height of the American Civil War. Feeling ran high in Liverpool, and to name Abraham Lincoln —then the hero of the Birrell domestic hearth—was to expose oneself to the certainty of insult and the possibilty of assault. Henry Ward Beecher came to. Liverpool, to plead the Northern cause, and Liverpool, whose traders exposed for sale slave-branding irons as freely as they now expose warming-pans and hot-water bottles, would not hear him. For more than an hour, with indefinite courage aud humour and good temper, Beecher stood up to an excited, angry audience. Mr Birrell said he could not forget it. Just to hand a nice assortment of the Nelson Library Books. The great feature in these books is that they are well bound in a size which will conveniently go into the pocket. The type is large, and they contain the largest works of Dickens and Thackeray. Price only Is. A varied supply of school requisites in stock. Picture Faming? a speciality. Reed’s Arcade.

A meeting will be held in the Tavistock Hotel on Monday evening to consider the question of holding a bachelors’ ball.

The Waipukurau Brass Band will play selections of music in the hospital grounds on Sunday afternoon, at 3 o’clock. A collection will be made in aid of the hospital funds.

William Stanley Forbes, Sydney manager of the Scottish Union National Insurance. Company, has been arrested at Sydney on a charge of stealing valuable security. Forbes recently purchased a schooner, which was found provisioned, ready to proceed on a cruise to the South Seas. A defiicency of about a thousand pounds has been 1 discovered in the books.

While seamen from the warship Hermes were giving a display of a life-saving apparatus at Durban, three children who were placed on top of a temporary building, to show the facilities of the life-saving apparatus, were killed owing to the premature ignition of the building through a mistaken signal. Spectators thought the children were “ dummies.”

Mr Will Thorne, Labour M.P. for West Ham, speaking at Victoria Park, denied the King’s right to interfere with the utterances of members of the House of Commons, either inside or outside Parliament. He added that he hoped the time 'would come quickly when there would be no room for kings or queens. The people could govern themselves better without them.

Previous to the ceremony of opening the waterworks at Waipawa yesterday, the Mayor (Mr Limbrick) gave a luncheon at the Commercial Hotel. Messrs Hall and Dillon, M.P.’s, were among those present. Mr Limbrick said that owing to re-adjustment of the boundaries of the electorates, the town would lose Mr Hall as its representative. He asked Mr Hall’s acceptance of a gold watch as a token of the esteem in which he is held in the town, and expressed the hope that he would live long to wear it. Mr Hall, in expressing his thanks for the gift, said the presentation took him completely by surprise.

The death has taken place at Yarmouth (England) of its last postboy, Tom Codman, who was in his eighty-fifth year. Pie started his career for a local hotel proprietor, who ran coaches and conveyed the mails between Ipswhich and Yarmouth. Codman had to be sworn in as postboy before the Magistrates. He recollected the first train travelling to Yarmouth. In winter he had often, owing to deep snowdrifts, to leave his vehicle behind and ride forward on his horses with the mails to fetch assistance. When road posting ended Codman took a licensed house at Yarmouth, and afterwards became a cabdriver.

The water supply system for Waipawa was ..-formally opened yesterday. gThe Mayor, Mr W. I. Limbrick said the works had cost £7.400, and the reservoir would hold 140,000 gallons. He asked Mr Hall, member for the district, to open the supply. Mr Hall, in declaring the waterworks open, congratulated the town on obtaining a water supply and said he hoped a drainage scheme woiftd be taken in hand soon. Mr A. Dillon, M.P., also congratulated the ratepayers on their water supply. Last summer had no ‘ doubt, he said, impressed upon them the necessity of a good supply of water. Mr A. E. Jull said he was greatly pleased at the consummation of a scheme which had his hearty support. He hoped one effect of the scheme would be tire lowering of the insurance rates, which were far too high. Mr Chambers, chairman of the Waipukurau Town Board, also congratulated the town. The members of the Napier Fire Brigade gave a display, showing the pressure of water.

“ We’ll cut the Panama Canal!” Said Unc’e Sam, You’ll see we shallj We shall, no sham ; As sure’s I am The boss tobacco chewer, But during Winter time, I guess For Coughs and colds we can’t do less Than ease the workman’s wheeziness With Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.”