Local and General

Waipukurau Press, Issue 292, 6 August 1908, Page 5

Local and General

The Bowling Club, it is stated, i’l'cml to open their season in about two months time. The Government has decided to exempt passion fruit and pineapples from recent regulations regarding the importation of fruit. The parade of the Waipnkurau Troop which was to have been held to-night lias been postponed till fm then notice, on account of the hall being engaged. The many friends of Mrs C. Scruby will be glad to hear that she is making steady, progress toward recovery. Mis Scruby is. already much stronger. Air and Airs G. AlcKenzie, who have been absent on a trip to the South Island since last Tuesday week, returned yesterday to Waipnkurau. They were fortunate in having tine weather throughout the whole of their holiday and enjoyed the trip immensely. The recent heavy rains have made the Porangahan Road very heavy and in once place it is particularly bad. The coach yesterday managed to get through but it is feared that vehicular traffic will be held up if the rains continue.

The wife of Air E. H. Alarsh, of the Press Office is ill and has been taken to the Hospital. Airs Alarsh, who not long since came to reside in Waipnkurau, is suffering from internal troubles, and will be operated upon to-morrow.

Messrs Lundon, Stewart and Co. announce that owing to the ploughing match being held on Wednesday next their sale of horses has been postponed till Thursday.

An uncommon vehicle passed through Waipukurau by rail yesterday. Inquiries elicited the fact that the vehicle was a Straker Steam Waggon which had been ordered out from Home by the Hastings Borough Council.

During the last few days the rain has been fairly heavy, the amoun tregistered being 1.7 inches. The barometiic pressure has indicated the •wintriness of the ■weather t> a- marked degree, falling 70 points from 9 a.m. on Tuesday till 9 a.m. on ’Wednesday. On Tuesday evening heavy clouds gathered over Waipukurau and rain threatened, drops falling at intervals from the late afternoon. At about 10.30 o’clock the rain commenced in heavy drizzling showers and continued during the night. Throughout yesterday the ■weather was stormy and heavy showers fell, taxing the water channels to their utmost capacity. The river has risen about two feet since yesterday morning. Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure won’t cure Bad habits or York hams, Nor would it do in Irish stew. Or hair-wash or in jams ; It won’t cure leather, freckles, warts, For working men or toffs, But iVoods’ Great Peppermint Cure will cure Your colds and cure your coughs.

Mr J. Wilson has leased the Tavistock stables from Mr R. Coneys. On account of the heavy rains which fell on Wednesday no hockey matches took place. Aliss Cooper, milliner and ladies’ outfitter, announces that she is holding a stock-taking sale. ( Alfred Bates, who was arrested at Christchurch for having acted as a street “ lighthouse,” in other words selling whisky from a bottle he was carrying about the streets ■without having a license to sell liquor, was fined £2O and costs. A meeting in connection with the forthcoming ba 11 will bo held at the Tavistock Hotel on Saturday night at 8 o’clock, and as important business is to be brought forward, it is hoped there will be a good attendance. The following will represent the 'Waipnkurau Debating Society in their contest debate with Kai kora at Waipnkurau on the 19th inst.— Alessrs. W. A. Chambers, P. S. Carroll, C. J. Cooke,- and G. F. Cox.

The August number of “ Good Cheer” has just come to hand from the publishers at 'Wanganui. This monthly is an admirable production, and b ; ds fair to be New Zealand’s popular home journal in every sense of the word. As usual,'a cut pattern is given away with every number of “Good Cheer.” A children’s evning in connection with the opening dance of the Waipnkurau Bowling Club will be held on Friday. The children will be given the floor from 7.30 till 9.30 o’clock, when the adult dancing will commence. It is the intention of the club to hold a dance annually and it is to be hoped that they will be favoured with better weather than on Tuesday for the dance on Friday. People living in the vicinity of the railway station complain of the constant whistling of trains during the night-time. No doubt warning whistles are necessary, but on some nights the noise seems to be almost incessant, making sleep almost impossible in the near neighbourhood, and it is to be hoped some method will be found of at least mitigating the nuisance.

The New York “ Times ” says that large -wholesalers in the city often subscribe for small country papers in whose local news they have no interest. It seems they do it for the reason given below : A wholesale grocer in New York, ■who has become rich at the business, says his rule is, when he sells goods on credit, to immediately subscribe for the local paper of his debtor. So loiig as his customer advertised liberally he rested, but as soon as he stopped his advertising he took the fact as evidence that there was trouble ahead, and invariably went for the debtor. Said he: “ The man who is too poor to make his business known is too poor to do business.” The withdrawal of an advertisement is evidence of weakness that business men are not slow to act upon. It is a sure barometer. The belief that there are numerous gold-bearing reefs in the Urewera country is confirmed by a writer in the Auckland “ Herald.” “I have,” he says, “just returned from a long prospecting tour in that country, also in the Taupo district, and am pleased with the result of my work. I a'm confident that a large goldfield will be opened up in the country. There are plenty of well-defined reefs carrying gold that only want to be prospected and opened up to prove their value. Alluvial gold is also to be found, but this I would say is the outcome of the reef that has become broken and worked down the streams being deposited in the alluvial gravels. Now that steps are being taken to arrange with the natives to allow their lands to be thrown open- to prospectors, I am sure that before long the Urewera and Lake Taupo country will be a great goldfield. The country is very rough and difficult to get through, and prospectors must be prepared to put up with a lot of hardships. I may say that other valuable minerals-are also to be found in these districts, and before long some very rich finds will be made in this direction.’h .

Two dairymen at Christchurch were fined £lO each, and three others £2 each for selling adulterated milk. General satisfaction will be felt locally at the selection of Air Watson, AI.A., of Waipawa, as umpire in the forthcoming debate on “ Heredity v. Environment,” between the Waipnkurau and Kaikora Debating Societies. Mr Watson has already acted in this capacity several times, both here and in Kaikora, and is very popular for the genial and able manner in which he has performed his duties. The contest debate takes place in Waipnkurau on August 19th.

The balance-sheet of the Government Railways Superannuation Fund shows that members contributed £45,669 during the year. Fines amounted to £239 and interest to £5352. These amounts added to the sum of £110,736 brought forward from last year, shows the aggregate sum on the debit side of the balance-sheet to be £161,997. During the year superannuation allowances amounting to £26,758 were paid to 484 members of the railway service who have either voluntarily resigned or been retired as medically unlit, Allowances amounting to £3799 -were paid to 105 widows and 173 children, and refunds amounting to £342 were paid to legal representatives of deceased members. The sum of £3610 was refunded to members concerned under the provisions of the Act. The total disbursements for the year were £35,354, leaving a balance of £126,642 to the credit of the fund at the end of the year. A young Australian writes as follows to a friend in Adelaide: — “ Yesterday morning I was at a farm at eight o’clock to see a Scotch shearing. This latter was really too funny. One man sat on a fence bossing and three others shore. They each caught a sheep and hugged it in the middle of a sandy yard, and then the fun began. Their method is extraordinary —exactly opposite to the Australian. The chief thing that remains in my mind is one man kneeling on his sheep’s neck, another holding his up by the tail, and the third giving a Hackenschmidt exhibition. This is not exaggerated. When they had each polished off their respective victims they rolled up the fleece, not at all particular to a pound of extra sand, stood up, heaved a sigh, hitched their trousers, lit pipes, took a pull at a large jug, and then strolled after another sheep —about thirty a day ! And yet this is one of the finest farms in “ Aberdeenshire.” 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 Framing a speciality. Reed’s Arcade