The Press. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Thursday, August 20, 1908. Local and General.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 298, 20 August 1908, Page 4

The Press. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Thursday, August 20, 1908. Local and General.

——:oi The Hon. W. C. Smith, M.L.C., left for Wellington yesterday to resume his Parliamentary duties. The monthly meeting of the School Committee will be held this evening at the school. A meeting of the Literary and Debating Society was held last evening, when there was a fair attendance. The subject of the debate was 11 Is Universal Military Training Desirable ?” Mr Mayne, who is a pleasing speaker, led for the affirmative and handled the subject in a masterly manner. Mr Cooke supported Mr Mayne. Messrs H. Poynter and Carroll took the negative. Several members voiced their opinion on the subject, and on .a vote being taken the affirmative had a majority of 15, the voting being 25 for and 10 against. For Bronchial Coughs take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. Is 6d.

Ei ecljed Pasha, Tuikish Minis,ei of War, died suddenly at his C %k. His death is greatly revetted, since he was implicitly trusted. Osman Nigami replaces him.

Mi A. Blom, saddler, announces \that he has just made up on his premises a splendid line of ladies and gentlemen’s saddles, children s riding pads and school-bags, and ladies’ belts.

William Voigt, who in December, 1906, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at Berlin lor stealing municipal funds at Kopenick, which he obtained by posing as a captain of the 1* oot jpaiarcls, has been released.

---.Mr J. Bailey has been laid up with influenza for some days and although he is improving, it is feared that he will not be wCli enov.gii to take part in Saturday s match with Takapan. At Long Island, New York, Captain Hains, an artillery officer, shot a New publisher named William Annie dead in . sight •of a crowd of fashionable pleasure seekers. The murderer declares that Annis ruined his young wife.

An oil launch capsized at the mouth of the Catlin’s river on Monday. Allred Bates got ashore with difficulty, but found it impossible to rescue his companion. Thomas Murray, wnose body hasmot yet been recovered. The deceased, who was twentytwo years of age, leaves a widow and one child at Ahuriri.

At the presentation to Mr P. 11. Jolley last night Mr Scholes made some interesting remarks on the progress AVaipukurau had made when replying to the toast of <• The Town.” He had been here now some thirty years, he said, and could well remember the time when even ihe main road was unformed. Bullock teams used to get stuck with their heavy wa°’gons and it was a common sight to see an extra team hitched, on to release them .

The eight-year-old son of Mr J T. Brophy met with a strange accident on Tuesday. He was eating a small piece of carrot, which slipped down the windpipe. .It was feared that an operation would be necessary to remove the obstacle, but the little fellow coughed it up last night ami is now making a good recovery.

3lr Haybittie, of Wellington, writing from Birmingham at the encl of June, says : Strawberries are cheap here. To-day, they sold at 24d to 3d per lb at auction wholesale, and 4d up to 8d for big and prime retail. Compare this with Wellington’s average ra f e —is 3d per lb wholesale, and Is Gd and 2s retail. The English strawberries (Paxton s) are very R ne —double as large as the New Zealand production on an average. Operations for the re-launching of the Taviuni, stranded on the south beach at Westport, are proceeding (says the “Westport News.”) Heavy upright lengths of timber are being fixed to the side of the vessel, which lies embedded in Bft. of sand. The jacks will be attached to these lengths of timbeff and the vessel lifted to enable the skids to be placed under her. This part of . the operation wiil probably take from one to two months. When the vessel is on the skids it is intended to repair her, so that she may be ready, when re-launched, to immediately resume collier duties. When making a short speech at the Auckland Industries Exhibition, the Premier spoke at the rate of 80 words a minute for the benefit of a student from the Blind Institute who was using one of the shorthamd type machines invented for the use of blind persons. The boy managed to take his report easily. The reading of the notes was done entirely by the sense of touch. Sir Joseph used several long words purposely to test the student and these were reported with accuracy and without hesitation. The Premier said he hoped to see shorthand students from the institute taking their place as stenographers in commercial and professional houses. « Just for the day I’ll be away,” Remarked his wife last Saturday, “ If every dog must have his day Then why not every cat her day ? I’ll take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, / Because that’s indispensable, And ma will go with me, I’m sure You ought to think that’s sensible ° (He did!)

Eulogistic mention of our champions in the field of sport was made at Mr Jolley’s farewell last evening. Sport played a very great part in the nation’s life, averred one speaker, and they had living examples of what sport had done in the recent successes in football, rowing, and cycling. Dick Arnst, who had won the Sydney Thousand was now turning his attention to rowing and was going to try to wrest the championship of the world from Webb. It showed that not only were we going ahead commercially, but also in our sport. Mr Whelch, of Wanstead, brother of Mr Whelch, of Akaroa, was a likely candidate for rowing honours and the time might yet come whenWaipukurau might claim a rowing champion.

Last night a team of players from Waipukurau visited Waipawa to play a return billiard match. As only one table was available, however, the match could not be finished. The following are the scores : —Curtis played Wilson, scoring 1-50 against Wilson’s 181. Bone played McKay, McKay winning with 150 to Bone’s 81. Packer played L. Ayres, scoring 150 to 52. These were the only games played. The scores totalled : Waipukurau, 381; Waipawa, 333, leaving Waipukurau in the lead by 48.

A returned Wellingtonian, who has been on a visit to America, states that when he was in San Francisco he observed Spreckels’ three ex-mail steamers, Sierra, Sonoma, and Ventura, lying idle. In fact, they had been out of commission for some time, but it was yet hoped to restart them in the relinquished service to Auckland and Sydney. The three boats were almost unrecognisable, dirt and marine growth contributing to the disguise.