LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7731, 26 February 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hon. W. P. Reeves (late High Commissioner for New Zealand) has been appointed a member oi: a Royal Commission of eight to examine schemes to secure a full representative character for popularly elected legislative bodies, and to consider how iar any such scheme may be applicable to Great Britain. -Air Hubert MeXab, who has been busily engaged m his literary research work m Wellington since the beginning of the year, intends paying a short vist to his home at Knapdale^ and will be a passenger by to-morrow morning's southward express. A Press Association telegram states that the directors of the Wellington Woollen Company have declared a dividend of 3 per cent, for the past half-year. The Timaru music shop proprietor who was threatened with an application for an injunction restraining him from giving graniaphone concerts m his shop has since altered the position of the instrument so that the music does not annoy those who were complaining of it, and the projected court proceedings have accordingly been abandoned. The cost of tin- general election m the Geraldine doctorate, m which there were two ballots, was £593 exclusive of the cost of printing and advertising, and as these items will make up about £100 the total will amount to about £700. Richards' Entertainers will open a two night's season at the Oddfellows' Hall, Ashburton, this evening, when they will present a diversified programme. A bright selection of songs will bo introduced by Mr Brander Balfour, a powerful and pleasing baritone; comicalities will bo provided by Mr Will Hughes, the loose-legged comedian ; while the two Arnolds will supply a quaint juggling exhibition, interspersed throughout with amusing comedy and pantomimic burlesque. Miss Thornton will supply the music, and ilr A. T. Richards will produce a fine selection of specially procured films. Prices are popular, and there will be a complete change of programme on Saturday evening. ilr l'\ Ferrirnan reports the sale of lot.i <Jo and 96, on D.P. 236, containing ■i acres, on account of the executors of J)avul -Jones, deceased, to Mr George Helings. Embrocations and liniments won't cure Rheumatism, Gout, Lumbago or Sciatica. The cause of the trouble is m the blood —uric acid —and theonly _possiblo cure is to eradicate this poison. RHEIJMO does this, and docs it thoroughly. Thousands who once suffered have been restored to health by RKEUMO. All Chemists and Stores, 2s 6d ami 45 6d 2|

All the Ashlmrton county rivers were reported clear at 9 o'clock this morning. A special meeting of the Diocesan Standing Committee was held on February 23rd for the apportionment of the grants from the Church Mission Fund for the year Ea-ter, 1909, to Easter, 1910, and other business. The following grants of local interest were voted, subject tc there being a sufficiency of income in the fund: Hinds £20, Melhven £25 s Mount Somers £50. The widow of the late Mr J. Given (who was killed as the result of an accident at St. Mary's Church, Timaru) has received a cheque for £518 from the Government Insurance Department as compensation under the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act. Nothing has vet been heard by the police of the old man who disappeared from his home in St. Albans about a fortnight ago. Mr J. Caughey, of Sefton, has just threshed 16 acres of Garton oats which threshed out IOH bushels per acre. Mr McGiffert has threshed on the Downs 10 acres of Garton oats, which went 90§bushels per acre. Mr H. H. Cook's machine threshed 1930 bushels of wheat in one day from the stook, in a crop belonging to Mr W. Jamioson, of Leeston. The yield was 65 bushels per aci'Bi The Cooper Operascope Cpihpa'hy will appear in the Oddfeljows' . Hall, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 3rd and 4th of March. The management announce that every part of the pre gramme will be new, and that ? in ad dition to a reproduction, in living natural colours, of Gilbert and Sullivan's famous comic opera, "The Mikado," the latest marvel in biograph—an invention called "The Miracle of Life, Voice and Motion," —and also gems of animated photography, will be shown. Two evenings performances and a matinee (on Thursday afternoon) will be given. The Ashburton Guards held a special daylight parade last evening, when 35 men muttered under the command of Captain W. R. Tucker. Attack and defence work was gone into ; the corpus was divided into two companies for the purpose, and carried out necessary manoeuvres on the riverbed. The first company, under Lieutenant W. McAllister, took up a position ill the rear of the Woollen Mills, while the other, under Lieut. P. L. Orr, were stationed behind the Old Men's Home. Each party placed three Hags in their rear to represent the res octive camps, and scouts wore then thrown out by both sides, the object being to try to penetrate the opposing company's lines without detection, and, if possible, capture their camp. Some very able scouting was done and the work generally was excellent. At the conclusion Captain Tucker, who acted as umpire, com : plimented the men on the way they had carried out the work, and the interest they had taken in it. It is iitatcd that the leaves of the root crops are beginning to show signs of withering, and rain is therefore needed to freshen up the growth. With few exceptions the turnip crops are exceptionally well grown, and many are alre.uly fit for feeding off. Mr Arthur Gibbs has returned to Tomuka after a season's shearing. He has been shearing in the North Island and in Otago, and shore 9000 sheep this year in less than four months, for which he received £84. Mr Gibbs has been shearing since he was sixteen years of age, and has now shorn over half a million of sheep. In one year he shore 18,000 sheep between New Zealand and Australia, for which he received £1 per 100 sheep, or £180 altogether. The greatest day's shearing he has done was 225 sheep in Australia, and 212 sheep at Lagmhor station, Ashburton, says the Temuka Leader. While the Auckland unemployed have been dancing hakas outside the Star Hotel, the temporary abiding place of Sir Joseph Ward, and heaping anathema upon the Government, the fanners of. South Otago, (says the Clutha Free Press), are complaining that they cannot get men to assist in farm work. High wages are offered for milkers and other hands, but without avail, and generally speaking the position of the man on the land with cows to milk and crops to gather is exigent. The Government might well take steps to divert the tide of immigration from the over-boomed North Island, where there seems to be a decided slump in business generally, to the solid south. In urging before the Council of Conciliation, at Christchnrch on Tuesday, that bootmakers should receive higher wages, Mr G. R. Whiting quoted the following figures showing the increases granted in the trades enumerated, the first given rate referring to the year 1897 and the second to the year 1908: Masons: Auckland Bs, 12s; 'Wellington. 9s (3d, 12s; Canterbury, 10s 6d, 10s 6d : Otago, lis 6d, 13s 6d. Plasterers: Auckland, Bs, 12s 6d; Wellington, 10s, 13s; Canterbury, 9s, 12s; Otago, lis 13s. Bricklayers: Auckland, Bs, 13s; Wellington, 9s 6d, 12s 6d; Canterbury, 10s 6d, 12s 6d;; Otago, lis (id, 13s. Carpenters: Auckland, 7s 6d, lis; Wellington, 8s 3d, lis; Canterbury, 9s, lis 4d; Otago, 10s, lis 4d. Bootmakers: Auckland, 6s 6d, 8s 3d; Wellington, 9s, 9s; Canterbury, 7s 6d, 8s 3d; Otago, 7s 6d, 8s 9d. Ho added that 'the figures were taken from the New Zealand Year Books for the years mentioned. The average increase in the wages of masons, plasterers, bricklayers, and carpenters for the four centres between the rates paid in 1897 and in 1908 was 33 per cent; whilst the average increase in the wages of bootmakers during the same period was 13J per cent. Mr G. Laurenson, M.P., has received a letter from the Hon. Dr Findlay, Minister of Justice, stating that the Governor has instructed him that the cells of the prisoners in Lyttelton gaol are to be better lighted and several other improvements in the treatment of the prisoners are to be carried out. Some other suggestions made by Mr Laurenson are being brought before the Cabinet, and the Minister hopes that they will be carried out at an early date. The conference of representatives of. slaughtermen's unions, which was to! have been held in Christchurch yesterday, has been postponed until March 24. The reason for the postponement is that the Canterbury and Southland Unions have not as yet appointed delegates. Both of these unions purpose holding a special meeting early next month, when delegates will be appointed to the conference, and representatives of all unions in the dominion will meet on March 24, and consider the question of federation. The mission of RHEUMO is to eradicate uric acid from the system, and it does this most thoroughly. RHEUMO is the greatest of all rheumatism cures. Thousands of our own countrymen have teste, d r£ lld Proved its inestimable worth. Try it and you will obtain relief. All Chemists and Stores, 2s 6d and