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Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 85, 9 April 1906, Page 4

The following is Captain Edwin's weather forecast for 24 hours from nine ajn. this day: "Strong, winds to gale from between north and west and, south-west after 12 hours from now, glass fall soon, rain probable."

Passengers to Whangarei this evening per should note that she is berthed Stfe ithe (Juflea-street Wharf.

.. The '■".'. foJJowihg name* were omitted from. - the - list of handicaps for Thame3 Foresters' sports to take place on' Easter Monday: K. Walker 30yds Quarter-mile handicap,-J. Smith 28yds*. ■ - ' ."'■''..

A boating accident happened at Motu-tapu-yesterday. Two young;inen named Ernest Bailey anq\, Bert Frith, of Devonport went out from Drunken Bay in an open-boat. A heavy squall, accompanied by a high sea, sprang up while they were out in the" gulf," and their boat was" cast "tip oh' the rocks at the island. Fortunately, they were not injured, and weremble to walk across the island to Home Bay, where they met Mr Whitney's launch, in which they were conveyed to Auckland.

Mr Donne, head of the Tourist Department, has received the balance of the diplomas won by New Zealand 'at the St. Louis Exhibition. The medals bracketed with the certificates are expected to arrive by an early maiL Chief among the certificates that have reached ;Wellington is one for most complete, and most attractive exhibit in • the department of fish and game. The gold medal awarded in this division was secured by New Zealand. Another diploma was the grand prize for publications on government and social conditions. The certificates with the gold medals to follow were obtained for a N collective exhibit of mounted fish, birds, and deer heads and forest productions. The diplomas for wool, pnormiiun tena-x, tallow, hops, skins, and Maori artifices carry silver medals.

A young woman visited a house .in the neighbourhood of WanganuL one night last week, and asked for accommodation for the night, pleading that ishe had no money and knew no one in the town to whom she could apply for assistance. Her pitiable tale secured for her the invitation to make herself at home at the house in question, and she stayed there for two or three days. Last Monday morning she disappeared at an early hour, without saying goodbye, and it was apparently gone off decked out in another young lady's , clothes—including a new hat and dress, which had only recently been purchased —at all events she had left her own well-worn apparel behind her. The exchange was naturally not appreciated by the owner of the new attire, who j had not been consulted in the matter.'

A child named Charles : Jury, the two-year-old son of- a settler at Highcliff, Otago, while sitting at the table with the rest of the family, put the spout of the .teapot in his mouth unnoticed by the others, and the hot liquid which he drank so severely scalded his stomach that he died from the effects. , The coroner's jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

f The new club rooms at Onehunga intended for the Methodist Young Men's Recreation Association are to be opened on April 27. The rooms are well appointed in every respect, and will doubtless prove especially attractive during the coming winter months. Following is the list of officers: Patron, the Rev. W. Slade; president, Mr. A. J. Pople; vicepresidents, Messrs. G. H.-Douglass, G. H. Fleming, J. Murgatroyd. P. Frost, J. Robins, E. J. Davies, A. Ellison, S. McMaster, E. Somerville, S. Breese, A. C. Poad, S. Wilding, F. Breese, J. Bradding, G. H. Parker, and the Rev. W. J. Wat- ; kin; secretary, R G. Laking; assistant secretary, F. Roget; treasurer, F. Langton; auditors, Messrs. G. Pdple and G. Slade; management committee, the ©fft cers and Messrs. E. Pople, C Denize, W. Laking, and H. Brown,

Mr H. Fearon, a farmer at Huiroa, met with a rather peculiar accident the other day (says the "Stratford Post'?) while blasting a stump on his land. Ho had laid the charge, and, after lighting the fuse, Tetired to a safe distance. Through a hole in the powder-bag a stream of the explosive issued as he walked, leaving a train from the stump to where he Was standing. This was fired when the explosion took place,- and the remaining powder in the bag was ignited. Mr Fearon was rather badly burned about the face, but otherwise escaped serious injury.

An interesting memento of an oldtime sea tragedy remains, says the "New Zealand Times," at Kekerangu, . the homestead of the sheep-run o£ the same name, situated on the east'coast of Marlborough, above Kaikoura. It is a little fenced-in enclosure alongside the station building—a God's Acre where rest the bones of at least three of the victims df the wreck of the steamer Taiaroa, which, on April lith, 1886, struck on Waipapa" Point during a mist." Thirty lives were lost. The boat with the survivors found its way north to Cloudy Bay, but the others stuck to the wreck, top long, and. a rising, sea joverr, whelmed them. One. of the graves at Kekerangu is that of an unknown, as the inscription on the tombstone (wooden) imparts. Tombstone, railings, and adjuncts are green with the moss of age, but the' station-owner has the sections cleaned up occasionally and the weeds removed, thus preserving a tangible link with an event which is fast becoming ancient history.

The "Taranaki News" says that a number of New Plymouth people have formed themselves into a syndicate to pay the expenses of a couple of experienced mining prospectors, who arc at present operating at the Kaitake and Patua ranges, on the higher slopes of Mount. Egmont. So far excellent indications have been found, and samples have been submitted to the Grovernment geologist. The formation is said to be exactly similar to that found oh the Thames goldfields.

"I have been considering the question of prison labour," said the Victorian Premier, Mr Bent, on Saturday week, "and am going to ' submit a scheme to the Cabinet. I propose to use prisoners to improve not only the land, but roads as well, and I propose to give them'- wages, so much per week, so that when they are set free, instead of being penniless, they will have a little to make a fresh start with. Work is a great reforming agency, and I propose to use them and reform them at the same time."

Aft great number of people who travel in trains do not seem to recognise -the danger of hanging their arms out of the windows. Some go so far as to gut their heads out. Frequently cases are reported where people have had arms broken by being struck by passing car: riages, and through striking, other obr stacjes, and in Victoria a couple of years ago a man's head was smashed to a pulp through the same thing.. A case in point happened between Sydney and Eveleigh on. Tuesday last. A little girl, travelling with her mother to Camden, let. her. arm hang out of a window, and some portion of. a .passing train struck it,. with the. result that it w*s badly broken near the elbow, The train was puUed up at Eveleigh, and the injured child taken to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment..' ':/. !:~ ..: *- : -.. -'; "' '. ■•-'- ■■•■'

yOh*'the; nomination Secretary (Lord Elgin) and the Commonwealth, 'the President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Lloyd ' George)' las.: appointed Jdr. David George to be a member of the Advisory Committee of the Board of Trade on Commercial intelligence, in the special interests of the of Australia.

HJM.s. Powerful, with Vice-Admiral Sir Wilmot H. Fawkes, the Commander-1 in-Chief of the Australian" Squadron, re-j turned- to- Sydney last Monday after :visiting the '. principal .New,., Zealand ports. .. The Powerful crossed the Tasnian Sea at. a speed of 12 knots, a short stoppage being made en route for shot practice. ... The...importance., of wireless telegraphy, to vessels, arriving from qversea was demonstrated as the flagship neared -Sydney. The Powerful and most of the other vessels of the squadron are fitted -with the wireless apparatus, and her position was. known to the naval authorities-at Sydney for some hours before she appeared in sight of the Heads. This is not the first time that wireless messages have been exchanged, between the warships; the system was used off the coast when the Powerful was on her first voyage to Sydney. But this is the first occasion on which it has been utilised by a vessel coming across the sea, in order to make her whereabouts known to the shore. . The flagship will probably remain at Sydney for the next five weeks, and then proceed to Fiji and Samoa. - The.Psyche,., was, to have left Sydney last, week on a visit to Melbourne. This morning If. M.s. Encounter left Auckland for -Gisborne, Nai pier and Wellington. She will make a stay of one day at Gisborne; and an- ■ other short stay at Napier, while at I Wellington she will probably remain for three or four weeks. She is expected [back in Auckland in about six weeks.

Mr James Godfrey, who will appear for the first time in New Zealand at the Northern Boxing Association's carnival next Thursday evening, is one of the most successful amateur ;boxefs" that England has produced :in recent yearsHe holds an unbeaten record, and carried off the featherweight championship of England last year. He meets Mr J. Gosling, New Zealand's champion, in a six-round contest, who also holds an unbroken record, and patrons can expect to witness one of the best scientific displays yet seen in Auckland. Mr Godfrey intends settling in New Zealand.

Constable .Maher has telegraphed to Inspector Culled' from" Taumaruhui :that James Robert Logan has been committed for trial on three charges of breaking and entering and, theft, while James E. Logan, sen., and May Logan were committed' on cha'rges'of'receiving stolen property. Walter Payne was also committed for trial on two charges of breaking and entering and theft.

An April 7 there passed away in her 78th year another oi Auckland's old identities in the person of Mrs Jane Whittington, who, with,her husband, the late Sergeant Whittington, arrived in the colonies in the early "sixties" in the ship Swiftsure. Sergeant Whittington fought in the Maori war, and had charge of a company at the \Vnau Blockhouse. Mrs Whittington leaves one son, Mr William J. Whittington, who served with the Fifth Contingent in the late Boer war, and still in South Africa, Mrs L. P. Peterson, of.Kuaotunu, andJdrs J. Graham, of Victoria-street.

British subjects in the New Hebrides have long been known to be dissatisfied with the treatment meted out to them by the Commonwealth Government. An almost prohibitive duty is placedV'on coffee (3d per pound), and after freight has been paid, the planter has Very little profit left. On the other hand, the French do everything they can to encourage their traders, with the result that they are much more prosperous than their | British neighbours. .Englishmen recognise that there is but one thing to do to jget over the difficulty, and that is a change of nationality; A number of Ithem have long contemplated the change, and in the course of a month or two a couple of them will become naturalised subjects of France. The planters aver that instead of being helped, all sorts of obstacles are put in their paths. It is !not exactly the life of pleasure, living in the South Sea Islands, that most pe£ pie seem to. imagine. The always present fear of hurricanes, the lateness of rainy seasons,- and the all-prcvaient fever are not exactly the kind of attractions to induce a man to make a home for himself. '-.«*"'

j An unusual sight was witnessed from Te Kopuru on Wednesday last, about I 5 p.m., when a waterspout was discerned jto be travelling from the coast inland at a terrific" speed. The waterspout apj peared to be hanging on to low-lyin<* ! black clouds, and its move" I ments were surprisingly speedy. It sud-l-denly disappeared, being either drawn I into the Clouds, or.-else burst on-an inj tervening.hillcrest.. .. v. .....;,.",.

The discovery of a number of skeletons has been made amongst the sand hills facing the Waihi Beach" (says "our Waihi correspondent). ' "The skeletons were found lying in rows, some of J them being almost complete. The bones are in a splendid state of preservation. The relics are supposed to be those of old fighting days, and the sand which hid them so long has at last blown away, revealing-* the ghastly company.

An agreement has been arrived at between the South .Australian Government and the tramway directors for the purchase by the Government of all the tramways for £280,000.

The Devonport Coastguard minstrel troupe will give an entertainment in the Public Hall, Onehunga, to-morrow evening. The proceeds will be devoted to the Onehunga Town Band uniform i und.

A branch lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars "was opened in Devonport recently by Bey. C. H. Bascand, organising agent of the Order, The membership numbers thirty-two to date.