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Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 167, 15 July 1907, Page 2

A report Las recently been received from Mr Oliver Burgess, in connection with the China famine relief work, of which a portion is under his supervision. The fallowing statistics contained in the report give some idea of the -splendid work being accomplished.:—"For the week ending May 12th no less than 10,----898 in en were given employment on roads, canals, buildings, etc. Tie expenses were 1500 dols. per day, and the income from sales of food 1000 dols. per day. On Saturdays, the wages' account generally runs up to 1700 dols., ana the sales to 2000 dols. Thousands of tons of earth have been carried; ten miles of en o(d canal re-dugj. two three miles of a large new canal, connecting An-tong city with the Salt" River, have been nearly finished; and the -whole of the great ilood in the city has almost run out. The crowning victory, however, is the feeding of the hungry. Three months ago I saw thousands starving, and now I ride through the ranks of over 10,000 men daily, and see them eating a meal of bread. The donations received by the China Inland Mission Fund from December to May anumnt to 30,56421 dols., and there is 30,000 dols. left to circnlate. This will last until the end of May, and will have tided many thousands over the worst time." Many terrible incidents of the famine are Tβlated by Mr Burgess, illustrative of the extremities to which the people were driven, by starvation. It ■would be almost impossible to conceive what znig-ht have been the condition of the country but for the efforts of toe mission, and it is to be hoped that monetary assistance, the one great factor in the success of the project, will be freely forthcoming from one and all.

The following account , of the death of Mr William Forbes, formerly organist of Pitt-street Wesleyan Church, and a popular man.in, Auckland musical circles, is taken from a Scotch newspaper:— "Great sympathy is being expressed in Innellan for ex-Parish. Councillor Forbes and the other relaidses on the recent death of his nephew, Mr William F. Forbes, of Stewaiton, who was well known and much respected at Innellan, as indeed he was by all who had the privilege of knowing him. For a short period he conducted the instrumental service of praise in the North United Free Church, TnrwJbHi. He was a man of exceptional talent, and might fitly be termed a musical genius. He left the legal profession to- follow the bent of his mind—instrumental music—which was the delight of bis heart. He acted for the last few years as organist of Cairns United Free Church, Stewarton, and gave the greatest satisfaction, the minister of that church following bis remains to their resting place in Dunoon Cemetery, -where a beautiful everlasting wreath, the gif eof the congregation, was placed on his grave. Much sympathy is felt for the deceased's widowed mother, whose only child he was, and across the seas, in New Zealand, which was for many years their home, condolence will be felt and grief expressed on the death, at the comparatively early age of 39, of one whose life was so full of promise."

Willesden Magistrate: "Is your -waistcoat -wet, boy?" "Haven't got one, sir." ""Well, your shirt, is that -wet?" "Haven't got one, sir." Magistrate, to police: "See that he is taken to the workhouse immediately. It is a disgrace that his coat is still wet, since 4 o'clock this morning." The boy had been found wandering in the drenching rain.