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Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8, 9 January 1908, Page 4

The sheet almanac issued annually with the. "Star" will be included as a supplement with our Saturday's issue. This sheet, besides giving tide tables for the Waitemata, and constants by which they can be adapted for any part of the province, contains a large amount of postal and miscellaneous matter of value and interest to householders. The almanac should be tacked in a prominent position on the wall of every home. The usual Saturday evening issue of the "Star" will be published at 8 o'clock this week instead of seven, to allow of i the completion of our report of the bowling toui-nament, which will on Saturday reach an advanced stage. The edition will contain, as usual, complete accounts of all athletic events. Following is Captain Edwin's weather j forecast for 24 hours from 9 a.m. this day:—East to south and southwest, niOderate to strong winds; rain probable; glass little movement. A runaway took place at Whangarei on Tuesday which resulted in a buggy! being overturned and a gentleman and two lady passengers siightly injured. ' The facts are that Mr and Mrs Bull, and Miss Dreadon, were driving along the main road returning from the country, ! when the horse took fright at a motorcar, and becoming unaianagable, dashed into a wire fence, with the result that the buggy was overturned. Mrs. Bull I suffered the most, being unconscious for i some time, having received injuries to her head and leg. Mr. Bull was also cut about the head, and Miss Dreadon was badly shaken, besides suffering an > injury to her leg. The vehicle was badly i damaged, and the horse, getting loose! from the harness, bolted away. The attention of ladies and gentlemen desiring to join the Imperial Colonial j Club, which will be opened early this ■ year in the late Baroness Burdett Coutts' ' premises in Piccadilly, London, W., is directed to an advertisement in this issue. Our Waipu correspondent telegraphs that Mr. Donald Eraser, aged about 78, died yesterday after ailing for the last five years, having then had a para- ' lytic stroke, from which he never recovered.

The planting of the Government nurseries in British New Guinea is pro- 1 ceeding rapidly. Mr. Staniforth Smith, < in a report dated November 27, says 1 that since his previous communication - 10,00-' Pard rubber plants, 300 cocoa j plants and various small consignments j of seeds arrived and were plarfted. Dur- ; ing the past six months 535,000 seeds < and plants have been planted in 10 nurseries scattered over Papua. Mr. > Smith remarks that the natives are coming in from contiguous villages and , seeking seeds for their own gardens, which are being supplied wherever possible. "I hope,'' he says, ''to be able to import a large number of jack fruit and bread fruit suckers for distribution in this way." The making of a large number of new tracks and roads is in contemplation when preliminary visits of investigation are completed. Special police protection and •"•;vestigation are needed in Maitai Valley, where sheep-stealing, poaching, and thefts from camps have been very common for months (according to the Nelson "Mail"). It is understood that Mr. Warnock, the lessee of the Maitai Run, is about 400 sheep short this year, and of this loss at least 250 can be accounted for only by the presumption that the animals have been made away with illegally. Breaches of the game laws are perpetrated quite openly, while thefts from camps have been quite common. One whare was cleaned out of nearly everything—blankets, cutlery, bottled beer, etc. Other camps have also been visited by thieves periodically, till it is now understood that only the stoutest bolts, bars, and locks, anil frequent visits will ensure a measure of immunity from raids. There seems to be a - band of brigands who make the Maitai Valley the scene of their prac- | tices, and the sooner they are dispersed j the better. The quarterly meeting of the Auckland | West circuit of the Methodist church I was held in St. John's School hall on Wednesday. The Rev. Geo. Bond presided over a representative attendance. Mr. J. E. 'Wheeler, the senior steward, presented a gratifying balance-sheet. The circuit income, with a credit balance from the previous quarter, was £ 109 13/2, showing a credit balance of £25 13/4. The trust funds received £39 9/5, and poor fund £1 13/7. It was further reported that the ordinary account for Home Missions received £33 5/11, and I the special H.M. Fund, £5 12/; foreign '.missions, £29 12/8. A hearty yot.. -,f thanks to the circuit's stewards was passed. Messrs. Wheeler and Vcale were re-elected to that office. Society stewards: Messrs. C. F. Eaddy, A. Thome, J. Purnell, and R. Mortimer. Pew stewards: Messrs. Mortimer and Campin. Home mission secretary: Mr. I Thompson Thorne. Representative to ■ conference: Mr. Wheeler, with Mr. Veale as substitute. [ A radical change has been made in the I administration of licensed homes for inj fauts. Henceforward all such homes will jbe under the control of the Department of Education, instead of that of the police, as formerly. Pour ladies have | been appointed as district agents, and 1 these will shortly visit every such home jin New Zealand. After this inspection ! has been made (says the " New Zealand 1 Times ") all homes will be regularly j I visited by an officer specially appointed | , for the purpose. The scheme of inspec- | tion will be such that every infant in a j licensed home under one year of ago i shall be visited at least once in every ! two months, and every other infant in ! such a home once in four- months. Fosterj parents must comply promptly with any j direction given by a district agent or | other duly authorised person, and they I must also allow local visitors all reason- ; able facilities for ascertaining the condi- ', tion of infants in their homes. All in- ! fants must also be treated with care and j kindness. | The balancing of accounts for last year, | telegraphs our Wellington correspondent, I has not left a great deal on the right side •of the ledger for Wellington cab proprie- ; i tors and cabdrivers. Generally speaking, , their individual earnings fall far short of j the previous year, and in some instances i there is a deficit to record. The electric | tram and motor cars have been responsible for a considerable shrinkage in their i receipts, but the Jehus lay the chief | blame on the farming community, and ; denounce in scathing terms what they | term the unholy combination .to keep up the price of fodder. One cab proprietor, ' | who has been feeding about 60 horses on ! the average, told a " Post " reporter that jhe estimated that on horse feed alone "i he had lost over £1000 on the year. An- ] other livery stable proprietor was convinced that if proprietors sent a man to \ Adelaide they could procure fodder and ' land it in Wellington much cheaper than j it could be procured from farmers who grow the commodity in New Zealand. , Lieut. Herd, who has been appointed Judge of the North Island Brass Band Association's contest, to be held in New Plymouth in February, has been band-1 ] master of the Wellington Garrison Band for nearly eighteen years, during the, ; whole of which time that band has held a very high position in the Dominion for ! musicianly work. Commenting on a I statement made in a recent telegram that : immediately on learning that Lieut. Herd ' had been appointed judge, the Kaikorai band decided to withdraw its entry, the ; "Dominion" says. "Possibly such action : was taken under the impression that the ; Wellington Garrison band would be . amongst the competitors. If that is so, - I it will ease the mind or the touchy southi I era band to learn that the local Garri- > son band decided some time ago not to I compete this year. Another reason may i be. the stupid old prejudice about a New r 1 Zealander being selected to do anything 5 that demands knowledge and impartiality. Formerly we have imported men • as judges from Home and Australia, but that does not prove that just as able i men are not procurable in New Zealand T i —it is only proof that there has been 1 a lack of faith in the local product. It .i is the old story of the prophet that is j without honour in his own country—a 3 prejudice that should be crushed when- '■ I ever it makes its appearance. It is ' gratifying to learn that a majority of 1 the bands affiliated to the Association t preferred the local to the imported man." 1; The connection of H.M.s. Powerful ri with the late South African war has 3! probably been almost forgotten now >i (says the "Lyttelton Times"), but her i name was in everybody's mouth at the i' time of the siege of Ladysmith. Hardly i" i anything caused such a sensation, in J ! its" way, as the famous 4.7 in guns that j were mounted under Captain Percy 1 Scott's direction and used with tremend- ■ ous effect. He devised the idea of con- , verting the heavy naval guns into field . artillery, and invented the carriage upon which they were mounted. They were . fitted up by artificers on the Powerful, and manned by members of her crew. An interesting point arises in contem--3 plating the recollection of the incident, t in that the Powerful's armament does : not and never did include any 4.7 guns - at all. She has nothing between Gin - and twelve-pounders. The guns came from another vessel.

The statement that Mr. T. P. Moody had resigned his position as manager of the Hikurangi Coal Company, owing to old age, is incorrect (says the "Advocate"). In an interview with Mr. Moody, that gentleman made the following statement:—"l am still manager; and in view of the company making explorations at Hikurangi or elsewhere, I shall be the responsible adviser and consulting engineer, and have charge of the geological work undertaken. Mr. , John Harold Moody has been appointed deputy-manager. My long connection , with the company is, or shall be, some evidence that no sudden or drastic j severance would eventuate." . Quite a unique gathering took place in <• the Mokau hall last night, when the i white settlers entertained their Maori brethren in recognition of the hospitality shown by the Maoris to the pakeha settlers at Awakino on Christmas Day. There, was a representative gathering. Mr. W. Jennings, M.P., and Mr. Percy Smith addressed the assemblage, congratulating the Maoris and the Europeans on the kindly feeling shown. Mr. Smith said he had gone through Mokau 50 years ago. A Maori visitor present from Utiku had a Highland dress on worth 60 guineas, and, though deaf and dumb, gave two Scotch dances in a manner that would have surprised a Scotchman. In the Paeroa Magistrate's Court J. Mounts pleaded guilty to procuring liquor for a prohibited person named E. McDowel, and was fined £ 1 and costs. The bursting of a cask of wine in a cellar in Market-street, near George-st., Sydney, was responsible for a commotion in a barber's shop overhead. At the time of the explosion the shop was filled with customers, several of whom were undergoing various stages of tonsorial operations. The cask burst with a loud re- ; port, and, judging by the stampede, the I hairdressers and customers imagined in their minds another gunpowder plot. The barber's assistants hastily dropped their tools, while the customers, without waiting for the lather to be wiped off their faces, made a bolt from the chairs, and i there was a race between them and the 1 employees of the establishment to see who could get into the street first. It is hardly necessary to say that the presence of partly shaved men in such a prominent thoroughfare as Market-street, with towels around their necks, was ludicrous, and greatly to the taste of onlookers. The excitement soon quietened down, and, when the cause of the commotion had been ascertained, the customers resumed their chairs, the barbers took up their tools, and the business of the establishment proceeded on the even tenour of its way. A boy was in charge of the wine cellar at the time, and, as the cask gave warning before it burst, he got out of the way, and the only loss sustained was the wine which flowed over the floor. Mr. Lyman L. Pierce, international secretary of the V.M.C.A., who recently organised building fund campaigns in this Dominion and in Australia, in a final report before leaving Australia for England and America says that the sum of £63,000 has been added to the equipment of the Australasian association in a few months. This large total, he says, may i justly be placed to the credit of the NaI tional Committee, and justifies the faith of the men who have mads the supervisory work possible by gifts and work. Commenting on the fact that the building societies had raised their rate of interest on deposits one half per cent last month a Wellington business man told a "New Zealand. Times" reporter that ihe volume of .floating capita', was so reduced that deposits were slow in coming into the societies, whose lending powers were restricted. It was because of this reduction in the volume that onehalf per cent' interest, had been added. This absorption of floating capital was drawn attention to recently by Mr. H. Beauchamp, who referred to the practice established by several large trading concerns in competing for deposits and allowing interest on current accounts. Mr. Beauchamp mentioned that the balancesheets of seven trading companies showed that they held an aggregate of £535,516 under this head. The business man referred to, pointed to the manner in which the Post Office Savings Bank j absorbs deposits, mentioning that in the- j twelve months ending September 30 the excess of deposits over withdrawals was I one million and a-quarter pounds, the I excess the previous year having been j eight hundred thousand pounds — over j two million pounds in two years. All ! this, it was urged, hampered the opera- j tions of building societies, to whom the public frequently turn when desiring to borrow. The Waihi band, under Conductor Glenny, gave an open-air recital at the recreation reserve last night. The i grounds were brilliantly illuminated, and j over 1000 people were present. jlo cure any kind o'J headache in twenty minutes take Steams' Headache Cure. Gives positive relief and leaves the head "clear as a bell." No bad effects, no narcotic drugs.—Advt. I a