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Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 67, 18 March 1908, Page 4

The following is Captain Edwin's weather forecast for 24 hours from 9 a.m. this day:—"Northerly strong winds to gale after sixteen hours. Glass fall." Auckland Rowing Club are holding double sculling trials on Saturday next for trophies presented by Mr. BL Schmidt (vice-president). The following are the selected crews:—lst heat, ITioomfield and Allom v. W. Benjamin and Robertson; 2nd heat, Lambert and Gentles v. Murray and Hapeta; 3rd heat, Lovett and Potter v. Hellaby and WaTEer; 4th heat, Davis and Wilson v. Griffin and Midgley. The desire of the residents of Birkenhead for an additional school for the district was again voiced before the Education Board to-day, when Mr. J, C, Speedy, of Chelsea, presented a petition signed by 81 residents of Birkenhead and Chelsea, asking the Board to move the greater portion of the Birkdale school to a site nearer Birkenhead and Chelsea, leaving the smaller portion as a side school. Mr. Speedy stated that there were 24 children from Birkdale attending the Birkdale school, while 45 children attended from Birkenhead. It was decided to refer the matter to the ward members and the chief inspector to report. The preliminary stages necessary to the erection of a school at Edendale are being slowly put through. The Department has granted £2300 for the school out of the £2925 applied for. the grant including half of a portion of the cost of the site. But the settlement of the site is a matter of difficulty. "There is a site I have in view," said the Education Board Chairman to-day. "but people seem quite off their heads as to the values. They pay rates on £ 100 an acre, and they ask us £500 or £600 an acre." "And then complain of the values being too high." suggested Mr. Groenslade. The Board instructed the architect to prepare plans, and empowered the chairman to negotiate for a site. About two o'clock on Wednesday last .John Lyon, the tive-year-old son of Mr. John Campbell, farmer of Drummond, wandered away from his home (says the "Winton Record"). Search parties' were formed, and worked until dark that evening, and started again at daylight, but without success. Search was made down a big open drain, and at 2.30 p.m. thd body of the little fellow was found lying on its back with only the lower portions of the legs in the water. Tho boy, who was partially paralysed, hail evidently got into the ditch, and has not sufficient strength to olimb oull again, dying during the night, which wall a rough one, from tho effects of expo"

Considerable interest is being manifested in the proposed cadets' camp to be held at Omahu, commencing next Friday. It is anticipated that there will be. as many, if not more, lads than went under canvas at Auckland. Colonel Loveday is at Thames completing arrangements. An inquiry into the death of the young man, David Ernest Forest, aged 19, who shot himself at Parkland. Mayfield, on Sunday evening, was held at Birkenhead by the City Coroner (Mr. T. Oresham) yesterday afternoon. No evidence \yas given beyond what has already been made public, and the jury returned a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. The agricultural and pastoral statistics issued on February 20, as a supple- ' ment to the Government Gazette, shows J that the area in crops for the season 1907-8 was 1,709,582 acres, as compared with 1,612,137 acres in the previous season, showing tho moderate increase of 97,445 acres. The principal increases were by oats, 45,249 acres: barley, 454/ : acres; turnips, 34.868 acres; mangolds, ] 2671 acres; rape, 26,340 acres, and other I smaller increases, making the aggregate ' increase 124,242 acres. The decreases totalled 26,797 acres, of which wheat accounted for 18,201 acres, potatoes for 4135 acres, and peas for 2905 acres. The total area in occupation increased from 37,408,473 acres to 37,564,21S acres, a gain of 155,745 acres, which is a moderate expansion compared with the increases of some past seasons. Of the total area of 37.504,21S acres in occupation, the TNoith Island accounts for 14,901.234 acres, and the South Island for 22,662,984 acres; but of this 15,947,198 acres are in tussock an_ native grasses. Owing to the frequent complaints of South Wairarapa farmers as to the ravages made in their pastures by the increasingly large herds of deer, the Wellington Acclimatisation Society has decided to throw open to the deerstalker the northern portion of. the Haurangi forest reserve, an area roughly about -five by six miles in extent in the Featherston County, to the south-east of the "Wairarapa Lake. For the guidance of stalkers, a six-foot "blaze"' has been made along the boundaries of the reserve, and also between that part of the reserve that may be shot over and the part still strictly reserved. The erection of Auckland's Town Hall ' is to be proceeded with almorvt right away. I Tenders have been called for the work J of construction, and plans and speciiications may be seen in Auckland, Welling- I ton, Sydney and Melbourne. Thursday, i the 7th of May, is the date on which ten- I ders will close with the Town-Clerk (Mr. i H. W. Wilson). The contract time, which will be allowed for the completion ! of the building is two and a-half years. ] The quantity of bricks to be utilised is ' estimated at a million and a-half. The architect (Mr. Clarke) will come over from Melbourne to advise the Council in the consideration of the tenders. The French Government has arranged for a congress of gentlemen representing the freezing industry in all parts of the world, to be held at Paris in the course of the next month or two. An invitation was sent to New Zealand to be represented, and Cabinet on Saturday appointed Mr. Gilbert Anderson, formerly , manager of the Christchurch Meat Com- ■ pany, to the position. Mr. Anderson, who has been in England since 1906, is one of the Best-known figures in con- : nection with the freezing industry of ; this Dominion. He had much to do with . tbe establishment of the present system of grading, and was the prime mover • in establishing the West of England i I steam service from New Zealand. Mr. 1 Anderson was managing director of the ) Christchurch Meat Company untit 1906, ' when he accepted a position in con- :" nection with the industry iv London. A New Zealander, who has just re-i turned from South Africa, discussing ' racial characteristics in the Woodville I ' '"Examiner," says:—Generally speaking, I [' the Boer's blind faith in the" Old Testament, combined with his environment, ' has made him exceedingly narrow-minded and conservative. He objects tooth and ' nail to the introduction of any new ideas, and very good instances of this will be found in the reports of the 1 Raadzaal during the Kruger regime. ' Take two chief instances: In opposing the Bill for the Destruction of Locusts the. member for stated that the locusts were a visitation from the Lord, and therefore to try to destroy them would be a direct defiance of God's wish. - On this the bill was thrown out. Again, . during a particularly dry spell it was > suggested that rain should be made by the firing of guns and exploding of dynar mite in the air. This was vigorously ; opposed and finally squashed because it ; was argued that it would be an insult . to the Lord. I In some education districts teachers ; have been called upon to defray the cost . of postage on quarterly returns and simi--1 lar matter forwarded in accordance with ) regulations. In a circular received at _ the meeting of the Auckland Board today the Minister, Hon. George Fowlds, j expressed the opinion that such a charge, ( trifling though it might be, was opposed to the spirit of the Education Acts, J which assumed that teachers should be , paid in full. He therefore suggested that , it would be fairer for the Boards to pay • for this correspondence. The secretary, . Mr. V. E. Rice, stated that when tha franking privileges were abolished the Board arranged that all letters on pureJy school business should be posted with- . out prepayment of postage, the amount being collected, without double charges being made, on delivery. The circular 3 did not, therefore, refer to the Board. It r was'decided to inform the Minister of tho principle adopted. ' ''You often hear it said that we 2 priests make our pile. At the bank to-! morrow I will have a balance of £ 1 0/9; - to be paid to mc, and I have been twen- I 3 ty-three years, a. priest," declared Rev. j ' Father Goggan at a farewell gathering' t tendered in his honour at the Napier j i Theatre Royal. He added that half the - purse of sovereigns which had been pre- | i sented to him, and which might have j ■ been expected to swell his bank balance, I 1 would have to be paid away in order I ) that people who had trusted him might: 1 fulfil their trust to the Church. The ! • remainder of the money he would use 5 in taking his collection of books to Wel- > ■ lington, where he would try and get I • a little more knowledge into his ''old j j. I grey head." . j Some excitement was created in Short- j ,' land-street this morning, just above the j »j Post Office, when a young man suddenly | ; | collapsed and fell heavily to the ground. : . A number of people ran to the prostrate t I man's assistance, and it was evident that i : in falling he had struck his Read with . , some force on the asphalt footpath, his I . I face being badly lacerated, while blood j . | rushed profusely from his wounds. He ; j | was quite senseless, and evidently in an j _ epileptic seizure. Dr. Clarke was Bumi tnonod, and had the unfortunate young ) fellow conveyed to his surgery, whore ,i ha was attended to. The man is a i stranger, and only arrived in 4-ttckl.and two days ftga.

A garden party was held this afternoon, under the auspices of the W men's Christian Temperance Union __ the residence of the Hon. Georffe TWu Mount Albert. A special &£"£_ Auckland at 2.30 this afternoon and" large number of visitors availed thenC selves of the delightful weather to mat» the excursion. "»un_ At last night's meeting of the Ed Terrace Road Board the resolution" passed by the Drainage Scheme Commit tee were adopted, on the motion of Messrs. E. Wrigley and W. H. Haslett Mr. J. U. Brown refrained from voting but there was no discussion on the matBlankets for winter. Just opened immense, stock, marked at well-kno low prices.—Smith and Tt^ 3 (Ad.) ° J ' wa — New wool Housings, at McOllllail, k_? Gowers dress department. Wool cache, mires, wool delaines, novelty, " Wovt _ stripes, and other designs; new/ sfiinment of velveteens, in plain and'eordei splendid variety of creams, from l/_i to 3/6.—McCullagh and Gower, kdw drapers.—(Ad.) >."W»