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Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 288, 9 June 1909, Page 4

' The Catholics intend holding an- . other of their o-njoyablo socials on the 28th of noxt mouth. The directors oL" tho Gear Meat Co. to-day declared an interim dividend of 5 per cent, for the six months ended May 31st.

On p;igo 2: Cablo news; Parliament. Pago 3: Commercial; the weather; Tiniaru news; radium. Pago 6 : MaharaJia-ra notes ; correspondence ; the north-west passage. Page 7: Hi.sliop Williams — fifty years of Church work. Mr (I. ],;iurensoii, 31.P . for Lyttelton, lias boon appointed Senior Government Whip. Mr Greenslaclo I (Waikato) ■ declined appointment to the second vacancy. Mr W. T. Irvine last night received a wire from AVollington, in which it was indicated that tliere was now no chance of the Timber Commission's report being considered this session. Judging by the- 'talk -of halls and rumors of halls, Norsewood is not to bo long without a public hall to .replace the old structure which was burnt in the recent fire in the upper township. We understand that thereis to be a meeting to-morrow evening between tho representatives ofi two bodies who are both on "hall building intent. At • the monthly meeting of the Fir© Brigade, held last evening, Messrs B. Nuttall, F; Brown, G. Slado, P .Kelly, and S. Rossiter were nominated for the position of forer man. A notice of motion was tabled by Fireman H. Nuttall, to the effect that only one foreman bo elected in future, instead of three. Superintendent McMillan presented three years' service certificates to. Fireman Eliasson and Drinkwater, and Foreman Slade. Dcvonport (Auckland) is suffering so severely from a plague of rats that the Auckland Herald considers that the over-harbor suburb/could very well do. with a visit from the "Pied Piper of Hamlin." . The stables in a central street are blamed .by one person, who wrote to the Borough Council. Mr John Fuller having also laid a complaint, the Star reports that a members of the Council said facetiously: "If Mr Fuller will persist in singing he must expect to entice the rats round there." To-morrow evening an entertainment will be held in the Parish Hall, the proceeds of which will be devoted to assisting the liquidation of the debt incurred by the North School Committee. The Rev. E. Wesley Griffin will display an interesting series of views by means of a lantern, and musical items will be contributed by the- following: .Misses Stewart and Loft, Mesdames Gillespie and Eaton, and Messrs Spence, Jacobi, and Melville. Miss Boresford will also give an exhibition of club swinging. The admission is fixed at the reasonable prices of 6d and Is. Referring to the granting of wholesale licenses in the King Country, the Rev. Frank Isttt remarked to an interviewer at Wellington: "The position is that no decision of the law courts has been given yet that the No-license party regards as more iniquitous than the one whidh was given at Waitara on 4th June. Mr Fitzherbert, Stipendiary Magistrate for Taranaki, was exH>fficio chairman of the committee, and the other five members voted against the issue of licenses, and two in favor. Then the magistrate gave his deliberative vote for liquor, and finally his casting vote, thus taking upon himself the solo responsibility for the introduction of liquor into the King Country." At a meeting of the Wairarapa farmers last week statements were made from which it was ascertained that the -site of the co-operative freezing works was not yet fixed. The Wairarapa people are striving to have the works in their district. This led Mr Cooper to Temark that, tliey could not expect support, from the West Coast if the works were in. the Wairarapa. — Mr 'Bicknell pointed out the advantages of having 1 tho. works in the Wairarapa.— Mr Perry thought the question of settling a site was prematUTo; tho first thing was to got the company floated. — Mr Faulkner said that there were, four reliable West Coast men on the provisional direstorate. — Some further discussion took place in reference to a site, but the general feeling was that Wellington was tho Tight place for the company to bo a success. In parliamentary circles the Prime Minister's speech at Glasgow is accepted as confirming the now common belief that tho four conditional battleships will bo laid down and provided for within the limits of the present financial year. All the same, Mr Asquith liolds by the l'easonablo position taken up from the first — that sufficient to the slips are tho Dreadnoughts already in hand, and that tho interval necessary before new work can be beguu is welcome as providentially affording an opportunity for developments in design (writes Mr Lucy in the Sydney Morning Herald). As ho remarked, experience shows that nothing develops so quickly as .improvements in naval typos. The first Dreadnought, which has res ■vol ut ionised naval armaments, was launched only throo years ago. In the meantime our own dockyards have turned out tho Neptune type, which according to the opinon of naval experts, is 60. per tent, better than the original Dreadnought.

Mr McNa-b was a passenger by the express "train this morning to Marton. . At Wellington to-day the price of butter was raised to Is Q£d wholesale, and to Is 2d retail. Tho Native Health Department is to be abolished. Dr Pomare retires, and ton inspectors will shortly receive notice. Nurse Ringwood, who has been appointed to a vacancy on the hospital taff, vice Miss Hansen, resigned, is expected to take up her duties tomorrow. Our Ormondville correspondent writes: A shock of earthquake lasting" several* seconds was experienced in this district at 2.36 a.m. this morning, and this morning the whitest frost yet experienced this winter was on the ground. . '' No fewer than four, alarms ,of fire were given at Christchurch last night between 11 o'clock and 1 a.m. One was a false alarm. The only outbreak by which any damage was done was that in a house in George street, where the damage' was principally caused by water. About 6000 citizens have signed the testimonial which' is to be presented to the Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) in endorsement of the Government's action iii presenting a Dreadnought to the British Navy. The presentation will be made at the Parliamentary Buildings this evening. ; The D.O.A: has called the .following meetings of creditors at his office: Peter A T ale, Thursday, 10th; 10 o'clock; James Ross, Thursday, 10th, 11 o'clock; W. F. Greenaway, Friday, 11th, 11.30; A. J.Sabin, Monday, 14th, 11 o'clock • George James, Monday, 14th, 3.30 o'clock; Joseph .Ing-: ley, Tuesday, 15th, 1.30 o'clock; J. J. Patterson on or about 22nd inst. Mr G. V. Shannon, who recently-re-tired from the position of chief customs expert after 21 years' service, was presented at Wellington vester-, day by Mr R. Carter, secretary of the Customs Department, on behalf of tho officers of the department, throughout the dominion, with an illuminated address and silver tea service for Mrs Shannon. Our readers are reminded of the volunteer ball this evening.. It is almost unnecessary to say that there will be, as in the past, a very success ' ful function. The members of the corps have been working very hard for several days past, putting the hall .in order, and their efforts have been especially successful. The music, catering, etc., will be of the usual high ordor. At Tenui on. Saturday, a charge of burning grain stacks to the value of £250 was pi-ef erred against James Wylie. The case was heard before Mr W. P. James, S.M., s Sergeant Miller appearing for the prosecution, and accused was represented by Mr C. A. Pownall. The magistrate held that a prima facie case had not beou made out, -and discharged the accused. The residents of Tenui got up a "Round Robin," and in a very short timo collected the costs of the defence. - With the departure from Sydney on the 22nd May of the R.M.S. Victoria, the last of the P. and 0. Co.'s famous "Jubilee." ships has been seen in Atistralian waters. The construction during the past two or threo years of a magnificent fleet of "M" steamers of from 10,000 to 11,500 tons has led to the withdrawal from the Australian service of all the older ves-' sels with the exception of the India and China. The Victoria, which broke many records in her day, was a sister ship to the Britannia, Oceana and Arcadia, all of which were built in 1887 in commemoration of the jubilee of tho formation of the P. and' O. Company. They were, at the time they were launched, the largest vessels ever built for the company, and their arrival in Sydney harbor created intense interest. The cost of theso four now historic mail liners was almost £800,000. All of theso ships were fitted with' gun platforms and other necessary appliances, and under arrangement with the Admiralty were ready at a moment's notice to bo converted into armed cruisors.