Untitled

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIX, Issue 34, 29 November 1912, Page 5

Bruce County Council ordinary meeting and adjourned annual meeting on . Tuesday. •* Tokomairiro Farmers' Club's summer show-will be nekl at Milton on Tuesday nest. Railway excursions in connection with it are advertised. Reports of Kaitangata Borough Council, School Committee, and other matters will be found on page 3. The heading is "Kaitangata News," which will in future be published on that page- iti The management of the Band Hall Pictures have purchased a powerful gas engine, lately used by the Clutha Timber Company, and will instal it shortly to drive their electric lighting picture plant. Clutha County Council meets this . afternoon for ordinary business, also for the annual meeting adjourned from Wednesday. It is understod that Councillor Quin is the favourite for the chairmanship. There was not such a heavy inflow of country people, from the south at any-, rate, to the Dunedin summer show as on former occasions. This is probably on account of the backward season, and farmers being anxious to take full opportunity of finfi weather in carrying out their belated work. There is a probability that the Hons. Jas. Allen and Rhodes will be present at the Clutha Show on Friday next, and it is also possible that the Prime Minister will be present. Mr Massey has been invited, and as it is likely he will be in Otago at the time it is thought that he may be able to accept the invitation. There was a large attendance at the usual meeting of the Loyal Dalton Lodge of Oddfellows on Tuesday evening. N.G. Bro. Pennycook occupied the chair. One new member was initiated, and nominations were received for the various chairs for the ensuing six months. After the business was transacted a card match, Married v. Single, was held, the Single winning by 32 to 31. Some eight months ago the Otago District of Oddfellows offered a prize for competition throughout Otago for the member who proposed 25 new members into his lodge. This prize has been carried off by P.G. Bro. Wm. Bain, of Balelutha, and "the District Executive have notified the loeal lodge that they are having a suitdSW jewel prepared for Bro. Bain. There was not a large attendance of the public at the auction sale of hardware in Ryrie and Co.'s premises yesterday, conducted by Todd and Co. Articles of all sizes and descriptions were offered and knocked down regardless of price. Taking it on the whole buyers considered they had obtained snips. Garden tools especially went cheap, and judging by the way spades, forks, rakes- and hoes were snapped up there are going to be more devotees of gardening. • We have received from the Oamaru Mail a copy of a finely illustrated supplement whieh they have issued in connection with the Oamaru A. aud P. " Society's jubilee show. The whole getup of the supplement reflects credit on the Mail staff, printing and literary, and contains a well-written history of the Association for Over half a century. ' The illustrations include past and presI ent office-bearers, and some good pictures of the district's prize stock, including such horses as Young Banker, Crown Prince, Agitator, etc. A well-known farmer called on us the other day regarding the dilatoriness of the Defence Department in paying travelling expenses to members of the Territorials. In one case, he said, a young fellow w&nt from Balelutha to the infantry Waitati camp and had to pay his own fare, being promised a refund. The same youth, together with others, had to travel by road a distance of about 20 miles to reach the rail at Balelutha, and have got no expenses from the Department yet. We do not know what the custom in these matters is, but if the money is owing surely departmental red tape should not keep a young fellow waiting for six or eight months for payment. Quite possibly the delay is a result of misunderstanding, and we are calling the attention of the officials in the matter. It is only fair to say that the matter is not within the jurisdiction of Balelutha officers. At the wedding of his son John, at " Awamangu on Friday, Mr T. Parker, of Stirling, said that at the beginning of the 70's he walked alone along a track which wended through vast stretches of tussoqk ground. Those tussocky stretches had since been set- ; tied, giving names to Awamangu, Blackburn, Pubepito, etc., and instead of the track the districts were inter- : sected with good roads. He walked \ along the "track" to Stirling, settled down, married, reared a big family) and that day he was back" again on the "track" on a double event—the] marriage of his eldest son and the christening, of a grandchild at his daughter's—Mrs Smollet's—placo fur- j ; ther along. He could truly say ; that) there had been some changes since the lonely Parker had trudged through the tussocks 30 years ago, and now tho daq was getting quite populous about the place. Although cereal and tuber crops on . Jat or old lea ground are backward, ■on account of the frequent spells of ' wet weather, those on heights sown ;in furrowed fields are fairly well for- * ward. Mr Jones has a nice crop of f autumn sown wheat between Pukepito J-tad Greenfield, which stands about 3ft f high.. 6n the other hand, several farmers in less favoured localities have (-had o< abandon hope of getting oats ■s'Or potatoes in, and will bow grass V without grain crops, while a larger K &creage then usual will be devoted to ■|onupo and tape. Grata in old lea Bl§addock« i» prolific at prewnt, bat it Bp «• tint light sad aoft aid*.

"If I were an .employer of labor/ said Mr' Kenriok, 5.M.,-,at the. Stratford Magistrate's' Court the other "day, in a-Territorial case, "I'would not employ any fellow who tried to get out of his drill.? 1 The keenness of a Chinese in a business transaction is proverbial, even if his honesty is somewhat doubtful at times. On a message boy delivering a parcel recently at a Celestial's shop its weight was. queried by the purchaser, who submitted) it to the test of his own scales "(says the 'Dannevirke News'). On discovering that he was getting the better of the b&rgin by several pounds, the Celestial told the errand boy -to make no mistake' and charge up the goods at the weight he had thought they were until he learned otherwise through the doubting John's action. A police court is not a very sociable place for anyone under the influence of liquor to visit, but the other morning at Cbristchurch, while Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., was busy meting out punishment to people who get drunk and do other things not in sympathy with law and order, a man, obviously intoxicated, wandered into the court, and sat down on a bench. He was quiet, but when he was preparing to sleep it off he was aroused and removed from the Court, arid led into the street, where he was arrested for drunkenness.

A strange denizen of the deep became stranded on the beach at Taniaterau (Whangarei) during the past ' -week, and created considerable inter- ' est. In shape the monster was like a ■ great globe. It was measured and ] round to be Bft from head to tail, and its body was 12ft in diameter. The mon- ] ster had no teeth, and instead of saales i it had a skin three inches thick. Its | estimated weight was half a ton. The 'Northern Mail' surmises that the fish was of the sun-fish variety, which is exceedingly rare in these parts! The one found stranded is the first yet recorded to- have found its way to the Whangarei Harbor. A rather unusual case came before i Mr Page, S.M., the other day at the Wanganui Magistrate's Court (says a correspondent- of the 'New Zealand Times'), when the police apnlied to have an order made against the grandfather J of an illegitimate child. Sergeant Burke ' gave an outline of the defendant's circumstances, and explained that the whereabouts of the lather of the child . was not known, and the mother was contributing towards the child's main- ' ti nance in the industrial school. The magistrate said that he had power undo: the Destitute Person's Act to make au order against the grandfather, .'iid . an order was made for a paynieu' .' •Jc 6d weekly. The case of a family in the Gonville (Wanganui district is surely unique of its kind. Six pairs of twins! A fairly heavy quiver, it not a quiverful. The other morning, when urging the claims of Gonville to the special consideration of the Minister for Education the chairman of the Gonville school committee instanced the case of the family in the district in which the sixth pair of twins had been born. The Minister acknowledged that that was a fairly strong argument in favor of providing additional • accommodation at the school, and enquired whether the parents had been . granted the Queen's Bounty. The chairman suggested that' the Minister might use his influence in that direction. ' A fortunate person, who was in the happy position of "never being without a pound in his pocket," made his appearance in the witness-box at the Auckland Supreme Court the other day. He was quite a young man, and stated in reply to the Crown Prosecutor, Hon. J. A. Tole, K.C., that he had never been in want of money, and had never been witlwut £1 in his pocket. "You are better off than most of us, then,'' said Mr Tole. "I hope vou wall always have it in your pocket." "Perhaps you always back the right horse," smilingly interpolated his Honor, and witness, amidst laughter, responded that "the races did not owe him anything." The Canadian mail last week brought the full returns of the Vancouver egglaying competition, which was completed on October 20. Believing that colonial poultry could compete with American, Mr J. M. Merrett sent five pens on behalf of the Au&tralian and i New Zealand poultry breeders, and was successful in securing first and second prize, with a total prize money of about £4O. The firsts prize and a gold medal were won by J. Stewart, New South Wales, and the second prize was won by A. Hopkins, Otaki, New Zealand. The returns were not high owing to the severe winter and to blasting operations in bush country in the vicinity of the test. The winners laid 971 eggs and the second pen 916. The superiority of the White Leghorns was shown by all the leading pens being of this variety. A special class for heavy breeds was won by Rhode Island Reds, with a total of 854. News reached Auckland by the San Francisco mail of the death of Ruby Westwood. She and her brother Wilfred were the two biggest children ever born in New Zealand perhaps the biggest in the world. At the age of eight, Ruby tionately, and at the time of her death, when she was 'about 19, she weighed over 20st. Her brother Wilfred is several years younger, and now weighs about 30st. These two "giants" were born in Foxton, and resided up to the time of the Christchurch Exhibition in Auckland. Since that time they have been travelling at Home and in America. The oauee of death was blood-poisoning, contracted by a thorn in the finger from picking flowers. Nothing serious was anticipated from the scratch, but shortly afterward* it I was found necessary to amputate the i finger. This was of no avail, as the : poison spread, and tihe unfortunate girl | died within an hour of being admit- ! ted into the San Francisco Hospital. There is at least one teacher in New Zealand who is not opposed to the Bible in schools. At a meeting held by Canon Garland in Wellington Mr G. Flux, headmaster of the Rintoul street school, expressed himself as strongly in favor of the proposal. He did not regard it,-he said,.as a proposal to introduce an additional subject which would hinder the syllabus, because teachers—quite independent of the Bible-in-schools movement—were being exhorted to introduce additional reading matter. It had been said that some teachers were Atheists. There were Scriptural references in the readingbooks now in use, but he had never heard of an Atheist teacher who refused ' to give these lessons. He personally asked for the right to have Bible lessons , ! in schools, without fear or favor, and > S considered that alleged difficulties would {disappear as mists Wore the sun.