Local and General News.

Feilding Star, Volume XXI, Issue 136, 8 December 1899, Page 2

Local and General News.

An English mail arrived in Feilding yesterday. Entries for Mr Becketfcs 1 sale at Hunterville, are now advertised. The New Zealand Clothing Factory call attention to their advertisement in to-day's issue. We have to acknowledge receipt of' a copy of the Primitive Methodist pictorial almanac for 1900. Messrs Gorton and Son hold an important land sale at their auction mart, Feilding, to-morrow. Mr Carthew received to-day his usual consignment of tbe latest books and periodicals from London. : " A Louse- warning in connection with the opening of the new Wesleyan Parsonage will be held on Tuesday evening next. We have to thank Mr Carthew. the Feilding agent, for the New Zealand Fire and. Marine Insurance Co's wall calendar for 1900. It is announced that Monday next, the 11th inst., is the last day on which land tax payment can be made without an addition of 10 per cent.

Mr H. Mortensen, of Makino, has new potatoes for sale. A revised list of the licensing poll throughout the colony will be published to-morrow. The church services are again crowded out, unavoidably. Will appear to* morrow. Tenders are invited by the Town Clerk, Mr G. C. Hill, for the right to cut the grass on Victoria Park. A meeting of Mr Lethbriclge's committee will be held this evening in Mr Bray's office at 8 o'clock. "Wool is now coming in to the Feilding railway station in considerable quantities, and the season promises to be a profitable one, botb for the railways and tbe sheepfarmers. The Secretary of the Feilding Athletic Sports Club, Mr W. G. Haybittle, advertises for men to act as gatekeepers at the Boxing Day sports. Also tenders are invited for privileges. We have to thank Messrs Bramwell Bros for a sample of choice Malaga Spanish muscatels which are of excellent flavour, and will be found specially good as a Christmas fruit. Farmers are looking with some dismay on the buttercup weed which is extending from the coast line to the summit of the Tararua ranges. Something will have to be. done to eradicate it. Active preparations for the coming Christmas season are being made by the local tradesmen. An inset of more than ordinary interest to all classes of the community, will appear with to-morrow's issue. E. W. West, a single man, was run over by a locomotive at Mercer, (Auckland) on Wednesday, and died yesterday. He attempted to jump on the engine while in motion, and fell between it and the platform. Both his feet were badly crushed, At the S.M. Court yesterday, before Messrs Graham and Thompson, J'sP., a prohibition order was granted against J. Sinclair, of Cheltenham, on the application of his wife, the order to extend to the Hangitikei, Manawatu and Pal inerston licensing districts. Yesterday afternoon the Manchester Rifles held a daylight parade. There was a very good muster, and company movements were performed outside. Afterwards the men were instructed in tbe Drill Hall in manual and firing exercises by the non-commissioned officers, and acquitted themselves creditably. Captain Barltrop and Lieutenaut Pleasants were in command. An excellent programme has been arranged for the moonlight concert to be given at the Vicarage next Wednesday. A quartette of the leading instrumental- [ ists from the Palmerston Orchestral Society have promised to assist, together with Messrs Butler and Hunn whose singing is always thoroughly appreciated. Amongst the local talent the names of Mrs Oldham and Mr and Mrs Richards appear on the programme. An adyeitisenienti of special interest appears in this issue. Kirkealdie and Stains have purchased a large parcel of silks suitable for blouses and shirts, which they intend selling at 2s lid per yard instead of 4s 6d. As these goods are all new and stylish in design and perfect in condition, the reduction is a substantial one, and the silk-purchasing public are given a splendid opportunity. There could be nothing nicer for anXmas present than a blouse length of silk. The annual meeting of the Feilding W.C.T.U., was held yesterday afternoon, there was a fair attendance. The election of officers for the ensuing year took place. All the officers were re-elected with one exception, Mrs Giesen being elected vice-president instead of Mrs Greenwood who has removed to Christchurch. The balance-sheet was read and adopted, showing a satisfactory balance in hand. In the absence of the president — Miss Minchin— Mrs J. C. Thompson occupied the chair. Speaking of the New Zealand elections j the Australian "Review of Reviews " | says : Many shrewd observers, by no means votaries of Seddonism, are inclined to the opinion that instead of losing power, the ministry will recruit its diminished majority by the gam of some | half'-dczea seats. This reasoning rests mainly upon the belief that the Government has bound the mass of the electors to it by the bonds of gratitude for favours past, and expectancy of favours to come The women voters, who owe the* suffrage to Mr Seddon, are pronounced to be still fsolidly Ministerial ; those who have received, and those who hope for, old-a^e pensions, are on his side About the last act of the Maoriland Government before Parliament dissolved, was tbe passing of an Act fixing a minimum wage (girls 4s, boys 5s per week) for beginners (not apprentices) in any branch of industry, and making the acceptance of premiums by employers illegal. This is a death-blow to the most opjectionable swindler — the employer who runs his business to a great extent with boy or girl labour, at no wages the first twelve months, but ""an opportunity given to learn the trade, and good pay the second and future years." The swindle lies in the fact that there is no second year if the employer can get a sufficient new crop of gratis beginners. This fraud has been a subject of complaint in alt the provinces, and has. given rise to some cousiderable literature about demand and supply, the law of wages, the wage fund, the displacement of superfluous labour, the tendency towards a wider diffusion of thingumbob, and the interdependence of whatisname.— Bulletin,