LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 271, 21 May 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Foxton Herald reports that | there is much sickness throughout i that district. ! Following on Feilding's practice of ; styling its Courthouse a "shed," Fox- '■ ton people designate their Post j Office a '" wreckage." I It is rumoured that Mr G. Hutchi- ■ son, formerly member for Patea, is to , be asked to contest the Hawera electorate in the Opposition interests against Mr C. E. Major, M.H.R. Christchurch proposes to place in : the City Council Chambers a bust of Sir John Hall, as an acknowledgei ment of his services to the city durj ing the Exhibition Mayoralty. I The Te Ohu Estate, of 12,000 acres, j situated at South Norsewood, some nine miles from Dannevirke and ad- ! joining the main railway line, is ', about to be acquired by tbe Land j Purchase Board. The Feilding Choral Society had a I good practice last night, in prepara--1 tion for their conceit at Rongotea ;on Wednesday night. For the coni veyance of the members of the j chorus, it has been arranged to take ' a drag, which will leave the Square ' punctually at six o'clock. Laggards will find themselves out of it if they are not quite up to time. We learn from Mr 0. Gardner, in connection with the proposed cut to deal with the overflow of the Manaj watu and Oroua rivers that Mr Hays, I Government Engineer, has been in | the district for some months past coli lecting data as to flood levels, etc., ! and that nothing further will be done ! in' the matter till Mr Hays reports in ! due course to Government. — Foxton Herald. i The Taranaki School Inspectors ■ find that the schools in that dis- : trict, by comparison with those in ! other parts of the colony, are well ; equipped with ordinary school appliances. The Taranaki youngsters t have another advantage. Many of t their teachers make an effort brighten their surroundings by hanging pictures on the school walls and so forth. The cost, of course, comes out of the teachers' pockets. It serves to show that they have ' a personal as well as a professional interest in their schools. A case of assault heard at Masterton, presented rather unusual features. The informant was a blind man, well on in years, and the defendant was his father, an old-age Pensioner, something over eighty, 'rom the evidence it appeared that the latter was a pretty hardy sort-, fnd evidently much more capable of taking his own part in a fisticuff encounter than plenty of younger men. The informant, in his evidence, said the actual conflict was commenced by his father inviting his (informant's) son, aged nearly eighteen, to " put up his dukes." The Collector of Customs at Raratonga has forwarded to Mr J. Mills, Collector for the port of Auckland, a message taken from a bottle which was found on the Malavera Beach, Raratornga, during March. The message, which is dated September 16th, 1906, is as follows : — "Bq. Indian Empire, London, Sat., 14 deg. 3 mm. S., Long. 139 deg., west Autofagastati, Sydney, 28 days out, all well. Wm. C. Ross." The bottle must have drifted 1200 miles W.S.W. in six months, and must have gone right through the Pammotu Archipelago.

A number of settlers in the vicinity of Eketahuna have recently lost valuable sheep dogs by their being mysteriously poisoned. The Acting-Premier (Hon. W. HallJones) is still confined to bed, but it was reported yesterday that his health continues to improve. John Sheridan, licensee of the Moonbi Hotel, in Condobolin district, New South WaleSj has been killed by the stem of his pipe was driven into driven into his throat. He was returning from the hotel yard and fell. He was smoking at the time, and the stem o fhis pipe was driven into the tissues of his neck at the spinal column where it joins the skull. Masterton and Dannevirke have each carried a poll in favour of creating a fire district in their respective boroughs. But they left it rather late. The poll in each place was carried after tbe gazetting of the j State Fire Insurance Companies' Regulations, so that the election of the Board will now have to stand over till an Enabling Act is passed. "Taihoa!" exclaimed the Magistrate in the Court at Masterton recently, when a Chinese witness was reeling off "evidence" at the rate of knots in broken English. "John" looked bewildered for a moment at a word he evidently had not heard before, but the brief respite gave Mr James time to interpret the expressive Maori injunction in English, the witness thereafter obeying. A bad accident toqk place on the farm of Mr Saunders, Scrubby creek (says the Hokitika Guardian). Ware's travelling steam chaffcutter had only started operations when a peculiar cry went up from about where Mr Peter M'Veigh was standing feeding the three large knives that were revolving at great speed. It was soon discovered that Mr M'Veigh was fighting frantically to free his right arm, which was more than half drawn into th© machine, and being cut into small pieces. The cutter was immediately thrown out of gear, and the man released. It was found that he had suffered terrible mutilation. First aid was rendered, and the man, on reaching the hospital, had to have his arm amputated at the elbow. A lady from the interior of Otago was lately residing for a short time in the neighbourhood of Shag Point. Hearing one afternoon that a meeting of the Christian Endeavour Society was to be held that evening in the local hall, she, with a lady comrade, duly repaired to the place of meeting. On approaching the building (says the Paimerston Times) they found it pervaded with a quiet religious calm. Cautiously they opened the door and entered; but the enthusiastic endeavourer was struck by the absence of ladies. Only men, to the number of 30, were present. The visitor felt something was amiss; and the explanation Boon came', when she was invited to come forward and study more closely the latest tactics in scum-formation. It was the weekly practice night of the local football club. Mr C. Barltrop, a Nelson boy, at present second engineer on the s.s. Keneh, writing to a relative from Suez, relates an amusing incident. He states: — "There has been great excitement here to-day. The King's brother, the Duke of Connaught, arrived on his way home from India, and all the steamers in port were decorated in great style. His Royal Highness was going up to Cairo from Suez in a special train which was waiting for him. All the Khedival mail boats lie right alongside the station, so the Keneh was there. As the launch bearing the Duke and party from the P. and O. steamer came close to the Keneh I got a cornet and went on the top deck and played London's latest song: 'Will You Come Back to Bombay.' As the Duke had just left Bombay, I thought it rather appropriate. You should have seen the Duchess and her daughter laugh. It's not often one gets the chance of blowing a cornet at Royalty, is it?" Sir William Lyne (writes the Melbourne Arg'is) continues the congenial work which he has called "bullocking things through." He "bullocked" his way to England as Australia's representative at the Navigation Conference, which dealt with matters of which he could claim no practical knowledge. Having got to London, he "bullocked" an entry into the Imperial Conference, to which he had been neither invited nor delegated. Finally, becoming for the time being an awkward "bullock," he succeeded in thrusting himself into a position which it had neither been intended nor hoped that he should occupy. His energetic aisplay has been interesting and entertaining, for it has shown what achievements are possible for an experienced "tullock." There the entertainment might be left, were it rot that the instructive display has been humiliating to Mr Deakin, wba has been intentionally or ignorantly Lelittled. Wo have to draw our readers' attention to the important clearing sale of well-bred sheep, dairy cows, aild cattle, etc. ,to bo held at Mr Edward Smith's farm, Colyton, to-mor-iow. The sheep are mostly voting, in splendid condition, and of good breed, and should realise good prices. They are the result of seven years' careful culling, and buyers generally will find them an acquisition to their own Hocks. Both Mr Smith and Mr Millen havo disposed of their properties, and the stock will, without exception, go to the highest order. Mr Smith has also an exceptionally fine herd of dairy cows, which will be offered under tho same conditions. They are all young, guaranteed sound and test for the last two years will be given at the sale. Tho mixed cattle are a good, fresh-looking lot, and should meet with ready sale. Anyone in want of sheep, dairy cows, or cattle, should not forget to attond. Sale starts punctually at 12 noon. The Women's Political Education League in Sydney has declared for cremation. At a meeting held last week, at the close of a lecture by Dr. Creed, M.L.C, on the matter, it was unanimously resolved : — "That tliis meeting of the Women's Political Education League urges upon the Government the desirability of providing sufficient funds for the erection of a crematorium, that being the most sanitary, decent, and refined method of disposing of the dead." Dr. Creed said that a public crematorium could be established at a cost of £5000, which was only equal to the sum spent on the upkeep of the Rookwooa Cemetery. He pointed out that cremation was a cheap method as opposed to the customary burial, bodies being cremated in Woking, England, at £1 each, which covered carriage expenses. Twenty years ago ne had passed an Act in the State Parliament making cremation legal here, but it was not availed of because there were no facilities. He condemned the system of burying corpses for the reason that the earth worms were vehicles of disease, and the surface of cemeteries was infected with germs of various kinds of fevers. Under the heading, "Land Gambling," the Masterton Times publishes the following : —Over five hundred applicants for a section of Crown land! The land which provoked this scramble, said an ex-member of the Land Board to a Wairarapa Daily Times reporter, this morning, comprises 201 acres, is on the banks of the Mangahao river, opposite the Kakariki Special Settlement. It contained, originally, some good totara and other milling timber. This was cleared by Mr Roy's sawmill, and the land has been laid down in graes. It is covered with logs, stumps and rubbish, and a lot of labor and expenditure will have to be incurred before it can be satisfactorily improved. The price placed on it by the Land Board, £3 i-r acre, was considered high by the Commissioner and Crown Lands ranger, but evidently the land hungerers thought otherwise. A well-known Bush J.P. I relates that he was simply rushed ! by crowds of relatives all anxious to make declarations, and have a turn at the ballot box. Large family groups swelled the throng that crowded the Crown Lands Office. It is estimated that if the railway fares and other expenses of the applicants from Pahiaua, Ekeahuna, and other places could be provided, it would represent fully the value of the land that was raffled.

The Hon. R. MoNab, Minister for Lands, was a through passenger to Auckland by the express train to-day. He spends five hours in Auckland, attending the Winter Show, and returns to Wellington to-morrow. Apropos of the proposal that the Government should subsidise a New Zealand Royal Show to be held alternately in each island, it is interesting to note that the Royal Agricultural Society in New South Wales has received about £46,000 in Government subsidies and grants. A unique claim was presented at the Council meeting at Whangarei, the charge being "for sitting up and watching a hole all night, 7s; timber, etc., 35." Owing to the fact that the chairman fell into the hole on his way home he was able to say that the man never watched the hole all night so the account was not paid. We have good authority for stating that the Acting-Premier, Mr Hall-Jones, will be compelled to retire from the Ministry owing to illhealth. He has been relieved of all Ministerial work, and shows an improvement in health, but the nature of his illness is such that any return to his duties will only aggravate it. Mr Alfred Hill, conductor of the Exhibition Orchestra, is taking a holiday at Rotorua. Whilst there, he will complete a new Maori cantata, on which he has been engaged during his spare moments for some time. It is said that the subject is one of the many romantic Maori legends. Seeing that Mr Hill has already given us the charming cantata, "Hinemoa," the advent of the new one will be looked forward to with great interest. A lady resident of Hokitika has received a letter from a priest resident in North Island stating a sum of conscience money to be forwarded to her husband, who has now been deceased for some years. The conscience money was returned in connection with a transaction at Charleston, and (says the Hokitika Guardian) it is some 38 to 40 years ago since the recipient's husband waß engaged in busines in that district, so that > the troubled one has been a long time in giving way to the qualms of an uneasy conscence. Goliath Joseph, the Syrian missionary who was refused permission to land in Australia under the Immigrateion Restriction Act, is returning to Colombo by the R.H.S. Victoria, by which he came out. He does not take to the situation kindly. He considers Australia a "bad place; its people are wicked;" but at the same time proffers the olive branch, and explains that he will pray God not to treat Australians as badly as they have treated him. "I am a stranger in a strange land," he told a representative of the Adelaide Observer last week, "but you did not take me in." Goliath has travelled halfway round Australia and back without stepping ashore. An extraordinary but well authenticated story comes from Bulumwaal. East Gippsland, Victoria. On the 2nd inst., a miner named William Henry dreamed that while working in the claim at four o'clock on the following afternoon he was struck down by a fall of earth and badly injured. He told his wife of the dream, and they both agreed that he should* not work on Friday. However, later in the day Henry changed his mind and went to work. Just as he had dreamed, at four o'clock a mass of stone came away and he was partially buried. After considerable trouble his mates got him out, and he was sent to the Bairnsdale hospital with several ribs broken and suffering severe contusions. The casual colonial is sometimes taken aback by the rigid discipline associated with the institutions of the older land. A local youth, who signed on H.M.S. Pioneer, training ship at Wellington, was duly sworn and testified that he would serve his country thenceforth. He then mentioned that he was going home for a couple of days to pack up, but reckoned without his superior officer, who explained that he was now one of His Majesty's handy men, and home was out of the question. He might be given an opportunity to visit the Wairarapa when the vessel re-visited the port in a couple of months' time. — Wairarapa News. Election stories are still going the rounds. The latest concerns the mistake of a young lady supporter of Mr H. J. H. Okey's, who went into a suburban polling booth to record her vote for the Opposition candidate. In a business-like fashion she took the voting paper into the little recess, and seized the pencil. A second later, and out went "Dockrill, Edward," and then also the chances of "Malone, William George," were reduced by one. But then again this new man's name mustn't be allowed to jeopardise the chances of her favorite. So out came "Henry James Hobbs." and "Okey" alone was left. Then she folded the paper placed it in the box, and swept out of the booth,, conscious of a duty performed. — News. The Minister in charge of the Cook Islands (Hon. J. McGowan) has received a petition from most of the Europeans resident in Raratonga praying that the white traders and settlers should have greater representation on the Federal Council of the islands. The petitioners pointed out' that the Native Council enacts ordinances which may vitally affect them, and they have no knowledge of such Acts until they are gazetted. As they represent a considerable amount of capital invested both in business and agriculture, and their interests are one with the welfare of tlie islands, they imst that Parliament will readily concede the reasonableness of their request and accede to it during the coming session. The Rev. F. W. Isitt, who was in Taranaki during the by-election, does not think that Mr Malone split the Government vote to any appreciable extent, as all three candidates were freeholders, and Mr Malone, he says, probably interfered as much with Mr Okey's vote as with Mr Dockrill's. The fact was, Mr Isitt states, that the campaign was grossly mismanaged by the Government—it was almost as bad as it was possible to be. He declared that the Hon. James Carroll had absolutely ignored the representatives of no-li-cense. The local Prohibitionists took no exception to the nomination of Mr Dockrill. He was a popular man, who was prepared to leave the question of license or no-license to the absolute decision of the people, and no irritation would have been created in the ranks of the Prohibitionists had it not been for the manner in which they had been ignored by the Minister in the selection of the candidate. Other things served to annoy the adherents of no-license, and it was easily understood that they could not refrain from expressing their indignation. Some interesting remarks in connection with the discovery of the deadly fruit fly in New Zealand orohards were made to a Post reporter yesterday by the Government Biologist (Mr T. W. Kirk). The strictest watch, he said, is being kept on the only two localities where it has been found— the hill at Napier and a small area around Blenheim. At both places all fruit found to be infected was destroyed .and the ground was then treated with kerosene in order to destroy any maggots that might have fallen to the ground. A strict watch is now being kept on any citrus fruit that is ripening. So far the fly has only been discovered in the districts above mentioned, although a very careful search has been made. In answer to a question Mr Kirk said he had no information as to whether the Government proposed to prohibit the importation of fruit from fly-infested countries, but he had received no instructions in that direction. X, he added, the Government did take such a course, it would mean absolute prohibition of fruit from Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia. Victoria, Tahiti, and the French Group, the , Cook Group, the Tongan Group, the Fiji Group, and the Mediterranean , Sorts. The Mediterranean fruit \ y, it may be mentioned, is more . dangerous to growers in New Zea- j land than the Queensland fly, as it 1 has a wider range. #So far, the ( Government Biologist is very hopeful that the pest has been eradicated, and that it will not he seen here < next season. i

A somewhat exciting incident took place at a football match at Wood : ville on Saturday, when a Maori spectator suddenly rushed into a scrum with his umbrella waving, and sought to urge his pals on to settle their opponents. The Acting-Premier yesterday received a cablegram from Sir Joseph Ward, stating: — "Have selected for appointment as Adjutant-General of Council of Defence Major Inson. He arrives in New Zealand in July. He is a young officer of high qualification." Another kissing case is to come before the local Magistrate's Court this week. It is alleged thaf an elderly married man kissed a young girl who called at his house to pay an account. The girl informed her father, who promptly administered corporal punishment on the offender. The angry parent is now to be summoned, for assault. A ferret which had been playing havoc with the poultry in the premises round Princes street was knocked on bhe head last night. The obnoxious animal, one night last week, destroyed four fowls belonging to one resident, and on Sunday night, getting amongst some birds of good breed, destroyed twelve. The owner sat up till midnight last night with a gun, but the ferret did not turn up, having been killed earlier in the evening in a yard in Denbigh street. In a communication to the UnderSecretary for Public Works on the subject of the Gisborne East Coast railway, the Auckland Railway League asks for an investigation of the two alternate routes from Opatiki, the one via Te Puke to connect with the Rotorua line at Mamuku, and the one via Tauranga, Katikati and Waihi, to connect with the ThamesAuckland line at Paeroa. A consideration of arguments in favor of the Waihi connection might outweigh those based only upon the relative immediate cost of construction of the two routes. This is why the league consider an early exploration of, and report upon, the Waihi connection of great importance as a guide to a wise decision upon the question.