LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 277, 28 May 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr C. E. Mackay states that the Taranaki Herald was not authorised to state that he will be a candidate for tho House at the next election. Mr Tom Pollard is arranging for a new Juvenile Opera Company. Tho company will make its first appearance in New Zealand at Christchurch in August. According to a Dunedin correspondent the development of antimony is causing 'considerable stir at Alexandra. A ton is being forwarded to Wellington for a Government test. The Hon. A. R. Guinness has revived a cablegram from Sir Joseph Ward stating tnat the Admiralty has agreed to obtain a report as to tlie formation of a harbour at Port I.lizabeth. At the Palmerston S.M. Court, yesterday, David Wilson, draper, Rongotea, charged on tho information of Joseph Hollows, Inspector of Factori ies, with failing to pay wages at fortnightly periods, was fined 10s ancl [ costs 9s. The same defendant, similarly charged, on a second count, was fined 10s and 9s costs. "Tho public do not appear to realise how cheap potatoes are at the ptesent time," remarked a produce auctioneer to a Post reporter. J.e added that the present price in the store is now from £4 10s to £5 a ton, which is far cheaper than they have been for years past at this season. It is singular ,too, to note that at Wellington t the greater portion of the supply is even yet drawn from New Zealand, only about 25 per cent, coming from Tasmania The colonial supply is, however, apparently getting used up, and there are indications that in a little while the Island State will have to be drawn upon to a much greater extent than at present. Says the Whakatane Press: W. H. Herries, M.H.R. for Bay of Plenty, is in a political sense a very dismeiu bered individual. Under the .ew boundaries, his district is merged into three electorates. If he follows Waihi into Ohinemuri, he must abandon Tauranga and Opotiki, and if he remains true to the farmers, he riu>.t turn his back on the miners, which he is very loth to do. Mr Herries i- a difficult man to beat in an election contest, for which reason individuals with covetous eyes j»aje on the divided electorate would very much like to know his intentions. But Mr Herries is not to be drawn. Like Brer Rabbit he prefers to ho low in the meantime, and thoiiirh probable candidates are oasting straws on the political waters to detect the course the current wiU take, and Ministers are giving his district affectionate attention, he smiles discreetly and says nothing. W. II Herries would make a success I' I <liplomat. Wade's Worm Figs— Wonderful Worm Worriers. Is.

The Shooting Committee of the Manchester Rifles will meet in the Drill Hall this evening at 7.30. The Feilding Literary and Debating Society's first debate will take place in the Council Chambers tonight, commencing at 8 o'clock. Messrs W. T. London and Geo. F. Smith have been nominated for the vacant seat (the Coal Creek riding) on the Pohangina County Council, rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr H. V. Hammond. The election will be held on June 4th. "There are quite a lot of things that I don't belong to," said Mr Rutherford, M.H.R., in his speech at Amberley. "I don't belong to the Farmers' Union, and I don't even belong to that blackmailing institution, the Liberal and Labour Federation." Mr Rutherford, M.H.R., made a sporting offer to his Amberley constituents on Saturday night. He told them that if they could find any j provision in the Land Bill that would result in putting anybody on the land in less than ten years, he would double his subscriptions to all the local institutions. Sergt. Stagpoole received a tele§ram last night from Constable 'Halloran, stationed at Ashhurst, that a young man named Ernest Wheeler, aged 21, was drowned in the Manawatu river, near Ashhurst, yesterday afternoon. The body was subsequently recovered and taken to the Masonic Hotel. A horse straying on the railway line near the Gasworks crossing was struck by the engine of the 10.30 down train this morning, and frightfully mangled, though not killed. A porter from the local station went down with a gun and shot the suffering animal. This is the second horse which has been struck and killed at that crossing. As showing the richness of the soil and the suitibility of the country for dairy purposes, it may be mentioned that one of the settlers at Apiti, Mr D. Curteis, has been getting a test of 6.0 with the milk from his herd of Jerseys and Shorthorns, for some months. The roots exhibited at the show at Apiti last Friday go to prove the capabilities of the soil in growing crops. The state of that portion of the Kimbolton Road between the Square and Stratford-street, is such that it can do with a deal of attention. The surface was broken in putting down the water and sewerage services, and never properly repaired, consequently there are ruts and hillocks spread over the whole area of the street. The matter has been hanging up long enough, and should be attended to at once. Mr Rutherford, in his Amberley speech, took a glance into the future. "The time will come when, let the limitation be £15,000 or £20,---000, it will be reduced. Indeed, I anticipate — of oourse, I shan't live to see it — that the time will come when no adult will be permitted to hold more land value than will graze a cow ; and as by that time State Socialism will be rampant, people will clamour for the State to provide tho man to milk the cow." Farms in Taranaki, it would appear, can be bought almost without money. A transaction took place lately in which the price was considerably over £1000. All the money that changed hands was £50, of which sum over £40 went to the commission agent who effected the sale. Some of the sellers who bought early are selling at such good prices that if they merely collect the interest on the sum they have sold for, they are making a good deal, even if they never see a shilling of the principal. — Eltham Argus. The month "fasting" fad seems to be taking on like hot cakes in our district, as in all other distriots in New Zealand, and also in Australia. No further than Hunterville there is the biggest man in the North Island indulging in his month's fast. He has adhered manfully to his resolution for the past ten days, and has lost so far 181bs in weight. He ■subsists entirely on " warm water." It is remarkable that Taihape was not the first town to start the fad, although we have a few subjects who have subsisted on "warm whisky" for fully a month. It will be interesting to observe the enduring qualities of "warm water." — Taihape Post. A Waimate Plains dairyman stated that last season his herd averaged aver £2 per month per cow. This, of course, was earned from the production of cheese, the payments being at the rate of 12d per lb for butterfat. If this statement is true this average should leave a fair margin for loss of by-products. The relative merits of butter and cheese cannot be guaged from one season alone. Meanwhile, the factories that have the dual plant and only require to turn a wheel to take advantage of the flowing tide in prices are reaping immediate benefits, and can still float with next season's tides — whether it be by way of butter or cheese. — Opunake Times. The Sub-Collector of Customs at Port Darwin, Northern Territory, reports that, since the prohibition of the importation of opium, the Chinese of the Northern Territory ports, far from making a virtue of necessity, are practising another vice, which hitherto has not been common among Chi nest*. Tho report, states that, not vithstanding tho diminution of population, there has been an increase in the revenue from spirits and rice. The acting Comptroller-Gene-lal, commenting upon the report, states that it boars out the allegations of a largo number of Chinese merchants, who, in advocating thi* piohibition of the importation of opium, declared that, deprived ii their principal _ ice, the Chinese would take more spirits. The introduction of opium has not been altogether stopped, though the Customs officials are on the alert, however, with instructions to enforce tho lau' rigorously. Mme. Duffaut, one of the women recently licensed as a cabdriver in Paris, was on the look-out for fares on' 3rd March, when she met her husband, who also drives a cab. An amusing scene followed, for on catching sight of one another, husband and wife began a furious altercation from their respective boxes. Their language was forcible and unfettered. A crowd gathered, and, learning that tlie two wore husband and wife, mischievously egged them on. Eventually the husband invited his wife to go to tile police station with him. They went, the crowd following joyfully. A police officer advised them to separate if they could not agree, and the quarrel ended. Duffaut subsequently stated that the breach was healed. "Only my wife," he said plaintively, "who is quite now to the business of cabdriving, already thinks she knows more about the trade than I do. . That's why we quarrelled in the street." Late files of Canadian papers give details of a "remarkable ash-burning secret" discovered by an Altoona cobbler. This is how heat is said to be obtained from ashes: — Moisten with either salt water or salt water in which oxalic acid has been dissolved a mixture containing one part coal and three parts ashes, and a better fuel than pure coal is obtained. The ashes of anthracite coal burn as readily as do those of bituminous coal. This mixture will, upon being placed upon a burning fire, fuse into a coke-like mass and deposit but little residue. The salt water may be obtained by the dissolution of common salt in water. The chemical action ef this compound is thus explained: When an aqueous solution of an alkaline salt, such as common salt is mixed with any combutible material, such as coal, and upon the application of heat it gives off oxygen gas, thus promoting rapid combustion. The addition or oxalic acid causes a chemi ' -hange of greater value than the iirst, for the reason that a second chemical breakdown results in the formation of a carbide, which in turn gives off acetylene gas, this adding to the intensity of the heat and facilitating complete combustion. Many large industrial places in Altoona are said to be profiting by this invention. • To cure rheumatism, gout, sciatica, and lumbago the excess poisonous nric acid must be removed. RHEUMO wiU quickly and permanantly do this. All chemists and stores, 2s 6d and 4s 6d per bottle. Just trv it.