LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 289, 12 June 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Gisborne is taking steps to have the Borough declared a Fire District. Mr R. P. Walsh will leave here on Thursday on an extended trip to the Old Country, on account of his health. The Hon. R. McNab will speak at Stratford on the Land Bill on Friday nightj returning to Wellington the following day. The next English and European mail, via Suez, will close at Feilding on Thursday, the 13th day of June, at 7.45 p.m., due in London, July 23, 1907. A farmer residing near Feilding, after listening patiently to the various speakers at the Feilding Debating Society's debate on the land question last night, remarked: "There is only one thing you have forgotten, and that is the man on the land 1" lv view of the refusal of the Feilding Gas Company to consider the offer of the Borough Council to purj chase the plant on Mr Smithies' valui at ion, it is possible a suggestion will be brought- forward for the installation of an electric lighting plant. The Machionesß of Graham, formerly Lady Mary Hamilton, the wealthy heiress, whose marriage to the heir to the dukedom of Montrose was the principal socitl event of last year, gave birth to a son at 19, Manchester square^ W., at the beginning of last month. Three lads made an unlucky find at Chinley, an important junction on the Midland line between Sheffield and Manchester on May 3rd. They picked up a tin containing powder like granulated sugar, and aia som ol it. They arrived home i« a sti»te of collapse, and two of them died. Tho other recovered under the doctor's attentions. Miss H. Monteith, a lady solicitor, who qualified for the law on the West Coast, but is now resident in Wellington, made her appearance at the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, and was welcomed by Dr. McArthur, S.M., in a few kindly words, expressive of the hope that she would have a successful career. Miss Monteith is the first lady who has taken a place in Court work in Wellington. The Dm ids' Assembly, held last evening, was well attended, over 30 couples being present. Bros. Christmas and Collins acted at M.'sC, and performed their duties creditably. The usual fortnightly assembly will not be held on Tuesday week, but to commemorate the anniversary of the Lodge a plain and fancy dress ball will be held in the Drill Hall on that date. Full particulars will appear in our columns later. According, to the Secretary for Agriculture fMr Ritchie), who has just returned to Wellington from the South Island, farmers in the districts between Tokoraairo and Rangitata are still looking forward anxiously to a change in the weather. Very little rain has fallen in that part of the colony for a considerable time, and the breaking up of the drought will be heartily welcomed.^ Wheatsowing is being retarded owing to the dry state of the soil. Turnips are giving out in some places, and the supply of other feed for sheep and cattle will become scanty unless rain falls soon. Kingscote (S.A.), a little township on Kangaroo Island, has had a race meeting, and , being remote from other sporting centres, was able to use the totalisator. Only £49 Is went through the machine on seven races, and (Adelaide Register report) there were some funny results. One race ended in a dead heat and .a division. The tickets on the two winners were equal in number, and each successful backer got 6s 3d for his five-bob investment. In another race there were only three tickets out, total 15s, and all were on the winner. The tote solemnly deducted its 10 per cent. (7|d to the promoting club, and 2J per cent. — 4Jd in this case^ — to the Government, and the winners got back 4s 6d each. Next race there were three starters, five tickets out, and none on the winner. That time all investors of 5s got 4s 6d back. And in the last race there was nothing on the tote at all 1 The machine does not shine except where there is a great volume of betting to majra up the odds automatically; but it seems to have been a public benefactor in the third race above mentioned. Can any one fancy the man with the bag returning to losera nine-tenths of their money becauso nobody had baoked the winner P

The Hon. Hall-Jones continues to make good progress towards recovery. A native in the Maritzburg district of Natal tendered payment of his poll-tax hald in coppers and the remainder in pumpkins. He was much disgusted when he was told that pumpkins were not legal currency. In the case of Samuel Teaz. who was committed for trial at Palmerston North on Monday last on a charge of perjury, tho Grand Jury found no bill against the accused, and he was accordingly discharged. Mr Graham acted as counsel for Teaz. The motor train constructed by the Railway Department for the Kaipara line commenced its running on Friday. The car proved very satisfactory from the public point of view, the seats being comfortable, and the carriage running smoothly and silently. The service between Auckland and Henderson has been augmented by the running of the new train, and four additional trips are now made daily. New- Zealand is going to open up trade with Gibraltar. It seems that Mr G. B. Bullock, of Dunedin manager for the New Zealand Shipping Company, has received advice that the Kaikoura, which left Lyttelton for London on Tuesday night, is calling at the big fortress to land a trial shipment of New Zealand meat. The result of this innovation will be awaited with interest. The following warning appears on a notice board in front of a house in Surbiton road, Kingston: "Notice, all trespassers, particularly wandering cats, will be prosecuted, irrespective of sex. Every endeavour will, however f be made to restore cats who have lost their way , to their lawful owners. No rubbish may be shot into this orchard. No grandchildren or cats allowed." While giving evidence at Willesden a police witness smiled so persistently that Mr H. Curtis Bennett remarked, "Will you please refrain from smiling? IWoes annoy me so." "I can't help it, it's natural," the witness replied. "Of course, if you tell me you can't help it I must put up with it, that's all, but is does make me so cross," was the barrister's surrender. Mr A. A. Longden, who is returning to England, is-very well satisfied with the sales of pictures at the Exhibition. The sales have exceeded £15,000, or more than double the figures recorded at the St. Louis Exhibition. Mr Longden says the people of New Zealand have learned to appreciate, pictures more since the British collection came to this country, and this will benefit local artists. . To support this statement, he mentions that the sales at the Canterbury Art Society's present annual show are more numerous than usual, and the prices have improved. Mr W. A. Sandilands, solicitor, of Feilding, put in quite a record walk from Palmerston to Feilding last night, or rather ,thfs morning. He had wired to Feilding for- a trap to come to Palmerston for him, and started to walk expecting to meet the trap every minute. Unfortunately, however, the driver of the trap took a different road from that upon which Mr Sandilands was journeying, with the result that he had to walk the whole of the distance, arriving here at about 4.50 a.m. It speaks* well for Mr Sandiland's endurance that he. appeared in Court to-day looking little the worse for his walk. On his arrival at Lyttelton a welcome social and smoke concert was given to Mr Cummins, late of Feilding, the newly-elected conductor of the Lyttelton Marine Band, in their practice room. The president (Mr F. W. Anderson) presided, and Mr G. Laurenson, M.H.R., was also present. His Worship the Mayor (Mr S. R. Webb) extended a hearty welcome to the new conductor, and paid an eloquent tribute to the late conductor, Mr G. Collins, and impressed on bandsmen the necessity of loyalty to Mr Cummins. Mr Cummins, in reply, stated his wishes and aspirations with the band. The way his words were received the players mean to further enhance the band^ already high reputation. To-morrow is a notable day in the history of the Anglican Church. At Home, in England, the bishops are elected by the Dean and Chapter of the Diocese, appointed by the Crown, and consecrated under the authority of the Archbishop of Conterbury. The Church is in all matters, other than those affecting her faith or purely spiritual concerns, controlled by the Parliament of England. The Church of England was the first Christian body to preach Christianity in this colony, in the person of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, m 1814. Later on bishops were appointed by the authorities in England, and the Church began to acquire property in the colony, and the colony itself was given powei to control its own affairs. But the Church had no constitution or organisation apart from the Church at Home, or power to appoint her own bishops, and it is contrary to the practice of the primitive Church to allay the branch of the Church in a self-ogov-erning community to be governed by the authorities of the Church in any other nation. » So Bishop Selwyn determined to revive the old democratic constitution of Synods, in which the bishops, clergy, and laity met to control the affairs of the Church. The constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand was drawn tip and signed on June 13, 1857, being the first of such constitutions in the British Empire, and it has become the model for similar constitptions in other parts of the Empire. So to-morrow is to be observed throughout New Zealand by special services and meetings.