LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 534, 30 March 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A programme of musio will be rendered in tho Manchester Square Rotunda on Wednesday evening by the Manchester Band. The term for which Mr Strang's house at Hokowhitu, Palmerston N., has been taken as a residence for the Governor is two years. The Flaxmill Employees Union has voted ion guineas towards tho Blackball strikers' wives and families, says a message from Foxton. Locusts are proving a. menace to orehardists in the King Country. At Ohua, it is said, this pest is causing much damage to fruit trees. Tho Wellington prohibition party has received some substantial donations from Home towards the cost of the work it has in hand. After an illness extending over seven years, Mr W. H. R. Flyger, surveyor, Palmerston North, succumbed at 8.30 a.m. yesterday. Deceased, who was bora in 1845, was the eldest son of the late Mr W. H. Flyger, a Wellington merchant. He leaves a grown-up family of five sons and five daughters. Mr J. C. Blackmore, Government Pomologist, is engaged in preparing a New Zealand fruit exhibit- for the Royal Horticultural Society's Show which is to be held in London. Tho exhibit will be a competitive one. the other over-sea dominions of the Empire being represented. The fruit will be despatched from New Zealand on tho 9th prox. Master Ronald Watson, eldest son of Mr Thos. Watson, Registrar of Electors, left Peilding on Saturday for Wellington, where he is to enter Viatoriia University College with a view to studying for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church. Those who know him best predict that Ronald, who has already proved himself to possess considerable scholarly attainments^ will rise to an honorable and successful position in -the. Church. . At Rangiora on Wednesday a child orawled through a fence into a, paddock where a horse was running. The animal picked the child tip several times with its teeth, and it was only by watching for a chance, when the horse had released itsjiold, that those who observed the incident were able to rescue the child. The latter was not injured. A picture of calm, a; figure which would probably remain cool even if the earth was suddenly converted into molten lead, wag noticeable in a Wellington tramcar the other morning. A lady was sewing, and her eyes had interest in nothing, but the" stitches. The strapper strapped, the conductor conducted, the.inspector inspected, but the woman had no care for any of these details. Sho was apparently as much at home in the seething crowded car as in her own boudoir. The book-reader is common enough in the cars, but the sewer is a rarity.

At a recent sale at Waipukurau, Hawke's Bay, no fewer than 50,000 . sheep were penned. ! A quartor-aore section, with a front- i ago of 165 feet, in Gisborne, which was sold at auction four years ago for £810, has just changed hands at £3500. i A record, surely: It was stated ?b j Friday night's meeting (says the Star) that no fewer than 101 sittings ' of the Hawora Borough Council had .; been Iheld in conrteotion with the ' boundary roads contract. ] The mission services being 'held in the Roman Catholio Church concluded last might. Tho missioners were ( Father Oil mo and Father McDermott. I ' and the attendances at aill the services wo.ro extremely good. There wero four senior and 'half a dozen junior members of the Feilding Footbaill Club a.t practice on the racecourse on Saturday. Players will meet for practice every evening after 5 o'clock, in view of matches to tie played shortly. Tho No-lieoiiso party are determined to make special efforts to carry prohibition i?i Rangitikei this time, says Saturday's Mangaweka Settler. The Hey. Frank Isitt is at present visiting tho Main Trunk Line, and an active canvass will bo carried on forthwith. With the co-op's out of the way the Temperance Party contend it is equal to a gift of seven hundred votes in their favour. Tho Mataura Ensign gives two instances of tilio profits that sometimes accruo to ithe speculative sheep buyer. Parenthetically it remarks that Tuesday's sale at Gore was a particularly good one. Last week a ioea.l agent sr>ld 100 sheep at 4s 6d a head. For 25 of them tho purchaser netted los 6d ait Tuesday's sale and for the balanco he secured 7s 9d. On Monday a ioca'l son of tho soil bought from two dealers 1200 sheep. Ho rosoilved io tiko his chance with them at tho sale on Tuesday, a.nd netted from Is to 2s ii head on his bargain At Sydney a lew days ago the "Old Salts" held a gathering in the form of a picnic. There were, according to iihe Sydney Morning Herald, upwards of 120 members there, captains and mates all, who had long since left their deep-sea days astern, and they made the jolliest, breeziest picnickers the ■harbour has seen in a year. Story and reminisc&neo thero were by tho score, •fund recitals of weird •happenings on rock-bound coasts and lonely sea, and yarns of ships that never were. There wore yarns that had nothing to do with seas or with ships, .and through it all they joked liko so many schoolboys on holiday. Sir Joseph Ward's clear statement \ upon land nationalisation and tho sin. | Hip-tax, boit'h of which he denied to lo within tho Government policy, may be :i step towards tiho exclusion from the Cabinet of members who aro advocates oi' theso contiscatory schemes. Moanu'hilo ho is attempting to consolidate his party for the election year by denying that a coalition is in the air ■ma by urging tho heterogeneous cohorts of tho Government to rally to its support. But this will not affect tlio growth of that third party, which, whenever it arises, exerts an unduo •influence over tlio old political sections when they refuso to coalesce by tho exceedingly simplo process of pitting ono against tho other. — New Zealand .Herald. Mr Kidman, popularly known as the "Australian cattle king," considers that thero is a great futuro before New South Wales and Queensland for dairying. Tho country is not like South Australia, because whenever rain falls the grass grows. In New South Wales lucerne grows cheaply and tho country produces a, wonderful grow till ot grass. The pastoral country ,in Central, Western, and Norther)] Queensland has had the best rains known for 20 years, many stations registering over 20tn within tho last vlnoo months. Thero is not a part that lias not had a good downpour. Ann-aiulnlo had 20.85 iii ai lyO7- As a ■rule the rainfall is about Bin to lOin. Tho prospects for pastora lists in Queensland this year aro exceedingly good. Everything there, says Mr Kidman-, should be fat. On the Bth inst. the Tocumwal (New South Wales) police were informed that a man named Frank Bicicard, who had been staying at j Staple's hotel, bad passed a value- ! less cheque. On being question by ; Senior-constable Davies, Biccard said he was in charge of 5,000 sheep, which were at Mulwala, and went with the constable to the Telegraph office to verify his statements. While tlio constable was writing the niesj sage, Biccard slipped quickly out • and took to his heels { and when j close pressed by Davies jumped into j the river and swam into Victoria. j Senior-constable. Davies followed him, | and gained on the fugitive swimmer. j Both pursuer and pursued were very j much exhausted when they reached i the Victoria side, and Avere only | able- to jog along thp roadway. A faint yell from tho constable, together with the sight of tho pair of ' dripping passers-by, aroused suspicion i of several men in the neighbourhaad : wfib at once joined in the chase. i Thia sufficed for Biccard, who gave , up. ! "Antigua Ovis," tho Wellington correspondent of tho Otago Witness writes : The work of threshing must be fairly well through, although, when up in tho Kiwitea district the other day, 1 came across a paddock of 20 acres still standing; but it should be fit to cut now. It is still impossible to form any estimate of the yield but j there appears to be little doubt we ! will have to call largely on the south for oats. What lift-tie wheat is grown , is yielding fairly well and tho price is ' satisfactory, the local mills paying 5s a bushel at sidings. The supply of grass seed is holding out better than was expected some weeks ago. When , prices go up it is wonderful -how stuff appears from the most unexpected quarters. Those who were -unfortunate, or rather in some cases fortunatei to have fires pass over their land a.ro liaving exceptionally good weather for re-grassing, as the rootlets will have secured a good hold before there is any danger from frosst. This applies ! also to tho cultivated land .when autumn showing is' being adopted. There is trouble at Alexandra, in the diocese of Wangaratta, between the incumbent of the church, the Rev. E. H. Scott, and Archdeacon Potter. Mr Scott recently received notice that his license to preach was cancelled, and when Archdeacon Pot- : ter calico, upon him Mr Scott declined to see shim. No charge was made against Mir Scott, but he has not been a success in his parish, and like the llev. G. Gladstone at Nathalia. his license was cancelled. Mr Scott said that the "reign of ecclesiastical terror" had spread to Alexandra, and he locked up the church and declined to allow the Archdeacon to. preach in it. He holds the vicarage and the church, and Archdeacon Potter was compelled to hold his service in the Shire Hall. Mr Scott, the same night, held a service in the vicarage. Archdeacon Potter preached from the text "Let me go about my father's business," while Mr Scott chose the words "Paul persecuted.' At latest accounts Mr Scott was still holding the fort, and declined to surrender the church. '. • The Australian mail brings details of a sensational incident that was cabled concerning a desperate character who tried to bring off a great coup at the Barnawartha (Victoria) races. At half past 3, just before the chief race a man wearing a mask and a false beard went to the gatekeeprs (Frederick Richardson and James Daly), and pointing a revolver at them demanded the .takings, but Richardson declined to obey, and Daly seized the ruffian. There was a struggle, in wluch both men fell, and the robber, rising first, fired at Richardson and bolted. Richardson was not hurt, and a hue and cry was raised. Three policemen on foot and a number of civilians sejb out after the man, but he had a good start, and got away. Early next morning a party of .mounted constables met a man cycling along the main streeet of Chiltern. He was a stranger, arid the police wero suspicious, arid "where Were you yesterday"- asked Constable Carruthers, "Home, at Dry Creek." The constable said that this was funny, as there were races at Barnawartha, only four miles away. After some further questioning the man admitted that he had fired the shot. A loaded revolver and a horse-hair beard were found in his possession. He was locked up under the name of John Charles Robinson.

Mr J. S. Edelsten, eldest son of Mrs W. B. Barker, of Sherwill street, left Feilding to-day on voyage to England, in which country he intends to servo a two years' course in his trade. Dr. Porritt, who was the victim of a motor-ear accident, returned home to Wanganui yesterday after having been laid up at Mr Edga>r Smith's house at Tokomaru for a fortnight. Although still suffering from the effects of ihis injuries, he has made most satisfactory progress, aoid expects to bo about again soon. Mr S. W. Fitzherbert, Secretary oi the Chamber of Commerce, informed our representative this morning that I lie 'intended to resign has office as Seoretary to -tilie Chamber as soon as he could find time to write out the resignation. He explained that the tax on .his time incumbent on bjs •holding the office was so great as to seriously interfere with his business. Before Messrs E. Goodbehere and W.-G. Haybittle, J.'sP., Adolph Katterer was charged with being an idle and disorderly person, and with having no lawful visible means of support. Ho pleaded not guilty. Constable Sweeney deposed that tho accused had been warned -three times to leave tiho town, he having been in the habit 'f calling at houses and getting money from people, which ho spent in the purchase of brandy and portwine. Accused stated he had a job ait £1 a week, had worked one day, and then asked for his wages. The Bench convicted Katteror, and ordered him to como up for sentence when called on. Ho was warned to leave tjie town immediately, and to get work. The sentence of one' month's .imprisonment inflicted on the man Ken•nard by tho S.M. on Thursday (says the Settler) was what might have been expected horn, tlio evidence. TMku has Jong been tho resort of some oi the most bare-faced sly-grog sellers in tiho dominion. • These illicit individuals seem to have had the sympathy of a large number of residents, with the result itbat they have practically defied the police to secure a conviction. What effect tiho latest development will havo remains to bo seen. Evidently Sergeant Beattio is no novico in tliis particular line, as we hear of several other "catches" during the past forty-eight hours, within his district.. In tho interest of the liquor trade itself it is ihighdy desirable that these "grog shanties" should be obliterated, and every .right thinking person caauiot help but applaud the efforts of Sergeant Beattio and Constable Swoeney.