LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hastings Standard, Volume VI, Issue 1676, 14 November 1901, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr and Mrs Beilby are due in Hastings by the express this evening. Mr R. Sowersby holds his usual I weekly sale on Saturday next. ! Mr A. L. D. Fraser, M.H.R., arrived in Hastings last night by the Wellington express. Considerable interest is being taken in the steady rise in the price of flax, in the London market. A large number of holiday-seekers went through Hastings by the express this morning on their way to the Palmerston Show. The game of golf is said to have j been invented in ancient times by a lonely shepherd, who had nothing better to do than to knock round stones into a rabbit hole with his crook. A private communication from Mr E. H. Williams states that A. E. Trott, who has been engaged as coach for the Hawke's r>ay cricketers, will arrive in the colony on December 13th. A man named John O'Leary, charged with the theft of clothing, the property of the Waipukurau Hospital, appeared before Mr W. Y. Dennett, J.P., at the Hastings Courthouse this morning, and was remanded until tomorrow. 1 The following will represent the County Cricket Club in their match against the United A., to be played on the Heretaunga ground on Saturday:—Lewis, Gore, Monro, Jones, Owen, H. J, Smith, Cotterill, F, Tomoana, Garry, Fraser,, D. Tomoana. The Feilding Star says :—A lady who boarded the train to-day with the declared intention of "saluting" General Macdonald, first examined the label on a portmanteau to see that she had got the right man, and then kissed him. The General never flinched, but he did not call for an encore.: Mr J. Greenfield has on view in his window in Heretaunga street a very interesting collection of curios from the war in South Africa, gathered by Trooper Hawkins, who has just returned from the front. The collection includes a much weather worn slouch hat "collected" from the head of an unfortunate Boer who was found dead, shot through the chest. Dr Thomas Burns, who a lew days ago returned from the Transvaal after (serving with the First and Fourth Contingents, on being asked his opinion of our men when on active duty, replied :—"They are really capital felfows. They have little or no fear under fire ; they can shoot straight, and although hard riders, they know how to take care of their horses. In the latter respect they have a considerable advantage over the Imperial troops. They have a thorough knowledge of horses, and can take more out of the animals than the Home troops. Our lads also have another advantage over the Imperial troops, and that is they can always be depended upon to sight their rifles at the first two or three shots." Everybody has noticed that in extreme old age people grow rapidly shorter, so that a person of average height "grows down" into quite a diminutive man or woman. A Ger. man contemporary now points out that this decrease of height begins as early as the age of thirty-five years. At thirty, we are told, the human body has reached its full height, which js retained for a few years, after which the "growing down" process begins. At first, and for many years, the process is so slow as to be almost imperceptible, but at the age of about sixty it begins to be noticeable, and after seventy, even though the veteran does not stoop at all, the fact that he is "growing down" becomes apparent to everyone who sees him., Servia is in trouble now with an epidemic of marriages. The cause is the system of marriage banks founded as an encouragement to thrift, but which have proved to have quite quite an opposite effect. The young men and maidens of Servia begin paying into the institutions at an early age on the promise of a premium on marriage. Immediately a small sum has been accumulated, the desire for marriage grows overwhelming, with the result that the first offer is snapped up. In consequence, prematurely early and unhappy marriages are general. The matter has now reached such lengths that it is seriously troubling the Government, and the advisability of abolishing these banks, which are held to be the root of the I evil, is being debated. The obtaining of cargo from New Zealand for the'llome marr.et—or any other market for toat matter—is a more difficult undertaking; at the present time than it has been for many years. Quite a fleet ol carro tramps are laid up or are "nosing" about the various points of the rHony, without j any prospect of ultimately departing j as "full ships ;" and as freights arc j j cut to a verv hue margin some of the i large carrying companies must have suffered severely this winter. In Wel--1 lington three ocean-going steamers—the Otarama, Mamari, and Raneitira —are at anchor waiting, like Micawber, for something to turn up ; the Tokomaru Maori, and Kumara are m , the South at anchor ; the Paparoa leaves here for Home on Thursday afI ter a long stav ; more than one vessel 1 has had to pay a speculative visit to I Australia for something to put into the holds ; and several others are on the way out. Of course, the coming summer will ease the tightness, but when the new White Star steamers enter into the competition freights will possibly be farther trimnied,~the struggle will be renewed, and the exporter will profit at the expense of the shipping companies.—Wellington fe&J - 'Mfc**liMMriHl

We hope that Captain Russell may remain in public life for many years to come, for, however much we may dissent from some of his political views, we cannot fail to recognise his many sjleiu.m as a. spirited leader, a courteous gentleman, and a Jon.st.ini fr.eiiL.—LytieliOii 'iin.es. At u.e l cg..ni of Ur A. L. a. FraJtr > J1 me Lieparuueii! has deemed to despatch a train from Napier to Hastings at 1.30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays for the Convenience of crickH and other travelling teams. The inen.uer for \'at.i,r t.as teen i.-.suu menial in supj.lvu.g a want, and will cam the gratitude of cricket enthusiasts ;i. the " suburb" as well as those who journey hither to battle for the metrj polis. As instancing the vicissitudes of for tune in mining speculation the Southland Daily News is informed that one Dunedin investor, who made from £IO,OOO to £12,000 in a 'ew montr.s in a dredging venture m tbg Mo!?neux, has since lost all ii» oli-ev "good things," and its now in\earch of a b>Lrt. Others whose cheque; for four figures would have i-een unhesitatingly honored twelve n ontcs ag» are now practically penniless. Some fifty four ladies and gentlemen, including anumber of visitors, assembled at the opening of the Hastings Tennis Club on the Heretaunga School Grounds yesterday afternoon. Several scratch games were played and both members and guests enjoyed themselves thoroughlly. Mrs B. L. Knight and Mrs Macdonell were hostesses at afternoon tea and Mr W. J. Bates was very energetic in arranging the courts and general supervision. A most successful rehearsal of the Hastings Orchestra wa£ held last night. The members are working hard and are now playing well together. Mrs Barrington Waters has most kindly consented to assist at the forthcoming concert and as vocal items will be rendered by Mrs Boyd, Messrs Mackay and Knight, the musical people of Hastings may look forward to hearing a good concert. Mr Mac Duff Boyd, (the conductor) will also play a violin solo. The concert is fixed for Thursday, sth December, in St. Matthew's Schoolroom. The Wrangarei Fruitgrowers' Association have communicated with tne Premier suggesting a dutv of Id per lb on oranges during the months of September, October; and November, and Id per lb on lemons, ail the year round. The fruitgrowers in their telegram stated that the citrus growing industry of the north is stagnating, and is seriously threatened, owing to the markets being continuously glutted with foreign produce, and that the bulk of the season's crop has rotted on the ground, as the prices avail able do not afford the cost of marketing. The Premier replied thanking the fruitgrowers for the information forwarded to him, and stating that the matter would be referred to the Cabinet. It is reported that there is a scarcity of half-sovereigns just at present, says the Westminster Budget. '%e do not mean the individually felt scarcity which is always a subject of complaint, but a real scarcity in the number in the geueral circulation. If that is so, now is the time to test the value of Lord Rabdolph Churchill a theory of a direct relation between half-sovereigns and intemperance. He described it as 'a wicked little coin,' and declared when he was at the Exchequer that he was inclined to abolish it altogether, on the ground that it was a coin for which everyone wanted change as soon as they got it, and that workmen who received a half-sovereign amongst their wages turned first thing into a public-house as the most convenient place for change, and often ended by spending it." Do they manage racehorses better in France ? It is a question incidentally arising out ol a statement in the London Referee. "Mordred," speaking of Dieppe races, or French courses generally, says that at a race meeting there you may leave your chair with your race glasses on it, and when you return he warrants that you will find neither place nor glasses taken. Yet he adds that the turf vagaries in France are notorious, and further says that "at Dieppe the other day I will swear that it was not from any want of trying on the part of the jockey—it was simply and solely the fault of the hoise which came in second—that the race was won by the best norses. I never saw anything so de'-berate in all my life, except once—on the same course when the field pulled up almost to a man when a jockey fell from the horse which was apparently 'meant to win., " An American who has raced pretty well all over the world says that nowhere is racing so honorably conducted as in England.