NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XIX, Issue 3265, 1 November 1892, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

+ A Gazette published to-day contains the regulations under the West Coast Settlement Reserves Aot, 1892. Gas works at Feilding are projected. Wanganui Show account! indicate a surplus of £70. * Meeting re shop hours arrangement at Borough Chambers this evening. The Governor and party left Auckland for Christchurch on Monday. A number of native land purchase officers have been appointed, including Mr. W. Rennell, of New Plymouth. Tenders are invited by the Postal Department for mail service between New Plymouth and Opunake. The Stratford Settler reports tbe arrival of the first load of wool from the Toko block. It came from the farm of Mr. Henry Bayly. There was a tie for the guesfiSg^com'- 4 petition at tbe Mas terton^ -show, each guessing the weight of the 9481b bullock to be 9501b5. At the Stock Conference Mr. Lawry moved a resolution, which was carried, requesting the various Australasian Governments to foster and develop the dairy industry. At a meeting of shop assistants at Auckland it was resolved to ask the employers to pay the wages on Friday, so that Saturday may be observed as a half holiday. The Auckland Inspector of Factories, Mr. Ferguson, is taking measures to check the use of charcoal irons for pressing purposes in small rooms owing to tbe danger to health from the charcoal fumes. Mr Saunders, the member for Selwyn, generally a Government supporter, addressed a well attended meeting of his constituents on Friday, the Press Association reports. He said he was opposed to the appointments in the Legislative Council as wrong in principle, and con^ demned the increased payment to mem? bers. The meeting broke up in great disorder. Our Opunake correspondent writes:—* Captain Harvey, of the Queen of the South, was ashore on Saturday for some hours, and by invitation wens to the wharf. The skipper, in reply to the question whether he would discharge at the jetty next trip, Btated be would try it, but he would require a guarantee from the company that he should not be account* able for any damage his vessel might do to the wharf. ThiH, no doubt, is a saving clause. Caotain Harvey is not likely to go too near the wharf. His steamer might suffer more than the wharf. Thus, in about a month's time the shipping will be conducted from the wharf. There should be a thorough examination of the bottom of the bay in the line of approach. One large rock has already been split up by dynamite. It is believed that there are other rocks ; these, ac any rate, should be buoyed, if they cannot be removed. On the opposite page is printed the programme of the Gymnasium and Fire Brigade display and sporta to be held on 9fch November in aid of the Hawera Hospital fund. There are fifteen items, without including races for boys and girlß, and the events are of variety and seem to be judiciously arranged, so that a most interesting and pleasant day's outing may be looked forward to. Some prizes worth securing are offered. The band will discourse music during the day. Nominations for the handicap running events close with Mr Needham at the Drill Hall on Saturday night, and the "weights" will be declared in these columns on the Monday followine. Members of the Gymnasium and Fire Brigade are in active preparation, and during the deepening twilight of evening and wee sma' hours of morning are busy at their voluntary tasks. With fine weather on the 9th, the result of combined efforts should mean a material increase in the fund. Teosinte (Rena Luxurians Dur) is the name of what seems to be a very valuable fodder plant lately introduced into New South Wales. The New South Wales Agricultural Department procured some seed of the plant last year, and distributed it amongst the farmers of that colony. The official report states that by far the most successful situations for this crop were the low- lying lands near the rivers. Rich sandy or heavy loams produced the best results. A few experiments were tried in the colder parts of tbe colony, but they did not turn out a success. On the Macleay river several farmers leport having grown enormous crops, which stood 10 and 11 feet high, and yielded about 60 tons of green fodder per acre. Mr J. L. Thompson, principal of the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, also Bpeaks very highly of the teosinte as a fodder plant. He Bays that horses and cattle are madly fond of it, and prefer it to all other kinds of food. For ensilage-making Mr. Thompson considers this plant has no rival, and he strongly recommends its cultivation in all districts ivhich enjoy an immunity from severe frosts between October and May. The seed is sown in November and December. The first attempt to send fat cattle from Queensland to Melbourne by sea has proved a disastrous failure. Cattle, numbering 460 head, were shipped on board tbe s.s. Federal at Brisbane at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27th, and tbe vessel started on tbe trip to Melbourne about midnight, the cattle at that time being all apparently in good health. The next morning at 5 o'clock it was noticed that many of the animals were down, and six of them were dead. On Wednesday 12 head died ; on Thursday the deaths numbered a score ; and on Friday they had increased to 50. By the time the vessel reached the Heads there were no less than 170 dead. This mortality was so unexampled that a veterinary surgeon was sent on board to examine the eauce of death, and on his visiting the ship be found tbirty-tbree head doad ■ or dying. The circumstanoes of co I many deaths occurring in this shipment j were suoh as to lead to the belief that tbey ( had been attacked by some virulent dis- . ease. The appearance of the sick and dead J animals indicated anthrax, but a careful i post mortem examination did not reveal i the presence in the blood or spleen of the t bacillus of anthrax. The vessel was ad- f mirably adapted to tbe cattle trade, tbe passage was a fine one, and the deaths could not be attributed ;o foul air, as most of them occured unong the dfok cattle. The most t Deonliar feature in this affair is the >romptnesß with which tbe cattle were ' ! anded, before the experts oould say what 6 t was that caused so many deaths in so hort a time. Indeed, before the experts lad arrived at any conclusion whatever he cattle were disposed of in the public X ale yards at Newmarket, and, no doubt, s< ome had furnished food to the citizens of a j lelbourne. The Egmont Farmers' Union advertise lie of show stock for Saturday, and revest that entries be forwarded im- $ lediately. ■Farmers' Union sell stock at Hawera to- , orroT, i ac

Irrthe nominations for the Oddfellows' ', Sports the names of D. Malone for the , 100 yards, and I. A. Erwin for the halfmile, were accidentally omitted. The Melbourne Cup, the big event of tha great antipodean racing carnival, is run to-day. A Star Extra will be issued as soon as the result is received. Boring operations for artesian water were commenced on Monday at Wanganui by Mr. Gilberd, the contractor, and a depth of 100 feet was reached, and 45 feet of three inch piping were driven before the day's work was done. Mr. Robert Taylor a very old resident of Ngairp, has just died. He was taken to New Plymouth Hospital to have a toe removed, but though tbe operation was successfully performed, the patient was too weak to make recovery. He was 77 years of age. In another column appears reference to a matter which, as w« have before said, has rather an important bearing on the port of Waitara. The New Zealand Shipping Company refer to the fact that arrangements have been made for the erection of dumping plant at Waitara, the effect of which will be that wool and other like articles will be dumped at the port and shipped on same terms as larger ports, such as Napier. No doubt the farmers will find it to their advantage to give all the support they can to the undertaking. The two great events of the year (writes our Okaiawa correspondent) are upon us, viz., the Egmont A. and P. Show and the school examination, and whilst the topic of nonversation with the oldsters is exhibits, with the youngsters it is inepector and papers, both events being separated I only by a day. There is a good deal of enthusiasm shown in connection with the coming show, of course, only from a horsey point of view, and some first-class exhibits may be expected from this quarter, our own idea being that they cannot be beaten easily, but the keen competition of Thursday may put a different aspeot on the affair. The Grand Master of the New Zealand Grand Lodge of Masons (Bro. M. Niccol) paid an offioial visit to the Hawera Lodge last evening, when a strong muster of the local Masons were present. In the course of an address he gave a resume of the history of the New Zealand Grand Lodge and an account of the proceedings at tbe last quarterly oonmumnication just held in Christcharob. Whereas it was prophesied that the Grand Lodge would not be able to carry on for more than two years, it now had over to credit of benevolent fund, i! 150 to credit of general fund, and though it commenced with but 46 lodges it now had 83 lodges, embracing a membership of 3000. To-day Mr. Niocol was taken out to the Plains for a drive by a couple of prominent members of the craft. Our Otakebo correspondent writes: — I have to chronicle a couple of accidents which happened here within tbe last few days. Mr. W. Sutton, while applying some bluestone to a sore-footed cow on Saturday, got a nasty kick from the animal on the face, laying the eyebrow* clean open, which necessitated a trip to Manaia. He met Dr. Pairman, fortunately, on the road, who jumped out of his buggy and fixed up the wound there and then. The other was a more serious mishap, and it is a wonder it did not end fatally. A sister of Mrs Kelland'e, Mies A. Hayes, while riding a young highspirited horse close to the hotel on Sunday, got thrown from the animal on to tbe metal. The horse kicked out at her, and laid her cheek clean open. She was immediately taken to Manaia for treatment.