LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8101, 3 October 1904, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Statistics for the Hawera Registrar's district for the quarter just ended show 25 births, 7 deaths, and 14 marriages. Mr Livingston reports that at Ohawo during September rain fell on 17 days, the lota] fall being 6.04 in. On the 25th l.JUin. was registered. September last year Rave 2.57 in. on 11 days. During the eleven months ended July 31st last 6.402,994)bs of milk were receive*] by the Opunake Co-operative Dairy Co., being an increase on the previous year of 574.7951b5: and from this 263.H991bs of commercial butter were manufactured, giving the result of lib butter to 24.261b milk. Some members of the Scenery Preservation Commission returned to Hawera Saturday, and the remainder of the party are expected to-day. It is hoped that the work in this district will be completed this week, but tim late rainfall has again made the roads bad for travel. "Ratepayer" writes : "I think that those whose work requires them to be at their posts at 8 o'clock in the morning have good reason for complaint against hotel proprietors who make use of the waterhose for washing their front premises at that late hour in the morning, to the gTcat inconvenience of persons who have to make use of the footpaths at that time in the morning. Hoping that the prac- | tice will be discontinued." It is reported that the news that the Rev. L. M. Isitt has definitely made up his mind to - return to this country, and devcte himself to the propagation of temperance principles and the victory of nolicense, has been received wku lively satisfaction by his friends in Wellington. 'mere is a great slackness in flour milling at present in Canterbury, and millers complain of a marked falling off in the demand for flour. The millers say that the bakers, who of course are their staple customers, are not using as much flour as usual, owing to a decrease in the consumpt:on of bread. A reason for this is hazarded in the low price of potatoes, which can be bought at from 18s to 20s par ton at country stations, and retailed ab from 3s to 3s 6d per bag. On Saturday evening ,at the corner of High and Regent streets, Mr J. J. Meikle related the history of the alleged sheepstealing case over which he suffered seven years' imprisonment. Notwithstanding the unfavorable weather conditions Mr Meikle was listened to by a big crowd of people. "Were you cool and collected when you got to the coach?" asked counsel of witness in the Masterton Court one day last week. "Yes, I was shivering," was the i unhesitating reply. r ihe Southern Pacific Company have found that the ninety-pound German steel rails laid on the Shashta division of the Southern Californian and Oregon branch last year are greatly inferior to American rails of the same weight. The steel is softer, and on the sharp curves of the Sacramento Canyon many of these rails are so badly worn that they will have to be replaced. In fact, the German rails have not worn as well as American rails of lighter weight. The civil cas-j, Eltham Co-operative Poultry Co., Ltd., v. Joseph Higham, of Hawera. set down for hearing at the sitting just concluded of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth was ,on the application of Mr C. H. Weston, who said both parties were agreeable, adjourned till next sessions. The claim is for the specific performance of an agreement to purchase a property. Shortly before 8 o'clock on Sunday evening the police discovered the operating room of Mr A. C. Atkinson, dental surgeon, to be in flames. Constable Clarke promptly set to work with a bucket, and dispatched a messenger to ring the firebell. By the time the brigade arrived, however, the fire, which had swept the walls and had just eaten its way through the roof, was suppressed. Mr Swinburne had been engaged with a patient until about five o'clock, and no reason can be assigned for the outbreak, which occurred three hours later. Besides the damage to the walls and ceiling, the furniture was affected by the water. A Wairarapa lawyer asked a person before the Court the other day if he could read. He stiffened with pride, and said he could, "and write too." me lawyer asked him to read an account owing by him to plaintiff. "Since me. wife threw boiling water in me eyes," he replied, "I haven't been able to read." And the wife, who was in Court, was restrained with difficulty from getting her husband into "hot water" again. There was quite a dramatic scene at the Tipton (Eng.) Police Court the other day. Mrs Hannah Smart, who was charged with assault, went down on her knees during the hearing of the case, and called out: "Oh, Lord, lock the jaws of the liar in this Court." She was fined 30s and costs. "1 liayeh't been having a very good time during the last four years," remarked a defendant charged at the Dunedin Police Court last week with failing to maintain his daughter. "First, I had blood-poison-ing, then I buried my wife; got buried myself by a fall, and now I have lost one of my eyes." Interviewed by a press representative, a prominent Auckland flourmiller expressed the opinion that there was no likelihood of an immediate easing of the flour market, but a probability ol the price of flour further increasing. ±>c had received a number of communications from representatives in the South Island, which show that thero is a marked scarcity of prime milling wheat, and what small quantity are possessed by producers they are holding resolutely, with the expectation of securing a. higher price than that at present offering.

Speaking at New Plymouth the other evening the Herald reports) Dr McCleland made reference to the sanitary tondi-

tion of Maori settlements in the district. He pointed out the uselessncss of regulations under the Public Health Act dealing with contagious discuses applying only to Europeans and not to the. Maoris. Almost every one of the epidemics that had prevailed in the district during 'the past few years could, Dr Mc-Cleland asserted, be traced to Parihaka as their place of dissemination. He spoke in high terms of the work done by Dr Pomare, but emphasised the inability of one man to attend to the needs of the whole of the Maori population of the colony. What was required was regular and frequent inspection of the native kiangas or settlements. Unless the matter was dealt with, sooner or lijter the district would be visited by an outbreak of a virulent epidemic. Typhoid was endemic in the Maori settlements.

A stockbroker who was on his way to the city observed that one of his fellowpassengers in tne 'bus was closely regarding him. After a time the man looked over and asked, "Didn't I see you in Liverpool in 1890?" The broker wasn't in Liverpool that year, but, thinking to humor the stranger, he replied in the affirmative. "Don t you remember handing a poor, shivering wretch a- half-crown one night outside the Royal Hotel?" "I do." "Well. I'm the chap. I was hard up, out of work, and about to ycommit suicide. That money made a new man of me. By om lucky spec and another I am now worth £50,000." "Ah! glad to hear it." "And now I want you to take a sovereign in place of that hatf-ciown. . I cannot feel easy until the debt is paid." The broker protested and objected, but fipally, just to humor the man, be took the £5 note offered him, and returned the £4 change. The incident might have ended then and there if the broker, on reaching the offioe, hadn't ascertained that the "fiver" was a counterfeit, and that he was £4 out of pocket.

FISHING TACKLE.

F. J. Wrigley announces the arrival of * very extensive assortment of Bartle't and Sons' fishing tackle. An especially fine assortment of wooden rods, including ■ulit cane, green-heart, lanoewood »ni hickory, at all prices from £4 to 7s M. Bristol steel rods a speciality, 10, 11", and 12 feet long. TJiese'rod.s are justly relebrated throughout this' district. A very large assortment of flies, including seveial new varieties. New minnows, new casts new traces, everything new. Inspection invited. Bartletft best casts, at ls,'ts 3d, ls'Aj each', or ss. $s, and ft 6tt the naffdozen. ' FlieS, minriows; casts, etc., Mnt post free. Pprfal 'priprs poeW prompt attention, and nhat t» acoompantoa with cash. Rods prepared by competent workmen. Fishing licenses issued. F. J. wRIGLEY. Hawera.

Witch's Oil for rheumatism, lumbago, sciatic*, all deep-Mated muscular or rbeumatio pains.— A*dvt.

A grand conoert is to be given in the Otakeho Public Hall, in aid of the ball funds, on Wednesday evening.

Mr Simpson, Commissioner of Crown Lands for/ Taranaki, was in Hawera to-day on official business.

When the firebell rang on Sunday night it was heard by a few in the Wesleyan Church, and not at all by the congregation in the Presbyterian. The alarm arrangements are a very weak spot in the local system of fire prevention.

Artificial calf food, as an adjunct to skim milk, is gaining favor in this district (writes the Eketahuna correspondent of a contemporary). One farmer who depended solely on the skim milk diet the year befoie last succeeded in rearing only four calves out_ of sixteen. Last year, with the addition of artificial food, he did not lose a single calf. The annual meeting of the Awatuna Cooperative Dairy Factory Company, Ltd., was held on Saturday last, when most of the shareholders were present. After a free discussion on the balance-sheet, the same was adopted as read, an amendment to have a re audit meeting with very little support. The profit and loss account showed a deficit of £152 0s 7d, but I understand that £44 odd has been refunded by the insurance company on the Kapiti shipment of butter. It was resolved to ask Mr Binporath to act as auditor for the coming year. Mr 11. Farquhar was elected as a director in place of Mr H. S. Briant, resigned. A vote of thanks brought the meeting to a close. At a meeting of the directors, held after the general meeting, Mr W. Ludlow was re-elected chairman. The services of Mr Fisher were retained as secretary for the coming season.

The Great Salt Lake at Utah is drying up. It has been called the Dead Sea of the New World, and with good reason, for it bears a striking similarity to the famous body of water described in the Bible. The Great Salt Lake, however, is one of the greatest mysteries of nature. For fifty years its rise and fall have been studied by scientists in an effort to account for the changes, but to-day they have reached no solution of the problem as to what is the principal cause of the decrease in its depth. But it is known. that tnis great inland sea is passing away. Those who are familiar with its depth, and the shrinkage of its size each year, say that at the end of twenty-five years the bed of the lake will be nearly all exposed, with the possible exception of a few shallow pools of water. Then the mystery connected with it will probably be solved. The lak? is truly a sea in its dimensions, bein.q; about 75 miles in length and 50 miles across at its greatest width, and, therefore, containing over 2000 square miles of surface.

Dr Morrison, the London Times' correspondent, cables from Pekin that for the first time since she was responsible for the Government of China the DowagerEmpress has publicly recognised the medical work of the Protestant missions. Recently the London Mission, the American Board of Missions, and the American Presbyterian Mission agreed to found jointly a college where modern medicine and surgery could be taught to medical missionaries of these three bodies. In accordance with the scheme, a medical college, called, after the first medical mission in Pekin, the Lockhart M-edical College, is now under construction, the entire cost of the building and equipment being undertaken by the London Mission alone. Students will undergo a five years' training, and at the end of the course a diploma will be granted. The training will be regardless of creed, but the bulk of the students will at first naturally be Christians. The cost is estimated at £]O.UUU. Towards this the Dowager-Em-press has contributed, through the British Minister, 10,000 taels, or £1450, an unexpected recognition of missionary work that does her honor.

The description which Mr Fletcher, in the Mosley Commission report, gives of the Agricultural Department of Illinois is most interesting. "The different agricultural societies," he says, "promote bills in the Legislature for grants to the particular departments in which they are interested— 2s,ooo dollars for soil. 25,000 dollars for live stock, 10,000 dollars for maize. 10,000 dollars for horticulture, 15,000 dollars for dairying. The investigation work in each of these departments, is carried on under the control of the director and a small committee of the society interested. The department deals annually with a correspondence of 12.000 or 14,000 letters asking for advice. The result of this is that the farmers, finding this experimental work of extreme value, go further and send their sons to take the agricultural training offered by the university The growth of the department during the last six years shows eloquently that here, if anywhere, is a university' "broad based upon the people's will." About one-third of these ■students come to take the full graduation course (four years), and these must be high school graduates to start with : others come intending to take short courses only, but as a matter of fact change their plans and stay the full time. . . There is a great demand on the part of large farmers for graduates as managers and confidential advisers, but the bulk of these men prefer to go out and farm for themselves."

Mr M. O'Sullivan, of Manutahi, notifies that on account of his sheep having been worried by dogs, poison has been laid on all paddocks in his occupation. Notices appear with reference to horses lost and found. Strong young man, for bakery, wanted. General servant wanted. Creamery manager and factory assistant wanted. Six-roomed house for sale, or to let.