LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8133, 1 December 1904, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is rumored that Mr J. G. Wilson, thi President of the Farmers' Union, may clc stand for Otakt seat at next election. < s Mr E. G. Allsworth on Wednesday tea- Ze dered his resignation to the Taranak-' re< Education Board, but was requested to lai withhold it for a short time in order that re he might complete certain negotiations Di with the Education Department. A I Following on the increase in the rate ° |of interest on Post Office Savings Bank »* I deposits, the building and investment so- r cieties have increased their rates by a . half per cent., making their rate <ty pee ( a< cent, on 12 months' deposits. , * ( Mr H. H. Taylor, Manager of the Bank ! 8( of New Zealand in Patea, has (says the f t Press) received notice that he has been fo ( transferred to the head office at Welling- a ton. The departure of Mr and Mrs Taylor t l from Patea will be sincerely regretted oy a very large circle of friends. Mr j Pickering, of Westport, will succeed Mr c » Taylor as manager at Patea. .f. The water in Virginia Lake, Wanganui. a the original source of the town water c supply, has risen Bft 6in since the Okehu c 1 supply was first turned into it. The lake s ■ is higher than it has been for several 1 years, and a rise of another Bft will bring r b level with the road and the top of the ' \ paljs. There is a sufficient supply in the t »ke at present for six months, even if no f am falls and no more water goes into i he lake from the Okehu. The track indicator, which was fitted in i he saloon of the Huddart-Parker steamer /ictoria recently, and which has been fully ] iescribed, has been sent ashore in Mcl- j Bourne in order that certain improvements, j suggested by the engineers of the steamer, may be embodied in it. So far as it i has' been tried the new invention worked i very well, although, as it was actuated ; trom the shaft, it could not be expected ; to work quite accurately when the propeller raced. It is with a view to counocting this drawback that the improvements arc being made. It seems the victim of the shooting fatality at Gisborne, whose name was ', given as King, was really G. A. Volzke, a son of Mr A. Volzke, of York road Midhirsl. He only left Taranaki for Gisborne in July last to go bushfalling. It appears (the Stratford Post says) from what the deceased's brother can learn the men were shifting camp, when a gun hanging to the ridge-pole went off. Deceased was a noted sawyer, and with his brother won many contests, holding the world's records for double-hand and singlehand sawing. A somewhat peculiar situation has arisen in Ashburton out of a dispute as to the possession of the key to the gates of Baring Square. The key was handed over to the Mayor Avhen the public ceremony of handing over the new fence, erected out of Captain Colenian's bequest, took place. The Mayor now alleges that the Beautifying Society's chairman, Dr Trevor, has regained posession of the key. Dr Trevor confines himself to the statement that the Mayor was given the key at the .opening ceremony. Meanwhile the gates are locked or unlocked at the will of some person or persons unknown, and Ashburton citizens are anxiously awaiting furthed developments. Since she made her first trip across Bass Straits, the turbine steamer Loongana has not been driven at her top, an average speed of about 16 knots per hour bring generally maintained. This is accomhished with only two of her four boilers in use, and is considered fast enough for all practical purposes. On her initial trip to Launceston the Loongana averaged 19.7 knots per hour, with all her boilers employed. Quite recently the vesEcl steamed across the Strait in the teeth of an exceptionally heavy north-west gale at an average speed of 14 knots per hour. The storm at times blew with hurricane strength, but the Loongana made splendid weather of it. A correspondent in the Otago Daily Times complains that on Sunday morning "just as tho congregation of three churches in Mornington were dispersing and returning home, their susceptibilities received a rude shock by the sight of Mr Seddon, in company with two otner horsemen, galloping down hill, evidently returning to town after a Sabbath morning ride. The ill-effect of this incident upon the minds of young men and women and boys and gills was only too apparent." The Premier replied denying he passed the churches as they were coming out, and Ids that his riding exercise is taken under strict medical advice. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Ashburton Gas Company, Mr H. Fried- ; lander said that in Paris in 1904 the cen- , tenary of the advent of gas as a practical 1 illuminant was celebrated. Since 1804 m»ny improvements have been introduced iif gas lighting, notably, in the introduction of the Welsbach incandescent burner. In a technical papeT he recently received he read of an invention of an engineer named Nurnberg, which rendered it possible to reduce the amount of coal used in producing gas to a quarter of the amount at present required. He had written for full particulars of the process, i which would undoubtedly place gas-light ing far ahead of all competitors as the world's finest and cheapest illuminant. i When giving judgment in a building dis pute at Christchurch on Thursday, Mi W. R. Haselden, S.M., stated that timber merchants and others could only havt s a lien in respect of the particular build \ ing for which the material waß supplied, In his opinion, if a supplier, with the ' connivance of the contractor, charged i timber to one job, knowing it would b< i used for another, the two would be guiltj . of a criminal offence, for their actior would defraud those who were better en titled in law to the fund than themselves Mr Kirk, the Government biologist, is t visiting the Waikato to commence a series of experiments at one of the Governmcnl farms in the Waikato with nitrogen cul k tures, which he imported from Londor ' last July. These cultures are used foi > improving the growth of clover. lhre» r plots will be sown. In one inoeulatec seeds will be used. In another the soi! will be inoculated. In the third the con s dition will be that of an ordinary larm. I During the recent session of Parliamenl . tae leader of the Opposition pointed oul . to the Government that there was a flay in the city Single Electorates Act, mas much as the Act states that the present r triple electorates shall continue to exist . until the dissolution of the present Par i liament. This, Mr Massey argued, woulc prevent any action being taken to mak< ' up the rolls for the single electorates til " Parliament dissolves, which is . usually s about a week before the election. A waj out of the difficulty was suggested bj I Mr Massey, but Sir Joseph Ward pooh poohed his whole argument, and subsequently ' quently stated that the Representation - Commissioners had been called togethei i to define the boundaries of the singh electorates. The boundaries have not yd been defined, and the Premier now says * according to an Auckland paper, it is quit* - possible that some amendment of the A:i i will require to be made early next session, [ sion, to enable the Representation Com missiouers to adjust and define the boun 1 daries preliminary to the dissolution, ai * there would not be time to so adjust th< i boundaries between the dissolution of Par liament and the ensuing election. ; A stowaway by the mail steamer Yen f tura, which left Auckland on Friday after noon last for San Francisco, went througl 3 a rather unpleasant experience. It ap - pears that his presence was discovered or i board the steamer shortly after she hac rounded the North Head, and Captain C f. Herriman immediately stopped th< ' vessel and sent the stowaway ashore at I Rangitoto. The Harbor Board's biji f dredger was in the vicinity at the, time b but her captain, beyond seeing the mail . steamer stop, noticed nothing unusual. f Passing the island again on Saturday af I ternoon, however, the master of tlu j dredge stood close in on the off-chance j of ascertaining whether there waa any' , thing connected with the stopping of tnt . Ventura the day before. A man wai . then seen waving from the beach, anc , a boat was sent to his assistance. Bt ". was taken on board' the dredger and con , veyed to town. He stated thai he wa« left on the island with nothing to eat \ or drink, and that he tramped about i throughout the night, Buffering terribly . from exposure and the want of food one 3 drink. He searched incessantly bui failed , to find water. Throughout Saturday h< r was perturbed jrith the misgiving thai . he would have to spend another night on j, the island, but about three o'clock in th« t, afternoon, just as he was beginning tv r despair of attracting the attention of pass . ing boats, the dredger's crew found pirn, r, and bestowed every care - and attention ■ on him, eventually landing ' him on the , Auckland wharf. Eltham and Kappnga livery s'ahlc ' keeper* announce an agreed-tin, cnar'gS'foi f stands for horses. 1 Mr Gadsby, of Matuitahi, has for *al« ' pedigree Tunwortk pigs. ' -

counterfeit coin factory has been disired in the vaults of a synagogue at isftlem. The police who raided the « found a band of 30 coiners at work, ng them being Jews, Christians, and lometans. For the last four years -, quantities of counterfeit coin have i in circulation in Palestine, and the tiorities were baftled in their attempts locate the illicit mint. The coiners ently resisted arrest, and five of them to be flogged by Turkish soldiers be- > they would leave the vaults. [r Mark Maxton, a well-known Greyn borough councillor, has just had an ising experience with his swarm of g. They escaped from the hiv* and c pursued down the street by Mr xton. A number settled on his beard, ich is rather long, and immediately whole swarm was round him, buzzing 'rily. Suspecting that he had the queen i in his whiskers, Mr Maxton walked mly up the street, some more bees sevlg on his beard, and others racing nnd and in front of him. The sight ated the greatest astonishment in Jreyvn and was received with much amisent' by the residents. Ultimately Mi ixton reached the hives and brushed j bees off hi:j beard into a box, when j rest of the swarm followed and were sed up. The nominated members of the Kew aland team to tour Great Britain have ;eived a circular from the New Zeaid Union. The circular states that ..he cipients have to signify by the end of member if they can make the trip, bout 25 players will be picked. A .urn 3s a day will be allowed for "out oficket expenses." All travelling expenses ill be defrayed. The team will 'cave July, will "play 30 matches, comm«>ncg at Plymouth in September and en-ling ; Swansea. After the completion of the >ur members of the team will be allowed ime days to visit friends before lea-'-ng »r New Zealand. The team will arrive ack in February. 1906. It is probable match will be arranged at Sydney on le way to Great Britain. From enquiries made by the Wairanpa >aily Times, it appears that there 'S very prospect in Masterton of a water imine. should the next few months be rid. The paper points out to the Uounil that a report obtained some time ago onclusively showed that something hould be done to enhance the suphly. ?here is. plenty of water in the Waiigawa River, even m days of drought, nit Masterton's water intake does not oucn this stream. It derives its flow rom certain springs from which the iver is known to have receded. The Premier senfc the following chartcteristic communication to Mr J. H IVitheford, just prior to that gentleman caving for San Francisco en route to England last week : — "Do not forget to impress upon our kindred in the Mother .ountry that our colony still continues Lo prosper, and the outlook is as bright *s ever. It is a very promising outlook for the dairy industry. The grain crops ire also looking well, though the season is a little late. The outlook in respect to mines is very cheering. There is over a million increase in th« imports for the last year, showing the mcreas d spending power of the people. Customs and railway returns are largely in excess of the amount received last year. You may rest assured that the Government will proceed on safe lines. There will only be moderate borrowing, and economy will continue to 'be practised. One very satisfactory feature is the continued increase in our population, which during the last few months has been at a rate tn advance of anything since the free immigration ceased.* The radium clock of Harrison Martindale, of Chicago, practically gives perpetual motion through the dissipation of negatively charged rays. A small quantity of radium, supported in an exhausted glasß vessel by a quartz rod, is placed , in a small tube, to the lower end of , which is attached an electrocope of two long strips of silver. The activity of the radium causes an electric current minus Beta rays to -be transmitted to the silver strips, which expand until they touch the sides of the vessel, when earthed conducting wires instantly discharge them, and they fall together. This is repeated every two minutes, marking time in beatß of I that duration, and theoretically the action will continue until exhaustion of the radium — in this case computed to be 30000 years in the future. G. Tindle and Co. advertise for sale a fine section in Opunake.