LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LII, Issue 9189, 8 September 1906, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Minister of Public Works Ihas informed Mr C. E. Major, MEH., thafc Be will receive a deputation on the Opunake railway -quesfciiifon' the" 17th: insfc. ,We give ft> r remind<vj3ia,t the opening ceremony and function of the public hall in Manaia will take plSce on September 12, at 7.46 p.m., to be followed by a concert. .- The members «f the Taranaki. Chamber of Commerce (the News treporte) discussed .ihe Opunake railway question on Friday night. The meeting did not endorse tlhe proposal concerning the start from Opunake, and it was resolved that the members of the Chamber and ike public be recommended to sign a petition urging the necessity for the construction oosf s a railway connecting Opunake with the present railway system, and urging on the Government to commence it at the earliest possible moment. Mr J. B. Connett was appointed to form one of the provincial deputation to wait on the Government.

The New Zealand Investment, Mortgage and Deposit Company, limited, now being floated in Wellington, lias met with sudh favorable -response that the directors have decided to close the share list on tine' 18th instant. The business of the company will consist of advances on security on land on the lines of the existing successful Wellington companies, all of which, have for many years returned handsome dividends holders. '

to their share)

The Eangitikei Advocate says probably the oldest breeding ewes in the- colony are nine stud Romneys owned by Mr E. Short, of Waituua,, which aro 18 yeajs old. In a county cricket match, between Worcestershire and Leicestershire, the for- t mer went in first and made 380*. Leicestershire closed with 701 for 4 wickets! Wood made 225, Whitehead 174, Knifcht 97, Coe 50, and V. Crawford 102 (not out). Then Worcestershire put on 334 for two wickets— -Bowtey (not out) 107, Arnold 11. The match was drawn. During three days 1425 runs, -were scored for 1161 16 wickets, just under 90 runs a wicket. ! Rough on bowlers and field, "I think," said Mr T. E. Taylor, &t) the Choral Hall last night, "that tfceT Exhibition will resolve itself into a big j entertainment for the people of Christ-- , church in particular, and the people of | New Zealand in a general way, and after j it is all over some of us will be poorer,' 1 " , some of us the wiser, and most of us very tired. The Exhibition was conceived in . haste, and I feel certain that it is not going to confer very solid advantages on thto manufacturing community, who are being dragged into a great expense that they do not particularly desire to incur. .We are in for it now, and I suppose we shall enjoy ourselves. There may be some kind of advantage to the colony, and I. hope there will be." The Dunedin correspondent of the Christchurch Press telegraphs :— "Some of our tradespeople are escaping payment of harbor dues by a peculiar method. The modus operandi is to import -through the parcels post. Such imports then come in as Government goods, and an© exempt from' dues. , Jewellery has always been imported in this way, but the method is now being extended to- drapery , and 'hosiery. Sometimes as many as 140 or 150 such •parcels" come through here out of a single steamer. Usually they . are 'transhipped ' at Wellington and brought down to- Lyttelton by- coastal steamer, •thence by rail to here." The IngHewood Record, commenting on th6i Stratford meeting in regaird. to the tOpunake railway, says: — Mr Malone said „ "he did not see why Opunake was so anxious -to. junction at Eltham with the main line. . They wanted a railway that ' \vould bring the produce of a good part • of Tananaki to their port." That is exr • actly what the junction at Stratford is „ , wanted to frustrate. ■ The junction at j : Stratford is. wanted to shorten as much as, * possible, no matter at .what cost of con- " struction, thai distance to New' Plymouth, . afld-' so -drain everything away from Opunake by drawing it to New Plymouth, '- thus, leaving Opunake with an excellent -, little port but no shipping. 'Is that what i Opunake wants, what Opunake is working . for?, ) At the recent meeting of the Hawera County Council an application was received through the Licensing Committee for -an. increase- of the clerk's allowance from £10 to £20 per annum. After discussion (in which the opinion was, expressed -by some that £25 would nott be * too much) it was resolved to give the in- > crease providing the other contributing t bodies agreed. The matter was brought . lip at vv^ednesday's meeting of the Borough, CpviiMjil. Or Sutbon opposed the ap- ' plication, arguing that every pound^ was a 1 .pound, and the borough was going back " financially -all the time. He thought t^w . should be just before* being generous, gmt i moved, That the application be refused. i Cr Brunette seconded. Cr Wilson (who } . is a member of the Licensing Committee) .strongly- supported the payment of the in- , crease asked for, and-pointed out that the work had grown considerably. He agreed! " with the maxim about being just before > 5 being generous; m this case they should i be just. The Mayor supported Cr,\v~i- . son, but on a division only these two and . Cr Pacey favored .^he granting of the application, it may be* mentioned that? the contributing bodies to the salary are: Ha- * wera Borough • Council' £4 8s sd, Nork manby Town Board' £l 3s 6d, Manaia 1 Town Board), £1 15s 3d, Opunake Town r Board, £1-N3s.6d, Kaponga Town Board, 3- lls- 9d, Egmont County. Council 2s lid, " . Hawera County Council 14s Bd, total £10. y ,At its last meeting the Kaponga Town Board agreed that it had no objection to , '■ Mr Trimble receiving an additional £20 per annum, but the lUanaia Town Board 3 -decided that it could not agree to the i -increase^ , In a recent issue of the London Times the following appeared : It will be Temem- * bered that at the time of the execution of * the Byrnetown murderers in April an api> peal on behalf rof the condemned natives > was brought ; before the Judicial Oommitj tee of the Privy Council by aMr E. G. r Jeilicoe, the appeal, itself being made by . one Alfred Mangena, acting as next ''friend of the appellants. ' The refusal of the ' Privy Council to apt upon the appeal > created considerable disappointment among ' the more emotional section of 'the House t of Commons* but "its- wisdom has been [ more than, justified by. investigation; inL deed, as Sir'Heiiry McCaUum, the Gover- ,, nor of Natal, suggests; it would have been better if more care 'had been 'exercised bek iore-.the.-appeal.-waß-presented at all: For > the appeal, itself -now- turns-out: to have been an entirely .spurious,. document. Ita .author, Afaog£n» rT proves not. to be a. Zulu at all, bSk a.Fingo. Sxom Cape Colony, who has already incur r^_ considerable unpopularity' with? the authorities- at- Cape Town for- 'stirring up » an" agitatiok among the |, Kaffir laborearer against; the sanitary'pre- [ caution 6 taken, therein connection with the outbeak of bubonic plague, and still more, with, the laborers, from whom he ' seems to have collected a sum of £150 for * the purpose of bringing their case before the Supreme Court, instead of which he made his way to this country to "study" and to concoct petitions. The petition ; itself is. full of inaccuracies, not the leafed/ of which is the fact that none of the names contained in it as those of the appellants correspond to the names of any of the' men' condemned for the murders. We can only hope that the exposure of Mangena may warn members' of Parliament and others to be a little less suspicious of the good faith of their own fellowoount/rymen in the colonies, and a little less ready to swallow any evidence, however flimsy, which may be brought up against them. We are requested on behalf of the relatives of the late Mr P. D. McCarthy to thank all who extended sympathy and kindness to them in their bereavement. — Advt. Messrs Freeman R. Jackson and Co., Ip. conjunction with Messrs Levin and Co./ J| Iftd., announce that consignments for theiLi forthcoming Wanganoi wool, skins, tj^ejH and tallow sale, to be held on WednA^f 19th inst., should reach WangamrJ^^^^H ' about lStn inst.

The Rev. S. J. Gibson will conduct both services in- the Methodist Church, Hawera. to-morrow. The subject in the evening will be 'Incompleteness of Character." when Captain Mitchell, of Manaia, was injured recently while hunting in New Plymouth, he was taken to a certain doctor. The doctor remarked that he thought he remembered the patient's face. Curiously enough it turned out that" when Captain Mitchell was injured in the South African campaign it was this doctor who attended him, and further, the, lady who is now the doctor's wife was the one who nuarsed him. When Captain Mitchell regained consciousness the three had 1 many a pleasant chat about the war. Following the usual procedure of the last few years, the.Egmont A. and P. Society has distributed members' tickets to all those who have paid their subscrip- j tions for 1905. Unfortunately there are some members who have not kept their membership good, but this can be rente- ' died, and they may obtain their tickets j from tfoe office upon payment ot arrears. The officers of the Society frequently have occasion to express regret that members do not promptly keep faith with the Association, which does much good for the < district. In connection with the Society w» would remind horse owners and the public of the parade to be held on Saturday next. It will be noticed that entries iiave to be made on or before Thursday next. The object of this is in order that the pedigrees of the horses to be paraded may be set out on cards which will be distributed amongst the public. The date <A Messrs Johnston and Co.'s wool and hide sale at Wanganui has been altered to September 20. Messrs Harrison and Co., the local agents for \Ferro Stout, recommend the beverage as a Health-giving drink. Tenders' are calkd for buehfeUing 1 ' and scrubbing. Mr A. O'Brien, Opunake, invites tenders for the erection of a house. Mr Gillman invites tenders for an addition to Methodist Church, Hawera, and for painting, bricklaying, and repairing at two residences. ■———■———