LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 9 April 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The annual meeting of the Hawera of the New Zealand Farmers* Union is convened for Saturday, April 11, <it 2 p.m. , The animal meetings of householders to elect school committees for the ensuing year will be held on April 27.

The Hawera Association k Football Club opened the .season an. Wednesday afternoon with an excellent practice. .

The Works Committee recommended to the Borough Council an Wednesday night that the matter of painting the borough buildings stand over till the .spring. The report was adopted.

The balance-sheet of the Hawera- Borough Council for the ' year ended March 31 was laid on the table for the information of councillors at Wednesday night's meeting. The Mayor paid a watm tribute to the Town Clerk (Mr Elliott) for the able manner in which he had carried out the work. With the exception of a iew details the sheet was almost ready for the auditor.

A Hawera boy now residing in London, in the course of a private letter, speaks of the fascination of the English spring. He says : "Spring is not here yfet, for we are yet having March winds and aro expecting April showers, but I am beginning, to look .forward tremendously to it. One does in London and in England generally. Until I experienced a spring here the various songs and rhymes about spring seemed to me tasteless and silly, but after once seeing London parks change- from a dreary, desolate folofrnne&s'to a glorious picture of many-shaded greens, one wonders that there is not more fine writing dealing with the beauties of spring."

A peculiar incident occurred at the Okaiawa Hotel on -Wednesday evening. The proprietor of the hotel was busily engaged attending to customers, when a man, whom Mr Bellve states lie only remembers having seen once previously, came up to the counter and asked him if he felt safe, that night. Mr Bellve replied that he felt as safe then as he did at any other might. The stranger said he did not think that he (Mr Bellve) was. He then handed Mr Bollve a six-chamber-ed revolver, saying : "I don't think yea are safe with this orowd of Maoris round you, and you had better use that (the revolver)." He also gave Mr Bellve five cartridges, urging him to use them. At Wednesday night's meeting of the Hawera Borough Council the Education Board wrote that it ha<l under consideration the M a^y}sn.blenes9 of- appointing*- an instructor in plumEingj who would conduct classes in different towns. - The Board asked if the Council would contribute' towards, the- instructor's salary,' and whether it would "agree to a uniform system of instruction and examination. It was proposed -(the letter ran) that' an annual examination, be held and that the' Councils be asked to recognise only" certificates ' granted on the result' of suchexamination. - The Mayor said he did not think •. the Council would be prepared to contribute towards the cost of an instructor, but might consider the question of the certificates. The (letter was held I over for future consideration. ' '

The Nu Spelin Leag of Amurrika has just added seventy-five more words to the langwage. "Tisis" and "tung" are two of the wurst. It wood giv us a sik feelin about the diaform to eat aa eg spelt with wun "g." We get a nutnness thru all omr lims at the site of su'ehforen wurds as

• agast" and "gard," "lam" and "in-^ dettfcd.-'-V- There are about sixty more, bob? these are more than enuf for wun parragraf.

Mr Alexander Graait, a newly-appoint-ed King's Counsel, began life (says the Manchester Guardian) as a half-timer, and as such attended the Bonk Street' Board School at Bolton, his native place. There he obtained in 1878 an exhibition which took him to the Manchester Grammar §jo£sdV Hiss f at^e^^ied 'in 1881, and he' was" J ]eft e"ntirelJr/depe»deßt upon his own resources. He gained a Langworthy Scholarshipuat .the Grammar Sch'^bi.f 'fhen h^went fflkpl Oxford with arf ope^fi: scholarship -at 'Mertatt College,--and won a host of distinctions. :'„ En- 1894^ he was called to the Bar.' v He Wlort|itwO' years of age. " * " - f'« - '-^^<l^ , A fearful tragedy recently ocenrred at' Leiria (Portugal), a cathedral city noted, for its surrounding pine forests. ' An, "old man named Marquee, aged ',seventy-six, belonging to a much-respected familjr, had a dispute with his son. Both lost^ their, tempers,, and matters went to such a pitch' t'ait at last the son 'seized' his old father by the throat and bore him to the ground^ The aged wife of Marques, entering the" room at the moment, and fearing for 1 her husband's life seized a chopper with both her hands and bra/ned her sott. On finding that her husband was dead,- the old* woman lost her reason:— Central; New!.' j

After the death' in fy garret of a;.'bjimdbeggar named Martin, 'who fiad "lived on, charity for years at a village near" Cler-mont-Ferrand (France), the, police ;f<Mmd, a quantity of - copper coins of £ne vaiue ot pennies and hallpeininies, worth iftr'afl £160, stuffed in the mattress of |iis bed and under the bed. Altogether 'there are! about 60,000 copper coins' - which ' Martini hoarded. ■ 1

A charming simplicity characterises the movements of the Spanish. Hoyal Family and Prince Arthur of "Connaught, in Seville. Without a semblance of an escort or any other protectaon/they-go out. (says' the Madrid correspoindent of the Evening. Standard 1 ) for walks in the most crowded streets of the gay old city) and are every-; whore received with' almost frantic .enV thusiasm, that becomes at times a trifle' embarrassing. To escape these attentions the King and' his brother-in-law somV tumes ateal out of the Palace, of the Alca.zar by a back door and roam through the,, suburbs without being recognised; . The* other day they visited the Convent of Son Leandro, where the nuns make, the! ■famous confectionery.- The King bought, four boxes of sweetmeats at" a sovereign apiece, and whan the nuns, who failed^ [&p~ recognise the visitors, asked' him where. ] they should eend his purchase he replied : "To my wife, the Queen, and to my baby, the Prince of the Asturiaiis.". The nuns were dumfomnded, and the king deplairtedlaughing heartily at t' eir co'nfusidn. < ; Talking to a .Wellington Evening Post. I reporter, the manager of a large drapery' and furnishing firm remarked that his company had started .business' on "a I strictly cash .basis, but, in .deference fy> ' local custom, had to allow credit on a monthly basis to approved-clients. There was no indiscriminate suppression, of "■tick." The .booking arrangement was practically equivalents to, cash. He mentioned that twenty years ago a, similar local firm had set out on a rigorous cash' policy, but soon reverted to credit. , The trouble, of course], - was competition. Firms might agree to tirade for cash alone, 1 and> then a shrewd porson might set'/ up in business, .pick out tlie "good marks," and flourish on credit. It is conceded that "spot cash" conduces to thrift, > and is therefore good for the customer . as. well as for the supplier, -but on the present limited basis, even presuming v that the butchers and milkmen; joined forces ' with the bakers, the effect on the 'average household (says the Post) will noli 'be extraordinarily 1 appreciable, . for ' the longest accounts are run up in drapery^ millinery, furnishing, and so on. The pendulum is swinging ■ towards . cash, but the force of the competition may presently sway. it back towards credit. It is one' of the eternal^ see-saws/.,., / ■' BRO JGHT TO BAY eixe those enemies of cmlisatiwi; Indigestion and Dyspepsia, when Dr. Sheldon's -Drgestive Tabules are' employed ; 2s 6d per, tin. For sale by chemists and , storekeepers, Hawera J F. J. Gapper.-Kaponga; and ,C. James, Alton. — Advt. • " ■' ' , JNo one need now suffer the agonizing pains of sciatica and acute rheumatism, as quick relief may be had by^.applyinjj Chamberlain's Pain ; Balm.' ,/This fact hns been clearly demonstrated" in many thousands of cases. Tfcis liniment re-> keves thy pain and mak"es Bleep and rest possible, -.which is alone worth many' times its cost. For sale by W. K. Wallace, chemist, and ,H. Harris; grocer* r-Advt. ' ' ,' , ;r->"**; r ->"**