LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVII, Issue LVII, 11 April 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Stab reporter was authoritatively informed that the past season with the Patea Refrigerating Works had been a most successful ona. The company had not to rail any cheese as in the previoxis season. The new steamer Kapuni had more than justified its purchase.

It may be interesting to those who take an interest in sheep work to know that what may be termed the champion dog of Now Zealand will be competing at tho Hawera trials, to-morrow and Wednesday. It is Mr McKenzie's "Lad." This dog won most of the large prizes in the Dominion in 1908 and 1909, and also went over to Australia and won at the Sydney trials, beating all tho Australian cracks. Mr McDonald, of the Wairarapa, who is also bringing a team of three dogs, has been very successful at tho different trials throughout the North Island. The club are depending on Messrs W. B. Grant, A. T. Hunter, A. E. Perry, J. H. Baker and others to uphold the honor of Taranaki. There is groat interest being taken in trials* to bo held in Ararata. Tho officers of the Egmont Club will practically act in carrying it through. Messrs Larcom Bros, have kindly placed t'lieir hou.se and woolshcd at the disposal of the "doggie" men, where the "billy can" may bo boiled. It will bo advisable- for visitors to bring tlioir luncheon, as the affair will be carried out in picnic stylo.

Firo-siclo Phonograph is the one bis? hit ; thp hpst soller of the season. Only £6 10s at E. Dixon and Co.'s "§

for Manaia Hack Rac-

ing Club's meeting close to-day, except for the Maiden Plate and the Ladies' Bracelet Handicap. The Prime Minister will deliver a policy speech in his electorate — probably at Winfcon — towards the end of this

month. On that occasion Sir Joseph Ward will disclose the revenue and railway returns for 1909-IG, and will outline the programme for the coming session. A telegram from Ashburton says that at the first meeting of the Hospital

Board Mr H. Friedlander was elected

Chairman by the casting vote of the Returning Officer. The other candidate was Mr Henry Davis. The Mayor protested that this was illegal, and has since received an official notice from Dr

Valintine that the election is invalid and a fresh one must be held at the next meeting.

The Egmont Sheep Dog Trial Club's annual fixture commences to-morrow. Record entries have been received, and given favorable weather a very successful gathering should result. The trials take place on Mr Pratt's farm, Waihi,

and this year are expected to last three days. Not only owners of dogs, but the general public, find the trials of great interest, as showing the splendid training some of the competing dogs have been put through. The luncheon arrangements are in the capable hands of Mr Don Stewart.

At first sight one is somewhat startled by the statement that the Commonwealth Government make a prpfit of about 4|d in every shilling of the silver coined in Australia; but as against this must be counted the enormous loss to a mint in supplying new coin to replace —i-.--^ is defaced by wear. The old and mutilated coin, when called in by the New Zealand banks, is forwarded to the Government, who send it on to one of the mints. At ordinary times, of course, the banks refuse deteriorated coin as coins, and if accepted at all it is at its metal value. With nearly every church collection parcel paid into the banks some deduction has to be made. The other day a church officer went to a Dunedin bank with a specially ugly lot of small silver of the face value of 7s 6d, and he got 3s for it as old metal. Strange, is it not, that the bad coins should find their way into- the collection plates. At the first annual meeting of the Eltham Hockey Club the yearly report stated that the season had been, on the whole, a fairly successful one. The balance-sheet showed a credit balance or

£1 8s 3d. Owing to the insufficient support received from surrounding clubs the seven-a-side tournament was

not a financial success. Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows: — President, Mr N. Murray; patron, Mr E. Parrott; vice-presidents, Hon. W. C. Carncross, Messrs C. A. Wilkinson, W. H. McGarry, E. Dawick, B. Dive, M.P., P. C. Garnham, G. W. Tayler, and Dr Harrison,; secretary, Mr H. Barnard; assistant secretary. Mr J. W. Rough; club captain, Mr C. Pennington; vice-captain, Mr J. W. Roueh ; general committee, Messrs Pennington, Barnard, Harrison, Rough, C. H. Wade and Ramsay; selection committee, Messrs Pennington, Rough and Levin. The subscription was again fixed at 6s. Black and white halves were chosen as the club colors. A suggestion from the Hawera Club to play a friendly match was referred to the committee. "Perhaps twenty, possibly thirty," was the reply of Karl yon Mueller, a yoxing German with a dozen noble aliases, when asked by the New York police how many -wives lie really tad. Mueller was arrested at Los Angeles, where he "married" a beautiful and wealthy girl whose parents presented the couple with a magnificent residence. Mueller spent £300 of this Woman's money in a vain fight against extradition. When he arrived at Hoboken there was a riot among his many wives. They rushed across the platform to the carriage door as the •train halted, and endeavored to choke him. The police had great difficulty in ' rescuing him. Arraigned later in the day before a Magistrate, Mueller smiled as wife after wife 'stepped into the witness box and identified him. Altogether nineteen charges of bigamy were laid against him. A fashionably-attired lady who was walking along the Friedrich Strasse, Berlin, met with a very gruesome experience. She was wearing a very large hat, and as she passed one building something fell on it. Putting her hand up, she found that the object was a severed human hand. Her loud cries of "Murder" quickly attracted a large crowd. The police, on reaching the room from which the hand liad been dropped, found on a table in the middle of the apartment the mutilated body of a woman, and two young men were standing beside it. The place was, in fact, used in connection with one of the medical schools. It appeared that the students had been "amusing^' themselves by throwing and catching the severed hands and feet, and that, in the course of the "game," one of the hands was accidentally thrown through the open window.

The question whether "pool," as played on billiard tables, constitutes a game of skill or of chance is likely to form the basis of legal argument at Auckland in the near future. Summonses, it is understood, have been issued against some local billiard saloon keepers for the purpose of bringing a test case, and the saloon keepers are consulting leading legal authorities. ' To those uninitiated in the arts of the cue, it might be mentioned that the most popular form of pool is played with ordinary billiard cues and ballSj the object being (amongst other things) to knock over certain wooden pins which are placed on certain parts of the table. Before the commencement of the game each player draws from a basket, or bag, a marble, the number upon which constitutes a form of handicap, and which may be kept secret until the conclusion of the game. The "pool" is comprised of the entrance money, handed in by each player, and after a deduction for the use of the table the money is paid to the winner. In a case at Huntly recently, Mr Northcroft, S.M., ruled that pool was an illegal game, and accordingly recorded a conviction against the Keeper of a billiard room who was prosecuted by the police.

The classes in photography (Tuesday night) and beekeeping (Friday night) cannot bo continued beyond the week unless more students enrol.*

"Isn't this the ftirnout you'd like?" See Hurrell Bros.J announcement today concerning their prize dog-carts.

"There's only one way to judge McGruer, Bone and Co.'s clothing." That one way is explained in their announcement in this issue. *Students for wool-classing will meet 10 a.m. Tuesday and Saturday, 12th and 16th inst. respectively in the Hawera Technical School. No classes will be held at Ararata and Mokoia in tho meantime.

E. Dixon and Co. keep over 4000 Records to select from. Send your orders by post. ■ «

A fad- named" Harry Lang, aged about' 14, wha> had been licensed out from the Levin Intiustrial Farm to Mr Clarke, of Kaponga, recently left his employer. He was on Saturday apprehended by Constables Carroll, and is to be taken back to the farm.

It is reported that upon arrival from England of two officers of the Imperial General Staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Chaytor will take up the duties of Adjutant and Quartermaster-General of the Defence Forces, a position now filled by Colonel Tuson, who returns to England in May. The appointment of the finance member of the Defence Council is still a matter of speculation. In military circles the name of Captain Mabin, accountant ,to the Defence Department, is mentioned as a likely successor to Colonel Collins. Professor Kirk (Chairman of tho Professorial Board of Victoria College) states that if it is thought desirable to go on with the idea to the extent of providing one chair of military science for New Zealand, no opposition will be offered by Victoria College to the location of the chair at Christchurch.

The Commercial Travellers' Conference at Sydney last week resolved that all hotelkeepers who received the association's certificate should be asked not to take in as permanent boarders any person bnown to be suffering from tuberculosis, and that a copy of this resolution should be sent to the various health authorities. "In view of the awful ravages of this disease," said Mr Toose, "it is time something was done. ne doctors send these people along, and they stay permanently in hotels. Consumption has been so long amongst the people that it is not looked " upon with the same dread as leprosy or plague j so that it has been, overlooked. i3ut, according to statistics, more people have been killed by consumption than in all the wars of Europe. Every year a '-very large number are said to die of consumption in New South Wales. And if, as medical science tells/ us, 90 per cen*. of these cases can be cured if taken in time, the money that we spend in importing immigrants would be better spent in helping these unfortunate people. The disease takes Chem between 18 and 45, just at the time when they should be most useful to the State. They should be segregated. These proposals are not made in the way of unkindness — (applause) — but in their interests as well as ours. If they live in hotels those who come after them may get the disease. We should strengthen the hands .of th© hotelkeepers." At the Hotelkeepers' Conference a day or two later its President (Mr J. ,B. Button) vehemently attacked the above statements. He said: "Well, I don't know whether all the brains in Australia are concentrated in the heads of the commercial travellers, ' but hotelkeepers who would take in consumptives as permanent boarders would show

■reat want of brains; either from a health point of view, considering their wives and children, or from a business point of view. Such hotelkeepers must know they would be losing a great deal of trade. And they are not in the business for their health. Of course, we all know there are districts in New South. Wales that are healthful to consumptives. They are sent by their doctors to such places. Hotels there must to a certain extent cater for these people when they arrive. But you can't say anything until you find they are consumptives. I don't believe any hotelkeeper would take consumptives in permanently, except in the sort of district mentioned. Our hands don't need strengthening," Mr Sutton ended. "We are not born idiots."