TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14386, 31 May 1907, Page 6

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

"Mr A. C. Pringlo has been reappointed a member of the Canterbury Land Board. The Dunedin Amateur Ground Company is to ba voluntarily wound-up, in consequence of tlio disposal of its lease of Carisbrook to tlio Ot-ago Rugby Union.

A Hokitika telegram states that the stranded scow Eunice is to be sold by public auction on Saturday. At the Duncdin Police Court, yesterday James Scott and George M'lntosh were lined 40s and costs for exposing 6heep infected with lice at the Burnside stock sake.

Woodslee Downs Estate, in the. Wyndham district, has been sold to two Canterbury buyers, who intend cutting it up. Inclusive of the stock, the price runs into between £50,000 and £60,000. The arrivals in the colony during the month of April numbered 2156, against 2599 during the same month of last year. The departures totalled 3788, against 2878 in the corresponding month of the previous year. A Press Association telegram, from Auckland states that the ferry steamer Eagle and the soow Hunterville collided at the corner of Queen Street wharf yesterday. The scow's bowsprit waa carried away. Leopold Muir, who was arrested recently at Auckland, on his arrival from Wellington, on a charge of threatening to shoot a young woman in Auckland, was before the Auckland Court yesterday. Ho had previously been remanded for medical treatment, and now on tho recommendation of the gaol surgeon, he was further remanded for eight days. Tho National Dairy Association has informed the dairy companies that the cheap freights-for butter of Is 9d per ton and cheese of 3s 8d per cwt, will end on June 30, and the old freights of 2s (3d for butter and a half-penny per pound for cheese will be reverted to._ The low rates were due to the competi-« tion of the Federal Line, now ended, and the shipping companies say that the rate did not pay.

An example of the way in which scarlet fever is spread was brought under the notice of the " Rangitikei Advocate" last week. A Bulls resident who was riding from Feilding the other daycalled at a house for some refreshment, and on being informed that there was scarlet fever in the house, said he would not go in, as he ha<3 children *t home. He, however, accepLed < some tea and bread which was given him at th<j door, and is now suffering from scarlet fever himself.

Conscience money, like tie had penny, is always 1 turning up, and it is no uncommon thing for Government and local bodies to receive large and small sums in this way. But tha Wellington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animate on Tuesday had its first experience of the kind, receiving two donations, totalling 7& 6d, described ns "conscience money." The money was thankfully acknowledged. The amounts 5s Gd and 2s were in stamps, and enclosed in separate envelopes, which were posted on different dates, but, saj's the "Post," the writing was considertd to be the same on both letters. Ohakuno, which will soon be : fche head of the southern extension of the Main Trunk line, is (according to the Ta-ra- - naki " Herald ") extending like a goldmining town during a rush. The Government cut up allotments in the township about a year ago, and £SO was the average price paid for quarteracre sections: Shop sites have since grown so desirable'that some have changed' hands at £350. Sawniillers, anticipating good times fox their industry, are making Ohakuno a centre, and no fewer than six mills have started within six months. Owing to scarcity of land, many business people hava to carry on trad© in a tent. The Wellington Society for tho Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is considering the proposal to reduce the load limit of one horse drays to one and a half tons. The Inspector of the Society, in his report to a meeting held on Tuesday afternoon, said the majority of the contractors wore still strongly opposed to the reduction, owing to the keenness of the competition in contract prices. If, however, tlie license limited the weight to one and a half tons, he had no doubt the contractors would not object to accept it. In his opinion it would prevent much cruelty with little, if any, loss to the contractors. The proposal means a decrease of 25 per cent. Referring lately to rural education, the Hon w. Fotvlds said it was a mistake to suppose thab much could d<* done in the way of giving agricultural instruction in the primary schools. What could be done was to secure competent instructors in leading agricultural centres, such as Tiniaru, who would instruct classes in agricultural science at the technical schools. Teachers who lived in the country could tako advantage of such classes, and by that means instruction could be carried to the children of country districts. The Minister suggested that it would be a good thing Tor the colony to provide sometliiiiS in the form or bursaries to meet the expenses of those who had come in from the country districts to secure this most important education. The Government has decided to postpane the undertaking of the survey of the New Zealand coast which it was intended to carry out under the supervision of Captain Sinclair, who arrived in the colony for that purpose a fewmonths ago. The Government was unable to come to ia satisfactory arrangement with tlie Admiralty for the loan of a vessel, and as it was not prepared to face the expenditure—between £30,000 and £4o,ooo—for the construction of vessels specially for this work, it has deemed it advisable to abandon the project in the meantime. It was found that the Hinemoa would bs unsuitable for the purposes required of her by Captain Sinclair. The Minister of Justice was interviewed by Mr Napier, a member of the Auckland- Harbour Board, in support of an agitation by that body for the appointment of water police in Auckland and Napier. Mr Napier explained that thefts from vessels and wharves had become of frequent occurrence, and lie urged that property would not be sufficiently protected unlets the old water police system was» reverted to. The Minister said he could not see his way to agree to the appointment of water police, but he promised to increase the number of constables doing duty on the water front, and to place men in charge of a sergeant with special knowledge of the class of work required to be cone. Now the long continued spall of fin© weather has broken up. and the belated winter set in in earnest, the retail trades throughout the city are feeling the benefit, and all lines report good business. Perhaps the most striking instance of the winter trade boom ia furnidhed by Messrs Boath and Co. t who acre holding a special 12-day .Bargain Clearance! Beaths report tlhas their store- has been exceptionally weH filled ever since the inaiignrat.on of this offer, which certainly speaks well for the genuineness of the bargains offered. The opportunity ends on Tuesday, the 4th. at 6 p.m., finally, wo believe, and the firm anticipates exceptional business till then, especially as many intending callers must have been keot in bv the recent rain. Our interviewer learned, too, ttoat morning visitors usually have the advantage of bein"- able to take more time over their pirn-chases, thus ensuring every satisfaction. 1893 Just to hand, New Goods at a very low' figure, gold and silver watches. muff chains, necklets, curb bangles and all other classes of goods. K. Gneshabcr, Jeweller, 155, Colombo Street. X 3371 I say, have you tried Red Arrow Cough Cure yet? It not only soothes the chest, but heals the lungs. It is within everybody's reach—one shilling per bottle. Has cured thousands. IDSB

The following additional subscriptions to the Fresh Air Fund have been received at 1 ' tho "Lyttelton Times" Office:—" J.W." 3s, " C.W. 9d, *'E.W." 9d, "H.J.W." 20s.

John Hunt, who was fined £lO at tho Ashburton Magistrate's Court on May 10 for having sold beer at Trevorton, has surrendered himsolf to the sx>lico and will undergo a term of three weeks' imprisonment.

As a proof of tho lasting qualities of certain Kinds of New Zealand timber, Mr Vangioni, of Akaroa, has come yellow pine, part of a dwelling recently pulled down, which was built by the late Mr Waeckerle, one of tho early French settlers, in 1842. The timber in, question is as sound as when first Used sixty-five years ago.

The Department of Industries and Commerce has advised the Chamber of Commerce that it is compiling a directory of merchants and others for distribution in London. A list of members of tho Chamber has been forwarded with tho suggestion that copies of the circular might be sent to those members who it was thought would like to havo their names added. Speaking at tho quarterly meeting of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday in regard to tho recent slaughtermen's 6trike, Mr E. G. Staveley (the president) said that by the oxercisie of common-sense and moderation on the part, of employers and employoos, and the infliction of fines upon those who had committed breaches of tho law, the strike was terminated quickly. It was to bo hoped that tho results would work out favourably for the interests of both producers and exporters, for about that timo the extended dry season broke up, and graziers had been able to hold their stock and improve them thereby. Tho singular experience of tho barquentine lima, in being short of provisions when sixteen days out from Thames, is explained in a letter received from Captain Pophiam, says tho Auckland "Star." Tins letter states that when the vessel recently signalled that she was short of provisions, that eho was only short of flour. . They had a cook on board who could not .make decent bread. As fast as it was mado It was thrown overboard. The result was that when sixteen .days out, and 530 miles off Sydney, tho flour was nearly gone, and they had only enough bread to last four days. Tho vessel left Kopu with 2501 bof flour. Captain Popha,m states that ho was compelled to s'top a passing ship, as his crow refused to go on short commons for tho rest of tho trip. Tho lima had to contend with fearful weather. For the last half of the passage westerly galos prevailed. Mr Waaka To Huia. Maori Health Officer of the Dargaviilo district, has been travelling recently, and thus gives bus impresssions. In all his travels throughout the north he was much impressed with the strides tho Natives aro making in their general conditions of living. The old Native dwelling-house, constructed without hoed, to sanitation, is a thing of tho past, every family being now domiciled in wooden buildings, and European customs adopted. The tohunga is almost unknown, and when he does appear he is generally in tho guise of a pakeha quack, who endeavours to exploit the most gullible Europeans a 3 well as Maoris. The cultivations everywhere are well attended to, and with tho exception of potatoes the crops have been good. The benefits of education are readily grasped, and the average Maori child is as well educated as his white brother. The birth-rate throughout id good, and everything points to a prosperous future for tho race, the drawback being the community of interest which still exists in regard to land. Allocate to each individual his rightful share of the soil (sayo Mr Te Huia) and tho Native will not bo one wHit behind tho pakeha in tilling the earth and following up agricultural pursuits. Mr W. S. Liddle, a young Scotchman from the Orkneys, five-and-twenty years of age, arrived in Christchurch yesterday on a tour round tho world on his bicycle. Mr Liddlo is not in pursuit of a. wager, but he is undertaking his trip solely in search of notoriety, as he frankly confesses. He is travelling on the old system of not taking any money with liim, but relying solely upon his intelligence to secure him a passage. He has now been eighteen months on. his journey, and still possesses the two half-pennies which were given to him when he started his hazardous journey. He initiated his trip in South Africa, end after travelling through most of the South African States, worked his passage to Australia, where ho visited New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and then worked, his way to Tasmania and on to New Zealand. After leaving New Zealand, he will return to Australia and visit the and Western States. Ho will then travel to China, Japan, America and Europe, imd then return to South Africa. He travels with a 601 b kit, including his bicycle. So far, his experience has naturally been a varied one, including Eomething approximating to starvation. Mr Liddle will remain for some days in Christchurch before leaving for the West Coast.

The president of the Marl boron gh Land and Railway League (Mr it. M'Oallum) expressed Jiimeelf in a recent interview that, apart from Canterbury and Marlborough in the South Island, and Hawke's Bay and the rich tracts of Native lands throughout the North Island, there are practically no suitable lands for closer settlement in tho colony. He regards tlio average £2OOO worth of land to one settler under the present scheme as far too largo, and considers that any investment by the State of more than £750 to £IOOO to one individual should, be &übjcct_ to conditions and restrictiono not yet imposed. Asked as to> 'his views on the £15,000 limit proposal for the future owners of land and the £50,000 one for present-day owners, he said the movement was certainly in the right direction, but a scheme of differentiation, ■was necessary. "Take," lie said, "the rich, lands of the Wairau Plains, tho flat block of land at Kaikouira, and the immense blook of rich, alluvial land in Canterbury, of which Olrristohureh Is tho centre; it is eimply criminal for anyone to hold anything liko £15,000 worth of that land. When cut up originally it was divided into sections, ana, as far as possible, those eecti'one should be adhered to. Tho original surveyors were men of great experience, and knew what they were about. JThe £15,000 limit -would be found too small in high country adapted only for pastoral purposes. Between the rich ftgricultiwal land which should bo held in smaLt areas and the la.rge blocks of pastoral country a grading process might easily be invented.

The New Zealand Farmers' Co-oper-ative Association of Canterbury (Ltd.) notifies its numerous friends that Mr "W G. Johns, the newly-appointed manager of th© drapery department., will take over the management of the departoient during the first week of next month. Mr Johns has had considerable experience as a buyer m the London, and Continental markets, and comes to th© Association witih a London and oolonial reputation of being a, highly oapable manager of a retail drapery business. We feel sure (shareholders and the public generally will find that shopping in the Co-op. will be pleasurable under Mr Johns 6 control! 8408 To Hotel and Boardinghouse-keepers. —Fletcher Bros, quoto wholesale prices for Tumblers, Cutlery, Spoons and Forks, Tea and Dinner Bets, Glassware Ironmongery. A good assortment of Lampware in stock at Fletcher Bros., Lower High, Street. 2

Parliament has been summoned for 2.30 p.m. on Thursday, Jun c . 27.

Tho Hon J V A. Millar, Minister of Labour, left Wellington for the south by tho Rotomahana late last night.

Tho police received a telephone message late last night to the eifect that a man was illegally on the premisea of Mrs Peach, in Cash el Street. Sergeants Brooks and Barrett went to the house at once, and discovered a man hiding under a tree. He had removed some articles from a clothes-line, and his object seemed clearly to he. theft. He was arrested and taken to the station. Government representatives on the Fire Boards at tho four centres under tho Fire Brisr-ados Act have been appointed as follow:—-Wellington—-Mr J. M'Kerrow, ex-Surveyor-General and chairman of tho Land Purchase Board ; Auckland—Mr D. Goldie, timber merchant ; Christchurch—Mr H. R. Riwbridge, builder; Dunediu—Mr J. M'Ardle, who until the end of March was chairman of the sub-committee of tho Dunediu City Council which had charge of brigade matters. The "West Coast Times" says:—" A number of the West Coast sawmillers aro very dissatisfied at tho present time in regard'to tho labour conditions existing. In conversation with a prominent miller recently ho stated to a representative of this paper that while ho and other millers aro prepared to pay tho highest current wages, they cannot get a fair amount of work done. Some of tho sawmills have been obliged to suspend operations for an ordinary football match or some little sports gathering. So acute is tho tronblo becoming that it is suggested that tho sawmillers should form an Association for dealing with tho difficulty." J. Ballantyno and Co. give notice that they will observe Monday, June 3rd. 1907 (Prince of Wake' Birtbch-y), as a close holiday. 8409 The much-spokon-of Safe commences to-day, when the w'holo of M'Clca's stock will be offered to tho public mt sensationally cheap rates. The staff has been doubled for tho occasion, and business will start at 8. Get in early before the crufiih. Sale at The Corner, Cashel and Colombo Streets. R&ad the circular. 8411 The recent experience of a Christchurch young lady is but another evidence of the power of " Wallace's Cough Elixir " to speedily cure coughs, colds and chest complaints. The young lady in question is engaged in a commercial undertaking, and so bad had her cold become that sho found it impossible to attend business. She has written to Messrs Wallace and Co. stating that after using "Wallace's Cough Elixir " for one day sho was ablo to return to her office, and that within threo days the cold which had obtained such a grip had practically disappeared. Although the weather since has been very changeable and trying, no return of tho trouble has been experienced. "Wallace's Cough Elixir" acts by removing tho causo of all coughs and oolds—the diseased mucous membrane —and in addition acts as a tonic to the chest, throat and lungs, making a return of tho trouble extremely unlikely. All chemists will supply you with "Wallace's Cough Elixir" at Is and 2s per bottle, and it. is just as well to accept no substitute. 2 It is astonishing the number of people that have defective eyesight. Why suffer? Consult Walter J. Watson, F.1.0.C, D.8.0.A. (by exam., London), Spectacle Specialist and Ilefractionist. Charges moderate; daylight not necessary. Doctors' prescriptions for glasses prepared. Optical rooms, upstairs 230, Colombo Street, near Armagh Street. I^SS INDIA. In the plague districts Euseptol Disinfectant is used by the Government. It is a powerful germicide with a pleasant aroma. Chemists, Is. X 3821 LONDON BANK CLERKS. Among the 60,000 bank clerks in the United Kingdom a further effort is being made (several previous attempts have failed) to bring about the establishment of a "federation" on trade union linos, chiefly with a view to securing an increase in salaries. Some of the banks (writes a London correspondent) pay their clerks fairly well, and provide them with retiring allowances, but many others are engaging men of. a commoner typo than wero formerly! employed, arifl paying them little more than will enable them to keep body and soul together. Youths who aro bettor fitted to be artisans are being admitted to the staffs from tho elementary board schools, and then there is always the young Scotchman, mado adventurous by hunger, or something very like, it, who can be persuaded to oomo down' to London and other English cities for less than the standard rate of remuneration. The question has been asked whether a strike of bank clerks would achieve anything. Could the strikers not be easily replaced? The opinion of a large number of the clerics themselves is that the managers and the public would find such a strike very inconvenient, and that it would probably bo at once successful. "No one," they say, "could bo called in, as might be possible in other kinds of business, to do our work or take our places, and while the strike lasted trade would be paralysed." This presupposes that all the older and better paid clerks would join the federation and share in any fighting measures agreed upon by the organisers, but it is by no means certain that they would. They are a conservative class, and have not hitherto shown themselves much inclined towards organisation. CERTIFICATED SEA COOKS. The term " son of a sea-cook " will shortly oeaso to rank as an expression of opprobrium, saye a recent London shipping journal. In all probability to tho next generation it will be as de•void of point or significance as the comparative illustration "drunk as a lord" is to modern cans, whatever the latter phrase may have conveyed in times gone by. For the _ nautical "chef," or " cuisinie-r maritime," or sea-cook—by whatever name _ he is called —has at last come to his own, and. his importance—through the instrumentality of Mr Lloyd George and his Board of Trade myrmidons—can never again bo ignored. It needs not to be said that in the course of a few short months, when Section 27 of the Merchant Shipping Act comes into force, a duly certificated cook will havo to bo carried on all British foreigngoing vessels of 1000 tons and upwards going to sea from the British Isles or Continental ports within the homo limits, and to*fill tho demand for culinary experts schools of nautical cookery, whore pupils can learn to grill, boil, or bake, are rising in our midst. Tho Board of Trade president was to have opened one of these academics the other day, but perhaps because ho feared lie would be expected to taste samples of the scholars' skill, ho wisely kept away and contented himself by sending epistolary congratulations. It appears from hi® letter that Mr Lloyd George has great hopes that improved cooking will do much te popularise tho British mercantile marine, and ho is impressed with tho fact that food on French ships is much tastier, owing to suporior methods of cooking, than tho meals served to English seamen,' and that for this reason the French mer-

chant service has proved far more attractive than tho British. WINDOW DISPLAY TO-DAY. Wo aro making a special window display of cycles, cycle accessories, tyres ; also, motor accessories. Tho goodo are all marked in plain figures, and the prices aro certainly the lowest in the city for genuine well-known brands of p-oods. Cyclists should inspect our windows to-day as we aro cutting prices, and now is the opportunity to fiiiv a liigh-olr.ss English bicycle, tho Be'eston Humber at cost price. V, euro showing in the window bargains in second-hand bicycles, and are still prepared to sell a good second-band bicvclo with a deposit °---- 1 , alld r V Y~ roents of £1 ptw month. Adams., Ltd., late Adams Star Cycle Coy... 133 and 140, High Street, Christchurch. 1088