LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVI, Issue 290, 15 December 1902, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Dentistry.—Mr O. Powell pays his monthly visit to Picton on Wednesday next.

Temperature.—Blenheim, with a thermometer register of 77* in the shade, was the warmest place in the Colony this morning at 9 o'clock.

METEOROLOGioAL.~Captain Edwin wires as follows:—" Strong winds to gale from between north-east and north and west, glass fall, tides good."

Stock Sale.-—Messrs Green & Co.'s Seddon stock sale is postponed for a week on account of shearing operations.

Retailer's Association.—A general meeting of the Association will be held this evening at 8 o'clock to consider important business,

New Fruit.—Persons in need of new fruit for Christmas should jeruse Messrs Bary & Son's replace advertisement in our columns to-day.

Public Trust Office. —The estates of thirty-five deceased persons were placed in the hands of the Public Trustee for management during November.

Christmas Goods.—Miss A. Robinson, stationer, bookseller and fancy goods dealer, has a seasonable announcement concerning Christmas and New Year goods and novelties on sale at her establishment, Market Street North.

A Nice Trip. — After Christmas Lord Ranfurly, accompanied by Mr C. H. Mills, Minister for Trade and Custons, wilL pay a visit to the Cook group of islands in one of the warships of the Australasian squadron,

Railway Revenue. — During the four-weekly period ended Bth November railways produced a revenue of £138,490, against an expenditure of £98,682, as compared with £130,831, and £89,955 respectively last year.

Land for Settlement. —In last week's Gazette the Government notifies its intention to take compulsorily under the Land for Settlement Act, 1900, about 1800 acres of the Mount Vernon estate, Waipawa, Hawke's Bay. The Minister's classification of the land is " first-class."

Westport.—The lending department of the Government has'agreed to reissue the Westport Harbor Board's debentures for £500,000, falling due on Ist January next, for five years at 4 per cent. The Harbor Board has ordered, through the Agent-General, an up-to-date auction dredge, to cost over £20,000, and to be delivered in December of next year.

Elingamite Fund.—The Hon. C. H. Mills has forwarded, through His Worship the Mayor, a cheque for £2 2s, to be demoted towards any public subscription in Blenheim towards the Elingamite fund. The amount has been handed to us, and any other contributions received towards the fund will be acknowledged in these columns.

Obituary.—His many friends in Blenheim and district will regret to hear of the death of Mr E. W. Dee, of the firm of E. W. Dee & Son, of Nelson and Blenheim, which occurred at his residence in Nelson on Saturday night. Deceased gentleman was 69 years of age, and had only been confined to his house for about ten days. His business relations with this district extended over a considerable period, and much sympathy will be extended to his family in their bereavement.

A Postal Convenience. —A convenience which will be appreciated by the public and Post Office clerks alike is being introduced into the post offices of the colony. It is a letter, parcel, and book weighing machine, the indicator needle of which at once indicates the precise postage rate within New Zealand, or foreign countries, of the letter being weighed, while it also shows the postage rate for books, newspapers, and parcels by weight.

Stage Inquisitors. — A telegram from New York, published in a London paper, states that the Actors' Church Alliance, of which Bishop Potter is the President, has appointed a committee, which includes several leading clergymen of New York, to visit all the New York theatres and report whether the plays "are fit for religious men and women to see and for children to know about." Information as to the plays will then be sent to the clergy throughout the country, who, acting through the influential members of their congregations, will make an effort to induce people to stay away from all plays visiting their towns that have been adversely reported upon. Palpit denunciation will not be used.

How Thirst May be Quenched. — In a Manchester newspaper dated October 18, appears a report to the effect that some years ago Dr Hing suggested to a Captain Kennedy that thirst might bo quenched by dipping the clothing in salt water and putting it on, without going through the customary process of wringing it. Captain Kennedy was cast away, and succeeded in persuading some of the men to follow his example in the direction indicated, and they all survived, while the four who refused and drank salt water, became delirious and died. The captain goes on to say:—"After these operations we uniformly found that the violent thirst went off and the parched tongae was cured in a few minutes when we bathed and washed our clothes, while we found ourselves as much refreshed as if we had received some actual nourishment."

The Mill Accident.—-Further news concerting the accident at Brownlee's mill, Blackball, Havelock, on Saturday, confirms the report of the miraculous escape of the men working in the mill. The wheel was cast in se3tions and bolted together, and at the time it flew into pieces was only making the normal number of revolutions per minute. It came to pieces with the noise of a boiler explosion. The flying pieces did much damage wherever they struck. One heavy piece flew up the tram-line, wrecking two trucks and striking a crab winch, which, with the exception of the drum, it left in pieces. Another fragment struck a pile of steel rails, twisting and scattering them in all directions. The line of flight of another lump was noticeable by the iron it tore off the roof of a long shed. The velocity of the flying pieces was exemplified by a piece which struck the manhole cover of a boiler, completely wrenching it off, and breaking very strong iron bolts by which it was secured. The wheel also wrecked the engine tied, severing and smashing the steam pipes, some of them four inches in diameter. One of the shafting beams of the mill—l4in by 16in—was struck and splintered into matchwood, and another one was evidently struck end on, and was shifted bodily, with all the attached beams, quite two feet. Five of the hands had a most providential escape, as they were working next the wheel, and had only shifted to the other side of the shed a second or two before the accident occurred. A piece of the wheel, after evidently soaring high in air, fell through the roof of a shed, landing at the feet of a man standing there. It is currently estimated the cost of a new wheel and the damage done will exceed £1500.

AsHBURTON.~The writer of a gossipy article in the Melbourne Age says, concerning the new prohibition district of Ashburton:—So many people have been deprived of the opportunity of getting anything but the mildest of beverages, that they are even turning their attention to the mallee, where there is not much water, it is true, but where other liquids can still be had at moderate rates. An appalling experience has happened to those people whose consistent and unquenchable thirst gave a dubious kind of notoriety to the diatriot of Ashburton. At one time you could tell an Ashburton man simply by listening to his views on local option. Not long ago a meeting was held in a remote part of New Zealand to protest against the tactics of the Prohibition party. " Stop, sir,'' said the grim-eyed doorkeeper, accosting a brown faced man, who had ridden np on horseback; "before you can come in here you must satisfy us that you are not a Prohibitionist." " That's all right," said the individual addressed. "I come from Ashburton." And the door flew open to let him in. Now, however, the times have changed. The teetotal brigade has grown exceedingly, and the faithful few in the district of Ashburton have awakened to find themselves the occupants of a drinkless, and emphatically a spiritless, land,

Frozen Meat.—The Pastoralists' Review, in a recent issue, has some* thing to say regarding the irregular shipments of from meat from New Zealand. It states that at the time of writing "there are barely 100,000 carcases of New Zealand mutton afloat for London; nearly a'l the works are swept clean, and twelve large meat steamers are hanging about the coast waiting for cargo. By the end of November there will be very little New Zealand meat on the way to London. Shipments on a small scale will commence in December, increasing in January and February, March and April will again see enormous quantities leaving. How much this irregularity injures the New Zealand meat trade it is hard to estimate. Customers who regularly take New Zealand meat find that they cannot get it, therefore go to other meat sellers for Argentine meat, and once they get this, it is difficult to get them back to New Zealand. One bears all sorts of complaints against the meat companies, and of schemes to get farmers or Government to run their own works, but if the farmers put their heads together, and formulated plans te keep up a regular supply of stock all the year round, it would be better for the meat companies, better for their London trade, and much better for themselves. Interference by Government will assuredly ruin the meat trade, as It does any enterprise it attempts to manage,"

Local Option Polls.—They take their local option polls in Victoria very differently from us. There the voters, and not the licensing committees, determine the number of licenses that shall be taken away. There was a poll recently as to reducing the number of licensed houses in ihe Flemington road district of North Melbourne from 57 to the statutory number of 20, and the voting was—For 20 hotels, 666 votes ; for 22 hotels, 1 vote; for 30 hotels, 1 vote; for 85 hotels, 1 vote; for 37 hotels, 1 vote; for 40 hotels, 337 votes; for 45 hotels, 3 votes; for 47 hotels, 1 -vote; for 50 hotels, 4 votes ; for 51 hotels, 1 vote; and for 57 hotels, 246 votes. The number of hotels was reduced to the statutory number of 20 by a majority of 32. Great satisfaction was expressed by the local option party at the result. Compensation is awarded under the Victorian Act,

The Art op Advertising.—The Commercial College of Prague has added to its syllabus a course of lectures on the art of advertising Twice a week a professor will point out to the students the best methods of attracting the attention of the public, the most alluring style of presenting a poster to the eye, and the best way of making a commodity widely known. To this is added the theory of prospectus-writing, the artistic and literary value of bills and posters, and general instrnotion* in the best way to " blow your own trumpet."

Unlucky Days.—ls Friday suchjsn unlucky day as is commonly supposed ? Some statistics compiled In Germany of a week's accidents—such as are oommorly attributed to bad luck—form an interesting answer. Of the total of 9,948,1,675 occurred on Monday, 1,551 on Tuesday, 1,631 on Wednesday, 1,547 on Thursday, 1,638 on Friday, the same on Saturday, and 369 on Sunday. According to these figures Monday is quite as unlucky as any other day in the week.—Daily Mail.

Man and Bear. —A performing bear having escaped from a livery stable at Gore the other day, a local resident tried to recapture it, with the result that a lively encounter took place. The animal bit the man in the thigh, whereupon he stabbed it in the eye with an umbrella, the only weapon with which he was armed. The bear, returning to the attack, clawed one of the man's hands badly, but finally was overcome and sent back to captivity.

Missing FRiBNDB.—The following inquiries for missing friends are from Lloyd's Weekly of November 2:~ Benjamin Barr left London, 8., for New Zealand 36 years back, but last wrote from Australia eight years afterwards. Daughter Fanny asks. John Willey left North Somercoates, Lincolnshire, for Brisbane, in 13.82; last letter from Auckland, New Zealand, In 1893. His wife's brother geeks him, James Oardoe last wrote from New Zealand in 1898. Mother asks.