LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 222, 19 September 1903, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Tenders.—Mr A. R. Thomas, Tirohanga, Kekerangu, invites tenders for cutting a drain through a raupo swamp near Kekerangu.

Meteorological. — Captaiu Edwin wired as follows at 12 noon:—"Gale after 20 hours from now from between north anil east and south-east; glass fall • tides]: good ; Indications ot' much rain."

Seodon Railway Station. — A numerously-signed petition, signed by residents of the Awatere district, has been presented to the Minister of Railways, praying that a sfcationmaster be placed at Seddon. RabbitTrapping.—The advisability of trapping rabbits on suitable land having been brought under the notice of tho Minister of Agriculture by the trappers of Marlborough, the Minister has replied that the matter is one for the owner of the property to deal with. Cycles.—We are in receipt of the latest art catalogue of . the Rudge Whifcworth cycles, giving particulars and fall descriptions of the make of the several grades of these well known machines, for which Mr Ed. Parker, of the Cycle Depot, is the local agent. Band Music.—The Hibernian Band will play a programme of music on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., occupying the Cleghorn Memorial Rotunda. The programme will be the same as published last week, and the proceeds will be in aid of the Simmons relief fund. St. Clair. —In connection with the sale of this valuable farming property we are requested by the auctioneer to point out that it is the equity that is to be disposed of. Full particulars may be obtained from Mr R. McCallura, solicitor, or Messrs Griffiths and Son, auctioneers. Horticultural Society.—The annual meeting of the Horticultural Society called for last night, owing to several other meetings being also held last night lapsed for want of a quorum. The adjourned annual meeting will be held at 7.30 on Monday evening next at the Christchurch Meat Company's rooms. Land Sale.—By an inadvertence it was made to appeal* in last night's issue that the sale of land on the New Renwiok Road, in the estate of the late John O'Leary, would take place today. The sale will not be held until next Saturday at noon, by Mr E. F. Healy. • Cement Company. — Attention is 1 directed to the advertisement of i the Wellington Cement, Lime and Coal Company, Ltd, which appears in this issue, the directorate of which is a very strong one. The Company has been formed to develop certain resources of this district, and should meet with liberal support from residents of Marlborough district. Mr H. Howard is the local broker for the Company. • Drunkenness. — Three cases of drunkenness appeared in the Police Court this morning. A first offender who was found drunk in Grove Road yesterday was convicted and discharged. A married woman named F. H. Martin, who had appeared previously within the last six months, was fined 10s and costs, and consented to a prohibition order being made. A first offender appeared on remand, having been treated at Picton in the meantime, and was convicted and ordered [ to pay costs amounting to £3 Is lOd. Wall Papers. —Mr F. Paine, painter and decorator, of Alfred Street, has imported a fine range of wall papers from the largest wall paper manufactures in America, a firm doing bnsiness at Montreal, Canada. For bold coloring and effective design the freizes are simply perfection, the . graduated blending of one color into another being evidently an especial study with these makers. When ingrained papers, guaranteed to be made \ solely from wood pulp, and 16 yards ' long and 30in wide, are retailed at ' half-a-orown, no one should have dirty rooms. Thousands of pieces are in stock to choose from, and a J.Q per cent, cash discount is being offered by Mr Paine. The public are recommended to inspect both the English, Scotch, t and Canadian goods, Wellington Musical Festival.— Mr Chambers, a member of the managing committee, who has been visiting : Blenheim, informs us that the rehearsals for the Musical Festival, which opens in Wellington towards the end of October and lasts about a week, promise an unprecedented success. „ "Elijah" will be the opening and ' " Messiah." the concluding prodner tion; and the programme will include • such works as " The Desert" (Felician . David),«' Aedipus," " Hiawatha," and I " Minehaha". The last two mentioned are North American legends, and the 5 bass parts will be sustained by Mr ■ Hamilton Hodges, formerly of the ? Jubiiee Singers, who is now in Auckland. The leading soprano soloists are ' Misses Amy Murphy and Phoebe Parsons ; and Miss Tansley is among the 1 contraltos. Mr Weir, formerly of i Christchurch, who is now teaching in j Sydney, is making a special trip to take up the tenor music. Mr J. Rose, of Blenheim, will join the tenors. A * chorus of about 300 voices has been > organised, and there are about fifty i, instrumentalists in the orchestra. Extreme care has been exercised in ' the selection of the voices, and it is i stated that the chorus is the best ever > heard in New Zealand regards both j quality and reading. Mr Robert . Parker, the conductor, has already done wonders, and Mr Harry Parker, * the secretary, has been doing great i f work. :i Boys' Kaiapoi Tweed Suits, 10s, i 12s lid, 15s 6d.—Dee and Sons. 1 Poultry Conference.—To-day Mr I Frank Sha.w, President of the Marl' , borough Poultry Association, received a telegram from Mr D. Hyde, Govern- \ ment Poultry Expert, saying he would visit Blenheim about the 23rd inst. A 1 conference between the Poultry Asso- • ciation and the A. and P. Associa- : tion has been fixed to be held (on Monday night, to arrange for a sei'ies of lectures by Mr 1 Hyde throughout the Marlborough ) district, and to take into consideration [ the question of holding a poultry ex- . hibition in connection with the A. and P. Show, in accordance with tbe sug--1 gestion in the report produced at the recent annual meeting of the Poultry , Association. Very material results in . the poultry industry are expected from Mr Hyde's forthcoming visit to \ the district. Golgotha in London.—Just opposite Hrpad Street Station, and in the middle of one of London's most busy streets, excavations have been going on for sanitary purposes. Siime time ago one of the workmen engaged in digging operations some 15 or 20 feet from the surface of the roadway came upon several pieces of bone, including a skull and a thigh bone, and further operations brought to light a very large number of skulls, ribs, thigh bones, jaw bones, etc., all blackened with long confinement in tbe earth. The pit made by the workmen was indeed a perfect Golgotha, and there is little doubt—seeing that there are no records of any ordinary burial ground having existed on the spot—that the excavators have opened up one of the many improvised cemeteries in which the victims of the Great Plague were dumped sans ceremony by the cartload. These mute but grim reminders of tho3o dreadful times when the cry ♦'Bring out your dead !" chilled! the hearts of the living, have now been reinterred in a corner of the city cemetery. They represent at least a dozen bodies, and doubtless others will be found if the excavation is carried to a greater depth. In the days of Charles 11. the level of the site on which Broad Street Station is built was many feet below what it is now, and we know Irom contemporary historians that the pits dug for tho reception of those who died from the plague wero in many cases fuhy twenty feet deep. For Influenza and Gold in the Head

Unimproved Values.—Sixty valid polls have been taken in various parts of the colony on the question of bringing the Rating on Unimproved Values Act into force in particular districts. In only six instances has the poll been lost, and 13,583 votes have been cast in favor of the system and only 7181 against. Fo@D Possibilities.—lt is stated that by merely passing a current of definite potential through soda water or water impregnated with carbonic acid gas, a series of products is formed culminating in sugars. First of all is formed oxalic acid, then tartaric acid, nexb citric acid, until at five volts and three amperes grape sugar appears. Now that nitrates for plant food can be built up by electricity, and grape sugar for human food out of water and chalk, the Lancet points out that it would not be surprising if the electric current could also make " proteids," and thus render humanity independent of plant life. The idea seems a start ling one, but it is no more surprising tban any one of tbe score of wonders accompiished by the same means in the past few years. Summer Resort.—Prominent Baptists of New York have completed the purchase of a tract of 1000 acres on the west bank of the Hudson River, a shoi t distance south of West Point, where it is planned to establish a Baptist summer resort, with educational features somewhat similar to those of Chautauqua. Wealthy members of the Church are backing the scheme. The colony will be established on the shores of Highland Lake—a picturesque sheet of water. Rear Mountain, with an elevation of 1300 ft above the Hudson, is also situated on the tract! The interest of the neighborhood is enhanced by historical associations, and withal few spots could be chosen that were better adapted for tho purposes of such a colony. The Idea of Beauty.—The idea of beauty in;children is strangely varied. A teacher at a Manchoster school Borne years ago gave thirty children five minutes to think over tho most beautiful thing they ever saw. Five chose the moon and stars, two the sun, and one the setting sun. One of the five who chose tbe moon stipulated that he meant only the full moon. Two children chose flowers, two scenery, and two birds. Not ona cboae a human face! Tbe snow, tbe rain, a butterfly, a tiger's skin, salt, silver and gold, a brooch, pink silk, all had one vote each, and a little Jingo declared that the Union Jack wa» the most beautiful thing in the world ! Twice Senteng'ko to Death. — A soldier named Louis Gallion was recently brought before a court martial at Oran for a&eanlting his superior officer. Gallion was tried for a similar offence last April, and was condemned to death, but the sentence wad commuted to ten years' penal servitude and degradation. When ho was led out to the parade ground to be publicly degraded be threw his cap in an officer's face. At hia trial for this offence he used very insulting language to the Court, and when asked to explain his conduct at the parade ground, replied that be did not intend to take part in a military farce. He then shouted, "Down with the army !" and began to sing a revolutionary song at the top of bis voice. He was again sentenced to death. A Soudanese Reception.—Countess Valda Glechin, who accompanied Lord and Lady Cromer on a tour in the Soudan, gives an amusing description of their reception in the women's quarters of Fashoda. *' The noise of welcome was simply deafening! The Soudanese women have a cry of welcome all their own. It is a long-drawn, high B flat, which sounds like a shake, but isn't, for they make it with their tongues against the roof of their mouths, so that it is a hard, repeated vibration, and a most penetrating sound. Ifc is also very difficult to do, for we triei ourselves with absolutely | no success ! It was accompanied by thumpings on torn toms made of hol-lowed-out elephants' feet, and on any kind of metallic or wooden object that would make a noise; the din was unspeakable, but most amusing." Men's Worsted Striped Trousers, all sizes, at 123 63, 14s. —Dee and Sons. Woollen Mills. —Apropos of the project of establishing a woollen mill in this district, it is to be noted that a similar proposal is increasing in favor in Palmerston North. A movement has been commenced to establish a woollen mill in Gisbctf ne, the initiative having been taken by the Farmers' Union. At a meeting held recently at Gisborne it was stated that the Hawke's Bay Woollen Mill Compariy, which is only in its infancy, has nine months' orders ahead, and the mill is working in three shifts night and day. The statement was made that an up-to-date plant for a mill could ba purchased for £8000. Land and buildings would absorb £2000, and £3000 would be required for working expenses until the wool is manufactured and placed on the market. Thus for £13,000 a mill could be financed. At Napier six looms are at work, and fine cloth, etc., are being produced, A Palmerston contempo'rery remarks that a woollen mill would circulate a great deal of money in wages, and should tend to give the farmers true value for their wool.