LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 179, 29 July 1905, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

A train alteration for Monday ia advertised.

The time for the receipt of tenders for the erection of the Portage wharf has been extended.

The Good Templars held a successful " temperance rally" last night, in spite of inclement weather. Oar report will appear on Monday.

A team of hockey players, selected from the local Kiwi and Wairau Men's Clubs, will play a match in Wellington on Wednesday next. The team leaves Blenheim on Tuesday evening, returning on Thursday.

Bain was falling this morning at Christchurch, Napier, and Blenheim. Wellington experienced a showery night. Temperature figures are:— Blenheim and Nelson, 48; Christchurch, 44; Wellington, 52.

It is intimated by advertisement that the services tomorrow in connection with the Methodist Church will be conducted in Wesley Hall, owing to the Church building being in course of alteration. A. special retiring collection is to be made both morning and evening on behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Mr E, Hughes, of Kaipuni, recently shot a very large shag on the Waiokura stream, in the Manaia district. The bird was in the act of swallowing a trout weighing fully a pound, when it fell to Mr Hughes's gun. It measured five feet all but one inch across the outstretched wings.

A Wellington telegram Bfcatea that the captain and three lieutenants of the Wellington Navala have resigned, on the grounds, it is believed, of dissatisfaction with the official treatment of the corps.

A petition to Parliament praying that, in case prohibition is carried at the forthcoming or any future elections, New Zealand wines be exempted from its operation, is in circulation at Hastings.

During the present week two persons were each fined in the Blenheim Magistrate's Court 58 with 7s costs for allowing horses to stray on the roads at Seddon; and one person was fined 53 with 148 costs for a similar offence at Renwicktown.

The changes to be made in the administration of Salvation Army affairs in New Zealand next November will probably involve the appointment of two island commanders instead of one in supreme command. The colony would then be divided North from South, and each commander would be directly responsible to headquarters.

The general public are reminded that Dr. Chappell, of Wellington, will address a no-license meeting this evening in the Good Templars' Hall. He is also announced to speak to-morrow evening in Wesley Hall after churchservice hours. Dr. Chappell as a writer has published papers and articles on some important social questions which have had a wide circulation.

The postal authorities draw attention to a recent case of the enclosure of a revolver cartridge in a letter addressed to Wellington in an ordinary envelope. It was caught in the stamping machine at the Post Office, and slightly dinted, but fortunately no explosion occurred, as the precision end of the cartridge did not come in contact with the metal. Carelessness of this kind, which cannot be too severely reprobated, is punishable by law.

A special meeting of the Picton Hospital Board was held on Wednesday to consider on what terms the Board would receive patients from the Wairau Hospital during the time the latter was being renovated. Mr J. B. Green represented the Wairau Board. Satisfactory terms were arranged, the principal condition being that absolutely new bedding should be provided by the Wairau Board. The terms for patients per day were fixed at a very low figure, and the Wairau Board has every reason to feel grateful ior the consideration shown by the local Trustees.—Press.

Referring in the course of a lecture at Christchurch to tbe valne of sunlight in a room, Mr Hurst Seager said that he had received a letter from a correspondent containing the statement, "I am continually at feud with my household because they will pull down tbe blinds to protect the carpets." "I would point out the absurdity," stated Mr Seager, "of having carpets which would fade, and the still greater absurdity of people thinking it necessary to preserve the colours of their carpets instead of the colours of their cheeks."

A special general meeting of the members of this newly-formed Chess Club was held last evening at the public library. In spite of the bad weather there was a fair attendance. The following officers were elected: — President, S. M. Neville; Committee, J. A. Connell, P. Greenfield, W. T. Mason, and M. Wiffen; Secretary and Treasurer, G. FT. Clatten. It was decided to meet for play on Friday evenings at the public library. A sides match to take place next Friday evening, commencing at 7.30, and a telegraphic match to be arranged with the Wellington Working Men's Club are to take place at an early date.

Judging on present indications (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph), there is every prospect of the ensuing wheat harvest being a bumper one, eclipsing the record season of two years back. The official estimate is that the yield will be somewhere about 30,000,000 bushels. Assuming that this is a not too sanguine forecast, and that nothing happens to prevent its fulfilment, and allowing that 10,000,000 bushels are needed for local consumption, there will be a surplus for export of 20,000,000 bushels, which is more than three times as much as bad to be handled at Darling Island in the season just past, and more than twice as much as in the record year of 1903-1, when 8,146,000 bushels actually went through the big grain shed. Although such a crop may not be harvested, the Railways Commissioners are proceeding on the assumption that it will, and are straining their resources in preparation for the increased traffic.

One of the speakers at the meeting of Danedin teachers this week gave some interesting information concerning the newly-established superannuation fund in connection with the Usion Steam Ship Company. The membership is over 409; the company have started the fund with £10,000, and agreed to assist with a yearly contribution of £1000 for the next ten years. One sixtieth of the annual contribution over all the years of service is the basis of the retiring allowance, and equally liberal treatment marks deal* ings with interest on payments into the fund on the part of those who voluntarily retire from the company's service. The Star says that, compared with this company's scheme, the proposed Teachers' Superannuation Fund " isn't in it," to use a sporting phrase.