LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 177, 29 July 1907, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

The small bird nuisance is becoming so serious in. Napier that a united poisoning campaign is suggested. Messrs S. Kirkpatrick and Co., the famous' " X}}K }} jam and conserve manufacturers of/Nelson, have an announcement on £he fourth page of this issue. The piano used at the Awarua Lawn Tennis Club's social the other day was kindly lent for the occasion by the Dresden Piano Company. . , Mr W. Smith (lately with the firm of Bowron and Sons) has commenced business in Christchurch as land, estate, financial and general agent. Correspondence is invited. Mr Chas. Matthews, Upper Spring Creek, met with a nasty accident the other day, smashing the tips of some of his fingers. Mr Matthews met with the mishap while at work on an oil engine. During the-four-weekly period ended 22nd June last the revenue on the New Zealand, railways was £198,296, and the expenditure £139,030, as against £189,071 and £125,812 respectively, for the corresponding period of last year. Post and Telegraph revenue for the quarter ended 31st June last aggregated £212,361, as against £184,600 for the same period of last year. In this year's term the Telegraph Department yielded £103,351, a sum greater by £11,536 than the June quarter of 1906. The Garrison Band yesterday afternoon repeated the selections played.in the, Town Hall on Thursday evening, a large number of people listening to the music with pleasure in Seymour Square. A collection© in aid of the Kerr orphans realised nearly six pounds.

A new pea—Sutton's Dwarf Defiance —is on the market. It is a second early Variety, possessing the true marrow fat quality. When tested in the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens the committee, recognised ithe value of this very fine pea by awarding it the highest distinction. Mr |W. A. Sowman is the Blenheim agent for Sutton's seeds. . ; -■■• .'' ■;- :.■ : -:■ •■-- - ■

A council conference of the newlyformed ~, New Zealand Civil Service Association! will be~- held in Wellington on the 31st' inst. So far, ;the branches at Auckland, ~ Napier, Wellington, Dunedin, arid Invercargill have decided, to be represented at the conference. The principal subjects of deliberation will probably be' classification and superannuation, - There is nothing to equal Witch's Oil fpr rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago, and all muscular pains. S

Customs and excise duties collected ir New "Zealand during the June.quarter of this year amounted to £717,675. The same pejriodof last year yielded £602,9i1.. $earl£ two million gallons *of beer paid "3d' per gallon duty, 3720 lbs of tobacctf paid Is per lb duty, and 22,3201bs of,tinctures, etc., containing more*'tnan;So per cent of proof spirit paid 9d pjer ib duty. These are considerable increases over the returns for the same quarter of last year.

Mr R. Oresswell, of Marlboroughtown, had the misfortune recently to injure his right eye- through a chip from a hamtner inflicting a wound between the hose and the cheek-bone. He hopes to recover the sight of the organ slowly. Mr Cresswell, who is one of the leading members of the Tua Marina Rifle Club (having been captain for several years) fears that he will now have to take a back seat as a marksman, 'or, at any rate, until he can train the left eye to the rifle.

The second number of The Record, the organ of the Blenheim Methodist Church, contains much interesting matter relating to Church life and gives a resume of the work done during the past quarter in connection with the many clubs and societies which are apparently proving a source of help and strength; to the Church.- The paper has a ; yery interesting article in the editorial columns on Religion and Modern Science, which covers a good deal of ground and shows how friendly each.'is towards the other, the writer holding that the tendecy of modern science is to-support the great verities of religion. : There is also an interesting article by the Rev. C. Penney on the needs of the Circuit.

Discouragement is not always the fate of the teacher who shows initiative and enterptfife. One of the Wellington Education Board's inspectors (Mr ; T. H. Bakewell) drew the attention of the board (says the Post) to the instruction given in practical dairy work at the Makomako school. The head teacher (Mr Philip) has provided the school with->a cream separator and milk-tester, and had mad© a churn and cheese-making apparatus. Mr" Bakewell had been so much/impressed with the value of the work done at the school that he recommended the board to make a special grant of £10 in aid of apparatus; The inspector said he had been" informed that, as a result of the work done by their children at the school, several dairy farmers had decided to get testers,of their own, the importance of the testing of individual cows having been emphasised by the experiments carried on at the school. Inspector Fleming added that farmers, as a result of the school tests, had got rid of a number of cows which they had previously looked upon as their best milkers. The board passed the grant, and expressed pleasure with the enter- ; prise of Mr' Philip. j

According to a Parliamentary return, the amount spent by Qharitable Aid Boards in this country in 1906 was £103,272. Of this sum Auckland paid £19,686 (including North Auckland), Wellington £14,228. North Canterbury £16,302 (South Canterbury £2954), Otago United £15,393. In 1896 the total amount spent was £106,536.

A youth who had an exciting experience with a bull was narrating the incident with all the graphic language he could command. "I seized him by the tail," he exclaimed, " and there 1 was. I was afraid to hold on, and 1. daren't let go." A young lady who, was very much interested smiled. "You were between the horns, of a dilemma, as it were," she said. " No," was the reply, " I wasn't between the horns at all. And, besides, he wasn't a dilemma; he was a Jersey."

According to the Hawke's Bay Herald, the estate of the late Mr John Close, formerly a grocer and draper in that town, has been proved by the executors. A share in the White Swan Brewery Company, and s>ne~ hundred and twenty shares in Neal and Close, Ltd., are bequeathed as legacies cp relatives and friends ■. Seven shares in the company are to be transferred to the Napier Corporation, in. trust to maintain the grave of the late Mrs Close, the; balance"!:o be expended in a yearly gift of a ham and a bottle of ale to as many old people as possible on December 24th in each year. Another five shares are vested in the same Cor* poration to provide a hundredweight of coal to as many poor people as possible on June 21st each year, in commemoration of the birthday of Mrs Close. The rest of the estate goes to Miss Hobbs, an adopted daughter.

Friendly societies' membership has increased at a considerably greater ratio as compared with its 1887 figures than the population has done, and the same result is disclosed in tho cajso.of friendly societies', contributions. The amount insured in life companies, the friendly societies' membership, and the friendly societies' contributions . have all increased at almost exactly the same rat\o. The greater rate of increase in life-insurance premiums as compared with friendly societies' contributions is probably due' to the employment of paid canvassers, states the Registrar of Friendly Societies in his report for 1906-7.

Friday's Otago Daily Times has the following:—At an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders in the Burnside Hydraulic Lime and Cement Company yesterday a resolution passed ;at a previous meeting was confirmed. The resolution made changes in the articles of association in order to bring them up to date with the increase of capital passed still earlier. The fourth shipment of tne machinery purchased from the Wellington and Marlborough Cement Company is expected to leavo Picton to-day. The first three shipments arrived in splendid condition, and are now at Burnside. The capital was increased from £6000 to £21,000, -and as soon as,the fresh.Capital is subscribed the company will make a start with its operations.

Trotter or pacer iS becoming a vexed question amongst sporting men. The question was referred to by the president of the Trotting Conference in his address to the delegates at Wellington. He said there appeared to'be a great tendency towards the total extinction o>-' the trotter, and it was evident that the pacer was gradually crowding his more attractive gaited rival out of the list. If this evil was to be remedied some steps should be taken in the direction indicated in a notice of motion by the New Zealand Trotting Association to prevent the wholesale conversion of the good utility horse into the hoppled pacer. In America, where there was a strong feeling against the hoppled pacer, and mixed races were unknown, the largest pro-portion of the money in all their classic races was given to the trotter. For the sake of the sport in this colony it behoved us to encourage and foster the production of the high-class trotter, and, recognise the necessity of protecting it against invasion by the hoppled pacer.

The personnel of the combined local bodies' deputation that is waiting upon the Acting-Minister for Public AVorks (Hon. Mr McGowan) this afternoon is as follows:—Blenheim Borough Council, His Worship the Mayor (Mr A. McCallum); Omaka Road Board, Messrs A. McKay and S. Tapp; Spring Creek Road Board, Messrs J. H. Redwood and Jas. Gane; Picton Road Board, 'Mr D'Arcy Chaytor; Picton Borough Council, Crs Philpotts and Simmonds. Mr A. McCallum will also attend the Agricultural Conference. The deputation is requesting a £ for £ subsidy up to £3000 for a new bridge at Spring Creek, also for substantial assistance towards the Omaka draybridge and the Nelson Street bridge. Should the Spring Creek and Picton Road' Boards secure a vote of £3000 for the Ferry bridge, they are prepared to erect it without contributions from other local bodies.