LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 59, 5 March 1909, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Capt. Edwin telegraphed at 0.30 I>.m. as follows:—"Easterly moderate to strong winds; glass little movement; tides low."

Arrangements are being made for a visit of the Greymouth Hockey Club, who will play matches against local opposition during the Easter holidays.;

To-morrow at 11 a.m., at Hulme and Co's Central Mart the following privileges in connection with the Hibernian Sports at the Show Grounds on March 17th, will be sold by public auction: Publican's booth, dining ■ booth, refreshment and lollie stall, right of legal games.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that several prominent retail business firms were charged in the Magistrate's Court to-day with' breaches of the city by-laws in having fixed sale notices on their verandahs. These were the first- cases of the kind, and fines of 5s each were imposed. ,

Borough Council amenities. Scene, the river bank conference; time 2.30 p.m. on Thursday. /Councillor A to Councillor B: "Good afternoon Mr ." B: "Did I speak to you?" .A,""No; I spoke to you, "I said good ■afternoon Mr —." B: "Well, shut y&ur —— mouth, I don't want to speak to like you!" Have we not repeatedly asserted that we are ■&& wail governed as we deserve to be?

Blenheim, as a municipality, may be half a century behind the times, but some of its business men at least are right up-to-date. A syndicate, of which Mr F. Linstrom, of the Commercial Hotel, is the chief member, has just purchased two 35 h.p. motor "buses, capable of carrying nftv passengers each, or of hauling, as lorries, a 12-ton load. It is the intention of the purchasers to convert them into lorries for daily use, and to use them as 'buses on Sundays and holidays, when excursions will be arranged as inducement offers. One of the 'buses was landed in Blenheim yesterday morning ond created a great deal of interested curiosity. The other will be over in the course of. a few days. The sale was effected through the agency of Messrs Wintringham and Dengarde, and is by far the biggest motor deal yet made in Marlborough.

Questioned as to the proposal to* establish an important whaling station at Campbell Island, .the Hon. Captain Tucker, who has for some years been successfully farming tho island, stated to "a Poverty Bay Herald ■reporter that a party of eleven,' Picton men were already onV the - island for I the same purpose. These 'men; would j probably have completed shearing operations by this date, and have started the erection of their whaling i stationi at Nor'-west Bay. They have taken two whaleboats "Wid a powerful motor, launch, and intended to capture the right whale which was_ known to pass the island. Communications respecting the Norwegian enterprise had reached him froni the Norwegian Consul ai Wellington, and Mr H. J. Bull, of Christiania,_ asking if they could have the exclusive right toNotr'west Bay, but as he had already given pormissioni to the Picton party this was impossible. He was willing, however, to grant facilities to the Norwegians, which he took to be but ■an extension of this firm's already extensive operation®, if they Avere able to make some amicable arrangements with the party already there. He expected Mr Bull, their 'representative, m Gisborne in the cour.se of the next week.

Interviewed at Invercargill yesterday regarding high valuations, Sir Joseph Ward said that he would communicate with the Department, with a view to the valuer's being heard in his defence. He had been considering for some time an alteration in the system, and proposed to go into the question further in regard to valuations throughout the country, with a view to effecting an improvement.

The advisability of establishing a wool-sorting class in connection with the 'Wellington Technical School was .recently considered by the Director (Mr W. S. La Trobe), but nothing will be done at present (says the N.Z. Times). Mr La Trobe reported to the Technical Board that he had: some doubts as to the possibility of establishing a very successful class in Wellington, as the numerous country technical schools would be muoh more convenient. Even were there >a- possibility of establishing a class, this could, not be realised unless proper housing was provided, which was practically impossible in the present building. 'Consideration of the report was held over until the Board is in a position to provide a suitable building.

A crowded meeting of railway employees was held at Frankton Junction >a few nights ago. Mr W. _N. Veitch, of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants,- presided. He said the men's outlook was b«*+* *mr than ever, before, and stated that it was not the council's wish to bring about revolutionary movements, their object being to promote progress. The society had had a lot of trouble with the late Minister, and the speaker felt confident that if a change had not taken place serious trouble would have resulted between the Minister and the men. Mr Veitch spoke in terms of praise in regard to the new Minister, who was sympathetic, and promised to look into departmental affairs. Spteaking <of financial affairs, Mr Veitch said the time had come when all the unions should take a different ■attitude an the wages question than formerly. With all the increased wages granted in "fch'e past, the conditions were very little better than b&fore, for the reason that as fast as the wages went up the cost of. living increased. He suggested concentrated effort to reduce the price of the necessaries of life.

' During the proceedings at the laying of the foundation-stone of the Auckland Town Hall (says the N.Z. Herald), Br Lenihan, woman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, arrived on the platform. Subsequently the Mayor (Mr Arthur M. Myers) t«ok the opportunity to welcome the Bishop back to Auckland after his travels abroad, but addressed the .Bishop as "His Lordship Bishop Neligan." The mistake was noticed at once by the crowd, and' greeted with a general shout of laughter. The Mayor,'laughingly corrected himself, and went on to extend the best wishes of the citizens of Auckland to Bishop Lenihan, and to express the pleasure everyone felt at seeing him back again. Cheers were then given for the Bishop, who,' in. reply, said he had been away for a year, and'the happiest moment of that year was the moment of his arrival on the wharf in! Auckland. He had been to many different parts of the world, and while one (realised there were bigger places in the world, there was no better place than Auckland. He congratulated the Mayor on' the important ceremony that had just taken place. Everyone regretted that the Mayoir was leaving, but wherever Mr Myers went he' (the Bishop) and the citizens of Auckland would wish him every success and great happiness. The only mistake Mr Myers had made in his four years of office, said the Bishop, amidst laughter, was in saying he (the speaker) was Bishop Neligan; but, as Bishop Neligan. would arrive in Auckland the following day, they should give three cheers • for him. The invitation was readily responded to.

;> A copy of the Victorian list of vital 'statistics is to hand from the office of, the Government Statist' (Mr A. Mf Laughton), According; to this list tHe vital statistics of the State- for l#oß were not so favourable as those^for tlie preceding year,' which, however, was an exceptional one as regards marriage and death rates. numbered 9334 and births 31,101, both slightly below the 1907 totals. Deaths —15,767 —were 1225 more than in the preceding year. About three-fourths of this excess occurred in the first quarter, and was due to the .prolonged period of high temperature in Janur ary, which was particularly fatal to young .children. _ and elderly people. With few exceptions, a higher death- \ rate was experienced at each age than in the previous year, the heavier mortality rate among infants being responsible for about one-third of the in- j crease of deaths for all ages. The report says that the connection between an unwholesome milk supply and heavy \ infantile mortality from diarrhceal diseases was evidenced during the first three months of last year, when the conditions for keeping milk pure were more than usually difficult, and the infantile death-rate from all forms of diarrhoea was very high. The excess of births over deaths amounted to 15,334, as against 16,827 in 1907.

In a recent article the Nelson Mail said:—"lt cannot be said that Nelson has been unfairly treated, by the Union Steamship Company. But at the same time Nelson has a right "to claim that a larger boat, say, of the type of the tßotomahana or the Mai;aroa, should be put on the running during the" summer season, at any rate, especially in view of the har^ bour improvements. Perhaps the trade would,not warrant a large boatmaking several trips a week, but surely one or two could be arranged. The trip on occasions is a rough one, and a crowded small, vessel and a heavy sea are not the most pleasant ■ concomitants of any voyage. It is not on tjie grounds of safety that a larger vessel is asked for, but it is for reason of comfort. A large number of women and children travel between Wellington and Nelson, .and if a larger bo,at were provided no doubt it would be chosen by these travellers as not likely to be so "movable" in rough weather as the smaller craft. Then again the larger steamers are faster vessels, and the trip might be made in much shorter time than at present. At least one or two large boats weekly for most of the year should lie nin in the Nelson-Welling-ton service to save as much time as possible on the tripj and the larger vessels mentioned would 'fill the bill.' "

It has remained for the *Napieri Cathedral organ to demonstrate (says- ' the Telegraph) that the rat has a toottt. for music. For some time the big instrument has not responded with its initial musical alacrity to what has been demanded of it, but this b&* been due to rats worrying at it* internal parts. The builder, Mr J. B.i Dodd, of Adelaide, has recently been; engaged in renovating the instrurt.int. and he has met with quite a/ surprising state of affairs. The gussets of the huge bellows have beeni pierced with a tuneful nibble, whiles the woodwork has been scraped inJ several places. The invading rats hay©i even tried their sharp teeth on the lead tubing leading up from the consol, and have evidently not been awedS by the rich waves of music which thai . instrument has generated under anf artistic touch. Mr Dodd states that « he has never before experienced rats* entering an organ vault, but every] care is now being taken to prevent further damage. The question is a. serious one, as masticating musical apparatus does not free a rat from* plaszue, and quick measures should be taken to stamp out the pest. There is no doubt plenty of more nourishing; li'-aterial in the cupboards of the* town to eat, but a Napier rat seems capable of anything.

■"A Cheerful Cynic," writing in the Taranaki Herald, says:—New Zealand is not the only country where labour asserts itself unpleasantly. At Thebarton, South Australia, a small stroke took place recently among, the men. laying down a tramline. xheyj objected to v a man named McMahon, known as the "Concrete King,", sink-' ing four to five post-holes a day, while! they only averaged three. McMahon! worked too harcf fox them, and" they} demanded his dismissal. When this was refused they went on strike. Bye-<and-bye it.will be a.condition inlabouxj awards that no workman shall exert himself sufficiently '"to get a sweat on." ,

Senator Trenwith, in the course* of a lecture recently, in Melbourne! upon the question of women displac-< ing men from their employment, said: "When a young woman named Gertie! felt that she would like to follow a. nice genteel occupation and wear the latest Meriry Widow hat, and have "aJ peach-blossom complexion to go witbf a nice blouse, she had to remembean that when she went up the lift to.anf office for 15s or 20s a week, Bertie* who did the work before for 45s oxf 50s per week, had to come down. Thei girl with the nice complexion and the Meriry Widolr ha]b supplanted the* man with the high collar and the inw maculate vest."

MODERN MUSICAL ADVANTAGES

It is curious to remember that, up> toll a very few years ago,, musical in-t ■■*■ struments in the home were a!, monopoly of people of means. They] were defective instruments enough, at! that. When the melodious Campiont wrote his charming airs and lyrics* there was not a piano in England.' To-day no house is completely homelyr unless there is a paino in it.'.,,; The* Bresden Piano Company, Ltd., stocks, only excellent instruments, and supples them on . such terms as brings them easily within the reach of every- \ one. Local representatives, MessrsGriffiths and Son. * V