LOCAL & GENERAL HEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 68, 22 March 1911, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL HEWS.

At the committee meeting of the Blenheim Rowing Club last night, it was decided to enter crews for the Licensed Victuallers' Associations regatta, to be held on Easter Saturday at Pioton.

Sweet pea is to be the Coronation flower, and everywhere, from the Royal nurseries to the most obscure cottager's garden, is this favourite climbing, annual now being planed to provide the millions of buttonholes that will be required in June.

54 inches wide for Is lid! We have iu^t secured the greatest bargains out. Heavy dress tweeds, yard and a half wide, to be "fired out at Is lid yard. — Auckland Clothing and Drapery Company. Sly-grog sellers must resort to new devices to successfully carry on business and avoid detection (says tne Auckland Star). Apparently a- novel effort was made at. Taumarunui to escape the vigilance of the police. A young man was arrested on Monday, and he was found in possession ot three dozen bottles o£ whisky. He was posing as a commercial traveller, and was carrying the liquor in a brandnew leather sample bags.

"■ A meeting of the committee of the Blenheim Rowing Club was held last night, (when votes vof. thanks were accorded the Senior Four for their fine performances at Wellington and Wanganui. A similar compliment was paid to Mr G. Wareham. It was decided to present the members of the senior crew with gold * medals in.honor of their victory at Wanganui.

The Borough workmen are at present engaged in picking up and removing the lumpy asphalt in Market Street South. It will be remembered that this portion of Market Street, at the time it was asphalted, caused a good deal of trouble in the Council, the contention being that the foundation was bad. It is to be hoped that a better job will be made of the work on this occasion.

The fall of a large hanging lamp nearly resulted in a . tragedy at Wanganui East Council meeting a few nights ago, according to the Chronicle. The lamp almost above the Mayor (Mr John Jones) suddenly parted from its chain, grazed Mr Jones's side, and struck the arms of the chair between him and the Town Clerk. Both arose and' endeavored to get rid of the burning lamp, a projection of which had stuck in the Mayor's clothes. Then th© lamp fell to the floor, saturating the oane seat of the chair and flooding the floor with kerosene. All was ablaze immediately, and there was a general exodus. The burning chair was dragged out, the Town Clerk gathered up his papers and books, &nd the reporter his notes, while the foreman rushed off for a bucket of water. The latter proved very effective, but the wall near which the lamp had fallen was charred for two-thirds of the way up. Mr Holloway, the Town Clerk, received sundry burns to one of his hands, but otherwise there wore no personal injuries.

Yesterday's Pelorus Guardian says: —One of the most successful ballots the Marlborough Land Board have yet carried out was that in connection with the Carluke sections, and this was mainly due to the fact that the ballot was held at Havelock, many settlers who would otherwise not have been able to participate in the ballot thereby being enabled to be present. The issue of the plans for the ballot for Ronga sections is the first intimation that they were to be offered for . selection, and we note that the ballot is to be held at Blenheim. Almost all the applicants for this land will be small settlers or men engaged in the adjoining sawmills, and it is unfair to ask them to lose three days' work in order to attend the ballot, for that is the loss of time entailed in a journey from the Rai and back on such a business. If the ballot were held in Havelock or Canvastown the applicants would need to lose only half a day'e work— an important consideration nowadays. The same remarks apply to the ballot for the Wakamarina, Onamalutu, and Pine Valley sections, which takes place on the same day ((11th April), and which could much more conveniently for the persons chiefly interested be held at either Havelock or Canvastown. We hope the Commissioner (who has always shown a sympathetic interest for Crown tenants) will endeavor to have the ballot taken as. suggested, even though on the plans they aro fixed to be held at Blenheim.

The annual meeting of the Harmonic Society will take place this evening at 8 o'clock in the Institute building-

Those who were present «* *nes urn" side sales last week (says the Otago Daily Times) suffered' some inconvenience owing to the prevalence thereof the turnip fly, which for close on two hours circled in myriads over the yards —ir. fact, the air was literally charged with them. Thepresence of the pest in such numbers is said to be the result of the prevailing dry weather.

One or two slight showers 01 ram fell Tart night, and it was thought that the trying, spell of heat and dry weather had ended. . I here was %t disappointment this mormng when it was discovered that the S-looked-for rain, hadallgon? and that the oppressive heat exjgri enced for over a week still neia

Councillor Bircli. explained *> a £ pofter this morning that ™**_ Sering on the roads at Bight. JPtaj he pointed out, was in order to ensure the safety of the travelling public. The ranger could not place the stock in their Wrs' paddocks and charge the driving fee.

A Wellington telegram states that to-day a petition containing 716? signatures was presented by the Trades and Labor Council to the Mayor, requesting that a poll be taken todecide the question as to which day Wellington should observe as, a weekly half-holiday. The promoters of the petition .claimed that Saturday was the natural day for the half-holiday, as it would allow better facilities for enjoyment than Wednesday.

As the Picton-owned steamer Wairau was outward-bound to Wellington yesterday afternoon she collided with the scow Oban in the river. The latter vessel was considerably damaged; and if the cargo had not been promptly trimmed she would probably have foundered.. Just how the mishap_occurred is not known, and further particulars will be obtained as soon as available. It is expected that an inquiry will be held;

On Monday evening the Borough Council received an application from Mr Rose asking for permission to connect a septic tank with a drain in Redwood Street. Councillor White moved that the application be grant-, ed subject to the usual conditions. Councillor Girling seconded tie motion. Councillor Adams objected to this, and said that septic tanks were inefficient, and deleterious matter might get into the drain. That part of the town was low-lying, and was not well-drained, and the matter might become offensive. JHe thought it should be referred to the Sanitary Inspector and the Borough foreman for a report. Councillor Wiffen opposed the motion. Councillor Parker stated that Councillor Adams' remarks were an argument in favor of w&j/er and drainage. It was then that Councillor Adams retorted "It is not." Councillor White eventually altered his motion in the direction suggested by Councillor Adams, and it was carried.

A slight change has taken place after the recent spell of hot weather, and at 9 o'clock this morning several towns reported indications of rain, while at Queenstown, Cape Maria van Diemen, Westport, and Blenheim rain had already fallen. Rough seas were running at East Oape, Capo Palliser, Cape Campbell, and Greymouth, while the good1 tides experienced at the Wairau Bar were running nearly all over tho Dominion, poor ones being at Cape Maria van Deimen and Manukau Heads. Christchurch and Blenheim were the warmest places, 74 being the temperature recorded, while Gisborne 73 } Russell 72, Capo Maria ran Diemen, and' Wanganui 71, were also very warm. Cold weather was experienced at the southern end of this island, Nuggets being coldest with 50. A light "nor'-wester" is still blowing, except at the southern half of this island, over which a southerly is blowing.

I Notwithstanding the number of telephone offices in Pelorus Sound there is need, for others, and in no locality is this need more keen than in Nor'-west Bay, where there are a number of settlers who are greatly handicapped in their business dealings and in other ways by their comparative isolation so far as telephonic communication with the outside world is concerned. It has been suggested (says the Guardian) that the best method of. connecting this bay with the system would be to lay a cable from Homewood, which wo j are informed would be more costly j than a land line to lay but less expensive to maintain. " The other alternatives are connection with Elaine Bay or Nydia Bay. Both of these routes are practicable, and would not cost more than some other sections of the Sounds system did It would probably be necessary for the settlers to give a guarantee to provide against possible loss, but it has invariably been the experience that the guarantees are not called up, or else not fully so, and in several instances m Marlborough the guarantees have not been called up after the lines had been in existence for a year or two. In the past the Post *and Telegraph Department have met settlers very fairly in the matter of telephones, and we believe if this need were brought under their notice they would favorably consider it.

' At its usual meeting last nighti the Hibernian Society <¥"dedto I hold a social in St. Patrick's Hall on the first available Wednesday m May. A Christchurch resident who haa just returned from a visit to Nelson Jeporte-seeing the unusual sight-off about 250 blackfish, a species of whale, on the mudflats, inside Farewell Spit. The fish ranged in k^fij^JSE to six feet, and from 19 feet in girtn downward^ Many of them were quite young ones, and the supposition ?s that the parents took their young up on the flats at high tide for feeding purposes, with the result that they were all left high and dry when the tide ebbed. A number of the tett got off with the following tide, but the majority of them were unable to get away, and eventually succumbed after living for several hours. A peculiar feature of the remarkable occurrence was that one whit© fish was stranded, and the contrast between it and the black denizens of thei deep was very marked.

"Mercutio," writing in the Auckland Herald", says:—l have received from Coromandel an interesting envelope addressed in a unique manner, to "Mr s unmarried, Auckland Island, or near New Zealand, formerly o f Co. Down, Ireland, left about 47 years ago, son of the late _. j; or , Co. Down. Please see that the. owner receives; this. ■ The envelope also bore full rastructions to return to the writer if not received." The Irish post-mark was dated Sept. 13, 1909. . The letter, arrived in New Zealand in good time, but was not delivered for about 1/. months, having lain for some time at Tauranga, from which place it was finally sent on to the right man. We hear so many complaints of postal incompetence that this example of ai 2S2t which could hardly have been expected, is worth noticing.