LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 139, 14 June 1913, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

The Kaituna troop of the Marlborough Mounted Rifles will i hold their annual social in the Gibsontown Hall next Friday evening.

In the Magistrate's Court yesterday Mr F. 08. Loughnan, S.M., gave judgment by default in the case of A. McKenuie v. Charles Ball, jun., for £1, with 15s costs.

The members of the Wairau Women's Political Reform League are notified that the adjourned monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday next at 3 p.m.

The installation meeting of Lodge Wairau. No. 42, will take place in the lodge-room, Andrew Street, next Tuesday evening. A cordial invitation is given to visiting brethren to be present.

The number of people who travelled to Picton by train on Tuesday last was 4373. It is'now estimated that 7000 persons visited H.M.S. New Zealand during the day, and that the number of people in Picton exceeded 8000.

The curator to the Beautifying Society acknowledges receipt of the following donations: Mr W. Pollard, two sacks of bulbs; Mr J. Conolly, seedlings; Mr N. C. Pernn, seeds; Mrs Filleul, herbaceous plants. The Society's staff is now engaged in the preparation of the rose-beds in Seymour Square," and 325 plants have been procured.'

The New Zealand Pharmacy Board has passed a resolution to write to the Press Association, expressing •. the strong opinion that the publication of 'the names of poisons employed by suicides should be withheld in reports, and that instead of the specific poison being named a general term be used, such as disinfectant or coal tar product.

Curious situations arise even at an auction sale. Quite recently a local auctioneer-was faced with the position of having two members of one family in different parts of the crowd, unknowingly bidding against each other. Apparently both had come to the sale with the object of securing a certain article for the home. The auctioneer finally terminated spirited bidding by pointing out the position to the parties concerned.

In the' early hours of Sunday morning last, Messrs White Bros.' creamery at Okaramio was burnt down (states the* Pelorus Guardian). The origin of the fire is a mystery, as there was no one, as far as is known, at or near the building at the time. The last to leave the building was one of the White Bros., who on the previous Saturday mornina took a load of pigs into Blenheim. The creamery shed was completely destroyed, and the machinery considerably damaged. It is understood that the building and machinery were insured in the Norwich Union Office for £200.

Evidence for the defendants was taken on commission in the Magistrate's Court yesterday in the case of Herbert S. Liddell, of Gisborne, v. Corrv and Co. and J. J. Corry, the claim in which was for £161 in respect to a consignment of chaff that was rejected by the plaintiff. The witnesses were W. Lambie, C. W. Parker, C. G. Rabbits, and F. Mogridge, the evidence being in the direction of showing that the right of rejection did not exist after the taking of the chaff at Picton. Mr ! W. T. Churchward appeared for the : plaintiff, and Mr A. Rogers for ,the defendants. The case is being heard by the Gtsborne Magistrate. •

A slight shock of earthquake vnas felt in Blenheim at fourteen minutes to twelve last evening,

The Hibernian Band1 will render musical selections at the Waixau Hospital to-morrow afternoon.

A long report of the monthly meeting of the Picton Road Board, which took place this morning, is unavoidably held over till Monday's tesue.

The first honorary members* oonoert of the Tenth Mounted Regimental Band for the 1913-14 Beason will be held in His Majesty's Theatre on Tuesday week, the 24th inst.

Winter is becoming more manifest at Bealey each succeeding day. At 9 o'clock this morning the temperature there was 22, Queenstown (28), Timaru (32), Westport (33), and Christchuroh (35) also experiencing wintry touches. The local thermometer reading was 39.

"Nowadays I have to pay a. casual laborer 9a a day. Fifteen years ago I could get any number of men, anxious to do the work, for 5s a day and find themselves, and then get the work done in better, fashion." So remarked a member of the Picton Road Board to-day. However, he vras not complaining; the farmers were getting £3 a ton for their "chaff now, wihereas they had to be satisfied with 80s in the old days.

The value of exports from New Zealand for -the year ending May 31st was £21,167,742, ai compared with £18,694,933 for a, similar period: ending May 31st, 1912. The total exports from the Dominion during the latter half of last month were valued at £2,373,802, which shows a decrease of £323,582 in comparison with the figures for a similar period in 1912. The exports from Blenheim and Picton during this period, with tee values in parentheses, are as follows: Tow 26 tons (£288); grain and pulse, other than wheat and oats, 7392 bushels (£2199) • skins, all kinds, 3082 (£459); tallow 5 tons (£127); timber 455,224 sup. feet (£2202); wool 205,----3221bs , (£9040); cheese 937 cwt (£2623); frozen lamb 5003 carcases 1570 cwt (£2565); hemp 134 tons (£3446). "

The syllabus of examinatioiis for first appointments to commissions in the Territorial force has recently been issued. There will be'oral and written i examinations of members of cavalry units on yeomanry and mounted rifle training, while candidates will be examined orally on musketry regulations and tactful handling of troops. Infantry candidates will be examined on infantry training and field service regulations, while they will have to qualify orally in squad and company drill, tactful handling of men and. musketry regulations, Candidates of all arms will be examined in English composition, dictation, arithmetic, elementary questions on camp sanitation and hygiene, and on elementary questions on the regulations for the military forces of the Dominion, military law, and on the organisation of the New Zealand forces.

It is generally recognised tih&t' a sailor when ashore is a very different man from what he is on board, his vessel. The law, however, takes an extreme view of the position of ft sailor who dares to speak to an. immigrant girl on board his particular vessel (says the Melbourne Argue). It amounts to disobedience of the commands of the master, and the penalty is severe. Two sailors attached' to the steamer Irishman, which brought 1200 immigrants to Australia, were offenders in this respect, and they were dealt with at the City Court a few days ago. Despite the lawful commands of the master, they spoke to immigrant girls on the "hatch and in the dining-room of the ship on two specific dates. They were the subject of a precedent in law, which lays it down that seamen -are prohibited from speaking to immigrants in "the space allotted to immigrants," and the upshot was that they were ordered to be imprisoned for five weeks without beitio; given the option of paying a fine. The prosecution urged th»t strict disoiplino was necessary on immigrant ships, while the Polio© Magistrate who heard the cases (Mr Dwyer) observed that he looked upon the offence as a serious one.

Captain Halsey presented a flag; from the school children of Wellington, in Shropshire, to the school children of Wellington, New Zealandr^Press Association. An Auckland Press Association, telegram states that a number of milk vendors were fined to-day, the trouble in the majority of cases being an excess of water. The fines ranged from; £5 to £2, according to circumstances. The magistrate remarked that milk prosecutions were becoming too frecjuent, and that he would in future inflict £5 as the minimum penalty

A Dunedin Press message reports that advice has been received by the tiolioe from the Union Company that the American Consul at Papeete is making inquiries concerning Miss Nellie Donoglme, who left Dunedin. !by the Moeraki on March 26th fotf Wellington, where she joined the* Aorangi for San Francisco. She was accompanied by a girl two years old, who is said to have been abandoned in Papeete. The police have been unable to ascertain if the woman is a resident of Dunedin. Her fare from Dunedin to 'Frisco was paid by a man living in the latter town. The ohild was carried free.

A decidedly discreditable state) of affairs was indicated in a peculiar discussion that took place, at the ..Lake County Council meeting last week. According to the Lake Wakatipw Mail's account, when the clerk asked for instructions regarding certain burial expenses } Councillor Johnston made a complaint about the poverty of the coffin provided in the case of a death that occurred recently at Skippers. The coffin, he said, was. partly made of kerosene and whisky, cases. He himself saw parts of tIW whisky cases at the end of the coffin, which was painted with lampblack. He felt ashamed of it, and was sure that the members of the County Council would not sanction such a coma as the one he had described. He was not previously aware that the council paid for such coffins. After discussion the clerk was asked to find out the law on the subject, arid to interview the makers of the coffin odmplained of as to the timber put inta the coffin.

Hazleton Sullivan, a, young man who shot himself in the arm and thigh at Melbourne to soften the heart of the Victorian Government, is now extremely sorry. He has been suffering: excruciating agony, and he says that he would never have turned his revolver upon himself if lie had known how much agony a bullet in the legmeans. Sullivan is a bright, active, ambitious man, and has been trying: to buy a Mallee block on time payment. He saved £72 in the Murraydistrict, but the payment due for his. land was £120. He was at his wits' ends for money to meet this bill, a* he feared to be turned off the land. By some extraordinary freak of" thought he decided that. if he could make a sensation by getting the public to believe that he had been shot and robbed, the Government would say, "We will hold up this account foianother year." Sullivan held to his story until three detectives put on the third degree in the hospital ward and then he collapsed. He said that: all the story about the masked men and the fighting and robbery was a farce.