LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIX, Issue 11, 14 January 1915, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

The ordinary meeting of the Blenheim Borough Council will be ■ held to-night.

A whale that drifted ashore on the Dutch coast recently was riddled by three-inch shells. It had apparently been mistaken for a submarine.

Messrs Wintringham and Mitchell have received advice that in the Corona road race, held in .the United States recently, Barney Oldfield finished second in a: Maxwell car with an average speed >of 86.24 miles per onur> rt and ran *he-whole distance-of d 01.82 miles without a stop.

fins morning the Omaka Road -Board appointed Mr R. J. Bell (chairman) and Mr S. M. Neville to represent it at the conference of local bodies being convened by the Marlborough Executive of the Farmers' Union for consideration of the Board ot Agriculture's- circular on the administration of the Noxious Weeds Act.

The jubilee of the Methodist Church in Marlborough is to be celebrated by a number of functions in March. A strong committee, to arrange details, was appointed by the qirairterly meeting, with Messrs B J. Cooke and L. A. White as joint secretaries. All surviving ministers who have occupied the Blenheim and Tua Marina charges are to be invited to be present.

Our Picton correspondent writes:— : The members of the Picton Bowling Club and their friends held their an- , nual picnic yesterday at Torea. The . s.s. Elsie was kindly placed at the i club's disposal by Mr Perano, and j made two trips, well loaded, across to j Torea, where an enjoyable time was j spent. i

j The second distance (50 yards) for ] the Martin Cup was swum at the; Municipal Baths last evening, and i resulted as follows : —E. Lucas (Bsec) !1, K. Maurice (7sec) 2, J. Emerson ; (scratch) 3. Also started: V. Beasley ! (6sec), N. Hale (Bsec), and E. Harvey ' (12sec). The time was not taken. [ 'I"he points for the cup so far are: Maurice 5, Lucas 4, Beasley 3, and i Emerson 2

I After reprinting a paragraDh which recently appeared in the columns of The Eixi'KESS regarding the foxglove pest in the Nelson district and the menace of its spreading to the Pelorus, the Colonist says: "Foxglove lin tha Wangamoa is now flourishing ! freely, and the hillsides are a blaze of j purple and white. There is no doubt that this pest is spreading to an alarming extent."

The dryness of the season bias had a somewhat singular effect upon the soil in and around Blenheim. In the vegetable gardens, where the ground is fully exposed to the sun and wind; the soil has become totally devoid of moisture, and if watered by hose or watering can, small pieces will float bn the top of water which may accumulate in a depression. Further, the soil has an oily appearanco, and the water, even ' when continuously sprayed on, will not penetrate to a depth of an inch.

An. Express representative, in con-1 ' versation to-day with a business man whose firm has dealings in flour, was given some idea of the profit made by the bakers on present prices. Up to yesterday, when a. further rise of £1 took place, bakers were charged £14 10s per ton for their flour—less 7s 3d discount and os lOd for sacks returned, or £13 16s lid. A ton of flour produced 650 41b. loav-es, which, at lOd (the price at the door) realised £27' Is Bd. Deducting the £13 16s lid a profit of £13 4s 9d remained. Th;s, said the merchant, oledrly proved that the millers were not making all the profit.

The Mapourika, when nearing Wellington from Wcsjtport on Tuesday morning, burst one of her steam pipes, and had some difficulty in berthing. The scene was a strange one, the noise created by thei hissing steam pipes being deafening. From the entrance ,to the wharves the Mapourilca was indiscernible, huge volumes' of billowing vapors completely enveloping her. Orders from the bridge had to be shouited with the full force of the lungs to be at all audible, and the captain had a trying time. With some difficulty the vessel was berthed, and the damaged pipe was repaired during the day.

The telephone induction in Picton is" as bad as it possibly can be, and we again appeal (to the Department to rectify matters. Private communications between subscribers is at the present time well nigh impossible, and one often inadvertently listens to conversations between others (that he has no business to hear. The present system is not conducive to an extension of the subscribers' list; in fact, many have threatened to be disconnected unless the trouble is rectified. We were promised a metallic circuit by the Department some little time ago, but it has apparently .-"vanished into thin air," the tightness of money on account of the war being the excuse for the delay.—Press. "■.'•.'»■•'.

.Larly in the present year the biennial local body elections take place. Under the legislative amendments of three years ago, all local body elections are now to take place upon the one day, so that in April next the electors will be asked to vote for the return of Mayors and Councillors, members of Harbor Boards, members •■ of Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards, and possibly members of School Committees. Prior to the legislative enactment in question each local body held its election upon a different day. Five separate election issues will now be submitted on the one day. In the past Mayors have always been elected annually, but under recent legislation it is now provided that the Mayor, in common with the Council, shall in future be elected for a two-year (term.- The coming election, therefore, will be the first occasion upon which a Mayor will be elected to office for more than a year.

What is a rabbit dog? Patone councillors attempted to solve this problem the other evening the subject cropping up through a councillor drawing attention to the fact that many, owners of sporting dogs were under the impression tilat they were only liable to a dog tax of 2s 6d per annum, the amount fixed for rabbit dogs. Some councillors contended that all sporting dogs were essentially rabbit dogs, % sfcatment tK™6^ 01?* a u emanation from the Town Clerk, who stated the distinction as defined hy the Act. After further discussion (reports the Post) the matter dropped as " the-council officers would see that /the proper taxes were paid." fuper

It is notified in the last Gazette 5 that the kea (or mountain parrot), i hawks of all species, and various species of shags are. not to be deemed '. protected. i The tango is dead in Paris. Eccenj trie fashions have vanished and Red I Cross uniforms are seen everywhere. I French women declare that they i would have been unable to stand the [ rigors of nursing, but for the harden- > ing of the muscles by dancing for i hours daily last season.

j A Campbell-Stokes sunshine re- ! oorder Jias been established,/ at the I Nelson lighthouse (on the Boulder • Bank), by the Rev. D. C. Bates, i Government Meteorologist. By means ! of this up-to-date instrument the sunshine for which Nelson is noted will be accurately recorded. The war has had a striking effect on industrial unrest in England. According to the Board of Trade I statistics for September, only 23 I disputes arose in that month, involv- ( img 3000 workpeople. Jn the corresponding month of 1913 there were 124 disputes, involving over 90,000 workers.

A man who was charged at the Auckland Police Court with having left his horse and cart unattended in Customs Street the other day, blamed the Onehunga complaint for it. He got the complaint and tried to cure it with three brandies and port wine, the result being that he not only forgot all about the complaint, but also all about his horse and cart, which wandered the street till the police took possession.

The Wimmera, which arrived at Wellington the other day from Hobart, carried an unwilling passenger in the person of a member of the Tasmanian defence force. This young man, who was in uniform, stated that he went on board the vessel >at Hobart to see some friends off, and inadver<tently fell asleep. When he awoke the vessel was well on her way to New Zealand. The Defence authorities are making arrangements to return the soldier to his own State.

Professor Fawsitt, of Sydney University, who is on a short visit to New Zealand, informed a New Zealand Times reporter that there was no visible increase in the cost of living in Sydney as a result of the war. Bread was still 3-Jd <a> loaf when he left, though there^was some talk of increasing the price to 4d. He1 appeared surprised to learn that bread was about to cost 5d a loaf in Wellington, and was already .costing much more in some country districts.

A resident of Timaru who has just returned from a trip to Auckland, albtended the Auckland Cup nuotiug. While thei-e (says the Herald) he saw what he had never seen before, but had occasionally read about, namely, a man who, under the excitement of a good win (it was when Warstep won the Cup), threw money out of his pocket up in the air, by handfuls, not once, bu*t several times, andi let those round about him scramble for,it. This appeared to relieve his feelings sufficiently to allow him to go to the totalisatoi" and, collect liis dividend quietly.

Paradoxical as it may seem (says a local paper), probably - the greatest traveller in the Poverty' Bay district Is a man who has rarely been more than a lew miles from Gisborne. This is Mr W. F. Ha'tten, who has just completed his fortieth year as driver of the Gisborne-Ormond coach Father Carran, of Ormond, who evidently has a- bent for figures, has gone careiuly into Mr Hatten's "mileage" during this long period, and estimates that Mr Hatteia has driven his coach back and forward over the 14-mile, road 280,000 miles, or a trifle more. This is equivalent to journeying 20 times to England, or eleven times round the world, or seven times to the moon. During his 40 years as a coachdriver, Father Garran estimates, Mr Hatten has worn out no fewer than 4700 odd horseshoes, iand he has carried 2108,000 parcels.

A remarkable spirit of comradeship was displayed by two victims of the blasting accident at Patuahi quarry (says the Gisborne Herald). Although so painfully burnt, they apparently did not lose consciousness. It is stated that when the other workers picked them up, another ran and „brought some water, which was offered to the younger o-f the two men. The latter, however, promptly directed it to be first offered to the "boss," who, likewise, out of consideration to his fellow-sufferer, directed that it should be given to his mate, as he was in. the worse condition of the two. It is related by one of the workmen i that on being picked up the foreman, j with remarkable possession of his i senses, directed one of the men to go I over and take from his coat the timebook and forward it to the County Engineer; Both men succumbed to ! their injuries. |

It is anticipated by some who axei in a position to form a correct opia-< ion that the price of beef will be extremely high next winter, for the reason that the works are now killing, cattle that are really only in store condition, thus drawing on supplies that would ordinarily be ready for killing by the winter.

Mischievous small boys, youths o£ the larrikin type, and even young girls are the cause of considerable worry and anxiety to the officers o£ the Petone Borough Council. So many acts of wanton destruction of council property are continually taking place that the position is becoming: alarming, especially when the guilty ones continually succeed ' in escaping the; consequences. Only recently according to the sewerage engineer (Mr RFox), no fewer than ninety 12-inchl pipes were destroyed, while windows in the pumping stations are continually being broken. The council finds it difficult to remedy matters, and, has finally had bo solicit the assistance ofl the Justice Department. At the last meeting of the council it was resolved to make certain suggestions to the Department; also to communicate' with the local police.