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Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 7544, 18 May 1903, Page 4

I The Palnierston jSortli "Rifles parade for Government luspection in the Drill Hall to-niglit. Tweed uniforms and leggings are to be worn on all parades until further notice. The Papanui arrived in Wellington at G a.m. to-day. Slie sails again on the •ith Juno and already Barraud and Abraham have SReured several passengers who are desirous of visiting the Old Country. Leigh and Cox are offering some!very valuable dairy farms for sale, the quality cf the land is equal to any in the Island—prices low and very reasonable terms See replace advertisement in this issue. The suggcsiiou, several times made, that the A. and P. Association should' keep a members' attendance hook, has sil- last been agreed to, and in future irregular attendants will have a cheek ! upon them that will doubtless effect more than one change in thp personnel of sthe committee it carried out in the spirit it should be. All Saints' ahoir have commenced the practices of ths Mendelsohn's hymn of praiso "Lobgesang," which it is intended to produce ac an early date. This is a wonderful country. The Pccmier has presented a number of live Paradise ducks to the Duke of Arsyle and Lord Oaslow. Of course, it does not) matter much that the ducks were caught out of season, although it is rather good for Mr Seddou to make " presents" when the colony has not only to provide the presents but to bear the whole cost out of.the colonial funds. There are some wrinkles to be learnt on a voyage in the Tilikuiu, and Captain Voss tells of a good dodge ho acquired nt one of the South Sea Islands. To catch the delicate flying fish the natives go out in a canoe with a flaring light and as the fish fly up fora short time a good haul is effected. When he left the island f.he captain utilised ' his imitative faculty. He trailed a sail against the cockpit and lit a llaro near it, and to his dolight he soon hud a shower of Hying ftsli jumping ngainst the sail and falling sensibly into the cockpit to provide a welcome delicacy for mealtime.

The Orouaßridge folk arc to Lave a joint ceremony on Empire Day—hoisting the flag on the flagpole ]usfc erected and opening the new: class-room at the school. Mr M. J. Brookes, manager of the Dresden Piano Co., arrived this morning to conduct the Company's annual sale of pianos and organs at the local agency, Messrs G. H. Bennett and Co. The Order-in-Council, validating the declarations made by the Mayor and Councillor?, has not yet arrived", and in the meantime the Council is debarred from doing any business. The Eev. C. C. Harper and M-s Harper left by tae mid-day train for New Plymouth on a visit to Auckland Mr Harper will be present at the induction of Bishop jtfehgan at Auckland. A man named Cameron, recently Feiiding correspondent of our local contemporary, was arrested at Feild.".ng on Saturday on several charges of theft. At the Palmerston Police Court today Cameron was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and is wanted on other charges under his alias of Maney. It is astounding how fond some people are of sensations. A number of male visitors to the Tilikum took advantage of the opportunity to indulge in a smoke in the saloon of un ocean iirier—an experience they would hardly be able to indulge in at Palmerston again. The advent of a number of ladies on a voyage of discovery, however, rather upset the little party." Oiir contemporary is statins: what is absolutely untrue in publishing the yarn that the Committee of the A. and P Association decided to make an entry on its minutes m reference to Mr W T Woods rejection from the Committee! Une member wanted this done, but those present had more sense than to adopt such a foohsli course. The subject was only broached wiien half the members had left the room, and the Chairman declined to put it before those present. Mr Buckeridge, the mate of the Tilikum, had an excellent record amongst the sledging parties of the Antarctic ship^ Discovery, only two members of the shin s oompany having covered a greater distance on these trying excursions. Although he took very well to the work) and would have been glad to have remained another year, he had the bad luck to be one of the civilian members of the party—most of those on board belonged to the Navy—and when the number or men were reduced to leave more room in the ship all the civilians had to return. Hence the reason of Mr Buckeridge's presence in New Zealand. Hearing that a son of Mr E. Stevens was anxiou? to see him but was prevented from coming to town by illness, Captain Voss, of the Tilikum, thoughtfully agreed to pay the lad a visit yesterday Accordingly, with Mr Buckeridge and several friends, the captain went out yesterday much to the delight of the young fellow. The party were afterwards driven to Awahuri, where the mariners paid their first visit to a Maori pah. Mr J E Hall acted as cicerone, and explained the native customs of the residents. The mariners were delighted with their experience and especially with the appearance of the couutry and the healthy look of the stock they came across. One of the ideas Captain Yoss has proved to be a virtue during his trip in the Tilikum is a sea anchor, which enables a boat's head to be kept across a swell instead of being in the dangerous position of broadside on. This anchor is in the shape of a monster whitebait net, made of canyas. with a hoop at the mouth, and to this idea the captain ascribes the safety, of his craft. On one occasion, however, the anchor caught a a tartar. Whilst lying becalmed in the doldrums a great commotion was observed at the sea anchor, and what looked like a monster bird wjis flapping about its month. A pull or two at the line brought the anchor and its catch near to the vessel, when it was found that a monster turtle had been netted. Visions of turtle soup and all the accompanying delicacies flashed through the minds oi the captain and Ins companion as they merrily hauled the rope in. but the turtle objected and began to kick and struggle with such force that he soon tore his way through the canvas, and it was a disreputable sea-anchor that they hauled on board, torn and shredded about as if it had been through a teasing machine. So that the turtle soup had to exist in their imagination only. _ At the Manawatu A. and P. Association's meeting on Saturday Mr F. J. Nathan, one of the Committee appointed to arrange for lectures on stock, stated that Mr Gilruth, Chief Veterinarian, did not wish more than 25 or 30 pupils at thi lectures, which would be illustrated by numerous diagrams. Mr Nathan added there were already twelve pupils enrolled. The report and syllabus, as already published in the Staxdard, were adopted on the motion of Mr J. S. Wilson, who stated he sincerely congratulated members of the Association and " the sub-committee upon the success attending the steps taken, which he considered most important. Even if the Society only got a dozen pupils they would have done a very great service indeed to the community. Very few knew anything about the diseases of stock and even if they got only a smattering of knowledge it would be of great service and the beginning of technical education which'he always looked to the Agricultural Department to establish in this connection. Mr Wilson added that it might be advisable to endeavour to have the lectures extended to the Kimbolton and i?eilding lectures where they were equally important but the distance prevented many farmers attending. Mr X- S. Abraham took great exception on Saturday afternoon to the great waste of time that occurred when members of the General Committee com-! inenceel to crittcise the reports and recommendations of the sub-committees on various subjects. Mr Abraham pointed out that they always appointed the best men to the sub-committees, men with special knowledge, and yet time after timo ihe General Committee, without going into the subject matter, would ask innumerable questions that only hindered and delayed business. As a busy man he objected to go there and waste an afternoon in an aimless discussion. He thought committees should be given power to act. The latter suggestion elicited Mr Jacob's inevitable reference to the state of the overdraft and the necessity for careful and cautious procedure. Mr Wheeler made <m energetic protest agsinst Mr Abraham's expressions of opinion. He stated that if the country members were not to take an interest in tho reports paid recommendations ot the committees they might just as well leave the management of the Association to the gentlemen resident m town.

We understand that tho Mayor of Palmerston (Mr C. Dunk) has consented to unfurl the flag at the Tokomaru school one day this week. A meeting of the Holiday Committee will be held to-morrow morning to consider the question of observing Monday next, Empire Day, as a holiday. We remind our readers that tonight will be the last opportunity of seeing the Tilikum and hearing Captain Voss and Mr Buckeridge * explain their recent experiences. The Eev. J. Kennedy Elliot, of Wellington, occupied the pulpit at St. Andrew's Church yesterday preaching to large congregations both morning and evening. In the afternoon Mr Elliot addressed Mr- Jolly's Bible Class. The Eev. I. Jolly preached in Mr Elliot's Church, Kent Terrace, yesterday. It is understood that nothing definite has been decided in Palmerston relative to whether there should be a holiday here on Monday. 25th mst., Empire Day > the chairman, Mr Park, of the Holiday Association, -waiting to see what will be done in the larger centres. Government has decided to close all public offices that day. The advance of civilisation was shown in our olnee yesterday, when a member of the native race resident at Oroua Bridge called in and paid a year's subscription for the "Standard" in advance remarking that one might as well be out of the world as without an up-to-date paper. While Mr Geo. Dart, of Eimbolton, was driving with two commercial travellers along the Kimbolton-Bangiwahia road on Friday night the wheei of the buggy struck a bank on the roadside and capsized the vehicle. The two travellers were unhurt, but Dart sustained severe internal injuries including several ribs broken. Medical "attendance was summoned as soon as possible ard the man conveyed to the XZunbolton Hotel where he is now lying in a somewhat precarious condition. It is not generally known that Mr Buckeridge is prohibited from publishing any of his experiences on the Antarctic ship Discovery, but that is the fact, although his lecturing on the subject is not inter'ered with. It appears that in the ship's articles there is a cluise to the effect that all who sign on are not to publish any narrative ot the voyage until twelve months after the Discovery returns Home. So that the relation of his experiences in the Antarctic regions by Mr Buckeridge h a novelty in several -nays. The A. and P. Association has de cided to charge loo:il football and hockey institutions 25 per cent, of gate and stand takings for the usr cf'the ground or. match days. As hitherto, no charge will be made for ordinary practice. A request from the Campbellstreet School Football Clnh for the use of the ground was refused, for the reason that the boys requiring the ground every day. would disturb the sheep too much- The weekly Saturday disturbance did not have so muck effect upon the sheep. Begarding the last dairy farm compe" tition held under the auspices of the A and P. Association, Mr Tate, one of the judges, states in his report to the Association that from personal inspection it was found farmers had done their best, but from what the judges saw they (the farmers) have not been able to obtain, or not endeavoured to obtain, practical information as to conveniences and what should be more up-to-date designs for the erection of cowyards, yards, ard conveniences for the same. Mr Tate also suggested that in the next competition the best laid paddock might be considered and awarded, say 50 points Some interesting stones were told at the exhibition in the Theatre Eoval on Saturday by both the Captain and mate of the Tilikum. Mr Buckeridge related particulars of the experiments tried in the Antarctic—scientific and otherwise. For instance, to test the effect oi the cold, a surplus kitten was put outside the cabin and died m a little over two minutes— that was a scientific test. The other test was by the members of the crew. They had "pinched" a couple of bottles of whisky, and as there was do safe place to hide it on the boat, it was planted in the ice. "After that," said Mr Bnckeridge, ': when we wanted a drink we had to eat a lump of whisky." The spirits must have been at work on Saturday in the South Sen. Islands. An apology was received from 31r Wt T. Wood. M.H.R. for absence from the A. and P. Committee meeting-. But as ho was not elected to the Committee—and we are assured that he knew that was to be so—no apology was necessary. Of course, it is advisable to add that he has not been communicated with since his rejection, and that the apology neither bore his signature nor was in his handwriting, although the "spooks" do not always work things so smoothly as to make this a reason for doubting its authenticity. An elaborate display of colonial flannels and blankets is now being m^de in the large centre window of the Bon Marche, which intending purchasers of these goods would do well to inspect. The good.-; comprise the productions of every leading mill m the colony, including Xaiapoi. Eoslyn, Wellington and Hawke's Bay. These goods are retailed by Messrs Eoss and Co. at a minimum advance on mill prices, and their values are not surpassed by any drapery firm in New Zealand.—Advt.