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Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8038, 14 March 1905, Page 4

On page 2: War cables. On page 3: Commercial. On page 6: Letters to the editor [re " House, rents," and " Sunday excursions." On page 7: Cricket, cables.

Captain Edwin telegraphed to-day: — Moderate to strong winds from between south, and east and north-east; glass fall slowly. s

Mr T. M. McEwen, of Longburn, announces that he will contest the Palmerston seat, at the next general election, as an opponent of the present Government.

The Mount Vernon estate, Hawke's Bay, which has just been taken over for closer settlement, is to be known in future as "Lindsay."

The Japanese are still buying largely of Australian horses for cavalry work. Another shipment will be sent away shortly.

At the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon his Honor remitted the fine of 40s imposed on D. Buick last week for non-attendance, on the grounds that the summons had not been served, Mr Buick being away from home when it was left.

At the Supreme Court this morning, before the Chief Justice, judgment was given for the plaintiff in the undefended case of the Palmerston North Sash and Door Company (Mr Pitzherbert) v. Ellen Matilda Lane, claim £150, on a dishonoured promissory note, with costs of the action.

P.G.M. Bro. S. J. "Watson paid a visit to the Wanganm Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M.U., last night, in connection with the proposed increase in death benefits scheme now before the lodges in the district. The proposal was carried by a majority of 2to 1. The matter comes up for discussion at the local lodge on Thursday week.

Six of.the ten locomotives which the Messrs Price Bros., of the Thames, have contracted to supply to the Bailway Department have been delivered, and the remainder are so well under way that there is every likelihood that they will be completed before contract time expires (July next). The engines which the Messrs Price have already supplied are doing excellent work on the Wanganui section.. •

The following additional trophies have been donated for the cadets' match on Saturday 25th:—Mr E. S. Abraham, champion belt; O'Connor and Tydeman, silver cup for teams'match; W.' Davis, silver medal; W. T. Wood M.H.R., gold medal; J.B.Wishart gold medal; P. Sim, trophy; A. V. Merriman, silvermedal; Trevor &'Son, one guinea; W. Devine, 10s; Dr. Peach, 10s; J. Coombe, 10s ; and A. A. Lissaman, ss.

The Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times telegraphs: Important changes have recently taken place in the New Zealand Times Company. Mr Martin Kennedy and Mr T. W. Watson, two large shareholders, have disposed of their shares to Mr R. E. Bannister, who previously had a large interest in the concern, and have consequently resigned their seats on the Board of Directors. Other changes are anticipated.

A dinner was given by the Government at the Hotel Cecil on Saturday night to the members of last year's New Zealand Bisley team. The Government evidently experience no difficulty in finding money for banquets and dinners but when back blocks settlers desire grants or loans for road construction the reply is usually "no funds." And local residents will recollect the difficulty with which the Government found the necessary funds for the Palmerston post ofhee (which, when finished, will be foun<* to.be too small) ;and, also, that the Premier could only advance JJIOOO of the £5000 loan required by the Borough Council for the construction of the abattoirs.

In conneetiou with a paragraph which appeared in the Standard anent the College street school excursion to Napier and m which strictures were passed upon the railway management, we are advised by the railway authorities that an enquiry has been held into the alleged vagaries of the department. The train conveying the excursionists, it is explained, ran according to the timetable and that it did not leave Napier on the return journey before' the appointed fame, as alleged by some excursionists, ihe stoppages complained of by the excursionists were; it is stated, necessary in order to avoid a dislocation of the regular service.

The Longburn Methodist Church anni versary was celebrated on Sunday afternoon and evening. Large congregations were present on both occasions. TheEey. Mr Crump, of Nelson, preached in the afternoon and gave a fine uddress. Mrs Keggs took the evening service. The music was a special feature of the celebration. A choir of 25, assisted by an orchestra comprising Messrs C. Mowlem, Pittam, Grubb, Jones and Miss McEwen, sang a number of hymns from the choral service " The 801 l Call," Mr J. R. Wingate conducting. Solos were sung by Misses E. Jamieson, A. Prouse, G. Prouse, Chamberlain and others. " The Eoll Call" will be given to-morrow night in its entirety, at 7.30 o'clock.

Cr. Jack has forwarded his resignation as Borough Councillor to the Town Clerk. ,:.'■ S. '; :■■-•. ■

Dannevirke has been promised a new Court House by the Hon W. HallJones. ■'■-■

A tender of £538 i has been accepted for the re-erection of the Grand Hotel atEotorua, which was destroyed 6omc months ago by fire.

Mr J". M. Johnston, a member of the Land Commission, has (says the Post's correspondent) been recalled to, Dunedin owing to the .serious illness of his wife.

ThcDannevirke Advocate understandsl thatSergt.Drnmmond (Dannevirke) hasdecided not to offer himself for selection^, as a member of the next Bisley tearn^ Sergt. Drummond was a member of theteam which visited Bisley last year.

"You seem to me to have no moral sense at all," said Mr H. W. Bishop when convicting a youth at Christchurch on Saturday. " You have proved yourself a liar and a thief, and I aui afraid you won't come to a good end."

A number of sheep, when being driven to Napier from Taradale recently to await shipment to Canterbnry, drank freely of salt water, with the result that 28 were, found dead next morning in the Harbour Board yard and 42 were in such a state of collapse that they are not likely to recover.

The movements of the Norwegian steamer Norge, 2979 tons, seem to be shrouded in mystery. The vessel arrived at the Bluff from Melbourne on the 24th February, and after loading a cargo of oats and produce she sailed on the 28th February for Guam. It is stated (says the Christchurch Press i that the real destination of the Norge is Vladivostock.

The fertility of the famous Mataura Island may be judged by an excerpt from the evidence given by Mr John Graham, at Wyndhaui, before the Laud Commission. The witness said a fairly good return of cow product for a season in Southland, was £6 to JEI2 per head, according to local conditions. His own herd averaged about J2lO per head gross. He had 50 cows on his 250- acre farm, and the milking was carried on by eight members of his family.

Captain Mowlem, coroner, held an enquiry yesterday into the circumstances surrounding the death of the late A. Cameron, drowned in a dam at Stanway on Sunday. Irom the evidence adduced it appeared Cameron had been pretending to be drowning, and eventually disappeared. Those with, him became alarmed when he did not return to the surface, and commenced diving, but, owing to the muddy -water, were unable to find him for some time. Eventually a youth named Marshall brought him to the surface, but, though a doctor was sent for, all attempts at resuscitation failed. A verdict of accidental drowning was returned.

On account of lack of proper conservation and a feasible system of restocking, pheasants have (says the New Zealaud Times), been very scarce for many seasons past in the Wellington district. Some six years ago the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, wishing to remedy this state of things, established a breeding station at Paraparaurnu, but the success attending the experiment was until recently very limited. Last year the society secured the services o£ Mr Hector Koss to take charge of the farm at Paraparaumu. His efforts to raise pheasants have been signally successful, and will, it is hoped, lead to the entire re-stocking of the district. There are at present over two hundred healthy birds in the society's pens. Of these fifty four-months-old birds are to be liberated immediately. Seventy will b» freed in about ten days, and a little later the balance of those hatched and reared at Paraparaumu. As the season does not open until May Ist, it is estimated that all the birds will have acquired " bush cunning " before the time arrives..

In dealing with the question of Easter volunteer encampments, the Wanganui Chronicle says:—"We are, says Lieut.Oolonel Watt, met with the serious obstacle, finance. The Government grant, £085, cannot be exceeded for railage camp allowance, cartage, forage, straw! etc., and the railage of men and horses alone is estimated by the Railway Department at £378. This means that we cannot carry out the proposal without some other assistance. This is truly a nice position in which, to place a responsible military officer. He is instructed to hold a camp, presumably for the benefit of the colony at lar ge ; but before he can hold it he must needs go round hat" in hand and beg for funds. The camp is to go to the place that bidsthe highest, altogether irrespective of whether that place is or is not the most convenient and suitable for the purpose, lhe reason for this sort of thing is not far to seek. It is to be found, likl many other things, in the peculiar and mysterious system of Government finance, which as Mr Seddon frankly admits rational men cannot be expected to understand. It is the defence aspect of the roads and bridges dodge: sbmuc^ voted, so little spent."

During his; evidence before the Land .Commission at Wyndham, Mr James Mime referred to the backblocks settlements m the Waikawa country. He recollected the attempts made to force settlement there. The men who went there were, with but few exceptions, all pampered. Subsequently, as an old dairy farmer, he was commissioned tobuy a number of cows to be distributed among the settlers on easy terras, to help, them to begin dairying pursuits. Cattle being cheap at the time, he was enabled to get together a large herdi of first-rate cows. When he took the cows through, ho was accosted by an -oid settler, who remarked that it was a pity he had not brought milkers along with the cows. It proved a trite observation, for said (Mr Milne) he never came across such a helpless class of persons anywhere else to try their hand at dairying. They knew. absolutely nothing about live stock or farming'and very shortly the speaker came away disgusted. He admitted it had, in the first place, been an honest and well- - meant experiment to settle men on the land in a time of depression; but it would have been far better had they been less spoon-fed and left more to their own resources.

. An appropriation of £300 in the New Plymouth Star Bowkett Building Society was sold the other day for £51.

Mr "W. H. Hawkins, M.H.E., is to lecture at Shannon on Wednesday evening under the auspices of the No-License League.

The Masterton A. and P. Association has decided to support kindred societies in sending a protest to the Government with regard to bone sterilising.

At the S.M. Court this morning, before Mr A. D. Thomson, S.M., an order was refused in the judgment summons case of P. Kirkby Mr Moore Iv. Gaza Barna (Mr Hurley), claim £10.

The potato blight appears to be pretty general in the Taieri dsstrict. Some farmers say it has been noticed for years, but not to any great extent. Many ot them arc not inclined to believe it is the Irish disease.

Admission by the New Zealand Times (the Seddon organ): "It is peculiarly opportune that money should cheapen and colonial securities advance in value when our local resources were approaching the stage of exhaustion."

Mr Kirk, Government Biologist, finds that the potato disease is prevalent right down to the Bluff. It is not so bad as further north, the crop being later, and he urges growers to spray at once, as by doing so they may avoid heavy losses.

Mr Ben. Fuller, has concluded the purchase of the Princess Theatre and Provincial Hotel (Dunedin), the ground running through from High street to Stafford street. The purchase is on behalf of John Fuller and Sons, who now own four theatres.

There was a very large attendance at the meeting called last evening of ratepayers favourable to Mr M. Cohen's candidature for the Mayoralty. Mr Cohen delivered a short address on Municipal matters, his expression of opinion evidently finding favour with those present. He announced his intention of delivering addresses in various parts of the Borqugh at early dates. An organising committee was formed and general details arranged for the conduct of the campaign.

: At the meeting of the Horowhenua County Council on Saturday it was resolved that the necessary steps be taken to form a separate district hospital and charitable aid board for the Horowhenua County, and that the chairman (Mr Venn), and Crs Nodine, Mcßeath, Prouse and Stephenson be appointed a committee to take action in the matter. It was pointed out that by separating from the Wellington district the County would save £500 a year. The idea is to take over the Otaki hospital but not the consumptive hospital, which belongs to the Government.

In dealing with the Land Tenure Commission'a Southern exchange says : —" The leanings of members can only be gauged by the drift of the questions put to witnesses, and from this it is pretty evident that the forces are about evenly divided. The Chairman (Mr M'Kerrow) is too impartial a person to give any indication of his personal leanings, but it is quite on the cards, so evenly are the others divided on the vexed question of leasehold v. freehold, that when the report comes .to be compiled ho will have to exercise a casting vote. Each of the commissioners, it is understood, has to compile an individual report apart from the joint one."

The funeral of the eldest daughter (Lily) of Mr and Mrs A. Browne, of Tokomaru, took place yesterday in Palmerston from the lesidence of her grandparents, Mr and Mrs Gr

Browne, Botanical road. The Bey. C. C. Harper conducted the burial service. Mr and Mrs Browne have received many expressions of sympathy in their sad bereavement, the deceased being only nine years and seven months old. She was a pupil of the Tokornaru school, and will be much missed by her fellow scholars 'there. The many floral tributes of respect and regret laid on the grave included a handsome wreath from the teachers and scholars of the school, who took This method of signifying their sorrow at her early death.

The poßt office noifias that it hai been decided that covers known as " outout" envelopes, namely, thoaa havirg a portion of the pap?r cm out in front to enable the address of the enclosure to be read, are to be prohibited transmission by post after the 33.3t inatani. The officials stale th»t it »is found in practice that the apartare a&coits of the oorners of other lectern becoming inserted, fchm impeding the sorting, while the address of the enclosure in the ' ou:-cuii" envelope is liable to beoine partly obliterated, which ag*in in orferea with suiting. They further state thtt the envelopes interfere with machine stumping a? regards not only themselves, bui also other letterp, in Bomecve* resulting in Jetierr, the corners of which find their way into the aperture, becoming torn.

The Dunedin correspondent of the I Lyttelton Times wired on March 10:— | The rumour that a hint has been given "by Mr Kensington to the chairman of the Land Commission to expedite the taking of evidence, and not to permit the needless roaming over the country sight-seeing, obtains colour from to-day's proceedings at Queenstown. Some of the members wanted an adjournment to permit of a visit being made to Glen-^ orchy, at the head of the lake, but< Mr McKerrow objected, from a sense of duty, declaring that he would sit during the day to hear evidence, even if he had to sit alone. Later on, the chairman put his foot down firmly, saying that time would not permit of an inspection of Glenorchy. Clyde, St. Bathans, Waipiata and Middlemarch have been added to the Ofcago itinerary, bnt the time originally fixed for reaching Dunedin (March i 8) is to be adhered to. The cotnmenis of the newspapers on

the evidence tendered to tbe Laud

Commission are various, but tbe Oamaru Mail haa a useful corr> ctive to conclusions too hastily dr^wa from it If th 6 evidence may be taken as a. guide, it Bay?, Southland "must be a land of weed, if nor. of greed." 'Up to their necka in Ca'ifornian tnistle, ragwort and

other choice products of the vegetable

kingdom," it s.hjf, " settlers ypend their •- waking hours ia seeking a bare patch ia which to drop a piok'e of wheat, an out, or a pocatoi-, and dream of realms ia which there will bo no more leasehold— neither leasehold nor freehold—where the winged thistle seed wiil be fanned into oblivion by the pinions of contented souls. The courageous, lion-hearted men who have ventured intj this Darkest New Zealand see only one way of frightening 'weeds inso subjection. It Is found that the} but seldom grow on freehold land. "Whether it is the impoßiag parchment dei-d ia the mortgagee's safe, or the tffect of the owners indebtedness, or the influence of the money lender's smiles as he gathers in the iaiereat, nobody Jcnows." .