NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, 14 March 1907, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Owing to the outbreak of measles at Hawera, and 150 children being absent from the District High School on Monday week last, the committee, acting on medical advice, closed the school for a fortnight. "It is going to bo a wonderful winter for grass," remarked the chairman of the Waitotara County Council at the meeting last Wednesday (6th inst.). Several councillors endorsed the chairman's remarks, and said they had rarely seen more grass at this season of the year. . The "Advocate" says the Turakina 1 Maoris are in genuine grief through the death of a very promising young Maori girl of 19, Maggie Waaka. She was at the Exhibition a few weeks ago, and shortly after reaching home was taken ill and succumbed on Saturday to typhoid. During his visit to the Frimley fruit canning factory a day or two ago, the Minister of Labour was waited on by a deputation of factory girls with regard to working overtime. They asked that arrangements might be made whereby they could work more overtime during the fruit season, in order to cope with the quantity they had to handle.. They also asked that special concessions in fares might be given to ' the girls who had to travel by train ' from Napier. In reply, the Minister, I (reports the Hawke's Bay "Herald") said that while he was opposed to much overtime working when there was plenty of labour obtainable, he realised the hardship in the present case, owing to tho difficulty in getting sufficient workers, and the deputation had his > entirs sympathy. He would consider 1 the matter and see what could be done for them. With regard to the special concessions on the railway, he would glace the matter before»the Minister of ailways on his return to Wellington. -Another interesting military device : has been invented by an Australian soldier, Lieutenant Medhurst, of the Tasmanian Corps of Signallers, is the happy man, and his device is a compact field telephone apparatus that weighs about 31b, and so contrived that it can be attached to any stray telephone wire and worked effectively over a distance of 500 miles. The apparatus is entirely new, and opens up a fresh field of development in telephony in war. Lieutenant Medhurst was taken in hand at the end of last year by Major-General Hoad, who handed him over to Lieutenant-colonel Parness, the Director of Engineering, who suggested various improvements to the Tasmanian signaller. Since these improvements were suggested various gentlemen have interested themselves in tho invention, and last month Lieutenant Medhurst sailed for England with letters of introduction to the War Office officials, who have undertaken to get the apparatus thoroughly tested. The Commonwealth Government has already undertaken to purchase several sets if the War Office tests prove the suitability o fthe invention for war purposes. _ No matter how long you have suffered from rheumatism, gout, sciatica, or lumbago, RHEUMO will cure you. All chemists and Btores stock it. Price 2s 6d and 4s 6d. The Kaiser is breaking out in a now place. He is going into the Ch'nji business. He has founded out of his priyat3 treasury a manufactory of majolica ware on his estate at . Cadinen. He .himself laid down all 1 the plans of the new manufactory, and follows its developments with the greatest interest. It is likely "Kaiserware" will be popular amon^ China collectors. His Maiosly is dcing his best to transform rib Cadinen estate into a model property— a kind of German Sandringnam. j The agonising pains, stiffness, and soreness of the points of the muscles, felt by sufferers from rheumatism, is quickly removed by RHEUMO. All chemists and stores, 2s '6d and 4? 6d per bottle. Try it.. " ( Mme. Patti prefers to sing to a small cicle of friends at her own horn« rather than to a large public audience. Her servants are devoted to her and to musi?, and she tells a delightful story cf a chef she had at Craig-y-Nos. "One afternoon, when he could not be found in any of the usual haunts in the castle, I discovered him in the concert hall, sitting with white cap and apron, and doing his best to play "Home, Sweet Home" on the piano. His confusion and apologies on my entrance were too much for me. I had a piano sent to his room, so that he might not lack an opportunity for future practice."

The "Cromwell Argus" (Otago) is informed that the Morven Hills' station clip this year is a good one, and the average o£ the 45J000 sheep shorn at the first shearing is 9Jlb. This must be a record for merino sheep in Otago,. : An interesting present has been sent ' to his Majesty the King from Christ- ' church. It is a parcel of books dealing entirely with New Zealand subjects, produced entirely by New Zealand la- / hour, written mostly by New Zealand I authors, and published by Messrs Whit- ' combe and' Tombs, a New Zealand firm. The works represented in the parcel are:— "The Life and Work of Richard I John Seddon," by Mr J. Drummond, i F:L.S. ; "The Animals of New Zealand," by ,the late Captain Hutton, F.EIS., and Mr Drummond; "The Plants of New Zealand," by Mr R. M. ; Laing, B.Sc., and Miss E. Blackwell ; and "'Emerald Hours in New Zealand," by "Alys Lowth," an English author- i ress. In a letter addressed to his Majesty, Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs briefly refer to the "great Imperialist, I t and humanist," and to what he did for I J New Zealand and the Empire, and they say : — "It is hoped athat the simple story of his life's work will serve as an example to be followed through 1 out your Majesty's vast dominions, and to this end we humbly ask your Majesty's acceptance of the copy which j accompanies this letter." The other works are sent with the object o) "bringing under your Majesty's notice the strides which have taken place, even in this outpost of civilisation, in the science and art of printing and bookbinding." The letter also states that the artisans employed in the printing and binding of the works have, with a few exceptions, been 1 ' trained in the firm's own printing . house. All the books have been spej cially bound in full calf, with gold ' raised bands, and disclose very rich, , dainty, and artistic workmanship. The parcel has been sent through Lord Elgin, Secretary of State for the Coloj nies, to whom the publishers give a ' brief sketch of their careers since they , began by pubKshing some elementary . school books 25 years ago. i The training ship Amokura will be put in practical use in the course of a few days. The first j)atch of 12 aspirants for a naval career will arrive this , week, and another batch of 12 will I be sent for as soon as the first contin- ■ gent has "shaken down," as athe authorities do not think it advisable to bring the whole 70 boys that the ship will accommodate into action at once. Afterwards drafts of boys will be I sent on board at frequent intervals. | Some three hundred boys have applied, ', but many of them are over the stipulat- ■ ed age, and their cases cannot be considered. No boy who is over 15i years of age or who has not passed the fourth standard will be given a chance. The members of the ship's staff are now being appointed, and it is hoped tfiat the ship will be full of recruits and in full going pr.der in .five or six weeks. It is proposed,' after the boys have been under instruction a sufficient time, to j make periodical trips to sea, so that I they may be traine di nthe work which can only come to those who leave the friendly shelter of the land. It is interesting 'to leafen that applications for inclusion in the Amokura's list have been coming in satisfactorily, and also that a large proportion of them have come from country boys. The MinisI ter of Marine (Mr J. A. Millar), under whose ■jurisdiction the ship and the scheme now are," does not anticipate any dearth of applicants; in fact, the chief trouble he anticipates will be that of finding room for all the boy' who waiit to go to sea. He is also pleased with -the class of boys offering. At last Sunday night's meeting of the Dunedin Progressive Society, Mr Joseph Taylor; mining engineer, of Nelson, deljLvere address on "The Proper Foundation and Method of Social and Religious Reform." An audi- ; ence which completely filled the Trades 1 Hall assembled to hear the address. In the course of bis remarks Mr Taylor stated that social. and religious reform grew out- of the same root, and were only different aspects of the same problem. liL-brder to. effect any permanent improvement we must treat the taproot ' of the tree of knowledge by producing, or reproducing, in men the consciousness of "essential oneness, with God conceived as of the Absolute. The most important thing at all, when the term was properly understood, was a man's religion, which gave colour to all his life and conduct. All religious and social activities were for the uplifting of society through the regeneration of the individual', and therefore a commencement musjtbe made with the individual units, and with the internal prior to the external. Throughout history the trouble had- been that would-be reformers had set to work by tinkering at the outskirts of problems instead of striking at the taproot. The proper method was that of love, which reconciled all nnheses and gave conscious oneness with each other and with God conceived of as as the Absolute. During the evening two lady friends respectively sang "The Lost Chord" and "Rocked in the cradle of the deep" in excellent style. At the conclusion of Mr Taylor's lecture an interesting discussion tbok^ place. Mr G. A Rawson was in tile chair. — "Otago Daily Times." .