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Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11783, 8 November 1912, Page 3

The last mail despatch to arrive m the Old Country prior to Christmas will he the Vancouver mail, baring Oamaru oil Wednesday, 20th November, at 10.30 p.m. Correspondence bv this route is due to reach London on 2;! rd December. At the Trinity College musical examination held by Mr Chsirles Schilsky, Miss Maud CartTvright ws.s highly complimented on lier artistic playing and interpretation of the Chopin '''Nocturne" in F minor, and -i;he Beethoven "Rondo." Mr Schilsky remarked that

she had wonderful talent, and predicted a splendid musical career for her. Sunday, December Sth, has been set ■aside as a Bible-in-Schools Sunday on that day all ministers of all congregations from Palmers to 11 to Waitaki, have been asked! to make reference to the subject from their pulpits, and take other joint action in making prominent the claims of the Bible-in-sehools advocates.

The official opening of the Meadowbank bowling green took place yesterday afternoon in the presence of a large number of the. members and their friends. The President (Mr S. Baker) briefly welcomed the visitors, and afterwards called on Miss Robertson (of Tokarahi) to play the first bowl. The green was then declared open, for the season. Climatic conditions rendered' the customary opening match impossible.

' Mr W. Sang has forwarded us the sum of £1 Is as a contribution to the funds of the Oatnaru Hospital. Two fishermen had an .e-xciting experience about five miles off the Nuggets the other day (says the Balclutha. Free Press). A big whale suddenly appeared near their boat. The cetacean, which was between thirty and forty feet long, came right up to the boat and begain to gambol about it. The men lost no time in turning their boat and making for the shore, but tho whale seemed to take an interest. in the boat, and followed it and every now and then dived under it. and then cam© up again to spout. The men were afraid! lest the whale might crash into the boat and upset it, but fortunately they, reached shore without mishap. Two other whales were seen at the same time, but they did not come near the boat.

Since writing a day or two ago on the subject' of noxious woods, ait example has been brought to the notice of the Ta.ra.nakL Herald! of one way m which weedb are introduced into tins oountry. In a local warehouse a package of dimmed goods imported from England was being unpacked, when: the men engaged in the work noticed 1 among the straw a suspicions-looking flowc-r. On examination', it .proved! to be &. Cah■fornian thistle, evidently, cut with the s!tJr.aw when in blossom, aind) the seed had just about ripened and was ready to germinate as soon as it found a con.renaal home. If it had not been noticed it would have been used! again l for packing, perhaps for some country store, where it would) have been: thrown, out or possibly again used: for packing goods sent to a farm, where the chances are that it would: have a. suitable seed-bed, and in d<ue course the farmer would have discovered' California an thistle on his holding.

A correspondent of the Manchestei Guardian writes: There were 13 of them going to the races —it doesn't matter which races, nor is the time_,of moment. The number was really an accident, but sucli an opportunity to defy superstition was not to be missed; the lata! .number should guide them in all their doings throughout the day. The gicat race of the day came along, and eagerly they referred to tlie thirteenth hoise. And what a horse! Not one of tliem would risk a farthing on him. Thwr folly could hard'ly be carried that far. And so it happened that ever since that day 13 men have been chewing the hitter cud of what might have happened. No. 13 won, and each man of the 13 lias told me separately many times that he is £330 worse off than he ought to be. They can run over every detail ot that race with the fluency of a professional reciter, and have relating to the odds at the very tips or their tongues as pat as ever bookmaker had it. Two persons who were on a trestle bridge near Patea were surprised by a train and had to jump into the river beneath. The Patea Press states that the affair liad more of the .element of tragedy than of comedy in _ it, Mr | G. Tinney, one of the actors, just leaping off the bridge in time. His companion, Miss O'Grady, who cannot swim, was almost insensible when be reached lie-r, and had- he not been a good swimmer she would assuredly have been drowned. As it was, it took linliey all his time to swim with lus burden against tlie strong tide that was running out towards the sea. During tlie last two days, says the Dominion, Wellington- lias been visited by the accredited; representatives of the two big German steamship lines which at present trade between Australian ports and Germany. Both, have made a general inspection of the wharves ana shipping . facilities of the port, with which they were favorably impressed. One of these visitors was Herr M. Boger, a director of the German-Aus-tralian Steamship Company of Ham- " burg, who called; a.t the office of tlie Harbor Board, and met the Chairman of the Board (Mr R. Fletcher). Mr Fletcher afforded him full 'facilities for inispeciting the port, and) gave him the assurance that the Board would assist any new company which, may do business there. The other shipping representative who is touring the dominion is Herir Plate, representing the powerful North German Lloyd Steamship Company. It is iindterstood; that the visitors are collecting information regarding the ports of New Zealand with ■a view to a possible extension of their business to these waters in the event o; Germany throwing open her ports to frozen meat. An experimental shipment from Australia has already been admitted, and: it is thought very possible that Germany may revise her meat tariff. If that is done, the German lines operating in Australasia are bound to become concerned. A lad ot fourteen came before the Juvenile Court, Napier, upon a charge of stealing letters, on Monday. Some time ago the boy reported to his employer that he had lost the. key of the post office bos. Since that time several letters have been massed, and Detective Kemp was communicated with. To catch the thief, an electrical arrangement was attached to the keyhole of the box, so that whenever .the key was inserted a bell rang. The plan was successful. The bell rang, and the boy was discovered in the act. Tlie following authentic tale, states the Auckland Star, comes from a South WairaTapa station, and shows the immense power possessed by a bull. Two shepherds were driving hulls from various paddocks and bringing them down "to the homestead. As each fresh bull was added to the mob there were trials of .strength and) savage skirmishes between the various members of the herd. At one gate a large roan -Shorthorn bull was waiting for tlie rest, and as soon as the gate, was opened he charged out, and, after the usual roaring and grunting, came to locks with a wellgrown red Shorthorn bull of equal size. After several bouts with horns locked, the red bull slipped past the roan's guard, and, getting him- fairly under the body, heaved him over the fence into the paddock he liad just come down. The roan bull weighed nearly a-ton, and liis body cleared the. fence, one of the posts being broken by his horns. . Another remarkable event from a spectacular point of view was when six or seven bulls attacked one, pitched him down the side of a big hill, hustled him through a gate and over another fence. Paris did not go into mourning when Muleh Hafid went, but he left one sad heart behind him at Versailles, in. the Rue de la Paroisse. There a woman was attracting the attention of passersby by her gestures and incoherent words. A crowd gathered' round her, and soon the police were on the scene. " The poor woman was under the delusion that she was a member of the ex-Sultan's harem, and that she had been left behind without" resources at Versailles. She implored the police to give her sufficient moriev to enable her to join her lord and master. The commissary of the police, before whom she was taken, calmed her by .the assurance that after a few formalities she would be able-to start : for Morocco. Tlius consoled, she allowed herself to be taken to the policfe court infirmary. „ , , The Grand' Duchess of Hesse has hit u'pon a novel scheme for propagating the knowledge of how to fight consumption. On her recent visit to a hygiene exhibition at Darmstadt she saw some matchboxes with printed instructions'on the reverse side what to do and what not to do in order to avoid the spread of tubercular contagion. The boxes were samples. Several million had been made to the order of some South American Government. The Grand Duchess lias now succeeded in inducing all the match manufacturers of the Grand; Dually to place these instructions on the back of every box they sail, the price to remain the same. IlKfe..

. Sandy Alexander, a negro who has ati tained the great ago of 111, and who was a servant at White House when Mr Polk .was. President, married, on September 6th, Susie M'Ghee, a blushing bride of 60, at Helena, Arkansas. Tho age of the bridegroom is established by liis own record and by the memory of people who knew him 70 years ago as "Uncle Sandy," 'with three grown-up children. Alexander attributes his activity and health to moderate living, but he is neither a teetotaller nor a nonsmoker. He .recollects vividly the British troops'arriving in Washington in 1812 and the burning down of the White House and the Legislativu Buildings. , . ie Tho Queen is learning to play golr during her visit to Deesidc. Although she has often said that she could not understand the infatuation oF tho ardent golfer, she now appears to be taking it up quite seriously. On Saturday she spent an hour at two "practice holes." and afterwards went nearly round, the course. Her driving was strong, but Princess.Mary described ifc as "occasionally wide." At the close of the lesson the Queen said she found the experience-"very bracing, but tiring." Splitting' headache, can't think, can t see, nervous all day? Steams' Headache Cure gives almost instant reliefMr J. Swindley, Surgeon Dentist, will visit Kurow, on Thursday next, 14th inst., and may be consulted at Spiers Hotel. . 6^o Since ti.e overwhelming successes ot 'the T'2-16 h.p. "Sunbeam" Cars m tho Grand Prix Race last June, an extraordinary demand has set in. for Sunbeams." In order to prevent New Zealand from going short in supplies, the Chief Agent for the South Island ordered double the estimated requiremonts for tlic season: notwithstanding this the demand has been so phenomenal that every car duo to arrive up to the end of December has been bought by "Sunbeam" admirers. The only hope those who have not already booked their orders have of securing a "Sunbeam" this season is by booking at once to draw from shipments due to arrive next January and February. These will doubtless all be sold before many weeks have passed, immediate application is therefore necessary to avoid disappointment. The District Agent, Mr Searle received orders for two of these cars last week, and immediately made delivery sure for his c lients Arrangements have been made tn O-liihit a ]2-16 h.p. and 16-20 h.p. at the Cliristchureh Show this month. All particulars will be supplied to inquirers by Mr Searle on application.