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Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13847, 28 August 1919, Page 3

At the request of the North Otago Hydro-Electric Committee,-Mr E. P. Lee, M.P., communicated with the Minister of Public "Works, urging him to have the survey of the country south of Timaru made, with a view to a complete plan of electrical supply for the South Island. A previous application to have a transmission line surveyed between Timaru and Oamaru had been made..and the Minister lias now replied as follows: —"If you refer to survey of transmission line from Timaru to OaniarUj that is being proceeded with. If, however, you are referring to initiation of a new hydro-electric scheme from the Waitaki, I am afraid that cannot be dealt with at present." Mr Lee is being urged to continue to press the Government for a complete survey of the balance of the South Island, as the policy of the Committee, as expressed at its last meeting, was that local bodies should not call in outside engineers unless forced to do so by the refusal of the Government to act. or by its unreasonable delay m the matter. v Mr G. McGregor, the famous wicketkeeper and batsman —news of whoso death has iust been received in NewZealand, was born in Edinburgh on the 31st August, 1869, and was educated at Uppingham and Cambridge, He secured his "blue" as a freshman at Cambridge in 1889. The two following'years were his most successful seasons at Cambridge. Against Sussex, at Brighton, he made 131, and against the Australians, at Cambridge, he scored 78 not out and 31. Subsequently he appeared for Gentlemen v. Players. In 1891 he captained Cambridge, and was one of the most consistent run-getters in a-trreat eleven. McGregor visited Australia in IS9I-92 as wicket-keeper, with an English team. From that time onward he was identified with Middlesex, which he captained until 1908, when he gave up the reins to P. ■ F. Warner. As a wicket-keeper, without being showy, he accomplished some notable performances. In a Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord's not a single bye went past him in two innings. In his last season of regular cricket he not onlv gave no bves or leg-byes m two innings in a Middlesex v.- Kent match, but he ; also caught six men and stumped six in that game. The Committee of the Oamaru Middle School invites parents and friends to attend at the school grounds to-morrow, Friday 29th instant at 2.45 p.m. to take part in the planting of a memorial oak in memory of the late Lieut. J. Cowan.

A member of a local business firm transacting extensive financial operations informed us this morning that North Otago is experiencing a period reminiscent of the boom of ten or twelve vears ago. Money is very plentiful, he said, and for every ten investors of sums up to £IOOO there is only one borrower. Tt seems to be t.ie common experience of financial concerns that, at the current rate of interest monev is verv difficult to place, and it is generally agreed that if the moratorium were removed now instead or being.. extended for a further period, mortgagors would have little difficulty in meeting their responsibilities.

A handsome donation of £SO to the funds of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association has been given bv the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, which preferred a straightout gift" to taking up the non-interest-bearing debentures being offered by the Associtaion.

The purchasers of land on the Cab ramatta Park Estate have had a remarkable stroke of fortune (says the Sydnev Morning Herald). The estate is owned bv the well-known property salesman, Mr Hugh Pritchard. of Auburn, .who. it is stated, received a Divine inspiration to make a. peace offering by releasing from their liabilities all the clients on his books to July 14 on Cabramatta Park Estate and other estates. This he has done by giving them clean receipts and free ' transfers. The aggregate amount of the gift will, it is estimated, run into £20,000. He has not only given a complete clearance to those who have purchased from him land on the instalment system on his various estates, but he' has wiped out debts owing to him to over £2OOO. One purchaser of land on the Cabramatta Estate has been handed a receipt for £431, two others for £2OO each, and several for over £IOO. It would seem that those who were behind in their payments reaped the greatest advantage. Several, it is stated, had taken advantage, of the Moratorium Act. and got sadly behind in their payments. They, too, got a clear discharge, while those who struggled on and succeeded in paying off the whole of their indebtedness got nothing. In a reminiscent moment at the Wellington Orphans' Club on Saturday evening Admiral Jellicoe told a story of a Yankee destroyer commander who had sunk a U-boat. He had wirelessed j "Sunk Gewiian submarine, latitude 55 north, longitude. 22 west. Where am I?" Sir Lewis Bailey, Naval representative at Queenstown. who received the message, was puzzled, for the captain had given his exact position. So he submitted the message to an American naval man, who explained that the American destroyer commander wanted to know what class he was in (as the result of having sunk a submarine). Mr L. J. Martin, of the Minories, who has cornered the linen market by purchasing, for £4.000,000, surplus aeroplane stocks, which cost Britain £6,000,000, is a' speculator pure and simple. lie says he does not know linen from cotton. Several offers had been received by the Department when Mr Martin unexpectedly put in his big offer, and after a few days' negotiations it was accepted. The linen was made to cover the wings of fighting aeroplanes, and is both light and strong. There are 16 varieties, and the widths vary from 25 to 72 inches. The fabric can be used for clothing, household linen, handkerchiefs, etc. No finer linen was ever produced. The deal represents three years' norma! supply, and will be very mftch in demand by the markets of the world, which at present are denuded. Mr Martin intends, as far as possible, the British public, shall have all the linen it requires at prices under those at which Belfast can now manufacture, and the balance of his goods will be sold to our Allies in neutral, markets. Mr Martin is an active man, looking younger than his 37 years, and with a quick, decisive manner of conversation. "T am the- son of a Truro outfitter," he said,' 'and started makinoj money when I was 18 years of age. I ! really had less than a couple of hunj dred pounds to begin with."

Advice that it is still unlawful to fly the .White Ensign on shore without the permission of a naval authority has been received bv an Auckland resident from the naval'adviser. The regulations on the subject/were gazetted in 1917, and remain in force until one year after the war. Permission will therefore have to be obtained before the White Ensign is-flown during the visit of Lord Jellicoe to Oamaru. .

While in Indianopolis a Southland resident saw the annual meeting of the "Shiners," a wealthy Masonic lodge that holds its annual gathemig at a different meeting place each year. During the Shiners' meeting in Indianopolis a procession of Freemasons was held, and it took two hours and ten minutes to pass a. given point. The procession contained 30,000 Freemasons, and they were accompanied by forty-seven bands. "New Zealand wants a publicity bureau very badly in America," said a returned traveller the other day, "as only about one in every ten Americans knows that such a country exists, and their ideas about New Zealand are very hazv. If more" prominence were given to New Zealand it would- result in a great amount-of--tourist traffic coming this way from the States, and there would also be a" considerable number of American workman emigrating if they knew more about' the conditions under, which the New Zealand workman lives" ' »• -

Three Oamaru soldiers returned by the train from the North-this morning, two Messrs Crisp, of Waia'reka, and W. Robertson, of Oamaru. The Oamaru Horticultural Society's schedule for the forthcoming season has been printed and copies can now obtained from Messrs Deal, Strachan, 'and Rodman. For coughs and colds, Take "Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. President Wilson has evidently been reading about- Oamaru women lifting the world into higher ideals by means of "GOJ/DEN RULE' Soap. "GOLDEN RULE Candles, •'GOLDEN RULE" Writing Tablets. "GOLDEN RULE" School Rulers, "THINKER'S" Pictorial Penny Note Books and the. famous "NO RUBBING" Laundry Help. For Chronic Chest Complaints, Woods' Great Pennermint Ciua. - "NAZOL" cures Coughs, Colds, Bronchitis, Influenza,' Nasal, Catarrh, or Cold in the Head. It never fails. Sixty doses Is Gd. Get a Nazol Inhaler. , Don't lie awake with cold feet listening to the clock tick-tick-tick, and wish you could sleep. ACT. Get a UNIQUE North British Hot Water Bottle with the patent stopper. The cost is small compared with the comfort. , , 39 Only best plantation rubber backed by British brains and capital go to make' up the "Uniciuo" succes3 of the •Tninue" brand Hot Water Bottle. Sold "and recommended by leading retailers everywhere. <*'