OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2433, 31 October 1900, Page 11

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The Tuapeka Times states that Mrs Bennet, wife of Mr James Bennet, M.H.R., is seriou>ly ill.

The survey of the Tokonui extension of the Seaward Bush-line has been completed over all the difficult grades.

A new 'Stock Exchange and block of offices are to be erected in Pitt street^ Sydney, at a cost of about £28,000.

The West Australian - gold yield for September was ' 14-8,3050z, being the highest monthly return for the current year.

A total of 111,071 passengers were carried on the Sydney, suburban railway lines on Labour Day, being the greatest number on record.

The New South Wales .Government will not relax the Early Closing Act to allow cordial manufacturers, to keep their men after hours during the summer.

The New South Wales Colonial Secretary says that the Government is determined to build railways wherever the needs of districts warrant their construction.

Miss Speed, whose mother resides at Picton, at one time on the nursing staff of the Wellington Hospital, has been appointed to a senior nurseship in the Military Hospital at Wynberg, South Africa.

The Rev. John Watt, of Hunterville, has received a unanimous call to the new Waitaki charge of the Presbyterian Church. The presbytery meets at Tiir.aru on the 30th of this month to consider the call.

Mr J. Rogers, of Greymouth, has shown the Westport Times a sample of crude petroleum taken from the rocks at Kotuku, about 22 miles from Greymouth. A company to work the oil will shortly be formed, the promoters having secured six 100-acre blocks on eapy terms.

At the annual soiree of the Tapanni Presbyterian Church last week the Rev. Mr Bege^ was presented with a purse of sovereigns and a oilver-mounted inkstand as a token of esteem and in appreciation of his efforts to improve the musical portion of the services in the clnirch.

The energy and assiduity displayed in their work during the past year by the employees of Messrs W. Strachan and Co., under the management of Mr Withers, has been .recognised by the proprietary making a donation of a bonusj equal to one week's wages, to each employee.

Since Mr King was appointed conductor of the Milton Brass Band, about nineteen months ago, no less than £105 worth of ,iew instruments have been purchased (says the Bruce Herald). In addition to -— s large expenditure, a debt of £t>o, which was btanchng before he took office, has been completely wiped out.

In the course of a letter, n-iblished in the Nelson Colonist, Lieutenant Jickell, of the Nelson section of the fourth contingent, states that after the engagement at Oltoshoop large quantities of Martini-Henry, dum-dum, and poisoned (verdigris-covered) bullets were found oa Monowai kopje, having been used by the Boers during the engagement.

A young lady met with a painful accident in Invercargill on Monday evening. When dismounting from her bicj^cle she slipped and fell on the road, and on rising found her leg broken -between the knee and ankle. She attempted to walk away, but, of course,' could not, and a result of the effort was that the bone projected through the flesh. Says the Grey Star: — "One thing can be said for Mr Hawkins : in addition to his 'outspoken tendency,' he has shown since he came to the Coast a thorough desire to study the public convenience at all times, never caring how long or how inconvenient the hours were to himself. As a matter of fact, our warden does more work than any other warden in the colony — and he does it well."

Messrs Petrie Bros., flaxmill owners, had the misfortune to lose considerably by fire on Saturday night (says the Wyndham Herald). A glare of fire was noticed in the dry fibre by Mr Petrie while fixing the scutcher. He grasped a burning bundle to throw it away, but the fire spread like a flash. The mill was destroyed, but the engine was saved. There was no insurance, and the loss is £100.

A letter received by the last mail by his parents from Trooper A. Peterson, of the third coatioaent, who was shot through ths

thighs by a British sentry after makikif. ht& escape from the Boer prison at Nooltgedtpht,/ contained the information (says the Napierj Telegraph) that at the time of writing he was convalescent, ,and able to get about, althoughl slightly stiff from the effects of the wound, j An outcrop of first-class building eton« has been known to exist on the Totara estata (says the North vOtago Times), and Mr Ji* Macpherson, with others, is opening up a face with the object of placing the stone on the market. The syndicate feel so confident of the stone finding a ready market that operations will be carried out on a large scale. Specimens will be sent to the Cliristchurch Industrial Exhibition.

The Tuapeka Times says that Mr W. J. Gibb, who has been employed as telegraphist in the Lawrence Post Office for the past two years, has been promoted to Port Chalmers. Prior to his departure, he was entertained at a social by the Christian Endeavour 'Society, and was presented by the seniors with a silver pencil case, pair of gold sleevelinks, and a handsome pocket-book, while the juniors intend forwarding a souvenir. Another batch of alleged sly grog-selling cases came before Mr Northeroft, S.M., at Te Awamutu last week. A Native named Hauporoa, a first offender,, was fined £20, and £15 14s 6tl costs. Another case was adjourned, and one was dismissed. Mr Norlhcroft said that in future he would punish sly grog-selling by imprisonment without the option of a line, as fining did not seem to be a deterrent. Nothing could be ■norse than the piesent state of things.

Rats are evidently very numerous in cho Tuapeka district. The Bruce Herald is informed that Mr S. Henry, of Lawrence, destroyed over 1500 of the rodents while threshing operations were being carried on at his (Bellamy) estate. Closely woven wire netting was placed round the stacks, while the grain was being threshed, to prevent the rats lrom escaping. It is said that Mr John Roberts, of Tuapeka Mouth, trapped over 1600 rats around his stacks during the winter.

Speaking at Reef ton the other day, the Rev. Mr Dart recommended etrong efforts being | made to suppress " the beastly habit of smoking." It was, he said, quite a common occurrence to meet young boys marching up and down the streets with pipes<in their mouths, wholly indifferent to — because entirely ignorant of— the evil effects of the pernicious custom. Morally, mentally, and physically, tobacco was. injurious to them, and no efforts should be spared to discourage the tise of the seductive weed. Some people have queer ways of showing their hero worship. The Wanganui Herald commenting on this feeling, cnys that the registration of names with an official not a hundred miles from Wanganui suggests that the birth of the little ones and their nomenclature will in time to come bring back recollections of the present Transvaal war. For instance, amongst the males thus registered we have a Kitchener, 2 lans, 4 Hectors. 1 leavers, 1 White, 2 Ttoberts, 2 Winstons, 2 Hector Macdonalds, 1 Powell, 2 Badens, 1 BadenPowell, 1 Maf eking, 1 Symons, 1 Pretoria, and 1, Bundle. Regarding the 'visit of the North Island Maoris to the Ghristchurch Jubilee Exhibition," "the' Chief Tuta Nihoniho (of Poverty Bay)^ writes "to Mr - Carroll announcing his intention' to take a number cf the Ngatiporou tribe to the Jubilee. " I will," he says, "make a selection of the young men and young women of Porourangi for that representation,, and also collect- Mao^i mats, Maori weapons, etc., such as are Used by the Maoris on such occasions. Perhaps gens will be 'obtainable, in Ohristohurch, for the war danct. My wiph i's to get o^er 100 poisons from this place." -l 'The Southland Times reports the death of an early settler of Southland, Mr Robert Hargreaves, who passed away on 23rd inst. 'in his seventy-eighth year. He was identified with the railway system of Southland — indeed of the colony — from its inception. He came out from England with Mr Wm. Conyers in 1863 to erect the first locomotives that ran on the Bluff line in the public service, that being also the first railway in New Zealand. The fitting un of the engines being completed, Mr Hargreaves was drafted into the Southland railway service, and . became head of the locomotive department, a position he held till some year 3 after the lines were linked up from Bluff to Christ rlmrch. Then lie was engaged in the service of the New Zealand Railway department for a short time, but practically retired some years ago. A Waikato trooper now in South Africa says that whenever a farm or a store was met with tho Bedford men would set enough to last them a day, but the New Zealanders would be carrying fowls' for a week — in faot, their ["camp was like a little farmyard, and whenever ! the 'Roers heard the 1 cocks crowing in the morning on the veldt they knew the New Zealanders were about, and it wad time to clear.

On Monday, 22nd hist., the bricklayer? and labourers engaged in erecting the new Winstanley retort benches at the gasworks met to present Mr George Newman (Winstanley's representative) with a handsome gold-mounleJ. walking-stick (New Zealand grasstrec), accompanied by an illuminated address. . Mr H. B. Courtis, gas engineer, mr.de the pieEentation, and on behalf of the men expressed their high appreciation of the kind manner in which Mr Newman had always treated them. The address mentions that ihe Dunetlin Gasworks is tho firs=!: . to inaugurate Messrs Winstanley's new regenerator furnaces, and .concludes by saying that the work turned out' by Mr Newman will defy competition in any part of ,the world. Mr Newman returned hearty thanks for the men's kindne«s in making the presentation, which he would always treasure, a.nd concluded by saying that lie never wished for a better or more competent gang of bricklayers and labourers than he had under him ai present. «t The death of Mr Hargreaves recalls to mind a historic fact (says the Southland Times) — namely, that the first locomotive that ran in Maoriland took its "preliminary canter'" on the Tnvercargill jetty. The engine—the Lady Barkly— was brought from Ballarat by Mr Davies, the contractor for the Wintoii line, and was designed to run on wooden rails. The " metals " on the jetty in those days were wood with strips of iron overlaid. For such an auspicious occasion the-Southland Government gave permission for th?e removal of the protecting iron, and, the little engine having been with great labour and precautions hoisted out of tho schooner's hold and put on the road, steam was got up, and it puffed up and down its* limited run. to the delight of the early settlers, and amid the wondering " Aue ! auc '." of the Maoris. There came near being gi eater cause for sensation, for the driver was an amateur, and he lost his head on one of tha down runs — couldn't shut off the steam, and! got bewildered over the reversing lever, — the' consequence being that Lady Barkly was onlysaved from taking a header into the harbotu* with half of Southland's governing notables] on board by the stout stringer at the end ofj the jelty.