OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2556, 11 March 1903, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

At Eltham last week a -man wad fined 20s and costs for throwing a dog over the gallery on to the floor of the Atheneeunn Hall. ' - . - From Greymotrth last "iraSktho Blackball Company shipped 2237 tons of coal, and tha Brunner Company 2265. tons coal and^9 tons coke. " - The Timaru Garrison Band lias resolved! '•tO';offer a. salary of £52 *to;Mr T: Millar,; of-Waihi, Auckland, to act as its con-i duotor. " < •'< ' , TKe Levels -County Council has suspended! all contract work for one month to enable! men jto be available for farmers - who are* harvesting. I , »<■?- *.<.__"> ; .•.,*■' J ~ - Petroleum has "been poured over the premises of the Northern llailway Companyat 'Barcelona by >the carmen, who are oa strike there.-' This month is the thirty-second anniversary of the .inauguration of railway construction iv New Zealand under the public .works policy.. . The Minister for Industries and Commerce has informed the Wellington Chamber of Commerce that the question of at uniform fire pplicy will be considered in due course by the- Government. ■ -Theu Ashburtqn.Boronghc Council Jias npH yetdacided as to the .fornx/. which it* memorial -to"'faHenj <l trtx>pj»s^^iaffl and! on Friday "the mat|er_was''referrea r back to the. committee for."further. t deliberation; ■ Rotary ploughs • ara being employedr- oa -the ~,TBaas 'Coast .'inTvaridua localities with' • success.-- The ground is .easily .cub ,by them,' .arid "by means "of a "scoop, road? ia level countryman be formed very cheaply* A .correspondent of the Egmont writing " to that paper frora; South says that country is in a bad state at present,; and. he advises people who think of going there to wait for two years before doing so. The Gaa Works Company of Timaru ara carrying out extension works in order to copo with the increased area; over which, owing to -the development of the town, tho operations of the company have to be cart ried on.' A member of Parliament for ChristchuroK City received notices to attend eight meetings' ~Hha other day.'" He said that as it was impossible for him ,to cut himself up into pieces, he could not be present at all the meetings, but he managed to attend four of them, , \ Jl petition has been circulating in tho borough of North Invercargill for some, tiino calling upon the mayor to take a pott'' out the question of rating on unimproved values. The petition already has more signatures appended than the minimum number required by law. With reference to" the. proposed^new town! hall for Invercargill, the Southland JDaily, News understands that overtures have beep made to ' the Invercargill Borough Council' for a lease of the building, if erected, at ai rental sufficient to cover the annual cost of it to the borough..- . . . ,The,Oamacu.,Mail.iayß that .if. .the^state'merft^. that '.Mr s;nce{ v he/lef t "Sem ■Zealand' to 'attdnfl'HhV*- Coronation- H ha» spoken 24,000,000 words ai correct, ho must; have spoken, at fche\ .rate' of 120-»words a minute continuously for % period ' of five -months; That ia a record of loquacity even. for Mr Seddon. . , , An' impudent' theft of money, is reported! hy the Cromwell Argus. A' woman- enterecd .a shop and asked the boy where his master; was. The boy replied that he did not know."Well," said the woman, "I am his wife.i Toll him I have taken, some money from! the till, will you?" -This ehe did ; -and then disappeared. The master does not happen' to be married. The tenders, six in nuiriber, for the erection of a Presbyterian church in Timaru vary between £3934' and £4541. As tha 'congregation were not prepared to spend' -more than £3000 the matter 'has been referred by the deacons' court to them to ascertain whether they will sanction tho larger expenditure, or whether a less pretentious edifice must suffice. For wanton mischief the boys of Palmerston. should be hard to beat. A pack of these .young vandals amused themselves, T>>' damaging the drillshed of that town, ,by { hurling stones at it. The police, who were on the look-out for these savages, mado a haul of six. Four are said to have received " good conduct certificates " a week before at school. No action is to be taken,- because the parents are willing to 'pay up. Jt is a pity such should be "the case." A good dos 9 of the knout is what fchese^ budding Hooligans require. An amazing instance of cowardice was brought to light in the Magistrate's Court; in Christchurch a day or two ago during the* ;e*amiru}tion . pf^ a r .- witness. An elderly; ■countryman, under 'the influence of liquor, .had been attacked in a right-of-way.,.in_.th,e.: .city, by two men after 12 o'clock one night, and. the witness, an able-bodied young man, stood about 15 yards away. and allowed the assailants to wjjrk their^will;upon their victim antl then-' to unmolested." Questioned by Mr Donnelly,' the* .witness replied! that it was no'du£y v -b^ I his"'to- see whafwaa happening.' Sub-inspectOr Dwyer: "He was afraid." ' '". The Christchurch Press says - that during the financial year 1902-03 there have been, manufactured at the Aldington Railway Workshops six engines — two tender goods engines, and four tank engines. Previously the output 'of engines from the workshop^ has averaged about one per annum. It ia understood that the work of constructing: 10 engines of a similar character to those for which tenders are at present > being called- will shortly be put in hand. At present there are Tinder construction a number of passenger carriages of a new" type. In. the . first-class compartments .- the backs, and' sides of the seats are much higher than 1 | those in the present first class carriages, and the single seats are wider, as are also the double scats, .which have a division in the ' centre. In speaking of Fijian customs at the mission meeting in Christchurch on Friday (says the Lyrtelton Times), the Rev. W. Slade said that in his work sm missionary he had! always endeavoured to give the natives a personal interest in the church/by speakins: to them of " our church," " our house,"' and "our circuit." One Fijian, however^, had. gone rather far in these courtesies when he had alluded to Mrs Slade as " our wife 5 ."- A correspondent writes as follows: — "A 1 facetious • writer in the 'Oamaru Mail, referring to the unalloyed blessings conferred upon New Zealand by its labour legislation* goes; on to run down the Home * Country, where ' prejudice and custom "" reigfr supreme.' Anyone who knows the Home Country, is well aware that, a .due. -reverence for custom obtains there. As for prejudice, that also exists — but without the pnfavourable connotation which evidently filled the mind of the Boanerges in outlandish costume,' who inveigh against England. A little English ' prejudice ' in this colony. OQuJd do. it m hum.' l

r The five candidates being put up by the J On Tuesday morning early risers in ChristtWaimate Temperance Reform Union for the J church witnessed a white hoarfrost. It licensing bench are Messrs John Campbell, j soon dissipated under the rays of the sun, George Dash, H. R. Gillingham, Thomas I but both fruit and flowers ehowed si^ns of a grojgu and B. fioJbmaaß. ' 1 www> ate,