OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The staging in the eastern mole at Timaru is now out a distance of 2225 ft. A thick coating of snow covered all the mountains around Cromwell the week before last. A floating college, with 250 American boys, has-lef fc Providence, rt.L, for a nine months' cruise in Europe. The heaviest diamond in the world, and the most valuable, is in the possession of the Portuguese Royal Family. Thirty-nine of the 53 players asked by the Rugby Union have announced their readiness to join the team to tour in England. The receipts at the recent Palmerston show were £194 5s 7d, and the expenditure was £153 15s 6d — 'leaving a credit balance of £40 10s Id. The erection of the deceased troopers' memorial at Timaru is completed, and all that remains to be done is the inscribing of the names. The chairman of the Biuff Harbour Board has been advised by the Agent-general that the board's new dredge will be launched on Tuesday next, 27th inst. Old Australian diggers who saw adventurous and stirring times in the early days in Victoria will hold a gathering at Wanganui during carnival week. The Nelson police paid a surprise visit to the local hotels on Sunday evening, and found that the licensing laws were being strictly observed in all cases. Information has been received by mail that the Apoilinaris Company (Limited) has been awarded the Grand Prix at the St. 1 Louis Exhibition in connection with apollinaris, the well-known natural mineral table water. The chairman of the Timaru Harbour Board told members on Wednesday that the past year had been a very prosperous one for the port, and one on which the board and the ratepayers could well congrattilate themselves. The East Coast Trust Land Board has placed the Kakowhai Block under offer to the Government for close settlement purposes. If terms cannot be agreed to, the , land is to be put tip for sale by the board early in February. 1 On Wednesday afternoon a very severe hailstorm was experienced in the Bruce disl trict. So far as the Herald could learn the fall was heaviest at Lovells Flat, where , it is reported, the hailstones were as large as pigeons' eggs. i The remains of five adult human beings have been r.n earthed by roadmakars at the St. Kilda Bluff (Melbourne). It is supposed 1 that they arc the remains of passengers by . the ship Glenhuiitly, which arrived feverstricken 60 years ago. I There is a movement on foci (says the Tapanui Courier) to organise a big gatherins: for the opening- celebrations of the Ediovaie railway extension The line is j ukelv to be ready for traffic about the , middle of February. I The Western Star is informed that at present several miners are employed at Waiau beach combing, and those lucky enough to secure water are making from £15 to £20 per day, the wash thrown up v i by the sea being very lieh. s I Whilst the- Ty?er steamer Tomoana. s bound from London to Australia and New a Zealand, was crossing the Southern Ocean a three weeks ago an iceberg two miles long c and 550 ft high • was passed. The berg preg sented a magnificent spectacle, c The. Gre-ymouth Star stales that Mr r George Nelson, employed on the North Beach dredge, lost £17 in monejj and a

gold watch, valued at £10 10=, which were stolen from his house last week. Tho matter is in tho hands of the police. _ j In regard to the inspection by the police of a consignment of whisky on board the Waikaka coach last Saturday the Southern Standard is assured that the parcel was | properly labelled and in accordance other- ! wise with the provisions of tho aot. An officer of the Stock Department reports that there was a fall of over eight inches of snow in the Clarence district last week. It is stated that the St. Helen's Station^ lost a number of sheep, and that another station lost about a thousand sheep in one night. The resident engineer to the Timaru Harbour Board is about to proceed to Australia, and at Perth he will inspect a dredge which has been placed under offer to the board by the Public Works Department of Western Australia. The price asked fo*r >the dredge | is £13,000. As usual at this season of the year poultry-keepers are suffering at the hands of sneak thieves (says the Palmerston Times). One night last week 12 turkeys, belonging to Mrs Macdonald. of the AVaverley Hotel, were stolen, and several minor losses have also been reported. The Wanganui Herald states that the respected wife and family of a local business man are anxiously inquiring the whereabouts of the husband. and father," who is supposed to have eloped a week ago with a shop -assistant. It is said that the couple were seen at Palmerston,. and that their destina j tior is Australia. At the Camubelltown Police Court on Wednesday, before Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M., George Iniavry was convicted and fined £5, with costs, on a charge of assisting a prohibited person to procure a bottle of beer: and Agues Preston, a prohibited person, was fined £3, with costs, on a charge of having a bottle of beer in her possession. Two youths named M'Alinden and Hoskin were committed for trial at Wanganui on Monday on a charge of assaulting and rob- j bing a man named Gecrge Srnithson, 69 | years of age. It was stated that the plain- ! tiff, who was a member of the Salvation Army, was selling War Crys, when the accused rushed him and committed the offence. Writing from 'off Fremantle, Dr Rockstrow, who was returning to Palmerston North from a trip to Germany, stated that he brings a patent with the object of working New Zealand flax into a finer fibre so that it can be spun. The patent is registered in all the Australasian colonies and Germany, and Dr Rockstrow thinks it will prove a success. Arrangements have been made with the Minister of Railways by which two young natives of Niue will be afforded the opportunity of learning blacfesmithirag at the Ne-wmarket Railway Workshops. It is probable that other lads from our South Sea possessions will be granted facilities to acquire a knowledge of carpentering, farriory, and pit-sawing in this colony, should they evir-ioe an inclination to do so. The Oamaru polices in their efforts to maintain respect for the law, visited a certain hostelry the other evening (says the rsorth Otago Times), and as they' entered at the front door an energetic and lively individual took a back window as a means °i eX ' t ." ** wa ? a well-intentioned display ot agility, but it was rendered valueless by tn© fact that the man fell into the arms of the police at the other end. As the midday goods train from Invercargill to Nightcaps was entering Wallacetown station on Tuesday, for some reason, probably owing to the points not being properly adjusted, the engine and seven trucks left the line, several of the trucks being upset. The permanent way was slightly damaged. The rolling stock escaped with moderate injury ; probably £30 will cover all repairs. An inquiry will be held into the accident by the department. { The Wanganui Chronicle relates a story j of how a winsome little lassie who is anioncr the scholars of the Kai Iwi Public School with a keen eye for a good opportunity, pulled her pony across the road and quietly " held up " a load of municipal excursionists, and levied a collection for her school prize fund. Her happy inspiration, and the pleasant way in which she did it, captivated the travellers, the hat was sent round, and the little maid, brimming over with thanks, rode away the happy possessor of a pound more than she would have had if she had not had the courage to bail up the municipal party. It is reported from Takaka that a young man bushfelling upon Mr John Handcock's I properly, near Totaranui, discovered some bones, evidently portion of the skeleton of a Maori, and near at hand a large Maori idol, fashioned in greenstone. According to the report, the idol stands about three feet high, ar.d is very heavy, requiring three or four men to transport it out of the bush. j It is slated that Mr Handoock purchased , the findei's rights and now holds the relic, 1 which, if the particulars are correct, should Ibe valuable. There arc a number of old j Maori camping places on this part of the ' shore of the bay. j Two of Ihe_ scholars who attended the Ma«tcrton District High School durirg v the present year without being absent a

single half-day did so und-er exceptional circumstances. During the year their mother died, but this did not prevent the children attending school as usual. On the morning of the funeral they even went to school without breakfast, as there was no one to attend properly to their wants. Two other children in the school have an unbroken record of eight years, and have made 3500 consecutive attendances without missing a single half-day. One of these children, aged 13, is in tlie senior secondary class. _ One way of keeping a husband from, roving was told in the Divorce Court at Wellington a few days ago by a wife. Her husband had taken out a passage ticket for Melbourne, and when he dropped his box on the wharf preparatory to going on board the steamer his wife promptly sat on the box until the steamer was halfway down the harbour. Later on, however, she lent her husband money in order to get rid of him. After about five years' absence he returned, and announced his presence by breaking the windows of the house where his family wag living. Evidence was given, that the only money he ever sent his wife and children wa s £1. "Anything else?" asked his Honor. "Yes," replied the witness, under examination; "he sent a postcard with the compliments of the season."