OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2672, 31 May 1905, Page 12

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The ballot for the Flaxbourne Settlement ' will talc© place on. Monday, June 26. Four large Sydney firms were recently the victims of a daring robbery, a large number ' of letters being stolen froni their letter boxes. The Timaru No-license League has I decided to ask Mr H. D. Bedford, M.H.R.. . i and Mr T. B. Taylor, M.ELR.. to deliver addresses on temperance in Timaru. A large boulder, weighing a quarter of a, cwt, was placed on the table at the meet- _ ing of a local body in Palmerston North to ! illustrate the manner in which a road had , been metalled. ' * Captain M'Nairn, of the Flora, com- ' pleted his 1352 nd trip from Burnie to Melj bourne on the 17th inst., having aceom-' plished the trips without accident during J his seven years* service. The people of Nelson have decided to told a great demonstration on June 5 , to urge the necessity for railway communication betweeen Nelson and the West Coast, ■ through the Bulier Gorge. j The Southland News is informed that several cases of scarlet fever have broken out at East- Invercargill, and that two children suffering from diphtheria were removed from a dwelling in that suburb to the hospital last week. A correspondent at St. Bathans thus summarises the weather conditions in that part of Otago Central: — "Heavy frosts, no • water ; all sluicing at a standstill ; old residents prophesy a three months' frost. I If so, heaven help the ground sluicers!" The coal-boring operations which have been proceeding on several properties situated in the south-east of the township of Huntly have proved most satisfactory, seams of coal of excellent quality, variously estimated at from 16ft to 20ft thick, having been located. At a recent meeting of fhe Wanganui Employers' Association, when the resolutions passed at the Trades Council Conference at Easter were under discussion, one member facetiously suggested that the -State should raise 100 million and purchase all the businesses in the colony. Work at the Moturoa petroleum boring site is to be actively pushed on without further delay by the new local company (says the New Plymouth News). The additional casing for the shaft is now in position, and Mr Fair, the company's -manager, will commence, boring operations immediately. " I would rather- see a bonus on children afl-er the first four in each family than oldage pensions," said Dr Thacker at Christchurch last week. "We want young men in this colony, and they will look after the old men. If they don't, then physical culture is not doing what it should for the iaoe." It is probable (says the Westport Times) that something will be heard at an early date in connection with the resumption of coal shipments from Westport to the Hongkong naval station. We hear that tests ma-do of Westport coal sent Home by Mr Bingham prove it to be equal to "best Welsh." Upon the arrival of the Warrimoo at the Bluff on Tuesday the police boarded her in search of two girls, whose father had cabled from Hobart to secure their being intercepted. The girls, aged 17 and 14, were found on board the Warrimoo, and will be sent back to Hobart by the next steamer. — Southland Times. We understand (says the Milton Mirror) that Inspector-general Hogben, on his recent visit to the Tokomariro District High School, expressed the., opinion that such schools should bo so staffed that the rector be freed from all actual teaching work, and thus b& at liberty to de-vote h.imself entirely to general supervision. A witness who was present at the Supreme Courfc in. Chrisbchurch last week, and who heard the prisoner Allandale address the jury, says that though he has heard a g-ood niany address-cs by counsel he has never heard on© which excelled that given by Allandale, who has spent over 20 years of his life in gaol. — Timaru Post. It is stated that a writ claiming £501 damages for libel, has been issued by a j Palnierston North bonifaoe against a woll- i kuswo, Wajifianui farmer,. *nd the af±inr* !

will be tried at the next sittings of the Supreme Court at Palmerston North. The. alleged libel was contained in a letter written to one of the Palmerston newspapers. The manufacture of photographic material in Great Britain represents the employment of between £6,000,000 and £7,000,000. Despite the keenest competition, which at one time seriously threatened to transfer nearly the whole of the business- in photographic plates, films, papers, and cameras, to American' and German hands, the British trade has fully maintained its supremacy, while the increase in the last three or four \ears is quit© unparallelled by achievements of any similar previous period. In his lecture at Timaru last week Dr P. Dunlop stated that great respect was shown in Germany for erudition, and for students, and mentioned how the peasantry would salute those in the garb of learned men. This gave the chairman the opportunity to say that in New Zealand it was "not so, but far otherwise." He further referred to an incident of his college days in Dunedin, in which several larrikins, a University student (not the chairman), and a , horse-trough played leading parts. In reference to the supposed saurian remains recently found at Waikari, ancf others formerly found at Waipara-, a. correspondent, ~ writing to the Christchurch Press, states that he believes one of these petrified reptiles was shipped at Saltwater Creek for the vessel Gleninark, which was in Lyttelton at the time, to be sent to the British Museum. As the Glemnark, with several passengers on board, foundered at sea, or, at anyrate, was never heard of after leaving Lyttelton, the saurian remains must be also lost. Another mysterious attempt to fire the residence of Mr G. Parker on the Eltham. road was made last week. This (says the Eltham Argus) is the third occasion on which a similar attempt has been made, the modus operandi being the same in each case. The spot chosen was the same as that of the last attempt. Kerosene had been liberally used, and was flaring up briskly when discovered. Mrs Parker, while running with a bucket of water, fell and severely hurt both elbows, being rendered unconscious. A Taranaki paper reports that several bookmakers attended a country sports meeting, and, finding only a small attendance of the public, tried to effect a compromise with the sports authorities in reference to the amount of the license fee. The authorities, however, resolutely refused to reduce the amount (£2 2s), and the bookmakers were equally determined not to pay that amount, with the ultimate result that the latter did not ply their calling, and several competitors, -who had paid their acceptance fees, refused to run. Mr M 'Curdy (Farmers' Union organiser) and a settler who was travelling with him. had rather an experience up in Umutaoxoa, in the Dannevirke district. On leaving ameeting held there, they drove down to Mungatera for a night's lodging, but the hour being late they were unable to get a. bed. It being raoe night in Dannevirke they concluded it was useless to try there. They therefore decided to return along the road they had oome to a burning stump, which they had passed on the roadside, and there, in their trap rugs, they rolled thereselves up and slept till morninrrThe Milton Mirror says : — " Accommodation must have been at a high premium m Milton one night last week, for we hear of a man with close on £100 in his pocket — viz., four £20 notes, 14- £1 notes, and £2 or £3 in silver, — who was unable to secure lodgings for the night. Certainly, it was after 10 o'clock when he arrived, but he found it necessary, after being unable to obtain admission at the accommodation places in the town, to seek the aid of thepolice and state his predicament. To show his bona fides the above amount of money was handed over, end the upshot ws? a. comfortable reposing place in Constable Macßae's own home," A complaint "was recently n.adc to the Mines Department by a settlor at Rimu. Westland. that he had lost a large number of sheep, lambs, cattle, and horses through their- falling down shafts, which had be^n. put down during the early days of the> goldfield and since abandoned, the mouths being now overgrown with ferns. The Mines Record states that the spttler has reen referred to the local body, and informed ihat the Government cannot umlertake to fill up or enclose tho larg? number of abandoned shafts on the Rimu Tlat. A report furnished to the department srat-r--, that th^'"o are fully a. thousand -.voikrd out or abandoned shait^. varying from lOrt to 100 ft in depth, wit-hivi a radius of 12 inilva ~f T-Trtki+JVa.