SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 52

SOUTHLAND NEWS NOTES.

(i r itOM Our Own Cokkbspondent.) INVERCARGILL, October 2. At the last meeting of the Council of the . Southland Acclimatisation Society Mr-Denniston Cuthbertson was appointed secretary of the society out of i 0 applicants, vice Mr A. A. Paape resigned. The society showed, ifs. appreciation. .of Mr Paape e services by voting him a bonus, ox live guineas. Air Paape leaves for Wellington to-morrow (Tuesday). The various bodies of which he has been secretary here have in every case, while accepting his resignation, paid a high tribute to. his industry, ability, eourtesy, and tact, the Caledonian Society giving tangible evidence of its. appreciation by. voting a bonus ef ten "guineas,;while, the Typographical Society voted him a year's salary.' ;-.-..-■? ..■;.'.■. :<« ■ ■ '' ■ A young- mannaaned Jdeepb was kilted at thie Southland Sawmilluig Company's Waimeamea- mill on Thursday through a branch falling on him while he was-felling a tree.' Armstrong, who was 31 years of age, leaves a widow and two childish',' who reside.at Orepuki. The Rev. H. H. Barton, minister of Limestone Plains, has received a call to the Maori Hill Presbyterian - Church, Dunedin.

The recently-formed artillery company had an afternoon's field exercise, near the Ferry Bridge, Riverton Beach, on Wednesday afternoon last, the battery being presumed to be repelling the, attack" of a landing party. Some pretty fair slwotiiig was <lone, and the occasion was taken advantage of to giy* oral instruction in artillery practice. Mr Wi J. Moore, well known for many years as the conductor of the Riverton Brass Band, and previously of.the Queenstown Band, died at the Riverton Hospital on Monday last from, consumption. Mr Moore was in business for 'himself as a tailor ait Riverton for many years, but about a year ago entered the. employment of Mr J. W. Watson, tailor, Invercargill, for whom he has recently been managing a shop at Otautau. Mr Moore was 49 years of age. The Inveroargill Borough Council on Thursday 'evening last decided to submit to a vote of the ratepayers a pa-oposal to raise a loan in "order to carry out in the central portion of the town the sewage scheme advocated by the town engineer (Mx Ciapcott). ..,-,. It is announced that Mr Allan Carmiehael, of Lilburn, Waiau, has decided to be a candidate the Wallace seat in Parliament at the. forthcoming election in the Opposition interest. '. Mr . Carmichael will open his campaign with an address at Riverton on Monday week. The first two cars for the Invercargill trams arrived in Invercargill. on Thursday, and on. Friday were unloaded and taken along to the car, sheds, where they were, inspected and admired by : a number ■ of interested townspeople. _; A large nunibeT of the dairy factories of Southland are already under way,, and most' of the remainder . open' on Monday.. The grass is coming away -very, well,, but the recent cold snap has somewhat, checked the growth..- However, thea*e. is now an indication of more settled- weather, and' there should'be plenty of grass feed from this time onward.

Mr Jos, Hamlyn, who is about to remove to Tiniaru after many years' residence in Invercargill, was on Wednesday evening bidden farewell by the directors of the Southland Caledonian 'Society, of which he has been ,a member for over. 20 years and a director for 15 years. His resignation was received with regret, arid a letter of thanks will be sent him in recognition of his services to the society:. Lambing is now pretty general throughout Southland, and the percentages are again .high, though the stormy weather we have had for some time past has killed off some of the weaker lambs. .. The trout fishing- season begins _to-mor-rOw, and the smaller streams are in good fishing trim, and trout are reported to be numerous. Unfortunately there has been nothing in the nature of a flood during the winter; and some .-of th© more sluggish streams are rather dirty. - At the last meeting, of the Southland Cricket Association an application was received from the Y. M. C. A. Club for admission to the Senior ranks. It was oliected that their admission would create a bye in the fixtures, and the application was held over till next'meeting. Mr J. G. Price, the well-known draper of Tay street, who has been away in Australia during the winte-r to escape the rigours of our climate, returned to Invercargill by last Monday's Melbourne boat, and his employees and friends to the number of about 200 tendered him a welcome social in the Victoria Hall on Tuesday evening. During the evening, Messrs John M'Gregor and William Stevenson formallv welcomed Mr Price back to Invercargill on behalf of the, as sembkge. Mr Price, in acknowledging the sentiments expressed, said that quiet as Invercargill was after the great Australian cities, he was genuinely glad to be back, and hopes that in the future they would'frequently ireet in social functions such as the present.

Mr L. Gimn, who has been auctioneer for M"S£Bi*s Dalgety and Company, Ltd.. Invercargill, for the past five years, and has now been appointed manager of the Wa.imate branch, was entertained bv the stock agents and stock dealers'of Invercargill at the offices of the N. Z. Loan and Mercantile Agencv Co.. last Saturday, and presented with a gold albert and pendant, the gift of the stork agents and dealers. The presentation was made by Mr Walter Taylor, auctioneer for the National Mortgage and Agency Co., and most of those present took the opportunity of expressing their appreciation of Mr Gunn's many good qualities. Before leaving- for Waimate on Tuesday.' Mr Gunn was presented by the staff of Messrs Dalgety and Co. with a set of carvers in a beautiful oak case.

Mr James Simpson, assistant auctioneer to the National Mortgage and Agency Company, Invercargill, had the misfortune to be kicked by a horse at the Wallacetown sale last Tuesday, and was incapacitated for the-time and had to be removed to town in. a motor car. I understand that his injuries, though painful, are not regarded as serious Mr E. S. Perry has bought the premises in Dee street at present occupied by Mr Spratt, sailmaker, and .intends to buald extensive premises for his rapidly growing seed and nurserv business. Mr James Aitken, the popular railway guard, who has. been running on the Thornbury-Nightcaps section for several vears,, has been transferred .to Inyercar r gijl. Before leaving Nightcaps last; week he was presented 'by the members oC the. railway service there., with a rug , and a .■: Mr Neil Mjtheson, who about 10. months ago was transferred.' . from the parcels, department, 'lnvercargill Railway Station, to Wyndham, has been re-transferred to Invercargill.' While at Wyndham, Mr was a .useful member of the various organisations of the Wyndham Presbyterian Church, and before leaving for town was bidden farewell by the Bible Cla.rs and Choir.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Council of the Southland Acclimatisation Society it was announced that the president (Mr W. A. Stout) had declined to withdraw nis resignation, and the resignation was therefore accepted with regret. • Mr A. Turner has been appointed secretary of the Southland Boxing Association, vice Mr T. Pearson, who recently resigned and went to Balolutha, where he has estabLished himself in business.

' The folio wing is the result of the Hibernian Band's art union : —lst prize, 1955 (Mrs Pasco, Teviot street*- 2nd, 7676; 3rd, 664; 4th, 6979 (Miss O'Keefe, Belgrave House) ; sth, 6644 (Alex. M'Caughan, Garaton) : 6th, 1755; 7th, 3034 (Mr R. T. Morris, 'Supreme Court Hotel); Bth, 104 (T. Carrick, Dcschler's Hotel) ; 9th, 2922, (Mr C. King, care- of J. Fleming,, Rakahouka); 10th, 4636 (P. Cook, 12 Duke street, Christchurch) ; 11th,' 2736 (E. M'Alomev, Avr street); 12th, 1269 (M. Atkinson, Marv street) ; 13th, 1148 (J. Wilson, N.Z.R., Waimahaka); 14th, 1695; 15th, 3153 (B. Currie, Gore) : 16th, 5012. At" a meeting of the Invercargill Starr-' Bowkett Society held in Allen's Hall on Tuesday evening, the appropriation in Group 1 fell to Iso. 214.. There were no bids for the sale appropriation, and this was balloted for and fell to No. 116. 'ln group No. 2, 101 was the lucky number. Professor Mills had a splendid audience at the Victoria Hair when he lectured on the public ownership of monopolies. The professor said that not all industries tended to become monopolies, but that was the tendency of most of them, competition resulting in a wiping out of the weakest' and the establishment of monopolies, which became instruments of extortion, white public monopoly was the instrument of public service. The only successful competitor of private monopoly was the'whole of the people acting together. Under private monopoly, the producer sold at the cost ofpreductron and bought at monopoly prices. Some people thought that private monopoly could be controlled by Government, but experience showed that so far from that being the case, they controlled Government, and in ho .instances had the supposed Government, control had the effect of bringing down prices. When in America huge fines were inflicted on trusts prices were raised on the public, with the result that they not only paid the fine but a good deal more. Experience had also shown that when what had been private monopolies had been acquired by the public bodies for the public benefit, the result had been that the cutting out of private profit had at once resulted in reduced cost to the public, and such profits had enabled the enterprises to pay from the jump and eventually pay the cost of purchase without a. penny of expense to the public Professor Mills is a wonderfully clear, forcible, and convincing speaker, apparently a complete master of his subject, and with the ability to state the most important economic truths is such simple language and with such helpful illustrations as t:o make his position easily understandable'. Judging hy the applause with which he was greeted at many points throughout his lecture, and the very hearty way in which a> vote of thanks (proposed by the chairman. Rev. R. M. Ryburii) was carried. Professor Mills's statement of the case for the public ownership of monopolies appeared to his audiience to be unanswerable. At the clcse 'of the lecture, Professor Mills appealed to the audience for support in the work of educating the public on this important question, through the distribution of literature and otherwise, and his appeal met with a very hearty response, many of these present undertaking to contribute a weekly amount to the fund during the ■continuance of the campaign. ' Mr John -Aepitiy. one of the oldest members of the Southland "Times staff, severed his connection with the company to-day after about 25 years' service, for the purpose of taking an important position in a new industry which 's about to be started in Invercargill. Mr Aspray has been a faithful servant of the Southland Times Company, and formerly of Mr Robert Gilmour. filling responsible positions with credit to himself and satisfaction to his employers, his kindness, courtesy, and tact, being outstanding featurrs of his character. On Friday afternoon the day staff of the Southland Times assembled to take formal of Mr Aspray, when Mr R. J. Gilmour, editor of the paper, voiced the regret of the proprietors at the termination of such a long. pleasant, and. satisfactory association, and on behalf of the company presented Mr Aspray with a cheque for a. substantial amount, .and a letter expressive of the company's appreciation of his long and faithful service and his many good qualities. Messrs Ward and Keast, who have been fellow-employees with Mr Aspray during the past quarter of a century, fol-

lowed in a similar strain, and Mr Aspray made a suitable acknowledgment. On Saturday Mr Aspray.was invited to meet the office and mechanical staffs, when hewas .again the recipient of substantial evidences of the high regard in which he is held by these with whom he has bean so long associated.