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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8416, 16 January 1899, Page 4

There is every prospect of a most bountiful harvest tin's year throughout the Nelson district, old settlers anticipating one of the best yields ever obtained in the. province. The latest statistics of the Methodist Churches throughout the world give the following particulars :— 43,000 ministers, 101,648 local preachers, 76,821 churches, etc.,7,100,601 members and probationers, 77,627 Sunday schools, 6,155,790 Sunday school acholars. The Marlborough Land Board have resolved to recommend the Lands Department to have a clause inserted in the leases of sections of the Starborongh estate that no license for the sale of spirituous liquors shall be granted without the consent of the landlord, or a special poll of the tenants as to whether such license is desirable. According to the North Otago Times, the harvest at Willowbridge will, if the weather keeps fine, go from fifty to seventy bushels to the acre ; while on Mr Donald Simpson's farm 100 acres laid down iv wheat are expected to average 100 bushels. The prospects all round are very satisfactory. The fourth wool sale of this season's series was helrl at Christcburch on Triday, 6.500 bales being offered. There was a large attendance of Home, Continental, and local buyers. This sale was much busker than any of those previously held this season. Merinos and fine half-breds were in strong demand, and though the prices were somewhat irregular, they wore generally better than those obtained at the last sale. Merino wool reached 9Jd. Mr P. B. Thorean, a farmer of Ckremont, near Timaru, has some fine specimens of lathyrus sylvesrris growing on his farm, and he thinks highly of the plant as feed for sheep. He sent Home for a few seeds a couple of years ago, and received about half a dozen, from which he has now over fifty plants. Some of these cover a couple of square yards eaoh. Mr Thoreau is carefully guarding the plants, and intends to sow the seeds on a small grazing run on the Hunter Hills. The Brisbane Courier, referring to the Gatton tragedy, says :— " The members of the Murphy family are as well as can bo expected after the fearful shock of last week. Old Mrs Murphy is a very devout woman, and rest 3on the Great Rock of her religion for consolation. Her chief prayers during the first bitter hours of the tragedy were for the soulu of those who had destroyed her children, and blasted the happiness of her home. What a sermon tbat'prayer ofjthe grief-stricken mother is!" Three thousand acres of land at £-2 a year. This was the condition, says the Times, which a tenant of the Land Board at Friday's meeting notified his intention of throwing up. And yet people complain of the paucity of land and exorbitant rentals. It would he as well to explain to avoid misunderstanding, however, that the territory mentioned is chiefly mountain-top scenery in the airy vicinity of the Rimutaka ranges. It is estimated that its most prolific crop is rabbits, but that otherwise it will carry one billygoat or wild pig to every four acres. A plucky attempt to rescue a child from drowning was made recently at Parramatta by a Chinese named Ah Poo. The Chinese was working near Hunt's Creek when he was told that a boy named Maurice Bates had disappeared in a deep pond. Ah Poo ran to the spot and dived, but could not find the hoy. He went under a second time, and found the body between two logs from which he could not disentangle it. Diving a third time, however, he wrenched ifc free, and then tried by means of artificial respiration to restore life, but without avail. The coroner's jury warmly complimented Ah Poo on his conduct. It is interesting to learn that " Professor Falbe, of Vienna, states November loth, 1599, will be the end of the. world. Each period of 33 years our earth has passed through the tail of a comet, causing dense showers of meteorites ; but, according to Pal be, on November 13th, 1899, we will strike the head of the comet, and the end will be, as prophesied, by fire." Against this, the N.Z. Times says it has been estimated by an astronomer that the chance of a comet striking the earth is one in I 250,906,999 ; further, if it did strike it, [ nothing wonld happen more serious than a fog or a shower of sparks. Falbe and his comet's tail are all astray. The Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, having purchased the Fairfield property, consisting of 1000 acres, for its new works at Asbburton, intend to endeavour to give there an object-lesson on the value of irrigation and the utilisation of waste pro- 1 ducts. The bulk of the estate will be let for cropping, and the drainage from the slaughter-house and fcllmongcry will be discharged on to the land. By this means, the refuse, which in most factories isi allowed to run to waste, will be utilised for improving the cropping capacity of the hnd, and as the soil at the spot is very suitable for the purpose, it is expected that the company will bo able to demonstrate the value of using its waste products as fertilising agents. Describing a drive of about ten miles through the country the Ashburton corccspondent of the Christchurch Press says: "In paddock after paddock on all sides there were crops of wheat standing froml 4ft Sin to oft high, beautifully even all over, and splendidly headed— crops which, with favorable weather for another three weeks will yield in many cases, as high as as foity-five, fifty, and in some cases as high as fifty-five and sixty bushels to the acre. In addition to this all the root crops are in an advanced and most vigorous state. Last year oven the Wakanui farmers had to buy large quantities of horse feed, but this year they will have a very big surplus tn dispose of. The reapers and binders are now busy among the oats, and the paddocks arc rapidly becoming thickly studded with slooks composed of heavily headed sheaves." How one of a theatre audience was carried away is reported by the Bendigo Advertiser. The occurrence took place when Messrs Ilolloway and Anderson's Company were playim: " Xancv and her Sailor.' 1 In the second act lialpli C'artwnVht (Mr Stanford) has lured Beatrice Ashficlil (Miss Helen Fergus) to a mcetinc late at night at the scene of the Old Mill House and Ruined Bridge, whete he is endeavoring by \iolonce to make her swear to keep the secret of her disgrace from her brother at the point of the knife. The -irene is a moving one, and the ettbrts of Mr Standford were so excellent and realistic that it had the eil'ect of causing a strongly-built young man to leap upon the stage out of the stalls. He sneaked upon the would-be murderer of Beatrice Ashlicld like a panther, grasped him by the shoulders-, find hurled him from the woman. Luckily for the actor an attendant rushed from the wings, and helped the young fellow to a lnuricd exit. At the back of the stage the would-be rescuer resented this interierence, and threatened to -'do" for Ralph Cattw right if he did not leave the woman alone. He was quite agitated, and the management thought it wife to keep him out of the theatre for a time, when he cooled down somewhat, and promised to have better command over Inm-olf for the rest of the performance, which he did. " Was it a fake ?"

Mary Athy, wife of Simeon Athy, hotelkooper at Pahintuu, attempted suicide on Wednesday evening by taking " Rough on Rat"." fehe is still sullcrini; from the elteets.