TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9400, 9 April 1902, Page 3

TOWN EDITION.

The total of the Auckland subscriptions to the Premier's testimonial is £546.

The furs to be sold by auction by Messrs. Wyllie and Mason on Saturday are now on view at their mart, and are well worthy the inspection of ladies.

Messrs J. H. (Herbert) Ferris, of Gisborne, and Burch (late of Waihuka. station), of the Fourth Contingent, leave for Sydney en route to South Africa shortly.

Of the 22 men sent down by the local Recruiting Board to Wellington last Sunday, 20 were for the Tenth and two were details for the Eighth Contingent. The Defence Department have asked for information as to which two of the men were selected for the Eighth, and the names have been supplied. Troopers Thomas Howell and Robert Nicol go to South Africa to join the Eighth.

Some New Zealanders, under General Plumer's command, had a rather curious haul the other day, says a gossiping writer in the Cape Argus. They had espied the usual Boer tent-waggon dodging behind some big boulders, and when they had overhauled the fit-out, they found amongst the plunder three coffins belonging to three old fossils well-known about Amsterdam. If there is anything the old Boer likes it is his funeral, specially as life is so uncertain nowadays. It was dreadfully unkind, therefore, of the New Zealanders, after removing, the biltong and coffee from one of the coffins, to boil the kettle with the wood. Perhaps old Coos *wojjld not require it, as there were enough bullets sent after him to stock and float a lead mine. Anyway, he didn't stop to object.

Shooting commences at 2 p.m. to-mor-row on the K'aiti range between' the East Coast Mounted Rifles and the Gisbome Rifles in their annual match for the Kaiti Cup. The men chosen for the match are the five highest scorers in the class-firing competitions of the respective companies. Last: year the cup was held by the Gisborne Rifles. The teams are : — East Coast Mounted Rifles: Lieutenant Hutchinson, Sergeant Fairlie, Corporals Hamilton and Leggett, and Trooper Gates. Gisbome Rifles : Sergeant Wakelin, Corporals Taylor and Franklin, Privates Stewart and, Kemp; emergencies, Sergeants Williams and Cruickshank. The ranges will be 300, 500, and 700 yards, seven shots at each distance.

Has anyone ever before suggested that fire insurance on the endowment principle would be feasible and successful? The idea strikes us (New Zealand Times) as original and daring, but with an apparent germ of practicability about it. Mr Arthur H. Vile, of Masterton, propounds a scheme in a letter in which he says: — "As the question of fire insurance is exciting considerable discussion throughout the colony just now, and in view of the probability of a State Fire Insurance Bill being introduced, I may be permitted to suggest the necessity for extending the system of insurance generally by giving insurers the option of effecting their insurance under an endowment. This principle has for years been applied to life insurance, and with most satisfactory results. Why should it not be equally applicable to fire risks? Under existing conditions a premium is offered for fire-raising; but when a building becomes decayed it is useless, and the temptation to destroy it is very great. The result is that, to meet these eventualities, the insurance companies increase the rates on good risks. If a person were, by paying an -increased premium, placed in the position that at the end of twenty or thirty years he could draw a sufficient sum of money with which to rebuild, the inducement, to arson would not be nearly so great, whilst the advantages of insuring would bo more apparent. lam communicating the suggestion to Ministers, in the hope that the foundation may be laid in the State Fire Insurance Bill for a reform which would af once, I think, commend itself to the general public."

Two lovely stories which are told in England (writes a London correspondent) of a certain general, whom I prefer to designate simply as General Z—. He is famed for the richness and earnestness of his vocabulary. During the advance on Pretoria, the officer commanding saw a solitary horseman riding about under a heavy fire, and sent an orderly with the pithy instruction : "Tell that fool to get tinder cover unless he wishes to be shot." When the orderly returned' he informed the commanding officer that the said horseman was general Z—. "Dear me," exclaimed the commanding officer, who is noted for his politeness; "I hope General Z— was not much offended." "Well, sir," said the orderly, grinning, "he told me to go to , that is, I mean, he said you were a—well, the fact is, I could not have said it better myself." In the other case, a colonial officer had arrived in camp. The general happened to fall in with the new arrival, and at once demanded why he had not reported himself. "I did," was the reply; "you were out, but I saw two officers." "Who were they?" "I don't know." "Describe them." "Well," said the colonial jcaptain, "one was an ugly-looking devil with a beastly temper." "Good!" exclaimed General Z—, delighted; "that's my staffofficer exactly. "The other," pursued the colonial, "was a silly ass of a chap with an eyeglass." "Right you are, my boy," shouted the general, euthusiasticaily; "the idiot's my A.D.C. You've got 'em both exactly. Sorry to have troubled you!"

It is stated in Wellington that information privately received from Christchurch puts down the total subscriptions received in all parts of the colony for the Premier's testimonial at about £2000.

Miss Dowman notifies that she is starting drawing and painting classes in the Union Bank buildings. Miss Dowman's paintings, which have been on view at Chrisp and Son's, have, been very much admired, and she comes to Gisborne with a good reputation as a skilful artist and most capable teacher.

This is how the Mafeking Mail speaks out: —"The Treason Court is a good example to the Continental Anglomaniacs of how savagely and brutally the British carry on this war. One Van der Merwe, a Cape colonial, took up arms against the Government, then surrendered, and was received with open arms; he was a dear rebel, not an uninteresing loyalist. - Again he pook up arms against his country. He knew it was all right whenever he chose to surrender again, and when the chances of loot passed he did surrender the second time. A perspicacious judge discovered "mitigating circumstances," and instead of the twice perjured hound being shot on sight he»is relegated to prison for a year or two.