TOWN EDITION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10303, 10 March 1905, Page 3

TOWN EDITION

The valuation of the' borough of Napier for the current year .shows the rateable value of property to bu £88,342, against £87,415 the pievious year' being an iuicrease of £927.

With the exception of a few foreign, batteries, purchased on tlie recommendation of a genera) officer now at Salisbury (says the Army and Navy Gazette) we shall still for some time be using the guns that were condemned during the South African war.

Our Waikaremoana correspondent writes: — Tlie following ladies and gentlemen entered their names m the visitors' book, Lake House, d ! uriug the week ending Saturday, February <\ : Mesdames J. T. Harvey (Napier) and 1 A. Hague (Wairoa) ; Messrs J. T. Harvey (Napier) A. Hague (Wairoa), W. Cooper (Waiiiui), Gisborne), and' W. Tusswill (Pahiatua).

The Wairarapa Standard stales that on the Kakare estate, m Wairarapa, which was until recently overgrown with manuka and infested by rabbits, irrigation has effected 1 a wonderful -change. There is now a considerable area under pens, beans, turnips andl potatoes, and' a crop of 2000 cabbages is now far ahead of anything seen there for years.

While ploughing v padidbek Mr G. Lawcock, tt Walton settler (Auckland), had ai> exciting experience. He and: his team of five horses were attacked by a swarm of bees, having evidently turned over a thistle which tlie swarm had taken, possession of. The thistle became entangled* with the plough, andl only with great diifficulty could Mr Lawcock extract hife horses from their perilous position. All were badly stung.

A somewhat unfortunate predicament was that hi which a Roxburgh angler found himself last week. According to the local paper the fisherman, referred to had, while engaged m fishing, slipped into the creek, andl received a thorough wetting. He thereupon decided on divesting himself of almost aM his garments, and with tlie aid of a small fire proceeded to dry them. He continued fishing, but on returning shortly . to his drying-place found that his garments liad been destroyed andi were m ashes.

"There is no doubt," says CapTaiu. ScottHarden, "that Kuropalkht is a great tuetician, and) showed his power and ability at the battle of Liaoyang, which lasted for ten days. I was present and 1 witnessed) the charge of the Russian Cavalry Division, whichi pierced the Japanese line between Kuroki's and! Nodzu's armies, a movement that upset the Japanese plaiKs aivd 1 enabled' Kui'opatkin to withdraw hi.« inaiii body . with; slight loss. I do not think he wished to fight the battle of Shaho, but wa-s forced' to <li> so by a peremptory message from the . Czar. General Kuropatkiu has many enemies, who have frequently urged) his recall."

A mob nf 2000 sheep from Messrs nnmlin, T. F. Walker and' N. McKinnou's stations are on, the road! to Nelson Bros.' freezing works, Tomoana, m clmrge of Mr D. Walker. A large mob is shortly expected to go through from Ruakiluii station. — Wairoa Guardian.

In his evidence before the Federal Navigation Commission, at Sydney, SubInspector Me Vane saidl he< had been m the police at Newcastle for 20 years. He gave the names of certain hotels where seamen were boarded, and of persons who supplied, .seamen. A good, honest seaman had no cliance of getting a ship unless he passed through the hands of the boarding-masters. The prevailing practice was that from £1 to £1 10s per head was paid to the board'iug-master for supplying men. Tlie boarding-master divided tlie amount with the captain. All that the captain liadl to dto when he got Home was to tell the owners tha sailors were so scarce m Newcastle that he had to pay 30s a. head to get a crew. Tlie crimps were a most artful class, and it was most difficult to get proof. He suggested that the police should have power to arrest without a warrant for crimping. He thought a Government official should be appointed to supply all seamen, and 1 s«e tlvem mustered on board 1 before leaving. One man could l do the work, and it would do away with the blood money. At the present time the police boarded all vessels before they .S'liled, andi he did not believe that any shanghaiiiiig occurred. Some years- ago, whien he had, charge of the water police, he obtained a number of convictions for crimping,, and liad a captain fined £50 for secreting a seaman. But his experience was that the police had not enough power. He found 1 tliat he was watclied when he saw anything, and if it were known that he was on his way to the Court to get a warrant the boarding-mast-er disappeared until the ship sailed-, with all the evidence on board. That was his experience when m the water police. All seamen's boarding-houses should be licensed.