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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10691, 15 May 1906, Page 1

. \ Chicken?pox is prevalent in 6ome of the Hawkes Bav districts. At the Opunake echoed the children are being given lessons in milk-testing, bringing samples of milk to school with them. Whilst matching a hockey match at Danncyirke some days ago, Mrs Bemiett met with a serious accident. One of the players, in attempting to strike the ball, unfortunately hit Mrs Bennett, fracturing the bone' of her jaw. A settler in Otago, who reports that he has discovered a few small diamonds of a beautiful shape and lustre, and inquired if a reward us available for such a discovery, lias been informed that the Government has not offered a reward for tho discovery of diamonds. Owing to the stato of the bare on the West Coast, eleven steamers, which the Union Steam Ship Company have in that trade, have been stuck up to some extent during the past month. Altogether their steamers lost sixty-eight days during tlie month. How much financial loss this has occasioned may be judged from tlie fact that this Mould be equivalent to running two steamers for a month, both earning nothing. The report presented to the annual meeting of the Feilding branch of the Farmers Union, in dealing with the question of annual subscriptions, suggested that the most- commendable system is without doubt to charge £1 subscription and give one copy of the Fanners' Union Advocate post free to the member, but as this may be objected to by a few it was sugested that for the current year tho subscription be — under 100 acres still ss, 100 to 500 acres 20s and paper free, 600 to 1000 acres 30s and paper free, over 1000, acres 4Qs and paper free ; subscriptions to be jiaid in advance beforo receiving free paper. The latter proposal was adopted. At Ihe invitation of the Rev. Mr Hobbs a- large number of male members of the Hastings Anglican Church, Hawke's Day, assembled in the schoolroom recently. Seats and tables were arranged round the room, and tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes were provided by tho vicar. Mr Hobbs addressed the assemblage, and in the course of his remarks alluded to the success which attended tho formation of churchmen's clubs in England- Services for men were also a popular institution, iu England, and he intended introducing similar services into Hastings, to be held on Sunday afternoons at four o'olock. The cjub b.i Hastings would bo non-sec-tarian. As instancing the non-sectarian character of the club,, he »aid that one of their prominent instructors -was a strict Roman Catholic. The Napier Telegraph of Tuesday last says : "An accident which might * havo bcou attended with loss of life occurred last evening as the 2.15 train from Napier was approaching the bridge near Makotbku. A horse which had strayed. on to the line through someone carelessly leaving the railway gate open, became fright, cned at the noise of the approaching train, rushed on to the bridge and got locked between the planks. Rut for the prompt action of Mrs Loft ley,, who lives opposite tho bridge, and witnessed the accident, a serious mishap would no doubt have occurred. The lady mentioned, hearing the train approaching, and having no time to light a lantern, promptly seized a, candle and 1 matches and ran on to tho truck and stood in the middle of the lin e waving the lighted candle. Fortunately the driver saw her in time and applied the Westinghouse brake, bringing tho train to a halt within a few feet of the horse. Some idea of the nature of the escape can be gauged from the fact that approaching tho bridge is a steep incline, and thero is a sheer drop from the bridge, which has no side railings, off about 80 feet. The horse Mas very firmly M'edged | between the planks, and it took several men to shift it from its perilous position, j Too much praise cannot be given to Mrs Loft ley for her promptness in warning the driver of the train, and not a few of the passengers, after, witnessing the narrow escape they had had, felt very grateful indeed to the lady." j

Writing to a business man in Wellington a settler in the backblocks gives the following, graphic pen-picture of the difficulties of life in tlie way-back portion of the province : "I am afraid the roads are too bad to allow us to get the balance of our wool out until next summer. It is something frightful. Last Saturday it took me just seven hours to do the 13 miles from Taihape to the station with a buggy and four torses. I got bogged several times, and at the finish, we had to get the butcher's cart and horses to give us a lift over some three miles of the worst parts. We arrived home in an awful state." This settler, probably, in common with others in the same district, is heavily penalised by the disgraceful state of tlie roads, for he loses the splen. did opportunity now offering for getting high price^ for his wool, and th'i6 is how the settlement of the back country is being encouraged. Speaking to a Christ-church Press representative! on tlie subject of mud votcanos, Dr Wohhnann. Government Balneologist, related an instance of how a resident of Rotorua wis surprised one day to find one Winder hie drawing-room, floor. The general impression concerning Rotorua is blurt, the earth's crust there is fairly thin, but one hardly expects to be waked up in the middle of the night by demonstrations of thermal activity in the bowels of the earth, immediately" below one's bed. In this particular case, the Rotorua citizen referred to watered; his garden too freely, and the moisture loosened the claj over' a "hot spot," with the result that steann began to escape, and a mud volcano was soon active. Familiarity, no -doubt, breeds contempt of the latent possibilities in a district that is literally resting on a sea of boiling mud, and Dr Wohlmanu seems to think that Rotorua is just as safe a locality to plant the vine attd fig tree, wherewith to solace one's old age. as the more stable locality on tho banks of the Avon. In support of this he cites the fact that earthquakes are more severe in Ghristchurch than in Rotorua, although in tho Hot Springs metropolis they have had as many as twenty-five in a single day.