TOWN EDITION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11856, 20 May 1909, Page 6

TOWN EDITION

The Mayor invite? members of hi." eoneral committf-e to meet him at the Fai-mevs' Ulub-roomi>. Masonic buildings, on Friday evening. Ihe Auckland' Star, m a paragraph iiliont the Miiislaml Hill monument, says it is a worthy specimen of Auckland craftsmanship m monumental sculpture," and "a notable example of what can be done with Xew Zealand stone by New Zealand workmen." It is (another journal remarks) a. pity to prick so pretty a bubble, but the '"sculpture" was chiefly made with Italian marble by Italian workmen m Italy. A meeting of the ladies' committee m connection with the domestic help movement, was held at the residence of thp Mayoress yesterday afternoon. SatisJiactory reports were received as to the number of signatures being attached to tlie petition, and it was decided not to cull m the copies of the petition at pre.sont, but that the canvassers should / be informed later on wlien to send them m. When the Hon. R. MeKenzie was at Waimana. on his way to Opotiki one of Iho settlers, whese youthful appearance Mas very deceiving, asked the Minister if he thought the railway lim> would be omplettd before the expiration of their h?ases : and on learning that the leases -\\are for 999 years, the lion, gentleman replied that the line would be finished before the settler was 29 years of age. It appears that the settler m question is 32 years of ag£. Buenos Ayres advices state that it is considered * probable the petroleum springs discovered at Comcdoro Rivariaviit.. Chubut, will prove a source of great wealth to Argentina. The second i well sunk is yielding oil m vast quan- : titie.s, and the National Government has J ordered the necessary expenditure to be incurred for the exploitation of the -well on behalf of the State. It has also been resolved to invite tenders for the exploring of what other petroleum land there may be m the neighborhood. The Nimrod kit a large quantity of foodstuffs behind when she sailed for Sydney. The material included pon> rations, preserved fruit, dried vegetables, and- other things of the kind which ; were not consumed by the explorers. Ajb a result of a. suggestion made to I'iin, Lieutenant fihackleton decided 1o give the provisions to the Government, and it is expected that they wiil >io sent to the outlying islands and r/->re«.l. The food is well packed, and is \vi\\ adapted ' for being put into depots, fur the use of possible castaways. > Private advices received m Sydney state that further successes have been achieved by Mr Garnet Holmes*, now established" m London, one of the inventor.s of the Holmes and Allen patent trolley head for electric tramways. Over 42 companies have already tested and approved of the invention, and it is further stated that it lias met with acceptance on leading tramways of the United Kingdom and America. The r.ritish Board of Trade has sanctioned tlie patent. Among recent orders executed m London by Mr Garnet Holmes was one for Auckland tramways. Says the Stratford Post : boating about the bush, woi-ld nsk low many families benefit from tta £5000 or £6000 that is paid monthly to the co-operative workers o:i the fstrat-ford-Ongarue railway? The number of empty bottles from the works to within a .^hort distance of Stratford toll a torry tale, and these 'dead marines' only torm evidence of a part of the urgiis i hit are indulged m by many of tHe men on these ■works. The behaviour at tho>3 individuals while travelling on the Toko railway is at times disgraceful, and a menace to tlie respectable Settlers vho use the line." Before Mr Cruickshank, S.M., at the Inveroargill Police Court, Herbert Jas. Robert*, chief steward of the s.s. Opawa, was convicted of importing twenty pairs of boots and selling them without pay-\ mg 1 ' duty, for which, he was liable to for. feit £60, treble the value of the goods. The accused pleaded guilty, admitting having purcha^^ed 24 pairs m London at 10s 6d. The Customs Department wished an example made of the case, as they had every reason to believe it had' become a practice to evade the law m this way. Mr Cruickshank reduced the amount of the forfeiture to £30, and ordered the accused to forfeit that amount. In his lecture m Melbourne, Lieutenant •Shackleton told many good stories. The best one was not about the Antarctic at all. He was explaining the snow-bridge across the crevasses, whose collopse more tiia-n once threatened the party > with extinction. These bridges are natural crossings. "A story that typifies them Avell recurs to me," said the lecturer. "It relates, however, to the North Polar region. There on one side of a great crevasse dwelt a young Eskimo, while on the other side lived an old Eskimo and his daughter. The young Eskimo fell m love with the girl, but the. old man would not give her to him because the young man had not sealskins enough to pay for her. The two sides of the crevasse were connected 1 by a snowbridge — the onlyv one for. twenty mijes each way. The young Eskitno used to cross on this bridge to see his lady-love.-He formed the bold plan of carrying her over. He decided to steal across the bridge at night, and 1 drag her sleeping Iki,7, with her m it, across to bis side, anil then break down the snow-bridge. He knew that the old man would never travel round the crevasse, and he and the. girl would therefore be able to got married, and live happily ever after on their own side. He put his plan into execution, dragged the girl and her sleeping bag across, and broke down the bridge. Then he rushed to the sleepin.' bag and' opened it, only to find that he' 3 had stolen the old man instead of the girl." \ The attention of the Magistrate's Court was occupied this afternoon m tiie hearing of an action for £9 damages ! resulting trom. alleged neglectful und unskilful driving of a vehicle, causing a L-ollision between two traps at \Mata•ivhero. In the case m question,. Allan Luttrell (Mr T. Alston Uoleman) sued To hat u Tamihana (Mr W. L. Rees). Plaintiff stated that about 5.30 p.m. on April 15 he was driving a quiet pony m a light gig across the Waipaoa bridge at a jog trot, and when just off the structure defendant and another Native drove towards him m a- large gig from the direction of the Bridge hotel. When he first saw them they were about i'lv-i length of the Courthouse away, travelling ,at the rate of about eight miles an hour. Karauria Ruru was driving. Observing they were not paying attention to the driving, and were on the wrong side of the road, he called out, and they half pulled up. He (plaintiff) tried to pull -further out of the raid, but defendant's trap came on again, and ran into his trap; it knocked the p<;ny over, and defendant's horse scvamblea on to the dashboard of his (plaint.iifs) trap, resulting m the damage complained of. The driver of the other trap used bad language, and, hauling otF, drove furiously towards Te Arai. Defendant and his companion were both under the influence of drink. Mr Coleman asked that the defendant's witness, Karauria Ruru, who was driving the trap, should be joined as^a co-defendunt, which was consented to. Mr Rees : The driver appeared to pull the wrong rein when lie got excited. He (witness) had h:id about 16 years' experience at driving. Joseph Stevenson, coachbuilder) give evidenre to repairing a_gig for )ilainliff. costing £5 7s 6d. The' catje was proceeding as we went to precs.