LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 8, 30 January 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oppossdms a Pest.— Oppossums hava multiplied to such an extent on Stewart Island as to become a nuisance. They are working havoo in the gardens, and the settlers advocate that general shooting of the marsupials be permitted as a remedy for the nuisance. _ A Nydia Bay Need —At the suggestion of Constable O’Grady,. of Havelock, the Marlborough Timber Company have decided to provide a full equipment ot first-aid materials for use in case of accidents at their mill in the Opouri Yalley.

' To Assist the Church.—A branch of the Church of England Men’s Society hafl'been formed in Havelock, and at Sf Peter’s Church on Sunday evening the Vicar, Rev. E. Parker, conducted a short service at which six members were admitted to the Society.

Nelson Licensing Election. —ln March next the election of a Licensing Committee for Nelson, will take place, and it is probable that Mr W. Lock, of Nelson, will be . a candidate. Mr Lock is a member of all the important local bodies in Nelson, and has proved a most capable administrator. Shrewd business men' of Mr Lock’s stamp are invaluable on local bodies.

Sounds Racks.— One of the most enjoyr able outings ever held in the bounds was the race meeting at Manaroa last year, and the gathering this year will be even more interesting. The date of the meeting is 22nd February. Tenders for privileges in connection with the meeting close with the secretary, Mr Ralph Mills, Gopai, on .Wednesday, 7th February. The programme will be issued this week.

Driver the Magician.—No cleverer conjurer than Driver has ever visited Havelock, and his performance in the Town Hall was thoroughly enjoyed by the large audience. Moat of bis card tricks were entirely new, and bis sleight of hand in all of them evoked much applause though it mystified the onlookers. Driver’s revelation of the methods of so-called “spirit mediums” was most interesting, and one can quite understand how easily a person clever in that line could gull the public. The entertainment is entirely free from Vulgarity, and Driver’s constant patter and ready sallies greatly amused his hearers.

The Tipping Curse—The custom of tipping causes grumbling all over the world, but there seems at last to be a prospect of a revolt against it. In the United States, where the imposition has grown to tremendous proportions—the travelling salesmen of that country distributing seven and a half millions sterling a year among hotel servants —a league has been founded, and an ultimatum to hotelkeepers has been issued. To effect their purpose the “ commercials ” threaten to employ the deadly weapon of the boycott. They vow they will avoid all hotels where servants are not placed upon a self-res-pecting basis in the matter of wages. Truly, the boycott is badly needed on the Union Co.’s boats.

Various Items. A correspondent writes About 370 piles are being landed from the steamer Kaitangata, at Picton, for the Wairau Bridge. The piles are being' much criticised. One man spoke of them as clothes props. The timber for the decking is said to be spotted gam, which lasts only five years and then becomes.as brittle as a carrot, Many of the piles have only seven inches of heart timber at the small end.—Mr and Mrs H. Parsons passed through Picton on Thursday, on their wav to Otaki, where they will visit Mrs Wnuehorne. —I hear from the best authority that the King Solomon Mine at Cullensville is to be again worked; Messrs Gragg ami Gill have been up to the mine several times to arrange preliminaries.

A Common Complaint.— “ I notice by the paperfc that the Hon. Mr Mackenzie has been stating that the tourist traffic does not pay,” said Mr A. W. Hogg to a. reporter recently, in the course of an interview, “ and I don’t wonder at it not paying. Why, the whole of the traffic in the Rotorua district is being carried on by an Auckland syndicate. Rotorua is entirely in their hands—they have control of all , the stores, places of resort, etc. Even the most popular bath at the Wonderland, Whakarewarewa, has been leased to this syndicate. From Rotorua to the Taupo Lake—the latter, by the way, being twenty miles long and being equally broad the distance is fifty miles. The journey is broken by an accommodation bouse at Waiotapu, which is also in the bands of the same syndicate. If tourist traffic is going to fall into the hands of syndicates I don’t wonder at it not paying the Government, and this is not the sort of thing that should be allowed.” The same coriiplaint is tnaiie by every New Zealander who visits.the district. A Five Days Week.— The short week has been adopted in several places in Sydney, and the reports concerning it are that it is working satisfactorily. At the Clarence Street roomof the tailoring firm of David Jones, Ltd,, “ five days ” obtains in the tailoring department. There were requests for it, and then a petition, upon the strength of which a, vote of employees concerned was taken," and it was found that eight to one voted “No Saturday.” It was adopted, and the working hours were fixed at eight to six, with half an hour for lunch. It has been found, according to Mr Morris, the head of the department, that the new rule works well, and that nothing is lost to the firm through it. The Australian straw hat factory has adopted it, too, and its report is that it can strongly .recommend it to others. The week has been cut down to forty-six hours, and the amount of work turned out is not less, while the expenses have been reduced. Any trade worked by machinery should, the proprietors think, find the new arrangement to their advantage. Experience has proved to them that the percentage of work done on Saturday morning does not exceed 30, and frequently falls as low as 20. The Future of Fiji.— A small party o visitors travelling from. Fiji to Sydney by the Maknra, in port at Auckland on Tuesday evening last, sounded a distinct note of optimism in regard to the future of their island home, to which, by the way, they seem to be much attached. “ The spell of the tropics, you know, is very strong after one becomes accustomed to the ways of life out there, ’’ one of the number remarked. The Hon. Eyre-Hutson, Colonial Secretary at Fiji, who was on board, said that Suva was experiencing an era of progress in the matter of harbour improvements, the com. munity having recbgnised its great possibilities, as a port for the growing shipping services of the Pacific. A new wharf which was part of a general scheme, for which a sum of bad been voted so far, would be capable of providing a berthage .of 30ft of water for at least three large steamers. The export of fruit was a rapidly growing industry, "and a record was promised for the present season. The Union Steamship Company are building a magnificent hotel, to cost about /15,000, and public works absorbing £40,000 are now in hand, It is anticipated that when jibe Panama Canal is opened, in about three years, Suva will become a most important port pf call and distributing centre. Already the whjte population of the town is 2000, and they haye their own Parliament. There are oyer 209 islands in the Fiji Group,.

The Wairau Election Petition.—A wire from Wellington ata'es that the nquiry into the alleged irrt„ . ititiea in connection with the Wairau election will be held in filenbeim on 18th March.

Social to Mr Atmohb.— The Carluke aupportera o! Mr H. Atmore, M.P. for Nelson, will entertain him at a social and dance in the Carluke Hall on Friday evening. Admission—Gents 2s, Ladies 6d.

FmiiOY Sports, —Nominations forthe principal events at these sports, to be held at Fitzroy Bay on 18th March, close with the secretary, Mr Clarence Mills, on 2nd March. The programmes are now printed and can be obtained from Mr Mills.

A Strange Coincidence.— The following curious coincidence is related in a Sydney paper “ Thirty years ago two sisters named M’Williams were drowned by the upsetting of a boat at the bend of the Yarra, opposite Studley Park. A third sister escaped. A few days ago—31st December, to be exact—two other young women, Eva M’Cartney and Ruby Wood, were drowned by the upsetting of a, boat at the same place. Ruby Wood was a daughter of the Miss M’Williams who was saved there thirty years ago. That bit of the Yarra had been waiting with its mouth open for the family since 1881."

An Important Anniversary.—On 29 th January, 1849, Captain Hobson, R.N., arrived at the Bay of Islands. On the following day he hoisted the Union flag and read the Commission, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, 1 which extended the boundaries of the Colony of New South Wales so as to embrace and comprehend the islands of New Zealand ; also his own Commission as LieutenantGovernor over territory that might be acquired in sovereignty. It is a far cry from that day to the 30th January, 1901, when the Sixth Contingent,, comprising 578 officers and men, sailed for South Africa in the Cornwall.

A Snake Attacks a Gibl in Bed.—A, large carpet snake attempted to swallow a child at Myall, a township 60 miles from Walcha (N.S.W.), last week, but was killed before its purpose was accomplished. The little girl was sleeping in the same bed as her elder sister, Miss Watts, and during the night was awakened by a snake, which was 7ft 6in long, creeping in between the clothes. She cried and disturbed her sister, who secured a billet of wood and dispatched the snake as it was in the act of devouring the child. There was a wound on the youngster’s face, but after Miss Watts scarified and sucked it the child improved quickly. She is now running about as usual. [Not .bad for a snake lie I—Ed.]

Advantages of Fallow Land.—A striking example, showing the benefits of fallowing, has been given on Mr W. Day’s Woodlee property, near Lockhart, New South Wales. A 480-acre fallowed paddock was sewn with Federation seed wheat, the amount of seed being 451 b to the acre, and a similar quantity jbf superphosphates. One hundred acres were cut for hay, yielding 150 tons of prime quality ; 380 acres; left for cropping, gave a return of 3180 bags, or a little better than eight bags to the acre. Only four points of rain fell on the crop from 6th September to 30th October, and therefore the results are all the more remarkable. In contrast, the unfallowed land on the same estate yielded only from four to five bags to the acre.

Encouraging. Lynch Law.— lt is indicative of the sentiment in the United States regarding negroes that a Governor the other day, in a speech before 1000 or more people, openly avowed his sympathy with lynchers. The Governor in question was Cole L. Blease, of South Carolina, who has long been noted as one of the most pronounced ” nigger haters” in America. A negro guilty of an unmentionable crime had been caught and hanged by a mob at Honea Path, and in commenting on the affair Governor Blease stated that rather than use the power of his office to call out the soldiery and stop the lynching he “ would have resigned his office and come to Honea Path and led the mob.” He went on to praise the lynchers for “ punishing the nigger brute.” While no smypathv is wasted on the negro, leading papers of both the North and South are loud in condemnation of Governor Blease’s encouragement of lynch law. Although the Governor did not have the pleasure of leading'.the mob, it was, in fact, led by a member of the Legislature.

Thb Australian TwanQ.— The Victorian Govern meat have taken steps to abolish the Australian “twang” from State schools, but it is a big job, in the opinion of the British Australasian. The paper goes on to remark: “The twang which disfitmrea much Australian speech is first cousin to the cockney accent, but has various differences. No Australian, for instance, says ‘ dahn tahn ’ for down town, though in Melbourne and Sydney as well as in London, a boy may offer you all the ‘dily pipers,. The causes of the twang are obscure. Someone has suggested that it is caused by the gum trees, for New Zealand is practically free from it, and New Zealand has no gum trees. The reasoning appears hardly conclusive. Perhaps the American twang arises from the pine and fir trees which abound in the forests of the great continent. We do not know if the Yankee variety ,is more resinous • than that of the twang of the Commonwealth. Inall seriousness the Victorian Government are to be congratulated on the action they are taking. Too many Australian voices, even among the educated, are spoilt by faulty enunciation, and the Australian voice is too good to spoil. In opera and on the continent platform, Australian men and women have proved that their vocal organs can bear comparison with those of the people of any country. And in speaking, also, Australian women’s voices usually show a tone and variety which is in pleasing contrast with the more monotonous, colourless utterance of their English' sisters. It is a pity that natural advantages should be often discounted by slovenly speech, and it may be hoped; that the example to be set in the Victorian schools will be followed elsewhere,”