GENERAL NEWS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10407, 22 July 1912, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

On Friday the Commercial Banking Company, at its annua) meeting at Sydney, declared a dividend of 10 per cent , added £40,000 to the reserve ; and ( £s4.s’d9 to the balance.

Three coastal sailers are overdue at Sydney It Is supposed they were blown to sea during the recent gale, A Sydney message says the latest departure cf- Speaker Willis is to issue tickets of admission to the Press gallery himself, instead of, as previously, In conjunction with a committee of pressmen. Hr intends to expel from the gallery persons wilfully misrepresenting the proceedings of Parliament or libelling members.

The body of a well known man wag found In a dredging pond at Orvliie, California. His pockets were fall of nuggets representing a large sum. The police theory is that the man was killed in order to secure the gold, and that the mnrderers were disturbed and fled.

The British supplementary naval estimates total £999.000, whereof £850,000 is for shipbuilding and armaments. An additional 1500 men are to be provided. The Times pronounce tbe estimates to be quite inadequate. At Nelson on Friday a number of youths were proceeded against for breaches of the Defence Act. Two points of considerable interest were taken by Mr Evans, S.M. One was that senior cadets were not compelled to take tbe oath of allegiance, other than as senior cadets, and were not compelled to go directly into the Territorial force. Decision was reserved on both points, to enable the Department to lake legal advice and argue the matter if it wished. A number of informations against bandsmen were withdrawn on the gronnd that they were over age, and sbonld have been drafted to the reserves, and that they were not liable to serve as Territorials. A case containing peculiar features was mentioned at Gisborne Police Court on Friday, when a man named John Thomas Stoen, arrested at Whatatutu on a warrant issued at Christchurch in October, 1907, was charged with wife desertion. Sergfe Hutton explained that there >were certain features about tbe case which were rather extraordinary. The man bad handed him a newspaper showing that he bad deserted nls wife on his wedding day. and that ~a divorce was granted by Judge Edwards at Auckland last November. He (tbe sregeant( had wired to Christchurch for particulars, and bad received a reply that nothing was known about a divorce.

la fehe”"Otago Daily Times, "Givis” relates a good missionary story. "Perhaps,” be says, "it la not quite a mislsonary story, and I doubt whether it could be told to advantage from the platform of a May meeting. It is told here by Professor Stuart, a Cambridge man :—There was a young Parses who had come from Bombay to attend the university, and had been greatly taken by the service in chapel. So he called npon the Rev. Charles King, as the senior clerical Fellow available, stated that be wished to cease being a Parsee and become a Christian, and asked Mr King what were the proper steps to be taken Mr King warmly dissuaded faint from tbe ohauge. 1 beard him (King) tell the story himself In hall, and exhibit the greatest satisfaction at having prevented the conversion. "For,” said he, "there are so/ many Christians, and so few Farsees. ’ ’