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Southland Times, Issue 14840, 17 January 1901, Page 2

The Hinemoa.—As the movements of the G.s.s. Hinemoa are not certainly known here, and as many business people are interested in her next movements, the following information will be useful. We are informed that-on her return from the islands of the far south tho Hinemoa will proceed from the Bluff to Wellington. On shipping cargo at Wellington she will proceed on tho usual trip round the southern lighthouses, and is expected to leave tho Bluff for the West Coast about the 7th February.

The Returning Pipers. — Since the arrival of the Southland Pipe Band in Wellington many people in Invercargill have been enquiring when the pipers, whose visit to tho Com mon wealth celebrations was so conspicuously successful, would reach town. By a private telegram from Dunedin we have been informed that the band will return to Invercargill by the express tomorrow.

Probate.—lt was on the application of Messrs Stout and Lillicrap that his Honour Judge Ward on Tuesday granted probate in re Walter Burnett, deceased, Wyndham, to Elizabeth Burnett.

- Accident.—At the Wairio Races yesterday a nasty accident befel Mr W. A. Saunders while riding in the steeplechase. His mount Tupari fell at the last double and broke his neck, .throwing heavily. The only external injury 48 .?f*3ve re bruise below the right eye, but'K Jlftrod he may have suffered internal in he has not yet recovered from a rail from a horse received while on service in South Africa. The steeplechase course at Wairio, it may be mentioned, is one o£ the stiffest that has been laid out in Southlatil. Military Tournament —The programme of events for the military tournament, which will be held in the Queerfs Park on Wednesday, 6th February, is printed in the advertising columns this morning. A glance at the number and variety of the events is sufficient to show that the committee who are organising the tourniment have spared no pains to gain the favour of the public. The afternoon’s amusement will be a long one, but it will be so full of novelty and interest that time will not lie heavy on the spectators. Many of the events aro of such a kind that they will give an insight into volunteer training that thould prove most instructive, while others promise to provide amusement as well as instruction. At this time, when a very lively interest is being manifested in the volunteers, the tournament is opportune. The work of it is to very large extent practical, and in training for it the volunteers will be improving themselves. At the same time the public will be given an opportunity of witnessing a military display and of making a near acquaintance with volunteer work. For these reasons the tournament should be a distinct success. Intending competitors, wen and teams, are particulary requested tc remember that entries must be made with the lion, secretary, Col. Sergt. Mair, at the Garrison Hall before 9 o’clock on I Saturday evening next.

A New Magazine.— IVe have received from Messrs Lillicrap and Co. a copy of the first issue of “ The Imperial and Colonial Magazine and Review ” (illustrated). The proprietors, in an introductory note, admit, that in this ago of multitudinous magazines, the appearance of a new monthly requires a sentence or two of an explanatory and defensive nature. They claim, however, for their publication a speciality indicated in the title, which they hope “ will be welcomed by the many who aro waiting the advent of an organ specially devoted to the study of matters of Imperial and colonial, as distinct from party interest.” Naturally much space will be given to the colonies, and topics of military and naval importance will also find a place. It is the purpose of the proprietors to present monthly to their readers articles on all such topics, signed by names that are eminent in their various departments, and written by men who will speak not only from theory but out of the practical knowledge which comes from experience. The remainder of each issue will be devoted to current notes and news, articles of general interest, sketches and contributions in lighter vein, occasional poetry, special reviews of some leading books of recent publication, and shorter notices of other works, drama and music of the month, etc. The contents of the first issue aro quite in accordance with the promises made by the proprietors, and the articles will be found to deal with questions of Imperial and colonial interest. Mr Arnold White contributes an article on “ Efficiency and Empire,” and with unsparing hand he drags to light the incompetency and inefficient working of- many of the departments in tho Home Government. Articles on “ The Century in our Colonies,” 11 The People of India,” “British South Africa,” “The Colonisation of Australia,” “New Zealand’s Resolute Independence,” and “The Federal Family,” are written by men whose names are sufficient to give weight and worth to their writings, and the titles show that the bulk of the magazine is of a solid and practical nature. The history of Colchester, the oldest town in England, the first Roman colony in Britain, and the first British Imperial capital, is well written and will be read with interest. “The Master Christian” comes in for some rough handling in a review by Hugh Bingley, who finds some difficulty in treating Marie Corelli’s latest work seriously. The first issue of the Imperial and Colonial Magazine should commend itself to the public, and the venture is, in our opinion, worthy of success. Very Like Ourselves. —Anxiety to see

the desperate lolly brought to a finish is (remarks the Argus) all the keener because the Boers have undoubtedly earned a measure ’of respect from their conquerors during tho long fight. Their bravery has been strangely chequered by alacrity in retreat. Numberless incidents of detnstablo treachery have stained their record. Yet the men who clung to the trenches at Paardeberg and Pieter’s Hill under a frightful storm of missiles, or made that fierce dash at Ciesar’s Camp, are not foes we want to see slowly wasted in a cruel and profitless strife. The growth in our army of a sort of unwilling admiration of the Boors’ fighting qualities is observable in such writing as that which “A Linesman,” who served through the campaign with Buller, contributes to Blackwood’s Magazine. His note is that an enemy who causes British soldiers to cheer excitedly when they beat him is not contemptible, but formidable. “Poor Boers!” (he ejaculates). “Yes, you must go under, you are an anachronism, a stumbling-block, a ‘ black patch ’ upon the map of Progress ; but before you disappear, hear a soldier confess that this is all that is amiss with you. You are not vile, cowardly, or oven more treacherous than a similarly compounded olla podrida of undisciplined Europeans would be. You are not impossible. Nay, you are very possible indeed, and will, under cleaner rule, emerge from the pit into which you hare fallen, to plant your ungainly, useful feet upon sunlit ground again.”

Hospital Trust Elections.—lt will be remembered that when the election of members of the Southland Hospital Trust and the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board were held in the beginning of December last the delegates complained of tho cumbrous plan on which the elections were conducted. They were compelled to come in one week to elect the Trust, and the following week they had to return to Invercargill to elect the H. and O.A. Board. Tho gentlemen who represented tho country contributing bodies found this to be a hardship, and they could see no reason why it should be suffered. At the election of the Hospital Trust, therefore, the delegates passed a resolution to the effect that the election of the two bodies in which they were interested should be held on the same day, and that the Government should be approached with a view to having the statute altered to this end. The secretary of the Hospital Trust has received a communication from the Inspector-General’s office in which it is promised that the proposed amendment “will receive the’careful consideration of the Minister.” We have already expressed the] opinion that the suggestion of the delegates is reasonable and practicable, and at the same time we suggested that the statutory meeting of the H. and C. Board might be dispensed with and the chairman elected and tho Board-con-stituted at the same time as tho first ordinary meeting is hold. The statutory meeting is, no doubt, the proper method, from a strictly legal point of view, of putting tho new Board into office. But the actual result of the law is that, where the Board is composed of many country members, who expect to be called from their work in the following week to attend the ordinary meeting, the statutory meeting is a hollow torm, and the statutory meeting is transacted by a minority of the Board. These questions certainly demand “ the careful consideration of the Minister,” and, unless the official mind is able to find some real obstacle to the suggested form, it is to be hoped that the “ careful consideration” will bear fruit. Pity They Did Not Get Time. —One of the colonial troopers in South Africa, in a letter to a friend in Hawkes Bay, says : — “ I do not think you will have any peace celebrations this year, because the Boers are stickers, and seem likely to carry on their present mode of fighting for some time to come. If the Boer men are still bitterly antagonistic to the British soldier, the Boer girls are making love to the Tommies to such good purpose that I know of at least 20 weddings to come off as soon as peace is declared. Perhaps the wedding ring may, in the near future, have a greater influence towards the peaceful settlement of the Transvaal difficulty than the ring of the Mauser and the bayonet.” That is just what a canny Scotch storekeeper in the Republic said before a shot was fired. He held that the Boer woman was not enamoured of the “ he ” of her own race—ho was too much inclined to look upon her as ho did on his Kaflir boy: a thing to slave and work for him —and if fighting could have been staved offfor, say, 15 years, the “boor,” Sandy concluded, would have had but little to say in the government of the Transvaal; the women would have altered the complexion of the community to their own social betterment.

A Great Boon to the South Island.— Tonking’s-Linseed Emulsion will cure your Cold when all others fail. Sold everywhere in bottles, Is 6d and 2s 6d.

A Striking Scene.—While all eyes are centred upon the stage of South Africa, the minor but important business of Britain’s arms in other parts of the world is apt to be overlooked. The despatches of Colonel Sir J. Willcocks, dealing with the operations against the rebel Ashanti and the relief of Kumassi, have been published. The following graphic description of the entry into Kumassi will be read with interest : — Forming up in the main road, we marched towards Kumassi, a mile distant, the troops cheering wildly for the Queen, and then followed silence. No sound came from the direction of the fort, which you cannot see till quite close. For a moment the hideous desolation and silence, the headless bodies lying everywhere, the sickening smell, etc., almost made one shudder to think what no one dared to utter, “Has Kumassi fallen? Are wo, too late ? ” Then a bugle sound caught the ear—“ the general salute "—the. tops of the towers appeared, and again every man in the column, white and black, broke into cheers long sustained. The brave defenders had at last seen us ; they knew for hours past from the firing growing ever nearer that we were coming, yet they dared not open their only gate ; they perforce must wait, for even as we appeared the enemy were making their last efforts to destroy the outlying buildings, and were actually setting them on fire until after dark, when a party of 100 men went out and treated them to volleys and cleared them out. If I have gone too fully into details of the final scene, tlie occasion was one that every white man felt for him comes perhaps but once, and no one would have missed it for a kingdom.

Singular Fatality.—A Bendigo girl of 12 years, who was spending her holidays witli farmer friends met with her death by an unusual misadventure. During the hot weather tho .family had their meals in the cellar or dairy just outside the house. It is surmised that the child got up early' and went to the cellar, but being unable to open the door endeavoured to get through the window. The sill of the window is wedgeshaped, and the child’s head just reached the edge of it. She had evidently pushed up the window and put her head through the opening, and requiring the use of her hands to raise herself she had released the window, which came down on the back of her neck. When found some time afterwards she was dead. The falling window-sash had fractured the spine.

Invercargill South School. — The monthly' meeting of the. Committee was attended by Messrs A. Bain (chairman), J. Stead, W. Manson, W. Stead, A. McKay, J. M. Aitken, and T. Crawley.—lt was decided that the annual school trip should be to Orepuki on 6th February. —A sub-com-mittee, consisting of the chairman and Messrs Manson, J. Stead, and the secretary was appointed to draw up a report re the dilapidated condition of the school building, and forward same to the Education Board, with a request that a school be erected in brick. —The secretary was instructed to make application to the Education Board for halfcost of top-dressing the asphalt —lt was resolved that a letter be sent to the head master congratulating him on the excellent position occupied by the school in the recent scholarshp examinations.—Accounts for £l4 2s lOd were passed for payment. Pie. Lieut. Reddell (4th contingent) was wounded in tho left arm at Ventersdorp a few days ago, but not dangerously. Morrow, Bassett and Co are solo agents in New Zealand for the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Sterling Bicycle. AU Russians in Chi-Li Province have been ordered to Manchu except a thousand intended to guard the Legation at Pekin and the Shanhaikwan railway. Farsi for Sale.—Reference to our advertising columns will show that Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co. offer at auction on Saturday next Mr Thomas Blackwood’s farm near Otautau. The property comprises 700 acres of what is considered the finest land in Southland and is conveniently situated. There is a first-rate dwelling, and good outbuildings incidental to a wellappointed farm. Those in search of a comfortable home and a first-class investment would do well to inspect at once. Mr John Lawson Johnston, the inventor of bovril, and formerly- a butcher in Edinburgh, died at Cannes, on 24th November, aged 61. He was a schoolfellow and chum of the late Mr James Walker Bain, The sale of the patent rights of bovril to a joint stock company made him very wealthy. Fast and Loose.—By Major Arthur Griffiths, author of “Ford’s Folly, Ltd.,” “Chronicles of Newgate.” etc. [Sovontli thousand.] The Morning Post: —“Fast and Loose ” is so unmistakably one of the best of its class that it will assuredly become popular. There is not a page of this clever book that is not well worth reading; it has not a single dull chapter. Its tone is forcible without being painfully realistic, and its incidents are both varied and dramatic.” Cheap edition just received, price 9d, at Lillicrap and Co’s, Esk street. Clumsy and meaningless names of countries and places aro a daily source of waste of time and irritation. It is suggested that Eastralia would suit better than New South Wales, just as Tasmania is much neater than Van Dienian’s Land, or as oven Cargill would be than Invercargill. “ A Cup of Good Tea.”—A luxury yet a necessity- if you enjoy a cup of fragrant and refreshing tea; then drink Baxter’s famous Royal Choice. It is undoubtedly the best tea in the market at the money, Is lOd per lb, a reduction of 3d per lb in 101 b tins. Try Baxter’s Royal Choice tea. The 1900 Sterling models of “ Built Like a Watch ” fame, can be obtained with free wheel, chain, and chainless. — Morrow, Bassett and Co, sole agents. SYNOPSIS OF NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. The Bluff Harbour Board invite tenders lor the purchase of the iron coal hulk Titan Volunteer companies parade on the Western Reserve on Monday evening R J Cumming has a 6 room house with J acre for sale The Australian Manufacturing and Importing Co insert a notice re blotter batb, etc Loasby’s Wahoo will cure liver complaints in a short time The representative of tne National Council of the Y.M.C. A. will speak each evening next week Foso will cure all scalp diseases, eto; free trial from A W Sinclair Wanted to lease a seven-roomed house near town Offices to let on ground floor of the Colonial Chambers, also upstairs W Todd and Co sell three trunks boots in the Rialto to-morrow Assure your life in tho A.M.P Society and secure a bonus every year Chas Hout has 100 acres and 7 room house for sale Tenders wanted for the supply of uniforms for the Invercargill Fire Brigade Men’s sac suits made to measure at the N.Z Clothing Factory for £2los Try McDonald for boots and shoes—cheapest and beot house intown

A grand military tournament will be held in Queens Park on 6th February Ekeneteen’s salvage sale, Don street, is about wound up W B Scandrett has a 5 room house and freehold for sale