Untitled

Southland Times, Issue 16685, 15 March 1911, Page 5

In the last "Gazette” the Minister of Finance acknowledges the receipt of 10s forwarded to the Railway Department by some person unknown as “conscience money.”

Miss Rita Beattie, hair and skin specialist. of R. & M. Beattie, Christchurch, has commenced practice in the Federal Buildings, Invercargill, and will remain here for a few weeks.

The necessary notice is inserted in last week’s "Gazette” declaring Lake Hayes, near Queenstown, and an area half a mile in width surrounding the lake, a sanctuary for imported and native game.

The date on which the Court of Appeal will hold its sittings are fixed by the Governor and gazetted for 3rd April, .3rd July, and 2nd October.

The general regulations under Part 2 of the "Fisheries Act” are amended In last Thursday’s “Gazette” to make it lawful in any acclimatisation district In the Dominion to sell trout taken, smoked and branded by, or under, the direction of the Tourist Department.

As at present arranged, the date (Wednesday, April 5) fixed for the Stock Fair, promoted by the Southland A. and P. Association, will clash with the first day of the Invercargill Races. Both farmers and auctioneers at Wallace town saleyards yesterday -expressed the opinion that in the circumstances some other date should be selected for the A. and P. function.

The report handed to the Board of Directors of the Southland Mutual StarrBowkett Society by the secretary (Mr F. c. Liggins) showed that SOO shares had been taken up in the Society, and that this number was increasing daily. The whole of the shares have been subscribed in Invercargill, and it Is satisfactory to note that such good support has been given to the new society. It is anticipated that the first £SOO -will be available for ballot about the third week in April.

The immigration and emigration returns tabulated in the ’’Gazette" of 9th inst. show that of the 4411 people who arrived during January, 2129 came from New' South Wales, 987 from the United Kingdom. 615 from Victoria, and 285 from Tasmania. Of the 2086 people who left the Dominion, 1766 went to New South Wales, 451 to Victoria. 191 to the United Kingdom, and 133 to Tasmania. Invercargill’s share of the arrivals was 872, and of the departures 675.

An effort to solwe the old problem of inventing a non-refillable bottle has been made by Messrs L. W. Alexander and J. W. Hall, of Auckland. According to the specification in the “Gazette” the improvement lies in the neck of the bottle which is contracted about halfway dorvn the neck, and again where the neck expands into the body of the bottle, and between the two contractions a valve given a turreted formation is placed, but before this valve is introduced into the neck an inverted coneshaped stopper, formed some hat like a top, is let down into the neck, so that it will seat itself on the slope of the lower contraction; the under-part, shaped somewhat like a peg, but longer and broader, with a bulb end. projects down into the bottle ; the valve itself is internally fitted with a hard substance, preferably made of glass and corrugated.

The members of the “Droppers’ "Union” —the law-breakers whose mission is to “drop” liquor about Maaterton at prearranged places—are face to face with trouble. says the “Walrarapa Daily Times.” It is stated that a "Lifters’ Union has been formed in Masterton, whose object is to discover where the “droppers" have deposited liquor and then “lift” it without-first receiving permission from the "droppers.” Recently, it is stated, the “lifters” lifted no fewer than forty-two bottles of beer.

Discussing the political outlook, Mr T. P. O’Connor, in a letter to a New York journal, says:—“ The feud among the Tories lias reached a somnolent stage. ■Apparently Mr Balfour is insisting on the immediate acceptance of the policy of referendum, and the Protectionists are agreeing, but on the condition of regarding the whole question as- academic and open till the Tories get into power again, when it can quietly be dropped out. Evidently the Tories are disorganised and divided, and do not show any signs of putting up any big fight on the Lords’ Veto. The Government will find the preamble of the Bill promising a reform of the House of Lords a difficulty with its own party and a weapon in the hands of the opposition. but here again the gigantic importance of the House of Lords issue will enforce discipline. All sections of the Coalition, and even the Labourites, may agree to allow the preamble to pass as pious opinion. The creation of new Peers to swamp the Lords is receding every hour to the more remote distance. I have just returned from a brief visit in Ireland. I found everybody there in exuberant spirits, partly because of recent events and the approach of Home Rule, and partly because of the immense triumphs over the O’Brien-Healy factionists. All of the Liberals are equally optimistic, and, in short, the new session of Parliament opens in higher hopes than for any time since the Gladstone and Parnell settlement for every Irish problem.”

“It is the men who do the talking about woman's sphere, on which subject they are. of course, the authority,” paid Miss Beatrice Potter. 8.A.. of the London School of Economics, in the cour-e of an address in Melbourne. Miss Potter is an English suffragette. She Is young, pleasant looking, and a good speaker. Her tribute to man’s knowledge of the world of woman and its limitations was entirely ironical. She was willing. apparently. to concede some little learning in that subject to the men of Australia and New Zealand, •who long ago had the good sense to recognise the equal right of the two sexes to vote. But the Englishman could expect no quarter. And he got none. He was twitted with a habit of talking about a reform for 50 or 100 years, then having a royal commission to inquire into it as the preliminary to another half century or so's chatter. The "advertising” methods adopted by the suffragettes in England, such as street processions, organised opposition to politicians at their meetings, and deputations to Cabinet Ministers, she defended on the ground that they appealed to the imagination of the people. For 60 years they had tried gentle, persuasive methods without effect; now. by freely demonstrating, they were rapidly winning public opinion to their side. All that they asked for was the removal of the sex disqualification. Miss Potter had much to say about women in Australasian politics that was highly complimentary, but pleaded for one enterprise that would show the Melbourne women at least to he above the reproach of voting as their male relatives dictated. She urged them to take the earliest opportunity of securing direct representation in Parliament by electing Mis Vida Goldstein to that august assembly A vote of thanks was accorded to Miss Potter on the motion of Miss lire i. h—an American lady who progposiiealed the triumph of the suffra•ji• ■i ! • min. enn-iil in the United States as tne re-mli of Hie growing need by the men ior tue help of the women.

The Garrison Hall Rink will be open to the public diis evening, and the floor is said to be in perfect order. The Garrison Band, under Bandmaster Lithgow, will be present to render suitable music for skating. The prices are reasonable, which should ensure a large attendance.

The appearance of the sky yesterday led many people to hope for an early fall of rain, and during the ni~ht the probabilities appeared to increase. xVbout midnight there was a slight drizzle, and a lowering sky and a gusty wind promised well; but up to the time of going to press no more than a very small sprinkling had fallen.

At a meeting of the Board of Governors of Lincoln Agricu’’ ’ral College yesterday the question whether the Board should Import some pedigree stock typical of the particular breeds was advanced one step further. The director considered that he would be able to make some very advantageous purchases through friends in Great Britain, and that it would be possible to import some firstrate sheep, a boar, and perhaps good calves at a reasonable price. After discussion it was decided to allot the sum of £SOO to be expended in this manner, and the matter was left in the hands of the director.—Own correspondent.

The office of the Wellington Official Assignee (Mr A. Simpson) and the alleged methods connected with bankruptcy proceedings were severely criticised and condemned at a meeting of creditors there yesterday in the estate of E. W. Jacobs, baker, who absconded some time after he was declared bankrupt. A mojion was dec’.-red carried unanimously that the meeting enter its emphatic protest agains* the manner in which the official assignee conducted the winding up of the* estate. A motion that the resolution be rescinded was carried after ; long discussion. Press Association.

Several milkmen were before the Court at Christchurch yesterday, charged with selling milk not up to the standard required by law. Several were fined. The magistrate s. ’ that there was a heavy penalty for a deliberate offence. but the variation in the milk was due to many causes. The law threw on the seller the on s of keeping the milk up to standard, because the consumer was absolutely at his mercy.

A little mild rain fell yesterday afternoon at Bluff, but not sufficient to extinguish the fire on the Bluff Hill, which has got round into the bush on the eastward side, and is still giving anxiety to the people living in the vicinity.

To the lay mind neurasthenia conveys some kind of nervous debility ; in the medical mind it is associated with the thousand-and-one functional disorders that assail an age which is notable for nerves rather than nerve ; and again, the legal mind describes it in an oblique fashion, as when Mr A. S. Adams, in the Magistrate’s Court at Dunedin, hinted at the definite relation which the disease sometimes bears to a possible pecuniary gain.—Star.

Mr W. A Holman, Attorney-General, New South Wales. addressing the United Clerks’ Union of New South Wales last week, said it was a mere superstition, encouraged by the employer for his own purposes, for clerical workers to believe that they were not on the same industrial base as other workers who had formed successful unions. The superstition had its effect in sapping the independence of the clerks, but the most hopeful sign of the past few years was the recognition by clerical workers of their standing in the economic world. Pick-and-shovel men could fight and negotiate with some hope of success, but clerks while unorganised could do neither. The thing they should do was, therefore, to organise, and carry their negotiations not into the region of .strikes, but into that of calmness and reasonableness, and secure the right to appeal to an Arbitration Court and a Judge. The Industrial Disputes Act was now in the melting pot, and a new arbitration law was to be introduced by Mr Beeby. In it the occupation of clerks would be recognised.

Railway statistics relating to the four-weekly period ending 4th February appear in the last issue of the “Gazette.” The North Island revenue amounted to £153,719, an incr-mee of £17,000 over the same period last year, while the South Island revenue was £110,197 an increase of £2OOO as compared with 1910. The passengers carried on the North Island lines numbered 512,099 —an increase of about 52,000 as compared with last year, and in the South Island the passengers numbered 37 9,212 —an increase of 9000. The traffic on all sections from Ist April, 1910 to 4th February, 1911 shows an increase of 151,129 passengers as compared with the corresponding period of 1909 - 1910. There are also increases in the revenue from nearly all classes of goods traffic, the only decrease being in horses (15 less than last year), trays (8 less), wool (15.281 tons less), and grain (59, 90S tons less). The percentage of expenditure to revenue was 65.12 in the North Island, and 66.87 in the South. The Lake Wakatipu steamers show an increased revenue of £IOO over last year for the four-weekly period. The number of passengers carried was 4372 as against 3897 in 1910, the increased revenue from this source being £47. Parcels, luggage and mails yielded an additional £7 and goods were responsible for the balance of the £IOO increase.

The Knight of the Garter, which sustained severe damage through running aground in Bluff Harbour on February 17. and was then • brought on to Dunedin, was to have gone into dock at Port Chalmers on Saturday to undergo permanent repairs, at a cost of some £13,000. However, .circumstances have arisen which prevented this in the meantime, and she is now lying at the port awaiting advice from the London owners. Our morning Dunedin contemporary understands that under the terms of the charter the New Zealand Shipping Company has the right to cancel the charter, and this, it is said, the company Intends to do. The owners in London were, they understand, very anxious to have only temporary repairs effected here, and the Knight of the Garter then taken Home, but Lloyd’s surveyors and the Government inspector of ships would not give their approval to this proposal. Rumour has it that the action of the owners and the underwriters in wanting the complete repairs to the Knight of the Garter carried out in London were influenced by the rerepairs carried out to another vessel in a northern port not giving satisfaction. The nautical enquiry into the stranding Knight of the Garter will be held at the Bluff to-day, the assessors being Captain Post, of Wellington, and Captain Sundstrum. Captain Finnis, of the damaged steamer, will be represented by Mr A. C. Hanlon. The steamer is now at the George street wharf. Port Chalmers, where, if the charter is abandoned, she will put out some 4000 packages of cargo before being docked.

Germany’s system of compulsory State insurance for workmen is about to be extended to braJn workers. As the law stands at present, all persons of either sex over sixteen years of age who work for wages or salary, and whose total earnings do not exceed £IOO per annum, must be insured against infirmity and old age in the State Insurance office. The £IOO limitation practically excludes the large class who are above the status of manual workers, and it is this class which it is now proposed to include. They number millions. One section of these employees desired an extension of the existing workmen’s insurance to include them, while the other section demanded a separate insurance scheme for themselves alone. The Government has decided in favour of the latter section. The new beneficiaries will embrace such employees as managers, foremen, clerks, and apprentices in business and commercial houses, apothecaries’ assistants and apprentices, persons employed on stages and in orchestras, teachers and instructors, captains, deck and machineroom officers. persons entrusted with the oversight of cargo, and their assistants. employed on board ships, and others in a similar higher position, but only in so far as this employment constitutes their main vocation. TTiese persons will be Insured on completion of their sixteenth year, and a pension for themselves when they are Incapable of pursuing their vocation or have attained old age, and provision,, for their widows and children in case of their death, will bo ensured them. The incomes of the assured may Us anything up to £250 a year. The finals are to be provided by the employer and employee in equal shares with a bonus added by the State. The scale of contribution by the person insured ranges from 13/2 to 2C/7 per month, the amount being deducted from his or hen salary by the employer and paid over to the State,

About 4.30 on Monday afternoon some residents of Mornington saw what they state "must have been an airship" m the direction of Anderson’s Bay, reports the "Otago Daily Times.” When first seen the object was apparently stationary, but soon afterwards it moved in a south-easterly direction. Later it came back and then circled round and finally disappeared about twenty minutes after it was first seen.

The Postmaster-General, speaking in Sydney on Monday evening of last week, gave the assurance that penny postage would be introduced throughout the Commonwealth not later than May Ist next. This brings the reform which thousands of people have been looking for within a few weeks' distance. The Minister’s statement was hailed with a great deal of satisfaction, particularly by the mercantile community, to whom, in the aggregate, the change will mean a large saving. The scarcity of domestic help is proverbial, and has long been so. Probably there was never a country in the world where the means of getting house work done have presented as much difficulty as they have in Australia. For a long time past there have been appeals made to the Government to try some remedy, or at least a palliative by means of immigration. But no Government has undertaken the task till the present, and even now it is done by the Treasurer with some misgivings and many cautions. This is easily to be seen by the limitations with which he proposes to fence in the first experiments. Only 25 or 30 girls a month are to be introduced for a time until it is seen how far the Experiment proves successful. —Melbourne “Age."

A devastating grub has made its appearance among the potato crops in North Otago, and the losses that have been sustained thereby are already something considerable. The grub, which is in the nature of a small worm, attacks and destroys the tuber with astonishing rapidity. Practically every crop over the whole of North Otago is more or less affected with the grub, and in some instances it is reported to have occasioned more damage than the dreaded Irish blight. The appearance of the grub in such an aggravated form is doubtless in a large measure due to the prolonged spell of dry weather that is being experienced. One effect' of this damage to the potato crop will be a considerable reduction in supplies from North Otago, with, it is reasonable to assume, an ultimate big advance in price. North Otago is at present passing through one of the driest periods it has ever experienced. In Fijian society, as was to be gleaned from a discussion which took place at the Methodist Conference In Melbourne, it is fatal not to bo connected with a church. Religion is all the rage. The descendants of many generations of cannibals have developed into the strictest Sabbatarians on the face of the earth, and their manifest pious observances are extremely edifying. But, as was confessed by Rev. T. W. Butcher, the religious native is by no means what he ought to be ethically. He easily lapses into immorality, is untruthful, and is no more punctilious in the discharge of his financial obligations than some conscienceless white people. Moreover, he is wont, on occasion, to take a holiday from his new-found worship, and to hark back to heathen observances. A church member has been known to lie down and die out of sheer disgust in finding himself bewitched in quite the old-time way, notwithstanding his utmost precautions. All of which shows that the Fijians have still to evolve a good working moral system. The present task of the church in Fiji is, in the words of Mr Butcher, the creation of a native conscience.

“Have you anything to say,” said Mr S. F; Edge, of London, to the World.’s Motor Manufacturers, “when I challenge any of you for a wager of £250 aside, to produce a car to match my 6-cylinder Napier." Mr Edge, who undoubtedly has done more for the Motor trade than any other human being, established a World’s Record, by driving one of his 6-cylinder Napier cars 1581 miles in 24 hours, average speed of over 65 miles per hour, without stopping his engine. The s.s. Kaikoura arriving at Auckland in a few days, has on board to the order of Thomas Stone, the following Cars: —One 15-horse power noiseless Napier, for Mr Phil. Wright, of Dunedin: one 15-horse power noiseless Napier for Mrs Turnbull, of Lake Wanaka; and one 60-horse power 6-cylinder noiseless Napier, for Invercargill. Mr Lynch, of Balfour, has purchased from Thomas Stone, one of his recently imported 14/16 Darracq’s. Cars on order to land are De Dions. Napiers, Clement Bayards, and Darracqs, and the prices to be charged during 1911 will be within the reach of the man of moderate means. The cheapest place in Invercargill for Abingdon King Dick MotorCycles; prices from £4B. —STONE’S MOTOR MART, Kelvin street.

TEE BECKET OP SUCCESS In business Is to give everyone satisfaction. We have found that in order to be sure of doing so when selling Cycles It Is necessary to sell only the best The imported Cycle has been proved to be not nearly so reliable as those manufactured locally. This Is due to the amount of boy and girl labour used In the construction of cycles at Home In order to save a few shillings in cost of manufacture. We are building on the premises most of the Cycles we sell, and those built on our premises from ten to fifteen years ago are still running quite sound and good for years to come. With such examples to guide us, and also a very capable staff, of cycle mechanics, we have the greatest confidence in pushing the Cycles we manufacture. We can build to your order for fro £9 Jos to £lO. and In every case a double purchase is effected —namely, a cycle and satisfaction. WILSON. FRASER & CO.. Dee Street. SYNOPSIS NEW ADVERTISEMENTS On Page I. Wanted —Smart lad. Wanted —Junior clerk. Strayed—One red bullock. Lost —A Cairngorm brooch. Wanted—People to knit hosiery. Suits, overcoats and underwear at Copeland’s. Commonwealth Agency have houses for sale. McDonald & Meek have suburban properties for sale. Lunch and grills all day at The Federal. Fish luncheons to-day at the Southland Fish Supply. On Page 2. Latest Winter Novelties at Lewis's. On Page 4. Funeral of the late John F. Hartly to-day. The Douglas Motor Cycle : A little machine with a big reputation See Wilson, Fraser’s advt. On Page 6 Fullers’ Pictures to-night. Irish Athletic Sports to-day. Skating in Garrison I-lall to-night. N. Z. Labour Party meet on Friday. Dr Henry’s mission afternoon and evening. List of warehouses closing this afternoon. Miss Rita Beattie, hair specialist, inserts notice. Walker and Annison, dissolution of partnership. Southern Cross as Illustrated paper after 18th inst. Grace and Co. insert notice to ladies and gentlemen. J. H. Dixon Insert notice of removal to Dee street. A. and P. Association annual ram fair on 6th April. N. Z. Railways, special trains for Irish Athletic Sports. S.s. Invercargill sails for Preservation Inlet’ to-morrow. On Page 7 Annual Stock-taking Sale at P. H. Vickery’s. Great Values in Boots at McDonald’s. For economy use Wairio Coal Co.’s coal. On Page B. Wm, Todd &. Co.—Weekly furniture sale to-morrow. J. R. Mills & Son —Sale of horses at Orepuki on 22nd inst. 1. W. Raymond & Co.—Dlsplenishing sale at Mokoreta on 21st Inst. Southland Farmers’ Co-op.—Sale at Wallacc-town on 30th March.