NEWS OF THE DAY.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13643, 7 February 1913, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The continued spoil of dry weather at W'angarei is assuming 'alarming proportions, says a Press telegram. The borough council iia« issued a notice stating that the water in the reservoir has -fallen two feet eince Tuesday. If no rain falls, the engineer estimates that tha reservoir will be dry on Sunday morning. As tho drainage system is dependent oil the water service, if no rain fulls, it will be thrown out oi: action. The weather is liumid and the barometer steady, rain being apparently improbable. Tho creeks are drying up.

A special telegram to this paper from Wanganui, .states that at water polo Canterbury (o) defeated Nelson (0). It was a rough game.

At the Magistrate's Court at New Plymouth, says- a Press telegram, James Tuthill, a bankrupt, .late licensee of-tho Taranaki Hotel, was committed to the Supreme Court for trial on a charge of having made fraudulent payments to his wife on the'eve of Ms'bankriiptcy.

The annual picnic in, connection _ with the All Saints' Sunday school will be held at Mr. Snowden',s bush at Brightwater to-morrow.

A public meeting of the householders of Tahuna and Tahunanui will be held in the Tahuua school on Wednesday. February 12th. commencing. at 7.30 p.m. Tiie meeting is for the purpose of electing a committee of.-seven members, and of-considering the boundaries of the proposed new school.district with-a vie-.v of making a'recommendation to the Education Board. ,

Mr. R. C. O'Connor, the official lecturer of tho New Zealand Government National Provident Fund left Nelson yesterday for Blejiheim. Mr. O'Connor was well received by tlie industrial firm© throughout Nelson, and the object of the fund is much appreciated by the class it is inteuded to benefit. No local agent lia.& jet been appointed for the fund, but full information is obtainable at the Postr.Office.

Miss Catherine Marsh, the venerable philanthropist and author, died in December at the great ago of 95. She passed away, at Feltwell Rector3 T, Norfolk, the • residence .of her nephew,, the Roy. Henry O'Rorke. Miss.Marsh was perhaps the Idst of the great English evangelicals. ■ There ar o great evangelicals still, but they have a touch of moderni'iiy .which\ she lacked, and she, on the: other hand, had something not easily defined wliich. they lack. i ;.

Plans of th& proposed bridge over Oldham's Creek, "towards which the. motorists of the district-have offered, to contribute £40 were submitted to the Waimea County Council'at- its meeting yesterday. The structure is to be elected in ierro concrete, with a width of fifteen feet on the roadway, and a 6pan of twelve feet over tho stream, with iron hand rails and concrete posts. The estimated cost is £80. It was. resolved that as soon as the promised contribution was paid into the bank the work bo put in hand.

The remaining semi-final of the men's championship singles in connection with the Nelson Lawn Tennis Association's annual tournament was played on the Brook' Club's courts yesterday afternoon between Walker and Town-send. The contest was a remarkable one. Walker went through the first set easily to the ■score oi o—l.0 —I. .Ti>wnst>nd played a'much more heady game in the and" reached s—l.5 —I. in good style. Thereafter Walker played with groat determination, and bore a -charmed lire. On no less than ten occasions Townsend required on© stroke to Win, but was. unable to secure it. Discounting a certain element of luck in this one set, Walker played with exceptional determination and.'steadiness, and won by 9—7. Walker and Rowley will meet in the final to-morrow afternoon.

11l the Supreme Court at Wellington before his-.Honour Mr. Justice Chapman, Mr. Maginnity, on behalf of Albert Udy, wiho was- found guilty on Tuesday last of maliciously blowing up his mother's residence at Carterton, and in regard'to whom.sentence was deferred, applied that the .accused be released, and "required to come up for sentence, if and V'he.n called upon. He recognised the seriousness,of-the offence but lv's Ho/tfmr would have gathered from the evidence that it wag'the result of excessive drinking. Mr. Maginnity suggested that severe terms "should be prescji'bed for th©' prisoner's future good-conduct, and that he should be prc/ii.bitod, and required to report, peri«3ica;ly to tjie probation officer in his ,/fi-strict. His Honour said Jie would give the matter further consideration, ..as .the?..public nrusfc :bo ; protected. He rwould give due^onsideration to tli e rep-.•■reseii-tatjonfi,'niade. . : ;

Mr. J. P. Evans,, a local carrier, wasremoving some furniture from a residence at which a sale was being held on Wednesday afternoon in Shelbourne street, when* his horse backed over a bank, and broke a hind leg. Tho animal was destroyed.

Mokai. residents'in the Taupo district failed to get their letters one day recently. The bags were under a-tarpau-lin in a- railway truck, and a spark from the engine set thorn alight, and they were consumed in the names.

Says tlie Rumara. "Times":—"ln these days, when travelling is the vogue it is interesting to learn that a young woman of this town yesterday'saw a train for the first time. She has not yet •even gazed on the sea."

Mr. W. D. S. AliicDonald, M.P., had a narrow escape on Friday last (says the "Opotiki Herald" of the*2lst). ' He was riding from Matawai to Maraetai, when his horse slipped and went partly over the cliff. Being a good horseman, Mr. Mae'Donnkl managed t ( , pull the horse back. Had h{> gone oi-er he- would have fallen 100 ft.

"Pelorus .lack," the strange white "fish" which used to frolic around the hews of the steamers passing through Pelorus Sound was last seen shortly before Christmas between the- Ohetwoods and Clay Point by a resident of the Sounds.

From Haratonga. on the Great Barrier Island, Mr. R. N. Paddison reports that" he has seen an albino skylark on several occasions on Mr. Alcock's farm. At first it was of a light slaty colour, Initiator on became pure white.

At Naseby on Wednesday, Alexander Brown, licensee of the 'Ancient Briton Hotel, was lined £5 and costs on a charge °f selling liquor after hours. A charge of exposing .liquor for sale was dismissed.

Mr. H. At more, M.P., who has been making representation* to the Public Works Department on behalf of Mr. Robert Ellis, of Brightwater. in regard to the delay in the issuing of :i license to enable him to provide electricity for lighting Richmond ami Brightwater, received a telegram from the Minister yesterday stating that a draft license was being sent to Mr. Ellis for his consideration.

A rather good story'is told by a wellknown Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. F. V. F razor, rather -at his own expense. At the tim<; of the Waihi strike trouble, the Magistrate had occasion^ as visiting justice, to pay a visit to. the Mount Eden gaol. During the morning of his visit a prisoner had been'released., and: ■about an hour later the Magistrate left the prison,. B,t'fort>he had 'gone, far he noticed a man ""who; from his appearance showed unmistakable-signs of having once been an, inmate of .the prison. The man was evidently'waitiiig for someone whom.he expected'out that day. To. the, worthy magistrate's surprise, the Gsx-convict lurched up to him, and said in h confidential whisper, "Say! any more coming out to-day?"