LOCAL & GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2612, 25 January 1894, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL.

Broken Cable.—The three-core Cook Strait cable has broken near the the splice, about 20 miles from Lyell's Bay. A New Name. The name of the Uawa township, in the Poverty Bay district, has been changed to Buckley, being re-named in honor of the Hon. Sir Patrick Buckley. West Coast Sounds.—Just one hundred passengers have booked by the first excursion of the Tarawera to the West Coast Sounds. Seventy-one of the passengers are from England and Australia. The English Mails.—The Mariposa with the English mail of the 30th December, left San Francisco for Auckland on the 13th January, two days late. The Monowai, with the colonial mails of the 30th December, arrived at San Francisco from Auckland on 19th January, one day late. Cricket.—The following will play for Timaru in their match against Temuka on Thursday, 25th, inst., at Temuka :—Rothwell, Jefferson, Perry, Postlethwaite, Fraser, Cox, A Morris, Macintosh, Gudsell, C. Wood, and G. Jones ; emergencies— Wicksteed, C. Hassel and S. A. Boys. The Postal Conference. —The Post-master-General has received telegraphic advice to the effect that the colonies, with the exception of Tasmania, will be represented at the intercolonial Postal Conference at Wellington, each by a minister and an officer in charge of the Postal Department. Fire. —Messrs R. Anderson and Co's flour mill at Woodhaugh, Otago, was destroyed by fire about 11 o'clock on Tuesday evening. The workmen left the mill about eight o'clock, when everything was apparently safe, so that the origin of the fire is a mystery. Everything was destroyed, no water being available. Our Defences.— In accordance with Colonel Fox's recommendation, the big breech-loading guns in the forts are to be sent Home to be strengthened. They will go one at a time. The total cost is estimated at £9OOO. Since this type of gun was first used it has been found too weak. The first instalment of a thousand Martini-Henry rifles is expected by the end of March,. A difficulty has arisen with the contractor as to the test to be applied to the sighting. The Leech Pest.—We (Clutha Leader) notice that the leech pest is again making its annual attack on the pear, plum, and cherry trees. This pest feeds on the sap of the leaves, which soon get shrivelled up and die. With a little trouble it can readily be got rid of. A little ashes, guano, lime, fine soil, or dust of any kind, thrown over the trees adheres to the slimy lee>;h, which shortly rolls off or dies. The.operation will likely have to be repeated a few times before all the leeches are got at with the dust; but the cure is a certain one, and in case of a small orchard the trouble is not great. If all were to adopt this simple remedy for a few seasons it is possible the peat might be got rid of altogether.—The pest is creating havoj in the orchards in this district. The Dairy Industry.—Mr Valentine, the Government dairy expert, has returned to Wellington from his flying visit to the butter factories in the Manawatu and Taranaki districts. He went as far as Stratford, and was much impressed with the magnificent dairy country he passed through. Alter haying visited the chief dairy countries of the world, Mr Valentine Is of opinion that the country he has already passed through in New Zealand excels anything of the Kind he has yet seen. Mr Valentine was also pleased with what he saw in the factories he visited, but he sees room for .various improvements, with which he will deal later on. Notable among these is the necessity for some freezing apparatus for the production of cold air, in order that an even temperature may be maintained in certain processes of manufacture. Bad Meat.—About 40 shearers working at Little Valley, on the Galloway run, after having partaken of their evening meal on Monday evening last (says the Dunstan Times) were suddenly taken ill, the symptoms being those of blood poisoning. Prompt measures were taken by Mr Fred Williams, who administered emetics to the men. Dr Hyde was immediately sent for, and on his arrival found all the men prostrated from the effects of the poisoning. He prescribed the usual remedies, and vv'e are glad to hear that the men are now well on the way to recovery, although of course many of them are still very weak. The oause of their sudden illness is thought to be due to some pickled beef which formed part of their tea, the beef probably being slightly tainted before it was pickled. Supposed Wreckage.—An Auckland telegram says t —" Mr Grant, of Waiwera, reports that he has picked up on the Orewa beach what appears to be portions of cabin fittings—cedar shelves(polished), a hat peg, a small box with ' Noumea ' printed on it, and written in blue pencil, ' M. 0., Com.niander Scorff' (between ' Commander ' and ' Scorff ' is a word which he cannot decipher) ; also a butcher's basket, evidently used at Waiwera, and an empty box which had contained Swiss milk. A piece or two of rough scantling, and some small pieces of board came ashore on Tuesday morning. The box has ' E. B. F., Noumea," and ' 12 E. 29 ' printed on it. The French warship Scorff left for Dunedin on Friday last. We have no news of bad weather on the coast since, and the stuff washed ashore may have been thrown overboard." Shearers' and Labourers' Union.— As will be seen by advertisement a public meeting of the Amalgamated Shearers and Labourers Union is called for Saturday night at Temuka. Seeing that it is understood from machine owners that it is not their intention to concede to the prices for threshing laid down by the Union, no doubt a full attendance of members and others will be present at the meeting. The decision mill owners have come to is a source of surprise, as at a meeting held on October 2Sth a vote of millowners was taken, there being a majority for the prices laid down and none against. Another interesting item on the programme for Saturday night at Temuka is an address by Mr J. F. Mercier, one of the North Island delegates, whq has been organising for the union in Waipawa and Waiparapa districts. The Railways.—The late Railway Commissioners before retiring from office prepared a short report, closing the record of their terra of office up to the 20th imt. It states that since their annual report, Oil the. 31st March, JSJW, 59 miles of railway have been opened. The aet tevonije from 31st March to 6th January, was :1i3i0,9!.U), as against £311,288 for the corresponding period of the preceding year. As the bust three month-* of the your arc to come, thu Commissioners anticipate that their estimate will be realise'.]. T>e ti-ulijj officers report that fclio traffic; ttaff is diluent, while the staff generally is in a sta.o of excellent orgiinL-ntio'i. Th.-i systo n introduced in 188 U. oL' i-i!„':i;;in,,' la Is only in hjr.'iuu'ise* of thu twice and training and educating them for various duties, and the system of classification of pay and promotion from the lower to the higher grades, have, the Commissioners state, answered excellently, and the service is now manned by officers and men trained to railway and telegraph work on colonial lines. The railway stores report shows th:|t during the Commissioners' term of office the v.-ilum of the stock and stores had I.ecu increased by £7778. Other reports .-how time there has been a large improvement in enginepower, rolling-stock, appliances, lines, and structures, during the Commissioner*' term, all made from wo;king By this means the capital value of the lines und the not profits La-ye been increased,

The Late Bishop Harper. —At a public meeting at Christchurch on Tuesday night the report of the committee that the most suitable memorial to the late Bishop Harper would be the completion of the cathedral, was adopted. Onehunga Ironworks. —The Onehunga ironworks have shut down for a few days pending the negotiations which are practically computed with a syndicate of co-operative workers from New South Wales, some of whom were previously employed at Onehunga. The Weather. —On Tuesday night, after a very sultry day, a slight shower of rain fell, which towards Wednesday morning became sufficiently heavy to destroy all hope of a continuance of harvest operations for a day or two. These successive showers are doing a lot of harm, and much grain is getting damaged. We hear on good authority thab the caterpillar is unusually prevalent this season, especially in barley crops, and that a considerable amount of damage has been done.

Increasing Eevenue. —The Customs Revenue collected at Lyttelton and Christchurch in 1893 amounted to £276,273, an increase of £6294 on the previous year. The beer duty received amounted to £lO,Bll, an increase of £B2. The total value of the imports was £1,272,860, as against £1,205.924. The exports shows a considerable falling off, owing to the low prices of grain in English market; a decrease of £114,113 appears, and it would have been more marked but for the exportation of specie to the United Kingdom and the Australian colonies to the amount of £113,990. The Legislative Council. Monday night's Wellington Evening Post says: — " We understand that the members of the Legislative Council who opposed the Government measures which were thrown out in the Upper House last session will not further oppose them. Councillors are of opinion that the country having had these measures before it, and having returned the Government with a substantial majority, they are under a constitutional obligation to pass them." According to the Wellington correspondent of the Press, it has been definitely decided not to make any calls to the Legislative Council before Parliament meets. Geraldine Cycling Club. —At the committee meeting of this club, held on Monday evening, six new members were proposed and duly elected as members of the club. Mr Laugdon, of Winchester, having generously presented the club with a trophy, it was resolved that it be competed for on St. Patrick's Day, confined to members of the local club only. Two pounds were voted to the Sports Association from the f uuds of the club towards a trophy for the local bicycle race. Two members were struck off the club's books for running as professionals. It should be distinctly understood that the club consists of amateurs only. Orari Park Board.—A meeting was held on the 17th January. Present—Messrs Mason, Hawke, Boland, O'Neil, Breadley, Brown, and Barker. Mr F. H. Barker was elected chairman. The park, 5 acres 28 perches, has been given to the township on payment of £2O, the value of improvements on it. Resolved —"That the house on the park be offered for sale by tender, to close on 20th February next; also, that a subscription list be started to help liquidate the debt, and supply funds to fence and plant the park." The list was headed by Mr A. E. G, Rhodes with £5, and £7 lis was subscribed in the room. Resolved —"That the 9-acre reperve adjoining the present park be applied for as an addition to the park." The meeting then adjourned till February 21st. In Bankruptcy.—The first meeting of creditors of George Hedges, basket-maker and rod-grower, was held at Timaru on Monday. The following are the filed statements :A—Dr—Unsecured creditors as per list B, £751 13s lOd. Secured creditors as per list C, £7O, less estimated value of securities, £l2o—surplus to credit £SO. Total debts. £750 13s lOd. Cr—Stock-in-trade at Milford, 10 tons of willows seized by W. G. Aspinall for rent, £2OO ; 5£ tons, Miles & Co., Timaru, £55 ; sundries, £10; book debts, £SO, estimated to produce £4O ; cash in hand, nil; property as per list E, £400; surplus from securities, £SO; total assets, £B2O. Surplus—£6B 6s 2d. B—List of unsecured creditors —F. Cullraann, £S; J. T. Warren, £42 15s ; W.R. Quinn, £145; M. Salek, £46 10s ; T. Wells, £9 18s ; W. S. Maslin, £39 ; J. Cullmann, £2 17s 6d ; Peacock & Geaney, £9 16s Sd; Davies & Murphy, £2 4s 7d; J. Pbilp, £18; Dr Hogg, £2 ; H. Rawstorn, £1 17s ; Manager Raineliff Estate, £6B; 0. G. Tripp, £9O; W. G. Aspinall, £77 4s ; Prattley, £8 6s; Taylor, £10; Findlay, £lO 9s 6d; Whitehead & Son, £7 lis 7d; R. Darroch, £34; Norton, £7; Grant, £3 ;J. Blyth, £3l7s jJ. Brown, £3 10s; J. Harrison, £llss; Russell, £3l2s; T. Hooper, Barker, King, J. Henderson, D. Earl and others (Übor), £SO ; G. Taylor, Christohurch, .£27; Reid & Gray, £3 10s j Miles & Co., £3*; Orari Conservation Board, £l2; total, £751 13s lOd. o—Secured creditors, National Mortgage and Agency Company, debt £7O; security, 8 tons of willows in Sydney, N.S.W., estimated value, £l2O. E—List of property leased from S. D. Barker at Milford, standing crop on same fit to out next May, estimated value. £3OO. At a preliminary examination by the Deputy Assignee on the 12th inst. the debtor made the following statement i—l have been in business in Timaru as basket* maker and rod grower for about 11 years. I had no capital when I began. I leased the Orari plantations from the Conservation Board when I commenced business, and soon after I leased from Mr S. D. Barker at Milford 24| acres. I planted 7or 8 acres in osiers, many thousands of sets I had to collect und plant at great expense after clearing the swamp. I estimate the cost of this in time and labor at say £IUO. Very little benefit was derived from this, for the first four years of the lease, a fourteen years lease. These osiers are now in full bearing, and the lease has still six years to run. I estimate the crop at 40 tons per annum, at a value of £3 per ton on the ground. The plant for preparingjthe osiers cost me about £55. and the shod about £2O. I understand that Mr W. G. Aspinall is now the landlord. Last March I sent to Sydney 8 tons of rods which I valued at £2OO. I went there myself at considerable expense to try to sell them, but could not, owing to the bad state of trade there. They arostii} with the and A. Oqmpany, Sydney. They have a lien on them for cash advanced, £45, and expense*. I shippel about 1 ton of rods to England this year through Miles and Co., which only realised net £•} per ton, and cost #l7 per ton to produce, I have 5A tons stijl at Miles and Oo.'s, their claim against thein is only for one month's storage. J have in the pits about 25 tons of rods which cost about £75 to place there. This will be a total loss. I had also about 2 tom of rod.S destroyed by ha<\ weather this year. These were peeled rods, and were worth about UP I purchased rods from Mr Tripp and Ituinoliff Instate in the hope that the murkot value might improve, and that the profit I would obtain might enable me to pull through, but the .supply of rods in t'ae market turned out to bo greater t'mu the demand, both in this colony and in B.'dnev. I wm led to believe by buyers over there that I coul 1 soil £IOO or £SOO

worl.c. every I called a private meeting of my principal creditors List week, and tlu-y aJvis.'d mo to file. They were fully sali-lled that I hud done my but had boon unfortunate. In reply to questions Mr Hodges said he did not wish to be relieved of his liabilities, he wished to pay 20s in the .'-, and to help to realise the estate to thu best advantage, lie had no iuLsrest iu tlic goodwill of the lease, of a High Sohoul Board reserve at Orari. bought in the name of <j. lledgL'H \ Son from A. Grant. He pai 1 nothing on it and expected nothing from it; it was now owned by his son George and Mr Daky. The horse and cart and a few baskets about the house belonged to his son. The eonine belonged to a poor widow woman, and he would be very sorry to sec her loso it. The meeting termiautod without any resolution being pasaed,

Geraldine Rib'les. —Members of this corp, and all interested in volunteering in Geraldine, are reminded that the annual meeting takes place this evening. Business of very great importance is to be dealt with, and it is hoped there will be a large attendance. The Licensing Elections.—The licensing elections are expected to involve an outlay of £6OOO to £7OOO. Candidates for licensing committees will have to deposit £lO like Parliamentry candidates, under the same conditions of forfeiture. The Government will help the local bodies who are uuable to bear the expense of the election. '

Fire.—The new Government Central School at Nelson, just approaching completion, was burned down at 3 o'clock on Monday morning. Incendiarism is suspected. The contract price was £1550, and the contractors have received £6OO progress payments. The school was insured for. £IOOO in the Sun office. All the building material and tools were lost. The Coolgardie Goldfields.—A letter received by a Wellington resident from a friend now in Perth (Western Australia), states that that town is crowded with people who have returned from the Coolgardie goldfields, but mean to go back again in March after the dry season. He speaks of it as a very rich field, but says that anyone going there needs to have money in store, as living is very expensive. Picturesque Atlas Case.—The Wellington Press has the following:—ln the case of Bowerman Bros, (publishers of the " Picturesque Atlas ") v. Joseph Williams, farmer, of Otago, in which £lO was claimed for alleged breach of an order signed by the defendant to take the book, his Worship gave judgment to-day for defendant. Mr Gully was for plaintiffs and Mr Hislop for defendant. His Worship said that plaintiffs had ample time to have known the defendant's notions regarding the order he had signed, yet they had delayed proceedings in the matter, and without going into the niceties of the law he would give judgment for defendant, on the question of equity and good conscience. Obituary.—Rev. Mother Sharman, the first Superior of the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Timaru, died on Monday, after a few day*' illness, at the age of seventy years. The deceased lady retired from her position as head of the establishment a few years ago on account of deafness, and was succeeded by the Rev Mother Gartlean, but continued to superintend the business affairs of the convent. She was greatly respected and beloved. She is said to have been a member of an English noble family, and in her childhood to have been an intimate companion of our present Queen. Bishop Grimes conducts the funeral ceremony at 3 o'clock to-day. Alleged Forgery. A young man named Alexander Copland has been committed for trial at Invercargill on a charge of having forged and uttered two I O TJ's for £62 and £9, purporting to have been signed by his father, now deceased. The father of the accused died on tbe 20th March last. At the time of the death accused made no claim, but a short time ago he went to the aarent in Invercargill for the Public Trust Office and claimed £62 and £9, which he alleged he had lent to his father, and for whioh he produced the I O IPs. There was reason to believe that aocused had lent his father some money, but nothing like what he claimed. Mr Cuthbertson, the agent for the Public Trustee, in his evidence said he noticed that although the date on one of the I O U's was two years before that on the other, both were written apparently with the same ink, on precisely the same kind of paper, and each had a stamp on it with an advertisement on the back, and the name was writtan right through each stamp. If the signatures on three documents produced were those of William Copland, those on the I O U's were not. If the accused had got the £7.1 the estate would have been insolvent. Accused was allowed bail.

A Pibasant Ooting.—Thirteen female teachers of North Canterbury, who went for a camping tour on the West Coast, supplied the Press with the following notes :—" We are all agreed that our trip waß a delightful one; everything seemed to go right. We did not quarrel, as we were warned we should do. Our drivers were splendid fellows —kind and attentive to us ; our chaperon was all that could be desired. We had splendid weather, with the exception of a wet day in the Otira Gorge, and that was an experience which the girl* feel now they would not willingly have missed. At Kumara we explored a gold mine, and climbed a perpendicular ladder betweea 30 and 40 feet high. We met the Governor and Lady Glasgow at the Otira, and they came and talked to us. We invaded a shearers' shed one evening in quest of bread, and were dealt with most liberally by the oook. We had two dances and numerous concerts. Wo had no acoidents ; we did not break or lose a single article belonging to us, and we lived on the fat of the laud. We have enjoyed ourselves so much that we have quite determined to make another trip next year—probably to the Hanmer Plains and through Nelson into Marlborough. For the present our pleasure is not by any means over. So many funuy little incidents occurred on the road that they will afford amusement for us and our frieuds for days to come, and then we shall have as mementoes of journey the photographs which two of our number took."

SYNOPSIS OF ADVERTISEMENTS, John Grigg—Wants contract stackers. James Paterson —Tenders for harvesting. Priest & Holdgate —Notice re McOormiok reapers and binders. Reid & Gray Further testimony ro Mercer reaper and binder. Orari Domain Board—Tenders for purchase of 2-roomed wooden building. Box 28, P. 0., Timaru—Comfortable home for twa girls attending high school. In Bankruptcy—Re George 11. Velvin; first meeting of crodßoja on 2nd February. Tempka Rvauch Shearers and Laborers’ TJuiou—important meeting on Saturday evening. JJ r . E. Webster & Co.—Sell Mr Cook’s farm, HI acres, situated at Waitohi, on February (i.