NOTES,

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3259, 7 March 1885, Page 2

NOTES,

A Wellington paper lias hit on a splendid idea by which New Zealand can be of service to England m the Soudan crisis. It aaya : — ' : Wo may not think it wise to send men at present, and of money wo haro not much to spare, but we might make a very useful and acceptable contribution m the shape of a presentation cargo of our preserved meats, for the use of the troops. Such a present would servo a variety of useful purposes, m addition to feeding the troops, and wo do not think that Parliament would at all bo inclined to object wore the Government to incur unauthorised expenditure to the extent necessary to give effect to this suggestion. It would bo a splendid advertisement of what is one of the staple industries of the colony, and ovon on this ground would bo worth the cost. The various meat preserving companies would no doubt meet the Government liberally m carrying out the proposal. This is about the neatest combination of patriotism and business " push" we have seen for some time. It ia decidedly more pleasant to send New Zealand preserved mutton than to go ourselves to the Soudan, with the chance of being converted into "cold meat" m our own proper persons. When, m addition to all this, we also get a " splendid' advertisement for one of our staple industries," it is impossible sufficiently to admire the ingenuity of the suggestion. After reading of the vagaries of Murdoch's team m Australia, which led to their being ostracised even by their fellow, colonial cricketers, it is not surprising to learn that they are likely to be excluded from the leading grounds at Home. The latest exploit of these "amateurs," it may be remembered, was to refuse to play with the English professional team visiting Australia, unless they received a handsome sum for their services. In what light the matier is regarded m England, is evident from a recent paragraph m Tlie World, m which the writer remarks with unraistakeable candor: — "The Australian 'Amateur' Eleven which visited this country last year have, on their return home, proved themselves what they were always known to be here — a set of impudent moneygrabbing professionals." This is plain enough, and it is to be hoped the team will like it. They astonished England by their cricket, it is true, but they have dragged the name of the Australian colonies m the dirt by their pronounced lack of most of the gentlemanly characteristics on which true cricketers pride themselves. About the most grimly-comic thing we have ever heard of for some time, comes from Wellington. It will be remembered that an estimable old gentleman m that city, named Waring Taylor, was recently found guilty of embezzling trust moneys to the extent of about £20,000. He had previously become bankrupt, and had candidly admitted to his creditors that he had used all the trust funds he could get hold of to stave off his own private creditors. Some technical points were raised, however, by his counsel, before sentence was passed, and he is detained m prison until these are decided. It now turns out that he is still acting as trustee m a number of estates, and actually transacts the business connected with them m his prison cell ! The explanation is aaid to be that bankruptcy m this colony does not void a trust, as it .does m England, and that Mr Waring Taylor's connection with these estates can only be got rid of by expensive legal proceedings. If the technical points are over-ruled and he is sentenced for the offences of which a jury has found him guilty, then it is said his hold on the estates ceases; Till then, however, he will qe able to continue to look after the interests of the widow and^he fatherless, m the admirable manner which has distinguished him m the past. Perhaps the most surprising revelations m reference to the. recent lamentable occurrence at the Wellington Hospital, is the statement that the : ' antiseptic method of dressing wounds is not employed there. One would as soon expect to hear that the use of chloroform is unknown m the institution. The antiseptic treatment, one of the greatest discoveries of modern surgery, was invented about ten years ago by Lister, the eminent surgeon, who has just received a baronetcy. Briefly speaking, it consists m using dilute carbolic acid as a dressing with the object of excluding the organic germs floating about m the air, which p.erms act as vehicles m conveying disease. Before its discovery septicaemia was the most dreaded scourge' m hospital wards, and thousands of cases m which operations bad been performed succumbed annually to this cause ; now it is of exceedingly rare occurrence. So effective is this antiseptic treatment that ' it is stated that m some hospitals the surgeons do not hesitate to treat "even erysipelas m the Bame wards as operation cases, and no ill-effects follow. It is to be hoped that Wellington is the only place iv the colony where the hospital authorities have deliberately shut their eyes to one of the greatest boons for which mankind is indebted to the medical profession. Still another " popular fallacy " has to be abandoned. How often do we h,ear morbid people who delight to talk' of

bad cases of illness, serious accidents, etc., declare they have known people who have had their eyes taken out, and then, having had something done to them — cleaned with sand-paper we fancy some of them say — safely replaced m the sockets. A Wellington medical man, Dr Gillon, took occasion to allude to this singular idea the other day, and characterised it as quite unfounded. The most that could be done, he said, was to slightly turn the eye m the socket. The gossips m question are, therefore, now i deprived of one of their most effective " points."

Orini Schooi,. — Tliis School will re-open on Monday next. That well-known and Popular Front Bar of the Ship Hotel is now Selling Marshall and Copeland's Ales at 3d per Gloss and 9d per Quart. — [Advt.] Waijiatb Licensing District. — The election of the Licensing Committee for the Waimate District was held on the sth inßt. by the Beturning-Ofllcer, Mr B. G. Baxter. Tho result of the election was that Messrs Goldsmith (67 votes), E. Cameron (57), J. Neilson (49), F. Hughes (47) and S. Collett (46) were declared duly elected. Thore were eleven candidates for election. EEBIDBNT MaGISTBATB'S CoUIIT, WAIMate.— This Court was yesterday adjourned by the Clerk. There were three civil cases entered, two of which were settled out of Court and the other (Pelviu and another v. Boss) was adjourned till the 20th inst. The " VVaimatb Times." — The proprietorship of this papur changed hands on tho sth inst., the Waimate Times Company having disposed of their shares by auction sale on that day, Mr W. J. Steward being the purchaser. Mr Riekman conducted the sale. The Moodx. Whaki?. — Mr Chas. Palliser had a large gang of men on yesterday afternoon filling m with concrete the northern corner of the approach to the new Moody wharf. The southern corner had been successfully filled m a day or two ago. Filling m and arranging the boxes for the corners proved very tedious, work, especially as the sea during the last week or so has been anything but too favorable. Totaba Valley.— A correspondent writing from Totara Valley yesterday says : — Since Sunday evening last rain has fa'len, off and on, and not more than half a day's carting has, as a rule, been done. There is a good deal of corn still m stook on many of the farms, while higher up reaping has yet to bo done m some cases. We are looking anxiously for a change for the better. Dbscbibing the Colony. — We notice that the Bey. T. Jasper Smyth, of Pleasant Point, has been writing a eenes of letters to a Home paper describing the colony and its resources. They are written m a very interesting and at the same time practical style, and show that the writer possesses keen powers of observation. They are quite free, from the exaggeration m which writers about the colony often indulge, and we understand their publication has already been productive of good by induoing farmers and others to come out to the colony to test its capabilitiea. ' Tbmuk A. — Mr W. B. TTprichard, a commission agent at Temuka, on reaching home on Thursday evening, told his wife that he had taken poison, ana as he was vomiting very much, the police were communicated with. They took Dr Hayes with them to the house, and found that Upriohard had taken a large quantity of arsenic, about four o'clock m the afternoon. Dr Hayes at once used the stomach-pump, and did all m liis power to nullify the effects of the poison, but without avail, ' Upriohard dying about one o'clock yesterday afternoon. He declined . to state the cause of his taking poison. An inquest will be hold this morning. Waimate. — Our correspondent writes as follows : — The weather at Waimate since last Sunday evening has been greatly against harvest work. There were light rains on Sunday ovoning and Monday, -which became yery heavy during several hours on Tuesday morning. Since then the town and district for several miles round have been completely enveloped with a heavy fog, rain falling occasionally. The air was very calm nearly all the time, with a rather warm temperature. Nearly all the wheat was cut, Jbut .* a very small portion staoked, so that" tho wheat stooks were all the time . exposed to the weather. A considerable quantity of wheat was injured- by the damp and ■warmth. Although the sun shone out brightly on Monday and the fog disappeared from hijl and plain, the air remained .heavy and calm, scarcely any drying influonce being experienced. Thore is a large proportion of the oat crop yet to cut ; but as this cereal is not so susceptiblo to injury from moisture as wheat, it has not suffered materially. . The yield of wheat per acre m this district is considerably above the average, and the quality of the grain— before the injurious effects of the late damp weather were experienced — was excellent. ' ■ Lectobe. — But a small audienco assembled lost evening at the Assembly Booms to hear Mr Federli give a lecture on the capabilities of various parts of the colony for sub-tropical productions, only thirty persons, among whom were two ladies, being present at the time the lecture commenced, and this number was only increased by three as the evening wore on. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and gave a brief introduction expressing great regret at seeing bucli a very small audience. Mr Federli on coming forward was greeted with applause, and after stating what his object m lecturing was, said the climate or rather climates, of New Zealand were of such a nature that slmost any kind of plant could grow here, each of which, if properly cultivated, would make the colony independent. As showing the variety of the soil and climate, he said m the extreme North tho banana was grown to perfection, whilst m the South the grape was growing to perfection m the open air. He thon referred to the immense quantities of fruit that were imported to this colony yearly, from California, Tasmania, Victoria and other places, and proved by figures that these fruits could be grown and preserved far cheaper m this colony, and what was more, be of better quality than those imported. All that was wanted was thorough and systematic cultivation. Speaking of the areas set aside for " village settlement," ho said these would prove .very suitable for the purposes of fruit growing, etc. . He had had an opportunity of inspecting some of these settlements m this district by the kind invitation of the Mayor, and what he had seen had pleased him very much. He had also inspected one or two orchards m Timaru, and must say that the apples he saw here were the most magnificent he had seen \ m this colony. What, . however^ he desired i to impress upon the people of. this distriot to enter upon was sericulture, or the cultivation j of silk. This was an industry admirably adapted for New Zealand, as had been proved by experiments and trials made by himself at Christchurch and. other places. Numbers of people had said to him that it was impossible to produce silk as cheaply here as m China for instance, as labor hero was bo dear. He could assure them this was all a mistake, and could prove that with modern appliances silk could bo produced as cheaply here as m the greatest of silk-growing countries. , Mulberry trees grow to perfection hero, and it had been demonstrated that the colony possessed special climatic advantages favorable to their cultivation. Mr Federli then gave some' 'particulars delating to "silkworm oulture, ana said he had got three lots of cocoons m the course of eight months, thus further showing that we had an exuberance, of vitality here owing to our splendid climate. In France and other places, he said, only one lot of cocoons was obtained m tho year, that was m the Spring. From a financial point of view the industry was a good one, as it required really no capital to work it. The silkworms wanted very little attention, and he was confident if the people would go m for silk culture we should never again hear the "unemployed" cry_j and if. the people, living at a place m this district called " Strugglers' Flat " took tho industry up they would m a few months have the name changed to "Well-to-do-Flat." In conolusion, he would urge upon them the great necessity of planting. mulberry trees m this district and flunk seriously of sericulture. In reply to questions, Mr Federli said the silkworm best adapted for. this colony was the Bombi/x wort (Italian variety), and the best kind of mulberry the Morns alba (rose-leaved or Catenae! variety). Spe&fcing of labor, Mr

Federli saicl men skilled m silk culture should be brought to the colony, as it was well known that one practical lesson wns far more effective than theory or book-learning. During the ■ lecture, which lasted more than an hour, MrJTeilerli was frequently applauded, and at its close Mr Sando moved that a cordial vote of thanks be given, which wa9 carried with acclamation. Mr Federli briefly, responded, and then moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman, after -which the meeting terminated. An Obliging Tenor. — At the Glasgow Theatre, recently, an amateur tenor offered himself as a substitute, out of the body of tbe audience, on the announcement that the professional was ill and could not take his part m "II Trovatore." The offer was accepted. The substitute acquitted himself admirably, being led forward before the curtain at the conclusion of the performance to receive the deafening plaudits of the audience. Enterprise. — Lord Wolseley's offer of a £100 prize as an incentive to valor has soon found its level. I hear (says a writer m TrutJi) that the proprietors of a well-known patent pill have sent tbe General several thousand handbills, to be distributed among the soldiers, together with a cheque for £150 as a guerdon for the man who is first m placing one of the said handbills upon the front door of Gordon's palace at Khartoum. Sir Julius Yogel and the Electric Light.— We learn from the Some News that the ordinary general meeting of the Australasian Electric Light, Power and Storage Company (Limited) was held recently at the offices, Coleman street. Mr Latimer Clark, C.E., presided, and m moving the adoption of the report observed that the £3000 which appoarod as profit m the accounts from the Australian Company had hot been treated as profit. He was sorry that the report was not a pleasant one. They had expected to make a fortune by selling concessions m Ausiralia, for when the Company was started concessions for electric lighting could be sold for almost any sum. They had requested Sir Julius Yogel to go to the colony and sell concessions for them, but while that gentleman was on the way the bubble collapsed, the shares of the Company fell immensely,' and on the arrival of Sir Juliub Yogel he found that telegrams had preceded him announcing the altered condition of things. His efforts to sell concessions failed, and the Directors then pressed him to form companies. He did form one company, but under the arrangement made this, the parent, company had to pay instalments on shares. As to the future the Board entertained the same hopes which they held last year, and on several grounds. The business generally was reviving, and was rapidly taking root. The expenses were also being reduced. Binco June they had been getting rid of unprofitable contracts, and they now only took work which yielded a profit. In the course of the /discussion which followed Mr Stephens moved a resolution appointing a committee of shareholders to enquire into and to give a full account of the past history, present position, and prospects of the company, and to ascertain whether by proper and economical management the company was likely to succeed. Othershareholdera also spoke, some supporting the directors. In reply to Mr Van Tromp, the Chairman said the directors would refuse to be re-elected if a committee of enquiry were appointed. They would, however, as he had said, welcome shareholders on the Board or a small consultative committee. Mr Stephens consented to modify bis resolution, and accordingly proposed the appointment of a committee consisting of bond fide shareholders "to confer with the directors as to the past history and present and future prospects of the company, and to report to a future meeting of the shareholders." The resolution was carried, and a committee of five shareholders was afterwards appointed. Despairing Bankers. — The number of suicides, among the brightest and most capable of business mon, bankers and others will be reduced to a minimum as soon as the specific virtues of Hop Bitters are known. As all men who work with their brains and neglect to take the needed exercise, the food taken does not nourish, and dangerous debility, physical, and mortal, ensue. Read — TAdvtC Remember This.— lf you are sick, Hop Bitters will surely ajd Nature m making you well wken all else fails. If you are costive or dyspeptic, or are suffering from any other of the numerous diseases of the stomach or bowels, it is yonr own fault if you remain ill, for Hop Bitters is a sovereign romedy m all such complaints. If you are wasting away with any form of Kidney Disease, stop tempting Death this moment, and turn for a cure to Hop Bitters^ If you are rick with that terrible sickness Nervousness, yqu will find a "Balm m Giload" m the use of Hop Bitters. If you are a, frequenter or a resident of a_ miasmatic district, barricade yonr system against the scourge of all countries — malarial, epidemic, bilious and intermittent fevers — by the use of Hop Bitters. If yon have jongh, pimply, or sallow skin, bad breath, pains and aches, and feel miserablo genorally, Hop Bitters will give you fair skin, rich blood, and sweetest breath, health and comfort. In short, they cure all Diseases of the Stomach, Bowels, . Blood, Liver, Nerves, Kidneys, Bright* s Disease. .£SOO will be paid for a case they will not cure or help. Druggists and Chemists feeep. That poor, bedridden, invalid wife, sister, mother, or daughter, can be mode the picture of health by a few bottles of Hop Bitters, costing bnt a trifle. Will you let them suffer a — Advt. (2) SYNOPSIS OF NEW ADVERTISEMENTS. Jonas and Bourn— Sell sheep and cattle on tlio 10th. R. Turnbull and Son— Will sell a, dairy plant to-day. F. M. Riukraan— Holds sales of sheep and cattle on the ßth and 26th. - ... - . . • Mr Nixon, of Wain's Hotel, Dunedin— Will soil all his household furniture on the 16th. O. Pearson— Has received a shipment of cooking apples. I Wade and Shea— Have just received a consignment of boots and shoes. Returning Officer, Pareora, Makikihi, Deep Creek and Hakateramca .-Districts— Notice re election of Licensing- Committees. . Lost — One notice.