GENERAL NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14400, 23 March 1911, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

' THE MUNICIPAL FRANCHISE. in connection ni.Ji the iiiumc.pal elections it may b.» pointed out that the l : raticliis.> has been considernbiv widened mid ft grout jnniiy more people will be entitled to vote *han wui the eas£ heretofore. The qualiiicationa arc (1) Freeholder, applying to the registered owner of land; (2) Ratepayer, applying to the person who*o name op" pears on the ratebook at a ratepayer % (3) a residential qualification, applying to :t person who pays rent of tho value of £lO per onniuu; and (4) any British subject who has resided lor twelve months in tlw Dominion, and three months of thav twelve in tho Borough. There is considerable opa thy in tho matter of enrolment. nnd there will probnbly hs a nnny who will find then'isjflvivi unable to vote owing to the'r-neglecting to apply for enrol* ment, , LIVED 113 YEARS. Thero was buried ln&t month itl Jvlenderrv, England, mi agricultural labourer named .John Given, who was ll'i y-etirK old. Green was bom in 1708,' when the lri*li rebellion was at its height. Ho had a remarknbl* career of travel and adventure and worked in Dublin, Hirminghnm, M«uehest?r, Dumfries, Edinburgh, and London. Wlrlo emoloved in tho latter plneo, a.-, ;i labourer, lie witnessed the Coronation pr.rev-ion of Queen Victoria .11 1837, h"ir.ir !'••"' "'V.rlv 10 yearn of i'up. Subsequently lis tried life in tho Antfnodes. Ifn worked ur> to about 12 year? ngo. nnO then. br't'dovn V' the weight of •• T-.r MTminor*, l»o e-r K.?pndc rv v.-., !:b< wbi're lu> ( 1:«n very t>r>ptilr»r figure. ' RADIUM RHJUVEWATE© OLD ACE. Rejuvenating qualities in radium (telegraphs the Parte eorrtHpondei»t ot tbi; London "lUair ) have been d.Bi-CiV-ered by XYol(.>hor Gabriel Petit at tho veterinary school at All'ort. ilv i.i the "I'etil that two tions of radium in the jugular a.lory of a very old iiurM; nau a sinpiir.ing lo.vult. Despite the comparative largeof the do>.e, tho radium had no ;iJcU'ec't. l'hw- we;ii'y Mted, imh -ikJ . *eem<>d to have received n ntw leas? tj hiV. J(. began to mil on il.'i-h rtnd he cime quite frLskv, wli'ln «t>i wholi' :sppearanco ..uggo-tod biter n.-ur. hmem. The animal threw off a .certain amount oi' radium in the d; MJe.ordiug 'lie ivjeetion, l>ut th*» hi od st II h.. considerable traces of .'ulohafe of radium. while the rrd eornu/eles inerensod. R.i number. The do'-'o;- ri do* thit these iujeet'ens ;ir."duerd a l-Kt'ng radio-aotivitv of the whole organ i.sm and basss on the l -.* th" idea of thus ufrilisimr thioiigh the 'dood a radio-aetivo riorum.

SOUTHI-AND'S JUBILEE. Cluittiiin; willi a Southland ••T'.irii-s 1 reporter n.th lvjj.ird lo the ap;jr..a,.-ii-itiS fiftieth Rimivei.saiy of ilio dale i<o n Inch Snuiljland was .sopurau'il I rim Otago, the Mayor of Inv. lvargiil yj\l thai whatever miyhi. l>™ dune to commemorate the event Uumo was no doubt in Ill's mind tlnit the correct date was i- + April. The clinic 11 the Pro'elumathm providing tlint ii. should take efl'ict from Ist April definitely iixed the date at which Southland became n separate jirovinee, and that was undoubtedly the day to b:> marked. J'ho date of the I'roclaiimlion was mil rlie important date. Jlr Ott further said h.i had considered tlio matter of commrnioratiiiK the anniversary, ami. bnvi y repaid Ut the >hort p.-riod <!nr,n which SontliUniil was a separate province and tlie circumstances surroundiiiK its reunion witlj Otano, ho was dot. prepared to surest lo the Council unv celebration on a large «:ali>; nor n't April 1 was a Saturday would he ->ops'dcr Jiimst'lf justified in asking busi-i.i-s>. people l<i close their uhicw of business and olxervo n hol.'day. Jf Southland bad lived 011 as a separate 'Pro. vnice and had attained the flft'ctJi year' Of it* position would have been d:/fer<mt. In i],,, „; r en instances lie Umiii'ht thai the bus'neople mi f r|,f littin K lv mark ii.'o ■ v Hst Annl) hv flyjiirr .bniitintr, l,i;t personally lie did not favour a nubl'e cwomony of any kiwi. PossiWy ihe nialter would he mentioned in the frmied at.id if any'action were taken It would ceHa.nly hj, f,Trd'f nr tl ,„ 1-t'ApriI.Sntur-"IATICNAI. PrtOVIRENT FUND f f?Tr T? r 'V t!»ni from enqnnrs win'. Ti Tmvo ,^'V jii'ii rn'snrmrclv u-: •"vikm i f):»» pnrf. <•;f prn:il> iY.m i\ , >u Tll - system provide' t'h'li

cu paying their first contribution they will receive a receipt book and become snrolied, without, any further referent to ;lie Wellington otiiee. Another misapprehension is :n regard to salary Any person rec-eiving £'2oo a year or less may become a contributor, and may enjoy the benefits of the fund thereafter in spite of the fact that his salary has iu the meantime exceed.jd the £2OO limit. The only exception is_ that the wife of a person receiving over £'2oo a year does not receive the special grant oi £G in case of maternity. So far the largest number of applications for enrolment have come from the country and the smaller "towns, where presumably the workers hare more leisure to make themselves acquainted with the benefits of the scheme, but arrangements are now being made for approaching the city workers more directly by issuing a small handbill with brief explanations. Meanwhile full particulars can be obtained from aqy post offioe. THE POPULAR CIGARETTE. Tie increasing popularity of the cigarette among ill classes of smokers has been a matter of frequent comment of late years. That it is well grounded is demonstrated by the figures, which show that while the importations of tobacoo —under which heading presumably, both pipe and cigarette tobaccos are included —h-ive grown at a rate roughly corresponding to the growth of population, the im- ; portatiou of cigarettes has increased j out of all proportion by leaps and | bounds. It has been calculated that : during the &&st ten years the quantity of tobacco imported into New Zealand has risen, about 30 per cent., ,wlule J the increase in the case of cigarettes ; has been about 2oQ per cent. And these figures, it must be noted, take no account of. the fairly large amount of tobaoco made up into cigarettes iu ; the Dominion. The following table shows the importations under each ' heading at. the four chief ports for tho years 1900, 1905, and 1910: Tobacco. Cigarettes, j Year lb. lb. 1 1900 ...... 1,417,201 149,177 1905 ...... 1,742,412 280,522 1910 ~..M 1,934,057 466,56G OPPOSITION CAMPAIGN. In view of tho General Election a Strong Opposition campaign is being organised and the first stage of tho programme has beon arranged. Mr W. K, Massey proposes to travel over the country between ChristchurcK and Kelson,, speaking .at different centres, commencing at Kaiapoi on the 24th. inst. This will occupy him about ten days. He then comes to Otago, and proposes to go on a Central Otago. tour, accompanied by Mr R. Scott, M.P. (Tuapeka). Afterwards it is likely that. Accompanied by Mr J. Allen. M.P. (Bruce), he will visit Southland. There is a probability of Mr A. L. Herdman, M.P. (Wellington North), speaking in Dunedin before the session of Parliament opens. Mr Massey and Mr F. W. Lang have been through the King Country, where they had a most successful trip. Later on Mr Allen may co to Auckland, also t ©the Waikato district and Taumaruirai. Mr W. H. Herries, M.P. fEauranga), will speak at Hokitika. and probablv at other places. COtago Daily limes.") A NEW POLITICAL LEAGUE. An Association message from Wellington state that upwards of 300 persons attended a meeting in £he Town Hall last night, called by the recently formed National League. Mr H. Hanson, who presided, explained that the meeting was the result, .of gatherings bald recently by men who thought the time had arrived to oppose fanatical legislation. The League belonged to no party. A resolution was carried to tho following effect —"That all moderate thinking members of the community. ' should combine to oppose the irrational views of those who desire to impose unreasonable restrictions on the people of the .community."