LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8311, 9 May 1905, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

.< There are < . fiftyrfive patients in the {Southland Hospital— a record. , Mr A. R. Barclay has definitely decided to contest the seat for Dunedin ■- JNorth at the general election. - The only business at the ' Rangiora , Magistrate's Court to-day was the re- ~ pewal of a prohibition order against a' man, on the application of his 'wife. . . JJfcJS. R. Good, JP., and Mr C. I. #<pnnings, J.P., were on the Bench. The- passengers by the Sonoma, saillag for San Francisco on Friday, in-, olude eight New Zealanders, bound for ; Zion City. Twenty-three others will travel by the following steamer, and it ' i»' stated that thirty more Zionists will leave the colony by June, making . the total departures for -Zion eighty. ' At the annual meeting of trarishidtoen of St John's Church, Rangiora, \ held last night, the vioar stated that \it was the intention -to spend the bal•fcoe of £55 to the credit of the Dud- ' i ■ ley memorial fund on a memorial *pul- ; pit* in addition to the stained-glass window already placed in the church .: to the memory of the late Yen '^rchf deacon Dudley. ) The work of cutting down the plantation of large pines at the Southbrobk • Rjtifoay Station has been commenced. JJJh« trees are being split into 4ft |efi£t«ns, for firewood. It seems a ' pity ' t£rt, after growing for thirty years, they could not be used to better purpose. Some years ago, several of the jwees were cut down to give room for a •looprline, and they were » sawn into ibpai^i' hyiMessrs Bpyd and Keir. Some W ih« i timber was used in Rangiora,, hand haa stood very well. / ■ .■•(•• ■£ Wellington' enthusiast, who has ■yisited theXake Horowhenua district £t the opening of every shooting season during the past ten years, informs SF (says the Wimngton "Post") that ifce first week of the present season Wm ibe tamest in his experience. He returned to town on Saturday, his bag Containing a braoe of ducks -and a few tobbits. iij»hieh 'used to be very plentiful, were conspicuously absenty and "generally Horowhenua Lake, which was at one time noted as a sportsman's paradise; was disappointingly, scarce of game. The We^ngton sportsman did bot hear of any good bags. His theory jrwrajding the scarcity of game is that the birds have gone to good feeding grounds near we settlements, and latw on they may be driven back ■ to the lake by. sportsmen in the settled J^UStrictfl* ' ■"■' ';■- ■ t . '. ■ ' ....

It is understood that all the banks doing business in the colony have decided to abolish "race days" from their list of sjiecial holidays. Mr Wilkie/ who recently resigned his position as a Government veterinary «o return to Great Britain, is collecting v number of kiwis, keas and tuatara lizarde for presentation to the Zoological Gardens in London. ■' Asked the occupation of one of her sons, a woman giving evidence at the Magistrate's Court . this morning said that he. ,was ia carpenter, but was consumptive, and was all his time taking cod liver oil. A picture of interest to anglers, recently presented to the tourist office by the "Lytelton Times" Company, has been framed and hung in the Tourist Office. It is a photograph of the catch made at the anglers' competition in February last, _and is an excellent testimonial to. the nature of angling in Canterbury. A man, sued for maintenance by his wife at the. Magistrate's Court this morning, pleaded inability to contribute much mone/, as his earnings totalled only 80s weekly. The Magistrate remarked that a strong, ablebodied man like the ' defendant ought to be able' to suppbrt, his wife. . The plea of inability was preposterous. If he was earning 3Ds he would have to share it with his wife by giving her 15s. At the Cbrißtohurch Magnetic Observatory the readings at 9.30 a.m. to-day W6 re :— Barometer \£0.305 and falling rapidly, maximum temperature during the preceding twenty-four hours 61.2, minimum during the same period 51.3, wet bulb 54, dry bulb 52.4, . humidity per cent 89, maximum temperature in the sun 108.5, minimum thermometer on the grass 49.9. Cloud (0-10) 9. The wind was north-east, and the rainfall had been .001. As will bo seen in 'perusing the titles of the storiettes of this week's Canterbury Times," the series is particularly palatable to the literary tasteof those who prefer light reading. The names of the storiettes are:— 'By Chance of Fate," " On the Evidence, rt The Mystery of the Steel Disc," A Chariot of Fire" and "A Double Wedding,!' Articles of conßiderable interest in the Sketoher pages are on the following subjects:— "The Social Highwayman," " Parts Played by Informers,", " Policeman X," "The Lawyer," " Dr Herman Adler " and " Four Months of Sunshine." "Letters in Irish," " The Scribbling Age," "Smart Children," "The Countess of Socialism," " Starving School Children " and "A Typhoid-stricken City" are a few titles of articles which appear in the Occasional Column.