SMOKERS PLEASE NOTE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8377, 25 July 1905, Page 2

SMOKERS PLEASE NOTE.

A rush -ira it. What? Gulden Eagle Tobacco, ' Flake-cut* ia, 2oz tins.. All tobacconists.. ■■

Mr E. Hughes, of Kaipuni, recentlyshot a very large shag on the Waickura stream, in the Manaia district. The bird (says the " New Zealand Times ") was in the act of swallowing a trout weighing fully a pound, when it fell to Mr Hugbes's gun. It measured five feet all but one inch across tho outJtrebched wings.

This evening, at eight o'clock, Mr S. flurst Seager, A.R.1.8.A., will deliver* a lecture, entitled " Healthy Homes, ' in the City Hall, under the auspices of the Physical Culture Society. The lecturer will deal with the proper sanitation and ventilation of dwelling-houses and other buildings, and, as the subject is one of general interest to the community, the public are invited. Admission is free.

The syndicate formed to exploit Taranaki as a petroleum field has secured righte over 6240 acres. A fewdays ago, Mr Fair, who is in charge of the boring works, said: — "In eighteen months' time, if my anticipations are realised — and I .am sanguine they will be— we shall have fully two thousand men employed in the industry, and a new era will .be started in Tafanaki."

The New Zealand " Mining Journal " says: — It is reported that pure copper ore has been discovered in the Kaipora district, between Wakapirau and Bart-. by. The find was located some time »go by a piece of pure ore being picked up on the harbour beach. It lias since then been freely found among the neighbouring hills, and a Native woman is reported to have gathered about 701 b of pure copper in a few hours. We shall probably hear more about the matter presently > as a syndicate has taken it up, and will endeavour to develop the industry.

For many years it has been impossible to grow peaches successfully in the Taranaki district owing to the peculiar disease known to orchardists as "peach-curl" — the leaves curling wound the fruit when tho fruit is forming, causing it to wither away and fall off. An old Plains fruitgrower fcells the " Waimate Witness " that the refuse from the tanks of acetylene gas generators is a cure for the disease or blight. The refuse is put on the soil around the base of the tree. He has Been it tried on peach trees in various stages of "dying-out," and in every instance' the treatment has resuscitated the tree and removed the disease.

An interesting figure at the Maori tangi at Porirua settlement on Saturday (says the "New Zealand Times") .was an old deeply-tattooed Native named Poutama, a member of the Ngatiraukawa tribe, whose home is at Ohau, pn the Wellingfcon-Manawatu line. Poutama is the last of the tattooed men of the Native race in this part of the colony. His face is thickly "moko'd" in the deep-cut patterns of half a century ago. Amongst the Native women of uost Native districts in the North Island face-tattooing is still kept up, and a blue-chiselled chin is looked on as b, "tohu rangatira," a chieftainly adornment and a token of patriotic racial pride. In another ten or fifteen yeara, bower«r, a tattooed Maori man will be as rare a bird as the Notornis fctantelli.

Bather alarmist remarks have been published in Melbourne regarding the' ttate of the Commonwealth military •equipment. One was that the Light Horse was entirely without equipment, and that even bandoliers were not available for the men; The Defence Department has explained that every member of tihe Light Horse force is supplied xrith one of these articles, but that Borne of them are of an old pattern, and are not provided with, . clips for loading magazine rifles. The cartridges i*are, therefore, to be placed singly |xl t3io magazines. In connection with the issue or saddles, some delay has been caused first owing to the want of money, and secondly by the fact that Parliament ordered tliat these articles should be made in the Commonwealth. The new pattern rifles will soon be in the hande of every man m thus branch of the force.

"Evervofce will be glad to know," writes Mr H. W, Lucy, from London. to the Sydney "Morning Herald," ■" that Miss Ellen Terry, after some reverses of her long-sustained good fortune, has happened upon a returning gleam- Mr Barrie tells me that the gifted actress's engagement to play the principal part in his new play, ' Alice-sit-by-the-Fire,' is based on a salary of £200 a week. As the piece is going strong, promising to run an indefinite number of niglita, the prospect is pleading. The payments made to popular actors and singers exoe&d most forms of wage. Cabinet Ministers are not in the running on this track. Even the Lord Chancellor, whose salary is double that of his most highly-paid Cabinet colleague, must needs nave taken a back seat when the late Dan Leno was in the room with hie weekly wage of £500. Mr George Alexander is publioly reported to have signed an agreement for a long term at a payment of £250 a week.

The London "Financier" of May 25 last publishes a description of a remarkably ingenious sack-filling and sack-fastening machine shown at the Crystal Palace Exhibition. The machine, which, considering what it can do, is far from complicated, can fill, pack, sew, and throw out ready ion transportation sacks of corn or other free-running material from overhead binns, or even material which will not gravitate readily, such as ; flour and raw sugar. The bags (says our con-^ temporary in conclusion) are subsequently weighed and counted by the machine, so that a poor human being who has witnessed the performance from start to finish begins to wonder whether it is worth his while continuing to breathe, and consequently to live. The machine, with but a few additional parts, might easily be made to pay rent and tailors' bills, and invent a toothache cuVe or a new poster for the latest cereal food. But in any case Jt will do part of these things for Mr ffimewell, the lucky inventor, and the syndicate whioh owns it.

Regarding the protest of the Christ- , church branch of one Trades and Labour Council as to Price^ Bros, being in possession of drawings in connection "with the manufacture of two additional locomotives ordered for the Public Works Department to facilitate work bn the North Island Trunk Railway, t&e contention is, on the face of it. absurd (says the Thames correspondent of the Auckland "Star"). It would probably be ooncluded that some unHue preference hatf been shown to the Thames firm, that they are in possession of drawings to which they are not entitled. Drawings and other details in possession of the firm were, . however, essential to the carrying out ©f the recent contract for the manufacture of the ten locomotives for wirioh public tenders were callfed, and in which Price Bros, were successful, their price being the lowest, xo enable tbe oontract to be carried out, drawings had to be prepared. Had any nrm other than Price Bros, been sixccefisfnl, they would have had to pronue themselves with drawings to carry out the contract. Had a Christchurch firm been successful, or had all the looosnotfves been constructed &b Addington Workshops (Chriatcimreh), we would probably not have heard of any protest from the Christchurch Trades and Labour Council. As to placing all orders for locomotives with the Government Workshops, it may be stated that the construction of twenty locomotives . (ten each) was commenced simultaneously at the Thames and the Government Workshops respectively, with the result that Messrs Priw.Bros. work was completed far w advance of that ; entrusted, to tne Government Work- ; shojuu .'■*-'• ■''■»'■

The police require an owner for a lady's gold watch. The Waikare from Melbourne and Hobart, arrived' at the Bluff this-morn-ing. Her, mails should reach Christchurch to-morrow. Mr T. Humphries, Commissioner of Crown Lands, accompanied by Mr A. Barron, of the Land Purchase Commission, left Christchurch this morning for Banks Peninsula, to inspect some properties that have been offered to the Government. At the Dunedin Police Court to-day, Mary Jack pleaded not guilty to_ soiling beer without a license. Harry Jack, her sou, aged eighteen, pleaded guilty, and was fined £10 and costs by Mr Widdowson, S.M. The case against Mrs Jack was dismissed.

' A large shark, estimated to be about twenty feet in length, says the "New Zealand Horald," followed the steadier Albatross on its passage from Cheisea to Northcote on Saturday morning. The Albatross is a ferry steamer, and the trip in question i 6 across the inner reaches of Auckland harbour. Sharks are known to exist in large numbers there, but it is not often that they come to the surface an<* follow vessels.

The Waikato Maoris evidently maintain bitter feelings against missionaries, even at this late day. Evidence of this was given before the Native Lands Trusts Commission thiß month by Archdeacon Williams. He was^asked whether (assuming that at the time of the disturbance in 1863 there was sufficient reason for abandoning the schools of instruction) a period arrived when they could have be&n Wisely and well re-established, and what that period was. The Archdeacon replied that he should say it was very recently. He was the first English clergyman who went up after the war, and at that time it was impossible to thiflk of anything of the kind. iney would not listen to a missionary at oil. They took it into their heads that the missionaries came to blind them, and that it was they who advised the Natives to sign the Treaty ot Waitangi and submit to Government rule, and they said they had been deceived. That feeling was not extinct yot-. There is a grave crisis in the history ol Spanish etiquette. King Alfonso XIII , who is described by a trench journal as « very impulsive and at tlie same time very 'sporty,' wishes to make a 'royal progress through nis kingdom in an automobile. Horror or the Prime Minister! Such a vehicle, says he, is beneath the dignity of a monarch to whom the Constitution has entrusted the " sumptuous car of the State." The sumptuous car must not be driven by petrol. Horses are still harnessed to the chariot of the sun. J3ut Spanish etiquette does not prevent; the inonaroh from travelling by railway. L«lt Ourrie tells a story of a young man who jumped into a compartment one day on an English tram and started -a conversation with an old lady, who greatly admired h» pleasant manners. When he was alighting she asked his name, and he answered blithely, " Alfonso," He was Alfonso XIII., then a cadet at Sandhurst The anecdote will probably be read at Madrid with pain and incredulity.

The latest American invention is characterised by great comprehensiveness of detail. Z. C. Angevme, ot Los Angeles, California, after six years ot patient eSort, has succeeded in constructing a unique life-preserver, the possessor of which can, it is alleged, successfully defy the perils of the ocean for successive days. The new device consists of a canvas jacket inflated fay air-tight air-chainbevs to produce buoyancy. In pouches and pockets are contained the following articles :— One quart flask of stimulants, which; can be sucked through a rubber tube connecting with the collar; a gallon canteen of water, which is slung about the shoulders; concentrated food for five days' duration, placed in a pouch hanging from one side of the jacket, and counterbalanced on the other side by a similar aluminium pouch for a receptacle for valuables; a small aluminium gun and cartridges for signalling the white and red lights of distress; a sheath-knife; a jointed flag-pole, Bft in length when connected, and bearing an inverted American flag, the day signal of distress: a duplex whistle and two capacious side pockets that may be used for any purposes. Moreover, the inventor avers his new life-preserver will support 241 bof iron in salt water, or 201 bof the same metal in fresh water.