LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9210, 13 April 1908, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

" The Work of a Great Post Office is the title of an extended series c£ t» tores which will appear in this weefSsl "Canterbury Times." TSae photographs, which will cores* five pages, IdHL deal with the Christchnreh Postal De 4 partment, showing the staffs a& voxk z^ the office, the mails being despatched tor other centres, letter carders <4xriing on their rounds, groups of the uflfoprr and others engaged in the several d»» partments of the service, a fine pbofco4 graph of the building a.nA of the chief* postmaster and executive, staff, and! other pictures incidental to a fitting pictorial display of the subject. Aa article on post offices in general, chiefy of a historical nature, will be given in the literary portion of the journal, and should be an acceptable accompaniment! to the pictures. The Mayor of Christ- 1 church will-b e ' the subject of this week's pictorial sketch under the head--ing " Prominent People of the Domin-r, ion." A page of the journal's popular^ snapshots should prove as interesting' as usual. Amongst other subjects illoe* trated will be the tournament of the New Zealand Polo Association, thai British Premiership, with portraits of Mr Asquith and Sir H. Campbell-Ban-nennan, Easter customs in foreign countries, the quoits championship of"; the' dominion, the special collection of, over three hundred varieties oj apples and pears which Mr J. C. Blackmore, the Government Pomologist, is sending' to England to be exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society's Show, the £100 silver cup which Mr St J. Buckley, of Redcastle, has presented to the North Otago Jockey Club, and the South Canterbury Jockey Club's recent race meeting. Amongst the short: stories will be the following:—, "Norah's Secret," "The Night Nan; Grew Up," " The Pride of a Man," and! " The Major and the Angel.'J An ar-j tide in the sketcher column, entitled,! " Canada, Can it he Kept BritishP"j should be v«ry widely read, and others-: of exceptional interest in the same de»j partment of the journal are: — " Howj Pearls are Formed," "American" Duels," " The Japanese Honour of Dead Foes," " The Healing Forces of Nature," and " The City of Soudan."A special topical article will be en-«' titled, " Easter-tide : the Week in All Parts of the. World." The "Canterbury Times " will be on sale to-morrow. I Mr T. B. Howson, in his evidence to the Conciliation Board thia morning,; complained that frequently when he engaged men from Chrietchurch ta work on the farm, they did not turn^ up to work as arranged, and often? wlien they did they were not compe* tent workers. j The daily telegraphic report on th»j condition of the trout rivers of Canter- j bury, received at 9 a.m. to-day, is. a* follows : — Ashley, clear ; Waimakariri,, north and south, clear; Selwyn, clear j I Rakaia, fishable ; Ashburton, upper and! lower c)ear, mouth discoloured : Rangj* tata, fishable; Opihi, fishable; Waitaki, clear. The hearing of the farm labourers'', dispute will be suspended to-morrow, when the Conciliation Board will take the carpenters' and joiners' dispute.! The evidence in the farm labourers' dispute will be continued on Wednesday and Thursday. On April 22, the taking of evidence in the farm labourers' dispute will be concluded, and the Board will adjourn till April 27. Then the representatives of the different parties to the dispute will address the Board. Their summing-up speeches are expecv ed to take three days. The question of the establishment of an experimental farm in W&irarapaf was brought up again at a meeting of the« General Committee of the Masterton Agricultural and Pastoral AseociaW tion on Saturday. The committee bad,' at its previous meeting, 'received a \»U ter from the Feathereton Chamber of Commerce, asking the^oommittee to co-operate with the Chamber in urging upon the Government the adyisablenesa of establishing such a farm in Wairan rapa, but no action was taken. > M< Perry, in re-introducing the sub ject at the Saturday's meeting, said that in* formation of such an" important charaoter had now been made public that the committee was justified in acting upon the letter from the Featherston Chamber. He referred to the generous offe* of Mr W. C. Buchanan to give a sita worth £5000 for the purpose of an experimental farm and £1000 toward stocking it. Mr Perry said that 6uch an offer was very exceptional, and he' could not understand why the Government hesitated about accepting it. Ho moved that the Government be urg«J to accept Mr Buchanan's offer, and that it should be pointed out how ben* ficial an experimental farm "would tt to the wide agricultural district^ AfUO considerable discussion, the motion w4B carried unanimously. The foundation of life-long ill-health may be laid for young girls by failure to keep their strength and health up to normal. Steams' Wine is "Best foij thea», because it is a true tonic. 6 j

" Mr' G. Payling has been nominated i for the office of Mayor of Christchurch I for the ensuing year. The Elite Brass Band will give a programme of music at Hagley Park od Easter Sunday, when a collection will be made in aid of the band's expenses in attending the Temuka S&ntest on Easter Monday. A claim for £400 compensation has been filed in the office of the Arbitration Court by Kate A. Eastwick, against the Union Shipping Company, ihe claimant's husband having died as the result of injuries accidentally sustained while working on the s.s. Foherna. The Mayor states that some misconception exists regarding a statement made by him in reference to a conference between the City Council and delegates from the Waimakariri-Ashley Water Supply Board and the Oxford 'Road Board in connection with an electric power scheme. The conference was iiot. as was reported, an unofficial one, and the Council is only waiting for a reply to a letter before any action can be taken. A sitting of the Lyttelfcon Police J Court was held this morning before Mr I G. C. Smith, J.P, William Beecroft and Thomas' Neil* were each fined 10s and 7s costs for having failed to send 'their children to school. The defendants stated that they had not received notice of their children's absence, but .Mr Blank, Truaat Inspector, pointed (out that it was not necessary t"o send 1 notices of absence in the case^ of children already on a school register, and that the defendants, whose children jihad been irregular in attendance for a considerable time, had received notice of former absences Mr T. B. Howson, in his evidence before the Conciliation Board this inorning, said he did not wish .to pull a long face and say lie was not in a good position now, but he had had ups «nd downs. He started farming on his own account in 1866 on 170 acres of freehoia, without improvements, with » three-horse team, new implements, and as many cattle as the place would ©any. In 1872 he was, if anyone had known it but himself and Mr Lee, Absolutely bankrupt, owing to circumstances beyond human control. He was ! tided over by Mr Lee lettihghim have j sheep upon a year's credit. He had to stop Ms agricultural work, and took up a little dealing and butchering, and 'in 1882 he was able to take his present place. On two occasions he had had Inifl whole crop threshed out a day before he intended to cut it by the hail. jDn one occasion the hail threshed out 195 acres in half an hour; in the 1904-5 season the hail threshed 150 Acres of promising white clover, and ■tripped his peas clear of leaves, and from ten acres of potatoes he got only fifteen sacks of tubers.