LOCAL & GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XL, Issue 5596, 5 December 1908, Page 3

LOCAL & GENERAL.

A concert Avill be given by the Sunday School children and adults in the Presbyterian Hall on Thursday evening, the 17th December. The children will ccmtribytß action songs, enoruses, recitations, &c, and will be assisted by a number of ladies and gentlemen, and altogether an attractive programme will be presented, full particulars of which will be given in a future issue. The proceeds are in aid of Sunday school funds. Mr Robert Hawker has purchased section 4A on the Greenfield Settlement, originally taken up by Mr J. C. Blair. This section comprises abour 429 acres, of which 71 are in yotmg grass (sown this year), 50 in grass one year old, 35 in turnips, and the balance in English grass. The property is about seven miles distant from WaitaJHtaa railway station, lies well to the siun. grows heavy crops of grain and grass, and is first-class fattening- land. It is one of^the ljiest sections on the settlement, and a good practical agriculturist like Mr Hawker should do well on it. It is understood that Mr A. C. Hanlon, of Dunedin, has stone to Wellington to teat the valKUty of the recent . local option polls taken in Oamaru " and Ash-burton (says the Timaru Post). The contention of the trade is that as the districts! have been altered and the No-License issue was defeated in each instance, the two electorates are practically licensed districts. Miss Annie Jeffery, who was sucewssiul hx obtaining her A.T.CL. at the recent Trinity College musical examination, has received her card showingthe marks she obtained in the different departments of the examination. It reads thus '.—Selected compositions 150) 43; sight reading (10) 9; accompaniment (10) 8; transposition (10) 4; scales and arpeggios (10) 10; viva voice (10) 8; total (100) .82. The %-ures within parenthesis rej3resent\the-" maximum marks obtainable. The record is a very creditable one and we congratulate Miss Annie on her success and express the hope thlat it may prove an incentive to her to strive for still higher attainments. The roses presented to the school garden are now coming freely into bloom, and connoisseurs are profuse in their commendation of the excellence of the varieties selected by the donors. The situation is an ideal one and all the busihes have done Avell, and the result is- a credit to all concerned. On the same plot a large number .of annuals and geraniums have been bedded out and in a few weeks' time there should be a wealth and variety of bloom whiqlf should . taakm a visit to. the garden one of gM&t pleasuw to *11 lorero of flowers,

Mr C. S'waniwick returned to Lawrence on Wednesday night after a month's 'holiday •pent in the North Island. He is quite satisfied, from what he saAV and heard on his travels, that the South Island is much sounder from a business poioit of view than the North, and he predicts that there will be a burst up of the land boom before long, for, he argmes, those who are occupying the land cannot possibly get an adequate return from it to pay interest on its price and, • at tfeej sojme titme, provide themselves with a living. On the State farm at Levin he saAv a crop of Cats that any farmer in this district would be ashamed to own. It -was fully sihot and the straw was not more thtuu hall a dozen inches in height. Under the heading "Tuapeka County Methods " the Tapanui Courier says : — " It is common property that Tuapeka county chairman and engineer recently visited Mi? G. H. Stewart, and requested him to act as chairman of the county for 1908-9, so as to hamper the Tapanui county severance committee. Fortunately the owner of " Westwood " had too much spirit to fall into the trap prepared by the engineer. Cr. SteAvart should have been <&aimiai\ last term \\\ r.Uvce of Cr. Simpson, but it did iiot p.it the predominant party to place him at the head of affairs- then.^ V' fn " the boot was on the other leg," Cr. Stewart showed his independence by declining to act at the beck and call of the engineer and his coterie."' A cycle road race Avas held on Wednesday froim Waitahurra to Rose's bridge atoji back, a dfetahce of al>out nine miles, when nine riders started. The race was won hy F. O'Kane with a hall minute start, who rode a fast race in 24J minutes, Avith B. Webb second, and W. Bateman third. J. Walker, who started scratch, rode a good race and finished close up. Another race will be held at an early date.

Is a County Council liable for keepinjf rabbits dawn on roadlinos ? Cr Begg says no, and in regard to the Stock Inspector's request that the Bruce Council pay for fumigating rabbits in holes on the Riverside road, the Council resolved to decline liability.—Bruce Herald. The profits of dairying. — A dairy farmer in the Hawera district last month drew a cheque from his factory for £187 for the milk from 100 cows. Mr Jiames Allen, M.P., Avas in Milton on Tuesday -and attended the show and also the presentation ceremony at the County Council Chambers. When folk want stylish fitting suits and neatly braided cloaks and costumes really up-to-date, of course they go to Chas. Stokes and Son^ lhe Popular Tailors, Soss Place. The darini? robbery of £8000 worth of diamonds from the travelling 1 representative of the Powell Diamond Company, of New York, the tracing of which has engaged the j>olice and special detectives since June last throughout the country, has now been brought home to a Pullman negro porter named Foster, whose arrest at St. Louis in reported by the .New York correspondent, of the London Telegrapt. Mr Powell's portmanteau, containing the jeAvels, was stolen while he slept, and when the train drew into the station, its porter, the misßimg negro, converted the spoils into money in piecemeal fashion, but, beset 'by fear, he sought the pawnshops of St. Louis recently, and in the end disposed of jeAvels in half of the loan establishments of the city. Nevertheless, Foster, when arrested, had diamonds in his shoes and waistcoat lining, and tucked away in the^ seams of Lis coat, to the value of *£6000. About £2000 Avorth of gems, Avhioh are sitill to be recovered, Avere accounted for in the prisoner's confession. Fosjter maintained a stolid silence upon tfie manner of his disposal of the loot until thw police applied the dreaded " third "degree " process, and thus wrested his secret from him. Mr W. J. Keys, of Toiro, has (says the Free Press) been wofnderfully successfailof late in killing by means of poisoned grain. At tAvo spots where poisoned grain hajd been land near his hefmestead recently he found dead birds lying in heaps, there being, roughly speaking, 300 in one place and 400 in the other. They were nearly all cock birds, and it is Supposed ike females died in/ their ne9ts. Mr Key's method ia first to spread a little chaff on the ground in a spot selected near the haunts of the spatrrow, by way of ground bait, then a little more chaff, finally mixing poisoned wheat with the chaff. His jxperience in thus coping Avith the fecundity of these imported pests at ihia season is probably unique, and worthy of the attention of farmers all over the country. Mr Keys, at all Bveats, has provided ample proof of the soundness of Ms belief that it is a mistake for farmers to lay poison when the grain season is on. The pest, he believes, can be easily kept trader if ta.clde<l in -tike spring- aiiicl early summer as well as in Avinter. On Wednesday night Mrs Arthur Raven, ,wife of a baker in Clyde qjiay, Wellington, her three children, and Ethel Cook (the servant .. girl) became seriously ill after eating tinned sardines. iA doctor was summoned, and after lie Irael attended to them they were taken io hh& Kospiial. Their condition was somewhatt better the following day. The Prime 'Minister states that the financial stringency which had been experienced in New Zealand for some time has now eased considerably. The AJdvatoces to Settlers' Department is bringing money into the country at the rote of £100^000 a month for lending purposes. No money loaned out by the Advances to Settlers Department is being- borrowed within the Dominion. BULUMWAAL, YIC. Mr W. H. Holland, " The Dredge," Bulumwaal, Vie, writes :— "I have used Dr. Sheldon's Magnetic Liniment, , for rheumatic pains in the arm, and it always removes the pain in a couple of applications. Dr. Sheldon's Magnetic Liniment relieves at once Rheumatism, Lumbago, Lame Back, Cuts, Bruises, and Bums, and repeated applications will effect a cure in a remarkably short time Price Is 6d and 3s per bottle. Obtainable from J. G. Blackie, chemist Lawrence ; W. Auld and Sons, Waitahuna; and M, Cotton and Co., Waipori.

.' The rainfall in Lawrence for th< month of November (as guagod by Mi A. Eearn a.% the Tuapeka Hospital) was 2.17 inches. It is stated (says the Bruce Herald) j that the question of testing the-legal-ity of the Bruce No-license poll is being considered by a substantial legal firm on facts submitted to them by the representatives of the continuance party. Reginald Day, late secretary of the Southland Charitable Aid Board, was charged at Invercargill on Monday with having "stolen tAvo sums of £137 7s lOd and £81 14s 6d, and with having fraudulently omitted to make credit entries for these— sums in his cash book. Mr Macalister appeared for the prosecution and Messrs Hanlon and Longuet for accused. The jury retired at 5.30 p.m. on Monday, and were locked up for the full time allowed. They were therefore discharged, and a new trial was arranged for. At this the jury found the accused guilty of failing to make the necessary entries but not guilty of < stealing the amounts specified. A !

sentence of 12 months' imprisonment was imposed. Skin troubles, chilblains, cracks and chaps relieved immediately with '* Eed Cross " Ointment. Is 6d grocers and chemists. The wedding of Mr Cyril Ward, son of the Prime Minister, and Miss Davidson, takes place at Wellington today. Tho. interest of the event isi enhanced by reason of it eventuating/ on the silver Avedding day of Sir Joseph and Lady Ward. The after-reception is to be held at Awarua House (Wellington) so t that the felicitations to the bride and bridegroom will be double-barrelled. As the Nimrod was leaving Lyttelton for the Antarctic on Tuesday a small boy of about 13 years of age was found stowed away among the stores. On being brought up he said he wanted to make the southern trip in the vessel. It was impossible to allow him to go and he Avas handed over to an oil launch that happened to come along. He wept bitterly at being put ashore. The question of Caibinet reconstruction has been receiving prominence in the big daily papers of the Dominion during the week and the Prime Minster has been inundated Avith advice as to the most suitable member of his party to elevate into the position of Cabinet rank. For Minister of Lands Mr W. T. Jennings (Taumatunui) is the most favoured by the. Auckland papers, while in the south | Mr Thomas Mackenzie (Taieri) is looked upon as the most fit and pro-

"er person for the position. Messrs Laurenson (Lyttelton) and A. tV. Hogg (Masterton), both of whom are j Considered to have some claims to i the position, are looked upon as ex- i tremists who would be likely to jeopardise the stability of the Liberal party. There were four patients— tAvo male and two female— in the Timpeka Hospital last evening-. Tavo patients were admitted during the week and two dischai'ged. The application for a recount before the Stipendiary Magistrate in connection with the second 'ballot at ' North Ihmedin was lodgied by Mr A. R. Barclay on Wecbiesiday. Mr Barclay has retained Mr Solomon, K.C., to act on his behalf. Tixe chief point is in regard to certain votes that AA'ere disalloAved as being informal. The conviction against G. Rankin, bookseller, Christohiirch, for having sold a book, to Avit " Anna Lombard" which was said to have been of an immoral character, was (lunsivvj •••.• ":■ Justice Denniston, on Wednesday, on the ground that, the offence being an indictable one, the applicant had not at the trial before the Magistrate, been given an opportunity of electing to be tried before a jury. His honour said he had read, the book and endorsed the Matnstrate's ruling that the book, Avhich to hist mind AA'as a very stupid one, had an immoral tendency. The Alexandra Herald states that there is a considerable amount of interest being taken in the Clutha River claims just now, and it is more thUn likely iih&t a feAv more dredges will , be working above the LoAvburn' within the next 12 months. At the present time the late Alpine No. 2 is undergoing an overhaul, and uoav buckets will be put on, and dredging should be started within the next fewmonthsi. This machine will be 'on the liglrt side, but the shareholders are satisfied the dredge will Avork the claim j satisfactorily. Two other private parties are now looking out for a big boiler and engine, as they intend placing up-to-date dredges on their claim.