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Waipawa Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 5347, 3 December 1908, Page 2

Particulars of an Australian tragedy will be found on the first page, The reading matter on the fourth page con sistu of a report of the Napier wool sales. The Waipawa District High School Committee will meet to-night.

The anniversary social in connectiot with the Presbyterian Church will bt held ia the Town Hill to-morrow (Friday) evening, commercing at 7.45. The following prices were realised bj Hatuma settlers for their wool at Tues day’s sale:—D. Kirk 11 fd, G. Windlt 9*d, A. Rood Bfd, W. Joll B£d, VV. J Bayliss 7£d, D. A. McLean 7£d.

Mr James Leitbead writes:—“The following is the rainfall during Novem ber at Gruawharo, near lakapau: On the Ist ,34in, 6th .26m, 11th .02in, 19th .08in, 24th .99in, 29th .05in; total, 1.27 m.

The Rev. A. B. Chappell, M.A., addressed the boys of the Waipawa District High School on General BadenPowell’s boy scout movement. At the conclusion of the address, all the boys stood up and signified that they were willing to form themselves into patrols.

The various crops ou the Plains are now looking Itdrly well, but much more rain is required to bring them to perfection. The aspect of the country generally is much better than it was this time last year, so far as f ed for stock is concerned.

It is not possible, says an Argentine correspondent of Hoard’s Dairyman, to make money from beef and milk at the same time. “ They aro two birds which cannot be killed with one stone, as the beef cow and the dairy cow never go to roost in the same tree.” Some idea of the volume of traffic on the North Island Main Trunk Railway may be gathered from the fact that the train which left Wellington for the north on Monday morning consisted of five first and 20 second class carriages ; on Saturday there were five firsts and ten seconds.

The Wanganui Education Board’s experiment of employing its own staff instead of contractors to erect buildings in out of-the-way districts is reported to bo a pronounced success. The cost is well under the lowest tender, while expedition is a special feature of the new system. It is stated (says the Auckland Herald) that already orders for works on various hotel premises, amounting in the aggregate to £25,000, have been cancelled as a result of tha recent local option vote. During the next three years it is unlikely that much money will be expeuded upon hotol property owiDg to the uncertainty of tenure.

A travelling hawker brings under notioe what he considers an injustice to his trade. He is compelled, he says, to take out a license in every fresh borough or district through which he travels, while an auctioneer, who is a trader on a lar r e .cale, his to take out only one liceus*, which c rr as him through the whole Dominion. He contends that hawkars should be placed upon the same footing as auctioneers, and should require only one license. Californian apples continue to find favour with the public, and owing to want of foresight and intelligent appli cation of the results of scientific investigation on the part of ooloDial orchardists they meet with praotioally no competition at this time of the year. A vary large shipment of fruit was brought to Dunedin last week, by the Monowai; some of it being from the Eastern Pacific and soma transhipments from the San Franoisco steamer Yeddo. The shipment includes pineapples, bananas, oranges, lemons and apples.

A writer states :—The South African war entailed an expenditure of about £230,000,000. A European war would cost more than twice, probably three times that sum. It is the truest eoouomy, therefore, to maintain the British fleet, and thus avoid the burdensome ex poußß of war. Hostilities against a European Power, even though we eventually succeeded, would disorganise the whole industry of the country, aud would leave us with a heavy weight of debt, as was the case with Japan after signing the treaty of peace with Russia. A boy named Rodney Harland had an extraordinary escape from sudden death in Queen-street, Auckland. The boy was out with his mother, and was running about in juvenile fashion when a trap, driven by Mr J. Valentine, came up the streot. The boy appeared to get bewildered, and ran directly towards the vehicle. He was knocked down, and though the wheel passed over him he escaped injury. The occurrence was purely accidental, and Mr Valentine did all iu his power to avert the accident. The Opposition successes at the recent elections, (says the Manawatu Standard) particularly in regard to this coast, are to be celebrated at a social re-union at Marton on December 18tb, Incidenta'ly, Mr Newman’s supporters will take the opportunity of honouring him. All the Opposition members in the North Island will be invited to atteud and Mr Massey, the leader of the party, will be present if his other arraugemeuts do not olash, though he oannot at present give a definite promise. Ex-members of the party will also be given an invitation, and it is expected that the occasion will be a notable one. A strong executive already has the details in hand, and bo far as management is concerned nothing will be left to chanoe.

A very old Canterbury settler, Mr S. O. Farr, refers in a letter to the Press to the first pheasants brought to New Zealand. “Fifty-nine years ago this mouth,” he says, “several cages containing 16 pheasants and 20 partridges were placed on board the barque Monarch, then loading at the London docks for New Zealand. All the partridges died, but a cock and three hen pheasants survived the voyage, and wore lauded in Akaioa on April 4th, 1850. A few days after this they were carried to Pigeon Bay and liberated. They rapidly multiplied, and in three years they hud spread over the thickly-wooded portion of the peninsula. These were the first pheasants introduced, and proved to be a great suceeis,”

In regard to the loan proposals now before the Waipawa Borough Council, the clerk made the following statement in respect to the amount of rates that were to be levied: —Drainage loan £B7OO, rate 7-1 Id in the £; main drain in the Bush £I3OO, 1-l Odin the £; water extensions to Richmond Park £9OO, l-13d in the £; gas works scheme £7500, 15-16 din the £. The money for the gas works scheme would have to be raised by debentures, as there was no provision in the Act for the Treasury advancing money to local bodies for such a purpose. The full amount of the rates as given would probably not be collected, as it was not anticipated that more than 90 per cent would be needed.