Local and General.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 11739, 17 September 1902, Page 4

Local and General.

A child named Gladys Brown, who had been missing from the"Tracadera, Wellington, since Saturday morning, was found on the Queen's Wharf on, Monday morning. -

Mr. G. L. Petersen, the advance agent for Wirbh's Circus and Menagerie, has arrived in Wanganui to make arrangements for the opening, here on Friday and Saturday, September 26th and 27th. Since tiheir last visit here they have gone to considerable expense in importing1 new artists. The Postal authorities have instituted a delivery of correspondence by .lettercarrier in and around Aramohcv, also> Durietown, embracing No. 2 Line, Campbelltown, T-ayldrville, arid Putiki. Thisl should fill a long-felt want, and prove a great convenience tot the residents in. .these Ibicalities. To facilitate delivery, it is adjyisable that correspondents should have their letters, etc., addressed to the street in which they reside. That Wagner's music dramas arc declining in popularity in England is not confirmed by the record of Covent Garden since the beginning of May. To the 70. representations of entire otjeras, forming the repertoireof the season, the Bayreuth Tttia-ster has con/ tributed 23, virtually.'a'thirct of the whole. With two operas Gounod comes next, but very far behind, with 12 performances1; and Verid, "with three works, has supplied 11. With a, view to putiting1 dlown the filthy, habit by both Europeans and Maori's of spitting on the footpaths, the Mayor has ai-ranged .with Inspector Kiely that the Corporation will place notices on the Maori house, and on telephone posts at Hartshorn's, raul's, Clothing Factory, Rutland, and Post Office corners, in Maori andi English, as) follows: — "Borough Council notice. —Persons expectorating on footpaths ■will be prosecuted, according to bye-law. By order." In tlie ward-rooms of the vessels, of the American N navy there is. still ,kept up a. (custoim worthy of imitation. It is as follbws : At-nine o'clock in the evening th captain or commander will order glasses to be filled, and rising, will deliver this sentiment : "Gentlemen, I ask you to drink to sweethearts and wives. May the sweetheart become the wife, and the wife always remain the sweetheart." The assembled officials drink this: toast in silence.

Lord Kitchener doubtless regards the sth June as his lucky day. It was on June 5, 18y9, that the sum of £30,000 was voted fb him as the "Victor of Omdxirman." On June 5 this yearl—just three years afterwards to the hour—a fulrtiher sunn of £50.000 was voted to him for ending the' Boer war. On June 5, 1900, the British flao: was raised ait Pretoria, Lord Roberts being at the time Commander-in-Chief in South Africa, with Lord Kitchener as the chief of his staff. The Minister of Public Instruction, Bucharest, has issued an order forbidding the use of corsets by girls in any of the Roumanian Government schools. The head mismistress of each school will be held responsible for the carrying out of this rule, it being suggested by the authorities that she and her assistants should set their pupil's a good example by not wearing corsets themselves. The pupils are furious at this order of the Government, and are backed up* by the younger governesses, "who are up in arms against what they consider an infringement of the rights, of women. A few months ago some remarkable experiments were conducted by Mr Tarbolton Armstrong and Mr Axel Oiiing with a new system of wireless telegraphy differing from that of Signor Marconi, inasmuch as the electric current was transmitted through the earth instead of through the air. The sole apparatus, in addition to the transmitters and receivers), was a bar of iron driven. 6ft into the ground outside the two stations, and at a distance of several thousand yards conversation was ' successfully carried on both in the Morse code and by telephony. If, was also found possible to send the current through water, and by that means to steer a vessel, such as a torpedo boat.

We would remind our readers that • the San Francisco mail closes at 1 p.m. tomorrow, late fee i(letters only) 1.00 p.m.., guard's van 2.25 (p.an.

Valuable limestone deposit© have been discovered a few miles from Patea. The quantity is large and the quality said to" be of the best.

In the District Court yesterday,' before Mr. C. 0. Kettle, probate of will was granted as Sallows: — in re James"Laird (Burnett *and Gordon), Elizabeth Daviesi (Burnett and Gordon,), George Walker (Burnett and Gordon).

At the Police Court yesterday Douglas Dixon was fined ss. and costs 7s. for leaving a cart unattended in the Avenue. F. M. Spurdle was fined Is. and costs 7s. for allowing a chimney to be on fire.

Major J. Perry and the talented Biorama Company will visit Wanganui on Thursday next for one night only. This opportunity of hearing this company and seeing the very best limelight and bioscopio pictures that have ever been shown in Wanganui should not be missed. A children's matinee will be given at 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.

The Greymouth Borough Council the other night asked t(he Mayor to communicate with the Colonial Secretary to have over 100 Chinese corpses removed from a shed where they are now stored waiting shipment. In the course of the discussion it came out that several bodies tjhat had been interred had oeen carried into the building without the knowledge of the sexton.

An Italian periodical describes the falling on 12th December;. 1880, of a Venice Tower called Santa Trimta.. It had been built in the eleventh or twelfth .century. The base of the tower had been broken away in ord^r to make room for the furnace of a smith who occupied it. The fall of the Campanile of St. Mark's is now attributed to the fact that a portion of the brick work was cut away to (provide a kitchen for the keeper, of the tower.

A pathetic story is told of a pony in South Africa. An officer in Thorneycraft's Mounted Infantry dismounted from his gpony while on patrol in South Africa, leaving it to stand unattended. Suddenly the pony looked up, pricked his ears, sniffed and then galloped away. Through his glasses the officer saw the animal stop at a knoll four or five miles away. At this .Tpot was. the grave of his old master, Captain Barrett, who had been recently killed in wn engagement.

The latest utterances from Mr Rockefeller's University of Chicago is found in a lecture on art and literature^by Win. Norman Guthrie. He declared: "Shakespeare and Homer are not immortals, and I should be bitterly disappointed if they were. hope that in the near future the human race will so improve in its tastes and accomplishments thati Shakespeare will be held unlit to read. I hope the literary world will advance so rapidly that Shakespeare and Homer will not only have no reason for being immortal, but will be even forgotten in their insignificance as ©ompared with future writers."

In any other country there are no special objections to be urged against mixed bathing, but in Turkey it is quite a different matter, as it is not understood by the natives, who are accustomed to look upon even an imveiled woman as a bad character. It is only now after many years that the natives begin to think otherwise of -ladies' going about the streets unveiled. Large parties meet and bath© in the open Bosphorus, where they can be seen by passers by. The impression made on the Turks is most painful. One society leader is seriously propos^ ing to hold a reception in the sea.. The idea is charming, and no doubt would be great fun, but the result would be that Europeans would lose the little respect they enjoy at present.

Letters from beyond New' Zealand, for the following ipersotns, are adveitised in the "unclaimed" list at the local chief post office:—Mrs. Alstor, J. Atkim, W. J. Bidiake, J. Blandy, J. Botten, Miss M. J., Bremna.,:A. Builllook, F. T. Butler, S. E. W. Cooper, Joseph Samon, G'itani, A. Dini, H. Dyke, G. Edwards, W. Fraser, Miss Frood, T. R. Goodwin, Mrs. A. Hamilton, G. Heard, E. Hill (3), Wm. Isibi*ter, Mrs. E. Kennedr (2), L. Lloyd, Miss H. Mann, T. Merwin, W. Morgan, Mrs. T. L. Mortimer, Henry J. McHugh (2), John MoKenzie, Miss A. Naitzke, R. G. Oliver (2), H. Priestley, J. W. Reay, Chas. Robertson, W. G. Rodgers, W. Sblway, J. Spicer, J. Steel, Mrs. P. Talbot (2), H..C. Trinder, Mrs. A. Wells, Mrs. Yaites.

A company has been established in Boston to carry out a unique scheme of preparation for a i-ainy day. For an annual subscription of a dollar it will provide the loan of an umbrella when needed.. A New York sub scriber, for instance, leaves his suburban home one morning in dear weather, lout finds when he reaches; the city that a heavy shower is falling. He consults a pocket "stand directory-" and finds not far off a place where, on the presentation ot' his ticket., he can borrow am umbrella. When the rain is over he can leave the umbrella at another stand. Branches have been established by the company in several large cities, so that if business calls our New Yorker to Chicago or Cincinnati, his ticket will give him the same advantages there. He can even borrow an umbrella, in one city and return it in another.

A process has been patented by a Russian Canadian in the United States which is said virtually to turn the plaster of Paris into stone. According to one of the trade papers, he forms a bath of pure boiJiug alum of sufficient quantity to cover the plaster of Paris. In the ordinary way the alum would be reduced to the consistency of a thick syrup when it is kept at a boiling temperature for any considerable length of time, and to overcome this he uses, acetic acid, in the form of vinegar, the desired quantity of lump alum (of commerce) is placed in an acid proof vessel of an earthenware nature, and a small quantity of acid poured in. The vessel is now heated to a temperature sufficient to me'jt the alum, thereby producing a bath of melted alum, which is kept at the boiling point during the treatment of the article. When the alum has been reduced to a boiling liquid and a thin skin appears on the surface thereof the plaster of Paris article is immerse 1 in the bath and well covered with the liquid alum. It is necessary to subject the article to the action of tihe boiling alum bath for a period of an hour, more or Less, depending upon the thickness of the article to be indurated. . . '

A meeting -of membera of the Christ Churcn O/ub will be held at 7.30 on Friday evening. The business is important. Cultivate air hunger. You should learn to ba as hungry for fresh air as you are naturally thirsty for pure water. The usual monthly battalion parade took place last evening, the Volunteers being put through their drill by Lieuten-ant-Colonel Watt. If people who are fond of gathering their friends about them would tax their wits and ingenuity rather than their pocketbooks to .provide, entertainment, the result would be gratifying. An address by Mr^ H. H. Pulling, a missionary on his way to South' America, will be given in St. Paul's Hall at 7.30 thia evening. "The subject will be "The Neglected Continent." The appearance of the Pollards is! being eagerjy looked forward to, and brisk booking business is being done. There -is not a doubt but that the "Messenger Boy" wj*i deliver his message to a crowded^ house on Thmrsdiay evening. Owing to Mrs. Harrison Lee's welcome sofeiial ixa, Thursday evening, the social which was to have been held a* the Aramoho Wesleyan Church on. that date has been postponed till Monday evening. It is our painful duty this morning to record the death of another of Wanganui's old citizens, in the person of Mrs. Dunleavy, relict of the late Mr. John Dunleav^i sergeant of police at Wanganui. Our. sympathy is extended! to the sorrowing daughters. _ — . The Public, Works Statement (a summary of which appears in this issue) was received at the local Telegraph Office last evening by Messrs. Andrew, Meredith, and GUbertson, and despatched to northern stations by Messrs. Philp, Lamb and Williams. We h-ive to thank the operators for the good "copy" supplied./ Mr. Aitken was the officer in charge . ■ /

The exhibition of pictures hi connection wMi the Wanganui Camera dtfb opens at Sheriffs Studio at 2 o'clock this afternoon. The pictures toi be exhibited are a fine lot, and will no doubt attract a large number of people. The exhibition will also be djpm in the evening from 7 to 10. Admission is one shilling.

Iti is long1 since the bachelor has reigned supreme in Downing-street; but Mr Arthur Bailfour is not yet past praying for so far as matrimony is concerned. Although he has been in political life for 28 years-, lie has tha appearance, and something of the manner, too, of a comparatively young man. By Mr Balfour's side, though, as a protection from feminine begualeinents, standls his sister, who entertains for him at WJbiittinghame and in town, and she shares all his favourite pursuits. She has. laid her whole life as a sacrifice on the altar of his great career.

The Levin paper reports the discovery of gold-bearing quartz in the Tararua ranges, and urges that an association should be formed to carry on further prospecting. It is over thirty years ago since indications of gold were found in the OtaM and Waikanae Rivers. A very old resident, known as "Scotch Jock," long since dead, discovere' a reef inland from the Waikanae, and went back repeatedly to locate it, but always failed to do so. He was confident to his dying day that there was gold, and "plenty off it," in" the gullies of the Tararua Ranges. "There will be a big crowd here," he used to say. "where >now there isn't a> soul, Ararking reefg and ■ alluvial after I' am dead and ,gone." Possibly his prediction is aprvroaching verification.

A ybung lady, well educated and in comfortable circumstances, has just completed a five years-Experience of general servants' work. She undertook the task voluntarily, because she was interested in the domestic servant problem. Her conclusion is that both sides are to blame for the presentLjjnsatisfactoiy state of affairs. In her own words:— "I believe the servant

gdrl problem; can only be isolved by a Christian education. The employers and servants must be taught to work together. The problem furnishes a splendid field for the energies of our young women. They should know something of the experiences I have had. I know several young gir"s with good educations' who work as domestics because they like it. These are the kind 6f girls who stay a long time in one place, and have no trouble with their employers." -