LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 8 October 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Tho St. John's Bowling Club-opens the season on the 26th inst. The small groon will bo available to members for practico from to-day. Receipts from tho Invercargill electric tram service for the first week of operation of the complete system amounted to £269, which is a record for tha service. Mr. John Ross, who has already given <substantial monetary assistance X 6 Kn-ox College, has undertaken to defray the cost of erecting a College chapel. This reoresenta a donation of some £2.000.

The latest from Sydney:—The Turkish Consul in Melbourne, who has .been appealed to, can give no information regarding Prince Dikran, -and the Presi bytian Church in Australia is at ore- ! sent awaiting replies to cablegrams • I sent to the Turkish Mission authori- ; ti^s. j It was stated by Mr. T. B. Williams at the Chamber of Commerce meeting last evening, when a letter from the Waterside Workers was received, that the Durie Hill flagstaff would soon be ■in -working order again. He said the building repairs had almost been finished, and the Harbour Board would at its next meeting consider the appoint- : nient of a signalman. ' While the Wanganui delegates are in Wellington in connection with the Harbour ill, they will interview Minis- ; tors on several important local matters. The matter of the wharf control dispute ■ which has dragged over a period of 18 months, and been explained to the Mm•- -• isters of two previous Governments, is now to be explained to a third. It is . hoped that a speedy settlement will result on this occasion. In connection with the approaching campaign of the V.M.C.A., a largelyattended axid very enthusiastic meeting of young men was held at the Burlington last evening. After tea appropriate and stirring addresses were delivered by Messrs. Jameson, Varney, Clark, W. G. Bassett, Holloway, and the Captains of ' the young men's teams. Considerable ■ time was devoted to the discussion of details incidental to the plan of cami paign.

[ Incidents are constantly occurring to ! emphasise the fact that the fact that ' the world is a small place. Recently , Messrs ; G. McCaul and L. E. Bassett, I two Wanganui boys, were crossing a. , lake in Switzerland.' Their steamer was ■ passed by another, one of the passen- : gers on which suddenly began to wave i her handkerchief. The Wanganuites | wero greatly surprised to discover that , the lady who waved the handkerchief ! hailedjfrom their own town, being Miss !M. New-combe, who had recognised Messrs. McCaul and Bassett. The ladies of the Wanganui East Bapi tist Church and many others who are sympathetic have been busy for some | time preparing for a, sale "of work to augment the church funds. They are offering these goods for sale in the' local ■> Town Hall on Thursday, the 10th, and ; no doubt many will avAil themselves of ; this opportunity of procuring useful ' articles, and at the samo time helping ;in a good cause. The proceedings will . ho opened by the Mayoress (Mrs. Burton) at 2-30 o'clock, and will be continued during the evening. It is -uncertain yet on what day the Wanganui Harbour Bill will bo before the Local Bills Committee. It may eomo up on Friday. Mr. D. McFariane", President of the Chamber of Commerce, i« to represent that body be/ore the : committee, but he finds "that he will not bo able to go to Wellington till Saturday. The Chamber of Commerce, . therefore, decided last night to appoint Mr. G. Caiman (who gave valuable evidence before the Royal Commission) and :<Mr. F. H. Allen (as a country man) to represent the Chamber. Mr. McFarlano will also be present to giv-o evidenco, if possible. The " Lyttelton Times" states that n Christ-church resident has lent to the local public library an interesting document dealing with the coaching days in ; England 200 years ago. It is a notice, done crudely by hand in ink, announcing that a> stage-coach would run between London and York, beginning on April 12, 1706. "All who are desirous to pass from London to York, or from York to London, or any other place in that road," the notice says, " let them repair to the' Black Swan in Holborn. in London, and to the Black Swan in : Coney street, in York." The notice has i been framed and is exhibited in the libi rary..

The monthly meeting of the Wangan;ui Ministers' Association was held at ! the residence of the Rev. J. A. Luxford yesterday afternoon. Correspondence was received from Canon Garland re the Bible in Schools League. After full discussion it was agreed that the cordial and unanimous support of the . Association bo given to the League. Ow- \ ing to the time taken up by this dis- | cussion Mr. Grinstead's paper on "Sin ! a Problem of To-day" was deferred till ' next meeting on Oct. 28th. Attention ; was called to the visit of the Rev. N. E. King, of tho China Inland Mission. Mr. King will preach in ,St. Paul's next Sunday morning, and in Trinity Sunday ■ evening and lecture in St. Paul's Hail jon Monday, October 14th, at 8 p.m. |As tho Canadian Cadets are coming jto Wanganui on their tour through i Now Zealand, Mr. G. Caiman, at the ■ Chamber of Commerce meeting last i evening, raised the question as to what : was to bo done to entertain them hero and as to where they were to be billeted. He referred to the generlous i offer by Mr. Hatrick to take the boys iup to Pipiriki and back next day, and jho thought other citizens should oon- ; tribute towards making the visitors' stay in Wanganui as pleasant and profitable as possible. Mr. W. Bruce suggested that parents, would he only too : pleased to billet the boys for a night or two. Other members thought the mat- ; ter was one for the Borough Council to ] tako tho initiative in,'and that body is ! accordingly to be written to and asked ' what it proposes to do. j Tho unroaded state of the Wanganui : back blocks is generally the subject of discussion by the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce. It was again referred to last evening. Mr. T. B. Williams said j tho Government should give enough ; money to^ the Chamber to road the I wholo district. "We would make a- fine ! Road Board." he added. The matter of j getting grants for ,roads was always s before the Chamber. It was always : agitating for some <5ma.1l grant. Yet ' half tho district was unroaded. Tho Chamber would have to change its tactics. Mr. Williams held that the Largo areas of native lnnd in the district caused all tho trouble. The bank country was now sirm>ly locked up for wnnt lof roads. Mr. E." A. Campbell asked if tlio eivina: of tho freehold to the lessee*! of native In ml would bo tho solution, but Mr. Williams, refusing to bo drawn into j>, frn.-sohoW-frroliiald debate, renlied that tin's would not get over tho difficulty. Mr. Canipboll: "At onco."' At tho Waitotara Coiinty Council mooting yesterday, Mr. W. Ritchie, chairman, could not lot tho occasion pass without having a final "dig" at the petitioners who .requested the Council not to go on with tho ero-ction of the bridge over tho Kai Iwi. Mr. Ritehio referred to tho lotter which Messrs. Bayly Bros, had written, in which they had scarified tho Council, and, in tho opinion of tho chairman, not in polite terms. Since tho lotter was published, ho had found out that many signatories did not,know where the bridge was to bo placed, but had signed tho petition on tho representations of Messrs. Bayly Bros. The writers of tho letter had bpen well replied to by Crs. Ross and Morrison. A lot of diligence—not disinterested diligence —had boon shown in getting tho petition signed. Tho chairman thought that he.,could tako a. notition round and got 7o of tho sifTiatories to revert, and. o.<i showing all tr.n interest the rest took, ho thought +bnt if they had been asked to append half a crown to their I signatures not one would have signed.

An Tip-to-date version of the retort courteous was exemplified in the Legislative Council: The Minister of Internal Affairs (after a controversy with the Hon. Mr. Jenkinson upon a question of law): " These are departments that I admit I know very little about, but I believe I know better how.little I know . that my honourable friend does." j A leading Wellington counsel was en- ! gaged in some litigation at Greymouth recently/ He was due at the Masterton Supreme Court sessions on a given date, but through his steamer becoming barbound it looked at first as though he would bo several days overdue at Mas- ; terton. There was a way out of the ■ difficulty, and this the legal man un- : hesitatingly adopted. He applied for \ and was granted a position on a collier j leaving for Wellington, and was duly : signed on as a stoker. As he is now ; tho proud possessor of a discharge ; which shows his conduct on the voyage ; to have been "V.G.," it is safe to as- ! sume that he wielded the coal shovel i in a quite satisfactory manner. ' Can a professional footballer be an amateur swimmer? This question I arose out of a letter read at a meeting of the Canterbury Centre of the N.Z.A.S.A. last week. One speaker said ho thought the New Zealand Council had ruled that a professional footballer could not be an amateur-1 swimmer, but he did not see any reason why a man could not be a profes- j Bional in one sport and an amateur in j another branch of athletics. "This j question of differentiating oetween an ■ amateur and a professional is going to j bo an important one," observed another | member, and eventually it was agreed j to appeal to the New Zealand Council J to settle the matter. A practical proposition was rmt forward by the coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) j at Auckland last week at an inquiry t into the death of a little boy six years ! of age, who had been run over and kill- j ed by a tramcar. The coroner said he ', thought that if parents and school j teachers were to occasionally deal with i the dangers which existed, children J would be more careful, and lives would probably be saved. Personally he had ; often marvelled at the risks which ehil- ; dren were allowed to run, and he 'had : seen them darting across crowded streets behind vehicles almost under un- j seen trams. The foreman of the jury endorsed the remarks of the coroner, and others related cases within their ken in which children, through lack of knowledge of the rules governing street traffic, had met with more or Mess seri- ; ous accidents. A> rider was added to the verdict in which the jury recorded : the oninkm that school teachers should warn trapils against the dan seers of ap-, proaching tram cars whilst in motion. ' The bacon curers in the Auckland province have notified pig farmers that from now on they will purchase pigs subject to Government inspection only. This is in accordance with the provisions of the Slaughtering and Inspection Act, which also provides for compensation being paid for any animals being condemned by the inspectors. Pigs for human consumption hare beon subject to inspection for some considerable time past, but it ia stated that there has been a difficulty in tracing the owners of condemned stock. 3>iscxissing the matter one day last week with a " Herald" representative, Mr. A. Schmitt, secretary of the Farmers' Union, said it was obvious that in a mob of pigs it was difficult to say who owned any particular animal. Ear-marking; had been tried, but owing to the quarrelsome nature of pigs, which chewed j each others' ears so as to render the ( marks unrecognisable, this was found impracticable. Branding'was out of the question, and paint, owing to the "oiiv" skin, sm*ead so that it was also uselesa. He suggested as a remedy that strong metal tags attached to the pigs' noses with an ordinary trig-Ting would solvo tho difficulty, and prevent the "averaging" of the value of the condemned stock, as had been the case with certain factories.