LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 20085, 20 May 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

We fc'V'o' to? Acknowledge the receipt tf ten sl-i.ijiugs from an. anonymous donor ci.-wards the Scandlyn fund.

The Telegraph Office lias received advi?e as follows: Mexican Telegraph Co. advise that messages in plain English may.noAv be accepted for British Honduras, subject to strict censorship. Code prohibited.

The old building until recently occupied by Messrs Johnson and Co., .^td,, on Taupe Quay, has been demolished!, and preparations are being made for the erection of the fine new concrete building in its* stead. Mr J. Smidt wishes to acknowledge with thanks; on behalf of MrsScaHdlyri, the sum of £25" 2s:, [being proceeds of beneiit eontiert given. by th& Garrison Band, and Mr W, Jame^a^vf t}ie Royal/ Pictures. — -A carman told the WUlesden, (London) Magistrate that his furniture had been seized by his landlord because ho owed 35s rent. "I am only earning 15s a week, and have a wife and family to keep," he added." The Magistrate: Terrible! Well, I will pay half the debt to save your home, and if you will see the missionary he will arrange about the balance. Judgment was given for plaintiff by default in the following civil actions at the Magistrate's Court yesterday:— S. H. Manson v. Moepuke £1 155... Geo. Ambrose v. Geo. Henary £3 13s 6d'; C* T. Plyger v. Hohepa Hawera £1 155., W. Wright v. Wi Tamehana. £1 10s., C. T. Flyger v. D. Richards los., W. N. Watson v. L. J. Atwood £8 13s Id; Watson and Cox v. Hone Paewai £3 15s lOd. A henso on the No. 2 Line, owned by Mr W. Howie and occupied by Mr. i.arfc Esius, was totally destroyed on Monday morning The occupants had eirly breakfast and then went out to Milk, k; "un^ the fire banked up carpfully. While in the milking shed they sv* fair.es bursting from the house which was very soon burned to tho gvomi.l. "Took of Satan," by Lancelot Booth, is the latest number of the N.S.W. Bookstall series. Jt is an a-coount of two scoundrels, master and servant, who contrive to dispose of the former's co?xBm by dropping him several thousand feet from a balloon dn order to secure the baronetcy and the £15,000 a year it oarriv's. The story moves to "Australia, a?;d records the doings of the rightf\! hoir, now a young man, and the serva it. a hardened criminal who supplements th<> proceeds of his crimes by regubiiy blaelnriailing his foraier roaster l.v nifans of certain papers in his possession. The author has skilfully handled an intricate plot, and the story 's a most absorbing one.

The Takapaii casual camp, which commenced on Friday last, was abandoned yesterday owing to the heavy rain which had inundated the camping ground, and. the inclement weather which made training operations impossible. Some 800 men wero under canvas. Thirtythrea men from Wanganui arrivfvl .'it tlio canm at eleven o'clock on Friday night. The men had an unenviable experience. It rained all night and most of the rlay on Saturday. An hour's drill was got in on Saturday moniing, and tlv's eonstjtutnd tli« whole of the training experienced. It rained a.ll day on Sunday and all day on Monday. Thft men marched to the railway crossing on Monday to meet Sir lan Hamilton, who inspected them under unpropitious circumstances. Although it was decider! that, the men should sse the week through, wiser counsels prevailed, and on 'the tadviice of the .medical and the commanding officer, the camp was struck yesterday morning. Many of the floors of the tents ware under wat<r during the time, and a largo number, of the men slept in the picturehouse.

The latejst addition to the telephone exchange is No. 1054, Mr C. H". How-,, cith, Harbour Board Engineer {resid-^ ence), St. Hill Street. ," ./

The ordinary meeting of the Borough! Council which was to hay© been keid iast night was adjourned until to-nigfifc ' on ifeoouiit ot>*ne visit of General Sit i ian Hamilton, Inspector-General of the Overseas forces, toWanganui, end tae ' functions held m connectibn with his--VISlt. . ■ ■ ■ •'•'.-■■:■■:■'

There are a hundred and twenty bP' cycles unclaimed in the little back shed at Chrisbchureh police station. : Three of them came from Bangiora tied 'together. . It i^ supposed tnat they we're casually picked up in Chr^stchui-ch, ridden to itangiqra,j"-and discarded there. There are hew bicycles arid* old skdfe- * trnjs and spare parts at the police sta-~ ' ti-on. There never was such a^prolifue '".',"' crop before, and y6t the striange part of it is .that the own«is fail to tm-n up, ~. all of which leads to the question how sor much stealing and lending can go unchecked. The police believe that a regular trade goes on in stolen bicy«jlesr-*U9<l 1 they would lake to see second-hand deal-' crs in cycles put under the provisions of the Sscpnd-hand Dealers Act, undier which they would be compelled to give an account of every second-hand ma>chine they handled- ."'' ;

Veteran John Wright, one- of kWanganui's oldest-settlers, mid .'at mno wills, a long and honourable rec>rl as a scfdier is in a critical sU*° of health. }J& lias been in ill-health for the past tljvi-» years, and for the lust eighteen months he ha's been confined to his l>rd> It wa|t..;; the wish of his. heart that he shhiiltl s«?e"the great svldier," as he styled Sir Jan 'Hamilton, and a friend, rei^jjutsiii^-tna' inability of the worthy veteran to go and see the General, took it iipon himself to> drop a note to Sir lan Hamilton asking him to bo good enough to do fine' oltf' soldier tho honour of .callingsupon him.! The General, with iiig fitstomary .consideration, acceded to- ikf request, anti after yesterday after^oo^fißinspection «f the cadets motored,,; to Mr. Wright/s bouse and spent a few ;minijtte in" pleasant conversation wiikVlsJioimbst deligjit--' ed and grateful man In Wanganui.