LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17544, 10 April 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Members of choirs, and vooalifrts 'ittending to join in the music at the peace ceelbrations, are requested to attend a rehearsal of the "HnlHuljah Chorus and "Hymn of Peace" at the Technical College Hall on Saturday night, nt 7.30, and to bring copies with them.

The pulpit of St. Paul's will be occupied next Sunday, buth morning and eyeing, by the Rev D. D. Scott. The rev. gentleman is well nn<l popularly known throughout the Dominion in connection with his duties, as a chaplain among the men in the Now Zea.'and camps, and dotvbtless there Trill lv> large congregations present to hear him.

Last night an open-air nipetinp; was held in Maria Place, when Messrs W. 3. Cuttle, J. Gharteris, and the Rev. H. L. Blamires spoke in* support of tho Prolubition. movement. At the conclusion of their addresses, Mr. G. Gardener spoke in support of Continuance. All the speakers got a good reception, although there was a fair amount of interruption at times from some members of the audience.

With reference to the pastoral letter of Archbishop Redwood re the licensing poll «f to-day, the Wangamii Presbytery resolved on Tuesday: "That the Presbytery has read the statement with great regret. Thov repudiate the suspicions east by him on the fair play of the community to the Roman Catholic. Church in the matter of sacramental vrixi'i for the church. It notes th« two voices witli which the Roman Catholic Church speaks about National Prohibition Bishop Cleary mentioning a great part of the Cntho'ic hierm-chy in. Canada in favour of Prohibition, and jtfishop Re<i-,vootl against. It deplores the hondage in which men ha^'e put their souls in this freo land; when in opposition to their conscience they must obey the commands of the archbishop."

At. the meeting of the Wanganui Presbytery on Tuesday,- eulogistic reference wa& made to the Maori Pioneer Battalion mid gratitude expressed at the sai>> return of the men.

As oar siaff wii' !h> particularly busy this evening, wo wish to intimate that it will Ik* hi'possiMe to answer telephonic inquiries for ini'ormabion ix^garding tlie refei'i'ndam.

fcioiiie cont'ijsiou seenis in exJsfc owing to two polling botoihs bpiiu; tM- Aramoho to-day. Thtt at the A;B;C Ball X for the Patert electorate and that at the Methodist Sc-hool room is for tho Wonganui Elpctoratc. 'Voters will need to note this carefully.

Aim Aim is 23 miles from Wanganui by land, and 4$ by river. It was stated at the Bitting of the Industries Commission yesterday that owing tb the 'ack of road access, settlers took a day to pack a bale of wool out. stnd a steamer freight charge of 4/od. a Mle followed to bring it to Wanganui.

Electors should be particularly careful with regard to the closing hours of the poll to-day. For the Wariganui electorate the polling hours are 9 a^n^ to 7 p.m.. but in the country electorates tne pol.'s will close nil hour earlier j viz., 6 p.m. Aramoho, Wanganui Kast, Sprmgvnle, Kaitoke, St. John's1 Hill, and other suburban voters who may be on the country rolls, should,therefore, take particular note of this.

Tlte " Australian Insurance and Banking Retold" for March states that the cftsh surplus available for distribution nmotiflfit the members oF the Australian Mutual Provident Society as the result vt last year's operations exceeds £1*OGO.OOO, as against. £054,000 for the previous ,Vcar (1917). The lnftrked improvement is duo largely to the reduction in the number of war claims following the cessation of hostilities o\\ ibe 11th November last. The reversionary bonuses to be announced on 30th June next will probably represent a rate not far short of that ruling before the war, and there skeins little feason to doubt that wifti permanent peace practically assured, the pre-war rate of bonus tVill soon be completely restored.

A very interesting point came before the Native Land Court sitting at Mastertdn on Thursday last (says s an exchange). Aretp, Mahupukru, well known in the Wairarapa, died during the epidemic and left a will devising all her property to an adopted,son, "YVj Tamahau Mahupuku. It appears thjit'the adopted son is a European who was taken by Areta while he was quite a baby, and tliat Areta in 1905 applied for a Judge's certificate, which was granted, and she registered the chad's adoption in the Native Land Court. As the law stands now, a Maori cannot adopt a European child, either in the Native Land Court or the- Magistrate's Court. The will was not objected to, but it was submitted that the European could not take the Native land of the deceased. This depended on whether the adoption was valid or not. After hearing argiunent Judge Jones decided that a Maori could.not. according to Maori custom, adopt a European child, and there being no valid adoption, th© bel--quest of the Native lands must fail. There was no quest ion, as to European lands or personalty. The total value of the estate is about £10,000, df which £6,000 represents the Native lands.

A correspondent of the "Otago Dai'y Times," in notes on holiday travels at Lake Wakatipu, refers to the varieties of people one meets in holiday resorts. He says, inter alia : "I met aJso a man who said he was illiterate, and yet he could speak enough Italian, French, and Czech to make his way in France, Italy, and Austria, while his English was of a high order, though he passed me the bill of fare, as a proof of his inability to read.. He had a philosophical trend of mind, used words such aa exultant, despondent, gravitation, ffictional resistance, and said once :." Behind tact is deception, behind deception selfishness, behind selfishness destruction." A very interesting man to talk to. On the boat I met a baker who was a long time at sea, had been in Korea, the Straits Settlements, Brazil, and other places, was a. shearers' cook in the wilds of Australia, and proved as good to me a,s a few books of travel. Every man, said some wiseacre, "has at least one lx>ok in him." These two men had half a dozen between them. On one previous trip there I met a Scholar peeling potatoes on the steamer. He saw me reading a. -woyk on k> qic, and we got into conversation. I found that he knew more in many ways than I had either time or opportunity i to 'earn. As a word painter lie would have been an asset to the Tourist Department. Why he wa« peeling "spuds1' I failed to lenrn, as his grand manner when he l)egan one of his picturesque " stunts" rather overawed me. I had not been surprised had he told me he, had once adorned the pulpit. Maybe he is doing ,so now.