LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11166, 29 January 1904, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

' Our supplement tormorrow. will .containmuch that will be appreciated, by readers, as it -will include ,a ( capital yaribty of entg,r--tainting A'att'^ri' " amongst which wif 1 be found three' excellent short stories entitled —'The Coward," "The Little Duchess" and "A Soldier from Africa." Then there are Health Notes by Dr Andrew Wilson, who deals at length with those all-too-common and painful little things called "Corns," and gives capital advice as - to- their best treatment. Poultry Notes by, 'Brahma" will also be read with interest by many, whilst there are a lot of valuable Household Hint.B. Amongst the other very readable articles, etc.7 will be found a good budget from'"N'Jmporte" of "Other People's Business," which' will be well worth perusal, as the writer discourses "on a lot of subjects of local interest' in a most entertaining and amusing' manner.

, Mr A. Dorset, who has 1 been secretary of the Wellington Education Board- for 27 announced, at yesterday '£> -meeting of the Board thai he intended to resign. The Board accepted the resignation with great reget. '

Asked whether he could give any hint as to who 'the next Governor "would be, Mr Seddon- told an interviewer he did not know. ''The present Governor, Lord Ranfurly, does not leave till next May, ' and I have received no' advice as to who will succeed him. And, of course, I am not going to take the initiative."

The members of the Wamganui Highland Kiftcs are notified that they can, and must obtain their rifles to-night between 7.30 and 8.30 o'clock, and to-morrow night, between 8 and 9 o'clock at the Drill, Shed. liL view of the visit of the officer commanding the district on.Tuesday night, every man must have hisriiie- and accoutrement in proper' order,- jnd attend, the battalion parade that, evening. Ho leave will be given.

\ln connection with the recent School of Military , Instruction, held at Wanganui; Ilawera and -New Plymouth, the .results of tHe exaininatiqpr show -that, the WaHgamii Highland Rifles and Wanganui Rifles each presented more candidates than any other corp sit the above-named places,, namely, seven — two officers and five sergeants — out of a possible eight. The Highlanders, however, scored better results as their- number of' marks gained totalled 3058, giving an average of 70 per cent each, while the Wanganni Bines -total reiched 3040, or 18 less than the former corps/. This speaks volumes for the kilties, as they are practically a young corps and are keeping up their refutation as one of the best corps in the district. At the visit of the officer commanding, the district to Wanganui some five months ago, we understand their work at his inspection then was specially marked out as being highly efficient and better than, the older 'corps. '

Some unpleasant discoveries are occasionally made, and especially in regard to allocations of public monies. Whilst in Welinglon recently Mr Willis made it his busness, amongst other things, to. inquire about the '.£3OO voted for the Whanga-moinona-Kohnratahi road, connecting with the Tangarakau .district/ This -particular road was -not in Mr Willis's district, but he had received several-letters from settlers there asking for his assistance: hence his inqxiiries. Imagine his surprise when he was informed by the Department that out of the .£3OO allocation there was available only 3s lOd.!— the balance of .£299 16s 2d having been/ debited again.«t the vote as previously Authorised. Mr Willis went at once to the Minister in charge and urged a further grant of some sort, pointing out that the settlers were eo/iu earnest *and so anxious for the road that they had offered each /to give a week's work gratis.' Finally the Minister- agreed' to -an" 'extra grant of £% for £\ on all monies raised by the settlers or on value of the work done by -them in road-making, conditionally on the matter %e4ng represented to the member for their own district by the settlers interested.

All junior members of the Wanganui Cricket Club are requested to be present on St. John's Hill to-morrow afternoon.

Captain Edwin telegraphs: — Strong winds to gale from between north and west and south-west; glass rise after 12 hours from now; tides good; sea considerable.*

The first round for the District Draughts Championship will be commenced this evening. The following entries so far have been received: — Anderson, Armstrong, R. Higgie, McCosh, O. Allums, Piper, Watt, Walker and Greavee.

On Sunday last a youthi one of a party ascending Mount Egmont, -had a narrow escape from bein^ seriously injured. He missed his footing on the scoria and rolled down some 50 yards or so before he managed to stop himself. He .received some bad bruises.

At the Police Court this morning, a woman, against whom there is a prohibition order, was fined' .£1 with costs lls for drunkenness. She was warned that nliould she be seen under the influence of liquor again she would in all probability be sent lo Hi 2 Inebriates' Home.

We understand that the price of- bread in Wanganui is to •be reduced on Monday next to 6id the 4lb loaf. The reduction, we understand, was decided on at a recent meeting of the Master Bakers' Association in Auckland, where a scale of charges, based on the cost of flour, was arranged.

The Wanganui Garrison Band last evening unanimously decided to attend the Brass Bands Contest at Eallarait next. October. It will interest our readers to know that the first prize for the selection contest and Championship of the Commonwealth is ,£2OO, second £75, third .£4O, a.nd fourth dS2O. The first prize in the quickstep contest is <£50, second .£25, third .£ls, fourth ,£lO.

Mr Seddon related to an interviewer a little incident which occurred whilst he was on the Coast. He happened to meet an old man, whom he knew -years ago, but whom .he had not seen for many years. In the course of a chat with him, he learned that at the last general election another candidate had asked the old fellow if he would support him, to which the following was vouchsafed in reply : "Good God, man, is poor old Dick dead?"

As an outcome o? the outbreak of small-pox in the South, we „ have had several inquiries as to who the public vaccinator is for the district of Wanganui. We may state that Dr. Porritt occupies the posiion at the present time, and Mr John Bates is the Vaccination Inspector. Parents and ' guardians should bear -in mind that they are liable to a penalty of 40s 'for failing or neglecting to send to the Vaccination Inspector vaccination certificates.

The earthquake which was felt in Wanganui yesterday morning at about 11.50 o'clock has apparently had • the effect of shaking up the barometer, as it was noticed shortly afterwards that it began to fall, and gave indications of a change in the weather. In the evening there was a slight shower, and this was followed by others during the night and early morning. So far, no rain to speak of has fallen, however, and it is to be hoped that Jupiter Pluvius will favour us with a more copious'supply, which would be greatly appreciated.

A young man named John William Collings was charged at the Police Court this morning, before Mr J. L. Stevenson, J.P., with assaulting a man named Cameron by striking him over the head with a bottle. Sergeant Norwood asked for a remand, as Cameron was still in the hospital at Palmeieton, and was not able to be present, his injuries having been serious. Tne( case* was remanded to Foxton on the 6th February, bail being allowed. The alleged assault took place at the Foxton races on the 22nd instant. Two young women, one a resident and the other a visitor, were bathing at Otorohanga a few days ago when one was seized with cramp whilst attempting to swim across the Waipa. The other swam to her assistance, but was gripped by the one in trouble, and consequently they both sank, to the horror of two lady friends who were sitting on the bank. As neither could swim they got frantic with fear and excitement, and their cries brought Mrs S. Wilkinson, jun., to the scene. She, seeing the danger, immediately plunged in, but as they had risen and sunk for the third time, she felt their backs with her feet, and then dived and, catching hold of a part of one of the young ladies' apparel, dragged or pushed them to a shallow part of the river, got them one on either side, and kept their heads out of water till help arrived. It is stated that had not Mrs Wilkinson gone to their assistance and act«d in the plucky manner she did, the two women would have both been drowned.

Felix Tanner reported himself as feeling very well indeed this morning, when visited by a, representative from this .office., and it must be said' that his appearance was an improvement on that of a couple of days ago. At 8 o'clock this morning Tanner had lost 161 b since starting his fast, 4he loss being very little during the last few days. A medical man visited Tanner this morning 1 early, and expressed the opinion that his condition had improved considerably since his' previous visit, and said that he believed it possible for Tanner to continue his fast for 40 days, as he haS so much strength and vitality to come and go on yet. By eight o'clock to-morrow. night Tanner will have concluded 336 hours' abstention from food, and it is expected that there will b a large attendance of the public to have a look at him then, whilst next week there may "be expected quite a crush of visitors. The frequency of the calls of the medical gentlemen and the examinations made prove conclusively that the exhibition is a thoroughly genuine one, and there is no room for suspicion on that score.