LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11637, 15 August 1905, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

- . \ The Canadian revenue .for the eleven months ending 31st May amounted to .£12,7000,000, which is ahead, of last year>.

A member of the Ashburton police force has sent in his resignation, but the, acceptance of it at headquarters has been held over pending an. inquiry.

It is expected that from* fifty to sixty visitors will take part in the ladies' golf tournament, which commences afc Waiohiki (Hawke's Bay) on Monday, the 21st inst.

Hockey has become so popular' in; • the metropolis that the London County jCouncil has found it necessary to allot the'use of reserved pitches on Saturdays: '

The number of pupils on the rolls pf the four schools ' under the Wanganui School Committee's jurisdiction is 1137, and the average daily attendance 1033.

Mr Charles Arnold ("Hans -.the. Boatman"), who died suddenly at the -Savage Club, London, recently, at the conclusion of his song, "Take Off Your Hat ~t6 the King," left .£5496. v "'

The collection box in St. -Matthew's Church, St. Albans, was broken . open ■on Sunday, says a Christchurch telegram, and the contents stolen. This is the* second; occasion on which this box lias -been rifled

A man driving a drayv*. and ; .calmly smoking a pipe whilst seated on top.~tif' 50 kegs of blasting powder, attracted the attention of the. road overseer,. says the Napier Telegraph, who immediately stopped the vehicle and ordered him to. stop smoking.

At last night's meeting- of. the School Committee, Mr Purser said he was much struck with the freehand drawing done by . the pupils of the Infants' . School, which, he thought, was absolutely marvellous, and he considered that it was - a splendid help towards good writing.

I€ is expected that the re-building of the thres rooms recently destroyed by fire at the Queen's Park School 'will- be completed in about a week, and the children will then be able to return to the school,' instead of using the Christ Church ' school-

The suggestion of the Horticultural Society that the children attending the schools should be given a' half-holiday to enable them to attend the coming' Show, was discussed' at last night's meeting of the School Committee, and it was decided to accede to the request if there was sufficient interest taken in the school gardens by the children to warrant the' holiday.

A very sudden death occurred . yesterday on the 1:30 p.m. train from Hastings to Napier, whed a native named Pu Karauria, aged about 20- years, was suddenly taken ill -on the train just prior' -^o, its. reaching -Whawatu. ' Karauria, who. ii* a nephew of Mrs G. P. Donnelly, got on tho train at Hastings, but he had some distance to -go to catch it, and it is presumed that death was caused by failure of -the heart. A communication was sent from Parndon asking that a medical man be sent for to meet the train, and Dr Moore was in attendance on the arrival of the train, but life was extinct. . , ".'v."Miss O'Brien, in. her monthly report to the School -Committee last night, stated tnatthe children of St. John's School-have got their garden plots started, and she wished to thank the following parents who have shown a practical interest in- tho garden by giving their time and • money to helping the children with' the gardens, namely: — Mrs Sewell and Messrs ;. Lair Holloway, Haase, . Minocheri, Coles,, and Andrew. Mr Sinclair has also most .kindly offered to supply seeds free of charge.", and Mr Laird has kindly promised a*" number of seedlings, and given a' number of plants. On the motion of the chairman, it was decided to asE Miss O'Brien to thank the parents for their help.. :,The children at present are most- enthusiastic, and it is trusted that the experiment may have a good result.

The case of an incorrigible poacher was cited to Sir Joseph ,Ward~ by ' a member of the Acclimatisation Societies' Conference which interviewed the Minister ' at ' Wellington recently. It was suspected that the man was poaching in the Hutfc -River, and the rangers warned hint that he would be proseciited if caught. When haled to the Gpurt he was fined £5, the Magistrate recognising the glaring nature of his offence. He paid the fine; and soon afterwards was caught again. A .£ls fine followed the next offence, but this di3not deter him. ~He was caught again six months later, and this- time was fined .-£SO, whereupon he suddenly left for the South. At Invercargill he w.as arrested .and sent to prison to serve his three months' option. When this was over he returned to Wellington, and intimated ..that 'Tie had come back to take his fine out of. the trout.* "He is still here,"- the speaker.concluded, 'so the presumption^ is that he has made. good his threat before now." -•

A well-known local resident, with a view of investigating the causes of the 'present high prices of timber, commimicated with several leading timber dealers and woodworkers in different parts of the North Island, - selecting, those whose operations would suffer\most keenly from unduti. &r extortionate- charges, and- whose p'ositionls gxve> them superior advantages ; of "caccurate judgment in the. matter.-Thefojlovr-ing, says our informant,; may, be taken as a sample .of th© replies- received:— '"^he sawmillers' are, having a pretty «ick . time*' here. Their resources are. fast dwindling out, and if they are making a k bit, they, are entitled to it. Personally. I would m*fc like ,to have any capital, invested in the enterprise, even with the high charges now ruling. I know of two, nay four, who have been tempted by what. they imagined td.be extortionate profits, to start mills on their own account, and of. those four, tjwo /went bankrupt, one gave up, " having spent hi» all, and the fourth; is in despair..' I, can now recall two others who shared the. game fate, and these within a radius." 'of 0 eight miles from here. The. reason .is the great cost of getting the logs to jthe mill or to. the market, added of bourse,- to* higher rates of wages, a larger* percentage "of bad debts, which occur after trade has been inflated after a boom, or land andUbuUding speculations. Given a good tract. of ber bush, and easy access to a market, of course there is money- in a sawmill, ' but in Taranaki, the revenue to shareholders in a company, or to private owners,, does not warrant paying a larger dividend than 8 per cent. This is not much, and with the risks run, capital invested, .and. .the material or timber only a limited one, the industry, as I said before, ' would', not. appeal to me as an. investment fof^by^bapital. I have no' grievance" against' £aw ? - milleni' profits, or their combines".. I.'tftink their consideration to trades employe^ in. wood-working is poor, and the method, of* measurement ' on which they base " their charges farcical. That is* all I have to say" against them. * '

The Public Works Departnlent has accepted the tender of .Messrs Ash well and Hamilton, of this town, forfehe erection of a post office at Waitota*. The contract price is .£444. "1 • " Myriads of small flies ropently invaded .the River Trent, near Nottingham. So numerous were the insects jthat boats were unable to follow, their xisual course in certain parts of the river. • A curiosity has been' on view in one of the Nelson fruit shops in the shape of a locally-grown . pineapple. ' The f rait took four season's to come to maturity. It is of fair size, but 'of a light yellow colour. The petition recently circulated in Pal- * ineraton, praying for , a referendum on the Bible-in-schools question, has been, sent •down to Wellington. It contained 19-79 signatures. ... In some quarters hi Wellington it is thought Mr Fisher has done a good turn for the liquor trade by the bringing of his famous charges, as it is considered that these have- alienated a lot of support irony the No-license Party. There is good inquiry at present from all parts for land in the dtgtrict through whioh the Ma-nawatu railway runs,, and several properties have changed hands between Longburn and, Otaki at high prices. According to all accounts, the dairy fram.ers in that district have every reason, to be very well satisfied w.itn their prospects.. It is stated that .one Taranaki butter factory has had an offer of 10 l-8d for the .season's output. Several factories have re'_ceiv,ed offers of 9f d for an extended period, ' and altogether there is already keener "competition for Taranaki .butter amongst .buyers than probably on any previous occasion. . • - " Many persons (says .the Wairarapa •Times) are inclined to d<mbt the existence of spontaneous combustion in haystacks. Actual proof has been made manifest' in the case of a stack on Cumloden property, which burst into flames. 'The internal por.tion was found to be almost in the condition of ensilage r through having been stacked' ig a wet state.

We (says the Hawera Star) have been shown the head of a, shag, shot near the mottth of the Waingongoro, from the body of which was taken a trout weigliing l^lb. The, voracity of * the 'shag" is well known, and this instance, shows, that our fishermen are robfced of a- certain proportion of sport by these poachers from tho sea. -*

•Account sales have been received for a consignment ' t>£ " 2500 eases ot apples sent from Harcourt (Victoria) to thfe Gorman market. Some cases sola as high as 20s, others at 18s; 14s, 13s, 12s and 11s. The changes amounted to 5s Id per case, and the average profit on the whole lot was' ss Gd per case. This is considered Highly satisfactory, and next season a much larger number of cases will be exported. ''.In connection with the Fisher charges ilfe general view in Wellington appears to be that whether or not there is any foundation for Mr Fisher's allegations, it should be provided that in future before any member is permitted- to put the country to the expense of a commission of Jnquiry into any such .charges; thai member should be made to put up a substantial deposit, ■which would be forfeited in case _ the charges were proved to be frivolous.

Tho Minister of Militia for Canada announced to Parliament recently his scheme for 'a 'permanent force in Canada. It • involves a standing army of 5000 -men, diTided- as" follows:— Cavalry, 1350;' horse artillery, 1 400; ' garrison' artillery, 1100 ; engineers, 500; infantry, 1200; medical, service, and ordnance c0rp5,. 450. These will be stationed at Halifax, Esqui'mdlt, Quebec, Montreal/ FbVF William," and points in the West. ~ Oamaru is to have a town hall, says an Oamaru correspondent. Tho Mayor, when in Wellington, obtained a promise from the Premier of a loan of .64000 on very favourable terms, subject to certain conditions. As far as can be learned, it will be possible to build an adequate hall, one that will hold from 1200 to 1500 people, with gallery, stage, fittings, ,and other theatrical oppurtenances, as well as municipal offices' on the ground floor, for. about ,£SOOO, and there should be little difficulty in raising tho additional sum by local subscription. r - An old- time custom — the giving of a day's ploughing — was observed last Friday (says the Otago, Daily Times) by * the farmer's of Lower Green Island on the farm of Mr' Robert Herbison, who has joined the 'agricultural community* Messrs. Townley, Alexander, J. Thomson, and Dl.D 1 . Adams sent ploughs, all but one being- double-furrows, and but for the prevalence of influenza the number would have been greater. A good day's work was done by those engaged, and when those who were unable to be present yesterday give another day Mr Herbison will be well forward with his ploughing. The weather, was perfect, and the ploughmen were _well .satisfied with their endeavour to assist a new friend and neighbour. - The • South Australian Commissioner of Police has received an interesting report from the West" -Coast, not far from; the W'esf Australian border, regarding the natives there. A portion of it concerns a- tribal vendetta, in which a man from one tribe up a native murderer and shot him. The latter's tribe' then held a council, and sentenced the murders from the "other tribe to death, .and deputed four young men, the nearest xelatives of the murdered man, to carry out- the sentence. For months the- fugitives dodged the four Toiling -who were chasing * them. Finally, they met, v and shots were exchange,d,''T>ut the police do. not know the result. The constable also reports that natives aye coming in from the interior..- and are proving a- serious menace. The, settlers are arming themselves for protection.