LOCAL AND GENSftAL. , , ' o

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11645, 24 August 1905, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENSftAL. , , ' o

A London cable states that the. cruiser Pyramus is, refitting for service on' the , Australian station." ' \,— After .an unusually mild winter, about • three-quarters of an inch, of snow fell at Ashburton during the early hours of- this morning. , • - > • The Auckland Board of Education has agreed to co-operate with the other Boards'* at the conference in Wellington* in September, and has elected Mr S. Luke as chairman. It has been, decided to take a poll of the Palmerston ratepayers on the proposal for 'a waterworks scheme, to' cost £26,000, and capable of supplying- a population of 1-2,000 with 75 gallons per capita over the 24 hours of each day. The Christchurch Hospital Board has de-; cided to ask the Canterbury .members of Parliament and two members or the "Board to deputationise the Government regarding the necessity for a home in each island for chronic and incurable cases/. A census is being taken in New" York, and the newspapers are warning Londoners that they will not live in the largest city in the world much longer. Although the population of New York was only 1,478,103 . in 1870, it had grown to 3,437,000 in 1890, and it is thought now- to have" increased to 4,000,000. * •'_ ' The fishing industry and the' export trade connected therewith are (says . a Dunedin correspondent) making good progress in the South. On her return, to the Bluff from a recent trip, the steamer Rose Casey brought over 500 cases of frozen fish, mostly blue cod, for shipment to Melbourne, where the demand still keeps up. Farming prospects look bright enough ° (says the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki Herald), to cheer the- most inveterate growler. Butter is evidently, going to be worth from a half-penny to three . farthings more than last year, ' and the - weather so far promises abundance of grass. I should not be surprised if Taranaki's output of dairy produce for the coming season is worth ,£IOO,OOO more tha^. the best yet recorded.

Last evening, at 7.20 o'clock, . a sharp (earthquake shock was experienced, preceded by a loud rumbling noise.

Queensland has now adopted a grading system for dairy produce, on the lines of toe practice pursued in New -Zealand.

Captain Edwin wired at 12.28- to-day: — Moderate to strong southerly winds; glass rise; tides poor; sea considerable; probably frost to-night.

The mail which left the local office on the -3rd inst., for London, via San Francisco; arrived at the American port ■ on Monday last. The following articles were found in the Opera House during the West season, and may be obtained on application to the custodian: — Three brooches, two umbrellas, .three paira of. gloves, and two odd gloves.

..Messrs L. Cohen. and H. J. Turner have' been nominated for the vacancy on the Borough Council. The election will be held on Wednesday next; the - 30th inst. '

American trains travel 900,000,000 miles and English trains 400,000j000 miles during- a single .year. With a .train mileage less than half that of the American roads, the English roads' in 1903 hauled twice as many passengers, conducted their business on one-tenth , the- trackage, and in 'doing 80 killed but one-tenth as many people and injured less" than one-tenth as many.

The coolie ship Virawa left Fiji for Calcutta- a few days ago with' 341 time-ex-pired Indian immigrants. They took a considerable amount of money with them and a large quantity, of gold an/1 silver jewellery, and, in their smart garments offered a. great .contrast to. the replacing c-ontLnef^nt. of Indian, coolies who were disembarking in the colony. In the shape of money, jewellery, and passage money the colony is something like .£20,000 poorer in material wealth by the departure of these people. . , rj The easterly winds prevailing, and the present neap tides, have made the bar in a very bad state the last day or' two, there being at -present only about 7ft 9in. of water at .the entrance to the channel. The Moa, which arrived outside . during the night,' from Greymouth; was' unable" to cross the bar this morning, and will have to, go on to .another port. It was also-con-sidered doubtful if the: Muritai, which is at present in port, would be unable to get away 'this • afternoon on account of. the shallow state ..of the channel. . . ■'Si* Westby Perceval, > presiding on June 30th, at the meeting of ,the Progress Mines of New. Zealand, Limited, London, said €he receipts from 'bullion amounted" to j6110;416, as against .£108,120 in the previous year, and, mining and milling expenses were ,£48,663, as compared with J£46,050. During the year the extraction and recovery percentage" realised' from the treatment of the ores- had been well maintained, and .there, was every indication that the mine would continue to give* good returns. The report was adopted. " The Society -for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Saturday prosecuted h defendant in Wellington on a charge of. having cruelly ill-treated a horse by kicking it. The defendant on oath denied the charge, but Dr.* A. M'Arthur,' S.M., who heard the information, said he believed the -witnesses for the prosecution,' and disbelieved the defendant. ' His Worship further intimated that the fine would be j£s, in .default one month's imprisonment.' Subsequently, \vhen taking the costs into account, he made the fine ,£3 3s,' and assessed the costs at £2 Bs, giving the de-fendant-one week in which to find the money.

Mr Evan Jloberts, the Welsh revivalist, faced an audience of 10,000 people at Holyhead recently, and remained long 7 in silence, the audience evincing no warmth. The missio'ner roB&J'-aiid'Svith great"emotion -appealed ior spiritual aid. Suddenly he underwent terrible convulsions,, and fell on the rostrum, weeping bitterly. The audience ' burst into prayer and weeping, men" rolled on the ground, 'and women fainted. . Then- the missioner rose with laughing face, and cried . that the devil had been defeated. The audience cheered enthusiastically, and this caused the revivalist to -laugh heartily. • '

Some '43 -settlers in the Nuhaka and Mahia district, says the" Hawke's Bay Herald, have petitioned the Minister for Agriculture, through Inspector Miller, to take over from the Maoris the native lands in the "Mahia district and deal with them for- settlement purposes. There are some hundreds of acres, over a great part of which blackberry has a hold, and, as the land is not individualised or surveyed, the Noxious Weeds Act cannot be enforced. Most of the Maoris interested recognise that they can do nothing with the country and are willing that it should be leased on their behalf. Much of the land is suitable for dairy farming, and the petitioners point out that as there is a creamery at hand, the land would be taken up readily.

Garden Gully shareholders will be interested in the following par, clipped- from the Grey- River Argus :— Mr . Mouat, contractor for the erection of the Garden Gu'Uy battery,- passed* through Blackball on Saturday, and reports everything going on satisfactorily at the' Gully.* 'The Pelton wheel and berdan are in place, as is almost the cam shaft,- and Mr Mouat' confidently expects to have the battery out of hand in from ten days to a fortnight. He is also making good progress wih the dismantling arid .removing the Croesus aerial tramway. He has pulled down and snigged the top terminal to the opposite 'slope. This was a work of especial difficulty as there -was from two- to fifteen feet of snow on the ground and the horses had to be specially shod for the occasion. Besides this, the weather has been very bad" all the week, being wet, with heavy sleety falls. The rest of the aerial has been dismantled and is now lying ready for removal.