LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11647, 26 August 1905, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is now sixty-five years since trans* portation to New South Wales ceased. . Probate duty, foir the past month- at Hobart amounted- to 4371,331, an exceptional total. ' v ~~, The .whitebait season has opened, and considerable quantities are being sent to Wellington from Foxton. The subsidy to be' paid to the/ Orient Company for making Brisbane a port of call will be between £20,000 and £30,000 per annum. It is 'stated that in Auckland there is a strong demand for sound, young serviceable horses. Active waggon and cart horses realise from £40/ 10s to £57. !■' The lighthpusea of- the colony have cost ' in erection £191,840 12a Id. The light dues received last year totalled £29,310 16s 3d. Maintenance cost £14,451 '9s. The rate of r 4a 9d per £1000, 'Is 6d fo,r charitable aid,, and 3s 3d for hospital, levied in connection with* the Palmerston. North Hospital, constitutes one of; the lowest in the colony. • ,"; -'-. A well-organised and' determined 'effort , is being made at Brisbane to Federal Parliament to introdu^fe.^^«iaj(iation totally prohibiting the importation of opium into the Commonwealth. "\ *'-

Mysterious death's among cattle in New South Wales, at" fiifet suspected to be from anthrax, and' afterwards attributed,' to"shivery weed/ have been definitely traced to a bulbous plant identified by the Government botanist as the "poison -tulip."

A statement just published b.y .the New South Wales Lands Department that up to date 53 farms, out, >f; 138' J^ail: able have been allotted- at s MyaJL €Jf eek; covering an. " area <)i\ $0>72l • i&featfir&xfQL having a total value- ilf Se6os&.£; Tjfe cost of the land to'tlte v Governmei»%waß J8138,000. Though not? ojftfte half th» farms have yet been disposed of, it is believed that already a settlement with a population of fully 200 persons has been effected at Myall Creek. - '■''-'.

It is reported that the Mangatoki Dairy Factory Company have sold their season's output for lOfd per lb.

In the Tasmanian Legislative Assembly recently Mr Hope, M.P., exhibited specimens from -wolfram sections in. Middlesex, assaying gold 270z 3dwt,. silver 7oz, bismuth 18 per cent per ton. The Department of Mines considers that if the lode is of any extent the find is little short of marvellous.

The Taupo Totara Timber Company has just completed its 51 miles of railway to the Mokau mills, the projected terminus of the line: This will enable the release of a very large stock of totara timser, .and the company will continue to «teadily work through the areas of totara,., ■timber.' , ' • A. ' bottle, containing a .note from the .ketch -Spray, : dated July 1, was found on iFxilr Xl4iX 14i by Mr Ede, a New Guinea trader. that .the ketch was in difficj^lUe3 on a reef about 190 miles southeast ~of w.here the bottle was found, that being on the south-east 'end of Woodlark ■Island, -andjthat if the Spray had not retried to a Queensland .port by September, assistance should be sent. A gentleman who recently paid a visit to Lake Eotoiti, and who is an enthusiastic anglfcr, -assures the Hot Lakes Chronicle 'that at no time of the year has he witnessed a greater number of trout in. any of /the streams than is to be seen at present in the Ohau. "The water is thick -witfL them/ he. said, "and such fish I have never seen in my life." Taking it that th? other .streams are .similarly stocked, and there is reason to believe that sxich is.j;he case, it is very evident the fish are increasing at such- rate 'as 'to cause anxiety' in the very near future with regard to 1 a food supply.

"The-, members . of the Sydney Shop Assistants' Union, numbering about "1300, are tgitating' for a universal Saturday half-i'bliaay in New South Wales. The seewtary, Mr Young, who recently sent oufc.oOO circular letters to city and suburban shopkeepers to feel the opinion of traders on the subject, states that the majotiiy of replies received favoured the hal^ -holiday being at the end rather than in Ihe middle of the week. A petition has alf< been prepared, and is being largely sifaed, praying the Legislature to amend tie Early Closing Act, making it compulsdiy for shops in the county of Cumberland to observe Saturday as -a half-holiday" in^ieu of Wednesday' or Saturday, as at praaent. in an article on "The Opening of the j Seul-jFusan Railway," the Korean Review j rears/to the work as one of international JTO'ortance, as it marks a definite perion mth& construction of a' through line" that wjli connect Fusan with the whole of j Efeppe. The .trip from Tokio to London idl'^jhen require but a few hours of sea Sraw'r Korean Straits and the Straits gj^&yeV .are/the eastern and western sea fener'4' which separate the two Island ppirea'from the great continent, and nly a few miles of track require to be laid r c'pmplete ihe through communication of Mift. , On the Seoul-Fusan line' the trains ]bb "to be drawn by 120-ton Baldwin cn r Jines, and the permanent way, bridges, iulverts, and tunnels are nil of most substantial construction. The speed will be jequal to thirty miles an hour, including jatoppages. j Voting machines still continue to exercise the ingenuity of inventors. The latest I accession to the roll of new machines (says ' the Wellington Post) is, an idea of Mr Wil- ,' liam Madder, latterly of New Plymouth, , and it appears to combine simplicity and ,' effectiveness with unusual success. His idea is a metal ballot-box, with cups or receptacles for the receipt 'of voters' marbles." The' voter ia -given- ■&■ marble by the booth official, and he drops this in the receptacle under the name of the candidate he votes for. The marble falls on the periphery of a pallet wheel, and turns it through a space, recording an addition of one on the register, the mechanism of •which is of the kind familiar to riders of cycles or totalisator patrons. The marble returns by a conduit to the official. The boxes can be made to accommodate any number of candidates, and are so compact that a box with 12 separate 1 registers and receptacles for marbles' will only measure 18in by 18in. The merits claimed for it are simplicity, speed in Voting, and accuracy, and also continues registration of votes so that when the voting closes the result of an election is instantly known. Mr Madder is introducing his invention to I thenotice of the Government. j

The committee appointed to make the necessary arrangements in connection with the .forthcoming go-as-you-please competition met last evening at Mr Read's Rutland saloon, and decided that the contest should take place next Thursday, August 31. The starting point -will be the Fountgisi^ ...and the ' course will be down the Hgads. ißoad to Castlecliff and then fhXOHgh> JTosstown back to the Fountain. Tsie;race will start at 2.30 o'clock,^ and it was also. decided that entrance) fees must be^paid' by 6 p.m. on Tuesday next. All tyjjjnpetitors' costumes to be subject to the approval of the committee. Umpires will be' appointed to watch each competitor, and their joint decisions will be final. First prize, gold medal value £2 2s and a rug valued at JJI Is, presented by Messrs Ross and Glendenning; second prize, gold medal value 30s; third prize,, silver-moun-ted walking stick. Mr R. McNiven was appointed starter; Messrs R. H. White and J. J. Littlejohn, judges; and. Mr Thompson, time-keeper. The committee desire to thank the following firms who have generously contributed towards the prize fund: — A. Clark and Sons, Limited, Butterworth Bros., Kaiapoi Woollen Company, Northern Hat Mills, Macky, Logan and Co., Wellington Woollen Mill, Ross and Glendenning. Final arrangements will be made on Tuesday night next, when entries close.