LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14219, 17 February 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In another column tlie Railway Department advertises the special time-table .in connection with the Royal Arti;lory Baud’ B visit to Wanganui to-morrow. M - Munro, Wanganui lock ■ Inspector, "n”.o ineed at the Waver'ey sale yards on Iriday, that it had been decided to enforce the law regarding lice-infected sheep found in sale yards. To this end action will be taken against any sheep owner (Heading. Tasmania is passing through an unusually dry season. Thprc has been no rain during January, and the injurious effects of the summer sun have, says the Australasian, been aggravated by the frequent drying winds experienced. In many districts toe grain crops have been much below the average, and unless rain falls within the next few weeks, the marketable value of the apple""crop will be considerably lessoned. Fodder is becoming scarce, and Itohart householders are being warned by the corporation to economise as much as possible with the water supply-

Mining at Reefton is evidently looking up, says the luanguhua Times. The Murray Creek Company ‘has sufficient faith in its property to venture on sinking another JOdft., 'while-the Blackwater management is also sinking a shaft. The Prohibition mine is also deep sinking, while the Millorton prospects are vising. Good stone is promised in the Keep-it-Dark. While tho St. George—the pluckiest company on the field—are going to have another try. Prospecting is none the less active because it is going on noiselessly at Kirwans and Victoria Range, at Golden Point, Murray Creek, and elsewhere. -

An eight-year-old Bavarian girl arrived lecmtly at New Lexington, Ohio, by post, and was safely delivered to her father bv tbe rural mail-carrier. The postmaster at New Lexington was considerably astonished to discover the girl among the mail banded over to him by the Federal sorters on the New York mail train, the girl wore a tag, which had been placed on her I by the New York immigration officials, which read—“ This child, Julia Jioliau, Box 117, H.F.0., No. 4, New Lexington, 0h : o.” The child had journeyed from Bavaria in the charge of the post office officials, and seemed none the worse for her 701)0 miles journey. Waitotara railway station should lie improved before winter by the erection of a verandah, covering over the platform a little longer, at each end, than tho station building. This station serves a busy little town, and a large area of back country, while it is the only “mail train” sto; page between Waverlcy and Aramoho Junction. The situation of tho Waitotara railway station is ?o exposed that in bad weather it is miserable for passengers, whether, travelling by the “mail” or ordinary passenger train, and it must be wretched for the stationraaster under such conditions. As the cost involved in add ing a verandah to the station would be a trifling sum the Member for Patna should make a point of inducing Hie Minister to have this very necessary improvement provided.—Waverlcy Tribune. The most ingenious means of defrauding a penny-in-the-slot gas meter, has been discovered, according to the Paris Journal, in Uoiuiluln. The gas company in Honolulu recently found that one of its customers was undoubtedly consuming large quantities of gas, although no coins were ever found i.i his meter. Battled in its attempts to discover the fraud, tho company at last offered to pay the man tor his secret, at the same time guaranteeing him against prosecution. He then showed a mou.d of the exact side of the copper coin used for the meter and an ice machine. He explained that with these lie made a disc of ice which he put into tiie meter to release a supply of gas. The diso thou melted and the water dried up, so that when tiie meter came to be opened there was nothing inside. 1 “Medical men, in dealing with Maoris, have experienced a certain amount of difficulty, as tho natives have always had a dread that the doctor will interfere with their state of tapu,” said Dr. A. Challioner Purchas in the course of his presidential address at the opening of the Australasian Medical Congress. He went on to say that a Maori will always show great reluctance to have a tumour or an injured limb removed. Fortunately for the Maoris, that feeling was gradually passing away, and there were at the present time several qualified practitioners of the native race who had done excellent work in instructing the Maoris in the laws of health aud in the improvement of their sanitary conditions. Efforts having lately been made to float worthless South African “oil” companies, the Union Government engaged Mr Cumminghum Craig to report upon oil prospects at tho Cape. Mr Craig agrees in the exposure of tho prospectuses of soca.led South Africau oil compi*nies. lie travelled many thousands of miles iu the Union, and says—“Tho only chances of commercial finds iu booth Africa are in places which nobody hitherto has tried or thought about; the places about which most has been written and around which all the talk has centred are absolutely hopeless. You can say that I had to visit a great many places whicji I knew, before spending a few weeks in the country, could not have any chance at all. But I paid many such visits simply to Satisfy pcop.f that I had been there to examine the ground. I had to visit practically every place .where \people had imagined ■ oil had been struck.”

Scotland Yard commends Chicago's women police. It has- its own secret staff in London, which has rendered splendid ;crvicc. A Berlin cable states that the musical world is enraptured by a symphometfa composed by Knrich Korn gold, a l(i-yoar-old Viennese, who is hailed by cri.ics as a Richard Strauss in knickers. The next home liner to load in the Wanganui roadstead will be the F. and S. Nairnshire on February 26th - . She will receive cargo for the West of England ports. On March 6th, the Tyser liner Hawke’s Bay will load at Wanganui.

Jt was reported to the police early this morning that an attempt had been made to enter the residence of Mr Rowley, No. 2 Line. Detective-Sergeant Siddells went but there this morning and lias the affair in hand.

The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, as the result of his'first visit to Central Otago, said he had been amazed at the possibilities of the district, and its facilities for close settlement. It was to close settlement he was inclnied to look as the deatli-khcll of rabbits.

Following the lead given by the Wanga",.,i.Col!e?i?te School it is understood the V\ aitaki High, School will next month he placed under complete military control for a period of one or two weeks, and” that the whole time will be devoted to training in military duties.

Obsolete warships which cost ,£2,000 000 to hmld were sold at Portsmouth 'for .£IOO,OIO. Three of the earliest snh'caUsed an average of less than j . each. 1 lie Royal Sovereign, a warshn) launched in 1801, and for years the pnac- of the Channel Fleet, was sold for £ tO,OOO.

Die liner Star of Australia, which sailed from the Wanganui roadstead for Qishornej this morning, look the following cargo from here;-191 quarters of beef, 19,1:7.1 carcases of sheep, B‘MJ7 carcases of amb, 90 casks of pelts, 258 casks of tallow, 26 cases of casings, 711 bales of wool, and 30 tons of casein.

The use of ammonia, bombs to extinguish forest fires is being tested in some of the national forests of America. In the case of bush fires, the fire-fighters often have aitiiculty in getting near enough to beat out the flames, and ammonia bombs have l>cen found very effective. The explosion or a single bomb will entinguish fire in a lAit circle about it.

The Sydney Morning Herald of February 5 had tliis paragraph :--“Mr R bcmplc, organiser of the New Zealand rederation of Labour, who was recently welcomed to the A.W.U. Conference by the president (Mr W. G. Spence, M.P.j, asked for and obtained a loan of .£looo.' the object is to assist flic Federation to conduct a political campaign at the next Dominion ejection.”

A well-known New Plymouth resident, Mr N. A. Christiansen (formerly of Wanganui), had a narrow escape from serious injury at Waitara on Sunday. He was cycling along the street, when he met a motor car, which in attempting to pass him, skidded into him, and the front wheels passed over his body, with the result that ho is now in the New Plvmouth hospital suffering from severe bruises on tlie body and legs.

In the absence of Mr W. Kerr, F.M Messrs T. B. Williams and .1. H. Kocsinw’ ■1 s.P., occupied the bench at the Mali'strate hj Court this morning i*ave judgment by default in each of the following undefended cates:—S. Quinn v B. Mitchell, 19s 2d; S. J. McKee and Co v. Taito Te Toma, A‘s; Wanganui Chronicle Company, Ltd., v. C, Trcanor F9 10,s 6d; A. Hatriek and Co. v J. C Milnes. 19s 2d; F. K. Turnbull v. A. o’ Meredith, JDO ]() a Id.

A rather good suggestion was put forth by Mr T. Allison at last night’s indignant 1 meeting. He suggested as a means of /ainimuin*' the danger of an accident to a, person coming down St. John’s HiR that large notices should he placed on telegraph poles on either side of the road about three-quarters of the way doiyn, advising drivers to beware of the crossing, and to drive carefully. The meeting considered the suggestion a good one. and recommended to the authority in charge. Application for fhe recognition of an act of bravery performed by Robert Merreft, an employee of the Gisborne Borough Council, has been received by the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand. On January 26 Mefrett heard erics of children who were on the Waikuiuic hoaeh, and he was told that Florence Emily Maiden, 7$ years, had been swept out to sea. He went into the water fully clothed, and, after swimming 200 yards through the surf, he caught sight of her and ultimately, wi‘h tlie assistance of another man, managed to got the child ashore. “1 beg to propose that we do now adjourn for a surf .bathe,” said the liest man at a wedding festivity in New Brighton the other day. The bridegroom was a surfer, his bride was a surfer, so were the best man, the bridesmaids, and most >f liio wedding guests. 'Die proposal was unanimously seconded and carried. There was a plentiful supply-of bathing suits of the most fetching variety, and the whole gathering arrayed itself for dips, ind wont in a body to the briny. It was a new departure, but it was voted one of the best festivities ever held.

In connection with the destruction yesterday morning of the Marabou Dairy Co.'s new butter and cheese factory at Okeliu, reported by our Kai Iwi correspondent in last night's issue, it appears that at about one o'cloek, Mrs Winter, wife of the potter in charge of the Okehu railway station, discovered that the building was on fire. She at once gave the alarm, but in the absence of an adequate supply of water and means to use it aright, nothing could bo done to save the building and up-to-date plant, livcry--1 "mg in connection with the factory was destroyed, other than the men’s quarters. The fire started, it is stated, in the engine room. The loss is a heavy one to the proprietors, as well -as to suppliers to the factory. ’ . ' v A meeting of directors of the Patca Farmers’ Co-operative- Freezing Company wan held at the works on Saturday, when the question of what action should be taken in- connection with the -re-building of the works after the recent disastrous fire was considered at length. It was pointed out that it would cost some £6OOO over and above the insurance money received to re-construct the works in an np-tordate manner. Af'er the matter had been thoroughly discus;od from every standpoint, it was unanimously resolved that public meetings be held in Patca and ithcr centres to consider the question of rebuilding the works, and that in Die event of insufficient support being for'hcoming the directors deemed it advisable to at once put the company into liquidation. It was aho decided to erect temporary premises to enable the company to carry out the slaughtering of the stock already on hand, and in the event of the • tcccssary share cap Pal being forthcoming continue operations until the new works arc completed. It is not anticipated that there will be any difficul y in obtaining the jBfiOCO worth of shares required. A canvass of the whole of -'outliem Taranaki will he made at. an early date.

A Maori was 'injured at To Tuhi this morning through his horse rolling on him. He was brought, to town in a launch and was conveyed to the hospital. The Garrison Band returns In- the 9 o'clock train Ibis evening. A reception has been arranged by some friends oftho Band, and will take place in Chavaiine's Hotel.

A leeout arrival from Homo, a lad named Stanley Slade, was thrown from his horse at Turakina on Sunday and severely injured. He was brought into the Wanganui Hospital, where he dies! Ilie same evening without regaining consciousness. He had' Been only throe weeks in New Zealand, and was IS) years of ago.