Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, 2 August 1906, Page 24

Interprovincial

Miss Julia Moran, the well-known and talented 1 violinist, is on a visit to Auckland. STie is at present spending a, few days with hex sister, Sister St. Helena of the Monastery of the Sacred Heart, Hamilton. Mr. Carnegie has written offering the Timaru Borough Council a sum of £3000 with which to erect a public library. The money will be forthcoming only on condition tliat the library is made free. One man, after the Poverty Bay floods, could only muster 28 cows out of 44, and had lost 30 to 40 pigs, besides poultry. Another man, who has just started, had only six left out of 36, and all his other stock had gone. Ex-Sergeant Fleming, who has retired from the Police Force after 33 years' service, was presented ■with a purse of sovereigns at Queenstovn. The lWa,katipu Mail ' states that Mr. and Mrs. Fleming intend to reside in Christchurch. Mr. P. Tooniiey, who was for many years licensee of the Golden Fleece Hotel at Waikouaiti, was entertained by the residents of the district at a social gathering on Friday evening:. Mr. Robert Templeton, who presided, paid a high compliment to Mr. Toomey as a citizen, and said that the action of the licensing committee in refusing to grant a license to the Golden Fleece Hotel had come as a surprise to all. The presentation, which was made by Mr. T. Madenzie, M.H.R., consisted of an illuminated address. Duxine: the evening a number of vocal and instrumental items and recitations were given, and the i^roccedings were wound up with a dance. Mr. Toomey intends to follow farming pursuits, in which he has been interested for many years, in the district. The lot of back-block teachers in Taranaki at present is a. most unenviable one. Owing to the terrible state of the roads, it is unsafe in many cases to send children to school, and in consequence teachers' salaries are suffering severely. To cite a case : A teacher accented the position of sole teacher at Mangaroa, the advertised salary beine; £90. During the pa,st three months the salary only averaged the rate of £06 por annum. At present in that distxict, as in numerous other isolated quarters, the cost of living is evorbutantly high on account of the cost of carriage. The lib loaf costs lOd, kerosene 15s per ease, flour His fd per cwt, am<d so on. The two Japanese gentlemen who are now touring the Colony state that their countrymen are likely t o include meat in their diet, and it is quite possible "that they will get it from New Zealand. American tinned meat has alieady found its way to Japan in considerable quantities, and the movement in favor of a meat diet appears to be- increasing. China will, says Mr. Sakamoto, probably follow suit in this respect, so that the opportunities o f trade with a producing country like New Zealand are considerable. lie pointed out, however, that one essemtial would be the establishment of a direct lino of steamers between New Zealand and Japan, and hinted that there was a possibility of such a line being established by a Japanese firm. The Government will at an early date throw open a large area of promising country in the Nelson land district, close to the route of the Midland railway. Back of the Victoria mountains there is a prosperous settlement in the basin of the M a ruia liver, a tributary of the Buller. It is now proposed to open, within a few months at the outside, another part of the Maruia basin comprising 17,000 acres, north of the settlement referred to and close to the junction of the Maruia with the BulIcr. When the railway is completed this area will be tapped by the line. There is another block of considerable dimensions in the neighborhood of Lake Rotoroa not far from the present terminus of the railway a t Tadmor, which will probably be thrown open at an eorlv date. ' ' It is a little startling to learn that a mmmc engineer has come all the way from the Yukon coldfields to test the Waihi fields with a divining rod According to the ' Nc'vv Zealand Herald,' Mr David Kirkwood has not only made the journey but has so he says, located the celebrated Martha reef of the YVaini mine, considerably beyond the Waihi Comppnv's claim Minang in Waihi is in a curious position in that the rlace is practically dependent on the 'one mine. Millions have been taken out of the Waihi Co J? P ? n J S 3lil1 ' but Ihe claims roi!n d it have met with little or no success. Mr. Kirkwood declares that working with his divining rod, he has found that contrary to the general opinion of miners familiar with the country, the Martha reef extends beyond the company's boundary, from 300 ft to 500 ft below the surface, and 90ft wide.

The weekly meeting of the Hokitika Catholic Debating Society (writes our own correspondent) was held on Tuesday evening, July 24, when an essay \ competition was held, the subject being, ' The Life of the late Right Hen. Hen. R. J. Seddon.' Rev. Father Aubry and Mr. J. L. Ralfe were appointed judges, and a very handsome prize was presented to the winner by Mr. W. A. Dixon. Mr. B. Cox was adjudged the winner. Another piece of evidence in the c a se against the kea for sheep r killing was on view in Timaru last week, in the form of a sheepskin with a large perforation in the back, close behind the shoulders. The skin came from Mr. Burnett's Mount Cook station, and Mr. Burnett slates that the perforation was made by a kea, which attached the sheep and killed it by peeking a t its vital parts. He also says that he has on other occasions lost sheop under circumstances which left no doubt that they were victims of the !• ea. Sir Joseph Ward, Postmaster-General a nd Minister of Railways, who has been absent from the Colony for several months on a visit to Great Britain, Europe and America, returned to New Zealand by the San Prancisco mail stea.mer ' Sierra,' which arrived' at Auckland on Monday. He was accompanied by Lady Ward Miss Ward Mr. Ward, and Mr. B. Wilson (private secrei tary). The first to meet them on arrival were Mrs W. Henderson (sister 1o Lady Ward), Master P. Ward and Mr. J. Hislop (private secretary). The 'Sierra' 1 arrived at the anchorage in the harbor about 4 o-'clock and shortly afterwards the members of the committee arpomtMi in connection with the arrangements for the official reception left Queen street wharf in the Harbor Board s launch 'Kmaka 1 for the purpose of receiving Sir Joseph Ward on the steamer and ascertaining his desires in regard to an o mcial reception and presentation of a address at the Council Chambers. Mr. Mitchclson, on beha of the committee, expressed his pleasure at seeing the Minister return in the best of health Sir Joseph replied in equally brief a ml felicitous terms and shcoc hands with 'the members of the committee' Later on when the "Sierra ' was berthed Sir Joseph, in mat L°brleT at sSe6h? allß C ™ d ° n * h ""