Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, 10 September 1908, Page 19

Interprovincial

The Premier states that the general election will take, place about the last week in November or the first week in December." .The - Government ' has decided to ■ purchase the .-Manawatu Railway, the price being with- an additional for stores on hand: • ' ' . . - The results .of the first complete year's operations of the Wellington City Council's electric lighting department show that, - after providing for interest, sinking fund, and .depreciation, there is a net profit of ;£6"i22. _ "" To, the list of successes •'* the musical examination at St. Mary's- Convent, Ponsonby, which appeared in our last issue, is to be added the name of Miss D. White, who passed the higher examination. The value of the fruit grown in New Zealand is now a million pounds a year, according to a statement made by Mr. T. W. Kirk, Government biologist. Mr. Kirk added that the industry was only in its infancy, and the atea under fruit culture was increasing at the rate of over 200 acres a }ear. A tremendous advance in fruit-growing had been made in this country during the past few years. The following are the , results of the musical examination held at the Convent of Mercy High School, Te Aroha, on August 31, by the representative of Trinity College, London : — Associate Grade—^-M. Amelia Sullivan, 86. Junior Grade — John Magill, 63. Preparatory Grade — Eileen Magill, 85 ; Jessie Sweeney, 74 ; Pearl Bygrave, 74 ; Bessie Edwards, 71 ; Francis V. (Rongo) Pilling, 70; John Mackle, 63; Claude Keesing, 62. There are 532 third class passengers by the lonic, which was due in Wellington yesterday from London. Of these, 307 (of whom 104 are children) are coming out under the assisted system. The number includes 65 farmers, 15 domestic servants, and 14 farm laborers. The assisted passengers arc bringing capital totalling some of pounds. One man has ;£Boo, another is bringing two have got ;£6oo each, and many have sums ranging from to The sheep returns for the year ended April 30 show a net increase of -778,183 in v the North Island and of 687,098 in the South Island, making a total net increase of 1,465,281 for the Dominion. The total number of sheep in the Dominion was 22,449,053, there being 10,816,852 in the South Island and 11,632,201 in the North. The number of breeding ewes increased from 10,736,846 to 11,244,041, as compared with the previous year. The grand total of nearly 22^ millions is easily a record for the Dominion. Mrs. A. Mead, of Christchurch, was the vocalist of the evening at the Philarmonic Society's concert in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin, on Friday evening. Regarding Mrs. Mead's singing the Evening Star said : — ' The society were fortunate in securing as the singer of the evening such an accomplished lady as Mrs. A. Mead. Unluckily, Mrs. Mead suffered from a slight cold last night ; nevertheless, she sang really well, and made it quite clear that her tuition has been from the best sources and her study intelligent. If asked to describe Mrs. Mead's singing in a word we should call it intellectual. The audience were charmed with her exposition of " O Luce di quest anima," from Donizetti's opera " Linda di Chamouni," the florid passages being taken with ease and brilliance, and -turs. Mead's song in th: second part, " 'Twas a summer garden," by Lohr, was also a treat. An encore being insisted upon each time, Mrs. Mead replied with ' Among the roses," by Valeric White, and " 'Twas April," by Nevin.' The Otago Daily Times in its notice of the concert said of Mrs. Mead's contributions : — ' Mrs. Mead possesses a soprano voice of agreeable quality, good range, and considerable flexibility. This latter quality was particularly manifest in her rendering -of Donizetti's " O Luce di quest anima," which,; despite the.. exacting nature of the solo, was perhaps her best contribution. The vocalist subsequently gave Lohr's " 'Twas a summer garden," just falling short of complete success in her sustained notes. "Mrs. Mead was emphatically recalled after each contribution, and gave two enjoyable additional numbers.'. • - • •