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Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 713, 8 January 1903, Page 1

Stratford County Council is going in for a loan of <£9ooo for the construction of portions of tho Mangaotuku, Mangaehu, Punewhakau, and Tutuawa roads. In Berlin the vegetable dealers practise a new trick. They dip radishes into an aniline dye to give them a bright pink tint, and thus make them seem fresh, Of all the vices which have grown and flourished duriDg recent years in France, none has taken root with such tenacity as opium-eating (says the London Express.) Opium-smokers and opium-eaters are today numbered in the large cities by thousands, and the absinthe fiend is slowly but surely giving way to the opium i maniac. The Government has become alarmed at the situation, and it is proposed to fix on this drug an absolutely prohibitive import tariff, The two towns where this pernicious habit is most rampant are Marseilles and Toulon, and at the latter the state of things is equal to the worst corners of any Chinese town. There are whole streets whose opium dens aro to be found in every house, In these places of iniquity, men, women and children pass hours under the influence of tho drug. A very substantial Christmas box was received by the Hospital Board from the workmen at tho railway works at Hunterville. The handsome - amount of £24 2s was subscribed by the workmen and forwarded with tho following letter—" Hunterville, December 24, 1902. The secretary, Hospital Board, Enclosed herewith please find Post offico order for £24 2s, being amount subscribed by the workmen ' on the railway works here and forwarded ' to you through me as a small Christmas box for your Hospital. Wishing yourself and all connected with the institution the compliments of the season.—l on, etq.-, A, F rarer. This donation, with the Got vernment subsidy 6r 24s in the & which it will carry, will amount to £63,