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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2094, 21 January 1908, Page 2

A new telephone exchange subscribers’ lisl has come to hand.

The linesmen are getting on very well with the telephone line to Motu, and it is now as far no Willow Crossing.

Oiling Poo, regarding an assault on whom cases are pending in the Police Court, is reported to be doing very well. The adjourned nuiiir.il meeting of the contributors to the Gisborne Hospital will be held at the Farmers Union Rooms, on Thui; dav January 23rd.

There was a good muster of Iho Cook County Curious Coons at last nigh L’s practice, when the choruses and solos for the concert to be given for the benefit of the City Band -it the end of March were gone through.

A fair number of enthusiasts met at the Grey Street Hall last night to consider tho question ol forming an amateur comedy company. A strong committee was formed, and it was decided to hold another meeting in about a week.

Tho tournament at the Victoria Billiard Saloon.has been delayed lately owing to various competitors being out of town, but Mr Segedin states that it will now be gone on with and that those who fail to take their turns will he left out.

The Racing Conference meets at Wellington on Wednesday, Thursday mul Friday, when the question ol the fees to be charged by clubs to bookmakers will bo brought up. An inaugural meeting of seereturas will also be held. Neither Mr. M. (L Nasmith nor Dir I). It. Do Costa are able to get away. •

Mr. A. Donald, the Labor Inspector, has had, a number of applications lor work, during the past few days, from farm hands principally. It seems that only a lew ol' the farmers keep in touch with tho Labor ollice, but it would be to their advantage to do so. A lew stonobreakers arc required for work near town.

It is now definitely decided that Bollard’s Opera Company will return to Gisborne for a season of four nights, commencing Wednesday, Feb. sth (race week). The company are now in Wellington playing-to record business. At tho conclusion of their season there on the Ist of February they ship direct to Gisborne, opening in their latest success “The Island of Bong.”

51 r. \V. Lissaiit Clayton’s motor party reached Wairoa at- 10.30 o’clock last night. Near Mammani 'an accident happened to Mr. Gouldsmith’s car. The wheel skidded in the sand and the tyre burst, the err being capsized, but nobody was hurt, and very little damage was done to the cm". With the exception of a few short stoppages the ears had a very good run.

A special meeting of the Freezers’ Union was held last night for the purpose of considering the slaughtermen’s desire to form a separate Union. A resolution acceding to the request was parsed unanimously. A meeting of the slaughtermen was held after tho other meeting, when it was decided to call a meeting for next Friday night, to take further steps towards forming a ..Slaughtermen’s Union. for ill those employed in the trade.

Last week Mr and .Mrs W. J. Barlow, Mr and Mrs A. M. Lewis, and Mr George Lewis, To Karaka, left on. an extended' motor trip. They proceeded) to Napier vju More-re, reaching Napier on Friday last at 3 p.m. after a trip lasting nineteen jiours. No mishap occurred on tho road, and the only place where any help was necessary was at q washout at Beta-lie. The party go from Napier to Wellington, then back to Napier and 'then on to Auckland via Taupo and Rotorua. They expect to be away for about three weeks.

Mr John Coleman who has been identified with the Colonial Mutual Life Office as local agent ever «ince the company established' a branch in Now Zealand, took occasion, upon bis recent visit to Auckland- to draw the attention of the management to the steadily increasing importance of the Gisborne district, with the result that it has been decided to invite applications for the position of a special representative to act in conjunction with the local agent in pushing the company’s business. An advertisement appears in to-day'; issue.

Speaking to a- reporter, a prominent fruitgrower states that the price at which fruit is sold locally is absolutely prohibitive. Tons are going away to the jam manufacturers at Wellington, Hastings and Dunedin, and here tlie peojile can’t get it. Tho fruiterers bought a certain quantity of fruit locally but they put suc'li a price on it that they strangled their owni trade, for vastly more would be purchased l by the consumer if the price was more within bounds. They say that there is a lot of loss, but’if .tfiey got it in larger quantities they would not have this loss. They cannot sell what they get and it goes Lad.

At the North Island Bowling Tournament, just completed in Auckland, writes the Wairurapa correspondent of the “Dominion,” the Grey town Club had the honor of possessing in its team, in the persons, of Air W. O. Williams and All AVilliaui Udy, the oldest-and heaviest members respectively of all those who participated in the games. Air Williams is eighty-one years of age, and in the opinion of an Aucklander, he can show some of the youngsters a point or two in putting -a bowl. There are some cynics who aver that iii howling phraseology a man is a youngster at fifty, but this is not what the Aucklander meant. Air IJdy, who tprns the scale at nineteen stone, has been an athletic giant in his day, and holds a New Zealand record as one who played in senior championship Rubgy until he was well over fifty years of ago. and who. moreover, scored a try with five men on Dis back when he. was u grandfather.

The general secretary of the- New Zealand Alliance (the Rev F. AV. Isitt), in the course of a speech at the annual social meeting of the Retone No-License League, expressed surprise and regret (says the “Rost”) that some of the.best 110-license workers in the lDitt electorate approved the demand for a three-fifths majority at the local option poll. He could not help thinking that those who did so scarcely realised what it mean- 1 lie could understand, and in some measure sympathise with, their comrades in some electorates thinking that something more was needed to safeguard the position than a bare majority vote. For example, if one electorate were to carry nolicense by a hare majority, while all the neighboring electorates adhered to license on the scale which now prevails, tlie difficulty of enforcement might be very great. That they should therefore consent to the imposition of some additional burden was perhaps not altogether unreasonable. hut that the tempera nee party in such an electorate as the Hilt-t should he compelled to ■■Del 4 its vote to win was. he thought, unreasonable. An ample safeguard would ho provided if they had to get eleven votes fx> their opponents' nine, or at the most six to four, instead of tho 'three they must now gc t to each of their opponents’ two.

A mail for south closes at 11 o’clock this morning. A special hank (holiday will be observed on Wodneulay, January 29Mv.

The contractors have made a start witli driving tho piles for tho KanuukaiMiiv bridge.

.Mr Eustace Lane Las been nominated as a candidate for election to the llawko’.s Bay Land Board.

Threshing operations have .started in tho Soiithbridgo district, and will become general in a few days.

Mr II a.v, Hi 10 waterworks engineer, is expected to arrive on Wednesday or Saturday, in connection with the contract.

At the Police Court this morning about two dozen cyclists will be called upon to answer charges of riding on footpaths.

The Ashburton Mail- states that Mr. J. C. N. Grigg, of Longroaeh, Inis purchased 8300 acres of Hie Conilamine Plains Estate, on the Darling Downs, Queensland.

During their present visit to Poverty Bay tlie Hons. McNab and Carroll aro to be waited on by a deputation from the Friendly Societies Conference who will urge the claims of friendly .societies to be represented on Hospital -Boards.

By tho Burn on Sunday there arrived 290 two-tooth Romney rams consigned to Common, Shelton :iikl Co. 1 i'iiiii Hutchinson and Sons, Rissington, Napier. The animals arrived safely an-d ■have been despatched to different parts’ of the district.

The following Gisborne candidates have boon successful in the recent have boon successful .in the lv: Grade one, Mr W. J. Hicks, .Mr T. 1). Baker. Grade two, Mr. H. R. 11 eke. Grade throe, Rev. W. J’. Rangihuna and Tamnhori. Grade lour, part, one, Rev. I l ’. C. Long and Tamnhori; part two, Rev. ])\ C. Long and Rev. IT. N. Wright.

.Mr. George Gerard, of Snowdon, Canterbury, has installed on hi.s properly a system of water-supply piping which i ; s quite unique in character. In principle it consists of a gigantic syphon, which takes the wafer from one watershed over the (.'.rest of another hill, making it available tor irrigation purposes on the- other • ide. The work was planned and supervised by ,Mr. A. Donald Paterson, engineer of the Selwyn County Council, and will cost- about £12,o'nn

While the air is so full of labor difficulties, and' our working men are lighting for salaries instead of wages (says the “Pastoralists’ Review”), it is interesting to note what- work i.-: done for, in for instance, a country tike Japan. The days there comprise ten hours each, and the- wages are as -follows:—Carpenters, Is lOd per day; gardeners, Is 3Jd per day; harness-makers, 2s 7cl; daily laborers, ].- l.Jil'; male servants, 5s 9d a month, including board 1 (which represents an additional £1); and maid servants, os 2d' per month.

Apropos of the recent fire which destroyed the Parliamentary buildings in ■Wellington, tho following remarks made by the Hon. Mr. Callan in the course of a speech delivered in October last are significant:—l think every honorable member who has sat in the committee rooms and .valkcd through the corridors -in these buildings will agree with me that they constitute, in respect of their sanitary condition, a veritable deathtrap, and the best thing that could happen, is that the whole building should ho swept away by fire—of course, during tho recess, not during the session.

Strawberry-growers around Auckland complain of u very poor season. The export season lias been anything but satisfactory. Fruit shipped to New Plymouth and Wellington has frequently arrived at its destination in a soft condition, and after the two days’ journey and frequent transhipping was not in a fit state to entice big prices. The best figure realised during the season' in W ellington was Is lOd per box, and only equals the highest price received in Auckland. With the completion of the Main Trunk line it is hoped by Auckland growers that a new avenue will be opened up for the disposal of Auckland-grown berries, and that Wellington will bo brought within easier reach. Tho-advantages of railway freightage is rather deeried by one Auckland merchant largely identified with the fruit trade." He says that the consignments from Helensville and Henderson are invariably affected by the vibration and rough handling, and the depreciation frequently represents as much as 2d per lb. With the completion of the overland 1 railway route to Wellington, therefore, the merchant is of opinion that it will be necessary to provide special facilities for the conveyance of fruit.