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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2268, 13 August 1908, Page 2

Tho Gisborne Private Band have decided to hold a poster and fancy dress ball on Thursday, September 24th. Alembers of the Fire Brigade .are notified that they must attend practice at 7 o’clock this evening for in- ‘ speetion by Inspector Hugo. At the Police Court yesterday morning, before Air. Fly. .Lewis, J.P., a first offender for drunkenness was convicted and dealt with in tho usual manner. According to tho “Herald” the officers of tho Wanganui gaol are a lofty lot. Four of tho warders stand 6ft 3in high, while tho average height of the six wardors and the gaoler is Git lifin, their average weight Going 14st 81b. Some of the settlers in Pclorus Sound (says tho “Farmers’ Union Advocate”) havo suffered serious losses in grass seed through tho voracious apnetito of the thousands of Californian quail that infest nearly all tho shady slopes. One settler stated that about twenty acres of clover about six inches above tho ground were stripped as bare as a highway, and a big paddock of lucerne was similarly treated. Tho Rev. Thos. Fee’s lectures to ho givon at tho Theatre on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week, and at Ormond and To. Kar.ika. on Monday and Tuesday respectively, have been listened to with interest in other parts of the Dominion. Air. Fee is an interesting and fluent speaker, and will discuss matters from the standpoint as to whether the licensed liquor traffic is a boon and a blessing or a blight and a curse to a community. It was stated in a newspaper article recently published in Christchurch that in a contest with a machine for counting and placing coins in tubes of twenty, in linigland, un expert cashier was only able to sort out eighty-one coins in twenty seconds. The clerks in the receiving department of tho Christchurch Tramway Board recently held a trial of their skill in this direction, the best performance hoing ono hundred coins, correctly counted and placed in tubes in twenty seconds.

A survey and inspection of the Government training-ship Amokura has just been completed by Air Arthur Calvert, surveyor of ships under tho Inspection of Machinery Department. Air Calvert noted the discipline of tho boys, who, he says, were prompt at fire and boat drill, handling and sailing their boats excellently. , The surveyor expresses himself satisfied, with the results achieved by Commander Hooper with the raw material at Ins disposal. A serious and at the same timo rather curious accident happened in Timaru a day or two ago. Two children under live years of age, sons of a local doctor, wero playing “BoPeep” in their home. Olio child put his eye to tho keyhole of a door and looked through, when tho other one innocently shoved a hat-pin.-.'through the kevliolo. The pin ran right into the ball of the oye that was peeping through, and completely destroyed tho sight. In connection with the statement which was made at the meeting of tile Borough Council oil Tuesday night, that tho portion of the AVaihirero block which the Council propose to take as a scenic reserve Lad been valued at £5 10s per acre, Air. C. F. Lewis, Government ATiluer, states that no valuation has ever been made by him of any particular part of tlio block, but that the valuation which has been made includes a considerable area of valuable flat land. This, Mr. Lewis points out, is materially different to the statement that the hill portion, which it is intended to take, had been valued at £5 10s per aero. AAT thou t official ostentation, and probably without the raising 0 f a solitary cheer (says tlio “New Zealand Times”), the first engine passed over tho Alanganui-a-te-uo Viaduct on Monday, and spanned the last of the thin line of rails linking AA r ellington with Auckland. Ten years ago that portion of New Zealand was practically a terra incognita to all but a few surveyors and wandering bands of nomad Maoris. Now it lias become progressive and populous. Townships have sprung up in tlio wilderness; civilisation has become almost practicable; and tlio impenetrable forests which but a short time back were the sanctuaries and resting places of lonely birds now re-echo the sounds of human industry, and the shriek of engines is heard amongst the hills.

Footballers seemed to get blamed for everything, remarked a member of the Otago Rugby Football Union Committee on Monday evening (says the Dunedin “Star.”) He explained that while seeing the AVairarapa team off to Invercargill with another member of the committee a railway official told them that a team of footballers who went South had nearly caused the death of a guard. They made a rush for their carriage at the last minute, and knocked over tho guard, but fortunately the driver saw what had happened, and pulled up file train. “AA’e began to think,” added the committeeman, “and soon discovered that no team of footballers had gone South, but that a team of hockey players had. Even then wo could not convince the railway official that they were not footballers.’ France has had a fairly representative selection of burglars and other criminals of late, but the typewriting burglar is a novelty (says the Paris correspondent of tlio “Daily Express”). Flo broke into a flat in a house in Toulouse recently helped himself to a few valuables, and left tlio following letter neatly typewritten on a machine in the room: —“Sir and dear Colleague,—l think by your untidiness that you are no 1 uly, hut untidiness means a busy mail. So I congratulate you. I can see that you are a professional typist- like myself, and guessing tint you were one, I looked into your box of papers for your keys, and naturally found them there. I have emptied the drawers in your table, out of which I have taken Is Bfd. This is a low price for isli evening work, but I bare also carried off' some of your work, which I will study at niy leisure. Some of your translation is quite good. I do a little of it myself in-my spare moments. I am not taking your machine or your shorthand machine, for you and T know liow very nearly impossible it is to sell a second-hand typewriter. You will forgive me, my dear colleague, for not signing this letter, and you need not fear a return visit from me. There is nothing worth taking in your rooms. 11l reporting on a case recently heard enquiring into the possibilities of improvements in the condition of domestic servants, it was remarked that if they were provided with things necessary to lessen and lighten their daily round little would be heard except that this week its wire saucepan scrubs for fivepence each at Parnell’s Popular Saturday Sales, loth inst-. only.