The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1908.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2301, 21 September 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1908.

The Gisborno ShooptarmenP Works have boon re-opened for killing and freezing stock.

The City Band will give a programme of music from tho Trafalgar Rotunda on Sunday afternoon next.

AVitnesses and-jurors summoned to attend at the Supremo Court are reminded that their attendance is necessary this morning at 10.30 a-.ni.

AVe arc advised by the Acting-Chief Postmaster (Mr. R. B. Morris) that the AVadroa mails left at 7 a.m. on Saturday, and also that the mail coach left for Mot’u.

'riie. secretary of tho Hawke’s Bay Education Board- announces that head teachers of schools other than Board schools • may obtain supplies of Dominion Day medals on application.

Tho following revenue was received at tho Custom House last week:— Customs duties £1251 Os lOd, light duos £7 19s 3d, Harbor Board revenue £8 16s 3d, other receipts £1 6s 4d; total, £1269 2s Bd.

A new definition of a much-used term was given by Mr. A. J. Black at one of liis meetings on Saturday, when lie described the yellow gold which ilowed from the hands of tho people into the pockets of the brewers as the “yellow peril.”

At the Siovwriglit memorial at mid-clay on Saturday, an old man interrupted Air. A. J. Black during his address- to ask if he could sing a hymn. Permission was cheerfully granted, and tlie hymn was commenced. After a short while, it seemed as if tho singer was unable to stop, and after a cautious enquiry as to- tho number of verses to fo.low, Air. Black, in order to proceed -with his lecture, was obliged to ask th© old man- to desist.

Addressing a crowd from the Sievwriglit memorial at mid-day on Saturday, Air. A. J. Black, the temperance lecturer, made reference to liis prison work in Auckland. “This afternoon, were 1 in Auckland,” he said, “I would bo in the prison.” An immaculately-dres-sed young man, seeing tho humorous side of tho statement, laughed, but tho lecturer quickly turned the laugh by quietly remarking, “That man lias been there. He grins.”

Tho monthly meeting of the Alangapapa School Committee was held on Friday evening, Mr. Alalcolm AlcLeod (chairman) presiding. The headmaster’s report stated that since tho holidays the attendance had been very good, averaging 164.4, and reaching 173. The new room provided ample accommodation for all, and in order to provide funds for improvements to tlio playground lie thought an entertainment should be held. The report was adopted. The committee granted the use of tho school to the Salvation Army for October 13th, and decided to placo on record their appreciation of the way Air. Lawry had carried out tlio improvements to the school. Dominion Day will- be celebrated at the school according to the direction of the Education Department.

Oil Saturday afternoon Air. A. J. Black addressed largo crowds at tlie Siovwriglit Memorial on- the question of no-license. The speaker was accorded a good hearing, and answered many questions. On Sunday afternoon Air. Black delivered a leottiro to about 800 men in His Alajesty’s Theatre. The lecturer dealt with the physiological influence of alcohol, and told how tlie appetite for drink is often transmitted from the parents to the children. Mr. Black also conducted a gospel temperance meeting in the theatre in tlie evening, there being a large audience. Tins evening Air. Black gives an interesting recital in His Alajesty’s Theatre, consisting of dramatic, humorous, and musical monologue®, and other pieces. Air. Black has already got into the good graces of Gisborne audiences, and there will no doubt be a crowded attendance.

A practical joke, not without: its humorous side, was played on Air. A. J. Black, the temperance orator, last week oil liis return journey from Tologa Bay. Coming along tlie botch in the coach, he had taken advantage of the opportunity to gather some sea-shells, which he placed in liis bag. On arrival at Gisborne he was met by some strong temperance advocates, and wishing to sliow his friends the shells, Air. Black quite unsuspectingly opened liis bag. Horror of horrors! There, calmly reposing on a pair of pyjamas and surrounded by pretty sea-shells, was—a bottle of wnisky. AVhat Air. Black’s friends thought has not yet been ascertained, but the lecturer’s own feelings can- be better imagined that described. It appears that while Air. Black’s attention was attracted elsewhere a gentleman liad, as a joke, slipped the whisky into Air. Black’s bag. Tlio joke succeeded admirably, but the whisky was wasted, for Air. Black speedily sent it swirling down the water channel of Lowe Street.

A gentleman has been much disturbed- by tho disappearance of the “stuffed moa” from the Dunedin Museum. “Flown north,” he said, in addressing tho authorities. Sent to tho Christchurch Exhibition it certainly was, and now it has come to AVellington. The gentleman- was very angry about it, especially when it came to the Dominion Museum. But the fact of the matter is tho stuffed moa is not a moa at all, and never was. It is a framework, covered with emu feathers, and it is the personal property of Air A. Hamilton, director of the Dominion Museum. Onco upon a time it was taken out into the open and photographed, and a couple of Aln'oris were put into tlio picture for effect-. “Hunting tho moa” was the title, and this led an American paper to utilise tlie subject for a brief but learned treatise on tlie fast disappearing dinorms of New Zealand, with suggested measures for its preservation.

It is understood that a company has been formed to fib out a party -for tho purpose of whaling at Campbell Island, tlio party to proceed' south in the Hinemoa on lie-r visit to the Southern Islands. The right or black whale is to be seen in the vicinity of Campbell Island in great numbers dur_' ing the summer months. Almost a score of years have passed since a whaling vessel visited the Bluff or Stewart Island. Prior to that time it was not uncommon to see as many as three or four whaling vessels anchored in Port AVilliam and Half-moon Bay (Stewart Island). It is a pity to see whaling dying out so completely (says the “Bluff Press”), for in a. few years’ time it will be almost impossible to get. men who are versed in the art of catching the sperm whale. An erroneous idea prevails that it is owing to the scarcity of the sperm whale that there -are so few vessels employed fishing in tlie Southern Hemisphere, but it is chiefly on- account of the low mar. ket price for oil—being only one-third-of the value compared with that of 30 years ago. In the vicinity of the Solanders, the old favorite 'hunting ground for the monster® of the deep,, sperm whales are still to be found ill great abundance, and -if a properlyequipped steamer, callable of carrying about four boats, was fitted out for whale-fishing, she would bet kept- employed during the best part of the year.

•‘Thaso architects aro making u pretty • good thing,” remarked tho Minister ot Justice, in Wellington, the other day, when informed by a deputation that architects’ _ fees in eouneetion with a £SOOO bridgo liad amounted to £OOO. “Tho architects and tho lawyers are going very woll,” ho added.

A paragraph publisliod in the •manborough ilorald” shows that there is a man with big ideas an Blcnhoim. Ho lias prepared an elaborate scheme for supplying Wellington City with vegetables from Marlborough, lie states that lie has ascertained, after making inquiries, that the capital will take hundreds of tons of Marlborough’s vegetables every week on good terms, and that there is hardly any limit to tho possibilities of the trado that will- bo created.

A correspondent of the “Hot Lal:o,s Chronicle” says:—l was present at one of the entertainments given by the Maoris on Saturday night, and among other items produced for the amusement of the audience was a liaka by six, who wore announced to appear as a specimen of tho “starving Maori.” After tho announcement there appeared on tho platform six Maori wahines, any one of whom would have turned tho scale at fourteen stone. All were in the best of condition, as may be imagined, and had a very different appearance from tho illustrations one has seen depicting the starving Indians during the Indian famines. With others, I am inclined to the opinion that tlierd is little foundation for the assertion that any Maori is in a state of starvation.

A few miles from Eltham there is a swamp called by the Maoris Ngaire, or quaking. This is in process of reclamation by draining, and as tho surface subsides several phenomena are seen. One of these is the constant coming to tho surface of timber. Timber has been found in the swamp at a depth of several feet, and the settlers aro quite willing to believe that it extends in layers to fabulous depths. Several well-known varieties of tree 6 have been found, but strangest of all a very hard wood has come to the surface in certain parts which no one seems to recognise. How it came to be in the swamp no one knows. There are theories, and' one of them is that at one time there existed vast forests which throve in a climate that has since been modified, and that an eruption from Mount Egniont covered up these forest 6, and the swamp formed above them.