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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2548, 8 July 1909, Page 4

' A social is to be held to-night in St. Mary’s Social Hall, Childers Road. Unclaimed letters for the following persons, received from places beyond the colony, are lying at the Post Office, Gisborne : —W. Baird, J. Davies, W. Mason, P. Rogers, F. E. C. Smith. The following passengers had booked last evening to leave Gisborne this morning by Messrs -J. Redstone and Sons’ coaches: —.For Waipiro : Messrs McKenzie, Sinclair, and Court, Miss Edwards; for Tologa Bay: Messrs Loisell, Maher, McDonnell, and Clayton. Messrs F. S. Malcolm and Co. concluded their sale of_ furniture in the assigned estate of W. J. M. Attwood yesterday. There was a fair attendance of * buyers, and the entire stock was sold at good prices. On account of the farewell to the Right Rev. Bishop Williams taking place on Tuesday next, -July 13, the Salvation Army Band tea.- and social, which have been announced for that date, will be postponed till Thursday next, July 15. There was a heavy sea running in the bay yesterclav. making the work of transhipping the large number of passengers by both north and south steamers very difficult. There were unusually heavy passenger lists for this port, consequent on the races being held today and to-morrow. The staff of the Gisborne branch of the Union Bank of Australia met yesterday morning in the manager’s office to make the accountant, Mr. T. -E. Parry, a presentation, on the eve of liis marriage. The manager, Mr. Morgan, in making the presentation of a handsome set of carvers, referrred to the amicable spirit in which the staff had worked since Mr. Parry’s arrival, and wished him happiness and prosperity during his wedded life. Mr. Parry suitably responded. When -the Licensing Bill, after passing the House of Commons, came up for second reading in the House of .Lord.? on November 25, Lore 1 Lansdowne. moved tbo following amendment:' "That this House, while ready to consider favorably any amendments which experience lias shown to be necessary iruffhc law regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors, declines to proceed further with a measure which, without -materially advancing the cause of temperance, would occasion grave inconvenience to many of His Majesty’s subjects, and violate every principle of equity in its dealings, with the numerous classes whose interests will be affected by the Bill.” He denied that the Bill was one that deserved their support. After a discussion lasting three _days the amendment was carried by 272 votes to 9°. An amusing incident occurred at a recent wedding (says a Wairarapa exchange). After the reception at the bride’s house, the newly-wedded couple, who had an objection to a public demonstration and rice-throwing, contrived, as they thought, to elude their pursuers by allowing them to think they were leaving by the express from the Master-ton station. What really happened was this. The bride and groom left in a cab, presumably for the railway station, but subsequently transferred into a motor car for Carterton station, to take the- train there. The young people, (16 in number) not to be outdone, walked nearly a mile along the line, and hunted high and low for the young couple, and, n.ot finding them at the station or anywhere in the vicinity, suspected what had happened, and 16 tickets were procured for Carterton. In the meantime a telegram had been send from Carterton with these words: "To-the Biceps; Arrived safely.” The "ricers” were by this time on their way to Carterton, and a lively ten minutes was spent on the platform of the station, the "newlywc cl clod” receiving a double dose of rice and the "ricers” winning the battle.

• The Hon. J. A. Millar f"ark«rat Dunedin: —“Wo hardly had an ow»i tunity of seeing how thepresent 1 arlia mont is going to turn out, but homto experience I had dunng- th _ , two that the. House sat I am + P i-Rx„ n _ to say this: that subscribers to Han sard’’ will get full value for tncxr money when Parliament meets again. A bachelors’ ball was held at Makauri on Monday, and oroved a g rca h cess. The hall was tastefully detorajtg for the occasion, and reflected mne credit on the secretary (Mr. Colt) and his committee. The music was si I p by Miss Violet Smith and Messrs Haenhe, Salmon, and Martin. Messrs L. Cook and J. Ryan acted as.M.G. s. A cablegram was received in Gisborne yesterday announcing the death m England of Mr. Adolphus Good. >ir. Good was well known to many in this district, where he frequently sta y c • He was suffering, from diabetes, uno went to stav with relatives in Englan , in the hope that he might gain, some benefit from the advice of specialists in the Old Country. The late Mr Good was over 60 years of age, and w• * greatly esteemed by his many friends in Auckland and Gisborne. A leading solicitor at Wairoa, Hawke 3 Bay, lias written to Mr. C. W. Palmei, Wellington, honorary secretary to the Navy League, asking: “Would you b so kind as to furnish me with, sufficient information to enable those interests to determine whether it. is advisable to form a branch of the Navy League or in any other wav to utilise, any probable enthusiasm here?” Similar Jeters have been received from Gisborne, Feilding, and other places. A private letter pust received in Wellington (says the “Dominion ) gives some idea of the excitement on defence questions which wa§ still provalent in England when the mail lext. The writer, who is a retired naval officer, says: “We have scares daily, Of German troopships visiting the Humber, German airships flying over England, and in fact, we are really at war with Germany to-day. I was told in the House of Commons yesterday, that the Government would probably give way and provide the eight Dreadnoughts this year The Baptist Mission was continued at the Tabernacle last night. The inclement weather prevented a very large congregation from being present, but there were close on 100 people in the building. Rev. It. S. Gray preached from Deuteronomy 30, 15, “See, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil.” Special music was again rendered by the choir, and a liberal response was made to a collection taken up to defray expenses. The mission will be continued this evening. It is announced that on Sunday afternoon Mr. Gray will give “A Straight Talk to Men” in His majesty’s Theatre at 2.45 p.m. Although there were some suspicious circumstances in connection with the fire at a hotel at Masterton on the night that the two •'ran dry,” the matter has now been entirely cleared up. It appears that on the Wednesday afternoon a farmer came into town and bought some phosphorus from one of the chemists, for rabbit poisoning, which was placed securely in a bottle. During the evening lie attended a dance at the hotel, and, taking off his overcoat, in a pocket of which he had placed the bottle of phosphorus, he threw it on a chair' Someone, in brushing past, probably knocked it off, and the bottle got broken, allowing the contents to get out, and exposure to the air, or perhaps someone stepping on it, caused ignition. The man is well known, and ...the police are convinced that the whole affair was entirely accidental. Apart from Dreadnoughts there is no doubt as to Britain’s naval supremacy. Great Britain’s superiority to Germany . in battleships, excluding Dreadnoughts, is as fifty-one to twenty-seven. Nor need there bo any doubt as to the merits and capabilities of these ships. Lord Brassev says: “Many naval officers would prefer to take the chances of battle in the Lord Nelson rather than in the Dreadnought.” More important still is the question of men, and hero the superiority of Great Britain is unquestioned. At present the British Navy has 128,000 free, highly-trained, expert, sea-loving sailors—men whose mettle was recently'shown amid the Messina holocaust —while Germany can number only 47,000. the majority of whom are conscripts. These facts should steady the nerves of the most pessimistic, to whom we would recall the words of Sir Reginald distance: “Battles are won by men, not by ships.” At a senior Rugby football match played in Timaru on the 24th June, no fewer than five players were ordered off the field. This fact was brought to the notice of the Now Zealand. Union bv the South Canterbury Rugby Union, 'file letter was read at the former Union’s meeting last week. One of the offenders, it was stated, had wilfully disputed the referee’s decision, and was severely cautioned at a committee meeting of the affiliated union. Another is alleged to have deliberately attempted to kick an opponent. His excuse was that lie had been provoked bv an adversary pulling him through the scrum by the ear. He was disqualified for four weeks. Two other players threatened violence to each other and “shaped up to fight.” One was cautioned, and the other suspended for two weeks. Number five indulged in nxigh play, and was cautioned. The New Zealand executive decided that it would he desirable to obtain the referee’s report. f Referring to the acquisition of the Manawatu line by the Government, Mr, Field, M.P., stated at Waika'nae lastweek that the expectations of residents along the route had not been fulfilled. He affirmed that they were led to believe that, when the line became Government property, thcre v would bo (among other tilings) an improved service. " Another source of annoyance was that, whereas local bodfcis had the power to collect rates from the company they were now unable to levy them on the Government. Not long ago one of the then members of the Ministry had told him that they might be unable to get grants for some considerable time seeing that, as a. result, of the Government taking over the line, the value of the property would be enhanced by LI per acre. He trusted that- the Hon. G? Fotvkls, who was present, would make, 'the position clear to his collogues when the opportunity for doing so came: There was one improvement in connection with the service—and that was that there were officials to see that the goods were not lost from platforms. “We arc behind the times,” he added, “if we can’t get to town —a distance of 37 miles—sufficiently early in the morning to enable us to "do half a day’s shopping without having to remain there overnight."