GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2603, 10 September 1909, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

A farmer at Hanaur Springs had the misfortune recently to lose a considerable sum of n.- ney under remarkable circumstances, fie the possessor (says the Lyttelton “Times”) of a horse which includes paper, amongst other things, in his dietary list. This animal can be easily caught at any time it he is approached with a piece of paper, which lie will devour on sight without even the preliminary sniff. His owner dropped a pocket-book at bis own gate, and on searching for it next morning found that his horse had been there before him. The pocket-book was chewed to an almost unrecognisable pulp, the only thing intact being the silver monogram plate. The horse had managed to extract the contents, not a vestige of which could be found, ''hey included a cheque, a money-order, and several notes. The farmer may recover the value of the cheque and the monovorder, but he looks upon the mtes as a dead loss.

A Wellington correspondent writes: —lt would seem to be almost impossible for any public man, especially if he is a politician, to address a public meeting in Wellington without incurring the odium of- the class which claims to represent the Socialist view. ! he latest illustration of this fact was when the lion l)r. Findlay gave an address on casual labor, an address which bore evidence of careful preparation, and which was decidedly interesting in its character. No sooner had he finished than up rose a prominent member or the party arid proceeded to heckle him on the subject of free trade and protection in the same tones that a country J.U. in England would address a suspected poacher or sheepstealer. Hanging was almost too good for such a one, and when the Minister declined to allow himself to bo bombarded with a series of questions entirely irrelevant to the subject at issue (lie .Socialist looked fierce enough to have iiad his hoped-for victim consigned to tho pillory. If things go on at this rate the calm discussion of public affairs in Wellington will become an impossibility.

Considerable areas of the Hauraki Plains, in the Auckland province, have already been cleared of tea-tree and other growth. Grass has been sown with good results, sufficient to pasture hundreds of cattle all the year round. Along the Piako River, convenient wharves, have been erected, and there is at present a daily? service of oil launches from the mouth of the Piako River, a road is formed, and a drain made six miles to Wait-akaruru. This runs through splendid pasture country. All things considered, there would appear to be a good future before this tract of Crown land, says a correspondent of the “New Zealand Herald.” lie adds that the Government will have litle difficulty in disposing of the lands when they are opened for selection.

Amongst stories of vessels that have mysteriously disappeared is one by Air R. IT. Thompson, of Poroti, near Auckland. He is an old sailor and master mariner, and he states in a letter in the “New Zealand Herald” that when he served in the North Atlantic, many years ago, a very remarkable case was brought under his notice. “The Atlantic liner City of Berlin, belonging- to the old Norman line,” lie says, “left port with about 500 lives on board, if I remember aright, and was never again heard of. Many years afterwards a mail named Tomassen, I think, was conveying a box on a cart down, to the wharf at Hamburg to place it as freight on board an outgoing liner. The box fell and burst, blowing part of the wharf and the side of the ship to pieces, besides killing and wounding many people, and amongst the number the man himself. When dying, however, lie confessed that he had placed similar infernal machines on many ships, which had never been heard of again, and amongst tho number was the City of Berlin. He -lid this to get the re-insurances, being N one of a syndicate who made this ghastly business their specialty.”*'

The latest news about the Maori “prophet” Rna in his Ure worn retreat indicates that recruits are not coming to his banner, and the movement is gradually declining. The “New Zealand Times” states that Rita’s “niana” began to disappear with the lack of ready cash. He had boasted that God-given five-pound notes came to him a. 1 ! a snap of the fingers, hut In's has not stalled off a shortage of food which has been experienced among his foolish followers, who are helpless to improve their position while they remain, because all their property was placed at Rua’s disposal. The eight good-looking ,young women who form Rua’s domestic circle, are still with him, but a large number of native children who were withdrawn from the Government schools to secure instruction from the prophet have returned to the more orthodox education. The attendance at one school wont down to twenty-nine owing to Run's influence, but it had gone up again to sixtynine, and the “prophet” is understood to be changing his attitude towards the pakeha system. He is now anxious to have two native schools in his district reopened.

The orange cron in Mangaia Island, Cook Group, has been a very good one this year. In June over 300 tons, mostly oranges, were shipped away by the Hauroto; last month nearly 350 tons were sent. There is also a much larger and better copra crop this year, many more cocoanut trees having come into* bearing, and the natives are beginning to take more pains in drying this product. The “Xew Zealand Herald’s” correspondent states that a few good European planters would be a boon to Mangaia, but the Aronga “Mana” there is a very “close corporation” in tho matter of parting with lands to Europeans, having always shown more iealousv in connection with them than in the other islands of the group. In the meantime the pio-gre.-s of the place is retarded for want of the white influence and also for want of money that would develop its latent possibilities in many ways and increase its prosperity.