Local and general.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3331, 25 September 1911, Page 4

Local and general.

To-day is Dominion Day, and all tlie Government offices in Gisborne will be closed. The scholars at the various schools will salute the flag, and the children will then be given a holiday. According to a Press Association cable the new French dreadnought Courbet lias been launched. A cm lire party and dance under the auspices of the Catholic Bazaar Committee was held in aid of the Sutton Fund' at Chilton’s Hall on Saturday evening. Over 200 attended, and a niost enjoyable evening was spent. It is estimated that the fund will benefit to the extent of £25 as a result of the function. A sale of especial interest to farmers, and paiticidary dairyfarmers, will be conducted by Messrs Common, Shelton and Ci., Ltd, at noon to-morrow when they will offer the whole of Mr. James Poyliter’s stock at his yards, Ruangalehu. The dairy herd is a particularly choice one, the returns averaging 2os a : month during last season for butter fat. Twenty-two fine dairy heifers will also be offered, The catalogue also incmdes all the mi dicing appliances, about 40 pigs, 42 horses, 2oU cheep, and fanning implements. Luncheon will be provided. The s.s. Tuatea was crowded with passengers—fore, aft, and amidships—as she left' the wharf at 5 o’clodc yesterday afternoon to connect with the s.s. Monowai for South. She carried a cosmopolitan crowd, too, from a Judge of the Supreme Court to a team of Association footballers." whose lonn-drawn-out cheers as the tender left tlTe wharf proclaimed the fact that the majority of them were Homo men. Standing m glorious isolation on the roof of the awning was Professor Mills, of Milwaukee, who was given a parting cheer from a band of laborites, and who took ai genial farewell of the large crowd on the' wharf as the tender \passed down the river. Attention, is called to Messrs H. R. Murton . and Co.’s sheep dip advertisement.. ■ This firm claim that their preparations are the most effective, enduring and ecomxnical on the market. Their specifics have now- been before slieepfairmers for 26 years, and are steadily gaining in popularity. This fact, considering the keen oomnetiticinin the sheep dip trade, speaks far itself. Jurors summoned to attend the Supreme Court to-day are notified by advertisement in this issue that their attendance will not be required. During his address to the teachers on Saturday morning, Professor Mills very humorously referred to the rigid way the British people cling to spcJling and the importance they attached toi the old methods of writing words as they have always appeared. He stated that the man, who invented the wooden plough, the hand loom, the spinning wheel, and the hand sickle also invented the present method of spoiling. We have discarded or outgrown all except the last, hut that we seem determined to stick to, although' the time taken to learn the subject could be better employed in more useful ways. It is rumored that Prince Arthur of Connaught is engaged to be married to the Princess Irene, daughter of the Czar’s sister, tire Grand Duchess Alexandrova.

For drawing three political cartoons that were published on the anniversary of Ferrer’s death, a young artist at Barcelona named Sagrista has been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. Potato growers in the South Island, are getting rather anxious as to the lows prices, in view of the advent of the “new” variety. However, the embargo placed by the Commonwealth Government Iras apparently been lifted, for the “Agricultural Journal” contains a proclamation regarding the importation of tubers and the conditions under which they will lie admitted in future. Already some growlers in Canterbury have begun to send potatoes to Australia under the new regulations ' Of the 38 white owls which arrived in Hastings for release on their mission of destruction amongst small birds, one has since died. Three or four have escaped from their cages before their acclimatisation period expired, and they seem to have found their wings very quickly, as they were soon after perched on: the top of a pine tree. Sparrows have been introduced into their cages, and short work was made of them, while a minah. put up a very better fight against these feathered ferocities. “It is not denied (says a Hastings paper) that the owLs will probably levy a toll on the native birds, but on the other hand it is contended that the industries and prosperity of an entire district cannot be allowed to suffer for mere sentiment.” The men who are interested in machinery, and their name is legion in this district, will thoroughly appreciate the display of oil and steam engines, boilers, Burgon sheep-shearing machines, Anderson marine engines, and electric lighting sets, which Anderjon’s Ltd. are mating at their local branch, 65 Lowe Street. All interested are cordially invited to inspect the machinery under working conditions, either during the day or in the evening. The firm carries a large stock of general engineers’ supplies. Two of Anderson’s marine engines have been recently purchased by King George of Tonga and are giving the utmost satisfaction. *