Local and General.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3335, 29 September 1911, Page 4

Local and General.

The number of persons who arrived m New Zealand during last August was 2652, as compared with 2498 for the corresponding period last year. The departures totalled 2531, as compared with 2326 for the corresponding month of last year.—Press Association. The annual meeting of shareholders of Messrs Common, Shelton and Co. was held yesterday, Mr J. T. Evans presiding. The annual report showed that the Company had had a very successful year. Messrs E; M. Hutchinson and F. Teat were elected directors, and Messrs Graham and H. M. Porter auditors.- •

At a.committee meeting of the Gisborne Bowling Club last night it was decided to on on the season on October 12th. /"Fifteen new .members were elected .to the Club.

The members of the W.C.T.U. visited the Old People’s Home yesterday and held a short service, which was highly appreciated by the inmates of the Institution.

Mr Atkins, one of the arcliiteets for the new hospital buildings, is expected to arrive in Gisborne shortly with the completed plans. Tenders are being invited by the Cook County Council for painting buildings. Tenders close at 4 p.m. on Thursday next. The euchre party which was to have been held in connection with the refreshment stall for the Coronation bazaar has been postponed till Friday, October 6th. A telegram received in town yesterday afternoon states that the military posting beard for the East Coast group will sit in; Napier on Monday. The areas included in the group are Gisborne, Napier, Dannevirke and Masterton, and the sergeant-majors from each of the areas have been called on to assist in the work of posting. The Turanganui Bowling Chib’s oom- . mittee will dieet in the pavilion _on Thursday afternoon next to consider the revised rhles in connection with the proposed registration under the Incorporated Societies’ Act.

The quarterly meeting of the Temnopanoe Association was held in the Oddfellow’s Hall last evening. The secretary’s report showed that the nuances and general affairs were in <a sound position. The following officenw were elected for the ensuing term : P P Bro. Vowles; president, - Bro. Spencer; V.P., Bro. Batten; secretary and assistant, Bros. Lang and A. Kearney stewards, Sis. Bussell and Bro. W. Kearney; chaplain, Bro. Lawless; and guardian, Bro. West.

The first night’s play of the progressive euchre tournament being held under the auspices of the Cosmopolitan dub took place last evening, when nine games were played. The result was that four members placed eight wins to theu* credit The next session will lie held on the evening of Thursday next The first prize has been presented by Mr Ham Martin, and the Club is supplying the second. Mr W. A. Barton, S.M., yesterday delivered his reserved judgment in the case of Simson and Hill (Mr Stock) v. Chennells and Co. (Mr Burnard and Air Coleman). After reviewing the facts of the case His Worship gave judgmerit for the defendants, with costs £2 14s.

A mail for Tokomaru Bay and Wellington, per Hippie, closes at 7 p.m. today.

Toothpicks, it appears, are sometimes difficult to obtain. Mr. Walter Seymour, in his “Ups and Downs of a Wandering Life, relates that, “when a factory inspector at Birmingham, I was talking to one of mv colleagues as to the lack of decent eating places In England. He said that one day after luncheon he asked the youim lady who attended on him for a toothpick, and she said, ‘We don’t keep them now. Father found that the gentlemen took them away with them.' Professor Arthur Keith, of the Royal College of Surgeons, recently declared that “the small man is invariably the intellectual superior of the tall man.” “Look,” he said, “at all or nearly all of the prominent figures in the world’s history. The great Caesar was anything but a tall man. Napoleon was distinctly small, and so was Sir Isaac Newton. In our own day in the world of arms there is Lord Roberts, in the world of politics Lloyd-George. In the last war the little Japs beat the big Russians. In all the evolutions of mechanical skill little men as a rule have predominated.” Whether Professor Keith’s remarks have any substantial basis in fact or not, it is interesting to note that in tfie history of the United States perhaps a larger proportion of the most eminent men have been tall, Lincoln and Jackson for example.

“You are charged with being drunk and disorderly,” fairly yelled a constable to a corpulent Native who, smiling blandly, professed deafness in the Court yesterday. “I think so,” replied the accused, whose view of the occurrence was evidently hazy. Sergfc. Hutton told the Court that the accused had been behaving himself in a somewhat remarkable manner on the previous evening, and his screams oould be heard at some distance while he was_ being brought to the Police Station. “You will be fined £1 and ordered to pay costs, amounting to 4s. in default four days’ imprisonment, with hard labor,” said His Worship ; hut this also had to be communicated to the Native in loud tones, and when he understood he remarked meditatively, “One pound four, eh?” and departed for an interview with the Clerk of the Court.

In Scotland a century and a half ago a capacity for hard drinking was actually looked upon as a qualification in a minister. Writing of Dr. Patrick Gumming, who was in 1751 the leader of the moderate party in the Church of Scotland, a contemporary, also a cleric, declared that “had his temper been equal to his talents, he might have long held his high position, for he had both learning and sagacity, and a very agreeable conversation, with a constitution able to bear the conviviality of the times.” A contemporary of Gumming, Dr. Alexander Webster,.was famed as a “five-bottle man,” who could “lay them all under the table” without himself becoming indecently drunk.

With a label bearing his name and address attached to the collar of his coat, a boy between two and 'three years, John Sharkey, who had travelled across the Atlantic by himself, arrived at Queenstown by the Cymric, from Boston. It was with regret that those on board parted with the child, who was met by his grandfather, as he had endeared himself to passengers and crew alike. The journey from Boston was the result of a jocose remark made by his grandmother in a letter written to the boy’s mother—“ Why net send one of the children over?” * The next the grandparents heard was that Master John was on his way across the Atlantic. ./;.:

Many of the fruitgrowers are looking a bit “blue’ at present (reports the Motueka corresponnent of the “Colonist’-’), but this is due to continually spraying with Bordeaux mixture, and not from any fear of the future of the fruit markets. Motor pumps are quite plentiful, and the amount of spraying materials used is enormous. One grower alone will use loewt of bluestone this season, and this will cost over £2O, without the expense of mixing and putting it on. Round the Moutere inlet the whole face of the country is changing, and where three years ago there was nothing but gorse and manuka, now there is a succession of young orchards, varying in extent from eight to twenty acres. In Tasman planting is going cm in a much larger scale, and if the main road to Nelson is made through this valley the drive from Nelson will in a few years bo through a succession of smiling orchards. This will be a pleasant change from climbing the Moutere hills, and will prove to be a most attractive drive for tourists.

An extraordinary accident occurred in Grosvenor Square on August 5. A pairhomsed hotel omnibus was being driven down from Duke Street when the horses took fright. Hie driver was unable to stop them, and pedestrians had to run in all directions to escape injury. The horses dashed across Grosvenor Square, and the driver, seeing that a smash was inevitable, leapt from the box, receiving a severe scalp wound. The horses ultimately came into collision with some area railings, wrecking about twenty or thirty feet of the railings, and part of the coping. They fell 12ft or loft into the area with the omnibus on top of them, one of them being killed and the other so severely injured that it died shortly afterwards. Fortunately there were no passengers in the vehicle. All who are interested in machinery will appreciate the display of oil and steam engines, boilers, Burgon sheepshearing machines. Anderson marine engines, and electric lighting sots which Anderson’s Ltd are making at t-lieir locat branch, 65, Lowe Street. All interested are cordially invited to inspect the machinery under working conditions. The firm also carries a large stock of general engineers’ supplies.*