LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12392, 13 December 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In another column the Wanganui Hospital Board invite applications for the position of House Surgeon.

Honorary members of the Wanganui Liedertafel are reminded of the smoke concert, to be held at the Fire Brigade Hall at ?< o'clock this evening.

The n:e;:t:n2 cf tlie ;\otca Land Board palled for to-da;- will be further adjourned till the sth January on account of the inability «P Judge Fisher to attend.

Mr Frank E. Sea-grave,' the Rhode Island astronomer, announces that the earth will be swept by the tail of Halley's comet on May 19th next, but the "star dust" of which the tail is composed will not endanger the earth.

Palmerston North's latest requirement is a gaol. Mr Buick apologises for this want b£ stating that the great progress of Palmerstmi North as a centre makes extra police accommodation an absolute necessity.

The body of Mr Edward Hackett, who was drowned in the river at Eastowri on Thursday night, was found on Saturday afternoon by_ Mr Jas. C'omrie. The body apparently sank just where the boat capsized, for there it was caught by the drags.

Foes that lurk in iincleansed watercress and lettuce are apparently still as numerous as of yore. Especially the lrydatid foe. The Ashburton "Mail" tells cf six persons at least, all of medium age, who have recently been obliged t6 undergo operations for this disease -within the last few months, and in pi action] ly every case it has been traced to insufficient care being exercised in tliese matters, and from drinking water from impure sources.

In a case at the Melbourne Criminal Court wherein the prosecution relied upon finger prints, the Chief Justice advised the jury to be, very careful in accepting finger print evidence. The opinion th-a'j no two fingers could make; the same impression was not accepted' as a scientific fact unless other evidence supported the idea. He considered the prints doubtful evidence for th© conviction of the a reused, who was acquitted.

A correspondent jsars: "I notice that tho tre?s along the road from the Castlecliff Railway ta the Hotel liave been cut down. The reason I suppose is because the fence of the park had to be shifted back to make the legal road. The Castlecliif Road was quite wide enough for a long time to .come, and the new Town Board seems to have been over zealous .-for something to do. The trees were not of the greenest, but such verdure as there was relieved th e dreariness of Castle-cliff. The diminution of Castlecliff's already almost extinct supply of trees is bordering oa vandalism/"'

On Friday■ afternoen. a Hawera resident, returning: from lunch on his bicycle, witnessed an unusual; sight. Perched on a. '(Pence was a minah evidently in a perturbed and ruffled frame of mind, The object of its agitition was a cat, which sat beneath watching with greedy eyo its opportunity to seize the bird. Now and then the minah dashed down and inflicted severe .pun«shin-3nfc on pussy's back and bead, adroi +Ty returning to its perch before the ?.\t hod time to retaliate. Sitting round about at various points of vantage were oth-sr ?ninahs egging on their comrade to continue its valorous onslaught. Wlittlißv or no the end proved tragic to zhe bird the cyclist had not time to ascertain.

O:i December 3.3 th a partial eclipse of the sun will take place, and will be visible throughout the South Island of Now Zealand. The mcon will be south of the sun at the time, and the oonsequenoe of this is that the farther south the, observer* is placed the larger. is the portion of the sun that is hidden. At Wellington the eclipse will be a very small oi:e, and about 40 miles further north the eclip-e will become invisible. At Ohristclmrch the'fraction of the sun's diameter obscured will be nearly one-tenth, and at the extreme south of New Zealand it will be about OTie-wrenth. At no place will the magvitu.de of this eclipse amount, to much more than half the sun's diameter, and this could be seen only at certain places within the Antarctic Circle.

A tcllirio- argumentfor the freehold waa put forward, by Mr Wilford on Thursday evening in a speech which lasted only fivo minutes. Mr Wilford said he held in his hand three photographs. The first showed a four-wheel-ed vehicle with live horses stuck in the mud of a road in the Gisborne district. ' The second showed three horses, laden with six boards, which were being carried through rough country broken by precipitous gullies where settlement was supposed to hav° been in progress for eight years. The third was of the same horses wit:i six boards on their backs climbing «v?r mountains and through forest before the settler could build his rough whare.' "To whom," asked Mr1 Wilford. '.'does the unearned increment beloiw;?"...•■

'Fugitives from Fortune" is the title of Ethel Turner's latest book, a copy of which we have received from Mr A. D.Willis. As usual the publishers, Messrs Ward, Lock and Co., have clpthed a charming play in an attractive cover, so that altogether the book should prove one of the most popular of this year's gifts. The author has chosen a somewhat quaint idea upon which to found a bright and entertaining story. One may not have over much sympathy for the millionaire who flys from his riches to seek solace in comparative seclusion and the simple life. Jarvie- is certainly a rare type, a crank, no doubt, but a good fellow at heart, and we can at least excuse his well-meaning eccentricity when we remember that but for him we should not have had plucky little "Jock" to enliven "us witb his irrenressible determination to "get' on." Little "Jcck" and his elder s'"ster "Molly" are altogether admirable, and they will win a warm place in the affections cf all who make, their adqiiaintance. "Fugitives from Fortune" is a bonk which will delight many thousands of youthful readers, but it will be none the less acceptable to older folks.

A very curious incident, which would scarcely I>3 accepted as probable if it appeared in fiction—upon, say, the authority of Sherlock Holmes—has been related in the Lambeth police court. .."Whilo making his rounds at Clerkenwell on a resent evening, a constable found a man's finger impaled on a sharp iron spike on the top of a gfte, about seven feet from the ground. The owner of the finder had apparently parted with it only an hour or so before, and its severance had beon assisted by a strong brass ring. The point of the spike .seems _to have slippsd under the edge of the ring and snapped the bone just abr.ve the" hand. The constable made a neat parcel of the fingor and sent it to Scotland Yard, where it was examined by the finger print experts who satisfied themselves without much difficulty that it belonged to the right hand a man named William Mitchell. Twenty-two days later, at a crowded South London railway station, a vounfr man. whose- suspicions movements had attracted attention, was accused by a detective of attempting to pick pockets. He was very indignant. "How could I pick pockets with a hand like this?" ho demanded, holding nil a heavily bandaged arm. The detective wa-« not con'inred. He arrested the man and sent his finder prints to head quarters in the ordinary course of police ■business. At once Scotland Yard discovered that "Harry May" (tTip-n«mo iriven by the prisoner) was William Mitchell! Ample evidence wn# given by the prints rtP tV>-e >fin«:er which he had hurriedly left b >hind at Clerkenwell. Afterwards at the Lambeth police .court he recognised his lest finger (which had been embalmed), admitted that he had been fairly caught, and was sentenced to twelve' months' impriomnent.

A platform is to b-> erected at Cook's Gardens next Thursday evening for the members of the Garrison Band, who are giving a benefit performance in aid of the Boy Scouts' Uniform Fund.

The Borough Council has granted permission for the use of Cook's Gardens to the Garrison Band next Thursday evening for the benefit concert in aid of the Boy Scouts' Uniform Fund.

A daylight parade of volunteers was held on Saturday afternoon, when advantage was taken of the occasion for the practical examinations of Lieiit.Col. Hughes and Captain Harper. Lieut.-Col. Bauchope, O.C. 'of the district, was the examining officer.

A Dimedin reporter was informed on Friday that it was the intention of the Union Steam Shipping Company to equip the more important of its passenger steamers with wireless telegraphic apparatus as soon as th© land connections ara made in Australia and New JZealand.

A correspondent writes as follows:— "Can anyone tell me whether tennis courts and flower gardens come under the same by-law in regard1 to the hours during; which they may be watered? Flower gardens can only be watered between 5 p.m. and 7 r».m. I have sewu the- hose going on a certain court till 7.30 and even 8 p.m."

The funeral of the late Mrs M. Bowen took place yesterday and was largely attended. The services at the gravwside were impressively conducted by Br T. Dixon, C.T.. Sister Dunstall (chaplain), Bro. F. W. Ansley, P.C.T. (of the Unity Lodge of Good Templars), find Mr R. Tucker. Two odes were sung by members and friends. "Shall we gather at the river?" and "There's a land that is fairer than day."

We are requested to state* that the ■Convent annual entertainment will commence at 8 o'clock on Thursday -evening next, and not at 7.30, as mentioned in cur issue of Saturday. Reserved seats may be booked at Messrs H. I. Jones and Son's. Owing to the illness of some of the Nuns daring the > ear, and to the fact of extra work haying to be done in the schools there will not bp any exhibition of work at the Convent this year.

Comparative areas of the four cen-tres-of the Dominion were given by a Wellington councillor to a deputation ■when indicating the responsibilities of the Wellington City Council in regard l-o the proper equipment and provision ■of the fire brigade. Ho said that the aiea of Wellington was greater than rtho?e of Auckland, Christchurch,, and Dunedin placed together. Wellington's area wns 10,5U0 acres, Auckland ■ 1200 acres, and Christchurch and Dunedin ■each between 20CO and 3000 acres.

The "Review of Reviews for Australasia" for December is cf unusual interest. ' because, of a long interview with Dr Cooki,vj^hoi claims to have first reached ilia; NoYth. Pole. On his return to Europe Dr. Cook was interviewed by leading journalists; and feted- by the Danish people.-. The interview contains iuimerou.3 photographs of interest. Whatever diverse opinions there may be about the matter, the writer is convinced as to Dr Cook's genuineness, and gives his reasons for it. The magazines cf the world-are thoroughly represented in th« section devoted to them.

The Fiie Brigade lielcl a two-man •competition in Cook's Gardens on /."Pmirsday evering for the New 'Zealand ,-Cl :ti ing Factory's clock. Eight teams started, th c result being as follo-.vs :-— Forerfrtm Ansley and Fireman Gill, 'time 42 3-ss>ec, 1; Foreman J. Price and Fireman Campion, 43 l~ssec, 2; Foreman W, Halligan and Fireman JJolloway, 43 2-ssec, 3. It was intended to run off the five-man competition for Capt. Spriggens' shield on Saturday evening, but on account of the unsatisfactory water pressure this event was postponed, and in all probability will -take place at 6 o'clcok'on Wednesday evening next.

On Friday night a meeting was held in tho Council Chambers, Wanganui JBlast, to consider the'possibility of constructing a swimming bath for the children attending the public school. The suggestion was taken up most enthusiastically and £66 11s 6d was guaranteed in the room. The size of the proposed bath is 45ft by 15ft, with a depth of 2ft 6in at the shallow end, .nnd 9ft 6in at the other end. The estimated cost is £110. and every effort -will be made to collect the money immediately, and oomtruct the bath during the school's summer vacation. A strong committee was appointed, and -they will be obliged if those who would, like to help it will. leave their donations with the Mayor (Mr R. Jones), Messrs D. McFarlane, Clapham (care Thain and Co.), R. Neilson, A. E. Bullock (Wanganui East)., or J. F. Holloway and C. H. Walker in town.

Under the old train arrangements, says a Wellington wire, large supplies ■of Aucklaud strawberries used to reach the Wellington market, but dealers now complain that the charges are too high, and the 'fruit cannot ba profitably brought down. On the other hand, jgrowers have lost a profitable outlet. One writes to a merchant in Wellington, as under: "Very heavy marketings are: being made in Auckland and, the market is fairly well glutted. No one can gaage the injury done to the local strawberry growers by the altered oonJitions." ' It is stated that the railage -en > seven crates, weighing nearly two •cw.t, received here yesterday, was 18s, or £9 per ion. Wellington has been one of Auckland's best outlets, and the present conditions are a change for the ivorse for everyone, including the consumer.. This iftuit, except of poor •quality, is now too dear to buy.—(The foregoing paragraph is obviously wrong ns the Railway Department's charge for the carriage of New Zealand fesh fruit is Gd per 06'lbs, irrespective of distance).