General Intelligence.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 196, 12 April 1878, Page 6

General Intelligence.

There has been a discovery of a bed of clay in the North supposed to be meerschaum. Sir George Arney, writing to a fiiend in Auckland, denies the rumour of his marriage. It is understood in Wellington that the Stores Department is to be immediately abolished. The meeting between the Premier and the Maori King takes place at ilauraki on the Kith inst. The Dunedin Jockey Club have made a donation of fifty guineas to the funds of the Benevolent Institution. The Pivsby.tery of Southland have decided to make efforts to establish a scholarship of the annual value ol L2O. The Tablet says that the Roman Catholic children of Dunedin have already contributed L4O towards the fund for the erection of a new cathedral. •We hear that Miss Ross, the Taieri fisting girl, is now in. a very low and weak state. Her eyes are bright, but she is greatly emaciated, takes very little nourishment, and suffers from a pain in the side. It is said that when the House meets the Government will, support a proposal for a full and fair inquiry into the conduct of the Judges regarding Mr G. E Barton's case. ' Tongariro is in a state of considerable activity, sending out large columns of black smoke from its crater, earthquakes in its viciniry are frequent, and the hot springs and geysers of tae neighbourhood are unusually active. Mr Crawford, Resident Ma-Astrntf-' nt Wellington, has demand'-d fi">m thp Government that an ii.quivv should he instituted into the, charges made by Mr G. E. Barton against, tho officials of th< j . Resident Magistrate's Court there. A Kumara telegram of the oth says : Some days ago Mv Brown, editor of the Kumara Times, issued a writ against Father Mennebery for slander, claiming LIOOO damages, but it, was not served, in the hope that Father ITennebery would retract. To-day MiBrown's solicitor received an extraordinary letter from Father Hennebery, covering ten sheets of paper, and 1 threatening- that if the action was proj ceeded with the police would he at Mr I Brown's door. Mr Brown' has now instructed his solicitor to serve the writ at once. The Southland Times states that the promoters of the new Southland Shipping Company " have, seen fit to alter the terms of the prospectus by increasing the capital of the company to L50,000, in as many one. pound shares, of which 25,000 are to be issued. It isalso decided to call up 15s per share, namely, 5s upon application, 2s 6d upon allotment, and the balance as the directors may find expedient. This will provide Ll 8,750 for first outlay, and its equivalent should be a couple of good serviceable vessels." After his visit to the Lakes, which is exppcted to occupy a fortnight, the Governor will make a tour through the northern part of Auckland, and will proceed along the East Coast by stages, round the North Cape, and anchor at Hokianga. Thence they intend to proceed overland to the Bay of Islands or Mongonui, and make a general inspection of the northern districts. His Excellency says that this is the principal portion of the Colony with which he is not personally acquainted, and that he has long bad a desire to visit the district in which European settlement in the Colony was first begun. On thisjtrip he is expected to be absent from Auckland for a fortnight or three weeks.

The Hon. ru> Fisher has proceeded to Tauraii <■*■*■* to join the Governor there. Judge Fellows, Victoria, died on Monday last... - • Five lads bolted from the Auckland Training* School on Saturday. On Sunday night a child fell into an underground tank at Timaru, and was drowned. It is rumoured that there are serious disagreements between Ministers and Mr Fitzgerald, the Commissioner of Audit. The Primitive Methodist Church, Wellington, was broken open on Sunday night, and the mission boxes robbed. On Saturday night an attempt was made to burglariously enter the shop of Hulbert, hatter, High-street, Christchurch. . The man named Musker, who was hurt lately by being caught between two railway trucks at Timaru, died on Sunday. A man named German Charlie has been arrested on suspicion of being- connected in the recent garrotting case at Christchurch. A man named O'Leary reported to the Christchurch police that he was garroted early on Sunday morning and robbed of about 10s. v On Thursday a farmhouse belonging to Mr Winter at Ashbuvton was destroyed by fire and a female infant dur-. ing the absence of the parents was burned to death. . On Monday John Henry Lamfra, employed ac Crowther's stablos, Auckland, fell from a loft, a distance of 14 feet, and sustained concussion of the brain. He died in a few hours. Black Champion, a valuable imported draught entire, was killed at Christchurch on Saturday night. Someone opened the stable door, and the horse got out and staked himself. The Governor has prorogued the Victorian Parliament to the 21st May. He made a brief speech mentioning* that Ministers would forthwith prepare a measure to alter the Constitution Statute. At about 2 o'clock on Sunday morning a cab driver was stuck up near the the river Styx on the North Road, Christchurch. by two men, but giving his horse a vigorous cut with a whip he managed to escape them. Sir John Richardson delivered a most interesting inaugural address on the occasion of the opening of the School of Cookery at Invercargill on Saturday last. There was a very large attendance, and at its close Miss Fidler gave an example cf her skill in the cookery business. At Friday's meeting of the Taieri County Council, tbe Chairman stated that an amount of LSOO was due to the Council by the Government, being; 20 per cent, on the amount received by the Government from the sale of Crown lands situated within the County during the present year. Before a deprecation of class politics can be made with weight all classes must be placed on one looting in regard to the enjoyment of public rights, privileges, and exemption from taxation (says the Mount Ida Chronicle). Such rime of political equality is not yet. We do not fear that during the present prosperity which has so far attended the working men of the Colony any hitler class feeling will arise under impartial legislation, but it may fairly be px limited that if a few more such gross acts of violation of public trust as the re-leasing ol the Canterburj" runs without competition are perpetrated, by abusH ol legislative position, a beginning of class disturbances will be established, io which there shall be no end, unless it be the world one of the pauper's grave, or the felon's cell, for thousands of colonists, who, bui for the selfishness of the few, might have been the backbone of New Zealand. The future is as we in the present choose to make it, The Liberal*", under Sir George Grey, would avoid the latent evil. The Conservatives, under the Bowens and Ormonds, in blind ignorance, would provoke it. This is what happened to the Rev. Charles Clark and a reporter of the Poverty Bay Herald when visiting n gas well at Gisborne : — " ' You see,' said Mr Saunders, • this is the overflow pipe, and until the water runs out here there can be no gas- in the tank.' The lecturer looked as if he didn't believe this statement, so he observed. - But surely there must be "some gas in the tank.' Mr Saunders was sure there was no gas, and 'just to prove it he lighted a match and applied it to the overflow pipe. Then there was trouble round that tank. Fiz! fiz! bing! bang* ! pop ! The sides of the tank swelled and contracted, and eventually the top blew off. The eminent lecturer at the first ' fiz ' struck a bee line for a shed, and our representative was about two blocks off before anyone could say 'knife. 7 The way that elocutionist travelled was a caution. He just gave two bounds, cleared the fence, and was non est inventus in less time than it takes to write the words, Mr Saunders did not remain stationary. He moved away too, and with an amount of alacrity which did him infinite credit. After the scene was over the scientific, party returned, when Mr Clark in a most solemn manner, exclaimed, ' Saunders, there must have been some gas in the tank.'- The boriiface did not remark anything, but the expression on his countenance seemed to say, * I i believe you, my boy.' "

The Auckland police are making 1 . I another raid upon the unstamped! A weights. i The Government has as yet received* 7 no warning from home to protect th©- - harbours of the Colon}'. Y. A wool- shed on the New Zealand' A; and Australian Land Company's Acton 1 Hun, Rakaia District, was destroyed % by fire on Thursday. It contained 'j. grass seed woi'th L3OOO, and. graiia A worth L2OOO. The total damage- is '■; L7500, which is partly insured. .7 The Government have decided to- A appoint Mr Blackett engineer in charge -A of nonconstructed railways for the .7 North Island, and Mr Blair to the same . ■ office in the South Island. These two , officers are to perform between them * the duties previously performed by Mr '> Oarruthers. A At Waitahuna on Friday, a daughter ' f{ \ of Mr James Cuttler's was run over by A\ Mr Higgin's spring cart. The girl was 3 on her way to school when she was A\ overtaken by the driver of the cart, who il gave her a lift for some distance. On ; -i attempting to dismount the girl fell', Si and the wheel passed over her neck. TT Death followed almost instantaneously. "I A telegram from Wellington dated 4th inst. says : — Mr J. M. Perrier has been summarily dismissed from the 7 editorship of the Chronicle, late Argus.. His dismissal arose in this wise : — Mr Gardiner, the new proprietor, is a Cali- 7 fornian Scotchman of great decision of 7 character. Yesterday morning* Mp ' j Perrier ' came down to -the- office as ' usual, when Mr Gardiner said to him :. - "Look here, I'm not going to keep a A man who does so precious little. Make out your account and vamose." Mr» 3 Perrier made out his account for five weeks' salary and L3O in place ofy. notice. Mr Gardiner instantly gave .;■ him his cheque for that amount and' A told him to clear out, which he did^A after a brief editorship of three days.