Local and General.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 203, 31 May 1878, Page 6

Local and General.

: A Curlihg Club is about to be 'es'tab'-' dished' at iNaseby. .-,,-•■_, All the Ministers are expected to meet in Wellington next week. A company is b'-ing formed in Nelson to manufacture and export jam from that district. ' . ' Lieut. F. Lepatourel has been, gazetted Private Secretary to the Governor,, vice Captain Maling. Tlio business of tho Supreme Court, Dunediu, is now conducted in the new' office in the. late Provincial Government Buildings. - An effort will be made to get Professor Ulrich to visit Wothei*stoncs for the purpose of expressing his opinion regarding the cement there. Mr Howard Clark, editor and principal proprietor of the Register, Adelaide, died on Monday night. His mother was sister to Rowland Hill. Serious floods have occurred at Coromandel, destroying several bridges, miners' races, and tramways. Houses suffered considerably, and there were many landslips. Margaret Williams, a well-known Dun- . edin character, -was found dead in the Cricket Ground on Sunday. An empty whiskey bottle was found lying by her. It is stated that Mr Carruthers, Engi-neer-in-Chief, has finally severed his connection with the Government, and received Lll 50, being one year's salary, in lieu of a year's notice. Mr Williams, R.M. at the Bay of Islands, has been invited by the Government to resign the office of Registration and Revising Officer while his brother is in the Assembly for the district. A very important discovery of moa bones (say 3 the Western Star) was made by Mr E. Webber, during Easter holidays, a short distance off the beach about five miles from Riyerton. The bones form a complete skeleton about nine or ten feot high. We (Thames Evening Star) learn that a supply of about 150 military helmets, spiked, new pattern, will arrive here in a few weeks for the Thames Scottish Volunteers. They will be the first Volunteer Company in New Zealand to wear them. The helmets are highly spoken of by the Imperial authorities. A meeting of the unemployed has been held in Melbotirne, and a deputation has waited on the Victorian Premier, who bas promised tlio temporary relief. The Dunedin Age asks whether the agitation has anything to do with the departure from Dunedin some weeks ago of the notorious John M'Laren ? Wo understand that Messrs Proudfoot and M'Kay have ordered from home two machines for producing electric light, to be used in connection with the harbour dredging works, so that these may be carried on night and clay. It is also stated to be their intention, to use one of these lights in connection Avith tho Balclutha to Clinton railway contract during the winter months. At the banquet in Balclutha at the opening of tho Dunedin and Clutha railway, Mr Blair, District Engineer, in the course of his speech explained that cheapness was the alpha and omega of the instructions issued by tho late Government in the matter of constructing railways. The result of that policy is already becoming apparent. It is reported that estimates have been asked for with a view to reducing the curves in the Hut railway. Wellington larrikins steal flowers and shrubs from, burial places. In Canterbury they are more advanced. They smash and deface tombs' ones. The Canterbury Press states that some larrikins recently smashed some valuable tombstones which were in the yard of Mr Isaac Butterfield, Cambridge Terrace. The stones were of Italian marble, and had inscriptions carved upon them. The damage done is estimated at about £GO. A contemporary says :— v The Berry Ministry have properly come to the conclusion that the title of J. P. was not intended as a mere ornament following a man's name, but that those on whom the honour has been conferred must fulfil the duties appertaining to the office, or give way to men who will do so. It has consequently been decided to notify all the honorary Justices of the Colony that a reasonable number of attendances will be expected from them at the Court, otherwise they will be removed from the Commission of the Peace..". . A bombshell has dropped in the midst of the Wanganuites. The owner has turned up (says a correspondent) for anumber of valuable town sections, all built upon, and which were sold by power of attorney to the present holders from periods varying from sixteen years since. During the interval the present occupiers have been without interruption, and in some cases the properties have changed hands. All have deeds, as the transactions were understood by all to be bona fide having been made out by properly qualified legal practitioners, and all papers connected therewith have undergone careful scrutiny. It appears that it is now held that the agent had no power to sell, only to lease, and the agent of the original owner now comes up to make arrangements for the sale or lease of several properties. A pleasant prospect certainly for the occupiers, who till now looked upon them legally as their own, as undoubtedly in equity they are. The following despatch has been published : — " Downing street, February 14, 1878. My Lord— l havo not failed to notice with the greatest satisfaction the accounts which have reached me, chiefly from unofficial sources, of the. munificence which has been displayed in so many of Her Majesty's Colonial possessions in the contributions which have been made towards the funds for the relief of sufferers by famine in India. The liberality which has been shown in the Colonies has, I believe, far exceeded that evinced, on previous occasions, when the calls of humanity have made themselves heard throughout the. most distant portions of the British Empire-, and is pecuharly gratifying as an. actspringing from the spontaneous generosity of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects. I shall be obliged if you will' be so good as to inform me -what' has been the actual amount contributed by the - Colony under your Government, and supply me .at the same time • with any information 'oh,, the subject which you may [consider tpvbe. of interest — "(Signed)?,.'M.^.E'vYHicks-;&ac-5Y 'y~ \,._'. L,,Y:-.Y' YYY;^ xA-yAii

Stephen Massetfc has arrived, in .Melbourne. ' '"-"' -""'- ' ' ...The .Oamaru .Schools, are about to be. enlarged.; The volunteer hall is at present used as ai class-i-oor_. . . „" . X A Mr Wi. J. M. Larnach has 'arrived in England,; and entertains hopes of .soon being able to negotiate a loan. Dr Stirling, of Cromwell, has been appointed'surgeon of the Tuapeka Goldfields Hospital. There wero five applicants. '. Murray, a schoolmaster at Geraldine, is charged with indecently, assisting two scholars. ' V , The Comity Councils' Conference' is to take place at Wellington oil Monday, July 21st — not on the Ist, as previously telegraphed. . ..... The Rev. Professor Salmond is to commence his winter. course of. lectures in the hall' of the First Church, Dunedin, this evening. The barque' Otira is supposed to have foundered off Kaipara Heads, where she was seen on Friday afternoon, but ha 3 not since been heard of. ' The committee of the Sydney Trade Labour Council are making arrangements for a public meeting to" agitate ior the suppression of Chinese immigration. At Brisbane a man named Michael, has been murdered by a Chinese cook. . The deceased was in charge of a flock of sheep proceeding to a station. The body was terribly mutilated. There was no provocation. A Parliamentary commission has been appointed to enquire into the working of the Victorian Land .Act. The Government have issued a fresh proclamation, prohibiting the sending of stock from ports outside the Australian Colonies and Now Zealand. A telegram from Port Darwin says : — Captain Robinson, and brother of the schooner Kingston, were murdered by the natives while fishing off Marbiac Island. One Chinaman and a number of divers at Jardine, Cape York, were attacked by the blacks, but were forewarned, and killed 17 blacks in a bedroom. We, North Otago Times, areglad to learn that the perpetrator of the late fire a Otepopo, which resulted in the destruction of corn sacks to the value of £300, the property of Mr Morrison, has been caught. He was arrested by Sub-Inspector Smith at .Richmond's Crossing, and will be brought before Mr Parker. We take the following from an English paper : — A few days ago a football match was played at Redditch between a local club and tho Stratford and Leamington clubs. Four of the men were severely injured before the game was over : one had a broken nose, another a broken leg, a third badly sprained his ankle, and another received a violent kick. The ladies of Victoria are beginning to evince a lively interest in the politics of tho country. At a recent banquet given to the Governor and Ministers at Sandhurst, the ladies rose en masse from tho table, and left the ban quetting -hall on the toast of fche ' Parliament of Victoria' being proposed. Rather severe on the members of Parliament ! A home paper reports that a peal of bells, costing LBOO, has been presented to the Catholic Church at Krdington,- near Birmingham, by Mr F. Genders, who, , " in 1860, emigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand, and by thrift and perseverance was there enabled to acquire considerable property." The peal consists of eight bells, weighing in all three and a half tons. The tenor alone weighs threequarters of a ton. The Sydney Parliament was prorogued on Tuesday. The Governor in his speech congratulated Parliament that the estimates of revenue were fully realised. The New South Wale 3 Land Bill has been laid on the table. It gives additional facilities to selectors, and allows families to take up contiguous areas without residence for each. It also permits persons in towns to take tip selections without residence conditions, but it imposes improvement conditions. The following appointments have been gazetted:— Mr H. M'Oulloch, P.M., to be Receiving Officer for the electoral district of Invercargill, Mataura, Wallace, and Riverton ; Mr Duncan Campbell to be a Crown Lands Ranger for the Southland district ; Messrs John M'Neil, J.P., F. S. Pillans, J.P., and John Gibson Smith, to be members of the Licensing Court for the town, of Balclutha, Kaitangata, Matau, South Molyneux, Clutha, Clinton, Popotunoa, Clydevale and Catlins : Henry Clark, J. P., Frederick Wayno, J.T., and Thomas Murray, to be members of the Licensing Court for Waihol-*., Glenledi, town of Milton, Crichton, Tokomairiro, Mount Stuart, Balmoral, Kaitangata ; J. F. Bell, J. P., F. "W. M'Kenzio, G. F. B. Poynter, J. P., to be members of tbe Licensing Court for Wendon, Mataura, South Mataura, and Onetreo point ; Mr J. P. Maitland, J. P., A. R, 0." Strode, J. P., and James Fulton, J.P., to be members of the licensing Court for the city of Dunedin and other districts. A somewhat curious set of circumstances (says the Hawkes Bay Herald) is related in a letter received by the last mail by a resident in Napier from Meaford, Upper Canada. The writer commences by asking whether there is such a place as Nelson anywhere about Napier, and then goes on to state that about 28 years ago a Mr Pierce went from Meaford to Australia, leaving his wife and child — a girl— in Meaford ; shortly afterwards the wife had a son. At first Pierce used to send his wife money occasionally, but after a time hisiemittances ceased, Pierce having then left' Australia and gone to Nelson in New Zealand. About 16 years ago .Mra -Pierce saw in. a newspaper an account of a shipwreck that had occurred near the New Zealand coast, Mr Pierce being among those drowned. The person drowned was, however, an bther man bearing the same name. About the same time,. Mr Pierce received a. letter stating that his wife was married again, wliich was npt true. Matters remained in this way for some years, the wife believing the husband dead, andthe husband; believing the. wife. to have married , again, ; until about two or three months ago, when a letter from Mr Pierce, inquiring about > his family, dated from Nelson, was received ;by Ins, brother iii Canada. This led .to the son; starting directly. for New Zealand 1 inquest of his father, the .wife being away at the time oh. ; ,a" preaching tourY she having r '- -latterly ac-•-quired a religious mania 1 , cibut it is?- hoped; ;that when; she learns thatrdier husband :, is' ..aliyeyshe;h*nnd;,;Y. .-XaA'AAK ■AyAAA^AAA-x^Apl XA- * YY Ax\ ". AAA:AAA : ' :k AAyiAAy&AAfAAAAiyA:

Matters are - working anything - but smoothly, between the Education Board and , the Oamaru School Committee. ' " ,i Mr Blair, the District Engineer, left Dunedin: for Wellington on Monday morning, in connection with the business of the Department for the construction of railways. ' - '..,'.' Frank Smith, a Melbourne solicitor, is missing, and is 'supposed to have gone to New Zealand. A warrant has been issued, as it is alleged some trust estates .have boon tampered with. We' observe the fire, at the Newmarket hotel and Blue's store is still going the round, of . the northern papers, the. scene of the disas'.er being transferred from Balclutha to the Empire city. ' Milking machines 'have become so important that there is to.be a competitive trial of them at the Bristol show-yard next July, with judges appointed by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. St. George's hall stage, Melbourne, has been transformed into an elegant drawingroom, on the model of Kelly and Leon's stage, New York, for the reception of tho Kelly and Leon Ministrels. The new Land Bill, New South Wales, imposes an assessment of -4d per head-on sheep, and of Is 8d per head on. cattle and horses. This will yield an annual revenue of a million from the squatters, instead of a quarter of a million as at present. . At Gisborne, a publican named Saunders has been fined £30 for allowing "Yankee grab" in his house. The magistrate expressed his intention to do everything ii-l-is power to put a stop to gambling in public-houses. The census return, showing the total population of the whole Colony, are now completed. Males, 230,898 ; females, 153,273. Total, 414,171. In this is included 4,302 Chinese, but no Maori population. Chatham Island — 100 males ; 72 females. An "Old Maid" writes to -the Melbourne Herald, asking "Why don't men marry?" She says : — " Women have long agitated for political rights equal to men — to enter Parliament, medicine, law, and other branches of science. In literature, as in other branches, they have shown marked ability and address ; but they have, it appears to me,- neglected a matter of more vital importance to themselves, tho right equal to man of asking in marriage ! Custom has long tolerated this hydra-headed monster,, and if it wonld cease to be less refined but moro intelligent, the vexed question of why men will not marry would be in a fair way, indeed, of being solved." Nelson has woke up with a vengeance. The Town Council has resolved to bring a set of , bye-laws into operation dealing with street obstructions by the exhibition of goods outside shops, low sign -boards, &c, and this is tho style in which an indignant citizen resents the infringement of personal liberty 'in Sleepy Hollow. He writes to a local paper : — ". Citizens of Nelson awake ! where is this reign of terror to end 1 and when 1 When the. day of election conies again let the ballot-box be empty ! let 'the • scrutators scrutate in vain ! let the candidates' carriages find no passengers ! let the Council Chambers be silent ! and the Returning Officer ' have no work to do. ' Then shall Freedom dare to breathe and Libei*ty to smile !"