Local and General.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 204, 7 June 1878, Page 6

Local and General.

; c trout in Lovell's Creek have begun * %> Bpawh. ~ .Mr Donald Reid has forwarded Iris V¥- assignation to the Speaker. : ''-'K^Vil^bbOT^orfli of grass seed has been Exported from New Plymouth this season; ";; Y .^- r TJb« n Weinngton r Gpod. Templar lodges ' TEiave resolved to. transfer their. allegiance i»the Grand Lodge of the Middle Island. v ; s ; Mrßarr, of Dunedin, hns submitted his report on water supply to the New PlyBorough Council. It meets with general approval. The' new offices of tho South British Insurance Company, Ohristchurch, which Tcost LSOOO, wero opened on Mon- ."-". -Say with a champagne lunch. „, The' total of , Presbyterianism in the Xlnited, States is, estimated at SO2B ministers, 12,102 congregations, and 1,052,339 ;. members. The Board of Governors of the Canterbury ; College have resolved to establish irwelve scholarships in connection with the Agricultural Collesre. ,V ; Tlie Southland News states that on Friday, t to-day, next a meeting is to be held in 3>unedin, to make final arrangements towards forming a company to construct the j proposed; line from Gore to Elbow under I lihe District Railways Act. / On the. request of a number of citizens the Mayor of Milton has asked the business people of Milton to observe Friday 1(to-day) as a public holiday it being the occasion of the first meeting of the Metro- ; politan Coursing Club in the district. • The Hon. Mr Sheehan has had a meeting with the Kaiapoi natives, and has promised to appoint a Connnission to in- , qmre< whether any promises made when the lands were purchased had not been fulfilled, but not to inquire into the land purchase deeds at all. The West Coast Times says that Mr ■Seymour Grey, nephew of Sir George Grey, is likely to be a candidate for eleciion of a member in place of Mr Button, resigned. A requisition is now being largely signed. No local candidate is in iihe field. We ? Morning Herald, understand that ■plans have been prepared and forward "by Messrs Mason, Wales, and Stevenson, architects, for a new brick hotel for Mr John Dunne, to be erected on tho site of the Newmarket hotel, Balclutha, lately destroyed by fire. . On Saturday last Mr A. Nelson and party, while out with guns at Waihola, saw nine phesants, and succeeded in bagging sis. Tho party was composed of three. Last season, in the same locality, irwoof the same party shot seventeen in one day. At a meeting of the Timaru School ■Committee on Monday night it was decided to establish a High School in connection with the public school in terms of the Education Act, 1877 ; also, that the -compulsory clauses of the Act should bo "brought into force. Seventy lives were lost in tho Loch Ard. The survivors are Miss Carmichael, a little girl ; and a midshipman. They drifted ashore, and by a miracle escaped being dashed to pieces on the rocks. The vessel struck on a rock, and sunk ten minutes afterwards. — Star Telegram. An obese porker, weighing over 450 pounds, bred by Mr James Knight, Lower Hutt; was exhibited in the shop window of Messrs J. H. Barber, butchers. It was almost wholly fat and would be deemed a great luxury by the Chinese. — Wellington "Exchange. '- A telegram from Melbourne says: — The Xoch Aard, from Glasgow, is a total wreck near Cape Otway. All on board perished -except two — a Miss Carmichael and a midshipman. Miss Carmichael is not expected, to recover. There is no trace of theKW reck, which went down a few minutes after striking. There were seventeen applications, covering 4000- acres of land, lodged on ijriday at tho Lawrence land office, under agricultural lease, in Blocks XVI. and XV Li., Crookston district. For the 600 acres opened under deferred payment in the same district, there were not any applicants. The Victorian Government have found work for upwards of 200 of the unemployed in carrying out drainage works, and intend further to carry out two of the new lines of railway by day labour ; but a large number of the unemployed are not labourers, but belong to the building and mechanical trades. Li consequence of a number of minor kerosene accidents having occurred in Wellington since the one which caused the death of a girl, the police have employed men who go about in plain clothes and purchase samples of kerosene at the stores of the different dealers for, the purpose of testing, in order to ascertain where the dangerous oils now sold come from. Tu Tawhiao (says the Auckland Star) ias returned to Alexandra, after having been feted by'Europeans at Te Awamutu, Hamilton, and elsewhere. We learn that le has made a most favourable impression in all quarters. He, has a most prepossessing appearance— is tall, graceful, with well-formed features, and that light complexion which is often met with amongst blue-blooded Maori rangatiras. He wears a slight moustache and beard, " yulgarly termed a " goatee," and has large dark expressive eyes. Tu Tawhiao, it should be mentioned, is not tattooed. He generally dresses well, and in European attire, . looking every inch a gentleman. AtV a at , Hamilton he appeared in orthodox black, and in all other respects was appropriately got up for the occasion. He evinced, some shyness at first, and appeared to ; have considerable misgivings as tor his .tTerpsichorean accomplishments, Dutsthis f was overcome, and he took his place , in „ a "- set " with a young pakeha ladyas his yisra-Tis. It is reported — but we do^nbt- vouch for the truth of the re-PjSrt-^that both at "Te Awamutu and Hamilton : the young ladies vied with each other in their' anxiety to dance, with " the prince.'' "We hope hone of our fair readers will tbe f smitten through, a perusal of the f orß^jmgjdescrip^ohbf this young gentlewhare, mi^sucH farjß^6lri§d^s]^k and potatoes, f I >WioM§ ;Bopnxrub' ;p|f^ibKr6mahce even of .Hemg w; ;^ ; -li^jof^yfieJ^TOjral .;^instttuTjionsJ at Tawhiab's the; o^|^ngtia^G jot Uia^^e^ed unto him." '

A fine new school -for Auckland City West was opened on Monday. Nine hundred tons of wheat have been sold, at v Adelaide for the Cape, but the price has not transpired. A Chinaman, for the murder of one of his countrymen at Goulburn, was executed on -May 28. The Port Chalmers Fire Brigade intend to hold their annual torchlight procession. ; and ball to-night. ! Such was the frost at Naseby last week that skaters had capital sport on the various dams in the vicinity. The County Councils' Conference is to take place at Wellington on Monday, July 21st — not on -the Ist, a3 previously telegraphed. The balance-sheet of the Waimaie County Council, presented at a meeting on Wednesday last, showed a credit of L47,050 12s Bd. Serious floods occurred near Coromandel, destroying several bridges. Miners' races, tramway, and houses have suffered considerably. There have been many landslips. It is stated that Governor Robinson has been offered an important position by the Imperial Government, but nothing is officially known and the statement is doubted. ' A ploughman at Papakio met with an accident the other day. While hitching his team to the harrows one of the horses became restive and started. The harrow passed over the man, who sustained considerable injury. A telegram in the Melbourne Argus says: — A sea serpent 14ft. long has been captured at Penguin, and is now being exhibited at Launceston, where it is creating considerable excitement. It is believed to be a new species of ribbon fish. A parcel of iron sand from Taranaki is to be sent to England for Sir John Coode, who intends to have experiments made to tost its commercial value. Mr T. H. Watkins, butcher, Hampden, had a Leicester ewe from Mr Murray lately, which weighed 1851bs when dressed, the fat on the ribs being five inches thick. The Mayor of Wellington has made arrangements for having all the kerosene, now in bond, in the city thoroughly tested. The Rev. Canon Brownrigg, of Launcester, has been a3ked to accept, but has refused, the cure of All Saints, Dunedin, about to be vacated by Mr Stanford. The Hon. Mr Elder, of Adelaide, South. Australia, is the owner of 400 camels, which are thoroughly acclimatised, and are. used for such work as bullocks are in this Colony. The Government have notified to tenderers for tho Waikato railway contract from Ohaupo to Te Awamutu that they do not intend to proceed with the work at present. It is stated that the Colonial accounts for the present year will show that a great saving has been effected in the working of tho railways, while there has been a largo increase in the revenue from that source. The Churchman says : — We are informed that tho Rev. G. Wilka has. accepted secular employment in Christ- ! church. — We understand that the cure of St. Mark's, Balclutha, rendered vacant by i the removal of the Rev. Mr Knowles to Gladstone, has been offered to tho Rev. T, j L. Stanley, and declined by him. I The Government have received a fur ther telegram from Home announcing satisfactory progress in the negotiations with the Bank of England for floating the L2,500,000 loan of last session, and. the L1,000,000 balance of previous loans. It is expected that the whole will be placed on most satisfactory terms during the present week. " An exchange has the following : — A few days ago, at Tauranga, a man named Annesley, who had been keeping up his birthday, was reported to have walked over the end of the wharf. The police immediately proceeded to drag for the body. After an hour's hard work they gave it up as hopeless, and when carrying the drag apparatus to the station, saw Annesley coming out of a pub. Of course they smiled. The Rechabites of Dunedin purpose erecting in St. Andrew-3treet, a building to be called "The Rechabite Hall and Total Abstinence Literary Institute. " The edifice will be 66ft. in length, with a frontage to the street of 35ft. , and will consist of six rooms, exclusive of the lodge-room, the dimensions of which will be 33ft. by 26ft. It will subservo all the purposes of j a Temperance Club, where light refresh- j ments will be obtainable at a moderate price, and all kinds of harmless indoor amusements indulged in. Tho architects are Messrs Mason, Wales, and Stephenson. - His Honor Judge Williams will go to Livercargill next week for the purpose of holding- a Circuit Court, which is to open on the 12th inst. The criminal calendar is unusually heavy, and comprises tho following cases: — Andrew Newton, bestiality ; Catherine Tracy, larceny from the peison ; Cecil Jackson, abortion by instruments ; Sing Hae, assault with intent to kill ; William Saylor, forgery and uttering (two charges); Andrew Seymour, burglary ; and David Richmond, obtaining i goods under false pretences. J A fearful accident occurred at Messrs Godsiffand Newton's sawmills, Clovaßay, Pelorus Sound, by which a youth named John Henn, aged 17 years, lost his life in a most appalling way. One of the huge circular saws is ' driven by a belt from a drum, propelled by a shaft from the main steam-engine, and when required to bo stopped is thrown out of . gear by slipping the belt off this drum,which is below the level of the floor. Henn was seen to stop the machinery, and instead of carefully slipping off the belt, in the proper way, gave it a careless kick. His foot instantly was caught by the belt, and he was carried round with terrific velocity, stricking one of th£ flooring boards — a stout plank an j inch and a half in thickness— with such violence as to break it in two places. His fellow- workmen rushed at once to. the rescue, stopped the machinery as quickly as possible, and extricated the unfortunate youth from its fatal embrace. 'It is needless to to say that life was totally extinct, ithe corpse being mutilated in a most i horrible manner, in fact, torn and battered .out of all semblance of humanity. The • mangled remains of what only a minute ibefore was a living, breathing human | being, were gathered reverently together, : and :; being '--placed in ah impromptu coffin, 'were sent to Picton by one of the^co'asting vessels for interment. -.-..': "- ■ -'. ' " ■:, -- -^ ■-" - . /

Prince Gorlschakoff is : said to be > the richest man in, Russia. . , The. Prince of Wales has sent; to the Paris Exhibition tw"o van loads of articles. Miss Young, head mistress of the Tokomairiro Grammar School has resigned. The Governor held an undress levee in the late Provincial Chambers, Christchurch, at noon yesterday. The ball will take place this evening Tawhiao's Secretary attended the Native Lands- Court the other day in support of the King's land .claims. „ This is the first recognition of the authority of the Court on the part of "his Majesty." The Rev. G. W. Russell is stated by a Westland paper to have determined to study for the bar in preference to pursuing the career of a Wesleyan Minister. Mr Russell has gone to Dunedin to commence his legal studies. Cleaning smairwaterpipes by the means of eels is tho latest piece of Transatlantic ingenuity. A hole being . pinched in the tail of a small eel and a string inserted, tho eel is put into the pipe, and speedily wriggles down to the other end, dragging after it the string, to which a bundle of rags has been attached. ' An amusing scene, says the Canterbury Times, occurred at the Akaroa Borough Council. In consequence of two interuptions from Councillor Meech, the Mayor demanded that he shoidd apologise or leave the Council Chamber. Councillor Meechnot complying, the Mayor requested a policeman to remove the turbulent Councillor. Eventually Councillor Meech and five other Councillors abruptly left the room. Constable Clarlc informs us (Tuapeka Times) that a few days ago he saw a thrush at Happy Yalley Farm, Wetherstones, ensconced on a gum tree, and heard it singing beautifully. We believe this is the first mavis that is known to have found its way so far into the interior. It speaks well for the labours of the Acchmatisation Society when we hear of these favourite songsters spreading over the country. Mr Noakcs, the agent for Messrs Fowlers' steam cultivating machinery, is, says the Age, about to visit this neighbourhood, for the purpose of superintending the putting up of appliances for Mr John Kirkland, of the Taieri plains, to supplement two traction engines which had been lin rise for sometime past. Mr Noake3 ex- ' peets to leave Otago in October for ! Australia, where — in Queensland — several of the steam cultivators are at work. Sir Wilfred Lawson, in the course of a recent speech on the Permissive Bill, at Dudley, made the following remarks : — " If the Duke of Edinburgh was to shoot hi3 father-in-law now he would be handed down to posterity in iniquity ; but if war were declared and the Duke shot the Czar, he would receive a vote of thanks, proposed by Lord Beaconsfield — (laughter) — seconded by Lord Granville — (laughter) — and supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Loud loAighfcer.)" Tho Auckland Herald says Rewi has arrived at Mokau with the Ngatimaniopoto chiefs on his way to Waitara to meet Sir George Grey and the Hon. J. Sheehan. William King, of Waitara, will be present. Rewi says this meeting will end the trouble between the two races, but keeps dark his intended proposals till Ministers meet him on June 21. He intends to expose the doings of some natives who deserted the King party ; also of some Europeans whose actions tended to create bloodshed during the Taranaki war. Miss O'Brien, of Tapu Creek, Auckland, was recently conversing with her father and the younger members of the family, when some remark hi the conversation having Caused her to laugh heartily, the jaw became fixed, leaving the mouth wide open, and causing her great pain. Every effort was made to bring it back, but without effect, and the face was well fomented with hot cloths, which seemed to give relief, but did not alter the position of the jaw. She was next day sent to Grahamstown, where her jaw was replaced. A strange report (the Times of India says) comes from Persia. ' It is currently stated in the bazaars of Shiraz that the Shah has exempted his subjects from the payment of half the taxes which now fall on them for a period of fourteen years. The rumour declares that his Imperial . Majesty's first idea contemplated an entire exemption for seven years, but wise Ministers pointed out that such a measure would demoralise the people so that they would mever willingly pay any taxes again. This indulgence was accordingly modified to half payment for fourteen years. The Shah's generosity is supposed to be due to the extraordinary success of the gold mines lately discovered at a place called Ahmedabad near Tahij. The North Otago Times of the 30th ult. says : — Last night the s. s. St. Kilda, which we believe had been chartered for the purpose, steamed for Wanganui direct, with a cargo.. of. cattle, horses, sheep, &c. , shipped by Mr W. Craig, who is leaving this district to take up his abode in the North Island. The greater part of the afternoon the scene present on the wharf was of the busiest character, as the various animals were being put aboard. As the animals are of some considerable value, and are nearly all young, great eare required to be exercised in their embai'kation, and we ought to add- that Captain Flowerday's crew performed their work most efficiently, not a single mishap of any kind taking place. The cattle numbered 61, 55 being shorthorns, and the remainder Ayrshires. With the exception of three the whole are young heifers, the three exceptions being an Ayrshire bull calf by Count, out of Violet, bred by Messrs Fleming, and Hedley, a present from those gentlemen to Mr Craig, and two shorthorn bulls, the one by Prince. of the Buttei'flies, out^of Grace IT., and the other by Prince of the Jessamines, out of . Grace V. The draught stock comprise four mares, four fillies j and seven foals, and besides fourteen Leicester ewes, there are two Angola goats, from the flock of the late Mr James Wheatley. The whole of the stock, more especially the horses, aro in excellent condition, and this, added to the fact that. the St. Kilda is a fine easy going boat, ought to secure to them a safe passage to their new home. While we regret the departure from our . midst of ; one of our old settlers, we would also congratulate the district, whither he proceeds ;not only on the acquisition of the scions, of the Waimotu "herdV above enumerated, ;but also on the accession /to-its ranks of. an enterprising and energetic settler.

■ . . _____ -■ -— ; Mr Chapman, Coombe Hay, has pnr- : chased 1000 choice sheep from the wellknown, estate of Mr Menlove, Windsor; Park, near Oamaru. The liabilities of the. -Inangahua County Council at the end of -the financial year, 31sb March last, were L9221 16s 4d, and r.ite of interest paid 7 per cent per annum. Lady Vogel' s name appears, with a long list of Countesses and ladies, as one of the patronesses of the London Ladies' Dross Association, a co-operative millinery and dress corhpany. We notice a paragraph is going the rounds of the papers to the effect that Mr Burns, member for Roslyn, has forwarded his resignation to the Speaker. Of course one requires to go from home to learn news. The running of trains through to the Ngakawau on the West Coast of the Middle Island, is to be discontinued, the traffic past Waimangaroa being insufficient to pay working expenses (L750 per annum in wages alone.) Two children met with violent deaths at Nelson recently. One, a child eighteen months old, fell backwards into a camp oven full of scalding porridge. The other, an infant, was smothered in the shawl in which it was wrapped',' whilst being carried home one evening by its mother. How .many men would have the courage to insert an advertisement such as the following, which appears in the Riverine Grazier : — " I, Thomas Naughton, hereby publicly acknowledge that I wrongfully blackguarded my wife, Mary Naughton, for which I apologise, and beg her to think no more of it." The Wellington post states that a man named Eade3, strong, healthy, and robust, recently went on a drinking bout at Masterton. In a week dissipation and exposure had reduced him to a perfect wreck, and when discovered by the police, on the upper plain, he was crawling on his hands and knees, eating grass like an ox. Mrs Major Croker (formerly well known in the Tnapeka district) has been committed for trial at Auckland for obtaining money under false pretences. The Auckland Herald says this is the lady whose evidence created such a stir before the Select Committee of the House of Representatives in 1874 in. the matter of the Timaru telegraph divulging case, in which Judge Ward and Judge Chapman were concerned, the former having made certain charges against the latter in a telegram to Sir Julius Vogel (then Mr Vogel), and which telegram was, it was rumoured, obtained by Mrs Croker, and afterwards found its way into the Otago Daily Times. The Daily Times' Ohristchurch correspondent telegraphs under date June 4 : — "On Saturday afternoon Mr W. S. Walker, a gentleman resident in Cashel-street East, took to the Police Depot two portions of a bottle neck and shoulder with cork firmly inserted, which he had picked up on the beach at New Brighton at highwater mark. Iri the bottom of the bottle he noticed a small piece of paper evidently part of an envelope, having on one side in ink, ' Ohristchurch, Cantei'bury, New Zealand,' and on the other in pencil, 1 Ship Lurline wrecked ; all hands lost.— Oapt. C. H.' The other evening several people, travelling in the neighbourhood of Rangiora and LeitMeld', noticed a large, firs at sea, and the two events lead to the 1 conclusion that the vessel has been burnt."