Local and General.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 222, 11 October 1878, Page 6

Local and General.

1,, 4 A petition is being verned in Auckland -asking &at the city be divided into wards. „„ A petition has been sent from Christ- ~ church, asking His Excellency the GoverTior to divide the city into wards. ; Guthrie and Larnach ar^ the successful ■tenderers for> supplying the Wellington Corporation with cement. After providing for all necessary works Surinsr the current half-year the Taieri County Council has L2OOO to its credit. Great uneasiness is felt at the mysterious disappearance of Mr -Toties, iun.ior partner of- the firm "o? Black and Co., ? boot manufacturers, Auckland. k The r>ast- and present members of the |; "Dunedin Volunteer Artillery Company I" "have presented the Benevolent Institution "with a donation of L4O '6s. collected -amongst themselves. Some nrischievoas person turned off the "water at the Nelson fish-pond a on Friday night, thus destroying the whole of the Beason's hatching of trout which were I I nearly lit for distribution. ! The appointments of H. "Hall to be "Examiner of Titles and of H. A. Gillies to be Chief Clerk, vice W, D. Smith, in the Land Transfer Department at Dun«edin, are gazetted. The Cooktown Colonist party, from Sydney, have abandoned their intention ft of prospecting New Guinea. Only a porr tion have "arrived at Sydney, the remainder being at Port Moresby awaiting * a vessel to bring them back. h The latest Noumea news is to the effect 3$ that over thirty more settlers have been * massacred by. the revolters in the Poija district, including one Gouadiller, whose "body has been found. The Government are arming the convicts. j The long-pending newspaper trial — "Wellington Evening Post v. The Chronicle — comes off this sessions before Mr Justice Richmond. Mr Travers is re- [ tamed for The Post, and the Attorney- * General for The Chronicle. The Main South Road, near M'Kegg's, 1 between Otakia and Henley, is in danger of being undermined by the Taieri River, , and the County Council have under consideration the piling of the threatened ' : r portion at an estimated cost of between "TMOO and LSOO. 1 The Chamber of Commerce, Wellington, I s "have sent, per s.s. Albion, to Mr M. < Synnott, of Melbourne, samples of wool to be forwarded by him to Japan, for submission to the Imperial Commissioners, *t6 decide as to its suitableness for Japanese "requirements. The Crown Prosecutor (Mr Haggitt) made an application to His Honor Mr Justice Williams, in Chambers, on Saturday morning, to have the venue of the • trial of Welsh, for the Waikawa murder, removed from Invercargill to Dunedin. The application was refused, His Honor deciding that he had no power to grant it. - — Daily Times. An Auckland criminal calendar includes | one case of malicious injury to property, I one of attempted murder, three of forgery and tittering, one of perjury, two of I stealing from the person, one of fraudulent bankruptcy, one of manslaughter, one of larceny as a bailee, one of maliciously killing a calf, one of rape, and one of horsestealing. At a meeting of the Presbyterian Synod at Christchurch on Wednesday, some discussion took place on the subject of Bible reading at schools, and a general -opinion was expressed that although it " Tras very desirable that the Bible should be read, at the same time it would not be -advisable. to take any active steps in the matter at the present time. Ultimately the overture brought up on the subject -was not proceeded with. The congregation of St. Andrew's Pres- : byterian Church, in Walker-street (says the Daily Times) have come to no deci--sion yet regarding a successor to the Rev. Mr Gow— indeed, no steps appear to have been taken in the matter. In the mean- . time the pulpit is filled by ministers of the town and country who can arrange to a service from time to time. ?Such a state of things is scarcely credit- - able to a city congregation. Recently (says the Timaru Herald) an engine was sent from Timaru to the : 'Christchurch workshops for repairs, and whilst there several alterations were made. v The most noticeable of these was that it was altered for burning native coal, and the result seems to give very great satisfaction. This engine is now running day -after day between 100' and 150 miles, with heavy mixed trains, and only burns lcwt. more native coal than the same. « class of engines dc Newcastle coal. TMs season's lambing at Mr G. Wilson's estate at Otago Heads has (says the Star) been wonderfully successful, 1,028 half-bred ewes having produced. 1,554 lambs — or an increase of over 150 per «cent. Mr J. Thomson, Inspector of •Sheep for that district, ascertained these ffacts by a careful overlooking of the property in company with Mr Wilson. The ground at the Heads is dry and well jsheltered, and a better lambing ground could scarcely be found. Mr Wilson has •supplied the Dunedin market with the 'first lambs of the season for the past four years. Last month he sold the first lot to "Mr Vesey, butcher/ at 30s each. Since then he has been getting 16s, 15s, and 14s teachOn Thursday a deputation, consisting of Messrs tftPastings, Oliver, Swanson, fGisbome/ Thomson, Macfarlane, Green, Teschemakerj and Sir R. Douglas, waited *on the Government to appeal for a larger 3 'fund than that proposed for the erection s •of school buildings throughout the « Colony. Mr Bastings explained that * ?such was the want of the school accomo- ? «9ation in various parts of New Zealand « that the^loo.ooo put on the' Estimates J for this purpose was totally inadequate, j and that at least L 20 0,000 was necessary. .T- --: - TheMmisters replied .tiiat they proposed I '• '"' to Jp]^!^^er^lijj^OOp on the Esti- I I Tnitls^f^ine^yearl'^'^-The" deputation c *' fflUggi^ll/thje iL200,000 should be placed s . .TideUjf^i^pmbrA^han LIOO,OOO shall I L~: ' 'v^p^^a^ldurmgr.iher present financial t t"L'-" ' yeaf^u^^lf^ciljpf^stich a sum being >i Boards s fyr : -r l •pressed'i :6^cK6lol'a6cdiiampdati6n to. make t ; anticipate .t" -HheWaygW^;^#pend^- ! nT6Wey ;oii i %&& fr .nec^a^rwSa^pr^sihg^^orks^; ■?

We have *to acknowledge the receipt from the Government Printer, Wellington, of a number of Pai'liamentary papers, andNos. 15" and 16 of Hansard. .The' Matrimonial 'Causes Bill, granting a wife a dissolution of marriage on proof .of .the. adultery of the husband, has been read a third time in the New South Wales Parliament. Mr A. J. Burns has been appointed a member of a Board of Inquiry, for the purpose of hearing and deciding all applications for mineral leases in the Nelson South-west Mining district. A correspondent of the Ashburton Mail, under the heading that " it is not all gold that glitters," states that he lately bought two loaves of the cheap bread now being sold in Ashburton, and he complains that they were both three ounces under weight. The Napier Education Board having learned that, according to population, they will only be entitled to receive L 2300 out of the LIOO,OOO voted for school buildings throughout the Colony, threaten to resign in a body, and to leave to the Minister of Education the responsibility of carrying on the schools. A telegram from Patea states that one of the Native search parties saw Hiroki on Saturday, but failed to secure him. Afterwards he was seen in the vicinity of the Mawhitwhiti River. The search party got within 300 yards and fired three shots, but Hiroki eluded capture by hiding in a gully. He has a dog with him, by which his whereabouts was discovered. He is b"elie\ T ed to be making for Parihaka. Every town in this lovely land, says an Ashburton paper, has its speciality. Auckland its literary garbage, Wanganui its military fossils, Taranaki its fascinating women, Wellington its myrtle -scented zephyrs, Nelson its namby-pambyism, Christchurch its Pecksniman respectability, Dunedin its Darwinism, and, not to become tedious, Ashburton its locally -made beer. A letter which appeared in the Ci/dtha Leader a few weeks ago, written by Mr J. D. Atkin, sen., of this town, clearly foreshadowed the disastrous effects to the Clutha of the present flood. Mr Atkin is an old colonist of forty years' experience, and he has seen similar catastrophes ; therefore he was in a position to speak with some degree of certainty as to the effect of a sudden thaw on the mountains of snow in different parts of the Colony. — Tapanui Courier. The Grey River Argus of a recent date says : — A waif from the sea has been brought to us by a person who found it just above high water mark on the beach. It consists of an oval locket, apparently of Irish bog oak, and contains a photograph of a woman, the features of which are hardly distinguishable owing to the action of the water. The locket awaits identification at our office. In a restaurant at Wellington, a cage containing a rat was placed over a venthole in the kitchen range, and every time the rat clambered up the side of the cage it was poked down again with a fork. The object of the brutes who delighted in this fiendish atrocity was to buna the outside of the helpless animal. The restaurant is infested with rats, and cruelties like the above are constantly practised therein. At the R.M. Court, Timaru, on Tuesday Mr Edward Ball, proprietor of the South. Canterbury Times, Was charged before Mr Beetham, R.M., with libelling the Hayes and Benhamo's Circus proprietors. Mr White appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Hammersley for the defence. The accused was committed for trial at the sitting of the Supreme Court in December and was admitted to bail. The fresh fields and pastures new of that rising city of the Plains, Ashburton, (says the Morning Herald), must appear very verdant to the mental eye of the legal fraternity in this distant Dunedin. Already within a short time, no less than five Dunedin lawyei'S have taken up their abode there, and like the break in an exciting story, it is rumoured that the incursion is /'to be continued." The Victorian Church of England Assembly closed its session after having passed the Dean of Melbourne's resolution in favour of Bible-teaching in schools. The subject of religious education is just now prominently before the community, owing partly to the remarks of the Bishop of Melbourne in favour of a separate grant to Roman Catholics, and partly to the Bill introduced by Sir John O'Shanassy providing that a grant should be made to those schools in which it is shown that the prescribed standard of education has been reached, the object being separate grants to Catholic schools. Respecting a late carouse of the Whakatine and Shortland Natives, the Thames Star says : — lt is roughly estimated that three hotels sold between 300 and 400 bottles of liquor. One house sold 70 bottles of rum alone, that liquor being in great demand, and was sold as fast as it could be bottled. At about four o'clock in the afternoon almost every adult male and female of the coloured race had a bottle of waipiro, and to celebrate the happy event the chiefs decided to have a good war-dance, which thereupon eventuated, the performers brandishing their bottles like meres. As might be supposed, a number of bottles were smashed ; but, as a rule, almost all the liquor went down the right road. A more rapid resuscitation of traffic has been affected on the local lines than could have been anticipated in view of the very serious damage inflicted by the floods (says the Southland Times of Monday). The main trunk line is now open to Clinton, and a train passed; through on Saturday afternoon. Running will be resumed on bhe Kingston line as far as Elbow to-day, and it is ' expected that the damage between that and Lowther will he quickly repaired. Beyond that, however, the most difficult part of the work yet lies. Ihese results have only been obtained by persistent labour, both night and day, and *reat credit is due to all concerned.. Inspector Hawkins, Mr Carruthers, Assistint Engineer, and Mr \ Arthur, the General Manager, have, been indefatigable in jushihg on operations. The 'damage to ;he permanent way between Lowther and Sangston as said to have been veryconliderable, but great energy will be brought id bear on; its reparation,- .and it is hoped iraffic' .will be fully restored over all the. iues" ! yery > speedily. The. damage, to -the. v •aUways : '"by -the "neqds^has, ,%we believe, • >eenj moreiSpeedily f epaireii iii this, , than n l: any &.pf U tKe ■

An effort is Being made to establish a Congregational Church in Oamaru. i The body of James Mitchell^ surveyor, [' who was drowned a few days since in the Waitaki, has been recovered. It was 'i •found about two miles below where the : buggy was overturned. . . . : It is intended to call for tenders shortly for the reclamatiou of a site for the muchly-needed railway station at "Port Chalmers. The reclamation is to extend from the railway pier to the. cross wharf and old jetty. A serious mining accident occurred at Ballarat on Saturday, resulting in the immediate death of two men, and the shocking mutilation of a third. The cage fell with them a distance of 100 feet down the shaft. . . •, ■ The Carnival Committee received on Tuesday another contribution from the Akatore district of nearly Lll, and which was paid in by Mr J. L;' Gillies. The whole of the Tokomairiro district has done exceedingly well in this matter. . I Mr Crombie, for many months chief clerk in the Railway Department in Dunedin, has been transferred to Inverc'argill, where he becomes accountant and cashier for the Southland lines. Mr Hislop, ]ate stationmaster at Outram, supplies the vacancy in Dunedin, 'Justice Gillies refused two bankrupts their discharge at Auckland the other day, because they were lepresented by counsel and did not appear in person. Their plea of distance of residence from Auckland, and inability to pay travelling expenses, was not allowed. At a meeting of Presbyterians held in Auckland the other day a large number of ministers were present and the following resolution was unanimously carried : — That this meeting, considering it to be the duty of the strong to aid the weak, hails with satisfaction the. proposal of the General -Assembly of the clrurcli of NewZealand to establish a sustentation fund, with a view to securing to all clergymen a stipend of at least L 250 per annum, and pledges itself zealously to co-operate with the Assembly in carrying this proposal into effect. " The Daily Times' Oamaru correspondent reports, under date October 7 : — The body of a man was found floating in the lagoon this morning. . From letters in the pockets, his name was ascertained to be Leslie Reid. One of these letters was a reference, signed by James Horn, of Stirling, Otago, in whose emyloy Reid seemed to have been. The deceased called upon the Rev. Mr Todd on the 15th of September, [and said that he^was the son of an iron merchant in Scotland. He obtained some money, and a note to Mr John Reid, of Elderslie, and next night went to the telegraph office drunk and endeavoured to get money. From that time nothing is known about him. How he got into the lagoon is a mystery, though it is supposed that while intoxicated he walked over the bank. At the inquest this afternoon a verdict of " Found drowned " was recoivled. The founder of " Cobb and C 0.," unlimited and everywhere, is no more (writes " in the Australasian). Freeman Cobb came to Melbourne at the end of 1852 or beginning of 1853, with George Mow ton, to form a branch of Adams and Co., famed in the United States as express carriers. Melbourne was not ripe for that business, and Mr Cobb, who had express-waggons with him, bought horses and commenced that coaching system which has made Cobb and Co. famous .over the Australian Colonies. After living in America for some time the old spirit of enterprise was aroused within him, and he went to South African goldfields, and started Cobb and Co. there — and there he died. Adams and Co. brought with them the two first buggies landed in Australia. The best friend I ever had bought one of them, and Mowton kept the other. The good people of Melbourne were highly amused at the notion of those light spider-like vehicles travelling over bush roads. But the buggies survived the ridicule. Tapanui (says the Courier of the 3rd) for the last week has been in the uneviable position of being without mail "or tele? graphic communication. The last mail which reached here (Friday's) was on Saturday night. Telegraphic communication was interrupted on Monday, and since then we have been in blissful ignorance of the outer world except such stray scraps of news a? were waf fced our way by chance travellers. To-day we have been in communication with Clinton and Gore, and give our readers in another column all the information obtainable. When we shall get a mail we don't know, and we are beginning to get callous, and don't care very much. The out-going mails from Tapanui were sent to Clinton regularly untill the postmaster there stopped the supply, saying " there was no more room." It is proposed to get the Mayor to proclaim a public holiday, to be devoted to " correspondence," when ths budget does arrive. Luckily the provisions in the town will hold out some time, or there would be a probability of a worse, calamity than derth of news. In our misfortune we have just one consolation, and that is, we., are above flood level. A letter appears in the Auckland Herald of Monday, by Rev. Samuel Edgar, as follows : — You express surprise at the action of Mr Fox, and the absence of any movement on the pare of the Good Templars. I believe many Good Templars share your surprise and regret at the course pursued by Mr Fox. ' Had I remained G.W.0.T. , I should have communicated with him on behalf of the Order, pointing out the imminent dangers into which he was leading us., As Mr Fox himself now occupies the position, | any such step on my part would have seemed impertinent. Ido not now write for the Good Templars, but I think I know almost as well as any man the opinions of the temperance /party, and- should 1 say that they object to the liquor traffic. They equally object to the Government obtaining a revenue by any such; immoral means, but that any temperance reformer in this part of the Colony would uphold Mr Fox in maldnguse off the Beer. Bill, to throw out the present Ministers,; vrhq hays well earned the thanks of the country beyond any Ministry I; have known in New .Zealand, I do not for a moment ' beliey el v-Whatj; howeverffwefregret is^"to'sefe r this : following, in jhe-.path ; off;Engl^nd •' ; ; whose! jß^er parliament has Cdraggedr;iiitp* ■ the) mire of contempt th^mprljl'renpiYn off.

The Christchurch Rifle Association get a range at Cashmere , from Sir J. 0.; Wilson. ■ . -. ; . : : ■ A man named Franz Schmidt was found dead in tlie : bush on Monday morning near Lyttelton,. He had been missing for. 3eyeral days. ;.;,"-■..-. i . In the South Australian Assembly Mr . Darling moved for .a periodic day of rest, for the police, but the ; motion was withdrawn as not needed by the men. ' \ Wahganui is about to have erected a large temperance hotel. The Wellington Chronicle says this . is a hopeful sign for that terribly drunken. City of the Sandhills. . . The only member of the Episcopal Bench present at the railway station to welcome Loid Beaconsfield on his return I from the Congress was, according to the Whitehall Review, the Bishop of Dunedin.. The Tapanui Courier of the 3rd says : — Telegrams for Dunedin maybe sent via the Bluff by the sender • paying postage. This is a roundabout means of communication, biit the only one available at present. A fine turtle was found a few days ago by some woi'kmcri in the grounds of Sir George Grey at the Kawau. The turtle weighed 2501 b, and measured three feet in length^ and three feet broad. It was quite dead. A facetious writer in the Watchman proposes to utilise phonographs by supplying churches wishing pastors with a number of the instruments charged with the best sermons of several ministers, and that they can select a pastor without the trouble and expense of v candidating." Some black Jews from the coast of Malabar are (says the. Jewish World) among the Indian troops now quartered at Malta. They claim to be descendants of the Jews sent by King Solomon to India to collect ivory and precious stones. These black Jews observe the Jewish Sabbath and the Passover. A Grahamstown telegram says: — A man named William M'Donald, a bushman, near Whangoata, was injured by a tree he had felled, and remained without medical aid or food for five days. A doctor from here rode 130 miles to assist him ; the man was suffering from concussion of the of the brain, and, wa3 ma comatose state, but may recover with careful treatment. A patent is being secured for a new reaper and binder of Christchurch manufacture, which will, it is said, be a great improvement upon all machines of the kind hitherto introduced to the public, inasmuch as.it will not only be a match for the very best reapers yet imported, but will in addition possess the much needed improvement of binding with the straw as it reaps. It is well known that wire as a material for binding is dangerously objectionable. The reaper in -question is he invention of a Canterbury man. A Wellington paper thus refers to the death of a Maori : — Henare Pumipi, a relative of the Hon. Wi Tako, M.L.C.. and a member of the Ngatiruanui tribe, died very suddenly at his residence, Te Aro, on Saturday afternoon last. Until a few minutes before his death the deceased appeared in his usual excellent health and spirits. He was a favorite among his people, by whom his loss is now mourned. The whole of yesterday and last night a "tangi" was being held. "The corpse, clothed in white muslin, decked with rosettes, and lying by the side of the coffin, was surrounded the whole of last night by the female relatives of the deceased, who in low and mournful strains chanted the customary songs of sorrow for the dead. The Scotsman records the death of the Rev. Robert Stirling, D.l>., minister of the parish of Galston, Ayrshire, who has been for several years the oldest minister in the Church of Scotland. t)r Stirling was born in 1790, near Methven, Perthshire, and was thus, at the time of his death, in his 88th year. Mr Stirling was in 1815 licensed to preach by the Presbybery of Dumbarton, and in the following year he received a presentation from the Commissioner of the Duke of Portland to the Kilmarnock second charge, into which he was duly inducted. In 1824 he was translated to Galston, which living is in the gift of the same patron, and there he lived and laboured during the remainder of his long ministerial career, which in all extended over a period of 63 years. Referring to the floods in Otago, the Wellington Post says : — " It is scarcely reasonable to expect that the wrecked and ruined bridges, and the destruction of public roadways, should be replaced and remedied at the cost of the people of the localities, who have themselves suffered severe loss through the disasters, the extent of which are only partially gathered from the brief telegrams received. What may be still behind, in the shape of dis aster in 1 those districts with which communication is cut off, has yet to be learned ; but one thing is certain, there will be m\ich suffering entailed on many families, and the opening of a flood fund would be a wise as well as a charitable proceeding. We are all, North and South alike, members of one Colonial family, and the suffering of one section should be readily alleviated,by the residents, elsewhere 'who have escaped such a, painful visitation as that which large country districts in the South have undergone." Regarding some of the nice localities in Wellington, the Chronicle says :— ln a .narrow street a few, yards in' length are some twenty dens, oyercrowded with. Maoris, half-castes, vagrants, boys, pros-, titutes, and the scum of society. . There crime and drunkenness ; breed,' and festive orgies of a most disgraceful character take place. '■ At night the dens are filled with a mixture of tipsy Maoris, superannuated old prostitutes,; and squalling, children. The huts are filthy in the extreme, overrun with and reeking with various abominations. Here, drunken men [, are decoyed and robbed ; '."here all the abominations of Sodom and Gomorrah are perpetrated. ; It, is no uncommon thing for j twenty- Maoris and a .dozen beings, who >'* once white women, but who&e visageswould rather, proclaim them, denizens of the internal regions 5 let loose' , to prowl about, to assemble: arid indulge 'in orgies, ; t in which- stale ;. beer,' foul 'tobacco fumes; and an unwholesome ;atmosphere. combine in .ihorejdisgusting proportions than inlthe lowest -ipart; of any, gin.: iane. of. Xondon.7 notoriety. : ; ' ! : r |iolic6'. t 'TiaY^ 'done^ all in. i theirVpowe^ jimtU^he 1 houses, ake^vaod^iidjihp i 'l6^ii£^ :s;wep^j^ Eradicate' exiatiriff :evils>muHi*s.Kf>?mii+Jeft« : ;