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Dunstan Times, Issue 1086, 23 March 1883, Page 2

The usual two-monthly meeting of the County Council is convened for Wednesday next, the 28th inst.

As Mr Pyke is almost sure to visit the Blacks portion of his electoral district during his visit up country, the opportunity should not be lost by the residents to bring under his notice the desirability of connecting Tinkers with Blacks township by telephone. Many places of far less importance have, or are promised, the advantages of telephonic communication, and we see no reason why a district so important as that of Tinkers, or more properly speaking Matakanui, [should be left out in the cold. The necessity of it only wants to bo put straight, and wo feel pretty well assured the request will be granted. Mr Vincent Pyke, M.H.R., for the Dun. stan District, is announced to arrive at Roxburgh this day, where he will address the electors of that part of his electorate in the evening; from thence he will proceed on the following day (Saturday) to Alexandra, but whether he will give an address there it has not transpired. On Monday following he will be in Clyde, where, in the evening, he will deliver a lecture, the subject chosen being “The Track that Pyke Took,” ' when we hope to see a laige attendance as from Mr Pyke’s wonderful versatility and apt powers of description the lecture is bound to be amusing. The opportunity, moreover, will be a good one to bring under his notice any question affecting the welfare of the district that is like to he discussed during the comings session of Parliament. y Arrowtown and Macetown being now connected by telephone persons resident in any part of the country can now communicate direct with there by telegraph, first to Arrowtown, from whence it is transmitted by telephone. We regret to announce the death on the 16th, of Mr James Paget, of Poverty Beach, near Alexandra. The deceased was born at Alexandra in June IBG3, and ivas probably the oldest native of the town. The funeral took place on Sunday last, when a large concourse of people attended to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory. The local band, of which the deceased had I been one of the oldest members, accom- S panied the procession to the cemetery, playing the “ Dead March,” aud the sad stains | aroused feelings of regret for the young life t cut off at the beginning of manhood. The ! burial service was read by the Rev father 1 Sheehan in a very impressive manner, and many eyes were moist when the earth closed [ over the last remains. The Alexandra Dramatic Club gave another of their performances on the 16th ! inst, to only a moderate house. The dull I times and various other causes prevented such a large gathering as usually attends the performances of the Club, but those present expressed themselves highly gratified. The performance commenced with a r© '.ling from the “ Merchant of Venice” by members of the C.uh. after which there was an interlude consisting of vocal and instrumental music, and concluded with the I laughable farce of the “Sudden Arrival.” I The pieces were put on the stage with the dub s usual attention to details, anti everything went off without a hitch The oer- ! fonnance was to lowed by a dance at which | a large number disported themselves until the small hours of the morning. Mr Kedy, one of 4 he victims of the Hawthorn railway accident, has just been awarded ±’3750 damages, aud Mr H. Williams £250. M-j.ir Tucker, of the Salvation Army, who was arrested last month while parading the streets, has been sentenced to one month’s imprisonment, and four of his colleagues have been fined at Bombay. Tho native game shooting season commences on Monday, April 2nd. It is anticipated that fully 1400 voluntyera will take part in the review at Inve: • cargill on Easter Monday. The Bishop of Ballarat (Victoria), who is at present in England, is reported to have said at a meeting held at Exeter :—■ 1 1 feel sometimes that if there were some crusade to sweep the Turks from off the face of the earth, I would for a time put off my robe, buckle a sword on my side, swing a gun to myjshoulder, and go and help that crusade.” The Tipperary Gold-Mining Company’s (Macetown) crushing for the last month was a cake of smelted gold weighing 929iz., of which the lucky shareholders receive w dividend of 2s per 12,000 th share, equal . is£2 per £lO share. A deputation of contractors waited on the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales and stated that with the works on hand they would require 6000 labourers, and urged upon the Government to at once arrange for the introduction of 10,000 unskilled labourers to supply the demand. Late telegrams from England state a determined attempt to assassinate Lady Florence Dixie has been made by men disguised as women, as she was walking in tho grounds of her private residence at Windsor. Tho cricket match that was to have been played at Clyde to-day, has fallen through, owing to tho Cromwell (youths not being able to raise an eleven. ■ To crush England and her various indus tries seems to be the only one desire of sonio sections of the American people, and no effort involving whatever amount of cost or danger evidently will stop them in their attempts. The very latest idea is to freeze her out with icebergs, and strange and almost incredible as it may seem, yet lor some years past a party of men employed by a ring of “ American Capitalists ” have been engaged in blasting off with dynamite large masses of the frozen sea off the icebound coast of Greenland, which when dislodged traverse tho ocean southwards, and melt in the seas off tho western coasts of the British Isle, and thus produce the severe weather that has proved so disastrous to tho harvests these few years past. Tho next I idea, we expect, will bo to simultaneously dam «p the English and Irish Channels and swamp her.

The Illustrated New Zealander for the month of March is a very good number and interesting. The supplement is illustrative of the late regal visit to Dunedin, the centre being a likeness of Sir William Jervois. Mr Harrington, of Blacks, met with a heavy loss on Tuesday morning last by thfe death of his Clydesdale entire horse, 11 Ben Lomond.” On the Saturday previous the day of the Agricultural Show the horse was looking in splendid heart, and as frisky as a kitten. His death was accordingly sudden, and to an extent unaccountable. A great fire has occurred at Deniliquin, on March 17, resulting in the destruction of four principal shops in the town. The loss of property is estimated at £SOOO, which was only partially insured. The walking match at Sydney, between Edwards and O’Leary, has resulted in a victory for the Australian, "i The hearing of the case of Jeremiah Murphy, formerly a clergyman of the Church of England, wherein Mrs Murphy prayed that the defendant (herjhuaband) might be bound over'to* keep the peace, was resumed at the Resident ’ Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, on the I4th March. Mrs Murphy continued her evidence, and stated that her husband had taken a trip to England, and on his) return had been appointed to the cure of Palmerston North. When he left Wellington for that place in steamer he was under the influence of liquor, and after conducting service one Sunday at that place he returned to Wellington. About three weeks ago she and her free children were without food, and when she said something to him about ap. plying to the Benevolent Institution fo r relief, he said that if she did *• there would be six deaths in the house.” He had threatened to “do" for her, and also on more than one occasion brandished a razor over her head. He had threatened his wife when sober as well as when drunk, and he had also used personal violence towards her. She had given instructions to her solicitor to procure a judicial separation. His Worship did not think that sufficient ground had been shown to warrant him in ordering the defendant to find sureties for his good behaviour, and dismissed the information. Many stories are going the rounds about the ’recently.decease cl judge, Mr Baron Martin, ono of which is worth transcribing. A witness who was giving evidence in the north country interspersed h’s remarks with so many “ Says 1,” and “ Says he,” that it was difficult to understand him. Accordingly the Judge himself took the witness in hand, and asked him testate exactly what had passed. “ I said I would not have the pig,” repeated the witness. “ Well,” said the Judge, “ and what was the answer?” “Hesaid he had been keeping the pig for me, and that he—” “ No, no,” interposed the Judge, “hecould not have said that ; he spoke in the first person.” “No, my lord, I was the first person that spoke,” insisted the witness. “I mean this ; don’t bring in a third person.” “There was "no third person, my lord ; only him and me.” The Judge was growirritated. “Look here, my good fellow,” he remarked ; “ he did not say he had been keeping the pip. He said, ‘ I have been keeping it.”’ “I assure you, my lord, there was no mention of your lordship’s name. We’re on two different stories, mv lord. There was no third person, and if there had been anything said about your lordship, I should have heard it.” The Judge could make nothing out of the witness, and the Court was convulsed with laughter, in which he presentlyjwas obliged to join. An Argus cablegram states that the mysterious “Number One,”whom the informer Carey has spoken of as being the head of the Phcenix Park assassins, is believed to be General Milne, an ex-officer of the United States Army, Mr Beetham at Christchurch on Thursday gave creditors a wholesome lesson on the question of giving credit, says the Lyttelton Times. He said that the system was abused to a great extent, and then persons came to the Court expecting an order to be made for debtor’s imprisonment without any proof of competency to pay the debt They had tl e remedy in their own hands in not giving credit. In a subsequent case Mr asked the plaintiff if he expected that, without any reasonable evidence to show that the defendant was able to pay the amount of the debt, the Bench would make an order for imprisonment, and reminded him that the present enactments abolished imprisonment for debt except in the event of being able to pay and refusing, and in cases of fraud. Speaking of the floods in Germ any, the Home News says :—“ A general subsidence of the waters of the Rhine and its affluents into their ordinary channels has not been followed by the immediate relief of the riparian inhabitants who were driven from their homes by the recent floods On all sides the torrents have worked ruin and devastation on the lands and houses of the farmers, who, but for the prompt, assistance afforded them by their neighbors, would have been only saved from drowning to perish by starvation. The Emperor has contributed a sum of six hundred thousand marks towards the fund for their sustenance, and throughout Germany subscriptions are being raised on their behalf also, In Hungary the effects of the rains have been hardly less terrible. In the town of Raab the water rose to a height of 10 feet, and it was only by the most desperate exertions that the lives of the inhabitants were saved. To add to their misery, when the food was at its worst, a severe frost set in, forming a thick ernat of ice, which greatly impeded the work of the steameis employed in rescuing the people. It is estimated that in the district of Raab 400 bonnes have been demolished, and that 10,000 people are left homeless,”

A reward of £IOOO has been offered for information that will lead to the arrest of the guilty parties concerned in the explosion at the Local Government Board and the London Times. Great precautions are now being taken to prevent further outrages, the military guards at the various Ministerial offices and the Houses of Parliament having been doubled. The attempt to blow np the Government offices with dynamite was made by placing the explosive on the balustrade outside the portion of the building occupied by the Local Government Department, the basement of which was entirely wrecked by the explosion. No lives were lost. In the attempt to blow up the publishing department of the Times, something went wrong with the vessel containing the 'explosive, and so the attempt failed. The London Press generally regard these attempts as a response on the part of the Fenians to the rejection by the House of Commons of Mr Parnell’s suggestion for the amendment of the Land Bill. Firm and active demand prevailed at the London wool sales last week, 25,000 bales being catalogued. “ Can a tradesman safely give credit to a female customer, is a question,” says a legal correspondent of the Pali Mall Gazette, “ which appears to arise under theJMarried Women’s Property Act, 1882. When a married woman orders goods she is’fhy statute deemed to bind her separate property, ‘unless the contrary be shown.’ Previous to the Act, which came into force on the first day of the year, it was just the reverse. Consequently, a tradesman will have to ask himself, ‘ls my customer a married woman t ’ and, in the event of his being satisfied that this is so, he will have to consider whether she is pledging her husband’s credit so as to exempt her ‘ separate estate.’ Now, if she is buying what could under no circumstances be considered a ‘necessary,’.suitable to her station,’ he may presume that she is not pledging her husband’s credit; and then, if the unfortunate tradesman wishes to be quite safe, he should ascertain if she has any separate property to bind. Hence cash with order or on delivery will bo the only sate rule in the future,”