LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 62, 20 January 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

+ Messrs Stevens and Gorton have forwarded to Wellington 106 bullocks, to be lrilled^and sent Home frozen in the Lady Jocelyn, A statement oras made at tie Palmer* ston Court, on Thursday last, during the hearing of the notorious Palmer and Jones case, to the effect that an account owing to the proprietors -of this journal had been paid twice,! We emphatically deny the '".soft impeachment." I <

We have to acknowledge, with thanks, a complimentary ticket from the Secretary of the Foxton Racing Club. The Borough Council meeting, called for Thursday, the 18th instant, was adjourned until Monday next, the 22nd instant, at 8 p.m. We have to thnnk the Secretary of the Palmerston Choral Society for a complimentary ticket, for the special concert to be held in the Foroster's Hall on Monday the 22nd inst. At the Christchurch Supreme Court sittings on Thursday, Henry Garrett, the notorious convict, received seven years' penal servitude for burglary. The Auckland Union Sash and Door Company's annual balance-sheet shows a profit of £28,313, which, with a balance, leaves £33,130 available for dividend. A dividend equal to 20 per cent, per an- ; num will be payable on February Ist. : A meeting will be held at the State School House, Manchester-street, on Monday next, the 22ud instant, for the purpose of receiving the annual report of the School Committee for the past year, and the election of a School Committee for the current year. The use of Scott's " M ann-ion " as a text book in English literature in the high schools of Ontario has been prohibited by the Educational Department of the province, the Minister of Education, Mr Crooks, holding that it is an immoral work ! The Acting- Governor, Sir James Prmdergast, was, on Thursday last, presented with an address of congratulation on the manner in which he had performed the duties pertaining to his office by the Mayor and Borough Councillors of Wellington. Mr James Hastie, the popular bomface of the Feildiny Hotel, baa recently had the windows of. his hotel furnished with Vcnitian blind, constructed by Mr F. Rowley. The blinds, as a local industry, reflect credit on Mr Jtowley, and add considerably to the appearance of of the hotel. We have to acknowledge the receipt of an exceedingly pretty office calendar from Messrs Stevens and Gorton, tlie wellknown auctioneers, giving the dates for the current year of their various stock sales throughout the Manawatu and Rangitikei districts. The calendar is one of the best we have seen, and should prove a handy guide to stock-dealers, farmers, and others. Mr J. W. Gower and Mr J. G. Wilson (says the Manawatu Herald) were engaged on Thursday in valuing the land near the Manawatu River obtained by the West Coast Railway Company as endowments for the line. This valuation is being made for the purpose of supplying information in connection with the placing of the loan in the London market. In the Sandon district farmers have not generally commenced to cut their crops of grain before Anniversary Jay, the 22nd of January, but harvesting operations there are now in full swing, and the clatter of reaping and binding machines is to be heard everywhere. The crops, on the wlole, look remarkably well considering the dry weather that has prevailed, and the landscape is already dotted with large stacks of wheat and oats. Numerous reapers and binders have been imported into the district this year, and the farmers are receiving personal instructions in their manipulation from a representative sent specially from Christchurch for the purpose. The Inverness Courier of September 23, has an appreciative article on the state of New Zealand, and compliments the Colony upon having entered upon a career of steady progress, with an entire absence of that tendency to over-specula-tion which was common before the financinl crisis of a few years ago. Referring to the frozen meat trade our contemporary observes : — " They are resolved to persevere, and we can in all sincerity wish them success. Experience has proved that the supply of frozen meat can do ho material injury to the meat trade of this country. New Zealand beef and mutton will have its own market, but the homegrown article will always command top prices. Major Llidell, who recently bought an estate on the Awahuri Road, and on ■which he is superintending the enlargement and improvement of the present house, preparatory to the erection of a ' more commodious and substantial one, has made a most fortunate discovery. ' He has not " struck oil," but something far more important for domestic and > pastoral purposes, viz., a magnificent spring of aqua pura. It is situated on ; the bank </£ a creek, not far from the : house, and is only a foot or two below , the surface. The water is without-excep-tion the coolest, purest, and most delicious , we have -seen in the district, while it is '\ very apparent that the supply is practically unlimited, besides which there are • evidences of other springs in the same locality. The site would make a splendid ; one for a brewery, cheese and butter fac- '■ tory, or any otherwhere the oil-important requisite is a full and constant supply of ! pure, <*old water. That this would be! found always on the spot we have named is abundantly evident from its existence i now, after.it drought of almost unprecedented continuance. •

Monday next, the 22nd instant, will be | observed as a public holiday, it being the j anniversary of the foundation of the Wellington Province. King Tawhiao will probably arrive in Feilding on Monday next. The Marton "band has been engaged to accompany the Toyal cortege for a few days. Grain freights to England this season will be reduced to 40s per ton. This is a reduction of 10s from last season, and a consequent profit of 3d per bushel to the farmers. The intelligence received \>y :telegrara that the crops in Lincolnshire have become completely sodden through the late rains will hare the effect of advancing colonial prices. Messrs Stevens and Gorton's sale at Awahuri, yeaterday, was not well attended, and the bidding was consequently dull. Few lots were disposed of. After •the sale, however, several pens were quitted at average rates. The sale of milk by the glass at railway refreshment bars in England is be- \ coming quite general, and deserves to be encouraged, seeing that it is a model temperance beverage — at once nourishing and refreshing. -It is reported that the London and North Western Railway Company have recently bought 500 cows to supply milk to travellers on their system. The system of selling goods on instalments, with the proviso that the seller may seize the articles whenever a single paymeut has been neglected, and that without refunding anything, has received v, blow in an English County Court. The Jud^e described the agreement in common case as most infamous, and ordered a nonsuit, declining to hear the plaintiff's solicitor or to grant a case of appeal. In Ireland there as au ancient prophecy concerning that -country, in which it is predicted that when Easter Sunday falls upon the least of the Annunciation, ..(March 25th.), Ireland is to he released from the control ©f England. Easter will fall, as the Irish people express it, "in our 'Lady's arms," this coming March, but whether the ancient tradition will ■come true or not is merely a matter for •conjecture. The farmers in the Waitara District (says the Taranaki Budget) have saved most of their hay crops in good order, and are now preparing for harvest. The grain crops are looking promising throughout the district, although the wheat is inclined to be a little thin ; yet it is weJl " corned up," and there is every reason to expect a fruitful yield. The season is unusually dry for root crops, and the pastures are beginning to look rather brown. The bush fires have continued to do considerable damage. Six chains of Caldwell's tramway were burned yesterday, and the fire which crossed from Menzie's to Bartholomew's had the effect of stopping the mill for to-day. Near Bunnythorpe the fire raged fiercely and the intense heat drove some of the settlers out of their cottages. Some rata trees were burnt through and fell across the Kimbolton Road, blocking it completely for some hours. The fires still continue with unabated strength. An exchange says: — Late crops are not always a loss or disadvantage to the farmer, as proved in the experience of Mr James Maben, of Sunnyside, near Wyndham, last season. A field of wheat was so late and stunted in the early part of the year that he seriously thought of ploughing up the ground, but wisely, as it afterwards proved, decided upon letting it take its chance. The late rains brought away the growth wonderfully, but too late in the season to -allow the grain to ripen. Mr Maben therefore had to cut it into chaff, perforce, with , the result that it cleared him £12 per acre.