LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 72, 24 February 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The iron bark piles expected for so long to complete the building of the Rangitikei Bridge, went up by train last evening. The Manchester Rifles will parade at the Public Hall this evening, at 7 p.m. Members are requested to parade with all arms and accoutrements. By an advertisement in another column it will be seen that common jurors summoned for the next District Court at Palmerston on Monday, the 261k iast., will not be required to attend. The Governor has extended the time for the enrolling of volunteers to the 31st March. This will enable the officers of the Manchester Rifles to pick up a few desirable recruits. It is said that proceedings are to be taken agaiust a Feilding resident who unwittingly transgressed the Distilleries Act by allowing an ex-brewer to store brewing materials on his premises. The Manawatu Times complains that trade of all kinds is very dull indeed in Palmerston just now, and there are general complaints of slackness. With the change of seasons things are likely to take a turn. We regret to learn that the Horticultural Show at Palmerston, on Thursday, was not so successful as its promoters expected. The remarkably dry season no doubt proved detrimental to the growth of plants and vegetables suitable for exhibition. Sir Arthur Gordon has been appointed Governor of Ceylon. This appointment is most appropriate, for if we may judge from ihe tone of its Press, Ceylon has a most profound iintinntliy to New Zealand. Sir Arthur will be a "kindred spirit." & * Heavy floods were reported j'esW'iday in the Wanganui, B.'in^iiikei, and A.lanawalu s-.mu's. "ihv. damage done by tin; Wangiiiiiii .River is consider iblt\ es .e<;i- ;- ally at the Heads, Mr Dunby, the contractor for the railway works, being a heavy loser, probably of £1000. Mr John Bartholomew planted 19 grains of Indian wheat last year, and has gathered 90 heads, the average yield of each head being 50 grains, equal to say 4,500. Mr Bartholomew purposes making further trials of the growing qualities of this wheat, which, -judging from the above, should prove highly satisfactory. We learn on good authority that a sum of £7,000, applied for under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act for the construction of the Sandon-Carnarvon tramway, has been allotted. This will be good news for our Sandon friends, and will considerably enhance the value of property in that already prosperous district. The Wanganui Chronicle publishes a paragragh as follows.— "Going Ahead. — The Feuding Stab announces that on and after Thursday, the Ist of March it will be published thrice a week instead of twice. The Manchester Block is evidently going ahead, and in congratulating our contemporary on its spirit of progress, we hope that its enterprise will be rewarded." The Property Tax Commissioner announces in another column that the statement of values of properties under the Property Assessment and Rating Acts, 1882, has been deposited at the Feilding Borough Council office for the inspection of the public. This will be a great convenience to persons desirous of knowing how their properties are valued under said Acts. The Clifton Swimming Matches had to postponed in consequence of the heavy floods in the Rangitikei River, which was almost equal to the big flood of last year, and has again carried away large numbers of live stock. The whole of the fourteen who nominated have accepted, consequently when the event takes place there will be an exciting race. It is feared that it will be about a fortnight before the event can take place. A sailor's antipathy to a reverend gentleman as a travelling companion would seem to have some reason in it after all. Five ministers on their way to Auckland, among them, we believe, the Rev H. M. Murray of this town, were left at New Plymouth, a tremendous gale having sprung up just as the surf boat was about to go off to the s.s. Penguin with them. She was obliged to leave the reverend gentlemen "behind, much to the relief it is said, of several superstitious sailors on board. We have been favored with an extract from a private letter,, written by a working man in Ireland to his brother here, which states that he and all his friends are really in fear of their lives unless they join the League, and after doing so are in fear of both the police and their colleagues, who on the least suspicion of their being false to either cause will threaten their lives. The writer is anxious to emigrate to this Colony; but finds that the payments for all children over the number allowed free by the Immigration Department will be so heavy as to preclude the possibility of his coming: Payments for man, wife, and three children will be only about £8, bat the other children cost about £10 each. Thus a poor man with a dozen children could ' not come for less than £100 irrespective I of charge* to and from ports of departure | and arrival. . ■'.■•; ;

Mohammedans regard the defeat vi Arabi as the forerunner of the fall of the Ottoman empire, and the ruin of Islamism. Mr Gregory, of Makino, received a telegram from London, on Thursday last, informing him that his eldest son, who is an artist by profession, had been elected A.R.A. We have to acknowledge receipt of a s?ason ticket from Mr R. S. Smytbe, the oniTgetie agent of Archibald Forbes, tbc distinguished war correspondent and lecturer. Archibald Forbes commences his lectures in Wanganui on Monday next. "We understand that a number of gentlemen propose visiting Wanganui for the purpose of attending these lectures. The ship Lady Jocelyn sailed from Wellington yesterday afternoon with a cargo of frozen meat for London, comprising about 5,800 carcases of sheep, and 88 of cattle, as well as other produce. Scarcely 5 weeks have oeen occupied in the preparation and shipping of this large quantity of meat. The London correspondent of a newspaper, writing of Arabi's letter, says — " Arabi's appeal to England through the Times was a strange looking document when it reached Printing House square. It was written in Arabic, but it was translated in less than an hour by a member of the staff, who is, since the death of Professor Palmer, the greatest Eastern scholar in Europe." Oscar Wilde sailed for England the day after Christmas. Previous to leaving New York he felt into the hands of sharpers, with whom he played till he lost 10G0 dollars, for which he gave his cheque, and then took a cab, drove to the bank, and stopped payment. Oscar evidently was not such a fool as might be supposed. ' v Twenty large tablets, written in different colours on glass and neatly framed, are being executed by Mr B. Gosling to tiie order of the Emigrant and Colonists' Aid Corporal ion for the purpose of advertising their sale of 35,000 acres of land in the Manchester Block. These are to be fixed up at the various railway stations along the line. Some of the tablets are already finished, and both the workmanship and style reflect great credit upou the ability and skill of the artist. MrE. S. Wiggins, an astronomer, of Ottawa, Canada, has written a letter to the Municipal Council of Sydney, staling that one of the most extensive and violent storms of the present century will pass over the Australian Continent, and adjacent seas on the 10th of March next. He says that no vessel, however strong and seaworthy, will be safe in the Australian waters during the said tempest. We only hope that the prediction may prove one of those many which are never fulfilled, or at any rate that the storm will be of a much milder nature than Mr Wiggins seems to anticipate.