Local & General News.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 98, 1 May 1883, Page 2

Local & General News.

-x* The Melbourne Age now circulates ! 50,0(>0 copies daily. Ten years ago the j number was IT.OX). J Four thousand mulberry trees for silk worm culture are flourishing at the Thames. It is now known that the cause of the trucks getting ofE the line was thafc the larrikins who were about on Saturday night and Sunday, had placed obstructions before the wheels of the trucks. When the 7.30 a.m. was picking up some timber irucks yesterday morning the last one was by some means put off the metals. The truck was eased of its load during the day and replaced. A ratepayer at Saodon decliued to vote in favor of the Foxton-Sandon tramway scheme because he feared that the motor engine would " skear the hens from off their nests in the furze bushes along side the road." New Guinea, just annexed by Queensland, is the largest island in the world excepting Australia. It is about 1,200 miles in length, and its greatest width is over 300 miles. The population is supposed to be about 800,000. Messrs Bull, Bailey, and Bartholomew are now loading the Awarua afc Wanganui with timber for Lyttelton ; the cargo will amount to 36,000 feet. Messrs P. and J. Bartholomew are loading the Hauraki also at Wanganui, for the Waitara, wilh sawu timber. The local larrikin element was Very busily at work iv several parts of the town on Saturday night last. The matter is, however, iv the hands of the police authorities, and some " running in" is likely to be the result. A singular potatoe has been unearthed on the property of Mr A. McDonald, of Awahuri. It is of the exact pattern of the left human hand, hollowed in shape, with the thumb and four fingers, which strange to say are accurately represented in their proportionate lengths. We regret to have to record the death of Mrs Charles Potts, of Makino, which took place early on Sunday morning last. Deceased leaves a widower and nine small children to mourn her loss. The funeral of Mrs Potts took place this afternoon, and was attended by a goodly number of friends of the family. We gather from the Inanguhua Herald that not the slightest trace has been discovered of the missing coffin containing the remains of a dead Chinaman, which was stolen from the Reefton cemetery some days ago. It is supposed that some colled or of natural curiosities has been at work in order to complete his collection. We learn that Messrs Warne and Beard have resigned the lesseeship of the sawmill at Ashurst, belonging to the Eand 0. Aid Corporation, and that the latter have appointed ts manager Mr Edward Potts, formerly of Wairarapa, and lately assistant to his brother, Mr C. Potts, of the Makino Planing and Moulding mill. A speaker at a Blue Ribbon Army meeting the other night, ia Wellington, in computing (he number of publichouses in Great Britain at ISO.OOO, with nn average frontage of 36 feet, said they would form a street 600 miles in length. He further stated that the £140,000,000 sterling spent in drink was £10,000,000 more than for house rent and clothing put together, and was equal to 36 sovereigns on every letter of the Bible. The agricultural depression in England has been aggravated during the past year by the fall in the price of home grown wool. The Bradford Observer, in its annual yearly review of the wool trade, states that it is 32 years sincj the price has been so low as at present. For the 32 years the average price of " Lincoln hogs" has been 1 s 6}d per lb ; the average prioe for the past year was only 11 J I per lb. This is a fall of 7d per lb, or over 38 per cent A man named Charles Bail, carter, iv the employ of Messrs Roots and Co., i had a narrow escape of b"ing killed on Saturday last. He was sitting on a dray containing a small load of light timber, and was driving the horse from near the siding on to the road in an oblique direction, when, as one of the wheels dropped into the water-table, a depth of about 18 inches, the dray and horse turned completely topsy-turvy with the driver underneath, who almost miraculously escaped with very slignt injuries. A settler named Julius Simonaon, who resides near Campbelltown, was the victim of a singularly painful accident on Saturday last. He had placed a ladder to ascend from lhe kitchen of his dwelling iuto the loft above, and after going up one or two rungs, the ladder slipped. To save himself from falling he grasped the edge of the opening, and in doing so his hand was pierced by a large rusty nail. The wp ; ght of his body dragged itthrough the flesh and sinews, inflicting a hideous wound .so severe as to make ihe services of a surgeon immediately necessary. The wound was temporarily dressed and the parent procoedeJ to Bulls, where the necessury operation was performed by a surgeon.

j i'he M-ii-l.,orough Daiiy limes cum- i | phdiis that game must be scarce this year as the usual editorial hamper has not been received. This appears very like a hint, Some of tho larrikins who were out a few evenings ago removed from the timber yard of Messrs P. nnd J. Bartholomew a pair of trolly wheels, and have t thereby caused considerable inconvenience [ and loss of time. Messrs Bartholomew have determined to prosecute any persons found trespassing in their yard in the future, and if this example is followed by the railway authorities, a few examples will soon be marie that will have a deter- - rent effect on mischevious persons who frequent these places at illegal hours. An old man would not believe that he could hear his wife talk five miles by telephone. His better-half was in a country store several miles away, where there was a telephone, and the sceptic was also in a place where there was a similar instrument, and on being told how to operate it, he walked boldly up and shouted : — "Hello, Sarah !" At that instant lightning struck the telephone wire and knocked the old man down, and as he scrambled to his feet, he excitedly cried, "That's Sarah every time!"