Local & General News.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 25, 4 August 1883, Page 2

Local & General News.

The excess of exports of. American merchandise over the imports during May was estimated at 17,000,000 dols. For an example of pure and unalloyed contempt taW a barber's opiaion of the man who is growing a full beard. The number of illegitimate children born in New Zealand during last yenr whs £>46— Otago heads the list with 162. There were only 19 in TaranakL

in the Gi}.'p3 Lund forests ninny of tho mountain ash, or black uuit trees yield from 8,0; K) to 12.000 palings. Mr Boundy's description of the voyige Home in the Lady Jocelyn will appear in our next issue. For the Mnni'lipster Rifles annual ball, which conies off on the 31st, no off >rt is beincr spared to make it a success. In addition to its own ba>.d, Mr King's from Wanganui, has been secured. The embankments of the Mnkino Bridge in Warnck-street, which had bean greatly undermined by the recent freshets, are Ix-insr put into a proper state of repair by the Borough Council. The school authorities of Juniata, Adams county, Net)., hare introduced reading the daily newspapers in the schools, instead of the readers so long in vogue. The plan is said to work well. The Feilding Blue Ribbon Army purpose holding their first meeting next week. An illustrated lecture will be given, interspersed with singing and recitations. Full particulars will be advertised in Tuesday's issue. The venerable senior and presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal i hurch, Dr Smith, may be said to have been a citizen under every President of the United States. He was fire years old when General Washington died. A man at Illinois has brought a suit for divorce Localise his wife allowed him to go to work on mornings with no other breakfast than eod liver oil, and had bought a piano, which she did not know how to play and had not the means to pay for. The Chairman of the School Committee has been instructed to make enquiry as to the cost of importing into Feilding a number of « ild beasts, or at any rate some beautifully colored illustrations of them, for the use of the scholars. When the train came up from Foxton, last evening, aud neared the station, a horse attached to a buggy belonging to Mr Hughes, of Awahuri, was alarmed at the engine, and bolted for home. It was stopped at Mr Lowers, without damage. The Russian newspaper, the Gaulois, has struck a noval idea in iournalism. It insures all its subscribers against accident, paying £22 J in case of death and a proportionate sum in case of injuries. Even the transient purchaser of a ropy of the Gaulois is insured for the day of tlie purchase. The combined Oroua County team will assemble on the Palmersron football ground to-day, aud play all comers. The team is a strong one and we wish them every success in their contest with Wanganui on Saturday next. We shall probably have a word or two to say of the different members of the team in our next issue. The police of Herde, in Prussia, have issued an edict forbidding the supply of drink to young men who have not attained the age of 17. Under that age, moreover, no one will henceforth be allowed to dance at public halls except in the presence of parents ; while boys are forbidden to smoke in public places until they are 15 years of age. A notice appears in another column from Mr Bishop, general smith, &c who has resolved to give his customers and the public the benefit of his long experience and largely increased stock of all goods in his line of business. Mr Bishop, being a pupil of Professor Sample, is prepared to work on his plans and methods of shoeing for all who desire it A list of the variou s articles Mr Bishop has in stock are publish in the advertisement. We call the attention to the fact that the Feilding business of Mr Mandle, hairdresser, tobacconist, <fcc, will positively close to nijjht. Persons who wish to secure unprecedented bargains in pipes, cigars, tobacco, perfumes, musical instruments, and a host of fancy and useful articles too numerous too mention, will do well to pay the establishment a visit this evening, and avail themselves of the advantages which the popular manager Mr Lyon is prepared to offer. The School Committee last night spoke in very complimentary terms of the courtesy shown to themselves and the teachers by the members of the Education Board, Messrs Carson, Bridge, and Baker, on the occasion of the recent official visit of these gentlemen to the School, and of the fair and satisfactory manner in which they discharged their duties, and reported to the Board. A suggestion was made that the Board should be written to this effect, and the aboved«named gentlemen thanked for their labors, but no motion was pat. From statistics supplied by the Secretary to the local court of Foresters, it appears that the Ancient Onler of For* esters comprised as at 31st December, 1882, 288 districts, 4657 courts, 583,799 benefit members, 13,184 honorary members, court funds, £2,856,985 ; district funds, £345.868. The increase on the year has been 1 district, 70 courts, 198<'O benefit members, 187 honorary members, court funds, £149,303; district funds, £3128. The ord. 3 r in New Zealand comprises 7 districts, 81 courts, 5685 benefit members, 102 honorary members, court funds. £52,262; district funds, £7003. 195 benefit members have been admitted during the year.

I The rehearsal in the Town Hull, last I ni^ht, for the forthcoming Presbyterian Cone prt was a grout success, ns the concci't itself lia> every sign of being. We heard complaints on Thursday . evening of the coldness of the air in the Town fTa.ll, and the culling draught which came from the direction of the stage, nnd which tended much to mar the | enjoyment of the entertainment. Two things would, in our opinion, tend greatly to the comfort of an audience and even actors in the hall. One would be to have an open drain cut round the building, so as to carry off the water which accumulates under it in the winter time, and conduct it into the ditch in the road, and the other to line in some way the back wall, as when a cold wind is blowing in that direction, sitting in the hall simply unbearable. A policeman in one of the country districts in Tasmania observed that the local hostelry was well filled with visitors after hours, and with official zeal swooped down upon the place every eveninc for a fortnight and " cleared the house." His visits suddenly ceased, and the hotel enjoyed an immunity for a couple of months, when again "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold," and scattered all before him. When asked how he accounted for the long respite from the constable's visits and the sudden return of zeal the holelkeeper said, " Well, you see, I had no objection to finding him in free drinks, and a pound-note now and again, but the scoundrel wanted half the takings, and it wasn't good enough."