Local & General News.

Feilding Star, Volume V, Issue 14, 5 February 1884, Page 2

Local & General News.

m, Mr J. R. Harper's advertisement will appear in our next issue. There is an advance of £1 per ton in flour in Feilding. Tlie Presbyterians in Woodville are taking steps towards the erection of a church. Notice of the departure of the Jane Douglas from Foxton will be regularly posted at the Stab ofiice from and after this date. The schoolmaster appointed tb take charge of the Beaconsfleld school, Mr Smith, went up to the scene of his future labors on Sunday last. We aae glad to know that yesterday | was a " Splendid Fourth " in Feilding; all engagements having been met with the most commendable punctuality. The buyers of sections at Kawhia have already commenced building operations. During the last week three steamers have visited the harbor timber laden. A large hotel is in course of erection. There will be a meeting of the parishioners of St. John's this evening at 8 o'clock at the Corporation .barracks for the election of a people's churchwarden, The Earl of Rosebery haa given 50 guineas for two prizes at the Sydriey University— one on the future state, and the other en the growth of the Australasian Colonies. . ■ i; :■ Some alarm is being excited in the minds of tea drinkers by the prospect of a considsrable advance in the price v of this article by the complications between France and China. At the Feilding R.M; Court yesterday. Ratima Pekama, charged on the 26th of January with rape on Ana Tura Hoeta at Awahuri on the 24th, and remanded on bail, made his appearance before H. L. Sherwill Esq. J.P. Constable Price explained to the Bench that he had made due ehquireis into the baseband satisfied from the information he had gained, that there was no evidence to convict the accused. Mr Perkins who appeared for the prisoner, said that being so he sheuld ask for the charge to te withdrawn. Const able Price having concurred, His Worship said he had no alternative, but to grant the withdrawal, whioh was accordingly done, and the accused left the court.* AS - '.■.:.• • • -A-' .-■-• ■••''•■ ' - It isbetter to plant onion sets in the fall than to wait until spring. Aside from tbe gain of time by doing it in autumn, the risk of keeping them in good condition is avoided. ;TJiey should not. be planted until next month, or until so late that "the tops j will not start* into growth. At this. season the soil is warm; and mellow, and the work can be donie with, much more; ■comfort than in spring. ' The sets will commence their growth very, early, and be muoh-; in advaneeiofithose plaated in the spring; Those who wish to r raise their own onion seed,, should' select the biilbV and /plant them out in •autumn, taking care .-to cover them i with at lea at- three' inches* of soil-— American Agriculturalist. .

Union Bank £1 notes altered into £5 have been discovered in circulation in Dunedin. We regret to learn that the Bishop of Wellington, who was in Palmerston yestorday, is not in the enjoyment of good health. The Prince of Wales has been re-elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free Masons, England. On paying a surprise visit to the Masterton Hospital lately, Dr Grabham found no patients in the institution. Had they heard he was coming ? Last year John Wannamaker, of Philadelphia, gave £40,000 for advertising purposes, but it made £200,000 for him in trade, and he still thinks well of the newspapers. It is understood that the division of the purchase money of the Otamakapua Block will be made either to-day or tomorrow in Marton. We remind our readers of the great auction sale of drapery, and other goods, which will take place to-morrow at Fraser Bros, store, Awahuri. It is probable that Mr Slipper, the state schoolmaster in charge at Taonui, who succeeded Mr Seaton, will conduct Church of England service in that locality, as a lay reader. It is proposed to erect a mausoleum over the remains of the late Father Moreau. The Manawatu settlers will contribute liberally to this as an evidence of the respect in which they held the deceased gentleman. Docking horses has been declared unlawful in England, where one authority testified in court that it give* a great deal of pain to the poor animal, and sometimes causes lock-jo w or general tetanus. The agent for the Australian Mutual Provident Association in Feilding, Mr K. Goodbehere, has handed us a copy of the almanac of the society for the current year. It is well got up and contains a large amount, of very useful information. Those bankrupts in Gisborne who availed themselves of the expiring Act last year, have been refused their discharge by their creditors. This shows that <: the worm will turn," but it does'nt prove that there is any good to be gained by " turning," after all. MrW. C. Smith, M.H.R., stated at the meeting at Woodville the other day that in his opinion the county «ystem had been a failure so far as Waipawa was concerned. No one will disagree .with that opinion. But how fir has the failure been due to Mr Smith's actions in and out of the County Council P In a notice published in a recent issue anent the Adelaide Wine Vaults, of Mr F.J.Preston, wine merchant Wellington, we inadvertently wrote that European wines were the specialty of this gentleman's business ; what we intended to say was that his Australian wines were the best imported, into the New Zealand market, an i were worthy of special notice..