Local & General News.

Feilding Star, Volume V, Issue 20, 19 February 1884, Page 2

Local & General News.

The consecration of the new Masonic Hall in Wanganui will take place about the end of March. The Prince of Wales has had the rank of Grand Master, and Past Grand Master ot the order ot Mark Masons conferred upon him. Mr J . H Fry, of Makino, is a candidate for a seat on the Wanganui ducation Board. Messrs P. and J. Bartholomew are the successful tenderers for the supply of timber for the Auckland Railway Station building. Mr James Bull has been harvesting night and day during the full moon. Relays of men and horses, with several reapers and binders worked for a week without any intermission. The crop is even better than usual. A special service to commemorate the conseciation of St. John's Church will be held to-morrow evening at 8 o'clock. The service will be choral, and the Rev. A. Twogood, of Marton, will deliver a sermon. Persons who are in the habit of taking walks in " the green fields" will do wel to keep clear of the racecourse, as a notice appears elsewhere from the secretary of the Feilding Jockey Club that any one trespasses thereon will be prosecuted. One of those singular freaks to which nature occasionally gives way occurred at Mr McGlashan's on Saturday last, when a cat gave birth to a kitten which had only three legs. It was immediately destroyed. The representative of the Wellington Meat Preserving Company informs us that the average number of sheep killed in Wellington during the past and presen' month, is over six thousand per week, and that no steamer leaves Wanganui Foxton, or Rnngitikei without a deel load of live stock for the company. Mr Cleary again took charge of thr Railway Station yesterday, and M Robinson, who had relieved Mr Clearv took his departure by "the 6.30 train fo Wangnnui. Mr Robinson managed t< earn the good opinion of everyone wit) whom he came in contact during hi> brief visit.

A Caledonian Society has been established in Wanganni. Parliament has been still further prorogued to Thursday, the 17th April next. R. Ward, Esq., has been appointed returning officer for the Native Licencing District of Upper Wanganui. Mr Andrew Duncan Thompson has ' been appointed clerk of the Licensing Committees at Ashurst and Halcombe. MaiorAtkinsonwill.it is understood, shortly address his constituents, after which he will visit the principal places in the colony, and deliver addresses on federation. We have to acknowledge receipt of a circular from Mr G. V. Bate, of Hawera, in which he intimates that he has consented to stand for one of the vacancies in the Education Board. According to the " Taranaki Herald," the Hon. Mr Dick used to be custodian of Napoleon's tomb at St. Helena, and was wont to announce to tourists — " This w-a-y to the t-o-o-m-b. This w-a-y to the t-o-o-m-b." An attache of the French legation in London, being interviewed on January 19, said that France is determined to take Bacninh at all cost. When that is accomplished, she would be ready to accept the mediation of England and the United States. The railway platform is beginning to assume quite a gay appearance from the various colored advertising boards and placards affixed by Messrs Summers and Mayhew, who have the contract for advertising on the railway line from New Plymouth to Foxton. We are glad to notice the success they are achieving in in this new line of business, and commend the energy they are throwing into it. The Auckland Star informs us that the well-known operatic impressario, Martin Simonsen, was a through passenger for Sydney by the mail steamer Zealandia. Mr Simonsen was upon crutches. It appears that very recently a lady dropped her thimble while in his company. He stooped to pick it up, and in so doing strained one of his legs so badly that he has been unable to walk since without the aid of crutches. We have been shown the plans and specifications for the erection of the Makino Cheese and Butter Factory as prepared by the architects, Messrs Atkim and Clere. We will reserve a description of the buildings, plant. &c, until they are finished, but would remind contractors that tenders for the work must be left at Mr Penberthy's store, at Makino, by 5 p.m. to-morrow, addressed to the Chairman of the Directors, as per instructions in the advertisement. With reference to Mr Warner's query, published in our Saturday's issue, as to whether a pile 12 x 12, all heart, can be cut out of an 18-inches log. Mr H. Ashworth answers " Yes." He says it has been done, and can be done again, viz, where a totara log is found lying in the bush, with the sap wood all decayed away, leaving the leg all heart. It cannot, however, a« he says, be done from a green log or one of which no part is decayed, which we imagine is Mr Warner's assumption. Writing to the Times, Mr Tuppin draws attention to the fact that the gorgeous gin palaces in the East of London are largely owned by the great brewing and distilling firms, some of whose members are loader- in all philanthropic movement s for the benefit of the residum. His device for ameleorating the condition of the miserables of Whitechapel and the Dials, is the voluntary abandonment by these gentlemen of four-fifths of their licenses, and the conversion of the drink houses thus sacrificed into abodes of temperance refreshment and healthful recreation. The "London Post's" Rome correspondent telegraphs, January 3, that the Pope's secretary, Monsignor Boccalli, opened a letter from America addressed to Leo XIII., containing Fenian threats. Should the Pope continue supporting England against the national cause in Ireland, the letter states the protection which the Italian Government gives the Pope, who is now the only sovereign safe from dynamite, will be of no avail. The Pope is warned there are priests he is bound to receive, who will obtain access to his presence to sustain the cause of the Irish against oppression.