Local & General News.

Feilding Star, Volume V, Issue 46, 19 April 1884, Page 2

Local & General News.

—^ — ■ Nominations of horses for the Palmerston Quean's Birthday Meeting must be handed to the Secretary by Monday next, at 8 p.m. * On Thursday night last a woman and a child were nearly driven over in Man-chester-Street by a vehicle without lights. We suppose Borough Councillors intend waiting until mortal injury is done to k some one before they take any action towards enforcing the bye-law referring to vehicles without lights. The attention of the members of the Feilding Jockey Club is called to the meeting of the Club to be held at the Empire Hotel to-night, at 8 o'clock. As the business is of urgent importance, and a dispute arising out of one ef the races on Monday last is to be oonsidered and settled, it is hoped every member will feel it his duty to attend.

Says the Woodville Examiner :— Messrs Stevens and Gorton intend ex- • tending their business to Woodville once . the Lower Ferry bridge is completed. J A man named Watson was arrested yesterday by Detective Benjamin, at Turakina, on a charge of forging and uttering cheques at Halcombe and Palmerston. The Rev. Mr Jones will conduct service at Christ Church, Wanganui, on Sunday next, morning and evening, and his place will be filled by the Rev. Mr Tudor who will preach here. A paddock of oats near Hawera, threshed out the other day, yielded 8) bushels to the aore ; but tbis is beaten by a paddock in Canterbury, which yielded 109 bushels per acre. The writer of a long letter in the Times predicts that the Recidivistes Bill will compel the colonies to : seize New Caledonia, and commence a struggle for mastery in the Pacific. The London " Sportsman " has been reprinting iu extenso the interesting articles upon the breeding of thoroughbred stock in the colonies which recently appeared in tho Canterbury Times. Douglas Jerrold at a party noticed a doctor, in sombre blaek, waltsing with a young lady dressed in silk of brilliant blue. "As I live," exclaimed Jerrold, •' there's a blue pill dancing with a black draught." Mile. Andre is 3 years old ; she is playing with her doll, and in her talk with it she calls herself a lady. " You a lady?" says ene of the friends present, purposely to bother her. " Certainly lam a lady. I already thrash my Uttle one !" We are pleased to learn that Mr Coker, the stationmaster at Palmerston, has received a well-deserved promotion. The future sphere of his duties will be New Plymouth, where we have no doubt he will be as successful and popular as in Palmers ton. " There trere giants in those days." In November last, Patrick William O'Brien, the Irish giant, was married at Pittsburg to Christiana D. Dunz, the German giantess. The wedding-ring was five inches in circumference, and the b rido's cake measured nine feet round. A modern Elisha seems to live near Peterhead, in tho person of a U.P. minis ter named Lennox. This gentleman the other day competed with a local farmer to see which was the better ploughman. Several other competitors also came forward, but the minister heat the whole lot. The consecration ceremonies at the new Masonic Hall, Wanscauui, yesterday were largely attended. Upwards of one hundred ladies were present in the hall during the ceremony, and their presence . gave considerable eclat to the proceedings. The members of the craft mustered in force, nearly two hundred having assembled. Lodges in every part of the district and colouy were represented. The Nelson Mail publishes the agricultural statistics for the Nelson district compilod from the returns mado in February last, which shows that the total quantity of land devoted to the growth of hops in the town, Waimea, Motueka, and Golden Bay is 954 acres, viz., 66 in the town, 771 injthe Waimea and Motueka, and 117 in the Takaka and Aorere districts. The timber for the enlargement of the State School buildings is now on the ground, and the contractors for the work, Messrs Watts and Bilderbeck, commenced operations yesterday morning The additions to'be 'made wefrfe Very much needed, and that the' work has been entrusted to the above-named builders is a sufficient guarantee that it will be executed in a manner in. every way satisfactory, j The erection at the corner of Railway Line Road and Sherwill-street, of the new dwelling house for Mr L. A. Caldwell, has been completed by Messrs Holland and Son. The building is a commodious and substantial one, and much improves the appearance of the locality mentioned. Now that the road is being metalled, other buildings and improvements along the line, are we hear, in contemplation. The building in Grey-street which has been known and used as the Brethrens' Chapel or meeting-house almost ever since Feilding became a settlement, has recently been closed as such, and we hear will in future be used for the storage of goods by one of our leading tradesmen. The last service in the building was held on Sunday, and Mr Roots and bis fiock will in future worship in the large white house near the Makino station. We are pleased to find that onr Public Library and Reading Roam continues to bo well patronised. The demand on the somewhat limited dimensions of the latter gradually increases, and will be sure to do so as the winter evenings come on. The table is also far ton small for the numerous papers and periodicals placed upon it, and it will sooner er later become a question "of affording greater accommodation for the visitors to the room. Persons who wish to secure front seats at the Town Hall on the night of any special attraction will do well to make up their minds to be in time. On the occasion of the entertainment by the Feilding Variety Company on Monday evening last all the front seats were filled some while before the time appointed for commencing, and many persons coming later who wished front seats had to take back ones. We give this hint to those who are anxious to secure good places at the Willmott performance on Monday evening next.

The Catholics of England have completed arrangements to begin the erection of a cathedral in Westminister, to cost over half a million sterling, and it is to be erected within a stone's throw of Victoria station. The Earl of Roseberry, in the House of Lords, speaking on the Recidiviste question, expressed his astonishment at the languid interest with which England regarded the colonies, and he urged Parliament; to exhibit sympathy in the matter. " I wish to be excused, your Honor, said a man who had been summoned on ' a jury. " May it please your Honor, I , owe two years' subscription on my news- j paper, and I havo just got a little money ; and want to hunt up the collector and pay him." " You are excused," said the judge, "a man who can lie like that is not fit to be on a jury." We are glad to notice that the unfortunate man who has been perambulating the Feilding streets for the past week or two in a state of mental derangement has shifted his quarters to Wanganui. In a few days we may expect to see a notice of " another lunatic from Wanganui " in the Wellington papers. We havo sampled from the wood a new brew ef ginger wine manufactured by Messrs Summers and Mayhew, and feel bound to pronounce it excellent. It is guaranteed to be genuine, containing nothing of a deleterious nature, and to be not only a harmless, but a very wholesome beverage. When it has been a little time in bottle we believe its quality will be really first class. A young lady, reading in a newspaper the other day of a girl having been made erazy by a sudden kiss, called the attention of her uncle, who was in the room, to this singular occurrence, whereupon the old gentleman gruffly demanded what the fool had gone crazy for. "What did she go crazy forP" archly returned the ingenious maiden, " Why, for more, I suppose." In his address to his constituents at Dunedin, Mr Bathgate said that during the past year the commercial depression was intensified, families were drifting into ' poverty, working men were leaving the district, there were houses to let in every ! part of Dunedin. Some unfortunates had mortgaged their properties, and in many cases were not able to pay the interest, the result being that their houses and lands were submitted to public auction. On one day last week there were 13 such properties advertised, and there were no buyers. Such a state of things had never occurred during the 20 years he had been in the colony. Mr E. Dixon, the bibulous and withal somewhat poetic and dramatic knight of the scissors who had recently added some amount of notoriety to his name by his gratuitous performajices in our streets has, ifc appears, sought fresh fields for the display of his talents. His antics were of such a peculiar nature that he was ordered to be arrested as a lunatic. Having, however, apparently got scent of his being wanted, he appears to have had sense enough l#ft to " clear " rather than cultivate too intimately the acquaintance of our Constable aud a J.P. Let us hope the talents of Ebenezer will be better appreciated in his next sphere of action than they seem to have been bj the order-loving folk of Feilding. For cool impudence commend us to some Feilding Good Templars who vrere at the Gorge on Easter Monday. A Palmerston party had tied their buggy up and placed some bottles of ale in the river to cool near the buggy, but the Blue Ribboners, with a Vandalistic spirit, spotted the ale and broke every bottle. They were seen by a lady of the party, and oc being interviewed admitted what they had done, but justified themselves by saying they " didn't believe in that kind of tack." The gentlemen whose lunch was spoiled took it coolly considering, but told them it was a piece of impudence, and that they were fortunate in not having a oourt ease. Such a result would have served them right. — Manawatu Times.