Local & General "News.

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 97, 31 January 1885, Page 2

Local & General News.

We regret to learn that Mr W. E. Chamberlain is so seriously ill that his recovery is now looked upon as impossible. We have to acknowledge receipt of a copy of the New Zealand Farmer, Bee and Poultry Journal, for which Mr H. I. Jones, of Wanganui, is agent. A general meeting of the members of Jockey Club will be held on Thursday next at the Feilding Hotel to receive report and elect officers.

A meeting of the council of the Manchester Rifles was called for last night, but lapsed for want of a quorum. Captain Macarthur and Vols. Haybittle and Kirton were the only members who attended. A petition is in course of signature asking the Mayor to call a public meeting to discuss matters in connection with the formation of a Small Farm Association to take up land in some of the Government blocks now open for selection. It is probable that the Borough Council may find it necessary to revise the Borough Bye-laws, to make them consistent with several clauses in the Police Offences Act, and to expunge a clause said by the Borough solicitor to be ultra vires. Mr C. S. Read, M. P., is outspoken for a Conservative. He advocates a reform of the House of Lords by the creation of life peers. He also suggested that it would be well to exclude from the peerage some scapegraces, a few of whom should be in the pillory, and others, perhaps, in penal servitude. A few days ago the body of an infant was found preserved in spirits in a jar, on the premises of Mr Loasby, a chemist, of Wanganui. Dr Earle has examined it, and in his opinion the child had breathed. It weighs now about five pounds, and to all appearances has been in preservation for about two years. An inquest will be held. The remains must have been on the premises long before Mr Loasby took possession. Mr Amos Burr has returned from the Otamakapua, whence he went, a few days ago, to select land for the Manawatu Special Settlement. He informs us that a block of land containing 10,000 acres has been fixed on, which is situated next the Kiwitea Block, bounded on the east by the Oroua river, on the west by the Kiwitea stream, running five miles north. The surveyors' pegs were put in on the 26th instant. The land is of first-class quality. Messrs Daw and Worsfold's brakes have been in great demand during this week. On Tuesday they were engaged in taking visitors to a social party at Awahuri, on Thursday taking a party to the Gorge and several of the persons concerned in the Blackmore case to Palmerston. To-day they conveyed two picnic parties to Kiwitea. In addition to the brakes, their buggies have also been engaged in conveying persons to various parts of the district. As the Mayor, one or two Councillors, and the Town Clerk, were absent on the Blackmore case, the last-named having the minute book and other documents with him, no business could be transacted at the Borough Council meeting on Thursday evening. The most that could be done was for those members present to pass a resolution for adjournment, and it was resolvod that the Council meet on Monday evening next. At this announcement the dozen or so burgesses present looked sadly disappointed, and the adjournment would no doubt greatly inconvenience the large number of contractors who had sent in tenders for work. The Makino Band will perform on the Square this evening. The following is the programme : — 1. Polka, " Hold on Johnny, Hold on Jack," G. A. Frost. 2. Schottische, " Queen of Love," R. Smith. 3. Quadrille, "The Jolly Girls," T. Dawson. 4. Fantasia, " The Sacred Lyre," E. Newton. 5. Valse, "The Silver Rhine," Josef Meisler. 6. Quick March, " Royal Lancaster," E. Newton. 7. Quadrille, "Patience," Chas. D'Albert. 8. Fantasia, " The Christian Soldier," E. Newton. 9. Quick March, " Down the Area," E. Newton. 10. Valse, "Under the Stars," Josef Meisler. 11. Polka, "Arline,"R. Smith. 12. Fantasia, "The Angels Choir," E. Leconte. 13. Quick March, "The Minstrel Boy," J. Frost. God Save the Queen.