Local & General News.

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 117, 19 March 1885, Page 2

Local & General News.

I The Wanganui Regatta will be held to- ' morrow. Sir Julius Vogel addressed his constituents at Christchurch last night. Tenders for 150,000- creosoted sleepers are advertised for by the Government. Mails for England per Doric will close on Friday next at the Feiiding Post Office. If Mr Shackell will call at the Star office he will hear of something to his advantage. An ordinary meeting of the Borough Council will be held , this evening at a quarter past eight. It has been announced that the British China squadron has been ordered to rendezvous at Hong Kong. Mr Thomas W. Fisher, storekeeper, of Waitotara, advertises 100 sacks cocksfoot seed for sale, delivered on the railway trucks at Waitotara. We direct attention to the advertisement which informs the travelling public that a new railway time-table will come into operation on the 23rd inst. The P. and O. mail steamer Surat, while in Chinese waters recently, wan stopped and searched for contraband of war by a French war vessel. Britannia rules the waves ! We have seen in the garden of Mr Samuel, of the Endymion hotel, a fig tree from which he has already had a good crop of ripe fruit this season, and which is again laden with half-grown fruit. Mr Joseph Belfit advertises that he will supply all classes of firewood to residents m the Borough at the lowest rates for cash. Persons desirous of laying in a supply for the winter should see Mr Belfit at once. On St. Patricks day a large party of ladies and gentlemen were driven out to the Gorge where they held a picnic, which was thoroughly enjoyed, as was also the drive out and bock. Mr Daw, with his best brake and four in hand, acting as Jehu. In the House of Lords on Monday last Lord Northbrook, First Lord of the Admiralty announced that Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia hod applied to the Imperial Government for advice as to the formation of a Colonial Navy, and the Admiralty had replied that it would readily, and indeed was anxious to assist the colonies in the matter. A remarkable book was sold recently in London for the sum of £980. It is a chronicle of early Norman historv in MSS on two hundred and fifty seven vellum leaves, and highly embellished. The vignettes portray the siege of Chalons at which Coeur de Lion fell, and the arrival of Rolla at Rouen, the coronation of Harold, and the landing of William the Conqueror, with many others of great interest and value. Some careless sportsmen, while shooting over Mr Beltit's land (near Mr Amsbury's) on the Awahun road, have managed to seriously wound with shot one of Mr Belfit' 8 most valuable horses, and render it useless at a time when its services are urgently required. In another column an intimation is published which ought to have the effect of warning off cockney sportsmen who cannot distinguish Wetween a horse and a hare, An accident happened on Tuesday to a youth named Vettie, who was working on Fowler and Nathan's contract, Taonui roa I. While driving some other horses to the paddock, the one he was riding by some means fell, and one of the unfortunate young man's thighs was fractured in three places. It will be remembered that bis father was killed a few years ago by the fall, of a tree, and the lad has since been the principal support of his widowed mother. The special jury in the case, Adsett v Manchester Highway Board, was struck yesterday by the solicitors in the ca«e, Mr Hutchison for plaintiff, and Mr Barnicoat for defendant. The following names emprise the jury : -A. Hifgie. C. M. Richards. Alex. Montgomerie. J. G. Sharpe. E. Howe, H. Crawley, '-. W. Babbage, S. H. Drew, G. King, H. I. Jones, G. Brooking, Henry Sargeant. H. Peake. J. Ballance. A. Barm, Peter Bell, J. W, Peake, H. A. Lomax, W.Me William, H. Jones, W. P. Currie, H. Cernfoot, John Morgan, and W. Powrll. In a recent address the new Postmas-ter-General of the United States used these pregnant words in -discussing the question : — " The tariff is a form of slavery not less hateful because the whip is not exposed. No free people can or will bear it. There is but one course. The plan of protective ; robbery'; must be utterly eradicated from every ' law for taxation. With unflinching steadfastness, but moderately, without distinction,, haste, or violence, the firm demand of freedom must be persistently pressed until every dollar levied in the name of Government goes into the Treasury, and the vast millions now extorted for a class are left in the pockets of the people who earn the money." A sitting of the District Court was held at Wellington recently,. His Honour Judge Davy presiding. The only case heard was one in which Charles Pownall and Co. were the plaintiffs, and Joseph and Henry Abbott the defendants. The latter are station-holders in the Rangitikei district, and the plaintiffs are commission agents in Wellington. The .defendants applied to the plaintiffs for a loan of £•20,000 on the security of their landed property. The money was promised, but the defendants did not borrow through Pownall and Co., having made other arrangements. The action before the Court was to recover £200 as commission Mr Edwards was for the plaintiffs, and Mr Chapman for the defendants. His Honour reserved jugdment. We learn from the Berlin correspondent of the London Time* in a telegram dated ' January 11th, that a telegram was forwarded from Wellington to Prince Bis- 1 mnrck, announcing that the Government > of New Zealand had proponed to annex ( the Saraoan Islands; and that a steamer was hold ready, to sail thither as soon as ] word was received i rom Lord Derby. !jjhis, knowledge ought to close the, mouths of "* those cavillers who condemned the Ministry of New Zealand for exercisinggecreey ( where such grave interests were at stake, and which could bo sacrificed by an in- ' discreet openness that would have allowed i their intentions to be convoyed to a rival, I if not an enemy, by German officials in the J colony. How muh influence* the telegram from Wellington had in settling the i: question as far as L^ruVDerby in concerned 8 in his diplomatic relations with Bismarck ] will never be kn«.vn. • „;;(

The Feiiding share of the Public Library grant amounts to £17 5< 6d. It is rumoured that the difficulty between the Borough Council nnd the contractor for the erection of Manchester street bridge, will not be settled without litigation. The new chandeliers and lamps for the Public Hall arrived from England to-day. They are very handsome and will hare a very pretty effect. They will be fitted up in the hall to-morrow. Mr Georcje Crichton is determined to keep pace with the times, and announces on our first page that an alarming sacrifice of summer goods will be made during the next fourteen days. Attention is invited to the advertisement. Although the season may be considered well orer, yet Mr F. Towler has still some strawberry plants in his garden in full bearing. He sent as a dish of the fruit of them yesterday, and we can Touch for their sweetness and excellent flaror. The Nelson Mail states that news has been receired that good copper has been struck in the Doctor's Lode and in the Champion Lode in the Champion Com* pany's mine, at points where it has not yet been found before. The Wairarapa Star ridicules Major Cautley's idea that £100,000 will be of any service in fortifying New Zealand, and thinks the money would be far better utilised in expenditure on schools and public worki. A human skeleton was fonnd on Tuesday on the spur between Waiotahm and Collarbone Crreks, Thames, with a rn«tv •heath knife in its right hand. The remains have been identified bj the clothing as those of George Dixon, a prospector, who disappeared mysteriously in September last. The Wakatipu M ail says the kea pest becomes morw serious in that country every year. Formerly the birds used to mm >y and worry, but now they kill outright. There is not alrun which includes metintaiaous country but is more or less plagued with the infliction, and the Mail is informed on good authority that on one upur alone on a mountain range in the YVxkatipu a ruuholder lost no lest than 1000 theep during last year. At the meeting of shareholders of the Manawatu Dairy Factory, held on Friday lust, ut which a revolution to wiud up the Compnny was carried, Mr Monrad said the shareholders would hare the satisfaction of knowing that they had subscribed to the honour and glory of New Zealand. It was not erery flower that came to fruit and Paltnerston had been good at flowering with soap companies, dairy factories, Ac, but there had been very little f rait. We have received the Wellington Landed i ropertjr Guide fer March, published by Messrs T Kennedy Macdonald and Co. The pamphlet gives reliable information as to the properties ' sold in the colony during the proceeding month. It also contains a most extensive list of sections of land for sale, from a, quarter acre up to a ten thousand arre block. As these books are issued free on application to Messrs Macdonald and Co. We have no doubt many of our readers interested in the Feiiding properties advertised, will send for copies. ! A peculiur case came before Judge Willlinius in Chambers recently at Dunedin. A Chinaman i« in gaol for six months for failing to comply with a Magistrate's order for the support of an illegitimate cluld. He says that tbe first be heard of the affair was his .«utitnary arrest and imprisonment, and it appears that the original summons was served upon the wrong I'hinain an. There are grave doubts whether there are any means of getting Loo Clioy out of gaol, as the ; ossibility of such a case seems never to have been contemplated by the lawmakers.