Local and General News

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 33, 31 August 1889, Page 2

Local and General News

In the bush, in Hawkos Bay, great complaints are made of the scarcity of labour for bushfelling. The hours for clearing the letter box at the Borough Council offices on and .ifte.* Monday next are 9.30 a.m. and B.UJ p.m. A man named John Daley, a gumdig fa y •. was found dead on the road at Kowui. near Kawakawa, Auckland. The other day a horse belonging to Messrs Ratliff Bros, wandered into a swamp and getting bogged in a creek, was smothered to death. The Campbelltown School, examined this week by Inspector Bindon, has gained the very satistactory percentage of 80 on the number of scholars examined. The libel action of Bell v. Jellicoe, damages claimed i-5000, commences at Wellington, on Monday next, before Judge Richmond and a special jury. The dead body of a man found at Hindon, Dunedin, is unidentified. It is supposed that his horse collided with a fence, as the animal was found near the body. A tea and social gathering, as a complimentary farewell to the Rev. A. Hermon on his leaving for a visit to England, will be held in the Assembly Rooms on or about the 19th proximo. It may interest our readers (says the Napier News) to know that in Hawke's Bay there are 204 civil servants, whose total salaries amount in the aggregate to £25,261 per annum. The new timetable for the railway trains will come into force on Monday next, and consequently the hours of closing mails have been altered, as may be seen in notice over leader. On Thursday last a horse attached to Mr Fry's trap was left standing in the road unattended for a few minutes. Something startled the horse and it bolted in the direction of home. En route the alarmed animal ran into a mob of sheep, with the result that one was killed, the trap upset, and the shafts broken. A well-known Auckland monetary agent Mr D. B. Orchard, was arrested on Thursday at Russell on board the Wainui on a charge of having forged a promissory note. Orchard carried on business for a number of years, and, as he was considered a man of strict integrity, the news of his arrest caused a mild sensation. To-day Mr William Pearson, a son of Mr J. Pearson, of Makino, announces that on Tnes lay next he will commence business in the shop adjoining the offices of Mr Sherwill, Manchester street, as a bootmaker. As Mr Pearson lias served his time with some of the best masters in the trade, and is well known already as a thoroughly reliable workman, we have every confidence he will deserve and receive a fair share of public patranage. The grand meeting which is now being held at Aorangi is. we understand, of a semi-religious character. The number of Maoris already assembled is very great, the lowest estimate being about five hundred. Visitors from nearly every part of the colony are present. It is expected the meeting will not conclude for a fortnight as the quantity of food prepared is something enormous, and will therefore not be consumed before that time. The Rev. Aran-i te Hana wJI conduct the religious t-er vires. A number of visitors arrived by the tram from Watiganni this morning.

Mr Frank Lincoln is convalescent, and may be expected in Feilding in about nine or ten days.

Mr Hutchison is asking the Government to arrange with the Admiral of the Australasian fleet for a sham attack on some fortified port in the colony next Easter, so as to test the adequacy of our defences.

The Ward-Christie Committee of the Legislative Council will probably report on Tuesday. Bumor says the Committee had a very lively meeting yesterday, and that seyeral members left the room in anger.

We (Times) are indebted to the Minister of Lands for the following particulars of the amount of laud now open for selection in the Wellington province : — Surveyed, 50,000 acres ; unsurveyed, 52,000 ; small runs, 72,000; village settlements, 277 ; total, 174,277 acres.

The Post says that Mr Walter Haybittle, a gentleman who is well known in amateur dramatic circles, intends to leave Wellington towards the end of next month with a view to taking up his permanent residence in Sj'dney.

Rather a good story comes from a Southern township. Two men who were returning from a midnight carouse played a joke on a companion by stuffing the keyhole of his door with paper. In doing this they had to tear the paper into pieces. Their chagrin was great the next day, when they found that they had thus destroyed a £5 bank-note which one of them had taken from his pocket.

A narrow escape from what might have resulted in a serious fire was experienced in a private dwelling last Saturday night. It appears the lady of the house put some linen before the fire to air, and left them apparently safe. After retiring she detected a strong smell of burning and discovered the cause to be the linen which had become ignited. With great presence of mind she extinguished the flames before any further damage was done.

This is the disrespectful way the Napier Telegraph writes of our talented and patriotic legislators : — Next Parliament will consist of twenty- one less, but in the best interests of the colony it would have been far better if the number of re presentatives had been reduced to twenty or thirty at the outside. In this connection it is nonseuce to talk about the representation of the people ; the people are not represented by the numerous vulgar skylarky obstructives who regard themselves as legislators.

In connection with the copper mine at Maharahara the Woodville Examiner says : — From tests make by ourselves of specimens we found traces of silver, lead, zinc, cobalt, manganese, besides copper, iron, and other minerals, and when these are obtained from stones taken from the surface it is strong evidence that something better is to be got for the searching. Although the price of copper has been very low it is rising and bound to rise, yet at the low price Captain Bryant considers it would pay to work a lode at Maharahara of four feet carrying the class of ore now found.

A shocking affair occurrfid at a land sale at Bellambi (N.S.W.) on Saturday. Among those present were a settler named Oritcher and his wife. The pair had not lived on comfortable terms for some time, and Catcher had been drinking heavily for several days past. Mrs Catcher commenced scolding her husband at the sale, and after some wrangling Ontoher drew a large pocket knife, stabbed his wife in the abdomen, and then inflicted a somewhat similar wouud on himself. Mrs Oitcker's wound is very serious, and is almost certain to result fatally ; but there is some chance of Chntcher's recovery. The couple have a family of ten children, the youngest being an infant m arms. — The Melbourne correspondent of the Dunedin Star.

An invention has recently been made which promises to effect a complete revolution in the important art industry of china decoration. By a won lerful pro cess discovered by a Mr J B. Bonnaud it is possible to obtain in a few minutes or. the same article effects which cost the haud-painter ou china days of labor. Landscapes, groups of figures, and portraits are produced by this means on vases plates, and placques in their natural colors, even to the most delicate shades. This result is parti}' due to the action of light employed iv a way which differs very strikingly from the mo'iotintj roces.-es of photography. Professor Boys, oi South Kensington, after carefully examining the process, has reported most favourably upon its scientific value, while experts who regard it from the purely commercial point of view are of opinion that it will prove to be of enormous value.