Local and General News.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 122, 21 November 1895, Page 2

Local and General News.

A small English mail arrived in Feild - ing to-day. The Wellington Land Board will meet on Thursdaj' next. A tea meeting to be followed by a concert will be held in the Kiwitea Hall on the 27th instant, in aid of the Wesleyan circuit fund. The Napier Harbor Board received no less than 61 applications for the position of assistant wharfinger at a salary of £80 a year. Mr J. J. de Mcv d'Alkemade, supervisor of physical education, has travelled j on his bicycle 18,972| miles in the Wellington and Wanganni districts within '6l\ years. His Excellency the Governor has intimated his willingness to become a patron of the Feilding Cycling Club, but he regrets that his engagements will prevent his being present at the meeting in January. A petition is being circulated in New Plymouth prajing for a reduction in the sentence of eight years, imprisonment passed some two years and a half ago on j liobert Walleth, known as the New Plymouth Highwayman. Mr Smytho, " Mark Twain's " agent, has wired from Auckland that the 30th iustant being the birthday of that popular aud distinguished author, he will probably make an engagement to appear , iv Feilding on that date. ; The Feilding Brass Band have kindly consented to play opposito the Assembly ( Rooms tomorrow evening prior to the commencement of the entertainment, and members are requested to be in attendance at 7 o'clock sharp. Living statues of ' art,' ' grief,' ' justice,' ' angel,' ' Captive,' ' music flora,' and ' advance New Zealand,' appear to be a charming feature of the silent tableaux. The speaking and singing scenes are both interesting and beautiful. Tenders are invited by Mr Charles Bray (junior), Engineer for the Kiwitea County Council, for public works as detailed in the advertisement which appears to-day. Tenders will close at noon , on Wednesday, the 27th instant. i The following team will represent J Feilding in the cricket match against j Pohangina on Saturday next:— Messrs Benson, Hunter, Giesen, Bryant, Hill, Tompkins, J, and O. Bartholomew, De Lisle, Innes Jones, Campbell. Emergencies— Hay ne, Scandrett, Garlick. John Cobbe has imported direct an immense stock of new canvas and tan shoes. He is at present having made up in the colony to his special order 500 pairs of ladies black sandals, which are the nicest shoes ever offered in the district at the low price of 4/11 per pair. A business man this morning complaining of the continued wet weather, remarked with a sad note of interrogation in his voice " What is tlje difference between the new moon and a business man ? " The reply came back with an angry snarl, " The moon came in with his back down ; the business man with his back up." The programme of the Birmingham Druids' Athletic Sports, to be held on Friday, January 17th, 1896, is advertised to-day. The prizes to be given away are very liberal and should attract good fields of competitors. Nominations are to be sent in on or before the evening of January 6th. The day's amusement will be concluded with a dance in the Town Hall. " Queen Catherine's dream," with its 11 Angelus " chorus from twenty whitewinged angels, as rehearsed by the tableau party, will be a thing to remember. No professional company could hope to produce scenes so effectively, except at the large centres where the aid of numbers of trained and beautifully dressed supers could be commanded. Parents cannot do better than take their children to the entertainment. A recent visitor to Auckland from the South states that business there is in a very sad way. People generally have the mining craze badly, and the only persons doing well are the " sharks " on 'Change, who have fifty " wild cats " to palm off on a gullible public for every single legitimate mining enterprise. Almost everybody has money in shares. Some have pawned their furniture to get in, and when the day of reckoning comes an extra charitable aid rate is a certainty. The additions to the premises of Messrs Speoce aad Speace, Pecgassaa street, consist of a large show room on the ground floor, and the extension of the present shop as far back as the size of the section will permit. Above the show room will be built apartments in which the work of dressmaking will be carried on, access to which will be by a staircase leading from the show room. Mr James is the architect and Mr Ralph Heald, builder, the successful tenderer for the contract. A new advertisement appears in another column from Mr W. G. Shearer, cabinet maker, in which he advises his numerous customers of the arrival of bis third shipment of English goods direct from the manufacturers, this saying the middleman's profits. The clearing sale will be continued for a month when a discount of 10 per cent will be allowed. Those in want of anything m the shape of furniture should take advantage of this liberal concession, as all orders placed during the sale will also be subject to the above discount. A tbree-mile bicycle race was held on the Oval yesterday afternoon for a handsome album given by Mr E. A. Feck, and a pair of cycling shoes given by Mr H. L. Jackson as a second prize, the result being as follows : — W. Trevena, 300 yds, 1 ; C. Staffan, 475 yds, 2 ; A. H. Way, 450 yds, 3. The other starters were —A. E. Bailey (475 yds), N. Bray (675 yds) G. Haybittle and J. S. Milson (750ydsl. J. Mingius, who was placed on scratch did not start. Haybittle and Milson were leading at the end of the first mile with Trevena, who was riding by far the best machiae ou tho ground, last, but after another half mile had been traversed he sputted to the front, and won as he liked by about thirty yards with Way about a hundred yards behind Staffan. Bailey and Milson dropped out when half the distance fead been ridden.

The choir of the Wesleyan Church will meet this instead of to-morrow even* ing on account of the Library concert. In 1894 France obtained L 60.000 from taxation of bicycles, the number of wheels being 147,900. Messrs Gorton and Son will hold their nsnal monthly stock sale at Feilding I to-morrow. Captain Edwin wired at noon to-day : — N.E. to N. and W. gale with heavy ram and glass fall soon. j Zimmerman offers to race any man in I Australia any distance from half -a-mile 1 to 50 miles for the trifle of £500 aside. It is expected that as a result of the late Egnaont Show the financial position of the Society will be improved by over £100. The Dominion of Canada ha 9 an area of 3,000,457 square miles, and comprises one sixteenth of the land surface of the globe. It is the largest of all the British possessions, Australia, the next one in size, containing 2,974,628 square miles. Archbishop Croke considers New Zealand the finest country on the face of the earth, the best to live in, the best to work in, and the best to enjoy life in. He believes that this colony will soon be recognised as the brightest jewel iv our Imperial diadem. The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture has written to Mr F. Pirani, M.H.R., stating he will be pleased to assist the A. and P. Society in regard to the Autumn show, by having a fruit evaporator in work on the ground and a working dairy, if the association will provide facilities for carrying out the work. Says the Scottish Cyclist :— The law is not always "agin" the cyclist, as witness the following case from the Aberdeen district : — A farm servant was fined 10s to 13s 7d of expenses, with the option of seven days, for refusing to make room for a bicycle to pass whilst he was in charge of a tnilk cart. The inquiry ordered by tbe Commissioner of Police, at the instance of the Southland members, into the recent Police scandal at Invercargill, iv which Constable Aitcheson was alleged to be implicated in the case of the woman Poole, was charged with a grave offence and convicted at the criminal session, has resulted iv the coustable being dismissed from the force. The captain of the steamer Flinders reports that while swimmiug bullocks ashore from the vessel at Esperance Bay, West Australia, two sharks 20ft and 18ffc long attacked a bullock each, taking hold of the hindquarters. An unsuccessful attempt was made to beat off the sharks by the crews of two boats, but the builocks were soon killed and eaten by the voracious monsters.