Local and General News.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 139, 11 December 1895, Page 2

Local and General News.

Frances Sarah Ross, actress, has been adjudged a bankrupt. Two fine black seals were noticed in the sea close to the Otaki beach the other day. Mr R. E. Beckett will bold bis usual monthly stock sale at Halcombe tomorrow. Messrs Abraham and Williams will hold their usual stock sale at Palmerston North to-morrow. Mr Milson received his usual monthly case of books, periodicals, Christmas annuals, &C, this morning. The Apiti Amateur Christy Minstrels will play in the Birmingham Town Hall on Saturday, December 21st. The result of the poll taken for the loan of .£l2O by the ratepayers of the Mangapikopiko riding of the Pohangina county, is advertised to-day. A meeting of those interested in the formation of a mounted infantry carps far Kiwitea, will be held in the Cheltenham Hall on Friday next. The Mayor elect of Foxton is said to have presented the editor of the Mana- ' watu Herald with a variegated thistle. ! The Mayor had no appetite that day. , Intending competitors at the Feilding Athletic Club's Sports, on Boxing Day, are reminded that nominations for all handicap events close ■with the Secretary, Mr H. L. Sherwill, this evening, at 8.30 p.m. The West Coasters (South Island) says the New Zealand Times, are to assemble for a banquet in St Thomas' Hall, Wellington, on Friday next. Proper West Coast fare is promised ranging from damper to " chain lightning." It is notified that the Rev George Wilks will lecture in the Cheltenham Public Hall on Saturday next, in aid of the state school there. The subject is announced in the advertisement. As discussion is invited it is hoped there will be a good atendance. The following team will represent Colyton in their match against Ashurst, on Saturday next, at Ashurst : — E. King W. Entwisle, A. Gregg, G. Simpson, R. Simpson, R. Woodman, C. Millen, J. Bramwell, J. Mexted, J. Stewart and C. Selby. Emergency — H. Garlick. M. Paul de Chaillu, the famous explorer, is still a bachelor, but, he says, I " I have had more offers than most men. I Once in Africa, the king of a tribe, who loved me dearly, offered me a choice of 853 women. ' Sire,' said I" to take one would leave 852 jealous women on the earth.' f Take 'em all, 1 said he. But I am a bachelor still. " As a proof of what has been done by forty years of careful breeding, writes I the South Australian Register, " The Booborowie flock of pure merino sheep has this year given the following result : — 51,704 grown sheep averaged 91b 15 Joz of wool per head ; 15,509 lambs averaged 31b lloz per head, being a general average on 57,214 sheep shorn, including lambs, 81b B£oz per head. Horses have a horror of death, and especially dread death in their own kind. A horse may be ill in company with a stableful of horses, and they not notice him at all ; but the moment he dies there is consternation throughout the entire stable. A horse may be absolutely fearless of every inanimate that comes to his notice, but will be frightened beyond measure at the sight of one of his own kind lying dead by the roadside. A splendid opportunity will be afforded the lovers of polo in this district of obtaining useful ponies on Wednesday the 18th instant. Messrs Gorton and Son have been instructed to sell on that date with a number of first-class horses, fifteen polo ponies which have been purchased from the best breeding establishments in the colony. Every one is in fiae fettle, ready for work, and with few exceptions will be sold without reserve. The sale will take place at Mr Keillor's, Ranmai, near Bulls, where luncheon will be provided. An old custom that prevails among the Maoris is that any weapon which has inflicted injury should be handed over to the party injured, and, it is understood, that in. accordance with this custom, the Maories have claimed the gun with which the youth James Humphrey accidentally shot the Maori, Ike, at Okatc on Sunday, November 24th. The can will, it is understood, be handed over to the chief Motn, who is at the head of the hapu of which Ike is a member. — Taranaki Herald. A lady at Owaka expressed herself regarding Prohibition in the Clntha district to the following effect : " Tfce moral tone of the whole community has been raised, and everywhere the churches are better attended, and the gospel meets with a greater spirit of receptiveness ; and though lately there has been a period of severe commercial depression, the people seem more comfortable in their homes, and really better off than in more prosperous times when the liquor bars were open. Families that then were always destitute are now wellclothed and fed, and storekeepers get their debts paid." A Sunday-school superintendent, at the close of an address on the Creation which he was sore he had kept within the comprehension of the smallest scho. lars, smilingly invited questions. A tiny boy, with a white eager face and large brow, at once held up his hand. ' Please sir,' ' why was Adam never a baby ? ' The superintentfant coughed in some doubt as to what answer to give, but a little girl of nine, the eldest of several i brothers and sisters, came promptly to his aid. ' Pease sir,' said she smartly, ' there was nobody to nnss him ! " Thus Mr Buttle, an Auckland sharebroker, on the prospects of the mining > boom — " 1 made a rough estimate some little time ago, and then I found there was about half a million already pledged to be sent out to our goldfields. With this it is absurd, to say our mining business is dead.* What we pre suffering from just now is want of battery power ; we hare the lodes carrying the bullion, but we have no means of extracting that. We want large plants with skilled workmen,' When we have these and dividends are being paid, there will be no doubt as to the business in the Auckland inning market.— N&pier Telegraph. ,

The S.M. Conrt will sit at Feilding on Friday at 2 p.m. Mr John Stevens, M.H.R., will address his constituents in the Theatre Royal, Marton, to-morrow evening at 8 p.m. A boy named John Belcher was knocked down by a bicycle at Wellington the other night, and had his nose broken. Says the Woodville Examiner : — Mr Thomas, of Pahiatua, succeeded in landing a fine specimen af the rainbow trout in the Mangatainoka on Friday. This is the second caught in the district, and tends to show that they are thriving. Yesterday evening a horge attached to a trap, and driven by Mrs Sandeman, of Fowlers, took fright while left standing in a section in West street and bolted around the paddock, not being brought to a standstill until the vehicle was smashed to atoms. During 1893 Zimmerman won 101 races out of 111 starts. In 1892 he started in 100 events (34 handicaps and 66 scratch events), won 75, and secured 10 seconds and 5 thirds. He is 26 years of a^e, 6ft in height, and weighs 12st. He has won near 400 races. Our readers are reminded of the attractive minstrel entertainment to be given by the Feilding " Tuia " at Colyton next Friday evening. The object being a most worthy one, viz., to assist the school funds, it is to be hoped there will be a large attendance on the occasion. A suggestion has been made that farmers iv the Hawke's Bay district, and also on tbe West Coast, should seriously consider the adviaableness of growing tobacco. It is stated that, after all expenses of production have been paid, a clear profit of 100 per cent, can easily be made, an expert has asserted that the climate of the North Island is highly adapted for tobacco culture. At the residence of the bride's parents Mr E. C. Stanley, of Fowlers' (Birmingham), second son of the late J. Stanley, J.P., of Nelson, was to-day united in the bonds of matrimony to Miss Ellen, second daughter of Mr B. Fairhall, of Wakefield, near Nelson. We have much pleasure in wishing the newly married couple every happiness and prosperity in their wedded life. At a meetmg|of the Manawatu Cycling Club, held last night, it was resolved that I in view of the probability of the visit of Zimmerman and Harris at the championship tneeling in the autumn, the secretary be instructed to confer with tbe Manawau\ Racing Club to suggest that j there be an off day between the race day9 on which the championsnio meeting conJd be held. Owing to the illness of his wife, Mr Canning, who has had charge of the post office at Campbelltown for some years past, has been compelled to resign that position. Tn his official capacity Mr Canning has, through his courtesy, gained the respect of the residents in Campbelltown, who will be pleased to learn that the Department have recognised the careful manner in which he has conducted the postal business, and thanked him for his services. For the future Mr W. Darragh will have charge of the post office, wbich will be removed to his premises at once.