LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hastings Standard, Issue 13, 11 May 1896, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tenders are invited for sinking an artesian well in Havoluck.

C<:plain Itussell speaks this evening in the Wairarapa, and at Pahiatua on Wednesday.

The Ilastngß At-hensraim is in possession of no fewer than 1.892 books. This is a verv creditable number, and few country towns in New Zealand can show a similar record. Indeed there are towns larger than Hastings that are without a public library of any kind.

In the Native Appellate Court this morning argument was heard ill the Oiuahaki case as to whether an appeal lay. Messrs E. 11. Williams and J. M. Fraser appeared in support of the contention, Messrs A. L.I). Fraser and 0. Lewis against. The Bench decided in favor of the appeal being heard, and the case comes np for hearing on Monday next.

At the Oddfellows' social on Saturday night I'.I'.G.M. Bro. Cooper, of the Napier Lodge, referred to the advisability of forming a ladies' lodge in connection with the local society. This course, he said, lia<l been adopted in other parts of the world and proved very successful, and lie trusted that before long a ladies' lodge would be established here.

Oil Saturday evening quite a crowd collected to witness the four and a half mile road race in connection with the Ileretannga Cycling Club. The following were the starters :—C. Stubbs, 55 sec-s. ; H. E. Wright, 1 min.; F. Sutherland, 1 mill. 8 sees. ; A. Garnett, 1 min. 15secs. The race resulted in an easy win for Garnett, Wright being second, and Sutherland third. At the conclusion a collision took place with the crowd, and Wright and Sutherland were thrown to the ground, both escaping with slight bruises. The first prize was a handsome cruet stand.

The local Oddfellows are to be congratulated on the success they have attained since their establishment in 1878. In that year the total membership numbered only eleven, and to-day their ranks number 140 members, with funds amounting to £2OOO. At the last actuarial valuation by Mr Leslie, Government Actuary of Friendly Societies, the Lodge possessed a surplus of £445. Mr Leslie congratulated the Lodge on its continued financial property. This is truly a satisfactory position, and with their energetic secretarty, Mr W. G. Martin, at the helm, there is every indication of the Lodge becoming one of the strongest in the Colony. Twelve months ago yesterday the Roman Catholic Church of Hastings was opened by liis Grace Archbishop Redwood. The total cost of this church (which ranks among the first in the Colony) on that day was £3,050; since then this amount, with the exception of £450 6s 6id, has been paid off. It is but a small debt considering the very large order. Father Smythe and the members of the Catholic Church should feel proud of this satisfactory state of things, to say nothing of their being in the possession of such a splendid edifice. When Fitzgerald's circus was in Tasmania last month, a crank took up Peart's challenge for high diving, and was hauled to the top of the tent. Preparations were made for liiiu missing the tank, and the proprietors ftf the show repudiated any liability in the event of the man being killed. He thought better of it, however, and did not make the attempt. Three weeks afterwards Peart made his last dive. The total estimated value of gold and bullion won from the H«auriki goldfield for the year ended March 31st was £378,106, as against £201,476 for the previous year. Commenting on the figures, the Auckland Herald says : "'(Good, however, as the returns have been during the past year, we can look forward with considerable confidence to securing still better results for the year now being entered upon, as a good many of the development works that have been proceeding in the various districts for some time past are now on the point of bearing fruit."'

The formation of a Debating Society in Hastings is spoken of. At Staweil, Victoria, recently, a little boy fell into a pool of water six inches deep and was drowned. A commercial traveller had both his jaws broken in an assault in Oxford street, Sydney, the ether day. Probasco, whose " talking horse " was one of the attractions of Fitzgerald's show, has commenced business at Gore as a horse trainer. A man at Oamaru was killing pigs a few days ago when one of them seized and tore completely away a finger of his left hand, at the second joint. At a meeting at Falmerston on Thursday, it was resolved that an effort should be made by the settlers of the district to acquire the Longburn Freezing Works. Mr Percy St John, of burlesque fame, filed his schedule in Dunedin last week. He took this step in consequence. o£ the issue of a writ for a debt contracted in Chrisfcchurch two years ago. The Grey Argus complains that the amount of the Brainier Relief Fund is not likely to come up to the sanguine anticipations at first entertained, and that it is probable a further appeal will have to be made if the funds prove insufficient to meet the object in view. A Renter's telegram says that a sensational discovery was made in the liethanion hospital at Berliu on March 11, when one of nurses w<is found murdered in a room occupied by some of the male servants. In the same room a house porter was found hanging. Life was extinct when the body was cut down. Four lives have been lost in connection with the barque Coromandel. Two men were lost from aloft on a trip out from home. When leaving Newcastle for New Zealand the mate was washed overboard and drowned and, lastly, a young man at West port. Protracted passages delays and stranding make up a full complement of ill-fortune. Mr Bidlington Booth, says Dal/.iel, is organising a new Salvation Army of America, and is receiving at the rate of about 500 a day, for the principal part men and women who have severed their connection with the old Salvation Army. The new one is to be modelled on the lines of organisation of the regular army of the United Stales, and its spirit and financial administration arc to be essentially American. The annual expenditure on drink per head of the population in the United Kingdom and in the colonies is as follows : Queensland. £4. 17s 6d per/head ; United Kingdom, «£o 12s 8d ; New South Wales, .£3 5s 8d ; Victoria, £8 4s; New Zealand, £2 17s 2d. New Zealand is not only more sober now than at any other period, but is also one of the most sober countries in the world. Stop that Cough by taking Neil's Balm of Gilead, a positive cure for coughs, colds, chronic bronchitis, iniluenza, itc. In large bottles at 2s 6(1, at Neil's Botanic Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt. Neil's Celebrated Livee Tonic, a pure botanic remedy for all affections of the liver, biliousness, jaundice, yellowness of the skin, indigestion, \-c. In bottles, 2s and 2s 6(1, at Neil's Botanic Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt. Neil's C'oen Cure removes either hard or soft Corns. A few applications only necessary. Is per bottle at Neil's Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—-Advt. Neil's Compound Sarsaparilla. A household medicine for purifying the blood and toning up the system. In large bottles at 2s Gd at Neil's Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt. The New Woman, the new fashion, the latest erase, have some particular virtues to commend them ; so it is with the new cough mixture, Woods' Great Peppermint Cure—instantaneous relief for man, woman, or child is the feature of this unfailing remedy. All Grocers, and Chemists keep it. The price is reasonable, 1/6 and 2/0. —Advt.