LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mataura Ensign, Volume VI, Issue 284, 24 August 1883, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At Naseby,before Mr Hickson,R.M,, J. M. Johnston, bank clerk, late of Mataura and Gore, has recovered £30 and costs from the Borough Council for injuries he sustained one dark night by coming into collision with a telegraph post left standing in the middle of a footpath.

The ' Lancet,' J.uly 12bb, says there is nothing in the Queen's mental condition to .excite the slightest anxiety.

News to July 14th states that the outlook for. the English harvest is not so favorable as reported in the preceding week, as heavy |storms had lodged the wheat in many places ; but still the general prospects are good.

During the past three months about 700 draught horses have been shipped for Sydney by the Union Company's steamers from Port Chalmers and Lyitelton. They have. been mostly taken to Queensland. The demand is slackening now. On Messrs Jas. Smith and Son's Greenfield Estate, Uuapeka district, 25 double furrow and eight swing ploughs iaro at present kept at work. They will lay down about 2000 acros in grass i and 3lH)0 in turnips this season. j

Knox Church, Dunedin, is to have an organ sent from England, which is describod as the finwst ever sent to the colony. The makers are Le-ws and Co., of Brixton.

The annual meeting of tho Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association has just been held. The year's receip.s were £996, of which .£414 came from subscriptions ; £288 from gate money, booths, tfce.] and £173 from entries. The expenditure was £1001, of which <£4<31 was paid away in prizes. Mr John Roberts was elected president, and Mr George Grey Russell vice president.

A meeting of tho Duuedin unemployed, called by advertisement, was attended by about 100. Several speeches were made by persons who had been unable to get work, and eventually a deputation waited on the Mayor, who said he would wire a re : presentation of their case to Wellington.

The Affirmations and Declarations Bill was read a third time in the House on a division of 49 to 10. The Counties Act Amendment Bill has been read a second time.

In the Eepresentative Chamber on Wednesday, Mr Pyke moved that tlie House concur in the report of the, Otago Dummyism Committee, and in doing so reviewed the evide.no© at some length. Mr J. McKenzie seconded the motion. Mr Macandrew supported the motion, but doubted whether a Koyai Commission was necessary. Power might be given to the Waste Lands Board. Mr J. C Brown thought a commission was necessary. Mr Fish thought that those who had made false declarations should be prosecuted for perjury. Mr De Lautour was greatly pleased with Mr Pyke's canduct as chairman of the committee; Mr Shrimski urged that those -who were concerned in these breaches of the law, especially those of high social position, should be prosecuted. The motion was agreed to. ' :

From Wellington cornea news of a scene of a most' undignified character in .the Houpeof.Bepveaentatives., Sir George Grey,' speaking.; pa tlie;:l,and. Bill, suddenly made a fierce attack on Mr Kolleston for his general land

administration, and said he bad ruined a great many people in Canterbury by the way in which he administered the land in that district. He again referred to the unlawful manner in which Mr Kolleston and his colleagues had enriched their friends at the expense of the colony, and invited Mr Rolleston to go through the country with him, when they could each explain their views on the land question. Mr Kolleston hotly replied that he preferred travelling in better company, and said.it was very unseemly that an English gentleman should continually make slanderous s atemenis against himself (Mr, Rolleston) -.mil his colleagues. He thought iho House was perfectly sick of the charges the lion, gentleman was continually making against the Government, which he knew were slanderous and untrue. Major Atkinson here entered the Chamber, and Sir G. Grey challenged the Government to give him a comrnittet to enquire into the charges he h d made against them. The Treasurer at once rose and said— "What do you want? You are always accusing the Government of acting unlawfully, and of evading the law for the purpose of benefiting their friends. If you put your charges in writing and/submit the names of the committee to me you slhi'l have it at once." Sir George Grey then said he had never accused the Ministers of violating the law, but he did accuse them of administering the Native l'eserves so as to benefit their friends. After considerable controversy of a decidedly warm and personal character, which necessitated the chairman telling both sides to addivss the chair instead of each other, the Treasurer again repeated that he ' should not object to a committee to inqu re into the whole matter, but he should object to supply the returns asked for, as he knew they would be improperly twisted by the hon. gentleman. Sir George Grey was apparently considering what course he should adopt, when Mr M. W. Green came forward as a peace-maker and put an end to the altercation by speaking to the bill under discussioa. Nothing further came of the matter, which occasioned considerable excitement amongst the members present.

After arguing that the one claim which members of the Legislative Council possess to their present poaitioD, besides that of being strong party men, is that they have money, the ' New Zealand Times ' denounces their refusal to forego their honoraria. It says : — " The sordid meanness of their greed and their gross vulgarity have sufficiently manifested them^elye^ in their recent debate oi this very subject. Mr Pharazyn, who honorably distinguished himself lately from his peers by voting "against this paySftenfcj^ was not merely interrupted and silencedj^ by the mob of moneygrubbers, but also insulted with gibes and insults which it was no creeit to level afc an old . gentleman past eighty years of age, and no more than themselves disqualified by the Jaws, of his country from sitting among them, and expressing his opinions."

During the past fortnight two hundred deaths from cholera have occurred at Bora hay, and the disease is now assuming the character n" an epidemic. Stringent measures hav« been adopted to prevent its further development.

The Otago Agricultural Society'have bee a gmiited 20 acres of the sandhills reserve. It is within two miles of JDunedin, and will make au excellent show ground.

The Otago Refrigerating Company will send 7000 carcases by the tfenstanton in September, and 9000 by the British Queen in, October.

The Dunedin School Committee are at loggerheads with the Education Board. The committee deolinedto go on with repairs because they had no funds, to which the Board returned an answer expressing regret that the; committee was unable to perform, ita functions, and that the Board would do the necessary repairs and deduct the cost from the committee'.s allowances.., The committee at its last meeting (indulged in some very. strong remarks about the Board's conduct, and a statement was produced contrasting the expenditure of the two bodies, greatly in favor of the comini tee. Tlib result was tho carrying of the following resolution : — '• That as tne Education Board is at present in heathen darknrss regarding the whole financial position and doings of Dunedin School Committee, we enclose a copy of a return prepared by the chairman." ' ■••:...