LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 305, 13 November 1883, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL

: A meeting of the committee recently ap* pointed to take steps to have Gore and Gordon formed into a Municipality, was held in Mr A. Brown's store the other evening, Mr T. Green in the chair. A draft form of the requisite petition was read by Mr W. Ben* derson and agreed to, and he was requested to engross it and arrange to get the necessary signatures, at a rate authorised by the Com* , mittee. It Was resolved to include *he Wai* %■ kaka Creek within the boundaries of the new ;... . .; Municipality ; and 'to divide the Borough "i 'into- four wards, tw.o on each ride of the Mataura, those on the Gordon side to be called North, and East Wards, and on the Gore side Soufh and Wrst Wards. • We understand that Mr Austing, president / of the Gore A. and P. Association, will give a ■ prize of L 5 at the forthcoming show to tho exhibitor who scores the greatest number of ! points.in cattle. j The somewhat famous, contract formerly jin charge of MrTodd in tho Wyndham j Valley, anent which there svere so many law- : euits in Gore, is now in a fair way towards - completion. Mr A. Mclrityw, of Pukerau, ' has taken over from Mr Siinson the balance •. of the contract. He is employing eleven j men, and has just about finished the formation. Ho anticipate*, with ordinary weather, to have the whole road finished about Christ* r \ mas. The setilers will no doubt appreciate ? the efforts of the County Council to meet their wants, and will doubtless enjoy the luxury of a good road to their holdings. At Thursday's meeting of the Southland Land Board, a transferof section 627, Hokonui, . from P. Johnson to J. Peterson, was applied 1 for, but refused because Johnston had not ! complied with the residential conditions. I It was resolved to call upon the holders of 1 sections (>2B and 629 Hokonui to show cause j why their sections should not be declared I forfeited for non -residence. The Ranger 1 stated that the occupier of section 630 was a surfaceman on the railways and that he was absent all ihe week from his section except* ing from . Saturday till Monday. He (the 3 !. F anger) wi.-hed to know if that was fulfilling I the residence clause to the satisfaction of the . Board. The holder in question was improv- ! ing his section and it was his home. The I members of the Board all expressed them- , selves thoroughly witis-tied that the holder was fulfilling the conditions and acting in a bona Jide manner. Two letters were | read, one signed " A Man who wants a Section," and the other " A Laborer," complying that a deferred payment section at Mcnzies Ferry was held by a publican and another by a man who had a " flash house " at Wyndham, while working men could not get sections to settle upon. The Board decided to take no notice of the anonymous communications. There are no fewer than seven vast new hotels now in course of erection in London, four of them with about 1000 bed-rooms in each. . . Two-thirds of all the wealth in the United States, a witness recently . asserted before a „ Committee of the New York Senate, is in the hands of one-fifth of the people. Within the city of New Yorkvthere are one hundred .men who havejt i^hejr npjvler to change the value of every piece of property/ every article ' of merchandise and eveiy pound of food. The Comtcsse de Chambord is said to be dying, The fatigue and painful emotions to which her husband's long and cruel illness exposed) her are now telling on her health. Though a, tall and bony woman, she is not strong. For jfrjafs she has. suffered from bronchitis. . .'; Mr BradlaugH has proclaimed his deter* mlnation not to allow Parliament to accomplish any legislation whatever until it has decided the question of questions, which is - bis question. Unless a Bill is {brought in to disqualify him, he will give the House no rest until. he is admitted ; and in the next struggle he will take care that 1 the odds are on his side. This can only mean that Mr Brad* laugh intends.'when the Houses next mßet,to overwhelm them with physical force and mob law. : ■■' The attendance upon the Melbourne racecourse on the Cup day was the largest upon record. The telegraph informs us that the number of persons upon the ground vras officially declared to have, been 123,01)0. Very little business ioj r locftl interest was transacted at Wednesday's meeting of the Otago T.andTrgpard.. An application to r»nr-^-~ chase under 'ftefered- payment lease by* Adam Fleming, sectu>n 17, block Ill.y Chatton, wai approved. Out of a flock, ol '430 half-bred cvrcs put to the rani in April last, Mr J. S. Rutherford, of/ Rvnunierhill, has 489 lambs, being equal to--120 per cent, on the actual number of ewes with lamb at foot. . ' The Governor, by proclamation, declares that certain sections contained in the educational reserves in Hokonui, 1 Mokerita, and Wyndham districts shall be sold for cash and on deferred- payments. . : The district meeting of the Otago Weileyan body has just closed at Invercargill. Under the question— " Are there any objections toany ministers or preachers on trial ?" which question has reference to moral and religious char* ' acter, soundnessin dootrine and general ability for the work} the Chairman renpr'ted that two probationers, Messrs M'Kerizie Gibson' and Francis White Martin, had ceaied to be candidates' for the position of fully accredited Wesleyan ministers— tho / latter by 'formal resignation, the former by throwing himself into the opeja arms of another church. After the oases had been fully stated, the letters that passed laid on the table, and the resoluv tion of the Milton congregational meeting in Mr Martin's oasje received,' it was. re* solved .« That the thanki" of the meet* 1 ing are hereby presented to the' Rev. J, Berry, Chairman of ' the Otago district, for his prompt action under circumstances, hap* pily for religion rare, in j the cases of tie Rev. Messrs Gibsoß and 'Martin." v (2.) "That the meeting contemplates with .pain. : the reckless spirit displayed' ■in, i >both cases, and the ease with' which ecclesiastical and : other obligations are set aside by teachers of religions in the highest and lowest grades." The ■ Standard,' reports that M. Ferry has given assurance that France hat no intention of annexing New Guinea, or., indeed of attempting any further annexation in th« Pacific.. . . ['. . '.: The hew Queen of Madagascar; faceordinf to a Reuter's telegram to hand, hns married the Prime Minister, *' in accordance with the : custom of tho country." If the. late Queen also observed the custom of the country, the, Prime Minister, as the ,' Globe ' observes, , would be the new Queen's; uncle as well aa husband ; and , it would be interesting to know whether only . spinsters oan ,be queens, and only bachelors aspire to the, Premiership lof Madagascar, Otherwise complicated cases of political polygamy must constantly occur to furnish the Malagasy Ctown lawyers with interesting conundrums as to ; the mixed re* ' lationsMp of all the little princes. The Otago Land Board concluded their inquiry into the oases of alleged dummyism in J the Waikoualti and Silver Peak districts at a meeting held on Thursday, and resolved to cancel the licenses of all the selectors summoned — namely, Robert Borthwick and Harry Neville Hertelett, Waikouaiti ; John " Watson, William Higgins, Charles Higgint, and William Wilson Francis, Silver Peak ; and to forfeit all deposit moneys ; the Board being satisfied that they had- ocoupied the land comprised in their lioenses not exclusively for their own use and benefit^ The motion was proposed by Mr Stout and seconded by Mr Duncan. While Mr Stout was speaking to the motion Messrs Clark and Green left the meeting, and the * Otago Daily Times - believes if they had n*t dose so the motion would have been carried.. „ During the past few days a Skeleton Army has been organised in Christchurcb. \\% members have been' parading the streets in, opposition to the Salvation Army. They carry a black flag with skull ssnd croas honei, and the mottos " Blood and ' Murder " an 4 ?♦ No Surrender" on it. Several skirmisher have ocoured between the two armies, Flora Webb, wife of Dr Wet>b, late of Arrowtown, committed suicide by cutting her throat at Diinedin on Friday morning; She went to town about three weeks ago and had been living in privatelodgingi. She I had been drinking ever since her arrival. Dr I Webb also went to DunetUn a day ortwoago but finding his wife in Uquor he we^ t» Ut« at an hotel,