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Manawatu Herald, 25 April 1899, Page 2

The Borough Council meet to-night when tenders for leasing the Wirokino Ferry, and cleaning out drains must be lodged by six o'clock. To-morrow most of the members of the local Dramatic and Musical Club journey to Levin to give a performance in that town. The Paraekaretu Express says : — We ar« sure the public will be pleased to learn that Constable Moon, who has been in charge in Marton and Hunterville for the past fifteen years, has been promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He proceeds to Whangarei, Auckland province, to take charge of that district. The Chronicle said : — Mr Adam Wilkie yesterday completed the purchase of Mr H. Sarjeant's Riverlea estate. We understand that a pretty heavy cheque changed hands over the transaction. Messrs P. Hennessy and Co. announce that they are expecting a shipload of Coalbrookdale coal on Friday. This coal is much sought after, so householders should send in their orders promptly. We learn from the Rev Mr Leach that our Levin neighbours have already promises of £50 a year towards the £100 they will have to find if the alteration in the district is made. The offertories are also very good, so that as far as finance goes their prospect of success appears good. At Mrs Austin's garden in town a veritable monster of the iron-bark pnmpkin has been grown, simply in , the ordinary soil and without forcing. j It weighed 136 pounds and measured - six feet eight inches ia circumference.

The 'fade at the wharf 9teadily increases as over 14,000 tons of cargo were handled during the past financial yeaf\ and this does not include the cargo takeii by the schooner Whangaroa from the mill, of the large monthly import of doal for the railway. Something which will help to explain the pfesdnt high pride of pigs. In ißqi there were 3os,si2 pigs in the colony and they have fallen in number eadh y<3ai\ 1893 shoeing 69,000 less, the following year there Were! 30,000 lessj and in 1897-8 there were only 186,027. A drop ot over 122,000 in seven years with a much greater" demand naturally raises prices. As we have so often pointed out a good deal of money cart be nlado by rearing ducks. We have just been informed that for a lot taken to Wellington quite recently four shillings and sixpence a pair was obtained— this ia a. paving price— but we also hear that private people buy the same ducks at seven shillings and sixpence a pair ! At the Invercargill police court on Friday, James Edward Fox, late secretary and treasurer to the' Bluff Harbour Board, was charged with stealing £95 in cash, the property of the board, on Bth October. 1898. The accused was remanded till Wednesday next. The Crown Prosecutor stating that other charges would be laid, and said it had been ascertained that the shortage amounted to between £300 and £400, but the audit had not yet been completed. An indignation meeting has been held at Feilding, in connection with the persistent refusal of the Government to provide a proper post an telegraph offies, adequate stock yards, accommodation at the railway station and to provide the necessary ■' funds to rebuild the Feilding School, which was destroyed by fire four months ago. It will take £10,000 to repair the German cruiser Cormoran, which struck on Whirlwind Reef, and another £15,000 to replace the stores and fittings, that were thrown overboard to lighten the vessel. A southern contemporary says that the rabbit industry is booming in Otago. Agents' prices run from 4^d to 6d per pair. The ordinary train trom Otago Central last Friday evening consistad of sixteen cars, of which thirteen were loaded with rabbits for Bufnside and the Port Chalmers Freezing Works. Without the aid of the Rabbit Department, the rabbit industry has turned a pest into a source of revenue. A fashionable dressmaker employed by one of the leading drapery establishments in Auckland receives a salary of £600 a year. " How's this ? You're already advertising again a lost dog. That's the third dog you've lost in a month !" " Oh, it's just my luck ! Since my daughter has been taking singing lessons, I can't keep an animal in the place !" The most wonderful astronomical photograph in the world is that which* has recently been prepared by Londonf Berlin, and Parisian astronomers. It shows at least 68,000,000 stars. Baroness Hirsch, whose decease was recently announced, left £24,800,---000. The Baroness's, relations will inherit £4,000,000. The balance is to be devoted to charities, chiefly on the Continent. Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, who has been spending a holiday in the Riviera, in the South of France, has returned to Londjn. The crew of the German barque Zion, which recently reached Philadelphia, have had a remarkable experience. The cargo ot the Zion included 300 casks of arsenic. The fact that arsenic as well as strychnine helps the formation of adipose tissue when taken into the human system in minute particles is well known, and both dru^s have become favourite tonics for cpnValescents. On board the Zion the men slept very near the large array W barrels containing the drug. When only a week out from port the crew became aware of the fact that they were putting on flesh at a rather alarming rate. Some of them, as days went by, became abnormally stout, in vast contrast to the slim appearance which many of them presented before the land was left. One man gained, it is said, 25lbs. Others were effected to a less extent, but the aggregate weight put on by the entire crew was little less than 4001 b. Several of the tailors were with difficulty recognised by their friends in Philadelphia, so great had been the change in their appearance. The Bay of Islands County Council is likely to experience difficulty in collecting the gum license fees from the natives. Most of them have told the ranger that they would not pay until they saw Mr Hone Heke, M.H.R., and it would depend upon his advice whether they would pay or not. They now say that he has advised them not to pay until they ascertained if it is compulsory or not, and has written to the ranger to that effect. The Council is likely to take proceedings to enforce the law. Mr Betty informs, us that next Sunday afternoon, between half past two and four o'clock the band will give a selection of music in Victoria park. The next English and European mail via San Francisco will close at the local office on Friday the 12th day of May at 8 p.m. " I do not believe," said Dr Wallis at the Victoria College meeting in Wellington " that education will make a bad man good, but I do believe that if a man is a good man learning will make him a better man — more reverent more capable, and more self-sacri-ficing." A private cable message has been received in Christchnrch stating that the cargo of New Zealand wheat to bs shipped at Lyttelton by the Nelson has been sold at 22s 6d per quarter. A copy ot the celebrated Mazarin or Gutenberg Bible, from the well-known library of the Rev. W. Makella, was sold at Messrs Sotherby's for £2950. It is the first printed edition of the Bible, and the earliest book printed with moveable metal types.

The Taranaki Herald states that account sales of butter received by the last mail by a local firm shows that a parcel of butter from one maker, which was classed here as second grade, realised more money than another parcel from another maker, shipped by the same steamer, which was classed as first grade. This, we are told, is not at all an unusual occurrence.