LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 204, 4 August 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The following advertisement was m the Post : — I will give unto the person who haa my Kangaroo Legging the other one also.— Edward Barber.— N.B.— ln favour of Secular education. Some 33 Chinese took passage fop the Plowßry Land by the Gordon Castle from Wellington on Wednesday. The happy foreigners are each returning with a small " pile "it ia presumed. It i* rumoured that Mr Oliver is to be the new. Minister of Railways, which appointment will entail an additional cost of £1,200 a year— that is to say if the Parliament will sanction it, which we doubt. At a masked ball m Berlin, not long ago, a certain young gentleman was quite fascinated with the grade and conversation of a closely- masked incognita, and at last begged for the privilege of continuing the acquaintance elsewhere. The lady agreed, and designated a piano concert the next e*ening*as the rendezvous, telling him to bo m one of the front rows. Soon afterwards he heard her whisper to an elderly lady : " such luck ! I have given a rendezvous to fifty different gentlemen at my concert to»morrow night. Fifty reserve! seats will more than pay my expenses, and every one else who comes is clear-again. " It has always been the boast of the Amer« icans (says an exchange) that their coun» try contains things big&er and more terrible than anything to be found m the Old World, and now their great river, the Niagara, has drowned Captain Webb, the famous swimmer, who succeeded m crossing the English Channel some few years ago. In the House yesterday, Mr Smith asked the Colonial Treasurer, If he intends this session to briug m a Local Audit Bill, for making better provision for tne audit* ing of the accounts of local public bodies 1 He said some Road Boards had not had their accounts audited, as they ought co have been, up to the end of March last. Hon. Major Atkinson said the present system worked very badly, and he hoped to be able to get an amending Bill through this session. We understand the M&nawatu Road Board have received a reply to their letter from the Government, m reference to the property valuation question, to the effect that an Amendment Act to facilitate the Road Boards m making their valuations will be brought torwurd. this session. The rabbit nuisance question was before the House on Wednesday, when Mr W. C. Buchanan asked, whether the Government will place a sum of money on the Supple* mentary Estimates for the further importation of the natural enemies of the rab-* bit, ? Hon. Mr Dick replied that the Government had been arranging tor the importation of ferrets, but only a small proportion of those sent had been landed here alive. Government were also encouraging the breeding of ferrets m the colony, and that was going on with some success. The stoat and the weasel were also being introduced. Mr Harbotb is to take the leadership of the Town Band to-night. JdENTLEr Bbos. new advertisement now appears on the first page of the Standard. Honey-comb towels are priced atsd, Turkish towels lOd, strong blue serge lid, cotton shirting 4^d, men's tweed trousers 7s lid, children's sox 4d, girls' stockings 3d, ladies' hose 6d, felt skirts 8s 9d, straw hats 6d, kid gloves la lid, men's worsted sox Is 3d, men 1 lambs-wool box lOd, men's flannel shirts 3s lld and 4s lid, men's cotton shirts Is 6d, tweed hats 2s 6d and 3s, boys' tweed knickerbocker suits 7s 6d white flmnel Bd', lOdand Is, twill sheeting 9£d, lid, and Is 3d, Scotch tweed Is lid, 2s 3d and 2s 6d, strong brown holland 4£d, table demask Is 6d, men's trousers and vests 12s 6d. For quality and price the above are unsu massed. — Cadtt.]

In Mount Cook Prison, from the 21st August to 31st December, 1882, 198,000 briokiwera made.