LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 109, 3 April 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The new arrivals of the bii? steamboats are apparently not a uniformly healthy lot. Among the cases which have come before ithe Wellington Benevolent Society, a number of them are recent .arrivals, some of them very recent. In oue case a family of a father and two boy*, alt of them consumptive, came to New Zealand landiusj with hardly a penny m their pookets. We Have received the first number of a' new literary production called "The Athlete 1 ," published m Dunedin. "The Athlete)" .though naturally as a first number, somewhat niild, will supply, a want which has long been felt by cricketers, footballers, and other devotees at the shrine of muscular development, namely, a recognised medium. If the promoters will keep this object visibly m view, there is every prospect of theijour* nal commanding that success which we heartily wish itThe Post understands that Mr J. G. Holda worth, who has for some years occupied the position of Commissioner of Crown Lands for tho Wellington district), has obtained six months' leave of absence prior to his retirement from the service. Mr Holdsworth has baen m very indifferent health of late, nnd; his mnny friends will join us m the hope that the rest he is new obtaining mny have i» beneficial effect. Mr Boldsworth, it may be added, was appointed to the office of. Commissioner on' the loth July, 18! TO. Previous to that he had been Paymasterof Roads under the Provincial Governmen*-. It is understood that he is entitled to a pension on his retirement. The man Prentice, who was recently sentenced at Ormondville to a month's imprisonment for vagrancy.' has just Uft gaol, and reports that Edwards, the perpetrator of the Ormondville murders, is doing well, enjoying his meals and tobacco at d expressing no regret for his horrible crime. V\ htn Prentice left he said to him ' I wish I only had a month like you.' The moral depravity of the man, if he is not insane, is such that he can only be a burden on the country m any case, and, sine or insane, his ex> istence could serve no useful end, while his condemnation would rid society of a revolting burden. A company for the insurance of place glass windows is something of a novelty m New Zealand, but we notic 6 that the branch of an Australian firm has been esiabli<hed m Wellington. The firm that does insure such brittle ware is the Australian Plate Glass Insurance Company, havings its head-quarters at Melbourne. The annual report of the Chamber of Commerce, says it is matter neither for surprise nor regret that the imports for 1883 show some reduction as compared with those of the previous year. With this vj^w all sensible business men must ngree. At the present moment stocks of imported goods throughout the colony are considerably m excess of wliat they should be. Ovei -importation has caused this eouutry innumerable eviU. Now that steamers direct from England visit our poats so regularly, merchants can, if they j please, do the an me amount of trade with far lighter stocks. The trade of New j Zealand would be far sounder if all im« portation ceased for several months, and J] present stocks were thereby reduced to £ mihiriiim. After a most: successful visit to Welling^ ton, m which Borne very difficult and critical cases were dealt with Dr. Sinclair the dentist, a most experienced practi* tioner has left for the country districts* \ .The other day a compliint was made to the relieving officer of the Wellington Benevolent Society by one of the patients that he had been ill-treated by his land* lord, who lodges all the men under the jurisdiction of the society. Mr Johnsen at once held an inquiry into the matter, and discovered that one day during the week there Was provided for breakfast pork sausages, mutton chops, nnd another' course. The man who made the complaint, however, was aggrieved be» cause he asked for eggs and was refused, there being none m the Restaurant at that particular time, Surely' Oliver Twist neking for more is nothing when compared to this instance. J Two English mails will be despatched this week. One will le>\ve Wellington by the Florida, sailing to-day and another will be taken by the Hawea on Friday, to be forwarded from Lyttelton by the Ruapehu.