LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 141, 14 May 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Rabbits are gradually being extirpated m the Greelong district. We are iufarmed that a new paper was to make its appearance m Napier yesterday under the title of " Ahuriri." It will appear thrioe weekly, and is to be printed and published for tho proprietors by Mr U. 0. Hnrding. Its object is understood to be to provide an organ for the opposition party m the approaching election campaign. It is stated that a new journal, the Railway Express, is to be published m m the interests of the railway employes of Victoria, Or Walker cleared up a mystery re a certain complaint from Mrs Haines regarding a nuisance which he had read of m the Standnrd. It appears that the letter was given to the Mayor who handed it to Mr Graff to attend to and there the matter appears to have ended for a time. Since then, however, a notioe had been served with the view of having the nuisance complained of removed. According to a Wellington paper, at the Resident Magistrates Court, a vagrant was brought up who appears to have been m the habit of frequenting the back premises of the church recently destroyed by fire for some time past at all hours of the night and morning. This man was seen m the immediate vicinity of the church late on the night before the fire. Whether or no he was tho [cause of the conflagration is, of course, only a matter of surmise. The nautical inquiry into the foundering of the Kangaroo stands adjourned till to-morrow. The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times bulieves serious differences have arisen m the Department over the affair, and that unless the attempts which are beiug made to adjust the matter are successful, the Department is likely to come again prominently before the public. Mr Thorne has been m the employ of the Department ever since 1872, and is said to have received spmething like £17,000 m commission and salary during that period.

A woman, remarkable m her way, " passed on " last Thursday, (says a Wellington paper). We allude to Mrs Lottie Wihnot, the well-known luctnress, who, if she made mistakes m her time, on the other hand, fearlessly exposed, aud held up to reprobation, the shady side of human nature. Now her work is over, and we may throw the mantle of charity over her failings, and regard only the brighter side of her character. Mrs Wilmot died on the Lower Hutt after a long And painful illness. She was sedulously attended to during her latter days by the Presbyterian minister and his wife, and was buried m the Presbyterian Cemetery. The disastrous fire at St. John's Church last week was m its consequences not confined to the indigent persons who habitually receive relief from St. John's Presbyterian Church. It appears that a Dorcas Society, embracing all classes of the religious community, held their meetings m St. John's Schoolroom. The ladies had stored a lot of goods which they had intended distributing amongst the poor of the parish. These goods aie all destroyed, and there is no reserve fund to meet the casualty. j Evangelistic services continue to be repoited from all parts of Victoria, and a great deal of practical good appears to be doing. Every fresh load of female servants from England to Sydney are eagerly sought for, and eugaged at good wages A further supply is demanded. A Melbourne newspaper prints the following : — ln Auckland the tradespeople have a list printed weekly containing the names, occupations, and places of residence, of those who do not pay their debts. The Salvation Army at Ballarat recently rescued from the lowest depths of degradation a clergyman's son, a man or! culture, who formerly was on the Press of that city. The erstwhile drunkard is now a prominent " soldier." The well-known correspondent of the i Argus, " The Vagabond," is contemptuously described by Sir Arthur Gordon as " a person by the name of Thomas." A letter from ®ur Woodville correswill appear to-morrow. The directors of the Waikato Cheese Factory Company have forwarded for transmission to the London Market m the British King, a trial shipment of seven tons of cheese. The cheese selected is of various ages, ranging from 8O:ne of the first made to that made a ' couple of mouths ago. A fair opportunity will therefore be afforded of ascertaining the proper age at which cheese should be shipped. There is exhibited m a shop window m Sydney a bottle containing a strangelooking liquid. It is a dirty yellow at the top, gradually deepening to a rich chocolate at the bottom. A chemist would take a long time m describing this liquid, but m the country districts of New South Wales it is called drinking water. In reference to the local published m Saturday's issue re changes m the firm of Messrs Stevens and Gorton, (says the Marton paper) it may now be stated definitely that arrangements were completed on Saturday whereby Mr John Stevens disposed of his interest m the firm to Mr It. S. Abraham, a substantial deposit being paid by the latter to bind th« transaction. Mr Abraham, we understand, will reside at Palmerston and take charge of the branch them. The new arrangements will commence on July Ist. Mr John Stevens addressed his constituents at Bulls last night, and will be at Turakina to-night. A case of awfully sudden death occur- I red at Taradale uear Napier recently. From what we (Telegraph) hear it appears that Mrs Lawton, whose husband proceeded to Kuripapanga a day or two ago, seemed m her usual health, and went outside of the house to hang up some clothes. She was away about a quarter of an hour, and as she did not return one of the children, a girl about I six years old, went out and found her mother lying dead under, the clothes line. The child ran and told her neighbors, whs at once went over, and took the poor woman into the house, Dr , Ilitchings was at once sent for, aud the police communicated with. The cause of death is supposed to be heart disease. A correspondent writing to the Timaru Herald, says that while a great expense is gone to, to destroy rabbits, we are quietly letting the weka or woodhen, a roost industrious enemy to the rabbits, rats,and mice to be destroyed wholesale, so much so that it stands a fair chance of becoming extinct before many years. He suggests the protection of the woodhen by law.