LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 223, 18 August 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

New Zealand mutton is now used at the Trinity College, Cambridge. Mr Macarthur, M.H.R., returned to Feilding by train on Friday night. The Government Gazette on Tuesday, the 12th instant, contains sections of the Public Health Act, 1876. A woman named Cummins, aged about 35, was removed from a house m Birmingham, on July 2, to the borough lunatic asylum, as she was evidently of unsound mind and apparently destitute. After her removal, the relieving officer and a police constable searched the house. Id a tin box, concealed m the cellar, they discovered £2,202 all m gold. The number of drunken men rolling about yesterday was not creditable to our town, and showed a laxity somewhere. An advertiser requests the finder of a door-key to leave same at the Standard Office. We regret to learn that no improvement is manifest m the condition sf Mr J. G. Holdsworth. An exchange has been Bhown some lemons grown m the Hokianga district. The fruit is fine, juicy, and full, and appears equal to any grown m Australia The s.s. Hauroto, which arrived at Wellington from the Sounth on Friday, en route for Sydney, had on board 131 horses and 20 head of cattle for that port. It is stated by the Post that Mr Hutchison, recognising the futility of aspiring any more to a public position m this city, has determined to shake the dnst of Wellington from off his f eet,and to take up his permanent residence m Dunedin. It. is noteworthy, says the Post that the new Cabinet includes the President of the New Zealand Freethought Association (Mr R. Stout), and the VicePresident of the same association (Mr Ballance. According to latest accounts from the London Wool Sales, prices are firmly maintained, the total quantity offered since the opening of the series is 29,800 bales, of which 1200 have been withdrawn. , There is a place m Ceylon called the World's End. You stand on the edge of plateau, and look over a precipice 5000 feet m height. If you tumble, you tumble about a mile. One step will do the business. It is certainly the end of the world so far as the unfortunate tumbler is concerned. Arthur Richard Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, who dropped down dead at a railway station, was the son of the famous hero of Waterloo, but neither as a soldier nor as a politician did he prove himself a worthy son of so famous a father. As a young man his escapades was said to have got him into considerable trouble. A barber was sued m Marton for a small debt. In answer to questions, defendant said he was unable to make any offer. His earnings had been barely sufficient to cover his expenses He had not earned more than £1 a week. There were lots of persons who did not patronise. The plaintiff's lawyer, for instance, went to Wanganui to get his hair cut. — ' (Laughter.) He could mend umbrellas, or grind scissors, if he could get them to do. This doesn't say much for business m Marton. Talking with a traveller we (Waipawa Mail) met the other day at the station, he enquired how it was our settlers did not start a Cheese and Bacon Factory hereabout, with a freezing house m connection ? We were at a loss for a reply, for we did not like to acknowledge to outsiders that the only reason we knew of was the want of some leading spirits to Btart it. He went on to say that the people about here must be too well off, or they would have initiated such a concern long ago. Will somebody suggest a good reason why such an undertaking would not succeed, if properly managed. A Native woman was sued for a debt of £20 at the Bulls R.M. Court. Defendant said she gave the Bill on condition that when Mr Mackay catne to the district her land would be sold. In reply to his Worship. Defendant offered to pay at the rate of 2s 6d per month. She could not pay more, as she had six children to provide for and had no husband. The children were John Gotty's, and she had been living with him as his wife until within a month ago, when he left her. His Worship said half-a-crown a [ month would take too long to pay £20. Defendant would be an old woman before the the money was all paid. Defendant persisted that she could not pay more. His Worship gave an open judgment for plaintiff. Mr Wardell, the Wellington R.M., is determined, if possible, to put a stop to people using objectionable language m the public streets. A young man named Timothy Murphy was charged at the R.M. Court to-day, for making use of bad language m front of the Pier Hotel yesterday evening, and was fined £10, or m default to be imprisoned for three months. Tulare Lake once had an area of 1736 miles, and depth sufficient for a steamboat that navigated it, but its area has been reduced to 196 miles, and its greatest depth is only 22ft. Its contraction is attributed to the absorption of water for irrigating purposes from the two streams that feed it. Some San Franciscans who have just returned from a visit to the lake predict its utter absorption, as every farmer who settles near it digs a new canal for irrigation. There are about forty artesian wells within a radius of forty miles around the lake. We are sorry to learn that Mr Lash, of Halcombe, is still confined to his bed. Some time ago ho went to Canterbury for the benefit of his health, and lately returned to Halcombe, but it appears without any beneficial results.

In a speech at the opening of the Heads Railway, it was stated that Wanganui was now recovering from the depression m which it had been plunged. A recent visitor to that town informs the Examiner that house rents seem to be on the increase, which is another good sign. But recently there were many houses m Wangauui lying empty. The Woodville Examiner has the following : — Large mobs of cattle are now being driven from the Wanganni district to Castlepoint via the West Coast, Wellington, and Wairarapa instead of coming through the Gorged : Thanks for the ruination of the traffic of the district to the heavy ferry charges. But there is a little more behind it. As soon as the railway line is opened between Napier and Woodville, Palmerston will lose all the trade of the district. This will be rewarding the Manawatu people properly for their apathy m regard to the bridge at the Lower Ferry. The officer who opens the Court is called the ' crier.' On one occasion the said officer had lost his wifo, who had led him an uncomfortable life, and he was of course absent from his post. When the Court came toe Judge, as usual, said, •Mr Crier, open the Court.' A young and facetious lawyer addressed the Court as follows : — ' May it please your Honour, Mr B — cannot cry to-day ; he has lost his wife !'