LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 248, 16 September 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

According tp latest commercial news, the wool market continues firm. New Zealand mutton, prriine quality is now realising 4sd to 5d per lb. .■■,,. > The Napier Telegraph hears from the country districts that, so far, the lambing. Reason has been femark'aM*. good. With an imprpvod woo} market, the prospects of abundance of grtisi, and a harbor m the immediate future, the value of the pastoral properties should once again be buoyant. Captain Jansen, of the ketch Agnes, who rescued the survivor* of the ship Lastingham, is to have a p.ublic dinner given fijjn ,o,'n the arrival of the ketch atj^aiapoi. In fhe Vulcan stakes on the Metropolitan Qrand ijafionaf, th.c first pj-ijse was drawn by-.a person m Wanganui, and the*second and third priaeß went to Wellington. The second prige m the Wanganui Cup Consultation went to Waverley. *

It is now almost certain (says the Wanganui Herald) that there will be no Agricultural and Pastoral Show this year m Wanganui. The Mayor of New Plymouth has declined to recive any salary or honorarium. The Mayor of Palmerstop uever gets the chance to refuse. A Trfranaki paper states that the wellknown chief Hone Pihaina is very ill, and his position is reported to be dangerous, aH a very bad cough has settled on his chest. An unbroken swarm of locusts have passed over Moscow, occupying uo less than three days m passage eastward. . A Genoese paper gave the result of the Derby as follows :— St. Gatien, Ist; Harvester, 2ud ; Dead Heat, 3rd. The verdict of the Hawkesbury Stewards, after the enquiry into the scratching; of Sir Modred for .the Hawkesbury Grand Handicap, was as follows: — "That while the case is surrounded with grave suspicion of dishonest practices, the evidence at present does not justify, the committee m taking further action,' 1 One of our city merchants stated yesterday (says Thursday's Auckland Herald) that their firm had received a letter from their correspondent m Foochow m which it was stated that m that city therj wore 100,000 malcontents who were disturbing the peace thereof, aud that I the Chinese authorities, with a view to I questioning them, wore cutting off their heads at tho rate of a hundred a day. The Marton paper is pleased to learn that the committees of the Saudon'. and A wahuri ploughing matches have ample funds m hand to meet all demands. The balance-sheet of the two matches will be ready m a few days. At the Saudon match, R. Edward, being the best-look-ing ploughman on the ground, was % rewarded by tho three lady judges with a feeding bottle, given as a special prize. R. Garrett was awarded an oilskin, given by Messrs. McDowell Bros., as a special prize to the ploughman with the largest family. The correspondent of an Auckland paper wrote lately :— I have it from a. source tuat* might be considered well informed that the Financial Statement will propose to do away with the (jinking Fund, discharge 300 of the Armed Con--Btabulary,~borrow four millions for the next three years, aud pay £200,000 per year out of the loan to give relief to the -whole colony. It said that sul s jquently the whole of th j stock, will have to be inscribed m England: I give you the report for what it is worth. Ministers themselves are reticent. At a Sal vation Array meeting held the other day m Marton, a well-known aud long-winded preacher from Bulls was holding forth aud comparing the spread of truth to a balloon being filled. "And ;what is a balloon," he. went on to say, " but a raeio bag of silk. You see it swelling and swelling, and getting bigger aud : bigger, and you cannot see what causes it ; and what, my friends, mokes. j it swell and swell, and get hjfgev?" Voice from near the doors^— " Why the gas m it, old Blow-hard; same as you've got inside you." , If cast iron be laid for a number of years m sea water, when taken out it becomes instantaneously red hot. Hence 1 . we. find that some of the cannon balls belonging to. the ship Mary Rose, which vessel sunk during an engagement off the la!e of Wight, m July, 1544, when raised to the BtrVfa<;e of the sea m June, 1836, became red hot and broke into pieces. ' ' - . • The Wairarapa Star hears that an effort is being made to amalgamate the Wellington Meat Export Company and^ the Wellington' Meat Preserving and Refrigerating Company, and devotes a leading article to disuade the direotors of the former company from entering ! into such an arrangement. It insists very Btrongly upon the prejudicial effect v on the prices of stock which the proposed amalgamation would have. Wiggins predicts a big storm on 19th September. . - Wall street has formed a society to suppress false rumours. Milwaukee has a tobacco-chewing contest, with a gol.l watch for first prize. Louisville, Ky., is now driving out theclairvoyants by taking them 200 dole, a year. ; An Oglethorpe, G., boy has invented a cash-drawer for which he has refused 10;000dols. It is said that according to a recently prepared. return, there (ire not more, than 300 females ' employed as barmaids .throughout Victoria. : Action is being taken iv America against the issue of " penny dreadfuls" that have been and are- still beiug put into circulation for the young. Norfolk, Va., will shortly have an impeached mayor on its hand, as ho is charged with having been m collusion with thieves and law breakers. At the meeting of the American Con-' gregational Uniou m Boston, it was stated, that there are, eighty organised churches m Minnesota without a secretar y« ■ ::-.■-■ ■ : .■.■-••..:.■.'■•: Tho Brooklyn bridge was one year old on Saturday week. .During tlje year over she millions of people crossed it on foot, aud the total receipts were 361,770 dols. Two young persons from Shermndash county, were married at Harper's Ferry the other day, the groom being sixteen years old and the bride fifteen years. Some of the stowaways by the direct ' steamers are turning out criminals of a dangerous class. The following item m the catalogue of a Bulls sale has a special and sad significance jof its own:—" On account of Official Assignee m bankrupt estate of C. Li Maclean, a first-class gold keyless Lever Hunting Watch and chain." - A telegram on Saturday to Ihe Napier j -Telegraph is as follows : — " Mr Fisher 1 ♦this morning is reported to be dying, and four doctors Hare m attendance." ' The reason of the posponement of the sessions of the Supreme Court till tomorrow is the detention m Wellington of his Honor Judge Richmond, who was, expected to have arrived on Monday. The weather, however, was too rough to permit (he steamer leaving. iThe Marton paper gives the following particulars of the drowning of the Maori ! referred^ to m our telegram yesterday :— "On Saturday a Maori, well-known as the husband of Rakarau Hunia, was drowned whilst attempting to cross the Raugitikei fiver at Otara. In company with another Native^ named Rangipo, he started to convey to Mr William Mar? ■ aiHali, -' 'who- was oh the Otaihakapua Block, the melancholy news of the death of his mother. When they reached the river it was m high flood, and Rangipo tried to persuade his companion 'not to attempt to get across.? The latter, however, refused to take the advico tendered tp him. When he got into the current, which was running with great force, his horse went down haunches first, and the rider wts washed off. Though a good swimmer, he was swept down the river and never seen afterwards. The horse managed to swim ashore."