Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 265, 6 October 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The North Island Main Trunk Railway Route Committee met ou Friday morning, and took the evidence of Mr Wilkinson, native interpreter from the Thames. This closed the evidcuce which the committee intends to take, and another meeting will be held on Tuesday momiugto consider the voluminous evidence which has been given. It is rumoured that the committee arc not likely to experience much difficulty iv coming to a conclusion as to which route should be adopted. Many of our readers will remember the amusing correspondence which passed between tho Bishop of Dunedin and the Rev. R. L. Stanford, when the latter wished to quit the church, as he.? hadjoine.i the bar. Tho Bishop; was very wrath, and threatened to degrade Mr Stanford and inflict all sorts of pains and penalties ou him. Mr Stanford, however, got completely the best of his ecclesiastical superior, and nothing more - has been heard of the dire threats which were uttered. The Gazette now notifies that the Bishop has accepted his defeat,; and that the name of the " Reverend" ■Robert Loftus Stanford has, at tho request of the. Right. Reverend the Bishop of Dunedin, been withdrawn from the list of officiating ministers ot the Church of England m New Zealand. - Some large questions are looming m Parliament, notably the maintenance of higher education; and the diversion of a proportion of the property-tax towards Roads and Bridges as country revenue, the tax to be 3s 4d m the £ ! The discussion of the3e questions will possibly pave thejvay to a change m the not remote future. " Amicus" m the Auckland Herald writes :— " Sir, — Considerable discussion has arisen as to whether Glasgow or Liverpool is the second city of the Empire according to the statement of the editor of the Glasgow Weekly Mail, at the last census Glasgow and suburbs had a population of 705,109, while Liverpool and suburbs had 681,934 ; and last year the population of Glasgow and suburbs' w.as 780,213." A shocking death by starvation of a tourist at Wolgrund, m the Reisengebirghe, is reported. Ho fell from a bridge into a deep chasm, from which it was impossible to escape, and whero the noise of the waterfall drowned, his cries. According to the Melbourne correspondent of the Ararat Advertiser, Mr J. J. Miller has changed his occupation. From a " sweepist"^ he has developed into Ti squatter' with a million acres m the Kitnbeiley district,- Western Australia. v '. A quack doctor, who was giving testimony m a San Francisco court, was asked, if he had ever performed the operation of decapitation. l< Oh yrs." he said, " I have done that often, often," <( Always successfully ?'' " Never lost a ' patient under it." The oldest ship afloat m the British mercantile navy is a collier brig:, belonging to South Shields, named Brotherly Love, and it is claimed that this -is the identical vessel upon which the circumnavigator, Captain James Cook, served out his time as an apprentice. Fifty omxty tons of eggs pass through the St. Gothard Tunnel every day,bound for Harwich. On one day m the present year a hundred and thirty tons, representing about two millions of eggs, wore" lahrfed at Harwich, and sent on to London by the Great Easter^ Railway. The intended Parliamentary trip to Gisborne and Napier by tho Hinemoa has, after all, had to be abandoned, owing to the determination of the House to sit on Monday' evening for the transaction of the Government business. According to the correspondent of the Nap.ior Telegraqh, it is not expected at Wellington that the Parliamentary session will last beyond another month. The Government have withdrawn their proposal to reduce the educational capitation grant ; they will probably with-, draw their announced intention to reduce the Constabulary, and this must necessitate the withdrawal of the proposal to reduce the property-tax iov this year. These little matters will simplify tho Public Works proposals, and the House will be very glnd to prorogue at the earliest opportunity.

Tlie new orders m Council abolishing i receipts for telegrams, requiring all prepaid telegrams to he paid for m stamps, and extending the hours of stations heretofore closing at 5 o'clock, are gazetted. The late Professor Erasmus Wilson has left a legacy of two hundred thousand pounds to the Royal College of Surgeons, England. Mr Sly showed us on Saturday a piece of stone he found on bis pioperty lutuly and whicli is undoubtedly a genuine Maori curiosity. The stone is of green color and shaped somewhat similar to an I Amorican axe-head. It evidently had sisen some labor, the edge being considerably chipped. -Eight hundred persons recently atten-' ded a " saved drunkard's " demonstration at Auckland, says a local paper. It is to be presumed that the great majority of the audience did hot come within the meaning of the title. ; The averages of the Australians up to and inclusive of the All-England match are to hand. Murdoch heads the list with the grand average of 30 20 for 39 innings, Scott comiug second with 2321 for 40 innings ; Macdonald, 23- 13 for 43. inningß ; Midwinter, 20*5. for 36 innings ; Bannennan, 1916 for 41 ittVtngs ; Gift'en, 18-13 for 41 innings; Bonuor, 185 for 42 innings ; Blackham, 164 for ' 33 innings ; Palmer,. 13*29 for 38 innings ; Boyle, 11*18 for 31 innings ; Cooper, 101 for 6 inuiugs; Spoffoh'th, 921 for 36 inuiugs ; Alexander, 52 for 4 innings. In bowlinjr, cSpofforth delivered 4571 balls for 153 wkts., average, 13*2; Pahn<:r, 4295 for 116 wkts., average, 15-109; ! Buyle, 2218 for 913 runs, average, 17-29 ;, while Gjffen conies next with 2698 balls for 12.8 runs, average 2117 ; Cooper is well down the list with 35.6 balls for 208 runs, average. 52.0, thus proving that as a bowler against the Englishmen he was a complete failure. The racehorse Krupp, whose splendid breeding and excellent performances up North last seasoti made him a great favorite for the forthcoming Canterbury Derby, has been in jn red iuternall during his trip down South iv the Rotomahana. ... The Married W.omans' Property Protection Bill hos passed both Houses and will take effect the beginning of next year. I