LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 266, 7 October 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Prince of Wales 1 Birthday this year falls on a Sunday. Some of the sections recently sold by auction at Manee have yielded as much as 22 tons of potatoes to the acre. The B;ev. J. S. Watson, who was sent to penal servitude some 14 years ago for the murder of his wife,hnsdiedin prison. Mr Watson was the author of a life of Porson, a life of Wilkes, and a life of Cobbett. He executed a number of the translations m Bonn's Clussical Library. An English Judge recently condemned five prisoners to an aggregate of 25 years' penal servitude for stealing two ducks, four bullocks, seven fowls, one apron, and three small pieces of jewellery. At Naples the other day a steel, tor-pedo-boat was launched which had been built for the Italian Government. In her trial trip she not only accomplished tho stipulated speed (20 miles an hour) but did 21£ miles, which is believed to be the best time on record. Acre allotments m the Meanee Mission property, lately sold by auction m Napier, realised from £46 to L 67 each. In a summons for property tax,amounting to 6s 3d,(Bayß the Wairarapa Daily), the expenses ran Up to £2 15s. There was no appearance of either party. There need be no fear of the Napier Harbor Loan not floatiug when the time foi that operation to be negotiated comes At the sale of the Meaneo Mission property Mr Harker, tho auctioneer, said, « I guarautoe to "find the whole of the money for the harbor at 5 per cent. : among my friends and relations." That will be good newß for those anxious to see Napiei progress.

The public Imvo not yet got accustomed to the payment of telegrams m postage stamps, but the abolition ot money payments, we hear effects a great saving of time and trouble m the olfico work of the department. The first of the uew season's wool arrived m Wellington on Friday by the. Kiwi. Her shipment consisted of sixteen bales from Meredith's station at Urite. The son' of Jem Mace, the ..pugilist, holds ovangolistiual services m London. Now York City is credited with haviug four, hundred and fifty millionaires. Amongst the petitions now before the House is one from Mr \^. A. Huut. of Auckland, praying for a reward of £5000 for the discovery of the Thames goldfields iv 18G7. Mr Hunt, who is at preseut m Wellington iv support of his petition, was' one of the owners of the famous Shotover claim at the Thames, from which he was reported to have Bold out after clearing £40,000 or £50,000. Ministers have stated that they do not intend to render property belonging to religious denom inations subject to property tax. - . i . ...v Many people seem to- imagine that Mr Yates, the libeller of Lord Lonsdale and Lady Grace Fane, is. serving his four months m pi'ison. This is not so ; he is still at large; pending ait appeal grouted on a technical point. Four mouths have elapsed since the date: of conviction, and the technical point has not been settled yet. . The Mayor of Wellington has convened a public meeting for the purpose of inaugurating a Society for the .Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. At the meeting of the Horowhenua Licensing Commissioners, held at Foxton on Friday, a fresh license was granted to the Mauawatu Hotel. This was, of couise, the outcome o£ the recent proceeahigs m the Supreme Court. The Itotel has been closed for three months, and we understand' that Mr T. P. Williams, the well-known, aud popular resident of Foxton, will be the uew landlord. . .. . / From the Post we learn that a large area of- good agricultural laud is about to be placed on the market by the Wellingtou aud Manawatii Railway Company. A staff of surveyors has been engaged for several months past m cutting up a quantity of land. at Fitzherbert, Mauawatu district, into sections ranging m area from 50 to 308 acres, and these will be submitted for sale at auctiou at the earliest opportunity. About 40,000 acres will bo offered. . A Parliamentary return has been issued staling the number of persona sentenced to death for murder iv England and Wales during the three years ended the 31st of December last. The persons numbered 24 iv 1881, 22 m 1882, aud ?3 m 1883, giving a total of 69 iv the three years. The return shows how many of those condemned to death were executed, and how many had their sentences commuted. It appears that the seneuce was carried into effect iv the case of only 39 of the condemned murderers, 23 having had their sentences commuted to penal servitude for life, arid the remaining 7 having been removed to the luuatio asylum at Broadmoor. >■ An honest man was hardly dealt with at the Napier R. M. Court last week. He had bought some jewellery, innocently but far under its value though, and he made the damaging -admission m Court that he would have returned it again if he had got his money. This" was held to be an infringement of the Pawnbroker's Act, aud accordingly the jewellery was forfeited. The entries for the forthcoming Napier show are the largest on record, the total showing 551 entries as agaiust 461 last year, the largest number of entries ever received previously being iv 1881, when there were 534. With fine weather the exhibition promises to be. a great success. • Aioong the Consolidation Bills now before Parliament is one entitled "Police Offences," which includes four Acts relating to vagrancy, assaults on constables, that part of the Licensing Act, relating to drunkenness, aud 22 Provincial ordinances relating to Police offences, and . the existing Cruelty to Animals Act. One clause m the uew Bill inflicts a miniumu penalty of live shillings where a charge of drunkenness is proved. A pretty commentary upon the manner iv which the New Zealand Lords conduct their affairs is afforded (says an exchange) by a fortnight's leave of absence having been recently granted to the Hon. W. Robinson ou " urgent private affairs." This enables " Re..dymoaey Robinson " to draw his honorarium just -as if he were attending the Council all the time, and thereby allows him to attend the A.J.C. Spring Meeting at Sydney-, without inconvenience; .Vv It is stated that there are upwards of 500 licensed publichouses m the provin3ial district of Auckland. . In other words, throughout this province every sixty adult males support on an average one publichouse with all its attendant expenses. . [ A number of emigrants, all deaf and dumb, have recently left East London for Quebec, there to found a silent colony. i There are 300,000 persons engaged m the public-houses m London on Sun.days. , ■ A case has been before the magisrate at Madras m which a Brahmin sorcerer recovered 300 rupees from a man- for -"driving the devil but of his wife." • ■■• A writer m the Irish Templar: "I have it upon undoubted authority that, at the last Christmas dinner of the South Dublin Union, there sat at the same table, two clergymen holding degrees from Trinity College, two doctors of medicine, a man who had been a war correspondent for a lending. London daily, and one who had formerly been a poor law guardian of that very union, all having reached their state of pauperism through drink. Ten thousand women were proceeded against m Liverpool for drunkenness last year. Mr Stewart has introduced a Biil enforcing a penalty not exceeding £30, or m defanlt one months 1 imprisonment for sending to a newspaper a fraudulent birth, death or marriage notice. The printer or publisher is also liable m the event of wilful publication to a penalty of £20, or a months 1 imprisonment, and for refusing to furnish the name of person forwarding fraudulent notice he will be liable to a penalty of £20. We .can congratulate our Napier ncigubours on the > successful passage of their Harbour Board Bill through Parliament. According to the Post the,result has been m a large degree owing,' to the good .management of Mr Orthond; who was m charge of the measure. The longevity of horses m New Zealand has often been remarked upon, and m Hawke's Bay there have been several instances m which members of the equine race have exceeded the span of life usually alloted them. At this day Father Reignier'b well-known roan is enjoying the retirement of a Mcanee paddock at over thirty years of age, and the late Major Withers' cob is, we Tele- j graph believe, m fairly active work at Woodville, though m his twenty-sixth year.

" Warrior," tho A:is(ralian correspoutlent of tho Otago Witness, writes that Beacli liiitj boon engnged for LSOO to give a series of rowing exhibitions m this colony. During the last seventeen years thcro have been over thren hundred murders m Cincinnati, and only one of tho inur : d> rers has Buffered capital punishment. Considerable amusement was caused m Napier by the statement that the local volunteers will m future require a policeman to be m attendance to protect them from the larrikins. The Napier Telegraph has tho follow- ( i»g : — " Cheap advice was plentiful at last night's meeting of the Borough Council. Perhaps the most serviceable item for future reference was that given by<Cr. Lee., Better be a defendant than, a plaintiff' m law any day, that was. the* result of thirty years' experience of the profession." • : Five newspapers established before the year 1 7 00 m Great- Britain are still alivo :— The London Gazette, 1697 ; Course of tho Kxehange, 1697 ; Berrow's Worcester Journal, . 1690 ; Stamford Mercurjr, 1 635 ; and the Edinburgh Gazette, 1690. The profits of the London Standard last .year exceeded LIOO,OOO. While-; this is a very handsome income, it is far exceeded by the income of the Daily Telegraph, which approximates L 250--.-000. At Skeltou, a hors^ attach cd v to a carriage bolted. Just theu a little girl was crossing the road, and the risk she ran being perceived by a youth named^JaJnes Darn ton, aged 17, he sprang^ forward and rescued the child. The brave yonng fellow, however, suffered for his gal lantry, for both his arms were broken, and he; sustained other injuries of so serious a nature that death ensued the | following day. The. deceased was the j sou of Darnton, landscape gardener, who. has saved so many lives -by land and sea, and holds five medals. ' Mr ! Darntou, strange to say, was crippled while attempting to rescue on one occasion. The police m. Sheffield and m other parts of South Yorkshire are investigating a remarkable disappearance six j weeks a^fo. Mr J. •Piirdon, a retired ' farmer, was driven to the railwaj station at Kotherhain, his intention being to go to Sheffield to purchase some pro- | perty. On his; way to the station he Stopped at a bank to cash a cheque for a large amount. From the time he was driven to the station he has never been seen again. His relatives believe he has been murdered.