LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 134, 17 November 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The'" tramp" whom the Wanjjanui Mayor set at stone-breakjng m the Corporation yards on Wednesday afternoon, worked for two whole ho'irs, broke the handles of two of the Corporation, (hammers,' and then rested from his -labours for two days. ' He is xestingyet. : „ A! Writer says :-— 1 discovered many years ago that wood: cbuld be made to last longer -than, irpnjnthe ground, but thought the process was so simple that it was not well to make a stir about it. This is the reoeipe ; Take boiled linseed mland.stir m pulverised poaj, to the con- . sistericyof paint ; put a coat of thjs ovpr the timber, and there is not a man that J will live to see it rot. ; At a committee meeting of. the Manawatu .Racing Club held pn, Saturday evenii)g, the disqualification of Jnb. Burr was removed. - ; ' The proposed ordnance survey of Melbourne and suburbs, which is to be undertaken shortly will cost from £60,000. to £80,000, and take from eight to ten years. This ought to create an exodus pf surveyors from New Zealand, . . , . ..•'.• ■•■■■,-

That our West Coast goldfields are not quite exhausted yet is evident from the amount of the precious metal which continues to be sent up for shipment Home. On the last trip oftheMahinapua from Hokitika to Wollington,she had ou board 12,500 ounces, valued at close on £50,000. Of this, Hokitika produced 33240z, Westport 15500z, and Greymouth, which would probably include the Reeftoo and Kumara parcels, 76220z. A large proportion of this "Shipment was taken on to Duoediu. ....... \A hombie 1 tragedy occurred late on September 24 m a bye-street of Chiajai Naples, where a mother was nursing her daughter, a girl of seventeen!, ill of the cholera. The lover of the girl called and wanted to enter the sick room, but was opposed by the mother, who had always: been adverse to his suit. The young man enraged, drew a revolver, shot the mother through the heart and wounded the girl m the. forehead. '. The murderer fled, and was found a lew hours (later m the cemetery, where he had tried to shoot himself, but had failed, and he ..was/carried wounaed to the hospital. A special correspondent had an interview with Lord Wolseley on board the steamer prior to his departure, when his lordship said it was his great hope and. every effort on his part, and those under his command* would be made, to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum. He had every belief that this would be done successfully, and thanked all those who' had so kindly wished him success. . As to the date when he and his command would reach, Khartoum, his lord-.-ship'said it depended very' much uppn circumstances. When Christinas w^s mentioned as the probable date, his .'lordship stated that that date was pro j hable, and he also stated that ho expected to be m London again m March. A fine littlo girl of eighteen months, the daughter of Mr H. Sergeant,lof tjhe Auckland Hotel Dining Rooms, died bn •Thursday last, through sucking ; the heads of lucifer matches on tlie previous day. . The following are 'the. circumstances :— Mr Sergeant lives iri Daystreet, off Beresford-street, and on Wednesday, at liis residence, the child' inadvertently got hold of.s ome matchesand : ato trie heads off about a dozen or. so, becoming ill m consequence. > I^rs Sergeant gave the little one some hot drinks which caused it to, vomit a quah- . tity of yellow matter, the child Seemed a little easier,but vdmited intermittin^ly 'till dpath took place. Dr Bayiitum wjas ' Called m tin Thursday and prescribed for jthe patient, but the child, died shortly Fafterhis' departure, i, ,;• .• i A representative ■ 'of the West. Coast 'Tinted who was at the'drawiag, at Duiiedin, of Ada Mantua's monster; sweep bn Melbourne Cup, writes : " I wasinvitedjto Ada Mantua's drawing of a sweep on the Melbourne Cup, so went, and must say X.neyerißaw a fairer- thing m my life, and were I to hear anyone say different, should at' once know that they knew nothing about what they were talking of, or that they were jealous of the success that Ada has fairly won,by straightforward dealing." \ 'An English manufacturer advertises that his safety matches may be eaten by children with positive benefit to their pppetite and. digestion. '' The Beridigo Independent says that, there is little reason to doubt: that Ijhe approaching harvest m the north will be a cpmpleto failure ; worse, some say, than that of 1881. Thousands 6f ' acres will not be worth cutting, and m many cases cattle are being turned into them. We learn from the Anglo-New-Ziea-lander that "by the most recent returns the number of ships how m New Zealand is ! rihowri to be ! 13,306,329, being . an increase during the year of 892,223? Rather a large fleet ! These figures tally with the sheep returns. . I English mails will close on Wednesday the 19th instant per Ruapehu. These \ will probably reach- England a few days before the New Year. \ \ " This is how a furniture shop adver tiees 'm an Auckland paper : — " Dear Mary. — You have no need to keep our. i marriage waiting any longer.' Ont furniture can be bought for very litjtle money-— At Dampier's Hobson-street shop. ' Tho registered lunatiGs m Victoria number 329. They go about unregistered m New Zealand until they fetch up at Wanganui iyhen they are "km. m." ' ■■■-■■■■■■■■ ■ ■- ! :• The present outbreak of small-pox : m Victoria^ will probably cost £1:0,000 'before it ends. .1 .-.!.' Writes the Woodville correspondent of the Napier Telegrph :j-The /manager for the Cheese and Bacon factory is ; expected to arriveat. any moment n)pw t and, operations will probably commence 4 m vt&sX earnest towards the end of ithe current month. Then will the hopes of the "Bottlers be realised. * . Let hope that the succes of the venture "may! be complete/ .V. ..'.'.- Vv". ..,[{, ■ i <V.'The; Customs -revenue derived from' wine^ beer, and spirits, for- ithe year ending September 30, shows that t&ere has been/a very considerable and steady reduction during the past three years. ' Meanwhile population has grown , jtapidly-j so , that taking both facts into consideration it can' soarcely be doubted but that more economical habits; are gradually being adopted m respect to the use of intoxicating liquors. For the 12 months ending September 30, 1882, ••£486,000 of Customs duty on' wine, beer, .and., spirits were f! paid ; , 1883, . £479,000 ; .and.for trVyear' : ending September 30 last, £455,000 was paid. , ■ ■' , \ ,'. Acpqrding to, ar Wellington paper the ; rainfall far the 'first ' fourteen days of the present- month is almost unprecedented so far as the month of November -is concerned, at any , rate, for the 1 last eighteen years. There Have been eight wet days out of the fourteen days o£the preset t month, and the rainfall as registered itithe Observatory has been B.?sin, ■ whilst the average rainfall for the whole of the inc^n jh during the. last eighteen years is only 4.31. From the' above. it< will be seen that although the month is) not quite half over, we have alreadyj had* nearly as much rain as usually fallsjdur- , ing the entire month. A pathetic story 'came to 'light at an tp.qoest held at the St. Clement Danes Vestry Hall, London, on the body of ■ Mrg:Blackwell, aged about §0 years. It appeared from the -evidence, that the deceased, who was a charwoman, was a person of superior education, and; that she had always been very reticent when spoken to about -her family. Little, therefore, was known of her. She had occupied a room m a lodgihg-housej, and had carefully guarded against any intrusipn into the room, even by the landlady. 'In this toom, m which she had/ not a single artiole of furniture, eh.6 was found dead, and the medical testimony showed that her death resulted jfrouv starvation. A verdict to thJs effect was returned. . . . ' ' . In tho Cape Gazette there appearfl a long list of estatoa and property belonging to persons nnkuown or not residing within tho colony- of tho Cape of Good Hone, The list ends as follows : — "The estate of the late James Carey, alias J. C. Power, £89 If 8-;ld,, xl '.\ ; The other niccht, some time after the at Sanger's Zoological Gardens, Margate, had been, .closed, £he tjgreßS that occupies a den adjoining one cpnr taining three'- very fine young Jions became restive, and tore down the partition dividing them, A terrible encounter^ then commenced. Tho other animal, by her immense strength and activity, despatched the three lions before any assis- . ; tance could be rendered. |

An extraordinary being is to be seen jusc now at tho American Hotel, St. Murtin's-strcet, Leicester Square, London. A b<»y i« liriug there whoso face bears the most striking resemblance to that of a terrier dog. Every featuie is hidden by soft silky hair, which is particularly abundant m the region of his ears. His body is also covei-ed though less profusely with hair. He is fourteen years ,<>f age, and is said to be the sou of a savage who was exhibited some ten yeaTS ago as a dog-man, and who was caught with the child m a Russian forest. The "mother of this extraordinary creature is not known. The lad is on his way to | America, vtfhSFo he is to figure m the show of Mr Barnuin. No more Greek is to be taught m the Chicago public schools.' English is the language to be used when selling pork. Mr Miller, of - .Feilding, who was bitten on the hand '"Some "time ago by a katipo.spider, is still , suffering from the effects of the poison. The Sultan, of Morocco, who is 37 years of age, lias a harem of 1,200 women, yet he has to cut up his own tobacco. It is'a-f act that all the common beer was . sold afall thepublichouses m the neighbourhood of Pall Mall aud St. James'- j street by 9 o'clock on the evening of the . occ.asion of a recent .reform dflmonstration m London..,. .At 11 all those houses closed, having sold everything driDkable;! to the refbrmers. One publichouse al»ne oh the line of march 'sold over 6*50 gallons of fourpeuny ale. •.' I Staff officers occasionally want to know too much. A list of women and,, children requiiirig -pasaage. -Home m a troopship included two babies, with an explanation that although not yet come into the world" they were shortly expected to do so. Whereupon a gallant Brigade-Major sent- back the list to the officer who compiled it, directing him, to have the sex of these infants put m. The date of Mr Greenwood's next Visit to Palmerston is. published m our advertising columns. Attention is directed to the important alterations m the advertisement re Messrs Stevens and Gortpu's next sale,' at Bulls, which is to. take place ; to-morrow, at 1 p.m. ' ■_ ;