LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 138, 21 November 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Chess is the oldest game now m use. It was originally played m India, where tradition says it was invented 5,000 years ago. Tho Indian game, however, was much unproved as* it traversed other climes. It reached Cliina,and then came through. Persia to Europe. Before the sixteenth century there had been fifteen writers on chess, of whom seven were Asiatics. Tho St. Petersburg correspondent of the Tiftics tells the following sad tale : — " An old Russian officer,: of the name, of Lusignan, claimant to the throne of Cyprus, has just been buried here. He died m great distress, aged 77, and was followed to the grave hy' a solitary mourner, m the person of his son, who iuherits the title of his father as King of Cyprus, Jerusalem, aud Armenia." In the Resident Magistrate's Court Napier, recently, Captain Preece reqnestcd the Press to take notice of the fact that the Justices of the Peace Amendment Act was already m force, and that under this statute all indictable offences must m future be heard before two Justices, instead of before one only, as heretofore. It is a curious coincidence that President Arthur, who has been the ruler of the United States since thn assassinaof General ;(farficld, is the son of a clergyman of the Congregational Church, who emigrated to America from tho North of Ireland before President Arthur was born. The President-Elect, Stephen G rover Cleveland, is also the sou of a clergyman, his father being the Rev. Richard F. Cleveland, of Caldwell; Essex County, State of Now York.

A rural debating society was debating the question : — " Which is the more solemu ceremony, a funeral or a marring 0 ?" when it was noticed that all the married men agreed that a wedding was. Sir John Hall is again m New Zealand having lauded at New Plymouth from the mail steamer. Ho will tiavel overland to Wellington. His health has much improved since leaving England. Sir John Hall, whilst m London, visited most o£ the markets where colonial produce was on sale, and has gathered much information as to exports. He visited Mr Samuel Page's establishment, where cheese sent by the Waikato Cheese Factory and a Christchurch firm was m stock. He says the colonial cheese was much superior to the American and realised 50s to 60s. The bett time for cheese to arrive at Home is m December or January, when the market is comparatively bare of American importations. New Zealand butter, Ife believes, will find a good market,and should arrive between November and March. A very important announcement is made m the Ashburton Mail of the 13th instant, .which is that the New Zealand Shipping Company have decided to reduce the freight on cheese to London to £4 per ton, and on butter to £5 per ton. The freights on these commodities, as we have frequently had occasion to point out, have hitherto been altogether excessive, and it was impossible to expect the export trade iv them to be maintained if the old rates were adhered to. The news that the Shipping Company have'recognised the necessity for making a substantial reduction will be • received with pleasure by dairy fanners . throughout the colony. The proposed reduction, it is said, will make a difference of £d per pound on cheese,which it is perhaps needless to say is sufficient to convert a loss into a substantial profit. It is a singular fact that m each of the recent fatal wrecks on our coast the captain of the vessel was accompanied: by his wife. Some owners, we (Post) believe, refuse to allow captains to have their wives aboard, holding, with some reason, that it is impossible for a man m times of emergency to concentrate his energies upon the preservation of the property and lives m his. charge when his attention is distracted by the distresses of those who are nearest and dearest to him. At Mr Suelson's general sale at the People's Mart to-morrow he will offer a superior grey trap mare, with Morpheus foal, also a sociable phaeton with pole and shafts, and a five-roomed cottage. ■ Mr A. H. Walker invites tenders for the erection of wool-shed m Fitzherbart. The altered specifications can be seen at Mr Snelson's. Tenders must be m the post office not later than 4 p.m. to-morrow. An exchange, referring fo the longevity of the eagle, makes the following somewhat"tall statement : — " An eagle has recently been shot m England which had arouud his neck a brass chain,, fastened to a small tin box. In this box was a paper, on which was written, ' Caught and set free again m 1792, by N. and C. Anderson, Boetod -m - Falster, Denmark.' " A tradesman m the South offered his creditors 5s m the pound,with a stipulation that if Vanguard won the New Zealand Cup he would pay m full. The offer was accepted and the debtor kept his word ; but still it can scarcely be 'ooked upon as orrect ccotnmercial morality. Some idea of the drought m Queensland may be inferred from the following taken from a Queensland paper : — A correspondent of the Daily Herald who is travelling m the far West states that the place is a wilderness, and that it costs £1 a day to feed a horse. In the caso Burr v. Mansou heard yesterday Mr A. S. Baker appeared for defendant. Further additions are made to Messrs Stevens and Gorton's stock sale catalogue at the Denbigh Sale Yards, Feilding, on Tuesday. Tendels for the purchase and stock-in-trade m the estate of George Marsh; will be received by Mr Scott, Deputy Official Assignee, till to-tnorrow. The Masterton Duily says, the time of closing for the next European mail, via Ruapehu is' extended to Monday, Nov. 241h at 6.30 a.m. In that case letters posted iv Palmerston on Saturday eveniug should be iv time. The Manawatu Ferry is obstructed m consequence of a bank having silted up which prevents the punt from crossing. A Wairarapa exchange says: — "The Manawatu Ferry service is fast becoming a public scandal." At the recent sitting of the Court of Appeal m Wellington, Mr Izard applied for leave to set down a motion to strike a solicitor off the rolls. By consent of Mr Gully, for the solicitor, the order was made. There has been a considerable fall m the price of sheep m the Auckland market. The Salvation Army, it is said, have now 29 corps m different parts of New Zealand. Truth says : — " It was proposed to employ Baker Pasha m connection with Lord Wolsley's expedition to Egypt, but the project was peremptorily vetoed by the Queen. I hear that her Majesty took advantage of the opportunity to announce that her decision on this subject is unalterable, and therefore she wishes to hear no more about it. The personages who urg'od m favour of General Baker were sharply snubbed." Fusilier and Tim Whiffler have been scratched for all engagements, at the Dunedin Spring Meeting. Writes the Woodville correspondent of the Napier Telegraph : — There has been a rumour that the Gorge railway may soon be surveyed with a view to letting the contracts m January next. It is to hoped that this is true, for the extension to Palmerston North would be of great service to the district. There is a possibility of the line being taken over a saddle iv the ranges, I believe, but not very much is known about that route yet. It is calculated that the cost of taking it through tho Gorge cannot be less then £10,000 per mile. The Otago Daily Times says :— The treasurer of tho Southland Hospital acknowledges the receipt of £136 10s, being donation from Mrs Wood, widow of the late Hon. W. Wood, M.L.C., m fulfilment of his wishes relative to the disposal of his honor.irium for the short session of Parliament held prior to tho late dissolution The following occurred at a recent meeting of tho Patea Borough Council : — A resolution that the pound keeper be notified his services would not be required after the completion of his present term of office was passed, with a view of passing a resolution calling for applications for poundkeeper and ranger for the ensuing year, but immediately the first resolution was passed, and iv order to prevent the second beiug passed two of the Councillors jumped up from their scats and left tho Council Chamber thus leaving the Council withont a quorum, and although the Mayor requested them to return, they very discourteously declined to do so, and business had of a necessity to cease. The increased postage Tates for outward correspondence via Brindisi are now m force.

Mr Richard KoMer, lias been admitted to a lunatic asylum m San Francisco. Richard was here just upon three years ago with those fajnous wax figures, of his and liis electric boy, &c. At a meeting of the managers of St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington last evening, the tenders for the erection of the new church were considered, aud that of Mr James Wilson for £5649 was accepted. The new buildings will bo considerably larger than the one destroyed by fire. The spire will be about 135 ft from the ground, and the height of the building will be about 27ft to the eaves. The building will seat about 800 people comfortably, and is expected to be ready for occupation about the Ist September next. A contemporary has the following : — " During these bad times we have heard of many ways that have been tried by people to raise the necessary funds to meet their engagements ; but perhaps the most ingenious and novel was that practised by one of our local tradesmen a few days back. Findiug he was a little short, ho set his writs to see liow he could raise the cash. He aLlength decided to get up a sweep on the Melbourne Cup, and with such success that •he was enabled to meet his engagements by the time the result of the race .was made known. The dreaded 4th was thuß got over. The indiscriminate use of barbed wire for fencing m this colony has oftenjled I to the destruction of clothing worn by pedestrians of both sexes. While its usefulness m keeping off cattle cannot be doubted, it is due to the public that its use should be confined to paddocks i whose boundaries do not front public stieets or roads. In an action at Home recently, a Glasgow magistrate awarded a claim of 15s for damages done tolthe clothing of two young ladies through coming into contact with a barbed wire, fence. The sheriff made a personal examiuation of the fence, and said it appeared that it was a Yankee notion, but he did not think that was a recommeudation for having such a class of fehoe m a public street. ' The Auckland Star says : — "Wejregret to learn that there is a good deal of truth m the complaiuts which have recently been made regarding the dearth of employment for labouring men m Auckland. In proof of this .we may mention that a local contractor advertised the other day for thirty men, with the result that over three hundred applied, nearly all of them being genuine labourers out of work. • What with cock fighting at Greymouth and pugilism at the capital. New Zealand is progressing. Boxing matches m which one or other or more frequently, both combatants are severely punished are getting almost weekly events m Wellngton. To show the extent of what is being done by Messrs. Mitchell and Richards, wholesale and retail butchers, of «Wanganui, we may mention that they kill, on an average, sixty head of beef every week, besides a number of sheep. The firm send away a lot of pickled beef every week to Sydney, where they get a good price for it. They carry on an extensive meat preservng as well. By the last mail they gpt more orders for preserved meals than they can execute. Endeavours have been made, we (Marton paper) understand, by Mr Macarthur; M.H.R., for Manawatu, to obtain a reserve of 2,000 acres as endowment for the Feilding borough. Although nothing has yet been decided, we understand there is a proWbility of succesß, which we earnestly hope will be the case. '. There is a probability (says the Feilding Star) of two of the most important works m the district being carried out, viz., a bridge over the Manawatu at the Lower Gorge, as the Chairman intimated . at the meeting of the Manchester Road Board on Monday that the grant of £5,000 under tho Roads and Bridges Construction Act for these "works, would be granted on the vote of the ratepayers being obtained. Mr Wollerman was charged at Feilding by Constable Gillespie, before Messrs ■Macarthur and Sherwill, J's.P., with supplying Samuel Rowley, of Feildirig, with ten gallons of ale on or about the 15th November, he being a prohibited person. The case having been proved, the accused was fined 10s, and costs. A further charge against Mr Wollerman for supplying the said Samuel Rowley with beer was withdrawn.