Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 21, 23 December 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the Timaru R.M~ Court, on Thursday, m the civil action, Kett v. Godby, i' 555, cost of a ball and supper on September 26th, m celebration of the coining of age of Mr Tknaru Rhodes, defendant had paid m .£370, being at the rate of £1 per head for guests, and declined to pay the balance of the bill unless furnished with terms. This plaintiff declined to do, on the ground that it Avas not the custum of the trade. Finally, defendant having inspected a memorandum of the particulars, which plaintiff had drawn up for his own guidance, agreed to pay the disputed amount — viz., .£lB5, and £50 costs. A member of a large firm m Welling, ton informed the Feilding paper that the advertisements m the local papers are accepted as a good criterion as to how business men m the country towns are pushing their trade. It is considered that the man who keeps his business,, and what he has to sell continually before the public, is the best man for the large importers' to do business with. The following amusing notice is put m the window of a store — not a hundred miles from Stratford : — v Lost. — A ' steer, branded 20 on tfte milking side. We may point out ior the information of Government insurance policy holders who intend to record their votes m connection with the forthcoming election of three candidates for the Insurance Board that voting papers will shortly be obtainable at the local post office, and the papers when signed must be attested by a witness. The papers must be forwarded to the " Presiding Officer, Government Insurance Office, Wellington," m time to reach there before the 7th of January. The Post says :—■-'•' A general election about the middle ot the coming year is, we think, not. only possible, but extremely probable, and then, if wellrdefined issues are placed before the country, the result can hardly fail to smooth away many difficulties which have for a long time past seriously interfered with thje proper and legitimate operations of Par liamentary government m New Zealand. An Invercargill lawyer desired to go to a ball, but had no white choker. He went to the hotel the Wesleyan ministers were staying at and borrowed one. on tho understanding it was returned m the morning. The landlord found it m the morning tied to the door nob. Recently abundant rams have fallen •ju> most of the farming districts m Vicijoria, and m consequence the prospects .of .tfye ;whpat crops are looking brighter. The average yiflld, however, will be very light, owing '(q $jj? prolonged drought which ruled dtjring the. /early part of the season. This, coupled with"' thp £a.€f, that a less area i» laid down inwheaMlp season m New Zcalftnd, should rpsult m better prices next harvest;. The futility of the recent ukasea of fchp English Jockey Club against the betting by trainers and jockeys is generally ac« knowledged. One trainer notoriously won £11,000 on the races recently, and a well-known jockey laments the loss of JJ2OOO at Doncaster. Labouchere says the rest of tho evil is the intimacy of the relations between jockeys and owners, ' % p,pd sums up the English sporting world '$s.a"v^jj welter of knavery and corrup-

Mr James Kohy one of the champion . daiieoi - rf oi' Scotland, is to compete at tlio Duneclin Caledonian games. He has won over 400 prizes m America. " No, mann," saiil an Auckland shoe dealer, " I would like to give you a smaller pair, but to sell you anything below eights would render me liable under the statute for the prevention of cruelty to animals." He didn't sell her anything either under eights or over . it — some women are so touchy about the size of their feet, A Maori who was the principal witness m tho alleged conspiracy case heard m the Wellington Magistrate's Court caused a loud laugh by stating that he believed the accused wanted him to kill Campbell so that he (the accused) might have the job of hanging him. Accused, it may be explained, is known as the common hangman, having assisted to " put away " several criminals during the past two years. The Feilding Star says that the Harbour Board block should be well adapted for producing good feed and for stock raising. We have been assured by several persons that m places the rye grass is several teet m height, with ears eight inches long. A settler who bought a few weeks ago at a Feilding auction sale ' a quantity of stock that were so poor that they could scarcely walk up to the block are now " as fat as butter." A malicious act, whereby 400 sheep were destroyed, is reported from Mr Armstrong's Hexharn station, near Warrnambool, Victoria. On November 26 last some men were engaged dipping shorn sheep. After they left off work a mark was made on the dip to guide them for the strength of the solution m the case of rain falling. When they resumed work the men found the dip at the same height, and continued passing the sheep through, When about 2500 had passed through it was found that they staggered and died. On examination it was found that some malicimis 1 person put sufficient arsenic m the boiler to kill the whole flock. The portion of the Gorge road which slipped away has now been made passable by a timber structure. This is pretty strong from the Post : — it is scarcely to be wondered at that the professions by the Ministry of their intense desire for Civil Service reform are received with some increduality when it is seen that, while old and experienced Civil ' Servants are being turned out of one door, new men, not possessed of any special qualifications, but owing their appointment entirely to political influence, are being taken into the service at another door. Amongst several other recent instances of appointments of this kind may be mentioned that of the son of a well-known Southern M.H.8., who has just been provided with a billet m the Public Trust Office. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's chartered steamer Coptic, sailed for London on Saturday afternoon. She took 14 passengers, and a full cargo of wool, tallow, &c, and over 21,000 carcases of frozen mutton. Mr James Peters, sen., of Carterton, was found dead early on Friday morning by his son. Deceased was found m a kneeling position, as if he had got out of his bed m the night. His head rested against the bedside as if engaged m prayer. Mr Peters was a very old resident of Carterton, where for years he carried on business as a bootmaker. For a considerable time past he has been m a bad state of health, having had a severe attack of apoplexy some time ago. Mr Chamier left Woodville on Wednesday for Waipawa, where he assumes the editoral chair of the Mail at the beginning of the year. We wish him all success m his new vocation. According to the Feilding paper a boniface m Wanganui was made the thrice-blessed father of triplets a few days ago. He has been so shy over the matter, fearing the good-humoured badinage of his numerous friends, that he has kept his good fortune a secret. Work must be plentiful for carpenters just now. Mr Sowry only received one tender for the erection of two shops m Woodville. The returns tor the Hawke's Bay Railway line for the last four-weekly period show an increase of iIOOO on the corresponding period of last year. We learn from yesterday's Herald that the little boy Scott, aged 11 years lately brought up for forgery at Pahnerston North, was taken before the R.M. m order that an order for his commital to an Industrial School might be obtained. A recommendation from the Justices who had sentenced the boy was handed mby the Sergeant of police. An order was made that the boy be sent to St. Mary's Industrial School Nelson, to be detained there for two years, and that he be brought up m the Roman Catholic taith. The officers of the Post-master-Gener-al's department have issued their usual Christmas greeting, printed m gold on the new tinted leather-grained note paper. The : effect is very good. We cordially reciprocate the good wishes of the officers of the department. The fact of two such magnificent steamers as the Kaikoura and the Coptic lying at our wharf at the same time, says the Wellington Post and leaving for England direct within 24 hours of each other, is worthy of note, and indicates very clearly the position which the port of Wellington occupies m the colony. Both vessels have completed their cargoes here, and the Kaikoura to-morrow initiates the direct mail service. Although the Coptic has a day's start, it is almost certain that the Kaikoura will arrive m England several days before her, as she is under contract with the Post Office, while the Coptic is not' bound down to time. Information as to the respective performances of the two steamers on the Homeward voyage will be watched lor with great interest. A monster meeting of Maoris is to be held at Taiporohenui, (says the Patea Mail) and after two or three days the natives will adjourn to Manutahi.,, It is anticipated that no less than 2000 natives will be present on the occasion. Anyone not iised jto seeing these gatherings would find it well worth going to, as we understand that Titpkowaru and his followers will be present, and hakas and war dances indulged m ad liliiturt}. England has 27,050 breweries and brewed 990,000,000 gallons of beer last year. Germany has 25,902 breweries and brewed 990,000,000 gallons of beer during the same period. These two countries lead Europe m the mauufacture of this article. The marvelloiis fertility of the rabbit has long been proverbial, but a doe which was killed recently at Camperdown, m Victoria, quite eclipsed all other female bunnies m that way. On being opened, this doe was found to contain seventeen young rabbits. With such 1 prolific increase, there is little wonder that rabbits soon over-run the district. According to the New Zealand Tablet, Mr Joseph Winter, of Melbourne, has forwarMV id $$ Iri,sh Jjand League since the Redmond Jnissioij, ■£15,607 2s Sd, 1 exclusive of J^OOO towards. $$ 'Farnfllj. ' testimonial. Saturday, the 27th of December, is tp be proclaimed a holiday for the whole pf ; New South Wales. I Mr Speight, one of the agents of the i Government Insurance Department, was present at the holiness meeting at Port Albert, and m the lucid intervals did a , big business m insuring lives. Talk about Yankee enterprise after that !

Harry Sellers, for years tho champion | pugilist of Victoria, has had to " throwup the sponge" and go into the Benevolent Asylum. In Uie early days of the Thames goldfield Sellers was well-known. It will he remembered that during his previous term of office (says the Post) Sir Julius Yogel took a deep interest m the subject of forest conservation, and induced a visit from Captain Campbell Walker, of the Indian Forest Department, who made a valuable report on New Zealand forests, after an extended tour of inspection, m 1874 an Act dealing with tho subject was passed, but very little has since been done regarding it. Sir Julius Yogel is still deeply impressed with the importance of the matter, and he has been taking steps to ascertain the present condition of our forests, with a view to tho adoption of active measures for their better preservation. Kesuscitating him. — Coroner, very indignant : " You made no effort to bring him round, after pulling him into your boat?" Boatman: "No effort I I put my hand m his pocket. If that won't bring a man to, he's past the doctor, you bet." At a recent Sunday-school meeting m Chicago, a long- winded clergyman consumed toO much of the time with a wordy address. When he sat down, the leader' of the meeting unwittingly announced the hymn beghining, "Hallelujah? 'tis done." Dr Diver has left Wellington for Sydney m very feeble health. A rumour is current m the South that should Sir Dillon Bell, from any cayse, resign the office of Agent-General, the position would be offered to the present Colonial Secretary, the Honi Mr Buckley. Bad accounts (says the Waikato Times) are m circulation as to the failure of tho Grant and Foster settlement at Te Aroha. It is said that many of tho cottages are empty ; that the " settlers " who were introduced from England m terms of the arrangement made by Messrs Grant and Foster with the Government have largely deserted ; and that for those who remain there is little work and the smallness of tho holdings is not sufficient to maintain them without outside employment. Those who took large areas are making fair progress ; and, the land being good, with a little capital, there is no reason why they should uot succeed.