Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 25, 30 December 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

♦ No nominations were received yesterday for the vacancy m the Borough Council, caused by the resignation of Cr W. T. Wood. The poll for the Lower Gorge Bridge, under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, was taken m Ashurst yesterday. By wire we learn that the majority of votes for the Bridge was 24, representing a rateable value of .£46,868. We have to acknowledge receipt from' Mr F. Mowlern, hon, sec. of the Amalgamated Sports Committee, of a complimentary ticket of admission to the Sports to take place on New Year's Day, and also the ball and concert m tbe evening. A correspondent sends the following yarn to the Otago Daily Times : " One day last week a young man engaged as a rabbiter on a well-known Taieri estate found a number of his dogs worrying a lamb belonging to his employer. Ho was so annoyed at the occurrence that be immediately commenced to shoot every dog m the pack, which numbered 23. Everything went on all right, and the dogs patiently waited around to be shot, till m a few minutes the whole 23 lay dead on the hillside. The slaughter, to use the rabbiter's own words, proceeded to tbe end without the slightest hitch, no single dog requiring more than one shot to finish him, 'Otherwise,' said he, ' I could never have managed it.' " The wire was down yesterday, somewhere about Otaki, consequently there was no weather report, for which we are devoutly thankful. Let us hope it is an . auspicious omen. At Middleton, Ohio, the value ot the electric light was shown when a mob attacked a jail for the purpose of lynching a prisoner. The fight was turned upon them, and they fled as from a volley of musketry. They were " prominent citizens," no doubt, and did not care to be seen engaged m that kind of work. It is really time something was done m the matter of erecting a safe bridge at Awahuri. Since the river has taken a new course and washed away about twenty feet of the bank on the Palmerston side, says the Marton paper, plankiner has been stretched across the gap, and it is positively dangerous even for a horseman to pass over it. Tho patients m the Wanganui Hospital wore regaled on Christmas day with a seasonable dinner. The Mayor, Mr F. M. Spurdle, presided, and the Rev. James Treadwell filled the vice-chair. After grace had boon sung, the imnatos turned to with wonderfully good appetites for invalids, and were promptly waited on by several ladies, who kindly assisted and helped to mako the affair a success. After a capitally served hot dinnor, providod by Host Morrow, of the Criterion Hotel, His Worship made a short and pithy speech, after which the Rev. Jas. Treadwell presented the custodian and his wife (Mr and Mrs Adcock) with a biblo and silver brooch respectively, which had been subscribed for by lady visitors. A correspondent, writing to an exchange on the libel case against the New Zealand Times, says: — "The lawyers have the matter m nand,andit is expected that there will be considerable constfmatjon m political circles when it is Knorivn who are the actual proprietors pf -fh^pttr^ m question." ,

Yesterday again the weather was most inclement, heavy rain tailing at mare some indictions of its talcing up. A tervals throughout the day. To-day there continuance of such uprecedented weather is likely to entail actual disaster on every class of tho community, as commercial and agricultural depression is sure to result. All claims against the Eacing Club are to be forwarded to tho Hon. Sec, not later than to-morrow. Mr M'Cardle intimated at Friday's sitting of the Land Board, Wellington, that he intended to move at the next meeting for an inquiry into certain alleged cases of dumrnyism m the Wellington district. A serious crisis is pending m the china and earthenware trades ot Staffordshire, England, which give employment to over 100,000 operatives. Notices have been given at nearly all the works m the district of a reduction of wages, 'm some cases as much as 50 per cent. The Paris Gaulots makes a statement that when the servant of a doctor was dying from cholera the doctor swallowed pills made from the vomit of deceased, which produced no deleterious effect upon the physican, thus showing that the vomit of a cholera patient is not infectious. We learn from the Wanganui Herald with regret that Capt. Peter Doile has had to be removed to the Wellington Hospital, his state having become so critical as to demand constant medical and other attendance. " For heaven's sake save my wife," crfM a husband to the sailor on the deck of a steamer, the object of his affections having fallen overboard. Nerved by the thought of their own sweethearts, the Bailors rescued the poor woman, andlaid her m the cabin beside her half-swoon-ing husband — whose look of gratitude fully repaid them for their efforts. Then he rose, thrust his handy into his wile's wet pocket.pulled out a well-filled purse, looked infinitely relieved, aud said — " There old woman, the next time you tumble overboard just leave that purse behind you, will you ? You scared me almost to death 1" The first prize m Jacob Faithful's consultation goes to Waipawa, to a railway official, the second goes to Kaikora, while the third goes to a popular Taradale sheep farmer. Napier finds the money, says the Telegraph, and the outsiders take the prizes. Lord Chief Justice Coleride, m charging the grand jury at the autumn assizes at Bedford (says a Home paper) spoke at length on the character of sentences which justices of the peace frequently passed. He strongly condemned the passing of heavy sentences for trifling offences, such, as pilfering, his belief being that such a method manufactured criminals instead of correcting them. In illustration he cited a case where two urchins were sent to prison for three months, with hard labor, for the paltry theft of a few apples from an orchard, an offence of which perhaps many of the j magistrates were guilty when they were boys.