LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 31, 7 January 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A grand ball was given on board the ss, Arawa last evening m Wellington harbour. The affair was a grand success. : A new Telephone Exchange central office is being fitted up m the Auckland Post and Telegraph Buildings, calculated to provide for 1500 subscribers. A young woman left one of her slippers at a newspaper office the other .day. They didn't find Jit out till they saw two 01 the devils pulling one another about the back yard m it during their dinner hour. They had stuck it on two rollers, and made a small tramcar of it. It is estimated that at the present prices of wheat m England it will be impossible to export that cereal from the interior of India. The following comical advertisement' appears m a Wellington paper : — Public Notice. — John Smith Harris, known to the foolish as the "Whiffler," hereby gives public notice that, it anyone who is worth powder and shot states m the presence of witnesses — and ho (J.S.H.) has plenty on the look out — that MiHarris has a " screw lose," " a tile short," " a shingle off the roof," "a bee m his bonnet," or that " he is not m his right mind," by the powers he'll go for them, straight from the shoulder. — John S. Harris, late manager for Chas. Greatrex & Son, Wallsall, London, and Wellington. An exchange says. " The whole of the ' West Coast of New Zealand is said to be under a cloud at preseut. Numbers of men are travelling the country with their swags, and m the memory of the oldest inhabitant the whole coast has never been m such a depressed state as now. , One of the largest single contributions made to the missionary work of the Church last year, if hot the largest.caino from a Christian Chinaman, who gave £1000 to St. Luke's Hospital at Shanghai. A return has just been published, m accordance with aii instruction by the General Assembly on the motion of Mr Duncan, showing the number of aboriginal natives resident m each provincial district of the Middle and Stewart Island, and the acerage of the reserves set apart for the occupancy of such natives. The population and acerage are as follows : — Nelson, 173, 18,505 acres ; Marlborough 357, 21,414|acres;Westland 93, 5937acre5; Canterbury, 601, 10,074 acres; Otago 703, 20,6*6 was ; Stewart Island 134, 2935 acres. Total — Native population, 2060 ; acreage, <79>544, Mr S, Beoton, an old identity m Wellington, expired on Monday morning. 'Mr Beeton had been m New Zealand , some twenty years, and had previously ' resided m Australia for a long perjod. He has no relations hi New Zealand. ] The trial of W. Waring Taylor will not take place till Thursday next. The counsel for the prosecution are* Mr Jellicoe and Mr Maurice Bichmond. Mr E. Shaw, is Reading counsel for the accused. J)r Pive.r has {returned to Wellington with hjs hoajth not much improved by change ,of olijnaje and scene,

Tlk: liiiu.il, <\i.ioi:tii>ii i»t" NCu.uuors tuat li »s over Ikji-ii iv Part Nidiolsuii was iiiithureti iv \Vullingion liarlmr on Friday. Besides tlio Tougai'ii'it iiml Arawa, iliern worn three <>t' th« largest Union Company's stimuli?!-* at the wharves, besides small steamois, and tlio aggregate net registrar steam tonnage m port at the same time amounted to a little over 12,000 tons. Besides the steamers there were three full-rigged ships, two barques, and various smaller sailing craft. The reading of the indictments m the Wariug Taylor cases will be a rather j formidable task. They contain, respoc- ( tively 75, 137, and 90 counts, and there are over 16,000 worda m the first indictment. Sharks are now very prevalent m Wellington harbour. Among the exports from Wellington this week there wore per s.s. Manapotiri, for Melbourne— so sacks hides, 2000 ft timber, 49 bales flax, 94 kega butter. Per s.s. Hauroto. for Sydney — 97 bales f nagus, 30 tubs butter, 176 cases meats, 51 tierces beef. Among the cargo by the Tongariro are a large number of packages for the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company. The Post's London correspondent writes that the new dep6t for the sale of frozen mutton, opened m Leadenhall Market by the New Zealand Farmers' Association, is doing a very good business. The only pity is that there are now three frozen meat stores within 20 yards of each other m one market. An inventory ot the estate of the late Cyrus McCorinick, the inventor of the harvester, has been filed m one ot the Probate Courts of the United States. The total is not far short of twenty million dollars. The executor ot this colossal trust furnished a bond for thirty millions. We are glad to notice by the Feilding paper that there is a good demand just now for decent dwelling houses m Feilding. This shows that the place is advancing. At a meeting held m Feilding it was •unanimously resolved, to celebrate the 11th anniversary of Feilding on the 22nd instant by rural sports on the Oval, and promenade concert and ball m the Town Hall. Among the events is a Salvation Army race, ladies' race — married and single, Town Band race,' boot race, kangaroo hurdle race, blindfold backward race, tug of war, rolls and treacle, bobbing for oranges, baby show, &c., &c. On their way to Wairoa (says the Napier Telegraph) the Uriweras were stopped at the Mohaka river by the natives of that pah who lined the opposite bank armed with rifles. The Mohaka men demanded whether Te Eooti was with the Uriweras, and on being told that he was not, they said, " then you may cross the river ; but you must not stop herejjgo straight on." The visitors then went on to Wairoa where they were hospitably received. The Salvation Army were to have made a special attack on Bulls last evening, and will continue operations till the end of the week. They will be led by two officers of considerable fame. It is said that Messrs Hill and Poole made a couple of hundreds by the totalisator at the recent Marton-Bangitikei meeting; not bad, certainly, for two days' work. But they not only "ran" the totalisator, but one of their horses won the " big money "on each day. It has been said, indeed, that the amount of their gams from the totalisator and from stakes reached about six hundred pounds. A large number of men left Feilding on Montlay to pursue grass seed harvesting operations m the Wanganui Harbor Board Block. Says the Feilding - paper :— Several milk cans which the Makino Cheese and butter Factory Company had imported from Wellington were found to be defective, and had to be sent to Mr Peter Thomson, tinsmith, of Feilding, to be put to rights. Surely our local tradesmen can make milk cans as well as Wellington tinsmiths. With a theatrical company now playing m Wellington is Miss Flora Anstead (Mrs Charles Massey) whom a Wellington paper describes as " an elderly spinster of an uncertain age." She was that 20 years ago. With regard to the " perambulator scare,' 1 we (Post) understand that the police have no intention of enforcing the law with any more rigor than has been done hitherto. The regulation m the Police Offences Act is not new, as it previously existed, almost m the same words, m the Wellington City By-law. The Herald understands that a few of the more prominent hoodlums, who, heralded the advent of the New Year by pulling down fences and wrencning gates off their hinges, and performing other playful and amusing tricks, will have an opportunity offered them of explaining their conduct before the K.M. one of these days. In the search, the police, it is understood, struck a nest of promising youngsters, who will be none the worse of a little sound advice from Mr Ward. A colt by Musket — Pearlashj bought by Mr "VaUance at the Auckland Stud* Company's sale for 140 guineas, had its leg broken m the Onehunga stables when waiting for shipment. An exchange says that the plans for the Marton section of the North Island Main Trunk Line, are now almost completed. The Oamaru Mail tells a peculiar story, m connection with the Otepopo tunnel. While m course of construction, some one found out that if the plans were adhered to, the holes pierced from both sides would not meet. The plan waa altered; and tenders invited for the completion of the work m the revised form. The contractor knew what he was about, and tendered at a big figure, others were much lower, and the lowest was about to be accepted, when the original contractor gave the Government to understand that tlioy could please themselves, but he was going on with his contract, and would take the two holes through. The plan succeeded, and instead of losing money, as he would have done on the original contract, he made sufficient to purchase 3000 acres m the Ashburton district on which he now resides. Wo (Wanganui Herald) were glad to see Mr John Lees an old and respected settler back again m Wanganui, after a. six years' absence, (during which he has been travelling all over the other side of the globe,) and to note that his absence has evidently been a pleasant holiday trip. The Taieri Advocate is informed that at about two o,clock last Wednesday morning a rabhiter, who was sleeping m a hut on the banks of a blind creek, near the Lee Stream, was awakened by hearing the roar of water coming down the creek. He Aad just time to partially dress himself and run outside, when the \ water came down m a vast body, sweep- j ing away his hut, drowning some of his dogs that were chained up, and carrying away about three bales of rabbitskins. The disputes which so frequently arise at race ioeetinge m reference to the alleged issue of unstamped tojtalisator tickets point to the necessity (says the Post) for an improvement jn the construction of th« machine, sp that the same movement which rings the bell and changes the numbers may also automatically stamp and deliver a single ticket. It ought not to be very difficult for some ingenious mechanist to invent a method of doing £his. and so render ,the totalisetor pei-frct,