LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 72, 26 February 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The borough of Masterton contains 4100 acres, exclusive of the roads originally laid off. It is said that the city of Melbourne (excluding suburbs) consists of C4O acres. A dude returned from college to his parent's city apartments. As he was undressing to go to bed at night he noticed a handsome motto on the wall, ' God bless our flat,' aud it bothered him all night so that he could hardly, sleep. On removing the foundation of an old bridge lately, built by Charlemagne m the Bth ceutury, the wood of the piles used iv its construction, although nearly 1100 years old, was found to be so well preserved that it could still be ussd iv building. Miss Vera Manning, niece of the Cardinal, has taken the veil iv London. The young lady inherits £50,000 under her father's will. Diptheria is said to be very prevalent m the Wairarapa, and sevoral fatal cases have already taken place m the district. There is also a good deal of general sickness m Masterton, and the hospital contains at present eight patients. Since tho sth of January last no fewer than 500 summonses for debt have been issued from the Wellington Resident Magistrate's Court. The following paragraph appears m the Wangauui Herald : — "The Palmerston contractor for school desks must think the Board of Education is made of money. His price for dual desks is 17s 6d, or delivered at certain places, 22s 6d. The town contractor for tho same only gets Us, and yesterday the Board decided to get him to make all required, and allow him the cost of railage, which will then result m a saving. Well done Pulmerston North I" One of the most startling features iv the Pensylvania oil region is the number of deserted villages, which have beeu caused by the exhaustion of oil wells. Pithole is a remarkable sample of oil excitement. Barely eighteen years ago stood a city of 20,000 inhabitants with churches, theatres, hotels, daily newspapers, pipe Hues, railroad, and telegraph offices, all tho appliances of a busy city. " Now," says a recent traveller through that region, " all that appears is a log cabin, the dismantled wing of an old hotel, some decaying timbers and a little clearing m the forest, so saturated with oil and salt water that nothing will grow upon it. A poor demented old man is now the only inhabitant." A case of diptheria m Greytown has ended fatally, Mr Kelly, coopei, having lost a son. The local paper advises parents to watch any symptoms of throat affection, and take instant measures for relief. Some amusement was caused m the Wellington Police Court recently by a number of very small boys, who were there as witnesses against some of their companions charged with stone-throw-ing, gravely applying for their expenses. This moderate request was not complied with, and the lolly shops no doubt suffered by tho refusal. Writes the Kai I.vi correspondent of the Wanganui Herald:— 11 There are, I believe, 35,000 acres of bush to burn south of Wanganui, chiefly m Wanganui and Manawatu — this includes that which was unburnt last season owing to bad weather. If to this there is added some 15,000 or 20,000 acres, which is the probable amount of fallen bush to tho north — and it is well known lhat cattle are required to keep down the young growth, — this means a very large demaud for cattle next spring. Young stock, which are generally required, would run at about say one to the acre. We (Mar ton paper) are pleased to notice that the harvest prospects m Lower ltangitikei are not so gloomy as they would appear to be m some other parts of the county. The wheat crop will range from 30 to 50 bushels, while some of the oats are simply magnificent. Messrs Stevens and Gorton's next sale at Awahuri wiil be held on March 3rd. Tha list of entries is published m our advertising columns. Special attention is directed to the alterations made m the advertisement published m our advertising columns, anent the land offered for sale by the E. and C. Aid Corporation. The following letter appears m a recent issue or the Greytown paper : — Sir, — I would like to ask How is the health of Greytown at the present time ? I hear a great deal of talk concerning diptheria and its dangers and as a parent I feel alarmed. I sincerely hope that the Borough Council will do something m the matter — compelling the townspeople to keep their places clean and seeing that no stagnant water is. permitted to throw off its poison. I would also suggest the necessity of abstaining from drinking water without its being boiled first. Yours etc., Anti-Diptheria. Says the Napier Telegraph : — The Salvation Army parading the streets without disturbance, has induced. an itinerant band of four musicians to pay Napier a visit. The music of the one is about as interesting as the other. Four and a half tons of grapes have been grown by an Auckland gentleman this season, Two shillings a pound to his credit.

Lord Palmorstoii seldom gave hiiusulf rest exoppL when ho hud a cold. He would then ullcr.v himself a holiday, to be spent by the fire m a cosy armchair with a novel, the more sensational the , better. Disr.ieli had the samo fancy, and I whsu wearied went down to Hughendeu ' with a pile of French novels. San Francisco claims a larger area o? public parks than auy othei city. There' are 18 parks and squares belonging to the city, aggregating 11,161 acres, of which the largest is Golen Gate park, emhracingJlol3 acres. The United States Presidio Reservation is at public disposal and makes a second great park for" San Francisco. When a tramcar was passing down Lower Queen-street one day last week one of the chains snapped with a report like a pistol going off, One old lady, who was inside, got out promptly, being under the impression that dynamite was about, and the eloquence of the driver and conductor was quite unavailable to induce her to take her seat again. Miss Elizabeth Wordsworth, a grandniece of William Wordsworth, is principal of Lady Margaret's Hall, one of the halls for girls at Oxford, and is a famous Greek scholar. She is described as a " cheery, quiet, sensible woman, with a thoughtful and somewhat careworn face." Sir James Paget has expressed his belief that a severe attack of typhoid fever may do away with the protection afforded by a previous attack of smallpox. Typhoid fever so modifies the constitution that the protoplasmic organism once again becomes favourable to the growth and development of the germs of small-pox. Eli Perkins, the freethought lecturer, walked into a grocery store and asked for a dozen eggs. ' Have not any,' said the merchant ; ' they're very scarce about now.' ' Wei,' said Eli, ' when all other resorts fail I know how I can .get thorn ; but they mightn't be very fresh,' ' And that is ?' queried the merchant 'By undertaking to lecture m a town where I've been before, 1 quoth Eli, sadly. When the Russians do build ships and do not come to England to have them made, they do do it. The Doilio has been planned by a great Moscovit* naval architect, and is to be not less than 12,000 tons burden, and to cost nearly a million. Never mind the money ; roubles are plentiful as paper ! It is proposed that it shall mako seventeen knots an hour. ■ Policeman — ' Have you a permit to play here ?' Organ Grinder — ' No, but it amuses the little ones so much.' Policeman — * Then you will have the goodness to accompany me.' ' Very well, sir ; what do you wish to sing ? It is gratifying to know that Hori Kophia, ono of the chiefs who w«nt home with the Maori King has been on a mission tour among the natives iv connec- ; tion with the Blue Ribbon movement. In Wellington district he got 900, at Wairarapa 800, at Manawatu and at Heretaunga, iv the Napier district 500 to sign the pledge. The books and rituals are on their way out, and Good Templar lodges will be opened m native districts. . A peculiar little insect like a leeoh or snail is attacking fruit trees m Taranaki just now, particularly cherry, pear, and plumb trees. It feeds on the upper part of the leaf, and several trees look as if they had been scorched, all the leaves having a brown, dead appearance. It is said that showering dust on the tree m the morning when the dew is on the leaves, has so far been a cure. According to an exchange rain appears to have been pretty general throughout the colouy, but it is to be. hoped that we shall soon have a repetition of the late fine weather. The bush settlers have had two bad years already; a third wet season would mean ruin to : many of them. It is calculated- that a, good season will make a difference of about a quarter of a million to the settlers at the back of the Waimate plains, and those m the Manawatu and Rangitikeidistricts. A third year's undergrowth is m some instances more expensive toclear than the original standing bush. A continuance of [rain would also prove disastrous to the grain farmers of Canterbury and Otago, as well as to those i« Rangitikei and other places. '.Considering the enormous dimensions the New Zealand frozen meat trade has now assumed, it seems almost incredible that it was only just two years ago on Tuesday last that the ship Lady Jocelyu sailed for London with the first cargo of frozen meat from Wellington. Stock which left Waitara at 11 a.m. on Wednesday were landed at Ouehunga by 2 p.m. the following day, and were m Mr Buekland's saleyards 17 hours after leaving the Waitara. That is pretty smart work. The Wanganui Mail has the following : — On Sunday evening the Rev. J.C. Eccles stated at the conclusion of his St.-rmon that ho had been privileged to atteud a meeting of the Salvation Army m Wellington recently, and was sur- , prised at the proceedings he there witnessed. He described thorn as diabolical, and the. rabble that attended them as unreligious m the extreme, and characterised the whole affair as such a moukory of divine worship that he could not recommend his friends to ever attend such gatherings. Inspectors of nuisances m all towns aro continually being subjected to little annoyances, and we (Mail) do not suppose that Waipawa is an exception to the ordinary run of things. But it should be remembered that the more effectively such an officer carries out his duties, the more he must be troubled m this way, .so that it is far from detracting from the value of our Inspector when letters appear of his being too strict. In very few positions can a man please everybody, but m the case of an Inspector of . Nuisances, the more he works the less he is likely to please the public A first dividend of 2s m the £, m the estate of W. Waring Taylor, will be payable at the office of the Official Assignee on Monday next. The R. M. S. Ritnutaka, will be fitted with a cool chamber for carrying butter \ and cheese to London at an even temperature. Shipments of this class of produce must be made by the sth of March. The police all over the colony are at present engaged m circulating throughout their various beats a blank form which bears the heading, " Industrial Statistics of New Zealand." Manufac turers are expected to fill up this form with particulars of the description ot industry or manufacture, machine power, horse power, the number of hands employed, the quautity manufactured or produced during 1884, and the approximate value of land, buildings, machinery and plant. The form was drawn up by Mr Callis, and the results will be published m the official catalogue of the Exhibition. The Tekapo which sailed from Wellington to Sydney on Tuesday had 115 horses and 83 head of cattle on board, shipped at Southern ports for Sydney, As general cargo from Wellington sho had 6 tierces corned beef, 40 cases of sheep's tongues, 1050 cases meat, shipped by the Gear Meat Company ; 47 kegs, Loan and Mercantile Agency Company ; 57 bales fungus, 10 cases tongues, 4 kegs butter, Turnbull and Co. ; 15 kegs butter, W, Bishop ; SO tierces corned beef, 6 cases meats, Wellington Meat Preserving aud Refrigerating Company; also 125 bales fungus, 15 bales flax, and 40 kegs butter.