LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 83, 11 March 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Immense eels are vow occasionally interfering withe thid flow of water m the Wanganui pipes. Some which have been taken out are upwards of three feet m length, and from four to five inches m circumstance; The strangest feature m the phenomenon is the, fact ol the existence of a fine wire netting at the outlet of the lake which furnishes the water supply, so that the eels must be .necessarily of small size when they ifcake their first plunge into the weary intricacies of the borough piping. : The sly grog-sellers m the Wairarapa are said to adopt the practice of only supplying one customer at a time. If a | man wishes to shout for his mate he has i bis own drink, pays for two, goes out and sends his mate mto get his. There is thus no corroborative evidence of a sale, if a court case results. It is exceedingly singular (says the Post) that nothing has been heard froni Sydney as to the return of H.M.S. Miranda from her visit 1p Samoa. By the Arawata, irom Fiji, we learned some time ago that th:e Miranda had called there on the 16th February, coaled, and immediately proceeded on her voyage to Sydney, with, it was believed,, important State information from .Samoa. We have heard npthing'.sijacG abputj her, air. though it is' almost cer tain that she must have reached Sydney some days : ago. -.i. Eeuter should -certaijily haVe ; cabled her return, even if it was;nptpossible to learn the result of her mission. •I was born on the day after Bismarck was,' remarked Colonel Verger to a friend. 'You were? Do you know what you remind me of?' 'No ! What ?' 1 You remind me of the next number to the one that wins the capital prize m the lottery.' ... „.'., ':'■■.. ' The Gear Company's hands have at, present. more work than they can do. They are still very busy with 'orders for preserved, meat ,. for the British; Admiralty. " ; - In the shop of a" boulevard 'pastrycook m Paris, a young masher questioned the freshness of a tart. The shopkeeper was touched to the quick, and remarked | ' I . made tarts,* young man; a good while before you were born.' ' I don't doubt it,' was the reply, ' and this must be one of them.' - . t . Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, iri an address to the Grand Jury at the opening, of the autumn Assizes at Bedford, England, the other day, spoke at length on the character of the punishment which Justices of the Peace frequently inflicted. He strongly condemned the passing of heavy sentences for trijding offonces, such as pilfering and the like, believing that such a method was; but manufacturing criminals instead of correcting them. .In illustration, he' cited a case where two urchins were sent to prison for three months, with hard labour, for the paltry theft of a few apples from an orchard — an offencfe of which perhaps many of the inagis- '< trates themselves were guilty when they, were boys. If heavier sentences wer,e awarded m such cases, there were no others which were adequately severe for the far. graver, crimes which, frequently come before Judges at assizes. : A Press Association telegram from Wellington the other day' stated that the Public Works Department had de. cided not to accept any of the tenders for the Central Eailway sleeper contract as they considered them all top high. We lire informed that totara i* mpre wsare and difficult to obtain now than it was some years ago, and yet the Mana* ' watu Rdw-riiillers did hot put m higher tenders for the sleepers than they did four or five years n S vi. Considering that '. the sleepers tire to be larger now (Bxs . i'*ii3toad of 7x5) than thpy wero five ,yy ars. agp, ,thp passing of the same moro strngenii. uqd.iliflt totara, is more,scarce nnd diracmt 'W get ' at," th* tfl^aWJnenl; should not be bo exacting.

A special cable message to tho Argus,] says that it is believed m well informed circles m comiectiou with tho massing of Russian troops south of tho Caspian Sea that an arrangement has been arnved,- ab- between tho Governments- of Frrfhue and .Russia whereby those two countries will seize upon the . whole ( , of tho Turkish dominions m Asia "Minor extondmg.Zrqm Smyrna to Bagdad., and, -•■ t'tliat tlte territory Vifi'be divid/sdj, . Ros"""Bla'taking the northern and "Franco the southern half. A request for teuders for the first portion of the udditions about to bo made to the navy readied the principal shipbuilders on the Clyde onTnesday'fromthe Admiralty, The tenders have reference to. cruisers of a type similar to the. Scout, now beinp* built by Messrs J. and G. I Thompson at Clydesbank, aud they are expected to be sent m on or before Feb. 24. It is understood that they will shortly be followed by tenders for large belted cruisers as well as for several ironclads. ■ . According to the Wairarapa Star, the Rev. D. Fulton, of Masterton, has informed his congregation that a question of vital impoitance 10 tho Presbyterian Church has been relegated by the Assembly to the Church for their decision. ' The proposal is to adopt a system ■■ ■ similar to that m the' Methodist Church, by which tho clergy, instead of being practically fixtures as they are at present, _wilL become movuahle. [And a very advisable and excellent plan it is, we think. — Ed. M.S.J The Legislature of Illinois having pro: posed to pass a bill requiring hotel-Keep-ers to furnish every room above tho sec-ond-storey with a rope ladder as a fireescape, the landlords hit back by saying that it was a mere device on the part of the. legislators to enable them to slip away from their hotel rooms without paying their bills ! ■ A notification m the last Gazette states that all fees and percentages under the Bankruptcy Act of 1883 have been altered by an Order-ih-Council to take ef-; feet from 10th March. We notice that the fee for filing a petition m bankruptcy is rained from three guineas tot five' guineas. This is the most important change made, the others relating to the percentages allowed to assignees and solicitors. A bankrupt's solicitor isjnow entitled to only £10 for all services, including discharge. ; .-, Parental Neglect.r-Wealthy farmer, (looking over his. son's school report) :- " Here's a pretty state of things! .Nothing bu( bad marks all the way through' !" Son : '•• There's nobody to blame but the | ham, which you did not send to the master as I wanted you to." ■-'"•■■■• . We learn that Mr George, Osborne ofTerrace End, who has been attacked by a- very serious and protracted illness, is slowly regaining health and strength, : under the professional, attendance of Dr Macintire. Hjs illness is attributed by , his. medical attendant to tho effects of drinking impure water, viz., impregnated with the sap from' the black birch tree, among which timber he had been i working. .;.■■• ._ .. „' : . v,' ; •■ ■'■: A man who possesses , some .claim to an. historical character ip at present m the employ of the Government m a sub- • ordinatc position m -Welfiugton. He is" WilliainFox, the well known prospector 'of the Arrow, Fox, and several other diggings m Otago, and also Brighton and the terraces at St. Kilda, or Fox's, as the; place was designated, on the West , Coast bt the South Island. Mr Fox looks as hale as he did fifteen years ago, and is anxious, should the opportunity, offer, . tostartou another prospecting expedition. " . / " ' ■ '. ■ , .j Mr J. G. Hogg,' late. manager of the ; Bank 1 of STew South Wales,' Bulls,' left ; for Masterton on Monday via Welling- { ton, to take charge of a uew branch at Masterton. • ■ . " The District Engineer is inviting ten- ■:. ders for the Mangahuia outlet drain. The overseer of Public Works will show intending tenderers the work required to be done oh Friday next. , . The Rev. Father ■ McMamis conducted the uHual sei vices at the Foxton Church on Supday last. A very, nice 10 stop harmonium hag recently been placed iti' ! tlm church. . ■ " ";''