LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 93, 23 March 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

I.' ■ ♦ ; The libel action, Bryce v. Rusden stil drags its slow length along. I Wo have lo acknowledge receipt fron jMr Gardes, fruiterer and general dealer of a box of very choice eating and cook 'ing apples. The fruit were grown bj 'Mr Rettstneyer. manager for Sir Williarr ;Fox, and are of a quality and flavoui 'not often obtainable m the district. Mi .Gardes has a very tasteful display of the tempting fruit m the shop underneath /the Standard Office. ■ The Mayor of Wellington is gaining for himself a. nice reputation by his ; actions i The following from the \Post needs no comment :— & We have to thank' Mr Fisher, M.H.R., J.P., and Mayor of Wellington, for a present of a bar of floap (Kitchen's best) and a ', second-hand fine-tooth comb." This, we presume, is one of the refined practical jokes for which his Worship the Mayor is noted." What do the Wellington | burgesses think of their chief civic dig- ; nitary. It appears a verification of the 1 old adage about the impossibility of making silk parses out :of certain raw I material.- ■< ' Owing to the many reports; about the Maoris ot Parihaka showing signs of taking advantage of the unprotected state of the settlers, Inspocter Pardy, df New Plymouth, despatched Constable Eyan down to inquire into the matter. He reports that the natives were very courteous to himself, and what he saw leads him to the conclusion that an erroneous idea about, the Maoris' disposition has gained currency. At a meeting of creditors m the estate of Patrick Cockery, late livery stablekeeper, Masterton. M^ Darley said it looked very crooked. Cockery had sold for .£4OO what he said was worth if they intended doing anything' they should act promptly or the plant would be worthless. It was moved by Mr Wickerson, seconded by Mr McEwen, and carried unanimously— " That the Deputy Assignee be instructed to take immediate steps to test the Validity of the. sale from Crockery ,to r Neill, and obtain legal assistance with a view to having the same upset." Mr W. Perry: said he had attended a good many meetings of creditors where they had got as far as they had that day, but he had: never got any benefit out of the es-' tates. , . .. * ■ ■ In the course of a week about onej hundred members of the Armed Con-: stabulary. force will be receiving instruc-i tion m Wellington iii big gun drill in 1 view of. the intention of the Government .to 'project the chief ports of the colony against the attacks of hostile cruisers. : Visitors to the bush says the Hawera Star) apeak m tones of wonder at the; havoc done by the gale. In some places where' the full force of 'the wiri'd made ; itself felt, the appearance is as if the ' trees had gone down one after another; like a house of cards collapsing. Ones gentleman saw a spot of .about ten, acres! which was practically cleared of aU big , trees— great {lines having been torn out; of ; the ground . and tawas having been' broken off as 'if they were mere twigs., Many settlers who had left natural bush standing m order to provide shelter .have •had it destroyed, a loss which will be' teltiWllen the winter comes on. The Normanby. hop company's garden has : been sotbrn about that it willhardly he 1 worth while picking. .The crop was a! good o^ne, "and was to have been picked' on Thursday. ■ ■ ■■<■-■] We learti from a Wellington paper' that the suhject of the defences of th& Colony, as projected by. the -plans and' reports which have recently been for-, warded to the > Government by- Major Caitflej, will engage the serious and immediate attention of the Ministry on the return of His Excellency the Governor. The points raised at Wanganui by Mr Hutchison, the cousel for the defence m Vowel's case, and reserved for the Court of Appeal by the Chief Justice, are that prisoner, who was charged with having while a servant of the Crown, embezzled certain moneys, the property of Heri Majesty, was not a servant of the Crown j as the funds of the department were not! at the disposal of Parliament , and' se-. condly, that, if prisoner was a servant of Her Majesty the Queen, he had not been; properly appointed, as his Commissioner of the Govexnmont Insurance Depart-, menfc instead of having been given under the hand of the Governor of the colony i Should these points be sustained the indictment will necessarily fail. Sentence has been deferred, pending the settlement of the points raised. Necessity knows no law, but it appears to know many shifts. Last night (says the N.Z. Herald) as a Blue Ribbon Army man was walking down Queenstreet Wharf, a fierce gust of the northeaster whisked his hat off into the sea. With a presence of mind and'fertility of resource which is. rarely* seen, he quietly adjourned to the lee of one of the sheds, doffed his shirt, and having neatly twisted it m the torin of a turban, put it on his head, and wended his way up Queen-street to his home. • "How. to pronounce the name of the renown historian who lately . visited its was a puzzle to many (writes m the Australasian). In order to solve the doubt a gentleman who had to propose a toast which involved naming the distinguished visitor, said beforehand, ' Pardon my asking you, which is corI'ttpt; /jm I to call you Frood or Frowd !' 1 Well,' wtW Mr F's reply, « before I left ' England I co^ld ljayg solved that for you; but .the other day, ai if bancinet, the Mayo; 1 of Shoopstow publicly call« 4 me Frauxl. 1 . , A meeting of creditors m the estate of '' C 8, Gross was convened for Friday at , Wellington, but lapsed for want of a ' quorum.' ' As 'no sfcaf»mept has been tiled m the estate of the ftytyve, . '