LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 25, 27 June 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. Gladys; Countess of Lotisdiile,the celebrated London beauty, is engaged to be married to Lord de Gray, the eldest sou of the Marquis of Ripon. This lady, who, it will Its remembered, was one of the witnesses m the Durham divorce case",' was last year engaged to be ma'rned to Mr Edgar Vincent, Financial Adviser to the Khedive of Egypt, but the r engagement was broken off. Earl He Gray is about 33 years of as;o,aud is heir to a rent roll of .£30,000 a year. Truth declares that he has been indus trioiKsly hunted m society for the last 12 or 13 years, so that Lady Lonsdale would appear to have made a good match; .■. ;j . Mr E. Gilbert, pianoforte tune, who is now m Pahnerston will visit Foxton on Tuesday next. It is Mr Gilbert's intention to go on to Otaki, where a number of settlers are waiting to h:ive their 'piiuioes overhauled. , From ani answer made by Mr Ballance to a question m the Hunan, it appears that tha Government intend to form a New Zealand Torpedo Corps of 40 men, ten m .<Mich principal port, consisting of men expert iv the use of the torpedo, who, will instruct naval brigades. Mr Siriytiie, the Government instructor, is now drilling members of the A.O. Force m .Torpedo practice, and thuse men, with others to be obtained from Home, will form the. Corps. One of the oldest residents m Wellingttfti states that he does not remember a severer frost than that of Thursday morning. .. Volunteers will regret to learn that Major 'Stapp, who was m command at the last Nelson encampment, and who was" such a" general favorite with officers and men, has been seriously indisposed. Major Tuke will take his place m the meantime. The : proprietors of the Robin Hood sweep, one of the most successful and safest sweeps m New Zealand, are not men who wish to hido their indentity under a bushel, for they hare issued a very neat card, containing a lot of information m regard to their sweeps, m the centre are given two capital por,traitß jjf; tho principals. If all other . sweep' promoters would do the same, whrit a weeding out of sharks there would-be. • *'| i : It is a matter for great regret that since' ! tlfe Salvation Army commenced its oppera'tiotts at Foxtou an aiuount of larrikinism has been developed which never m the. annals of the place existed before. Where hefore scarcely a yo.nth was to he seen about tho streets on a Sunday evening, now the}* roam about m dozens, eager to "see the fun," as they term it. Hitherto we have refrained from writing m any adverse terms about the method m which the leaders of the movement carry on their work, but we hope for the sake of the rising community and tho general peace of the place that, m future the proceedings will be carried on m such a manner as to' give -the smallest possible encouragement to the incipient larrikinism which unfortunately has now been created. — Foxton paper. "What is the worst thing about riches ?" asked a Sunday-school teacher, y That they take unto themselves wings: and fly away," promptly replied the boyii at th« foot of the class. There is an immense crop of oranges ' this year m the Fijis. In some parts of the colony, notably at Bua, says a correspondent of <ati Auckland paper, there are hundreds of lons of this luscious fruit rotting 1 . It seems to. be a thousand pities that this source of wealth cannot be turned to some practical account, but ' it appeara that great difficulty is ex-' perienced'iu getting the fruit to market j n good order. j

Some comnietiou has l>ee» caused at North Etiet Valley (Dniieiiui) by an award of the Auditor-General. It appears that tlie Borough Council, contrary to law, paid various sums amounting m all to £72 3< to members/of the Licensing Committee as remuneration for their services. The Aud'tor'-Geueral has Buich?irgi-<1 theso sunounts, and ordered the Councillors signing tlie ch/q'K'B to repay the same out of their oaui pooki'ts. This the Councillors. refused to do, and next they were tln-ojit.. uued by Ihi! Audit Department w.tii legal proceedings. Then a special: meiei. JUS of the Council was held,. at which" the Mayor was authorised to einphiytfie. Borough solicitor to defend the inemb<#r.s', m auestion. Finally, a ratepayer has entered his protest against the Borough funds being employed; fot, any.Bu6h pur^ pose, and says.h« yti\) .hold 'tl»e -Mayor and Conneilloia responsible .if they, are misapplied •to .rUaiuiiig the Borough solicitor for aiiy .s«>oh" puruosH. Alto-; gelher. there appears to be u a pretty., kettle of.fish to fry." .'••;.;•; , -/■'■■'( Operations.on N»w Plymouth br«ak^ water >ire iu»w. aluioaLßi\apeitd.vd • for the winter. The blocks on . the top . are being secured by.ir.Qti pius r ,ahd every preparation: inadH to*'meet tlio eiigenpies"' of severe weather. The eiirvV m the breakwater is no* distinctly noticeable. The Auckland City Council derives £2500 th.is year from publicans' licenses. .The New Zealand Sugar. Company m .Auckland nujst ba doing a very large business, for we notice that'one day last week.they p;»id to the Customs no leas than This amount ' iv.pr-seiits." thn duty on 3000 tons (6,720,0001.b5) of refined sugar. The bulk of the sugar is sent'to; the South Island. . . . Fow of our readers may hive any actual acquaintance -with the, wbrk required from pupil teachers m order to pass an examination. From what we leani, thf-se young people »re worked to sin extent which would soon ruin the health of older persons, and which cannot fail to have injurious effort on young persons. One pupil teacher has assured us that for the last three or four months, hor labors have begun at 8 a.m. Mid have not been concluded until 11 p.m. We do not say that the whvle of tliis is compulsory, but the greater portion is. From .8 until 4, *he is m school, either teaching or being taught, and the evening is occupied by getting ready lessons for the nest day. This work is altogetiier too much to wxpect from young teachers, and we learn that it lias been followed out not m one case only, but m several, and despite all * the cramming they- have had during these months, numbers of them go to the. examination m fear, and trembling. Many fuar that their faults ..may b«? as unceremoniously.nude public by the inspector as thi;y were last year, but. it is to be hoped for the sake of the district hit has 1 charge' of^'that Mr Bindon will not commit a similar error this year. —Herald. Tin. 1 Dramatic Club are working hard for them iiigoraWFlutortaimiiJtit to take place ou Friday the 15th of next mouth. A most amusing and successful performance is anticipated. The sale of tickets up to the pru&eut has been v§ry encouraging, and wo have no doubt the attendance will be large aud appreciative . • : Old lady : —" Only think, one missionary foi ten thousand cannibals!" Young lady : " Mercy 1 they must have ten i hie light appetites or awful big missionaries!" Passanunte, who tried to murder King Humbert m 1878, is confined to the island of Elba, lie is secured to the wall of an almost dark cell by a chain five feet m luiigth, whidi ianvited toan iron ring around,his ankle, and which does not allow him to make more than one step m any direoiou. His keepers arc forbidden to spe.ak to him or answer his questions. He has become imbecile. The moat sensational French novelist never invented anything wore than this of the Bastile iv its palmiest days. Guku, the Greek to whom General Gordon entrusted his diaries, and who accompanied Nousri Pasha, complains bitterly of Sir C'larlrs Wilson's unnecessary five days delay at Metemneh before starting fur Khartoum. He states that he dailj' urged Sir Charles but m vain, riot to losj a moment, as every hour was of inestimable importance. Giiku, who accompanied Sir Charles Wilson's expedition to Khartoum, declares that if it had started al once up on reaching Metemtmn it would have arrived m time to save Genera! Gordon. MrF.do J. Clore, A.R.1.8.A., of the firm of Atkins and Clt.-re, is well-known as one of the most efficient and talented professional gentlemen m our midst, and his many frie.nds will be glad to hear of the high honour which has been cou-fi-rrttd upon him by the Society of Arts, London. This body, which deservedly stands high m public estimation, has p-tid Mr Clore the complimunt of electing him one of their members, the honour being materially! enhanced by the fact that Mr Clere's nomination was by the council. \>i the society itself. We congratulate our townsman upon, the recognition of his professional skill which has be»n made him by a body of such an essentially high character as th >t possessed by the Society of Arts. — Chronicle. ■ ■ The will of Edward Sexton, Trondheim, has been finally accepted, and probate has beon {granted to the Public Trustee as Executor. Mr John Plimmer has arranged with Mr A* Wakeford, the present lessee of Barretts lintel,.Wellington! to vacate it, and a brick building, stiitablo to the growing importance of the city will be erected on the site of one of the oldest hotels, m Wellington. . : A return is to be laid before the House of all cablegrams 7 sent by theGpyernment to England during the last few years. And Mr f tout said the return would show that the cablegrams this year had been unusually large, because cablegram communication had been necessarily carried on m n ference to the federation and annexation questions, war scare &c. The first general meeting of shareholders m the Manawatu Co-operative Steam Shipping Cpmpay was to be held m Mr Jewell's sample room this afternoon. We learn that the meeting of Maater Masons held at Foxton on Thursday to consider the ad visibility pt establishing a Lodge at Foxton was a very satisfactorily one, and that as the result of the meeting it is probable that steps will be immediately taken with the objects of inaugurating a Lodge.