LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 62, 12 August 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On our fourth page • to-day will' be found Cablo News, Russia and England, The Soudan, Australian News, Telegrams, Sporting News, A London Scandal, and other items. Messrs Stevens and Gorton's stock sale at the Woodville Yards takes place to-morrow at 1 p.ni. The entries comprise 122 head of cattle, draught horse, and 8 cuils of Oamaru barbed wire. The Wanganui Herald is informed that the blacksmiths m town are endeavouring to secure 3 o'clock closing on Saturday aftei noons. Several of the employers are agreeable, and no doubt the remainder will be willing to allow their hands this concession, so that a little recreation may be indulged m. The Tainnaki Herald says that the reductions m the Armed . Constabulary are already taking place, and the officers and nou-commissioncd officers are being' provided for elsewhere. | Sergeant Campbell, wko was lately at Puk^awihft, has been appointed permanent drill instructor to the Auckland volunteer district, and other appointments and changes are pending. Last nights Wangajiui Herald had the following : — The Schoolmaster is occasionally abroad even m this district. We snw to-day an address on a communication from a teacher m the Mannwatn district which contained the pn-fix "Mr" m addition to the affix 11 Esq." When Bchoolmast«rs make errors of this nature, what can be expoctod from their pupils? Tjio Preininr tolfigraphed tho following ;; sirinrt " reply Jo the Pun-din Chamber of Commerce : "As to the resolution regarding thn East and West Coast and N«!son railways. Unless tho Chamber are to bp transformed into a politic »1 «oci«ty I doubt if. snub, questions come within their, sphere, and if th'-y d.-airo to arq'ii): themHfiiyes of political Itias m the fnfui'O they -will wait for tho ftovommant proposals, before proceeding to coudemn what they believe they .are."

It is stated that American agents ■ were roady to give as much as ;£2,000 for a single copy of the Revised Biblo oh tho diiy before its publication.- At thnt tinio 5,000 por.sons ware biildiua; an.l pacing llio book under strict survi'iii.ince, and tiic only person, m the realm whose power of safe custody was considered aimve suspicion was the Archbishop of Canterbury. A Wellington paper says : -During the crush at the opening of the Exhibition, ono of Mr C. J. Toxward's little children was very nearly crushed to death, >and had it not been for the assistance rendered by Constable James Doyle, the child would certainly have, been sovcrely hurt. Mr Toxward made inquiries, and, aftar. findiug out the constable uaiued, handed him a cheque for £5 .55, ,:V . The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's steamer Tainui, 3231 tons, Captain B*rlow, arrived m v YVellirigtun fiona London via Port Chalmers, at 5 p.m. •»! Monday. She. left Port Chalmers at 0,45 p.m. on Sunday last ; passed Lyttletan Head* tit 3 a.m. on ■Monday, arriving as above." ' After discharging her . Wellington cargo she proceeds to Lytteltpn, probably on Sunday next, finally Laving the; latter port for London direct on the 22nd inst. A Grosvenor Square swell who spreal a piece of matting across' his pavement for his guests, was made to pay for a passer-by's broken crown. ■■ The, Court ruled that no man has a right to obstruct the. high way irr the slightest degree, 'anilno pedestrian need watch fur such obstruction. . ' : In a leader dealing with 4 tl»€> Gaming and Lotteries Act Amendment Bill,, the -Christchurch Press observes "Tho passing of the measure we are now alluding to will merely be another step m the direction the New Zealand Legislature has been tending of late — interference with the liberty of the people as a whole, m the vain enduavour to check the excesses of the few. The i logical position of those who advocates this course, is absolutely untenable. The desire of the bulk of the community to submit to much inconvenience, m ord«r to put down abuses, has been, and is, traded- upon by • th>»' supporters of recent drastic social enactments ; acid these have been accepted, with a wry face or so perhaps, bnt with fairly good grace on the whole. * Wo (HJvening Press} understand that the Government intend shortly .calling .on some of the Inspectors of Polieo to resign on compensation allowance owing to their old- age. Amongst them will probably be Inspector Scully, Havvke's Bay, Inspector James, Wartganui, and Inspector Atcheson, Nelson. " Have you," asked tho Judsje of a recently convicted man, ''anything to offer the court before sentence, is passed?" "No Your Honor," replied the prisoner, ." ray lawyer took my last cent." . . The Evening Tress hears on ' gpod authority that a member of the- firm, of Mei«r£? m on his way.to New Zealand, having left England some .weeks ago, about the time when the first telegram from the railway delegates, stating the proposed" arrangein'ent with-, Messrs Mevggs was sent. This confirms .the opinion wo had already ioruied^: that the : rail way contract affrii r was' su'ppbsed : to be as good as settled, and, that it Vate all cut and dried. in London-long before any inkling of it was allowed to reach the public m Now Zealand. We venture to say that if all tfie ramifications of this business could be disclosed they wonld rather astonish those wh : o, as Sir Julius Yogel says, are " children m finance." . We hear tViat the sawmillers have agreed to increase the price of timber by Is per hundred feet. ; . / ■ The sawmillers are much opposed to tho, new regulations anent, railway sidings, which will simply have the effect of further interfering with the timber trade, and placing obstacles m the way of its more extensive development. .The. new regulations will greatly increase the disfavour m which Mr Maxwell is. held by the sawmillers. : ■.." It is reported, say s the Wairarapa Stantlard, that the body of the late Mr George Buck has been found twentyeight mites -further, down the Wainiiioru than the place where, he tried to ford. The body Was lying jammed between two log's. •■•••:•■■ ■ MrT. Thompson asked the Minister for Public Works on . Monday, whether the Government had accepted any contract for construction on the North Island Slain Trunk Railway. The Minister replied that tho Government had accepted a contract. . '• In reference to various exhibits at the Exhibition the NIZ. Times says :— - Messrs Lightbaud,' Allan and Co., the well-known boot manufacturers, have a large" tannery, photographs of which are shown near their extensive show case,at the rear of which they have a large show of upper and sole leatlior,. of various kinds. There is one piece of calf, tanned with black birch, which deserves to be specially mentioned. A large boot manufacturer states that m all liis experience ho never came accross a finer sample oE leather. There is, also, a grand exhibit of sole leather, as stiff as a deal board, and quite equal to anything that it is possible to import. Samples. of russet, calf, black grain, stained bag, 'colonial calf, legging, and' split arid kip leather art> also shown; In saddlers' goods there is a collection of black har--1 ness, brown hmrncss, aud basils; This exhibit ought to have been placed near ■Mr Tyer's and Messrs Bo.wron Bros.' It is hidden away to a great ;extent now, and is well worthy of a much batter position.