LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 70, 21 August 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On our fourth p.'iga to-day will be found Cable News, Telegram's, Commercial News, an extract from t\\s Evening Press in reference to Messrs LittleJohn & Regulator Clock at; the Exhibition^ ajji.LaJ.itfgsm"' an d EfoglauiT 4te;u-^ritKregard to the former's army. H will be seen from advertisement that all persons . who registered eithei births, marriages, or duatlis, in the Registrar's office, Palmeiston North, between the Ist Jiily and the 4th of August, 1885, are requested to re- register the same at once, on account of all the records of the entries made during the period stated being destroyed by the late fire at the ToWn Hall. They are also reminded that the District Registrar's office is now in Mr Linton's buildings, the dquare. As one of our local milkmen was recently going his rounds, he had occasion to stay longer than usual at one of his customers places. Ho "had left, his horse and cart on the road. Presently, and without warning, the horse started off, first nt a walk and then it broke into a I canter, with the milk-uian .bringiii^'Up the rear, shouti:i£, '' Stliop ! Sthop ! you vill spill my milk." From recent surveys it has been as- , certaincd that the entire city of Virginia, Nev., has moved over thirty inches to the" east siuce 1876. 'The Maynard block has uiovod nearly two feet since its erection.. The movement is so gradual that it does npt-afl^ct in any way the safety of the buiidinjjs, , and the groulid to the depth of nearly 100 feet to the bed rock is known to be continually sliding. The ground on which Virginia Citv is built is what is termed a slide, caused by. the constant cru'nibluig of the rocks on the mountain wiles. The debris is constantly gra/iiatingdownward,and in a few hundred thousands of years what is known as the site of . .Virginia'Cily will be nothing bat barren bed rock. •_._ .. . If there is one tiirie 1 more than another when a woman should be left entirely alone, it is when a full line of clothesj which she lias just .washed and hung out to dry, comes down in the mod. The'foilowvhg. facts apropos '.to.the:women of New Guinea may riot, perhnps' be generally knojwn.':' — A wife Is looked upon as a valueless possession. She is always purchased; and a much higher price is p.-id; for a^wife thaa for nnyI thing ..elsft./ The women are prowd of the price paid for them by their lords and masters. Be'rothals. often take place vary early, and if in infancy, something is paid^as " deposit money," nnd as soon as the girl is able to fetch water she carries it to her fnture husband. Divorce is refy simple ; the husband has only to tell his wife to go home to her mother, and she is off. If she marries again, the whole payment has to he returned to her forraerhusHand; who can go again into the. matrimonial market. After the birth of a child, divorce is very rare.. One young masher chief recently dismissed his five wives in one week} and before another week had elapsed he had ten candidates for the vacancies. A Brahmin marriage ceremony is thus described : — Tho man and tho woman go into the water with a cow and a calf and an old priest. Tho man holds his lnnd by the old man's hand and the wife's hand by the husband's, and all have the cow by the tail, and they pour /water out of a brass pot upon the cow's tail, and then the old man ties the man and woman together by their clothes. They thnn give the cow and calf to the priost, after winch th*y go to divera idols and give money, - and the ceremony is concluded. It "is needless to observe that thn money given to the idols is taken care of by the priest. The country supplies of the Kevised Bible were sent put on May 18, so that they reached the public on the 19fch. In. order to ensursc a sufficient supply, the binding works in Alderse^te-etreefc were kept open until midnight on Saturday, .'. and resumed work at one o'clock; on May 18. Before noon Paternoster Eow was blocked, by railway vans and country | agents' carts waiting for their loads, and this block was kept up all the afternoon ! by the constant arrival of more vehicles. Besides tho ' count rv customers a large number of booksellers and private persons have throughout the day been endeavorinjr to purchase copies without success, tho publishers maintaining their decision not to allow a-ny town copies to go out until twelve o'clock on the 18th inst. It is now certain not only that the 1 demand was larger thfn was ever before I the ca«a for a single work, but that the i estimated circulation of the edition was 1 muol» wiWlMho mark,

It is suggestive of the fact that Ministerial appoint merits connected u-iil. Jivlaml are not aHojjtihor beds of. roses, that the office of Chief Secretary f«,r Ireland was. offered . to five others hi-fojv it was accepted by Sir William Him Dyke. The Colonial Treasurer inf.Oflns- us (Tost) that 15.000 h:6t uf apace for Now Zealand insi.lc the building has been obtain 'd in connection with the Coloni.il Exhibition, 1888, and a like amount outside for botanical purposes. Beach, the Sydney sculler, is to be seut to England uext February to compote on tho Thames. This resolve was come to becauso there seems no probability of anyone venturing t'i beard the lion iu hisdrn, or in other words, to meet. the champion on his own water, tha Parramatta, for at least a year or; more. • ' Onb of those^. tilings which are better left unsaid (says the Post) was uttered by a suave and innocent-looking ; China' man in Ihe Magistrate's Court this morning, much to the amusement of those who heard the remark. Just before the hearing of a case in which a Chinaman was. the prosecutor, a compatriot of the,, plaintiff, who was to a<a us mterpr«ieri' took a seat at the baiTisierV table. A member of the profession enquired of the interpreter, -if- there' were any lawyers in China. "My word, yon bet, too many plenty," lisped the guileless, one, whV then -put. tht lawyer uuder. cross-examination by asking if : he (the. lawyer) had ever been iu China. "No,"' replied he of the .long robe, adding chaffingly," But I am going next week ; " " Good job too,' 1 ejaculated John, amid a suppressed titter from those who had jieard the ingenuous rejoinder. \: The numerous cases of natives being sued for debt which have been brought before the Resident Magistrate's Court of late should (says theWaipawa Mail) lie a lesson to store-keepers not to give too lon sr credit to Maoris. It is well known that thesu people have as a rule uncertain incomes, and it is simply folly for busiuess men to allow them to run up accounts on the chance of being paid. .Judgment summonses are now -maturing fn Beyeraliußt;iuco, and it is-prt-tty fcvident that some of our sable fri.;nds will have to spend a few weeks at the sea side before ldhg ; and even that is little satisfaction to the tradesmen who. were too confident with their ; goods. ' Wednesday's Yost says . that the following is the form of, oath administered to a Chinese iritrepreter by the police orderly at the Magistrate's Court tins morning ;—-" Take the; book- into your righf; hind John you shall faithfully interpret the Chinese language i ito the English language and iba English language into the. Chinese language to the best of your skill und- ability s'elp you blow out the match." A funay letler appears in . the Aroha News from a patient w|io states he was for some time iu the Auckland hospital being treated for an abscess To^^ facilitate the discharge, the doctors put in a piece of ludiarubber tube; one morning it was missing, but there was no lack of tube, so another piece was inserted,: and it, too, disappeared, and was j^htced ouToF the hospital at last with- tlfe- wound nearly bulled up, but convinced by the pain and irritation he. experienced* that there was some foreign substance in the wound. He finally got his own doctor to reopen it,- and, to their astonishment, they found the two missing lengths of tubing in the wound. .- (This is about as clever as the doctors in the' Melbourne hospital some time ago sowing a female patient up, after a. big operation, with a iMill-dog forceps, and a piece of sponge inh.'rbt)dy. They missed them before long, .'in I as the patient conveniently died tli'.'y reoj.ened her and recovered the missing property. . . At the Couucil meeting on Wednesday evening, Cr. King for some reason orTbther wished, the Council to write to Mr Armstrong before accepting his' offer re new, levels : chart, and ask him in what time lie woi^ld have it r«ady. Instead, however, of paying any heed to sii'c-h * suggestion, \t -was wisely decided to accept the off-r, (an exceptionally reasonable one) giving. Mr Armstrong 3 months in which to prepare the cjiart. An election, of four Crs. for the Borough will take place on the loth of next month. ■■.■,■ It will be seen by advertisement that a Returning Officer for' the Borough is about to be appointed at a salary of £10 per annum. This is the result of a suggcßtibt) made to the' Council by Mr James King, wJjo st;it§d at a former meeting.of the Ooufcil that the work should not be done by the Town Clerk, but by some iiidepeudent person not." connected with the Council . Thd To\vn Clerk, we may state, has hitherto discharged the duties as Returning Officer witlioxt;, recei vititc any renumeration beyond his ordinary >salary. .:..:'.■ , : Our local contemporary pretends to be v*-ry innocent o^r the Borough Council advertising gnjpetion, but it won't do ; thejplois : 'hhd schemes to " boycott" the Standard have all come to nought and /bnce i more the clique have sustained a crushing defeat, which it is to be hoped will t< ach them the lesson that their actions are being estimated at a proper value, and that publip bodies will not. countenance, the mean and underhand attempts being, made to use them in order to vent personal spite against an independent newspaper.' The Budget states that "the duty of paying out charitable relief -forms' no smalLpart of the Clerk of the Court's duties^ in New. Plymouth. Every Saturday relief is paid over the counter .to seventeen man and. twenty-t hree women . The men receive sums varying from Is to ss, and in. one case 10s per week. In nearly every, case they are provided with rations. The twentyrthr.ee women are mostly wives with families', who have been deserted by their husbands. Their cash relief averages about 4s Gd a house.hold, but they Ulcewise receive rations ot more value than the cash paid. In addition to this provision they occasionally obtain -work as charwomen and do washing. The men, it may be said, are nearly allinfirm or cripples, and are quite unable to work. About £700 a year is thus distributed in Taranaki, in addition to the doles of the Benevolent Societies and private charities." \ , The boys' football match on Saturday at Carterton, between the Greytbwn and Carterton boys resulted in "favour of Grey town by one gaol and one try to nil. „:■/-The, .:■ /-The first section of the WellingtonManawatu Railway will be opened . for traffic on Monday, September 14. On and alter that day trains will run regularly between Wellington and Paremata.