LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1452, 11 September 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oil our fourth p ige to-day will be found :— Cable News, Political News, Australian News, Telegrams, Commercial News, Russia ami England, Football, Inflated Policemen, and other j items. I A correspondent furnishes the following : — Rather suggestive of the times:— The T.nvn Clerk's office has a window . on which formerly appeared the words " Money to L-ud. M The wind has blown out the pane which contained the \\ ord " Money " leaving the words " To Lend " only to be read by the passer by. j What is to lend ? The Crs, or th« Clerk, jor the Borough, or the Mayor, or the i Minute-Book, or the £50,000 Loan ? Messrs G. M. Snelson and Co. announce a sale of bankrupt slock of jewellery, at their rooms to-morrow at 2. p.m. The Chief Surveyor is inviting tenders for Poliaugina lioads, contract No. 1. Tenders will be received till noon of September 2G. Plans and specifications cu;i be seen at Borough Council office. The way little children express their ideas ami feelings is sometines very amusing, (says tho Fuilding Star.) Just after the totality of the eclipse ytsterd.iy morning a five-year old girl commenced crying, and when askod by her mother what was the matter, said she wanted another " eclipse." When told it would be Gve years before there would be another one, the little thing sobbed out, " I don't want that one, I want one of my own, and I want to have it now." During the period of the darkness caused by the eclipse, (says the Feilding Star) the animal creation was not so mueh alarmed as was to be expected from the predictions by Dr Hector. A few hens got their laying done a little sooner, but that was moie from a misconception than from any direct physical fear. Horses, cows, pigs, and other domestic animals paid very little attention to the change.. A well- known son or v'ulcan (says the Star) came out of the lobby of the Feilding Post Office the hther night, a in utyr to violent sternutation and'nictitation caused by the foul atmosphere within. He said that the fumes of the tob icfo smoked in Feilding were more diffi Milt to pnt up with than the smoko and ashes of the most sulphurous coal used iu a blacksmith's forgo. An Auckland telegram states that a movement is on foot to induce Mr J. Rain to go back, and deliver a lecture <n Dickons and Thackeray. If necessary a guarantee will he raised. The Hawera Star says that the following aiif fiTole is told about Mr Spurgeon, who hits lately turned vegetarian, and has been visiting the south of Europe. A sumptuous lunch was given in his honor at San Rcino, and Mr Spurgeon was invited to s\y " yrace " before the feast began. Casting a rapid g'ance over the table, and observing the profusion of meals and other viands served, the celebrated preacher piously ejaculated — " Lord, we lhanfc thee that we do not cet such a m«»al as this, <-ls^ \re should be ill J" If this story be not true, it i* at least characteristic. Mr Macarthur askod in the House on Tuesday afternoon— (\) Has the attention of the Government been drawn to iho cases under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1876, lately decided in the Magistrate's Courts in Wanganui and Pahnerston, in which the action of borough councillors who had supplied goods in the ordinary way of trade at ordinary prices across the counter to tho borough nuthorilios had been held to be a contract within the meaning 1 of the 61st clause of that Act ? (2) If so, will the Government take steps to pass a short Bill this session relieving business men of a disability which will tend in small boroughs, at nny rate,) to prevent a most suitable class of men from taking office as councillors. In reply the Premier admitted the necessity for an amendment of the Act in the direction indicated, an 1 a Bill would be introduced into the Upper House, dealing with the matter. Regarding the Wellington Hospital GO'iunission, the Post remarks that the enquiry has Oern perfunctory, and uni satisfactory in the highest degree. It has, in fact, been a perfect sham. The points at issue have not been fully investigated, the best evidence has not been taken, the examination of the witnesses h.ns been badly conducted, and the reiil facls bearing upon the matters being enquired into have, not b^en elicited. In truth, everything has been slurred over, and the report of the Commissioners, whatever it may be, will be a very worthless document indeed. Last night's Wanganni Herald says : — Messrs Laird and Carson havo confessed judgement in the Borough Council cases adjourned from last sitting day. Mr Murray will probably do the same before the Court sits to-morrow morning 1 . Word I\!\s hf'O.n received in Wnngauui ' (saysthp/ZcroAOof th« d»a(h fit Dunedin of Mr Samuel P<ters, formerly draper in WnijfranuJ. Mr Peters was with Mr P. Bell for some years, and Inter on started I business on his own account in Alpha House, tie was 41 years of age. Th« amount of personalty proved under the will of th<* late Mr J. T. McKelvie is over £34,000. TheOtnsfoD-iily Time* savs :•-" What | ever may be the f;in!t of Mr Balance's | policy and ndininisf rntinn, it is imonssible to doubt that the}* arc grounded on principles which do credit alike to him and the House. It is pleasant to see a Minister taVing 60 high a stand and acting upon it."

It is offi i lily no-. ili'-d. th it all flowing to tin; M:\Uinviitu Uoad Bo.ir must be paid immudiatuly, otherwis proeue lings will bo taken to recover ths.ttne. Th j Legislative Council have made two amendments in th" Bankruptcy Amendment Hill. The first is that Uptime within which the Official Assignee may elect to accept a debtor's property, burdened with onerous covenants, shall extend to two months instead of three months, as passed by the House. The second amendment is a new clause, the ' elect of which is that preferential payments made within thr-je months of a bankruptcy, whether under pressure of creditors or voluntary (which are the words inserted by tho Council) shall bo void. There is good reason for believing (says the Advocate) that a man nam"d W. Waters, who was employed by Mr Richard Hammond, w;is drowned in th« Rangitikei river on Tuesday. Mr William Hammond luft tho station hi tin Otamakapna block on Monday, a'ter having given Waters instruction j to go to llunterville for grass seed on the following day. Yesteiday morning the horse that had been ridden by Waters, also his pack mules and dogs were found on the other aide of tho river near the Oingehiti ford, but no trace of Wateis could be discovered. The saddles on the horse and mules were soaking wet. Waters, who was a strong man in the 'prirm of life, was an expert swimmer. Mr T. Hammond telegraphed to the friends of the ununfortunate man, who live at Waverley, to-day. The supposed fatal accident occurred at the samo spot where a young Maori was drowned some time ago. Messrs. William and Herbert Hammond, J. Hiirtlev, C. Hartley, an<l two Maoris started in two canoes at daylight this morning tc search for the missing man. Under the title of" Railway Manage- . ineut — a Hint to Mr Vaile," si corres- j pondent sends us (N. Z. Herald) the ] following :— " It is said that one of the 1 largest shenpowners in the Thames Valley has to cart his wool this season seven! miles to be shipped to Auckland ; by the Thames steamers, nltiioiigii be has a railway station on his farm, the railway charges being about fifty per cent higher than the steamers charge." Mr E. Shaw, the eminent counsel, will defend C. S. Cross for alleged embezzlement of moneys belonging to the Wan- ■ g-anui Heads Railway. Mr Shaw will ! be in Palmerston in a few days, en route for Wan»anui. We were in error stating that Mr Phailer obtained views of! the eclipse. Ho informs us that ho was unable to obtain the requisite appliances to enable ■ him to do so. He is now arranging to fit Mr Ferguson's magic lantern with appliances for more rapidly and imperceptibly altering the views, so that, one view follows another without any apparent interval. About 1770 there was living in London a tradesman, who had disposed of eleven daughters in marriage, with each of whom he gave their weight in halfponce as a fortune. TMe young ladies must have been bulky, for tho lightest of them weighed £50 2s Bd . A gentleman, writing from Auckland (says tho Ashburton Guardian), mentions the following! — A lecturer here the other day, said that if the hotels in London could be kept, closed it would be a saving of 20,000 deaths, when an Irishman in the crowd asked him, For how long? This so puzzled the lecturer tint he did not recover the interruption the whole evening. The Rev Lewis, also lecturing on temperanco, gave so many anecdotes on tea that the audience were fairly puzzled at the end of his lecture which was the more poisonous of the two— spirits or tea. One of two statements was that a friend of his boiled a pound of tea in a quart of water, and after strainiigit oft: boiled the quart of liquid to a pint, and, taking the cat on his knee, gave her throe drops, and to his surprise it killed her instantly. So much) for temperance ! He evidently proved too much ! Since Mr Cook has been appointed to the Awahnri State School (says the , Rangitikei Advocate), the attendance has greatly increased, and now averages 40 children, a number of whom are half-caste^ and Maori youngsters of both sexes. Mr Cook is well-liked by the scholars and bv their parents ; he is a painstaking, strict, but kind master ; and there is everv reason to believe that, after he has been in charge of the school a year or so, the children will make good percentages. "Within the past three months (says the Rangitikei Advocate) the banks of the Oroua river, on the Palmerston side of the Awahnri bridge, have crumbled away tor a distance of fullv 20ft. The river, which formerly struck against the Awahuri side, and did so much damage, has now altered its course, and the main stream is on the other side, the deep water current bein<r under the first fpan of the bridge. Jusb above is a Jarjre lagoon, and the only protection to the road and th* approaches ot the bridge is a piece of land about a couple of chains wide. Now, it does not require the eve of an engineer to foretell that, unless this corner piece of land is profceete-'l, the first flood will carry it all away, and, with it, the bridge approach. A few pounds judiciously spent now, before the flood time comes on, might save a large ex-, penditure which would be necessary in a few months if precautions are not taken. It is quite clear, to anyone who has noticed how the banks are falling away, that the river itself, even low as it is, will bring about the result ment : oned if the "banks are not attended t">. We commend these remarks to the local body interested. Last night's Feilding Star says : — The champion mean man has been found at last. An employer who lives notmany miles from bis neighbors, has stopped the wages of his hands for the timo lost during the eclipse of the sun yesterday morning.