Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1565, 25 November 1885, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

The New Plymouth Borough Council '-" offer the large sum of £40 for preparing their annual valuations. We have received No, 10 of ''.The " "Wellington Landed Property Guide," issued* by the well known land brokers, Messrs T. K. Macdonald aud Co. The "Guide," which is circulated gratis, keeps up its reputation for supplying accurate and detailed information with . regard t° properties that are m the mar- , ket or. that have changed hands through the medium of the firm, throughout the provincial district. The present nuhiher contains 56 pages of closely printed .matter, and is certainly the most complete ."■'"' book of the kind that we- have yet seen produced" by any land agent m the -. ; Colony. : v. : >-..-. »,'■""• Although it is >80. early m the 'warm .season, news has already been received ■■ - of the dry state of the back country of '-■:■■ New South Wales. Cattle are stated to be dying for want of watery and it is alleged that unless heavy rain falls Boon the summer season promises to be fraught with - most disastrous consequences. Station owners :\re renting watered country wherever it is procurable, and large numbers of stock are leaving the Western districts going by way of Forbes; artd*Bogain : The supply of water gathered during Uhe whiter is being rapidly exhausted," and the rivers are.fast drying up. The rivers Barwori and Naomi are -<ow nothing but waterholes. Bad .accounts have been received from stations i m the back country of the deplorable condition of things m general. Since the beginning of April-last only four inches of rain have fallen. On two stations near Walgett, generally carrying from 80,000 to 200,000 sheep, the stock have had Id; be fomdyed for want of^ater and rood. ■■•-, ' ■„:,':"■ The abiiHe of cluiritable aid seems to • have been' carried to a very great exteat m Napier, judging by a published Teport'ofa meeting of the United Bfaard, held there- last week. The chairman said the charitable aid business was m a - deplbrahle 'state; .several people were -' drawing rations. who were earning good wages. Froh> a fltateraent mid it-ap-pears that no less than £2,500 a year has been expended as charitable aid m Napier of late; , ■ ' r It ia stated that the New Zealand Stud Company, af.tei the death of theirstallion Musket, cabled to the Hon. Mr White asking on what terms he would dispose "of Martim-.Henry, but a reply was received, stating money would not buy .him. The company have a lot of young stock that cl ami Musket as a parent, and .included among these are two .fine vyotingsterfj one full sister to MartiniHenry and'the other full sister to .Nord.nfeldt. .". ■?* ... In the Wellington R. M. Court a mairic'd woman asserted that ever since Wellington had been made the capital of the colony her husband had been addicted to intemperance, the increase m his wages consequent on the removal of ■ theseatof Government from Auckland havingrenabled him to indulge m drink to a greater extent than previously. In reply to a correspondent an exchange, state's that the assessment made by the Prop»rly Tax Department m 1882 was for the three years from the Ist April, 1883, to .SlstMarch, 1886, and the tax noticeS.recently sent out wer6 based :oh that assessment; "he valuation ; of ; real property now being made, and tjie owners' at atementa.,sent m, .will be used for (he triennial aßftcts-nent,- beginning on the Ist April, 1886, and ending on *he 31st March; 1889. The Post tells the following story:— The Inangahua Council having forwarded a cheque for a large sum to a gentleman officially connected with the "district, as ah acknowledgment of public services, ha replied iii a most indignant strain, stating that he rngarded the offer of payment as an insult: that he had only done his duty m the position he occupied, and that nothing would induce him to take a penny for his services. He, however, enclosed his own cheque » fbr'tho amount inst end of returning th« on« sent to him. Th'.t he duly cashed and when his own chcqtfe was presented it was as duly dishonoured.