The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1885. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1581, 14 December 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1885. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A railway notice appears elsewhere setting forth the cheap fares for the Christmas and New Year holidays. A sharp shock of earthquake was felt yesterday morning at s?V'.u minutes past seven. The shako was the heaviest that has occurred for some considerable time, and was preceded by a loud rumble. The direction apparently bninjj south -w*ist tiy norlh-tasl. Mrs Dudley who was acquitted on the ground of insanity of an attempt to miiniiT O'Donovan Rossa, has hern committed to the Stale Asylum at Middletown indefinitely. All the Colonii'S are to send representatives to the funeral of tho late Sir Peter Scr-itchlc.y, whose remains are to be interred at Melbourne. Tim Premier will ask some gfentlfMtiiii) m Victoria to represent .New Zealand, ns time will not admit of our sending a representative from this Colony. Mr Gordon, Mining Inspector, who 'published r»cenlly n valuable work m reference to the mining industry m Victoria and New South Wal-s, has coin piled the (iat.i for a similar work m connection with this Colony. Ii will bo printed and forwarded to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition with tho exhibits sent by the Mmmg 1 D.p;irtiHfiit, and will probably bo the me ins of attract ingcapital for the development of our mineral resources, A few years ayo it w;is stated 'on good -tntliority that £3,000 000 per annum was m w-stpd by British ra_>n ab'sts m gold mining io California aixl South America. If some of it otild hdiverted to this Colony, it would, no doubt, causn a revival m mining enterprise, and British capitalists would probably find a more favorable field for their investment. A few facts m reference to the laud tak«n up an 1 applied for hy thu Special Settlement Associations will no doubt be of interest Tho Woodville Tiraumi-n Association sfl-cted 4000 to 5000 acres m the fork of tin; M umwatu and Tirau mea Rivers, four to five miles from Woodville, and cl« s^ to the railway linu. The Woodville Mnugahao and the Mas terton-Mnngahao Associations selected land m the Mangahao block. The Mas terton -Mangaliao Association having applied first had priority of choice., .and selected 11,000 acras on tho Mangsihao River close to tt»o Manawatu River; whilst tho Wooilvillc-Maiigahao Association selected th-. 0000 acres whi-h remained m the upper valley. Tin.- Wood ville Association have, appli. d for 5000 acres between the Maujratiiinoke and Makakahi Rivers, noar the Pahiatua township, and it is now v jdnr offer to them, but if thny do not acc«pt it immediately the bind will In given to J the Mutt Association, who have declined ■ to take up the block of 5000 am s which had been offered to them near Eketa luinii, as it was considered too hilly by ; tho delegates who inspect -d it. The j land which had l>een refused isintersxc I ted by the main road, and tho railway i line will run through it. A portion of 1 the block is only about a inilo north of Eketahuna. N.Z. Times. Tim Home elections are now concluded, the following buing the result : -In England the numbers are — Liberals, 244 ; Conservatives, 220 ; m Wales— 27 ; Conservatives, 3 ; m Scotland — Liberals, G2 ; Couwrv.i lives, 10 ; and m Ireland, Conservatives, 18; Parnellitos, 86. The totals are-Liberals, 333 ; Ronservatives, 251 ; and Parnellites 80. Arrangements have been made by the Government for taking ov^r tho RakaiaAshburton Forkes Railway from the company fhat has hitherto worked it j A prospecting party, consisting of volunteers from Christohurch and Diinedin, is being organised for the purpose of soarching for gold m Big Bay at the southern extremity of Wtstland. One of the neatest retorts ever made «vas a brief response given by a young lady to a young fellow who offered h«r, with soiue hesitation, his seat m the tram-car. She got m with an i Idor companion ; the car was crowded, and two young men sat near. One gave his scat at once to the elder lady ; the other kept luh place. His friond asked him — disguising it, however, m German — why he did not give bis place to the young lady. Ho answered m the same language, " Because she is not pretty enough." But after a little reflection be rose and- surrendered his seat. The lady took it and thanked him — m Ger- | man. Never baforn was an extinguisher more effectually dropped upon impertinent youth. The recent visit of Sir Evelyn Wood to the Queen had an especial interest apart altogether from immediate matters of statecraft. When his grandfather, Sir Matthew Wood, then Lord Mayor, and who became famous as the champion m the city of the persecuted Queen Caroline, heard that the Duchess of Kent was about to give birth to a child, and could not come to England at that time owing :to her husband's narrowness of means, the Lord Mayor spontaneously provided a sum of £3000 to defray the expenses of the. journey, so that the heir or heiress to the British Crown might be born on British soil. Tho money was, of course, repaid, after a long interval. The unique act of patriotism was, however, not forgotten, and Her Majestj', who has a keen sensibility of acts of devotion towards her dynasty, has ever been mindful of the noteworthy incident.