LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1595, 30 December 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Messrs Ross and Co., the Bon Marche, announce that their establishment will be open on Saturday, January '2nd, from 6 I p.m. to the usual hour. [ Hanapeka, a native woman, was yesI terday fined £5, m default three months [ imprisonment for assaulting the constablo m the execution of his duty. The presiding justices were Messrs Hirst and 1 Waldegrave. [ A new scandal connected with the Uuited States Government contracts is said to be impending. It is alleged that certain persons have been obtaining Government money for contracts that had no existence. The United States District attorney has publicly threatened to prosecute the persons concerned unless they return the money improperly obtained. It is reported that Mr W. J. Steward M. 11. X., has, through the death of a relative m the old country, inherited property to the value of £20,000.— Waimate Times. The latest device for keeping Mnall birds from cherry trees is that adopted m the Luke County by a local taxidermist who lias placed a stuffed hawk on the topmost branches of one tree. Beach, m company with Mr Deeble (his trainer), visits New Zealand m February. At the Ellerslie public school a prize of £1 was given to the girl who had made the best suit ot clothes suitable for a small boy. In- compliance with the request of the Native Minister, Te Kooti hau decided not to visit Poverty Bay. Blenheim has had its building mania, i like Auckland, Christchurch, and other centres of Provincial Districts. During the last two years it is said that ths number of buildings has about doubled. One gentleman gttsthe credit of having invested something like £20,000 m land and buildings. Thro are complaints of dullness, just &b there are m other centres, aggravated no doubt by the long drought ; hut there are indications of prosperity and stability. Blenhiem has two or three very fine hotels, and a large biscuit and lolly factory, which will compare favorably with similar establishments m any other part of the Colony.

A man named William Higgins was aneßtcd at Otaki on Christinas Day on a charge of stabbing two men with a knife. One man (Parker) receiving a slash across the stomach and a stab just above the heart, and another man (Purcrll) a slipht cut m the hand. The offender was brought up before W. H. Simcox, Esq., J. P., on Saturday, and remanded to Monday next. A Dane named Hans Hanson was at the same time sentenced to three months m Wanganui Goal with hard labor for using obscene language m a public place. With the exception of the abnr9 and a few ordinary drunks, the Christmas holidays at Otaki so jar have p»9aed off very qnietly.