The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1886. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1602, 7 January 1886, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1886. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A very successful rehearsal was held m the Biiuk Chambers last evening by the Choral dociety. It is expected the iiuiugural concert will take place m about a month's time J „ , We remind out readers of the ", Escaped Nun's" lecture thiu evening, which will no doubt be numerously attended. She deliyeres an address to ladies only this afternoon. The New South Waits revenue returns show,. the revenue for the quarter ended December 31st to be £2,200,000. being a decrease of £170 compared witth tlie corresponding period of last year. The total rwenue for the year just past amounts to £7.590,000, being; au increase of £'471.000 compared with last year, while the expenditure for the year amounts to £8,820,000. • ■ ' An t-fforfc is to be made to establish' a Wellington Special Settlement under the, provisions of the Land Act of last session and the regulations under that Act which were issued last mouth. It is, we (Post) believe, proposed to apply for a block of land iq. the Forty-mile Bush district. . ; •- Frederick Faddox was lately convicted of piracy and larceny ut Sydney, m cou- . neciiou with the barratry of the schooner Jessie some yearn a#o m the South Seas, and; wag sentenced to seven 'years' iinprisoniuent with hard labor. Th« prisoner is a well educated man, the son of a late leading muUical practioner m Tasinunia. The number of years which had elapsud since lie sold the Jessie must liave lulled his fears of arrest, or hts would scarcely have ventured into Sydney where he was well known. The Sydney Mmnin&Hfald of Dec, ; 19, states that on the previous day Corporal Murphy and gunner Giles, of the New South Wales Permanent Artillery' Force, had an amicable wrestling inateh on the barrock green, which resulted very unfbttunatpjy. At the end of the fourth fall, Giles being on the -ground, and his -antagonist uppermost, it is alleged that Murphy forced his knee on the prostrate man's chest, and injured him severely. 'Subsequently Giles was seized with a fit, and he then became quite unconscious. It is feared That fatal results will attend the injury he I received. .;' •,_,./' \i v L Much interest has been aroused m the medical profession by the discovery of a Braziliaa plant called Alyelzo, jwhich is I said to cure cancer. The fame of the i plant reached the * United States last? J summer and the attention it attracted : seculted m the sending of a dispatch' by the Department of State tojConsnl Athcrton, at Pernambuco, requesting that he would secure and forward' sufficient of the medicine for experimental purposes. A series of exhaustive experiments will be carried on to demonstrate the curative power of the plant. An American enterprise promises to introduce into Paris a company of lady boxers, who will invite any of the other sex (of the fashionable world — this is a very wise exception—) to come into the arena and try conclusions. It is promised to such that they will ask for their passports before five minutes are over. It is pleasant to see that all fashionable occupations are now becoming open to the soft sex. /. A Brooklyn mechanic has invented a' wonderful sewing machine, which, \t'\e claimed,' will do 80 per cent more work than any machine now m the market. .An experiment' with steam power moved it with a speed of 2200' Stitches- a minute, and it was started and stopped instantly. It is simple m construction, 1 is easily operated, and sews all kinds ot fabrics from leather to fine linen. In England there is now-a-days a vast deal of superstition abroad m regard to events that take place on a wedding day, and the general prognostic is tht-t the marriage of the Princess Beatrice will not be one of unalloyed happiness. It. appears chat after the ceremony no wedding bells Were" tolled, no rice' nor even an old slipper was thrown after the bride's carriage, ' and then one of the horses fell wben conveying her on her bridal tour. But then there was no peal of bells at the church, and perhaps' the supply of rice and old slippers had run out, and the horses, like the policemen, was kept without his rations. , The Property Tax Commissioner gives ! the following, interpretation to the cl&uce m the Local Bodies Finance and Powers Act, referring to the granting rot 'mbsidles to road boafdsj. ■ He takes it to mean that road boards are entitled to £2 subsidy to each £1 of rates levied up to £500, that sulisidy being divisible between the Road Board and County Couucil. As only half (no subsidy provided for ia payable this year, the net paymeut would be equal to £1 on each £1 of rates' levied. But* if i more than .£SOO is collected m rates, only half the above subsidy is payable ; this half beiug still divisible m the name manner as before. ' ! The London newsboy is about the equal of his New York brother m cleverness. When the uewaof the' death of Queen Emma of the Sandwich Islands was printed m the London papern, a number of the little fellows electrified the people by shrilly calling out, " Extree 1 Death of. the Queen." They were promptly arrested, but as they had broken no law they were leleased.