LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1644, 25 February 1886, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Lady Emma ran an indifferent third for the Duticrlin Cup, tune 3.44£, There was a grand race between the first two, Nelson.aud Necklace. On the s'h of next month Messrs Beckett Hammond, & Dick, instructed by the mortgages, will hohl an important sale of stock at •' Strathemlrie," near HahsomWe. The stock are of exceptionplly good quality. Particulars will be found m the advertisement. ; A very interesting advertisement appears elsewhere from Messrs Pollard, & Simes, general commission and forwarding agents, Wanganui. We rafer our readers to the advertisemsnt. The Napier Telegraph, m ft complimentary article, endorses the views of the member for Manawatu on local govei'ntnent. First geutleman : •' I beg yonr pardon, sir ; but is not your name Smythe ?" Second gentleman ; " No, sir; my name is Smith. You have evidently mistaken^ me for my son." Remarking upon the general impression that an iron mast is much heavier than one of wood of the same dimensions, the statement is made by a wellinformed _ writer that the reverse is really the fact, a 60ft trunk of spruce or yellow pine, two feet m diameter at the base, weighing far more than the she'll forming the modern iron steamship masts. Iv a suit against a railway atLafayette U. S. Lid., .for compensation for injuries received man accident the defendants proved, that plaintiff, at the time; of the disaster, was standing m the car illustrating the doings of a comedian. The Judge ruled that seats are not only for convenience but for the safety of travellers, and that the plaintiff by leaving his seat for amusement endangered his person. The jury found for the railway cotnpanj'. Among " iEgles" latest yarns is the following : — Jack Straw was the favorite black boy of Mr . one of the oldest settlers oh the Darling. [ He* was raeasured-fof Ins clothes, as his master thought too highly of Jack to allow, him to wear slops. In return Jack Straw .was really devoted to his master. They wjerit to church together, the master at the door of the pew, and Jack at tho further end. Now on a hot Sunday there was' a drowsy. hum m the church (perhaps from tho insects outside), arid Ivfr was asleep when the churchwarden came around with the plate. Leaning accross Jack put a coin m the plate, saying, m a whisper heard all through the church, " Don't you wake the old man— l'll pay half-a-crown for ! him. M . " Under the Mexican law a croditer can have a debtor arrested on the day when the debt falls due. The prisoner is chained to a post five days, guarded by an officer, and at the end of the time if the money is not forthcoming, the man's labour is sold to the Government for forty cents a day, for as many days as will be necessary to discharge the obligation. The miserablo debtor is sent to the silver mines, where he is chained to a gang of felons, and compelled to work underground, and never sees -daylight again until he is restored to freedom. There is a strange' rumour which is current (says the Army and Navy Gazette)^ to the narrow escape some of the Channel Squadron had off Milford Haven. According to the story, they woke up on board the TAgincourt, leadiug the lee line, on a hazy morning, and discovered the Smalls much too close to be pleasant, put helm hard-a starboard, and signalled the flagship, who did likewise, and so got clear. A. /very dear squeak, indeed, especially as it is stated the squadron was some 19 miles out of their reckoning ; while, to add to the ludicrous side of the affair we are told that on hoard the Minotaur, to ••save ship," they piped "down top-gallant-masts." It is astonishing,if the tale be true, that the authorities should imagine such an awkward affair could be hushed up without inquiry ; but' for the credit of those concerned, we shall hope it is only another '• galley " yarn. A man named John Hobbs, a resident of Wellington, was recently committed to the Lunatic Asylum. The unfortunate fellow's mania takes the form of a delusion that he is the son of God, aud is charged with the duty of bringing about some rather peculiar national complications prior to the destruction ofjthe world. It has been well-known m private circles during the past few weeks that the Bey. J_. C. Dodwell whose license to officiate in/the Wellington Diocese was cancelled by theßishop of Wellington at the end of the year, contemplated taking legal proceedings against the Bishop, with a." vieyv to the recovery of damages for alleged illegal dismissal. The case is likely to come before the Supreme .Court at the quarterly sitting m April next. So far as we can learn at present, the case is likely to turn on a technical point as to whether the Bishop has certain powers, which he claims, giving him the right jtol cancel a license " for just cause." Should this point be decided against the Bishop thelatter ■ will then, so it is stated, grant an 'ecclesiastical court of enquiry into the irregularities which are alleged against the rev. gentleman. The matter, possesses considerable interest to churchmen generally, and tq |;he pjergy more ea> pecially, and the issue will be anxiously awaited. Mr Gully, of the wellknown firm of Buller and Gully, is acting as legal adviser to the plaintiff. — Foxton paper. ' A beekeeper having been told that a lad, through being repeatedly stung by bees, had become impervious to any nnpiesant sensation when attacked by them, resolved to experiment on his own person. He kept a record of the number ot times he was stung, and when he began: to cease feeling the effects of the stings. The result was that all sense of feeling had gone when he had been stung 30 times within a few weeks, — New York Mail and Express. A curious incident is reported ('by the Dunedin Star) to have occurred, m connection with the visit of Cardinal Moran to the Cliffs on Monday. - A fine bull, belonging to Mr E. B. Gargilf, caught, sight of the Cardinal m his scarlet robes, and, not being able to get at his Eminence, went incontinently mad, and had to be shot. The animal was a very valuable one.