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Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 36, 21 February 1877, Page 2

By telegram we learn that the Napier sailed for Foxton last evening at 6 p.m. She brings twenty immigrants and several passengers. She will leave Foxton again after the arrival of the morning train from Palmerston. In the report of the meeting of the Manawatu Highways Board, published m our last issue, an error occurred m the shape of omission. Accounts were passed for payment to the amount of £488 13s sd, notice of which was accidentally omitted. We remind our readers of the lecture to-morrow evening. By reference to our advertising columns it will be seen that the Rev. Mr Bevis will deliver his very entertaining and instructive lecture on "America" m the Public Hall to-morrow evening, commencing at 8 o'clock. The lecture will be attended with music and singing. We trust that Mr Bevis will have a large and appreciative audience on the occasion. On Monday last as Mr McNeil was transacting some business m front of the Post Office, having left his horse and buggy unattended, the animal took fright at the approach of the train and started off at a frantic pace m the direction of Mr Loudon's store. In turning the corner the buggy got upset and was so badly broken that it will cost Mr McNeil a considerable sum to have it repaired. The meeting of residents on the Rangitikei line on Saturday evening last, at the houae of Mr McNeil, was well attended.

The results of the meeting were that two letters were written, one to Mr Graham, secretary Education Board, asking him to represent to the Board of Education the necessity there is for a school m the locality, and the other to Mr Holdsworth, Commissioner of Crown Lands, asking to have a site set apart for the school, towards the erection of which £28 was subscribed. An attendance of 36 children was guaranteed by i those present. On Monday 'night a destructive fire occurred at Foxton m the premises of Mr J. J. Beatty, storekeeper. The origin has not as yet transpired, and as the whole of the premises are completely destroyed it is unlikely that the cause will be traced. It appears that Mr Beatty on retiring to bed about eleven o'clock, perceived a smell of fire, and saw smoke issuing from a portion of the premises, and almost immediately afterwards the whole of the building was m flames — entirely beyond the efforts of the few people who had arrived on the scene to to subdue. A small portion of the stock was removed from the front shop, but the bulk of the goods on the premises was destroyed. Fortunately Mr Beatty 's family were away from home, or, from the rapidity with which the fire gained ground, more serious consequences might have ensued. Asit is we feel that all m the district will- sympathise with Mr Beatty m his loss, as he had only recently effected great improvements upon the premises at a considerable outlay. We hear both buildings and stock are insured ; the buildings, we believe, for £700, and the stock, it is said, for some £2,400. Mr Edward Fowler, of Feilding, sent to our office this week two fine sample potato*, one of which weighed nearly two pounds. They are without exception the finest we have seen this season and well worth the trouble of looking at. We have, however, seen something quite as extraordinary m the way of cabbages from Jackeytown and the Eangifcikei Line settlement, and we should, therefore, not be at all surprised at the apparition of a tuber from these parts that would at least deprive Mr Fowler's potato of the privilege of being a Triton among the minnows. The Gazette of Thursday, the 15th inst., contains the following appointments : — Thomas Uppadine Cook, Esq., Francis Loudon, Esq., and Francis Robinson, Esq., J.P,, to be members of the Foxton Harbour Board. Thomas Mason, Esq., to be a Commissioner of the Waste Lands Board of the Land District of Wellington, vice Henry Jackson, Esq., resigned. The Wellington "Argus " tells a story of two sportsmen of South Karori, who went into the bush to shoot rabbits, lost their way, and after spending 26 hours m the bush, part of the time exposed to wind and rain, returned with one rabbit between them. Not so bad for a day's sport. ■> A Maori correspondent of the " Wananga" writing from Kaiiwi, says he had lately m his possession a dog which had two noses but only three nostrils, a fowl with two heads, an egg with two yolks, and a caterpillar which came from the clouds, having two bodies, but only one head. " But all these have died," and the only rare natural phenomena now belonging to him is a pig with three legs, the fourth being incomplete and placed close to the tail. They are making flour m England by crushing the grain with a machine formed of innumerable trip hammers. A mill of that kind costing £250 will make as much flour as an ordinary mill costing £1,200. The " Bendigo Advertiser " relates : — " The secretary of the Fire Insurance Company about to be established m Sandhurst, had placed the major portion of the shares, but had still 28,000 to get rid of. He called upon one of our large capitalists — we believe we are not violating any confidence m stating that the gentleman was Mr George Lansell — and requested him to take some of them. 'To what will it render me liable?' inquired Mr Lansell, 'if I take the 28,000 ?' 'To £56,000' replied the secretary. 'Very well," was the reply, " I will take the lot, and make it out m one scrip.' Thus the whole of the shares have been successfully floated." At an inquest m Bristol on the body of a boy who was found dead m a swimming bath, the doctor said he was of opinion that death was not caused by drowning ; it was a case of epilepsy. The deceased must have eaten heartily just before he had entered the water, or at least had not given his food sufficient time to digest. He had thrown up a large quantity of food, and when got out of the water his mouth and throat were full. It was a very serious thing for persons to enter the water after meals, as it was attended with the greatest danger to the safety of the bather, and that fact could not be too widely known. It was simply owing to that that the deceased had lost hia life. It was exceedingly dangerous for any person to enter the water within two hours of a meal. The New River Company, one of the concerns which supply water to London, is well-known to be about the most profitable undertaking m the woiid. The thirtieth of a King's share m it was recently sold by auction m London for £2,035, or at- the rate of £88,050 per share. The most successful recruiting officer of his generation is supposed to have been Sergeant Thomas Warnes, who has just died at Woolwich. He was formerly m the Royal Artillery, and he has enlisted 4,387 men for the army, of whom 3,290 have been for the Royal Artillery.

Some days ago Mr Jennings, Turnkey of the Picton Gaol, by mistake gave one of his children a mug full of carbolic acid instead of porter. The boy, Sydney Jennings, who is 11 years of age drank it off and became ill immediately. Dr Tripe was sent for, and was soon m attendance, but could do nothing to relieve the child, who died at three o'clock on the following morning. An inquest was held before J. Allan Esq, Coroner the verdict being— Death from carbolic acid accidentally given by his father. The jury added a. rider expressing the greatest sympathy with Mr Jennings m his misfortune. The surrounding circumstances are of so sad a nature that every parent cannot but share m this sympathetic feeling. The parents were engaged m the necessary preparations consequent upon the death of another child from scarlets fever, when the little ones became restless and cried. To quiet them the father went m the dark to get some porter and by mistake drew the acid. One little girl tasted but disliked it and would not have any morS, but the boy, now deceased, drank of it with the fatal result above stated. „ There has been a sensation m Wellington lately about a flogging which was inflicted on two sons of Mr Turribull. The lads were sent home, with several others, to get dry clothes, as they had been caught m a shower, and they spent the remainder of the day at the cricket match, the master alleging that they had been told to return to school. The matter was brought before the Board of Governors, where the general impression seemed to be that the boys thought they were dismissed for the day. At Auckland recently a boy named Haynes, was accidentally shot m the arm with a. revolver on board the yacht Erin, . while examining its manipulations. We " (Waka Maori)" have great pleasure m informing our Native readera that Douglas McLean, Esq., son of the late Sir Donald McLean, has authorized us to state that it is his intention to establish eight scholarships at the Aute College, Hawke's Bay, which will be open for competition to Native youths attending the different schools throughout the North Island. He also proposes to establish one or two scholarships at some English college m the colony — possibly at Wellington or Christchurch. These scholarships will be open to Maoris only. A meeting has been held at Picton to memorialise the Government on .the expediency of erecting the new Government buildings there instead of at Blenheim. The Melbourne correspondent of the "Otago Daily Times" writes: "We have three theatres m Melbourne, besides such places of amusement as St. George's Hall, and the many large halls used for concerts and other entertainments. This would seem to be enough and to spare m the shape of provision for the amusement of a city of some 240,000 inhabitants. But now we are told that we are to have another theatre. A capitalist, Mr George Petty, the other day paid £36,500 for a block of land m Bourke-street, adjoining the Opera House, on which we are told it is intended to build a large theatre on the ' American plan.' It is said that there is ' plenty of money ready for investment m such a work." Mr Bright, m speaking at Birmingham on the Eastern question, said that Nature had excluded Russia for six months of the year from the Baltic by impassable barriers of snow and ice ; man excludes her alto-' gether from the Mediterranean by restricting her ships of war to the Black Sea. This Mr Bright declares, is what cannot be maintained for ever. Why, he asks, is England going to war? Because Lord Beaconsfield persists m distrusting Russia and is enamoured of the Turks. If (said Mr Bright) we would only co-operate with Russia, we should root out the curse of Turkish misgovernment, and we should injure ourselves not at all. Sir John Richardson at a recent meeting of the Southland Waste Lands Board moved, — " That all deferred payment' sections open for selection m Southland be advertised m the leading newspapers of each provincial district m New Zealand, and for one month m certain weekly newspapers m Australia." Sir John thought it would be an excellent thing to have small sketch maps showing the situaation of the lands issued and circulated throughout the colonies. These maps would not only be beneficial to people at a distance, but they would also assist people m the district to make their selections with less trouble and more advantage than they could at present. The motion was seconded and cai*ried,.but the matter of the sketch maps was held over for further consideration." . An important bankruptcy case has recently been decided m a neighboring colony. The principal item m the bankrupt's schedule of liabilities was the amount of law costs m an action he had brought for slander, and m which a verdict had been returned for the defendant. The plaintiff thought he could relieve liimself of the liability for costs by the easy process of filling his schedule, thus throwing on the successful defendant, all his own costs. The Judge, however, refused to allow this little arrangement to be carried out, and declined to grant his discharge, remarking that the bankrupt seemed to have rushed into law without any grounds for it, and without having any reasonable probability of being able to pay the costs if he lost. — - Wellington "Argus." A Mr Vaile, of Auckland, the inventor of a new rotarj' steam engine, has also invented a machine the object of which is to save the time and labor now consumed m post-offices m cancelling the postage-stamps on letters and impressing on them the date on which they are received into the office. By means of this machine the whole of the time and labor expended m cancelling and date stamping can be saved, as it would be the duty of the post-office officials who first handle the letters to throw them, face up, into the machines instead of into sortingboxes, the machines being kept going by means of steam, water power, or a treadle, while the letters would come out on the opposite side of the machines completely stamped and cancelled, and ready for the second set of officials (the sorters) to operate upon. A company is being formed to work the patent of this machine, as well as that of the steam engine. * ' Chessmen of peculiar design. have lately been manufactured by a Melbourne jeweller. They are made of silver, the- white pieces

being frosted, and the black oxydised. The figures are characteristically Australian, the kings and queens being represented by blackfellows and their lubras, the bishops by'emus, and the knights (with their peculiar move) appropriately, by the kangaroo. The castle is a mia l mia,: with an aboriginal squatting m the interior; and the pawns take the shape of the native bear.

The Government have intimated, that on the Ist March, all public works hitherto carried on under the Provincial Engineer for Wellington will be handed, over to the County Councils to be completed by them. Just Published, James Smith's Trade List Circular, containing— lst,- Almanac for the year 1877 ; 2nd, Mapof the North Island of. New Zealand, showing" the County boundaries m accordance with the Counties Act, 1876 ; 3rd, An abridged plan of the city of Wellington ; 4th, The" enumeration of de-