Local and General.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 50, 26 January 1884, Page 2

Local and General.

Rativb Lands Court—A number of Tologa Bay Natives are now fa Gisborne, making preparations for attending the sitting of the Native Lands Court on the 6th prox The Courthouse at Tologa Bay, newly erected, “° n the So “‘ h side of the river, and will have the advantage of being in a place where there is good accommodation for horses and suitable ground for a Native camp. HIS Honor Judge Brookfield and staff leave Gisborne by steamer for Tologa Bay on Sunday the 3rd prox.

Petroleum Co.—Mr. Isles, manager of the South Pacific Petroleum Co., accompanied by a few members of the local Board, will leave for the Springs to-day, and we hope to ba fa a position to furnish a favorable report on their return. In the meantime we may state that operations are going on satisfactorily at the workings. Rbtubn ov a ItarBCTBD Townsman.—By the steamer Taiaroa, which arrived last night from the North, our respected townsman, Mr. Maude, returned to Gisborne. We understand that he has invested largely in the new township of Kawhia. Puttiso thb Stone.—The contest between Tim O’Connor and Constable Stagpole for £lO at putting the stone, will take place this afternoon on the Waikanae, near Adair’s powder store, just across the Grey-Street Bridge at 2 o'clock p.m. The weight of the stones will be 161 b. 241 b. and 281 b. Both are well-known men of prowess, and considerable inerestt is evinced in the result, each competitors friends having backed their favorite to a very considerable amount.

Boat Race.—The final heat of the boat race to-day will be rowed at 4 o'clock, and not at 5 o’clock as previously stated. The alteration in the time has been made on account of the tides. A Horsey Dav.—Nearly the whole of yesterday (in the R.M. Court) was occupied in hearing disputes relating to horse feeding, horse keeping, horse breaking, horse “ teaching” horse blistering, and horsey customs in general. In either case the amount fa dispute did not exceed 50s, Bachelors' Ball.—The bachelors gave a ball last night in Parnell and Boylan’s Hall, and dancing was kept up till the small hours of the morn. Mr, Flood presided at the pianoforte, and a most enjoyable night was spent.

Advance Ormond I—We learn that it is in contemplation by a number of Ormond residents and others to form a Company to take over the Karaka saw-mill, with all Mr. Berry’s interest in that locality. At a meeting held on Wednesday evening to consider the subject, a portion of the necessary capital was promised, and the present owner was induced to withdraw the plant which had been advertised for sale by auction on Thursday last, There can be no doubt but that the enterprise would be remunerative, and that it would be of especial advantage to Ormond and the country beyond it, to develop the timber industry in that locality, while there is every prospect of such a Company growing into a very big concern in the no-distant future. Medical.—Very many settlers in Poverty Bay will, no doubt, be pleased to learn that another medical man, Dr, J. F. Innis, M.B. and C.M., purposes starting practice fa this district.

Desirable Colonists.—The Argus urges that an effort should be made to induce the Highlanders, now leaving Scotland in such numbers, to turn their faces to Australia, instead of America. “It seems to ue (it says) that the present is just one of those occasions when a special crisis at Home demands a special effort on our part. The Highlanders are, ae is well known, essentially clannish, and resemble their brother Celts, the French, in their unwillingness to emigrate alone, But it seems to us that we might tempt the remnants of whole clans to try their fortunes in a land where they might dwell together, each under the shade of his own gum-tree, and where they might take heart from the sight o the great fortunee amassed by their Highland fellow-countrymen, many of whom started as poor shepherds, and have now obtained the highest seats of power and honor that our “ Victorian Military L - “ -- --- --™ reports that “ tlieJC- IBter o£ Defence has reorfrax U aespatcu by the last mail, notifying that the following additional Imperial officers have been selected to complete the Victorian military staff The Hon. Patrick' Hely Hutchinson, as torpedo lieutenant; Color Sergeant W. H. Benchley, of the East Surrey regiment, and Sergeant C. H. Burrow, of the Grenadier Guards, as infantry drill-instruo-tors ; and Sergeant W. H, Begar, R.E., as drill-instructor in laying and preparing submarine wires, Lieutenant Hutchinson will accompany Captain Thomae, R.N., in the gunboat Victoria, which is to be brought to the colony by the future commander of the Victorian naval forces. The Victoria is expected to start from England early next

month. The other officers named will arrive in one of the Orient liners, arriving here in February next. Mr, H. Murray Smith also intimates that eight carriages, with platforms for the 80-pounder guns, have been shipped.”

A Clean Sweep.—ln a fashionable square at Kensington, not far from Kensington Palace, a wedding party was invited the other day. The presents were magnificent, for, as the bride was marrying a rich man, and in future would have everything that money could buy, the friends were proportionately geticrous in their gifts. Only girls who arc marrying poor men are put off with Church services, Kebble’s Christian Year, or electroplated spoons. The usual afternoon "at home" had been held on the previous day, and the presents, laid out on the tables in the drawing-room, remained to dazzle the guests on the return from church. During the absence of the family, the servants also, with the exception of those engaged in the

kitchen, went to see the ceremony, leaving the coast quite clear. Two men bearing portmanteaux were seen by the policeman to leave the house, and, believing them to be the servants taking luggage to the station in advance, the officer called a cab and helped them on their way. What was the dismay of the bride and bridegroom and their friends on their return, to find that a clean sweep had been made of all the valuables, leaving nothing behind but some paltry drawingroom trifles!

Near a Revolution.—" According to a Home paper, an Englishman who recently returned from Paris, where he met several of the French Social Democrats, said that he found very general, among the working classes especially, a vague feeling that France was within a short distance of a revolution. The united efforts of the Bonapartiste, Monarch, ists, and Anarchists, it was believed, would result before long in a general upset. As for the working men themselves, there was a singular indifference as to the form of government. Another wide-spread feeling among the Parisian ouvriers was that a war with Germany was imminent; they did not exactly know how, but they believed that France would attack her former conquerer and be soundly beaten. A curiously.fatalistio feeling prevailed among them, which could neither be accounted for nor explained away.”

Illness or a Clergyman.—The Opotiki Herald of the 16th fast. “ regrets to learn that the Rev. Mr. Gow” is suffering from a severe attack of bronchitis, which has prevented him from performing his ministerial duties for the last two or three Sundays. Mr. Gow, being universally esteemed, he will have many sympathisers in his present illness, and all will join with us fa wishing him an early return to his usual good health.”

Interesting Discovery.—“ A very interesting discovery has been made in Rome, in the course of some excavations, It consists of an earthenware vessel, an aulula } containing a Jibula, bearing the name of Pope Martin 111., who died in 946, and one gold and 824 Anglo-Saxon silver coins, bearing the names of the Kings Edward the Elder, Athelstane, and Edmund 1., who reigned from 901 to 946, including also some coins of the Archbishops of Canterbury, then the Metropolitans of England. It is supposed that the money was tribute, or Peter’s pence, sent by the Anglo-Saxons to Rome.”

Quarantined ! —The Napier Daily Telegraph of Monday last says that “ Mr. and Mrs. Kenrick Hill, of Cliftonj Kidnappers, returned to Napier on Saturday, after a prolonged visit to the Old Country, In connection with their return a story is told concerning the quarantine regulations, Mrs, Hill owns a toy Italian greyhound, which the Auckland Board permitted to be brought on here. On arrival at Napier the dog was ordered into quarantine for six months, the quarantine to be in a room in Mr, Hill’s house at Clifton. This was a convenient arrangement for all parties,”

More Cause for Grumbling. — “ From Wairoa there is much grumbling at no attention having been paid to repeated requests for a sitting of the Native Lands Court there. There is upwards of 270,000 acres of land in that district for which applications and surveys have been made aud completed for investigation by the Court, and a sitting was promised fully nine months ago. How is it that a place like Waipawa can get three sittings of the Conrt in succession to settle comparatively trivial disputes over 9000 acres when Wairoa’s claims are utterly ignored ? In the last Gazette a Court is appointed to sit at Waipawa on February 14, but although there have been numerous applications outside the Otawhao and Whenuahou blocks, only those two are to bs dealt with.”