Local and General.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 97, 2 April 1884, Page 2

Local and General.

Fire.—The chimney of a house occupied by a Mr. Neil, caught fire this morning, but was soon extinguished, several persons being pbout the time. No damage was done.

The Botomahana.—Mr. Edmunds, agent for the U.S.S. Co., notifies that on account of the tide, the last boat for the Rotomahana will leave the wharf on Friday at 4 p.m. sharp. Mails will in consequence close at 3 p.m. sharp. B. M. Court.—With a view of accommodating the legal gentlemen who have business in the R. M. Court, Mr. Kenny asked that the Bench would make a rule similar to that in general use in most other Courts, and give precedence to cases in which counsel are engaged. This the Bench at once acceded to. Printing in Gisborne.—As showing the capacity of our printing establishment and the expeditious manner in which we are able to turn out work, it is worthy of note that yesterday (Tuesday) morning, at 7 a.m., we issued a morning paper, printed and turned out in a style which would not reflect any discredit upon the largest London office, and at three o’clock on the same day, we again published an evening paper. A Wail.—For the past week the following refrain has become very popular, and is sung in a very mournful and somewhat peevish manner:—

Oh! where, oh! where, is our. member ffone?-. Oh where, oh, where can he be ? ‘ Whilst our time Is so short We cannot wait long, Do end our uncertaintyJ R.M. Court.—The following was too late for insertion in our last issue, and is the termination of the case Richards v: Dwyer. The defendant in a very contradictory statement denied the indebtedness and said he had paid it back. His Worship said that the defendant’* elpry ; did-..not, hold. good. .he. would therefore give judgment for the “amount’ claimed and costs, £2 6s. The following case were also .disposed .B. Hubble v. F. Harris, Claim £6 18s. for goods supplied and work done, £5 Ils. having been paid into Court, the balance £l. 7s. still remained due. After taking the evidence, His Worship gave judgment for the amount claimed less-l Os., and,.costs £ll7s. A Shrewd Financier.—Freddy is a woodspoiler whose wife occasionally sends him to pay the butcher’s and baker’s bills. The last time she did so he so far abused the confidence reposed in him as to invest a shilling in conviviality with a friend. On his return home he was, therefore, a shilling short, and when asked to account for it owned to having spent it. “ What,” screamed his better half, “ spent a whole shilling I Why, you spent one last week I” She manages, all the cash transactions herself now. Taruheru Bridge.—Complaints are heard of the manner in which the notice posted up at each end of the bridge is ignored by equestrians when crossing. Frequently a horseman may be seen flying over at a hand gallop, utterly regardless of the danger to foot passengers. Perhaps a caution administered from the Bench of our R.M. Court would have some effect of remedying this dangerous state of affairs. Our Member.—lt is rumored about town that our member [intends holding a public meeting on Friday next, but nothing definite has yet transpired. Tenders.—Mr. Finneran, architect, invites tenders for the erection of a dwelling-house on the Whataupoko, for C. Ferris, Esq. Drains.—Tenders are called for up to Monday the 14th inst., for cutting a 3 chains drainage tunnel at Patutahi. Particulars of Mr. J. Sunderland.

Newspaper Subscriptions.—Mr. P. Lange notifies by advertisement that he has authorised Mr. G. F. Henderson, to collect and receive all subscriptions due and owing on account ofthe Telephone andl&te Scandard up to February 29th. All accounts not settled by the sth inst., will be sued for without further notice. Night Soil.—Mr. E. Burch has again received the contract for the removal of night soil, and rubbish, from the Borough of Gisborne. The night soil boxes are to be of the following dimensions; 2 feet 6 inches long, 1 foot 3. inches-wide, and 1-foot-3 inches deep. Wholesome Example.—The news received this morning from Khartoum must prove most refreshing to our readers after perusing the disgusting accounts of the cowardice shown by the Egyptian troops during the sortie of the 16th ult. Gordon Pasha has caused two of the Soudan Pashas to be executed as an example to the treacherous and cowardly fellows who took part in the late disastrous engagement. He has also received fresh supplies, and expresses himself in most hopeful terms as to his chances of success in suppressing the rebellion. The enemy are reported to be in a famishing condition. Lynch Law.—This mode of punishment by private individuals, independent of the legal authorities, and which is so frequently resorted to during the present day in the outlying districts of America, derives its name from John Lynch, a farmer, who used to work speedy justice upon the fugitive slaves and criminals who found an asylum in the Dismal Swamp, North Corolina, and who were in the habit of committing terrible crimes and outrages upon the dwellers and property in the surrounding districts, at a time when it was found most difficult to put the constituted law in motion with a view to to its speedy repression. It became . very, popular about the end of the 17th century and was resorted to in every place where the law was found too uncertain or slow to promptly deal with offenders. The usual mode was to throw the end of a teather-rope over a convenient bough of a tree, and then run the culprit up where he was left hanging until dead. In other instances, where time or circumstances did not permit of even these scant formalities, the muzzle of a revolver was placed against the doomed man’s head and a bullet through the brain speedily and more humanely satisfied the ends of justice. A very General Store.—We may possibly think that as a community we are tolerably active, but it remains for Honolulu to produce at one time a Notary Public combined with a grocery and provision dealer, ship and general blacksmith, druggist and tobacconist. All that a man wants now to secure a fortune is to sink artesian wells and run a crockery store by telephone. A Wife’s Retaliation.—A woman named Mary Kiddie has been committed for trial for manslaughter on the verdict -of -a cotoner’s jury at Port Adelaide. The evidence showed that her husband, who was a pugilist and a hard drinker, returned home intoxicated and brutally ill-used his wife, who in self-defence threw a pair of tailor’s shears at him, which inflicted a wound on the temple ,that oausei death.

A “William Tell ” Murder.—A painful sensation was caused at the Leicester Skating Rink the other day by Captain Austin, a performer, shooting his wife in the head with a rifle in front of a large number of spectators. Captain Austin, who is a noted shot, fired at a potato on his wife’s head in the ordinary position, with success. He next attempted to shoot a potato while lying on his back. As soon as the rifle wag -fitod;- the woman uttered- a scream and fell on the stage, the blood streaming from her forehead. The audience sprang to their feet uttering a loud cry, while Captain Austin ran to his wife, and carried her into the retiring-room. A doctor who was present found that she was suffering from a wound in the’ head three inches long, but he does not consider it of a dangerous character. The audience soon afterwards dispersed. A Motely Crew.—The following is the description of the occupants of a common London lodging-house :—A paymaster in the Royal Navy ; two men who had been college chums at Cambridge, one of whom had kept a pack of hounds; a physician’s son, himself a doctor, who sells fusees in the Strand; a clergyman who had taken honors ; a commercial traveller and superintendent of a Sunday-school; a member of the Stock Exchange, removed afterwards to. a workhouse in a state of delirium tremens ; a brother of a scholar of European repute, who died in a slum, leaving his wife and three children in a miserable den in the neighborhood ; and the brother of a vicar of a large London parish, who also died in a slum. Then, again, he tells how he found in one fearful court a master of a celebrated college, who is also a Fellow of the Royal Society; in another a lieutenant in the army, who ekes out a drunken existence as a beggingletter imposter (a kind of Jack Cardiff); elsewhere the sons of officers in army and navy, contractors, and wealthy tradesmen—some of them waterside labourers, and one of them the potman of a low beershop.