News and Notes

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 12, 17 June 1893, Page 7

News and Notes

A young man in Auckland declined to carry out his promise to marry a girl on the ground that she was too good for him. The young lady was awarded £SO. The old theatre in Washington, in which President Lincoln Avas assassinated in 1865, has maintained its sinister reputation to the last. It has latterly been used for pension offices, and the other day it collapsed, a good many people being killed. Mr A. D. Willis succeeds the late Mr Ballance as the repx esentative of Wanganui, his total on the pollingday (9th June) being 1,016, and his opponent’s (Mr Carson, now on his Avay from Home), 589. The United Farmers’ Agency Co., whose premises in Dee street Avere lately acquired by The J. G. Ward Farmers’ Association, has been amalgamated Avith the latter body. Dissensions are reported to exist betAA'een the “ Grand Old Man ” and his Cabinet over the financial clauses of the Horae Rule Bill. Invercargill and Mataura are to be brought into telephonic communication. Dishonest Avorkmanship is an evil thing in any calling, but in none more so than where human life is risked. The safety of H.M.S. Hood av as lately imperilled through scamped work in connection with the rivetting of the steel plates. A groom in Sydney named Archer has been sentenced to death for the murder, under revolting- circumstances, of a Miss Harrison. Mr George Curtis, a very old resident of Im’ercargill, died on Monday last from dropsy. He attributed the beginning of his illness to the inhaling of dust Avhile mixing some chaff. Banks are lightly esteemed in Australia just noAV. An Australian adA r ertiser offers to exchange a £4OO fixed deposit receipt in an Australian bank for a long-handled shovel. Sergeant Rutledge, Avho has been stationed at Riverton for a good many years, is to be transferred to Lyttelton. The Colonial Treasurer told a deputation representing the lirvercargill Technical Classes Committee the other day that any funds subscribed Avould be subsidised £ for £ by the Government. Lawrence Finnerty, Avhose son Avas recently committed to the Industrial School from Invercargill, has been ordered to pay the full amount of his maintenance, 9s per Aveek. Two boys named J. McCann and M. Hogan Avere charged at the Police Court the other day with killing a hare Avithout haAing a license so to do. Each boy was lined Is, and costs 655. They pleaded that the hare Avas undersized and mistaken by them for a rabbit. Mr W. Russell, Avho represented the Acclimatisation Society, said that the excuse usually given in sjich cases Avas that the act Avas accidentally done while after rabbits, but it should be remembered that accidental killing did not justify taking. Tavo other youngsters named R. Thomson and F. Cassidy, charged Avith stealing toy cannons and more easily digested articles in the shape of figs, etc,, from shops in toAvn, Avere discharged Avith a caution. Cholera is prevalent in Russia and France. The millenium is evidently a long Avay off yet. The French naval estimates include a vote for 32 übav warships. Premier Seddon has obtained a vote of confidence in his Government at Auckland. Speaking there, he stated that he Avas not prepared to go in for axxy thingx-evolutionary but maintained that it Avas unfair to increase the taxation of the masses Avhilst a feAv Avere not touched at all. It Avas the intention of the Government to take land for settlement purposes, and if the owners Avould not sell, it would be taken at a fair price. A girl of nineteen named Mabel Hclander, arrested in Auckland on a charge of setting fire to the house of her master, the Rev. Mr Lush, died

in the hospital on the morning Avhen her case was to liaA’e come before the police Court. Captain Russell, one of the Opposition, recently addressed his constituents at Palmerston North. Result: A vote of thanks to the speaker, and one of confidence in the Government. According to the Taieri Advocate, Mr Clarke of GreytoAvn, has succeeded in thinning, if not completely clearing, a large and troublesome patch of Canadian thistles. When the thistle is in bloom, and when the sap is in the plants, they are cut AA r ith the scythe, and Avhen dry burnt. The roots are alloAved to remain in the ground, and in a short time they die completely aAvay, Mr Mason, of totalisator fame (Avrites the Tuapeka Times), is the central figure in an incident of a kind but seldom chronicled in connection with racing matters. It Avas on the evening of the first day of the Birthday races in Dunedin, Avhen a youngman came to his private residence, and in distressed and despairingaccents, said he had that day in error handed in at the machine two ten pound notes and a live in mistake foxone pound notes on three separate occasions. To do such a thing once in the same day Avas not impossible : but to do so thrice —Avell, the tale seemed a trifle unlikely, and Mr Mason did not disguise the fact that he Avas incredulous. But he AA'Ould see at the count up; and sure enough, Avlien the receipts AA r ex-e handled, it Avas actually found that there Avas a sum of £22 over and above that could not be accounted fox'. And the young man Avas sent for, handed the amount, and sent on his way rejoicing.