LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Te Aroha News, Volume XI, Issue 1725, 27 March 1895, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A meeting of footballers is called for Saturday evening, 30tli inst., at 7.30,‘ in Mr D. Macnicol’s office.

Mr A. Shultze, of the Te Aroha - Club Hotel, advertises tenders for supplying ,10 tons of firewood. Tenders to be returnable by Monday, April Ist. ... It,is calculated that with another twelve months’ work it will be possible to drive right through from Auckland : to Stratford, Taranaki.

The Christchurch Truth says:—The special Labour,Bills, of which Ml- Reeves is proud, are but monuments to his utter ignorance of the line in which he foolishly fancies he..shines.’ ~ t -.i \ •

Telegrams from America give particulars of a daring train robbery which has been perpetrated in Kansas. The robbers compelled the train to come to a standstill and an,attempt was made to force the safe, which it was supposed contained a large quantity of valuables. -The safe, however, resisted, and the guard, under cover of revolvers, was compelled to secure a sack and go along the cars, while the passenger= were forced by the robbers to throw their valuables into the bag. Having done this, the robbers made themselves scarce withthe valuables collected in this manner.

The miners in Liege have gone out on strike. Frequent collisions took place beween the strikers and police and eventually the police had to fire on the mob with ! ;he result of many of the latter being killed.

The sum of .£2,600 has been authorised to increase the rolling stock on the Government railways. A portion of this vote is for railways north of Auckland. A sum of £1,526 is voted for the Paeroa-Te Aroha railway. t .

A marriage Insurance Scheme by which English girls may be guaranteed a certain dowry on their marriage, or a fixed income if they remain single, is being promoted by the Norwich Union Life Insurance Company.

In the course of a political, address, at Wanganui, last week, the Premier said the Colony was in a better financial position than he had anticipated and there, would he a gross surplus at the end of the financial year of £360,000, while next year they would have at least £IOO,OOO for public works.

, The many friends of Mr A. W. Edwards will regret to learn that he has decided to retire from the business with which'he has been connected for several years, during which time he has earned the respect and patronage of a large circle of friends-. Mr Edwards will'close the Waihi branch next’ week, and to-day he commences a monster clearing rale for 8 weeks at his Te Aroha house, all goods remaining unsold at the end of that time will be sold by public auction. All goods are considerable reduced, many lines below cost price. We would advise settlers and others to call early and make their purchases in order to secure bargains. Look out for large advertisement with full particulars of this genuine clearing out sale in our next issue. The gold fever has caught, on. to a, certain extent in Tauranga and four or five different parties are'out in search of a reef carrying sufficient gold to make working pay. We understand that? one of., the Te Puke prospectors is satisfied with the result of the assay of a small-parcel, and is now sending a ton of quartz to .Auckland to be treated. News of a serious nature comes from Chitral. A British force under the command of Lieutenant Ross got surrounded by overwhelming odds, and in attempting to cut their way through the enemy, Ross and fifty-four of his men were killed. ' Preparations are being rapidly pushed forward for sending a strong British froce into Chitral. The situation is regarded by the authorities as very critical. .

When the Bussard was at Akaroa the commander advevtised in the local buster, after shell practice had been held: ‘ Warning is hereby given that it is possible that all shells fired by the Bussard on Wednesday last may not have"exploded, and as they were all people are cautioned against touching any they may. see, as they are extremely dangerous to handle.’ Another argument why people should read newspapers. Some man who has «jjot read the loeal thunderer will probably pick up one of these innocent toys and start playing football with it. And then—he’ll wish he had been a subscriber —if there’s any of him left. -

A special meeting of the Te Aroha Town Board was held on Saturday evening to consider calling tenders for the re-forming and gra ting of Bridge-street, repairs to Lipsey’s Bridge, and' clearing the Stoney Creek track. The Board made several alterations in the specifications, and it was finally resolved to call tenders for the works. All contracts to be completed to the satisfaction of the Works Committee, Messrs W. Hetherington and Hotchin. * Tenders will be. found advertised in another column, specifications can be seen at the Board’s offices and all tenders are returnable to the Chairman on or before Saturday next. A Coolgardie miner named John Gootch wa3 arrested in Ballarat West, recently, on a charge of drunkness. On being searched at the lock-up deposit receipts for £1,400 were found in his pockets, together with a' quantity of fine gold. Sir W. Buller’s property at Pakai Tonga Lake, which has been famed for its beauty and picturesquen.ss, was considerably damaged by fire last month. Sir Walter Buller is suing a farmer named Jillett, for £IOOO damages on the plea that the fire wa3 caused by bis burning off fallen bush. One witness for the plaintill deposed that the estate was largely spoiled as a residence by the savages of the fire in tbe bush, which formed its main charm, another said that.half its value was gone, and another said. He would have heen glad in Sir Walter Buller’s position to give £IOOO to prevent what had occurred A couple of crimson-nosed dead-beats arrived at a Wairarapa hotel the other day, in quest of something wherewith to slake their intolerable thirst. The boss who is a bit of a joker, happened to have a couple of gallons of sour beer which he had intended, throwing away. But he altered his mind when those deadbeats came in. ‘ It’s a fine Government we have in this country ! ’ was his salutation to the two thirsty souls. ‘ What’s the matter, now, hossP’ ‘ Why, the Government not only makes us accommodate every man who comes along—it now compels us to give, free drinks to every Liheral who is on the road without money. But I can see you chaps are not. going to travel on' a poor publican that way!’ ‘ Aren’t we, boss We just heard about that there proclamation of Seddon’s, and as wo’re stone broke we’ve come for refreshments. Dick Seddon’s a brick.’ The publican shrugged his shoulders and exclaimed, ‘ Well, I suppose I must.’ So-he filled them up with sour beer and they went away and told their mates, and the publican had to explain that he had no more ‘free drinks’ to bestow. Whereat there was much tribulation, rand discontent, and the discomfited ones went away threatening to „* make it warm,.’ for the publican.—Observer.- "

,* The Observer speaks out very plainly on the question of juvenile vice in Auckland, it says: It is a difficult thing to stir the community up to a sense of the awful state of juvenile vice in Auckland. All the shocking facts set forth in our recent articles are admitted- - There are sixty or seventy girls'below the age of consent actually earning their living in Auckland by a life of, shame, and the police authorities and our numerous religious agencies look on with absolute indifference. The juvenile vice in. Auckland to-day is a disgrace to the clergy of Auckland - They represent the Church, and if the Church doos not dare to face evils of-this kinl, it must confess ‘itself an effete institution incapable of contending with the strengthening forces of immorality. If the Church in Auckland is what it pretends to be, let it make some protest agai ist the juvenile vice in Auck'and. There is work, and good work too, :o bti done. Will the Church do it ? and, if not, will it horn stly confess i self an ornamental institution for the purpose of raising money in order to provide indolent clergymen with comfortable livings ?