LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Te Aroha News, Volume XII, Issue 1751, 17 July 1895, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

' Mr J. Kennedy, auctioneer, holds his usual auction sale in the Tows Hall tomorrow, Thursday. Entries may ho left with Mr Snewin, agent. Messrs Dickson and Hanby.have just completed a first-class spring cart to the order of Mr Lewis Warren, of Mauawaru, and also a dray for Mr Swney. The workmanship and finish of both leave nothing to be desired.

Messrs Jones and Sandersoi had a snecessful auction sale ia Te Aroha on, Saturday last. A large amount of ptoduco, poultry, etc., were offered, and fair prices were realised Turkeys fetched from 10s to 12a per pair ; geese, 4s to 6a ; ducks, 3s to 4s per pair j butter, honey, etc., brought market' prices,: The next sale .will he on the 27th inst. - - T -.' '- :

Mr Stead recently appeared at the office of the Review of Reviews in a. prison suit. He does thia everyyear on fcheanm'rersary of his incarceration in Holloway GaoL There is,a Salvation Army touch about this.—-Ex.

The Waihou Junior Dramatic Club which was organised some months ago, purpose holding their first entertainment-in the Waihou Public Hall on August, the 9th. The proceeds will be-, devoted,to the funds of the club and the public school. A complete programme will appear ia our columns in due time.

A London journal, commenting on Balfour’s coolness and urbanity in the dock, As well as on the shrewdness with which.he manages to score every possible point, gives an instance of his assurance. During the proceedings at Bow Street a gentleman seated near the dock, reading an ! evening paper, was startled to find a fat hand on his shoulder. * Excuse toe, toy dear sir/ blandly.whispered the prisoner, ‘but how many has Grace made ? It must be a most interesting naateh.’ The reader sought out the intelligence and replied, when- Balfour heard that the- champion had just cpmpleted his hundredth century, he r murmured softly ‘ Good old W.G.* Mr Morrison says that a recent Commission showed that 460,000 worth of prißonmade goods were imported into the United Kingdom, and 445,000 worth was manufactured in., the United States, a goodly proportion of these finding its way to these colonies. The Premier (says the Post) was in sympathy with the desire to exclude such goods, but the difficulty was how. They must either prescribe them altogether .or put an extra duty on them. The Imperial Government was, however, moving in the matter, and he would ascertain what it proposed to do.

; Brown, a prospector employed by a syndicate, spent nine months examining the country around .Liberia, Ninety Mile, and Mindies as far out as Mount Magnets He discovered a series of* out cropping reefs near Mount Rosto, which he believes to be the finest on the field. - They show gold freely w Excellent battery stone was also found directly north of Coolgardie. Brown .states that there is plenty .of water and pastoral country in the district, which he visited. In his opinion not half the auriiferous country has yet been opened up.

The House of Commons has declared in favour of the immediate abolition of slavery in Zanzibar, and has announced its intention to help, if need be, with Imperial funds. The long-expected report from Zanzibar gives some notion as to the expense involved. Say .£35,000 a year (loss of revenue and new expenditure) and ,£200,000 down for compensation. To these figures Mr Hardinge adds the statement that a sufficient naval force must be sent to Zanzibar to prevent disturbances if total abolition be decided'upon. Ernest Love, about 22, a mailman between Ophir andvlda Valley, Otago, was discoverdjdead yesterday morning) with the reins looped over the axle of the sulky he was driving. Hejeft Ophir on Thursday afternoon, and was evidently frozen to death.

Attention is drawn by the Chicago Advance to the following advertisement which appeared in an African periodical: * Bustead, Bidley, and Co., Merchants, Zanzibar, East Africa, Agents for, The Church Missionary Society, The London Missionary Society, United Methodist' Free Church Mission, North China Insurance Company, Singer’s Sewing. Machines, Ailsop and Sons’ Ales ami Stout, Max Sutume and Co.’s Champagne, * James Watson’s Dundee Whisky.’ The dangers of spiritualictic seances to weakminded people have been shown by a sad occurrence at Gubbic, in Italy. A lady named Manolave, the wife of a professor in a public school in the town, -was persuaded that she could, by attending a seance, communicate with the spirits of her deceased son. The V medium’ made certain preparations, and when the -moment came for the spirit to appear flames and sulphurous fumes were seen issuing from a black cabinet. The lady felt sojpersuaded that,her own was suffering for hiß sins in the lower regions)} that she became stark staring mad, and it is thought she will not recover. The medium is to be prosecuted. The Goldfields Committee having considered the petition of Simon Frazer, who claims to have discovered the Thames Goldfields, reports that he was not the first discoverer, and that there ate no'grounds upon which he should be exceptionally treated.

The prices now charged for lime in various parts of the colony are such that poorer farmers whose land needs lime Sot afford to buy it, and they and 'the ty are thereby the losers. To remedy thia Mr McKenzie is preparing a bill which will be on thelines of the Lands for Settlement, Act iuso far as it will give the Government power when necessary in thepnblic interest, to acquire limekilns and deposits.. As,.however, the.main objects) in view are to prevent mcnoply and secure cheap lime for all in need of it, the Governmeuf will only step in when it. is found that private owhers charging excessive prices or not utilising deposits. Even when the Government does compulsorily acquire them it will not carry on the work itself but will lease the lime to tenants who will cell it'at a price agreed between them and the Government and with tbe reach of the poorest farmers.... . . “ Our City Man ” in the British Australian writes as follows:— *• I liave always been cf opinion that, instead of damaging the mining interest in the other Australian colonies, the ‘ boom ’ in West Australians would ultimately direct increased attention to promising shows' in the latter. It is now iquiteSeyideht’that this; riew is correct. * Matories ’ as it is! fed be anticipated New .Zealand .ventures- wilt gifo>y to s ,be called, ' after Jthie manner of 4 Kaffirs;’ are objects of eager enquirery, and.-are as firm as anything on the market’. The rise of from 10 to 15 per cent in wool krone of the most cheerful of news we have had for a long, time, It means if tq bur natidnal income of nearly half a milEon. The Americans are principally re?-.’ sponsible for the rise. Thi' reason why they did notfbuy at last season’s sales is that just, before the tariff was lowered they brought large stocka when wool was at ■bottom prices, and put it into bond. These dawks are now exhausted. Hence the large demand and rise in price.

Tho Indian papers announce the death pf an extraordinary being, who had for a long time been regarded by the natives as a god among men. No one knew to What race or sect he belonged, but he was snppoeecl jx> be a Hindu. He Was discovered under a banyan tree, near the Padmathertham 'tank, and at first took food that was pffeued him -, but for three years he rejected all offers, and lay huddled up before a. fire night and day, looking at no one, heeding no sounds, and. never speaking. One day the Maharajah of Travancore spoke to him, but he did-not -reply. Recently/, he died. The ceremonies connected with his interment were peculiar. The body, on a bier, was conveyed to the burial ground at Manakad, where a pit was excavated and spread with a number of paras of salt- The corpse was then placed in a sitting , posture and. covered with salt, camphor, and other substancea, till nothing but the occiput was visible, /One hundred and one cocoanuts were broken oh the head, with the object of making a crack in the scull to allow the essence of life to escape. The bits of cocoaputs were eagerly secured as relics. f