LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 250, 3 April 1880, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A balance of : Ll5O remains in the hands of the Treasurer of the Oamaru Jockey Club after paying all claims of the late mi. cling. A Sydney Catholic paper is responsible for the statement that (he Rev Charles C.’ask has joined the Soman Catholic Church. This Hon. Thomas Dick (says a Northern contemporary), has been sworn in as Colonial Secretary. The Government now undoubtedly posses the proverbial “ Tom, Dick, and Harry” (Atkinson) and are to be, congratulated accmdiugly. TiMAKtr is now the head-quarters of a Souih Canterbury Millers’ and Bakers’ Association. It has already fixed the wholesale price of flour at L2l per ton u-1 rash. There has been a very perceptible increase in the number ; of impecunious tramps paasing through Milton this week, some of'the unfortunate unemployed being of respectable appearance. This (says the Herald) is the fruit of our rotten system of unlimited immigration, and we are sadly afraid that the coming winter wilt prove a very severe one for hundreds of deserving men, who have been brought out here under false pretences. It will be impossible to find work for the winter season, when the labor market is glutted luring ihe busiest time of the year Tho look out is certainly by no means bright. The North Otago Times says—The railway department is keeping well forward with the work of conveying the grain from different stations and sidings in the district to its destination. The additional rolling stork has greatly aided this, but the experience . gained during previous years lias furthered the systematising of this particular work, so that now farmers can obtain tho conveyance of their produce to Oamarn without running (he risk of its being destroyed thn ugh long exposure in waiting for trucks. It is only fair'to add that the officers and men of the de lartmcmt also show that their' hearts are in their work. The emigration return for 1879 shows an important exodus from too port of Liverpool ; as many as 117,914 cnugrnits left tho Mersey during tho year. Of those GI,SGi were English and 13,004 Irish, t!m remainder being chiefly foreigners. Too return.-; show a total increase of 4G,752 as compared with the previous years, being 24,922 more English and 5027 more Irish. The proposal to erect a house of ice, in imitation of the palace of ice built in tho time of Empress Anno, has been carried nut at Moscow. The building is of smaller dimensions, having but two doors and six windows, but it is, like it is prototype, built wholly of ice, blocks of that material having .been employed ■•instead of stones and bricks, it is situated in tho Zoological Gardens. Two aichitccts and 300 workmen have been employed in its construction. An extraordinary case of accidental b ulging has just < .conned in Aberdeen. It appears that a Mrs Gibb was returning from the gasworks with a bag of of cinders strapped lo her back by a rope, and when half way up the stairs she had placed ner buck against the railing with the vi'-w of resting when the bag slipped over the railing jerked the rope from tier breast ‘to her throat, and choked her.

Mu .t-.d Mrs Harris, late of Waimate, have hc.eu appi .im.od master and ma felon of tho Old Man's Hume, Ashburton. Three little boys were brought before the Avklan .1 I'olice Bruch tho other day for kibiug a cat with a stone, ami two of them were • .severely fi-iod. t'ho Hors'd says, that their cquoi-el, Mr M«atioy, vainly pleaded in exionuation “that nr rules is, out and cats is in,” and that “where there was a stone and a cat, it wan second nature to boys to have, a-shy.” Mis Warship was in x »rvbl«. Tho k a ned counsel h-ul but om- shaft left iu his quiver, and lie aped it, hut in vain, munch : —chat “ the death of the unfortunate cat would in- all probability bo a blessing .to the neighborhood,’ for the boys had conferred a boon upon the resi lenls who bad long sighed for soma-—' Soothing catnip hello borons, Anything to still the chorus Of their piercing, wild, sonorous Nocturnal yells ! The burglar scare has reached Oamaru. The other night, a resident in that ,iown sa’.liod forth, crow-bar in hand, to attack a thief supposed to beeffeetingan entrance to his house. The culprit proved to-be a stray horse gnawii g at the door-handle. What are tho Camara door-handles made of I We learn that Thursday and Friday, the Bth and 9th April (Timaru raced ays) have been proclaimed bank half-holi-days. Near Sebastopol the pedestal of a bronze statue has been dug up. It is covered with Hellenic inscriptions belonging to the second century before the Christian era. Mr DeLe-cseps, the celebrated French engineer to whole persevering skill we nvu tho Suez canal, has commenced, the cons!ruction of the inter-oceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The Americans look with some disfavour on the audience, as affecting th.ir interest generally, both for times of peace and war. During the month of March thoro were veg-stered at Waimate 25 births. 10 deaths (8 being of infants), and 3 marriages. Tho totals for the ([muter were 04 births, 13 deaths, and S mamages Some few years ago (says the Press) it was usual, ou race days, to see- four-in-hand drags leaving the City Hotel for the racecourse. Recently this good old custom had fallen info desuetude, but was on Wednesday resuscitated by Air M. 11. Oram, who impressed a (nr -out of Messrs Millelt and GrilTUlTs into the service. The drag was filled to overflowing with faces familiar to the “ City ” iu days gone by, and tho four were tooled along by that prince of Jehus, John Meikle. Butler -was on Thursday committed for trial for the Cumberland street murder. He reserved Ids def-nee, and asked the public and the Press to abstain from forming an opinion on the matter tiil tho trial. Sir George is so ill that his attendance at the next session of Parliament is doubtful. Through some unexplained cause not one member of Pastor Oliiniquy’s Auckland Committee was on the Auckland wharf to see him off by the mail boat for San Francisco. Mr Peryman, of Tai Tapu Risked his harvesting last night (says the Lyttelton Times of Wednesday) and reports a yield of close on 0400 bushels from 86 acres. One paddock of Tartarian oats yielded an average ot 23 bushels to tho ac? - e, and a small paddock of barley gave an average of 84 bushels to the acre. Referring to Sir Modred, tho winner of tho Champagne Stakes at the-C.J.O. Autumn Meeting, the Oamaru Mail says : We learn by private telegram that "the Hon. Robt. Campbell was offered L2OOO for the borse before the race, but refused to sell the horse as ho thought the public might be prejudiced. The case against a number of prostitutes and the man Hoskins, for participating in a free fight on Sunday, at Oamaru, resulted in tho latter being fined LlO, or three months’ imprisonment, and one of the former L 3, or 20 months’ imprisonment. ' A girl named Rebecca Doherty, of Oarnam, has been committed for trial for concea’ing tho birth of her illegitimate child. A Family of eight persons have been murdered near Barcelona. A rich landowner. Fnlgcnzlo A. Bcvcozneni, had in his sc. vice, a workman named Manuel, who on arriving at I lie house for his day’s word, b fore daylight, found the doors open, his wife and maid-servant dead in their beds, and the master and mistress of the house and their tines daughters, aged 19 17, and 15, and a sou aged nine, all likewise murdered. Another daughter, aged five, was sleeping quietly hesule n murdered sister, having apparently boon cuwied by the bedclothes am! unobserved The drawers had all been forced, and everything turned upside down. Tho murders had apparently been committed with a hablici. Suspicion immediately fell on one of the oilier laborers, a swine herd, who, with his two sons, has heen arrested. Deteotivb Neill, of Christchurch, on Saturday, arrested a man named Skodgewell on a charge of having committed a criminal assault at Ashburton. We understand that a banquet is to bo given by several admirers of the late proprietor of the Mail to that gentleman, on his return from tho North to fight out the libel case. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was dispensed in the Presbyterian Church, Ashburton, on Sunday, when tho largest number of communicants that has over attended on any previous cclehrali n, partook. Suitable sermons wore proa died by tho pastor on the o-'cashm, and in tho evening, and large rmm ! >crs <4 Presbyterians from the country attended. The e-dors v. ho assisted at (no sacrament were Messrs Moor , of Waterloo, and Henderson, ef Mcthven. A Bun MAH paper states iluvfc the King of Burmali, tv ho lately spent a large sum of money iu tho electric light, is purchasRs. 11,200 worth of cheval glasses. The sum of Lsoi'o has been olleiel to the town of DuutVrmline, towards the establishment of a free library there, by Mr Andrew Carnegie, of New York, who was bora at Dunfermline.

r J’.a.s Baptist ministers of Now York had an exciting discussion the other day on llie pis’ut whether they should admit' reporters to their meetings or not, in the course of which DrD. H. Miller exclaimed; “ I w: ll >t the good things said here .’to b e voiced outside. 1 thank God for news, papers and fur reporters.” The power of the newspapers for good was acknowledged only, three voting for the exclusion ■ of llxo members of die press. A men tbildloss merchant of Tamboo, L'm-sia. by name Ivan Steplianovitch Karputi, has -bequeathed his whole fortune, an oi in ting to 600,000 roubles, to Vera ZoHsulltcii, well known for her attack; on Genera! Trepoff. : There is a probability of Europe and .Africa being connected by land, a project for a tunnel beneath the Straits of Gibraltar being discussed. There are in all England between fifty and sixty thousand Jews, of whom about thirty thousand live in London.