LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 263, 25 May 1880, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

On Thursday morning the body of a mar* named O’Keefe, a laborer, was found dead on the beach at Oamaru, having evidently been washed up by the sea. At an inquest held the same day the evidence showed that the deceased had been in the town nearly three weeks, and had been drinking hard all the time. He had a cheque for L 22 15s when he arrived at Oamaru, and he appears t have “knocked it dowu ”in less than three weeks. Ho was last seen alive a little after eleven o’clock en the night previous to the discovery of his dead body.

We would remind our coursing friends that the final payments for the South Canterbury Coursing Club’s Flippy brakes and All-Aged hit-dees are to bo made at tne Grosvenor Hotel at 8 pm. on luesday first, tbe 25th insr., an-i ihat the diavv will take place at the suae time and place The running off will be on Mr M. btndholme’s property at Waimate, on the following day, viz., 26th instant.

The Invercargill Liberal R. form Association has sent lelcgr mi to tie- HjII J. Hall, requesting him to addr- ss the electors, I here before Parliament meets. The .Premier has replied, regretting thv. time will uot übow of his doing so.

. Rkwi has refused to receive the house bruit at Kihikihi under the authority of the lace Government, unless Grown granted. . He retracts the authority given o'er Ids lands, and says he alone will exercise uiana.

Ox the Ist inst., while one of the crew of the barque John Bui (arrived on Frida v from London) ' a seaman named Peicv Ledgkrim, was passing a wing on a foretopsail yard he was observed to bear a strange appearance. Tne mate sent a man a oft to ask the cause, and he foimd Mm seaman quite dead. Heart disease is supposed to have been the cause of the d-ato.

The European Mail mentions that ,im less iJoin 1480 fadures of farmers were re- or-.ed dining the twelve months of 1879 as aindus! 815 in 1878 and 4.7 in 187 1. The rate of iucr'ase in these failures ihus reveal'd is quite as serious a fact as their large nuuibi rs.

At ill-- Auckland Police Court James Johnstone "-as coargyl with a breach of U-e r-dlway regnations by getting on a train while in moti m, and was fined 5s and costs.

Sekious eh rges are b"ing made regarding the management of the Auckland Indiistrial Horn--. S veral of the leading members of the old Committee wide char" ng the master and matron with n-"lceland irregularity. An enquiry 'is proceeding.

Letters have been received by Archdeacon Edwards from the bishops of Carlisle and Bishop of Aberdeen, in repy to enquiries made regarding Aithur Giaves, the quondam clergyman lately_ convicted of forgery. The letters con Insivelv prove that the testimonials produced by Graves were forgeries also. Ha was ordained a deacon in the Dio 1 esc of C*arlislc on Fttess admissory from the Bishop of Aberdeen He subsequently committed two crime, of forgery at Home, am) for the second offen* e was convicted and imprisoned with hard labor.

Ix reference to a let'er published signed “An Klectoi,” who wrote cf the nn s-atisfactoiy position occupied by th, Nelson city members, Mr Pitt, M.H.R. has puolished a letter in which siys he i quite content to resign hL s - :) .l and seek rc-cl ction provided Mr Ad mis does the same.

'Ve would remind the e eofnrs of this p-u-t of South Canterbury that Sir George Grey will address the electors in Timaru, in the Queen Hall, on Wednesday (toiow) evening, at eight o’clock, .sharp* the Mayor of Timaru in the chair

The telegraph stations known as Greyt’oiyns Rangitata North, and Blueskin, will in future he called Greytown North, Balings, and Waitaki respectively.

Mr Hxslop, the late member for Waitaki', has declared himself in favor of the candidature <>f Mr Roberts, and strongly against that of Mr Jones, the Liberal can didale.

A fire took place at Mr Peter DrummoiutL, at 'Lwth R-tkaia, on Thursday last, w liich destroyed a combine and about a thuosimd bushel of oats. The combine wa insured, but the oats vvci’e not. It is not known how the fire originated.

Wb have been requested to agitate for a commencement of the Temuka-Oxford Railway. It would be no use doing so at the present time. Nothing will be done with this or other railways until the Railway Commission lias reported on their advisaoilit\. It is possible that it may recommend that this line should not be pro-ceded with at the present time Then will be our tune to demand justice and insist that the £IO,OOO or £12,000 that was voted for it be spent. Wo have learned that there is some talk of a diversion of the line This is simply casting into our mieit a Lone of contention When the time comes let the people speak out and claim their rights That time is not y r t.

Mr Montgomery writes to the Christchurch papers, denying that he ever asked the Premier for a brand new Post-office at Akaro-t, as stated by that gentleman m his late speech.

Mr Reid addressed the Oamaru eletors on Friday night He said he would support the present Ministry A confidence vote was carried.

Sir G Grey will address a public meet' ing at Dunedin to-night.

A number of polio? changes are about to be made in this district Constable Carfnell, who was recently transferred from Geraldine to Waitaki and was succeeded at the former place by Conslable Loose, now goes to Malvern, his p ace being tided by Oonslahle Black from Governor’s Bay Constable Beaumont, at present stationed at Ashburton, exchanges places with Constable Neil of Lyttelton

The Melbourne Argus, speaking of the stupid hoax perpetrated by some iusen - sate individual, says :—A careful consideo ration under which the supposed messagy from the survivor of the ship Knowsley Hall has been received strengthens the supposition that the whole affair is a badly executed hoax. According to the date attached to the message,' Captain has calculated that the boftle must have made a passage of about 4,()j)0 miles at the rate of something like 55,;'..-milos a day The paper, instead of shdvving signs, as might be expected, of damage by water or friction, it is in good preservation, and the writing, which is in pencil, appears to have been quite recently made.

When he dues get a chance a wetherbeaten station hand can “ pile it en ” to a new chmu (says ,/Egles in the Australasian) Such a one up North was riding over the run witn a young and correspondingly innosent late arrival The veteran was mifolding the mysteries of travelling stock, and keeping up a running fire of crossexamination all the time Now, yunng’un. said he, if yau had a mob of 300 head of caitle trauelling, and yon put them in the camp at nigh’, how would you count them 1 'Fhe disciple knew nothing but the ordinary method, and was then informed, You see, they always turn over and s.gh at 12 o’clock midnight, and in the darkest night of the year \ ou ran check over your mob by counting the sighs Yeung Suckdove lirmly believes it to this day Do you 1

At one of his meetings in Sydney recently, Mr Charles Bright, the freetiiongh lecturer, drew attention to the clauses in the new Licensing Bill, by which it is proposed to bring the public platform in that colony under the direct censorship of the Government; and announced that a meeting would shortly be held to protest against them

The Prince of Wales (says Truth) knows now to do a kindly action During the Afghan debate in tbe House of Lords hnoticed amongst the spectators Lieut.general Sir Samuel Browne, who commanded the Khyber column during the operations in Afghanistan last year Sending for him, the Prince svd, We are going to have a qaiet dinm-r in one of the -private rooms here, and if you have nothing better to do the Prince.-s and myselt' \v li be delighted if yon cni dine with ns S. Browne, a rugged soldier, was s<uu-what nonplussed, for he left one ana on 1 battle field in the Indian-Mutiny, and occasionally feels a little awkward when cut off fro 11 his own combination knife and fork However, hearty assistance was offe. ed by Inn Princess of Wales, • Princess Beatrice, and Princess Frederic 1, of Hanover, who were present

We have received a letler from the President of the IVmiiKa M chai levs’ Institute, complaining of the report given by the Temuka Leader of the last monthly mooting Onr answer to same is that our reporter could jot he present, and we had to depend upon another who was present at the meeting and .ve had every reason for believing that the same was correct In future we will take can; that the report is exactly what takes place.

Tine Press learns from official sources that the separate railway telegraph establishment in the South island is to be done away with, from th « first of June, or rather absorbed into the general telegraph departin nt, whieb will do the railway tele rapiling in future. This will off ct a saving of u arly L2ooo per annual.

Lost money. —We are sorry to see by advertismeut. that Mr Harrop has lost a pocket book, containing some L3G or L 37 us, and some loose silver. This is the second let of money that has been lost this last week or t o, and although the last lot advertised has not yet been recovered, we hope that the finder of Mr Harm p’s money, will pmve himself an honest citzien, as the case is a very hard one. Another pocket hook is also advertised for, containing some valuable papers.