LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 292, 18 September 1880, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

We understand that a petition has been forwarded from Ashburton to Temuka for signature praying that the Government will not remove Mr Guinness, the Resident Magistrate ior Ashburton and this district. Whde most heartily agreeing with the prayer ot the petition, we think the memorialists are going out of their way in asking the Government the reasons for re moving Mi Guinness. If this principle is carried out Government would have no realcontrol over public servants, and arroganpe and presumption would take the place of obedience and submission to legal authority.

We haye l>een asked repeatedly why the Telegraph Office still continues to charge the 6d extra qrj. telegrams, aftei it was decided by the Government to disconiiuue the same. On inquiry we learn that the officer in charge has received no instructions to reduce the charge, and until he Hoes so he will have to carry out his former instructions.

It will be seen by advertisement that Mr Uprichard has removed to Mr Austin's (solicitor) office, where he will carry on his business as commission agent, collector, &c.

Our Wellington contemporaries notice that 150 working men are leaving by si earner far Sydney. This is the first fruits of the Hall Government's bungling. To pay for bringing men to our shores, and then starve them away, is a suicidal policy At a meeting of clergymen and others, held in the Young Men's Christian Association Rooms, Auckland, Bishop Cowie, presiding, a resolution was passed requesting the Government to amend the Educar tion Act so as to enable authorised teachers of religious bodies, to give religious instruction in public schools for half an hour during school hours. An Asso-

ciiifcion was formed and a Committee ejected to promote the above object Three cases of wi re beating camebefora the Resident Magistrate at Auckland on Wednesday hat. Drink was the cause of the trouble in nil cases.

A Crown lands sale at Auckland on Wednesday was svell attended, and the bidding was spirited. A case of horse-whipping took place in Auckland on Wednesday last. As Dr Smith, who was with Messrs fl. Abbott and Neville Walker, was walking along Queen-street, he was severely belabored with a whip \>y Captain Kerr. The cause of the affray is thought, from the language used, to be of a domestic character. The Captain was charged at the Police Court on Thursday with assault, and fined £5, and was'a-tao bound over to keep the peaee.

The Waikato Times announces the finding of ricli quartz between Ngaruawhaia and Whatawhata.

The following nominations have been received at Napier for the Hawke's Biy Handicap Steeph chase :—Mr Lyon's Loch Lomond, Mr Hopkinso.i's Wainui, Mr Donnelly's Pukerau, Rangitira, Hard Times, and Ada, Mr McLeish's Ec'ipse, Mr Ray's Gr?y Mom us, MrJDouglas' Harkaway and Venture.

It is understood in Wellington that it has been decided to erect break-winds along the dangerous portions of the Rimutaki incline.

The new revised schedule under the Property Assessment Act has been gazetted. It is very clear and easy of comprehension. Tho time for returning forms is extended to Oct. 25.

At the Land Board, Dunedin, on Wednesday, George Watson was granted a license of one year (o prospect for copper over six square miles at Dusky Buy, at a fee of one penny per acre The prospects of the Longwood (Invercargill) goldfields have greatly improved, owing to the discovery of a fresh reef near Specimen Gully, and better indications are observable in other workings. Jacob Seeuftus, who arrived at Auckland from the South by the Rotamahana, was fined £IOO for smuggling £3OO worth of watches, jewellery, &c. A horrible outrage was perpetrated at Gisborne a little girl, three years of age The police are investigating the matter.

The natives of Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, express surprise at not hearing of war be ing declared by the Government again6t Te Whiti. They state that the prophet's emissaries informed them that the 12th of this month was fixed tor an outbreak of war.

During the passage of the. Hero from Lyttelton to W llington on Thursday Mrs Morris died from the effects of sea sick ness. The Postmaster at Lowther, Soutland, who has filled the office gratuitously for some years past, has received notice from the Postal Department that he is to be reduced 10 par cent. Refining to the rush to Lake Mapourika, a correspondent of a Wellington paper says:—"About 200 men came overland and went to it, and the s>id spectacle could be seen ever 6ince of half starved and ragged men passing through Rows on their way back, begging a little food and clothmg to help tliem on the road, and utteri g maledictions on those interested parties who instigated the rush."

Attention has lately been directed (remarks an English paper) to the case of a Dublin house-painter, who was remanded last month at the southern divisional Police Court on a charge of causing the death of his wife by refusing to permit the amputation of his arm. Mary O'Keefe, it seems, was admitted to Mercer's Hospital on the 28th May, suffering from severe burns on the arms. The surgeons at the hospital decided that the only way to save her life was to amputate her arm. She consented to the operation, but her husband refused to permit it to take place. As the surgeons held that they would be liable to an action if anything happened to the patient after an operation had been performed without her husbevud's consent, they refused to operate, and the woman died. The coroner's jury were of opinion that the woman's life might have been saved if the operation had been performed. The objection of cue husband is attributed to his invincible reluctance to be burthened with a one-armed wife. When the husband has thus a direct and obvious interest in the death of his wife, it can hardly be deemed an undue assertion of woman's rights to ask that her lord and master shalj no longer be able to veto operations necessary to preserve her life.

An unusual case of honesty and integrity of purpose is reported by the Geelong Times. In 1867, in Auckland, New Zealand, a Mr IJhrenfried got into monetary difficulties, find was compelled to file his schedule. The estate realised 6s in the £, and the insolvent receive*! his discharge. A merchant of Moorabool-street, not long resident here, was one of the creditors to the amount of Fornethiug over £SO. By yesterday's post he receivod a letter from the insolv; nt of 1867, enclosing a cheque for the balance of amqunt due to him. The letter stated that the writer had again got into a good position, and was determined to pay his old credi-

tors 20s in the &. The receiver was, of

course, agreeably surprised, and intends to reply to his forgotten, but upright and honorable friend.

An eccentric gentleman, who was evidently bent upon making a sensation at a recent fancy dress bull at Sydney, arrayed himself in a complete suit of newspapers, even to a tall hat. I observed (says a writer in a Sydney paper) that he seldom danced ; certainly he did not look an attractive partner. But someone pered that he wus afraid, on account of the fragi'e nature of his costume, to join in active exercise t Pressmen should fear nothing. "Press on" should be their motto in the mazy dance or the tented field, particularly the latter, if away from enemy, aud the direction of the officer.

For the authenticity of the subjoined elegant specimens of the art of polite letter-writing an influential correspondent of a Sydney paper vouches, AH names are suppressed for obvious reasons , " Sydney, August 27th, XBBo.—Dear Sir, —My wife, myself, and daughter are invited to the Mercantile Rowing Club affair to-morrow. To make a creditable appearance, it only necessitates my wearing one of your frock coats, which would admirably su't me. Thanking you for past favors, and (if you can) for this, I remain yours truly, ." The addressee of the a hove, who is located in Yorkstreet, replied thus:---"The long continuance of the winter season necessitates my personal use of my frock coat, and as much uncertainty must recessarily exist as to the state of the weather on the coining festive day you allude to. I cau only come to the conclusion that it would be imprudent for me to lend you my coat and make shift for myself."

An adjutant of volunteers in the North island, late a captain in one of Her Majesty's regiments, writing a comrade in luvercargill says:—''The duties I have undertaken in connection with the volunteers are, as you suppose, somewhat different to those I have been accustomed to, but I have a very nice gentlemanly lot of officers to deal with, and both they and their corps are anxious for military instruction —so I consider myself very fortunate in having been appoiuted to such a district. The volunteer movement is overgrown, and sadly wants the pruning-knife of re-organisation. I expect that before long we shall hear of a Commission being appointed for this purpose, and to carry out some of the suggestions offered by Colonel Scratchley and General Davidson." -Just so But why a Commission when the Government have the excellent reports of these two distinguished officers to go upon 1