The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1880. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 323, 30 November 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1880. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

■Oh dit that the Dunedin Co-operative Society intend starting a branch store in Temuka at an early date. Messrs Maclean and Stewart will hold their usual monthly sale of stock at the Winchester Fair to-morrow (Wednesday). Mr K, F. Gray will soil, at the Win. cheater Fair, to-morrow, a number of stores, yearlings, cross bred ewes and lambs.

A very heavy and welcome rain fell all Sunday. The country has been very much in want of it for some weeks past, both crops and pasture being parched.

The Loyal Arowhenua Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M. CL, have purchased an £ aore section adjoining the Star Hotel, on which it is intended to erect a hall for holding their meetings in

We observe that the regatta to be held at Timarn on t.li<- 16th of next month is likely to be a great success, and that crews from Christchurch, Lyttelton, and Dunedin have determi - ed to compete.

We would again remind our readers of the performances to be given at Geraldine and Temuka, by those popular artiste, the Lynch family. They perform to-night, at i the former place, in the Oddfellows’Hall, and. on Wednesday in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka. As this troupe possesses ta’lent of high merit, we anticipate crowded houses at, holl> places. The Dnnstan Times writes :—“ The number of men to be met with travelling swag on back is legion and beyond requirements, The station masters are terrible sufferers, as to them the swagger looks principally for his and lodging. Last week one station in this district had to provide for no less than GO, being nine a dav.” / -

The, first, lot of peas and potatoes sown this year have failed in a number of cases, owing to the late frosts we have had. A gardener at Milford informs us that all his early potatoes have failed, and we have 'been told by another, who had sown a large quantity of peas, that he had to pull them up and sow a fresh lot. The long continued drought has also had a deterring effect on vegetables of all kinds, but the welcome rain on Sunday will no doubt put fresh life into vegetables of every d ascription.

A meeting of the Piovisional Directors of the Farmers Co-operativo Association was held in Mr Henry Green’s office on Saturday. Present—Messrs Postlethwaite, (in the chair), Hay hurst, Talbot, Bourn, Page, Bradshaw, and Buckle. It was decided that the shares applied for to date be alltoted. Resolved—“ That a general meeting for th,e purpose of electing permanent Directors, and passing the Articles of Association be 1 held on Saturday, Dec. 11th, at H‘3o a.m., in Mr Henry Green’s store ; up to. which date further appii cations for shares can he made.” The meeting then adjourned till Dec. 4th We aroglnd to learn that applications for shares are still coming in rapidly, and it is anticipated (hat over 200 will be applied for by the- 11th pros. . Information reached the police, Timarn, ,on Friday, that a man named Lewis Raddon, a milkman residing near the racecourse, had been found dead between the Opihi and Raincliff. It appeared that the .deceased, who had a farm at Raincliff, left his home on Wednesday with a horse and waggon in company with his grandson, a child eight years of age for Rauicliffi. They arrived the same night at the Opihi Hotel . and after taking some refreshment pushed on for their distillation The ivght was dark, however, and the travellers seem to have wandered off their road. This morning the waggon was found at the foot of a bank four feet high, between l the- Opihi and Raincliff, upside down, and with "guidon lying underneath it quite; dead. ' Deceased had a large gash oh the forehead and another at the back of his head, sup- ’ posed; to, have been' caused by the waggon falling on him. The boy is missing, and it is feared that he must have wandered into the river’and got drowned, or lias got ''lost amongst the ranges. Constable Stanley, and a number of friendsand neighbors', and also the boy’s mother are-out looking; for him but up to the time of our going to press, nothing'more had been heard of him,. An inquest was held on Friday afternoon, at Pleasant Point, before the caroner(R. Beetham, Esq,) and a verdict to the following effect was returned : ‘'That the deceased, Lewis Robert Raddon, was accidentally killed by the upsetting : of his dray whhe in a state of partial intoxication.” 1

The following queer transaction; of •shabby smaftness has been related to ns as ' having taken place : —“ A couple (our informant is not in, a position, to say a mari ried couple); attracted a good deal of attention in Temuka, one day last week, by their questionable behaviour while perambulating the outskirts of the town, ostensibly for the purpose of /securing a house. Having, after a good deal of trouble, been fortunate enough to secure 'the two front rooms of : a house; occupied by an elderly person—who, it height be mentioned,, is not in, the best, of circura-

stances—they at'once took' possession. Their household effect's,^as th by alleged-, not having arrived, they requested ft he woman to supply them with ten and bed* ding, which request was readily complied with. After fen the couple retired for tbenight. The| elderly person, thankful no doubt for having lei the rooms, did all in her power to make things comfortable, and was early astir the following morning. Having waited a considerable time for the appearance of the strangers, she at last opened the door and inquired if they were coming to breakfast, out getting no answer she at once proceeded to the bedroom, when she found the birds had flown. They have not sinob returned,”

What a fuss the Hon Mr Hall kicked up about £2O worth of telegrams seat by various Ministers during election times. The secrets of the Telegraph Office were laid bare, to enable the Ministry to throw mud at their opponents. Now herein comes in the economy. We learn that for the quarter ending the 30th September, two-fifths of the whole number of telegrams sent along the New Zealand wires were Government messages ! We always knew the Hall Ministry were economical. —Dunedin Echo, The Government have received the first land orders for Mr Vesey Stewart’s third party of special settlers for Te Ante,24 orders ranging from four to two acres in favor of families from five to 17 persons, the average being nine. By these land orders the Colonial Treasury receives £2035. as £1 6s 3d per acre has been paid to the Agent-General in London prior to the issue of the land orders, and in addition to £3OOO ideposited by Mr Stewart in London, according to the terms of the

agreement

Slowly but surely the idea that ilie people of this colony are competent to choose their own chief Executive officer is growing. In a paper that we would have thought the last to broach such an ideathe New Zealand Times—there is the following “It is surprising how well the colony has contrived to get on without any Governor all. The public business ot the country has been transacted easily, and without eithex hitch or interruption • the Acting-Governor has signed all documents requiring his signature, and nothing has occurred to show that the absence of a Governor in the colony h.is produced the slightest inconvenience. By these changes of Governors, and the occurrence of periods when the office of Governor is left practically vacant, the Imperial, Government—unwillingly perhaps—is teaching the colonists the lesson that they might, in .time,, altogether dispense with a costly yfljfc-regal establishment at its head,”

' Aniongst the humours of the Mayoral election (says O.D. Times) is the following rather good story r— “A well-known citizen inveighing against ,Mr Fish remarked, ‘ I’d gladly lend my buggy' to' Koss to-morrow, but the fact is the pony isn’t to be trusted ; he kicked the huggy to bits the other day, and I had to get it put to rights.’ ‘ Oh,’ was the cynical reply, ‘‘lend the pony to Fish, then your object might be just as well attained.”' .

The dry weather of the past few weeks says the Western Star) is the cause of much anxiety both to farmers and miners thi’oughout the district. In many instances the crops are in a critical state for want of moisture,, and cattle have' to be driven to, cieeks and rivers to be watered, while mining operations at Orepuki and Bound Hi(ll are greatly retarded for the same reason. Frequently the state of the barometer and the ■' appearance of the sky have denoted a heavy downpour of rain, but beyond a few drops the fall has scarcely laid the dust on the roads.

Onr cable message announced the death of Fkdd-Marshal Sir Charles Yorke, Constable of the Tower .of .London, He was born in December, 1790, and educated at Winchester - y entered the army at an early age, served with the 52nd Begimenb in the Peninsular War, and was present at Yimiena, the Pyrenees, Nivel le, Nive, and Nrlhez, at the sieges of Ciudad and Radajpz; and at the battle of Waterloo. He served at the Cape of Good Hope in the last Kaffir War, in 1852-3', received the war med al with 10 clasps, and was a genera] in the Array. Ha mg been appointed to the colonelcy of the ,33rd Foot, he was transferred in 1863; to, foe colonel-com-mandant of the Rifle Brigade, and acted ns Military Secretary at the Horse Guards from 1854, till 1860. He was created a in 1856, and promoted G.G..8 in 1861, •

There is a Judge in Victoria—“ and a good Judge, too a description of whose method of dealing with the cases that some before him will bring to minda of many mrrabers of the legal profession recollections of a gentleman wlioi has long ornamentied'' the judicial bench in this. Colony. Judge Smith, (says' the Wamiambool Examiner) means to make a reputation ,in the Western districts.. Blood wiil tell, and it told in. the Courthouse 'here on. Wednesday* to. the delight of the gallery and the astonishment of the bar. The extraordinary perceptive powers of his Honor in grasping the whole bearings of the case before the. fiirst witness had got. half through with his evidence, the ingenuity wi.,l h which he,whisked the witness out of the hands of the examining advecat?, and the kindness with wjiich he did duty ns barrister for both sides, would

have certainly caused annoyance but for the pleasantries which, like nays of sunsparkled through the mope sober utterances, mostly in Latin, of his imperturbable Honor. It was in vain that distressed solicitors endeovoured to work out their points. One would exclaim, “I want to show your Honor “I know, 1 know,” the J udge would interject. “If you stop now I am disposed to give yon a verdict for the amount. If. you. cross-examine the witness, perhaps you won’t get that.” And the blushing attorney, whose discrimination had received sp handsome a compliment, would stowly and blushingly subside. His Honor’s style is intertaining to disioteresting spectators,perplexing to advocates, and clearly satisfactory to himself. No one found fault with the decisions on the 27th ult., unless it was those who lost, and losing suitors are never pleased. 1 A costly cradle is that in which is rocked the infant Princess of Spain. Of the form of an open shell, it is made of polished ebony inlaid with silver. The curtains are of silver gauze, enamelled with white velvet flowers ; the coverlet of white satin, on which are embroidered in brilliant colours the arms of Spain. One lady grandesse of Spain stands at the foot of the cradle during the royal infant’s slumber to watch the precise moment of her. awakening,-another grandesse stands at the head armed with a huge feather fan to chase away the flies. The Royal Spanish crown, which is in silver gilt, and hangs iu front of the cradle, is the work of Froment, the great Parisian goldsmith. The cost of the cradle, without the hangings of fine lace and the garniture of marabout featheri which surround it, is estimated at I 7000 francs.

The Hampden correspondent of the North Otago-Times writes :—“ On Wednesday a most- destructive fire raged in the Hampden bush. It must have commenced early in the day, but was not noticed until the afternoon, by 'which time it had assumed a serions aspect. Before 8 p.m. damage to the amount of several hundreds of pounds had been doiio. Mr Peach’s house had a very narrow escape. At one time it was found advisable to remove the furniture, &c. As it is he has lost heavily, several stacks of straw and a quantity of firewood and fencing having been destroyed. Mr Mortimer also has sustained a heavy loss in fencing, &c. A quantity of sawn timber and cut firewood was also burnt. Several men lost their working tools by the fire. The neighbours lent willing aid, and through their exertions the loss of property was not so great as it might otherwise have been.” '

The Wanganui Heral -on Saturday last published the following paiagraph : “ News reached town this morning that the native owners of the land in the neighborhood of Tokano have tomahawked 160 sheep belonging to Messrs Morrin and Co. The land on which the sheep have been running has not passed through the Court, and the land speculators have not a shadow of title to it. Notice was given to remove the sheep by Tawhiri Matia and others who claim ownership of the land. Their right was questioned, so Tawhiri and his decided to exercise ; their right, and proceeded to kill the sheep The land-ring, who have coolly : taken possession of vast tracts of country |in the interior, are beginning to find out that even a friendly Government cannot i protect them when they are trespassers. The days of native unfeuced runs. I without title or rent seem to be. clos-

A Geraldine correspondent writes:— “Some six or eight weeks ago a pemia- , nent building society was heralded amongst ; us with a loud, crash of trumpets, but since ! then nothing has been heard of it., (Jan ; you inform me if it has collapsed ;if so, i it is mooted in Geraldine to start one on , our own account with a better prospect of success than the one alluded to.” \

Welling on was shook slightly at 112 pm on Saturday, and Lyttelton and Christ church were similarly effected eight hours, later

The agent for the Australian Eleven has accepted the. terms offered by the New Zealand Cricket Clubs