The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1881. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 369, 2 April 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1881. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Customs Revenue. —The Customs Revenue collected at the Port of Timaru for month ended 31st March, amounted to £2219, as compared with £1566 m the. Q; responding month last year.

The Unemployed.. —We notice that the unemployed are already agitating for work in Christchurch and Timaru. We trust that the cry will not be such a general one as was the casa last winter. The Game Season. —Many of-our local sportsmen left the townghjp during Thursday njght for various parts of the district, and on their return we hope they will give a, good account of themselves.

Journalistic Enterprise.— Mr O. V. Morgan, one of the proprietors of the European Mail,is about to visit Australia and New Zealand, with the view of gaining all possible information about the Colonies.

The Property Tax.— Up (o 31st March last, the dosing day of the financial year, the sum of £220,764 had been received on account.of the Property Tax. When all is got in, the corrected estimates of the total proceeds of the tux will be about £260,000. Another Colonial Industry.—A Melbourne chemist haying visited White Island for the purpose, of reporting on the sulphur,found there, has returned to Tauranga, and is favorably, impressed with, the resources of the island- IJe states that a very important native industry can be maintained.

Journalistic. A new. morning paper will shortly be published in Wellington. Sir George Grey. —Sir George Grey, itiastafed, \yill shortly address the Thames constituency and leading centres of the colony. Acquitted. —At Hokitika, on Thursday, Dayid Hutchinson, charged with the murder of his wife and child, was, acquitted..

The, Incoming Mail. —The Australia, with the London mails of February 24th, left San •Francisco on 13th March last, one day after contract time, for New Zealand.

South Approach to the Opibi.—The District Surveyor to the Temuka Road Board intimates that the south approach to the Qpihjl R.iyer is stopped for traffic, the present track being across the reserve on the east side of the river-bed ; thence up the river-bed to ihg present track. Who to Believe. A few days ago the Lyttelton Times’ Wellington correspondent gave publicity to a statement to the effect that Parliament would meet for transaction of public business o;i May 27th. This is denied by the correspondent, in the same city, to the Chiistchurch Press. Auction Sales. —Messrs Maclean and Stewart will sell at their Horse Repository, Timaru, to day, horses, drays, freehold property in Morton township, Pleasant Point, etc. Messrs Wildie, Allan and Stumbles will dispose of horses, drays, harness, etc., at their Yards, at 11 a.m. ; and 600 merino wethers on the Old Show Grounds, Timaru, at 2 p.m.

Treatment, op Drunkards. —A rather interesting experiment is about to be tried in London, it is rumored. Persons apprehended for being simply drunk and incapable are to be kept in custody until the effect of the liquor passes off; then they are to be liberated upon their own recognisances. But in the event of their neglecting to appear before the magistrates of the district, their recognisances will be estreated.

The Prisons Bile.— The Wellington “ own’’ to the Christchurch Press remarks that the statements of the Tablet relative to the supposed intention of the Government in repect to prison management is utterly unfounded. It is not intended to abolish visiting justices or the emplo}’ment of prisoners on public works, or to introduce the “ crank” or treadmill. The only present plan is to give the Inspector certain definite legal powers which he does not yet possess. Fire at Winchester. —Dpring Thors day night last a four-stalled stable and large grapary, belonging to Mr J. A, Young, at Winchester, were entirely destroyed by fire. The whole affair is surrounded with mystery, and up one was in the place for two days previously. One of Mr Young’s men at 6 o’clock yesterday morning discovered the smouldering embers—all that remained of a very commodious building. Everyone of Mr Young's friends, will be sorry to hear of his loss, amounting to about £l5O, the place not having been covered by insurance.

A Benevolent Lady —The Wellington Post recently says :~“Miss Marianne North the distinguished botanical artist, whose advent was announced in a dispatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, has arrived in Wellington, and is now a guest at the Premier’s. Miss North is engaged in finishing a complete series of paintings of the flora of various parts of the world, and her visit to New Zealand is for this purpose. The series, when complete, will ho presented by Miss htorth to the Kew Botanic Gardens, near London, where also the building for the exhibition will be erected at Miss North’s sole cost. This will be a very handsome and valuable gift, and doubtless will be duly appreciated by the botanical world Miss North’s paintings of flowers, shnbs, etc., indigenous to Australia, Borneo, Singapore, a few of New Zealand, were on private view in the ball-room at the Premier's, residence yesterday afternoon, and excited the utmost admiration both for the remarkable beauty of the subjects and the artistic skill and fidelity to nature with which they were treated.”

Retrenchment. —The Victorian Re-, view for February contains a sensible article by Mr J. Warde Q.p the financial outlook of New South Wales. After showing that since 1871 the expenditure of the colony has increased three times more rapidly than the population, he recommends reduction as the only remedy that is least likely to be applied. The imposition of fresh burdens is eminently preferable to any important contraction of- the disbursements from the Treasury. The dismissal of a score or so of civil servants, however superfluous they were, would occasion more noise than the levying of an income-tax. A vast majority of electors would acquiesce in the fiscal policy of the country being metamorphosed rather than forego the advantage of local improvements at the expense of the State. . . . And hence it is that

an administration whioh undertakes to enjoy a pleasant time of it in the Assembly must ignore systematically the fundamental principles of sound finance, it must outran, the constable and in the end involve itself intoj' difficulties.” The above remarks are applicable to and should be well pondered by the people of this country.

Inspection Parade. —An inspection parade of the No. 1 Company Tomnka i lfle Volunteers was held last evening, in the Volunteer Hall, by Captain Young. Census.— The Census for the year 1881 will be taken to-morrow night. Each census paper must be filled up on that date ready for delivery to. the Census subenum'rator.

Bishop. Redwood.— The Most Rev. Dr Redwood, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington, passed through Temuka by the express train, en route for Christchurch, this afternoon.

A Monster Memorial.—A memorial signed by 22,000 Protestant farmers of Ulster has been presented to Mr Forster, praying that the Government Land Bill may be based upon fixed and reasonable rents.

A Relic.— A copper coin, bearing date 1673, was found in a rock cod recently caught in Cooktown harbor. The edges of the coin were much worn, and the inscription much defaced. The only letters decipherable were Caroli, The coin is in possession of a man named; Keating. Sudden Death. —A man named Exon, a shepherd, at Sherwood, Bakaia, died suddenly on Tuesdaj". An inquest was held on the body at the Ashburton Hospital on Wednesday, when* a verdict of “ Death from Natural Causes” was returned, the medical evidence being to the effect that death had been caused by the rupture of an old ulcer in the stomach. —Press. Presentation. —At the close of the weekly prayer meeting at the Presbyterian, Church, Temuka, on Wednesday evening last, Mr Stewart—on behalf of the ladies of the congregation—presented their pastor, the Rev. D. Gordon, with a handsome pulpit gown. The recipient, in a few well chosen words, thanked the donors for their kind gift. A Memorable Night. Directly after the clock struck twelve on the night of the 31st December, the whole of the prisoners for debt iu Scotland were liberated, in accordance with Dr Cameron’s Act. Twenty-five men and two women were set free from Glasgow Prison, As they passed out of the gates, carrying with them their beds and bedding, several hundred persons who were waiting greeted them with cheers.

■ Public Meeting. —On Wednesday night last a meeting, convened by Mr J > Talbot, chairman of the Temuka Road Board, was held in the Crown Hotel Assembly Rooms, for the purpose of taking into consideration the- small birds nuisance. There were about a dozen persons spresent. It was resolved to form a sparrow club, also, to write to other clubs of a similar nature, to obtain information as tft their method of working. The meeting then adjourned for a fortnight. Mixed.— Two,paragraphs got mixed up in a newspaper —usmely, a lecture by a rev. gentleman and a slight railway accident. I.t read,as. follows —The Rev. Mr Uanty gave an interesting lecture on English Authors yesterday evening. He began by leaving the Boezel station at the rate of twenty miles an hour. He said the tale alluded to was a splendid masterpiece. The buffer was smashed, and the shock to the passengers great. Literature, he said, was one of the faults of the engine-driver, and' out of fifty persons only three were injured. A grand array of books blocked the line two hours. Mr Danty was much applauded during his lecture. The affair is to, be enquired into. Another is to take place on Saturday.

The State of Ireland. —The Newcastle Chronicle says :—“ Affairs in Ireland are hastening to a crisis. What is now contemplated is not merely the suspension of the Habeas Corpus. Act, and the forcible surrender of all arms, but the absolute abolition, for a season, »t least, of trial by jury. If trial by jury is suspended, judges will have the power, not merely to send a man to the ordinary prison, bat they will have the power of send-, ing him to prisou for periods of six, seven, or twenty years. It is difficult to, believe that any English Government professing Liberal principles can submit to, the Legislature such a hateful and horrible measure. If this statement is correct. it will be the duty of every man who cherishes Liberal principles to pronounce in the most emphatic manner his con-, demnation of any Ministry that could initiate such a policy.” Lynch Law. —“ The first lynching ever known in Pennsylvania” took place the day after Christmas Day at a little village called Santee’s Mills, near Easton. A young German, named Joseph Snyder, being denied the hand of a child of fourteen by her parents, entered their house at night clad only in his shirt, brained them as they lay asleep, and then attempted to outrage the girl whom he had sought in marriage. Snyder was tracked by his trail in the snow to a neighboring farm, where he was arrested, A murderer some short time before had escaped the gallows on the, plea of insanity. A crowd rapidly collected, and an hour after the arrest of the murderer they overpowered the police, who fired at their leader, seized the prisoner, and saying that they would spare the country the, expense of a trial and prevent any. miscarriage of justice, put a noose round his neck, hitched it over a branch, and swung him, off. He. died instantly. After,hanging 20 minutes,, liis body was cut down, An ip quest was held, and a verdict returned of “ Death by hanging by persons unknown.”