The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1881. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 394, 31 May 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1881. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Happy Hours.— Mr, Mrs and Miss Hart, assisted by llr I&rby, will give a performance in £he Volunteer Hall on Friday evening next.

To Contractors.— Tenders are to be left at the Royal Hotel by the Ist June for building a cottage. See advertisement.

Canterbury Crown Lands. —ln the Canterbury-Provincial District 2,768,190 acres of Crown Lands are held under depasturing licenses, under which £51,031 was paid as rent for the year ended April last.

Novel Work for Bruin.—The Toronto mentions a dairy where the churning power is. supplied by a black beat of 100 fbs weight, which seems to really enjoy the treadmill, and always when the butter comes gets a pan of milk as reward for his faithful tramp. Tbse Coming Session.—Referring to the coming session, the Patea Mail says:— “ Politics are in a state of stagnation, needing some leader of commanding ability to give them a push from without. The Opposition have nothing to offer that can be cu’led a policy. Though the Govenment are much weakened, they are the only group of capable men who have, a decent claim to the Colony’s confidence at present.* A Windfall. —A lad, aged 15, named George Fletcher, employed up to a short time ago as a cash-boy at the shop ol Messrs J. B. and W. Cockayne, drapers, Angel street, Sheffield, has just succeeded io a legacy of £IO,OOO, The money has teen left him by an uncle, Mr George Fletcher, who was in the leather trade at Wakefield, The testator, who., aeems to have never taken any notice of his nephew during his life, has left the lad’s msvVier £1 per week. The Tararua. —Tfe decision in the Tararna^jm^PjSjTwill be made known to. taorr OX*. The Good Templar, schooner, has returned from the scene of the wreck. There was a very heavy sea all the time they were there. The diver went down three times, but was unsuccesful in doing anything! ' The captain states thaf he passed right over the wreck, which is in three different parts, and from soundings taken he finds from three to four fathoms of water all round, her. The

engine? are still standing, but the sea is very dangerous and prevents anything like work being done. Local Boards. —The Colony of New Zealand is more richly endowed with local bodies than any other country in the world. It has 6S County Councils, 36 Road Boards, 6i5 Boroughs, 9 Cattle Boards, 12 Education. Boards, 13 River Boards, 11 High School Boards. 10 Waste Land Boards, 25 Harbor Boards, and a practically unlimited munbe rof School Committees. Yet in spite of all this machinery (remarks the'Wanganui Herald) centralisation is rampant, the Governor in Council is everywhere dominant, and scandals in colonial institutions are increasing rapidly.

New Zealand’s Landed Estate, — The following information taken from the Crown Lands Guide will be interesting to many :—“ The total area of New Zealand is upwards of sixty-four million acres. Of these, fourteen millions have been sold, or disposed of in education and. other public reserves ; sixteen millions belong to the aborigines, or the Europeans who have purchased from them ; and thirtyfour million acres of Crown Lands remain for disposal. Of the latter, fifteen millions are open grass and fern, country, ten millions forest, and nine millions barren mountain tops, and worthless country.”.

Tbb Canadian Pacific Railway.— Home papers contain particulars of the ratification by the Canadian Parliament of the contract entered into between the Dominion Government and a syndicate of English, French, and American capitalists of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The significance of this intelligence is, perhaps, hardly sufficiently realised in New Zealand. To Australia and', New Zealand the new railway will mean nothing short of a revolution in their export trade. By the projected line it will- bo possible to carry despatches from to Esquimalt, the naval station on the Pacific, in 13 or 14 days, and, New Zealand will be reached in less time than it has ever been yet.