The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1881. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 406, 28 June 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1881. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

*. Public Works' Minister.—ll is ru_ mored that Mr Olliver ha* accepted the Public Works' portfolio. Acknowledgment.—We are in receipt of a hatch of Parliamentary papers from thh office of the Government Printer. !• A Valuable. Invention. A lady named Mrs Mather has received £2OOO for her invention of a submarine telcJ scope. Resident Magistrate's Court.—There were no criminal cases set down for hearing before the Resident Magistrate yesterday. Temuka School Committee.—The regular monthly meeting of the Teninka School Committee will be held this evening at the usual hour. Musical. -It is stated that the Mendelshonn Quintette Club, five accomplished musicians, will visit New Zealand and Australia shortly. Small Pox in London.— One thousand six hundred cases of small pox aro now in the London hospitals and the epidemic was rapidly increasing. Arrival of the 'Frisco Mail —The City of Sydney, with the New Zealand portion of the mails, • arrived at Auckland at 3 p.m. on Sunday last. Death of Dr Skae.—Dr Skae, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, died on Saturday last from an attack of erysipelas. Hi lfv-.vcs ii widow and nine children.

Chinese Population. The Chinese | population of New Zealand is 4(iOO or , several hundred less than it was seven years ago. British Coinage. —No inoro halfcrows or foiirpenny pieces will bo minted io England, but there is sonio talk of a gold five shilling piece. The Timaru Unempoykd. About twenty of the unemployed sit Timaru having accepted the Government stipulations passed through by rail on Saturday en loute for Auckland. Theatre for. Ashburton—The space left vacant by the fire at Ashbnrton is to be built upon by Mr Quill, the owner, who intends erecting a brick theatre, to accommodate 900 persona.

The Revised New Testament.— Thj eutire revised New Testament was published in the New York Times and Tribune on May 22nd. The work meets with general favor among the clergy, and but a few demur to i f »

Advance New Zealand.—A paragraph is going the rounds that the Mosgiel Woollen Company have secured an order from a Melbourne house for about £60,000 worth of their goods. This is the first result of competition at the Melbourne Exhibition.

The Timaru Breakwater.—One effect caused through the construction of the breakwater is that the shingle bank between the Waimataiti lagoon and the sea is gradually getting thinner, and lately the sea has been washing over it into the lagoon. A Lucky Find.—Wo leuru from Perth, the capital of Westetn Australia, that John Edgar, one of the most successful pearlers on the North East Coast, recently picked up when on the beach a combing pearl, valued at two- thousand pounds sterling..

Sir J. Voqel's Ikitsr.— Thre ia said to be a keen desire in both Houses to get hold of Sir J. Vogel's letter, which is so snsoTsnl as to be returned to him unanswered, but it is not yet known whether ministers have or at least will admit having a copy, and will produce it.

Postage and xeceipt Stamps.—The Home Government have set a wise example that aiight be follower! here. They are about to allow postage and receipt stamps o! the same value to be used for either purpose. It would provo an inositol iibh) boon in New Zealand wore such a practice adopted. The Execution, or the Russian ReglClDks. The executioner Trolo, who performed his duties at the execution of the Nihilists so horribly that the spectators were incensed against him, has had to undergo 250 lashes as a punishment. He was drunk, it seems. *Yhen the medical man told him to alter the rope round RisakofTs neck, he said, "It does hot matter. It does fhat way just as well. If I have to hang you I will put the rope differently."

Counties Receipts.—The total receipts of the several County Councils in . the Colony foa the year ending 31st March last amounted to £664,319 6s lid. of which the very moderate sum of £6372 7s was represented by Bank overdraft, only eight out of the forty-eight Counties having retained such questionable advantage at the close of the year. The Government subsidies on ratt;a collected amounted to £128,891 Us sd, and special giants for public works to £98,773 3s Id. The population of the Counties numbers 247,637, and of Road Districts 198,499. Earthquake.—A severe shock of earthquake was felt at Wellington at 5.22 a.m. on Sunday last, one or two chimniea were thrown down. The Government offices also suffered, large pieces of plaster having and in one office the mantelpieco was carried away. The ceilings of the new police station were also cracked, and in the I'pper storey several large pieces of plaster fell. At Palmerston North nine chimnies out of ten have been carried away, as also several windows, Great excitement prevails in town. Large parties are visiting the ruins, and the Maoris are greatly excited. It is reported that Foxton. also suffered severely..

The Duchess of'Edinburgh.—A large fortune has been left to the Duchess of Edinburgh by her father, the Cisar Alexander 11., whose will has been proved. The personality consists of 48,000,000 roubles, lying to the credit of the Caar with some London bankers. Forty-eight millions is a largo sum, especially in roubles, and it is not ah insignificant amount even in pounds sterling. The amount may bo roundly put at £4.800,030. His late Majesty paid perhaps an unconscious compliment to> the stability of the English order of things when he selected London bankers for taking care of his immense wealth.

Filial Obedience. Tho Assize Court, at lieilbron, in Wurtemburp:, had lately before it a case which is probably unique in criminal anralu. A day labourer,, who was laid up with a broken leg, was charged witli embezzlement, and wjis summoned to appear before the juged 1 instruction. Overwhelmed with the disgrace, perhaps unable to exculpate himself, he ordertd Ids son to hang him. Tho 6on f who also was a day laborer, acting upon the injunction u Obey your parents,' earned him to the house loft,, where he hung him effectively from one of th» beams. The Court sentenced the son to imprisonment for three years and nine months.

Leprosy at the Thames.—Rumors have been cm rent lately that leprosy exists amongst the Chinese gardeners resident »t the Thames. Mit Bright on Ireland.—Mr John Bright recently spoke in favor of the wholesale immigration of Irish to the United States, lie thinks that if a fre e passage were offered probably all, or certainly hull', the population would find its way to America, ami to their deliverance fioin poverty and suffering. COMPENSATION TOR RAILWAY AccrnKNTS. —The Victorian Government have been casl in some very damages lately, which should have the effect of making their railway oilichils more careful in future, and also act as a warning to the railway employees of other Colonies. Independent of Miss Caldwell's £IBOO,. tho widow of the man who was lately killed [on the Flinders slreet loopline has been awarded £SOOO ; and a commercial traveller, who was injured by the Beaufort accident, has been given nearly £IOOO damages, A Fortunate Bee-Keeper. The American champion bee-keeper, Mr Jones of Beeton, Cal., states that in 187!), from 300 colonies of foees, ho obtained 75,000 lbs of honey ; rtAcf in 1880, from 400 colonies, 20,000 lbs, warth 2000dols. The latter was a bad houey year. During the latter year ho secured 600 new colonie s from the 400, and commenced 1881 with 1000 colonies of bees, valued at 7000do!s, independent of the cost of tho hives. Mr Jones expects to clear 10,000dols this year unless something unforseen occurs.. A French Tribute to English Volumeers.— The following enthusiastic ap preciation of the Brighton review by a French correspondent appears in the Clarion :—"I have just attended! one of the finest sights that is possible to see in a free country. Twenty-two thousand citiz'n soldiers voluntarily sacrificing, a holiday, their Easter Monday, to accomplish a part of Shear military duty, nnd behind th.se 22,000 there are 200 ; 000 others ready to give their lives to defend their country against invasion, but who for tho most part live too far from Brighton. They were therefore absent, but if danger were threatened they would all rush to the front."