The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1882. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 927, 14 March 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1882. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Large Land Sale. —The Opua estafcp, near Kaiapoi was sold, last Friday, cut up into small lots'. There were IG?7 acres in all, with the homestead, boiling-down and wool gcouring works, the later of which brought £530, The total of the sale was within a few pounds of £25,000. The Primitive Methodist Church.—A camp meeting in connection with the above church was held last Sunday. The members met at their church,and headed by their pastor, the Rev. Mr Luke, marched through the town singing hymns, after which they returned to their church again, where addresses were delivered by the above-named rev. gentleman and others. The Christchurch Larrikins. —Two of the band of larrikins who have been making themselves notorious by attacking people at night lately, were fined £lO each, or three months imprisonment. Evidence was given of their having savagely beaten a woman who interfered on behalf of a man whom they were attacking. One of the other had his jaw broken, besides other injuries, but it could not be proved that the accused had assaulted him. The Bench exhorted the police to leave no effort undone

to capture the other ruffians, whom they promised to commit for tidal if a case was made out. It was fortunate for the present prisoners that the charge had been laid under ap Act which only provided for a fine. The Unxvbesity.—At the University Senate sessions the financial report showed the estimated revenue for the coming year to be £3520, while the expenditure would be £3585. It was therefore decided to increase the fees for the B.A. degree by one guinea; for the M.A.and the L.L.D. degrees by two guineas; and the L.L.D.D. degrees by five guineas, while graduates ad eundem gradum ■ and ad eundem stratum will be required to pay two guineas instead of one guinea as heretofore. It was also resolved to discontinue advertising the times for receiving applications for ad eundem degrees, and to reduce by 25 per cent the allowance made to members of the Senate. A Committee was appointed to consider the desirability of undertaking Civil Service examinations in connection with the entrance examination. SOUTHERN CeOSS PETROLEUM COMPANY. — The Otago Daily Times says:—The Southern Cross Petroleum Company have no valid lease of the country where the petroleum is found, not half the necessary signatures being ob* tained, and the Government having an incomplete lease oyer the land. The Melbourn®. shareholders, represented by Messrs Mac. mahon, Jack and Denies, are disgusted to find that the native title has never been extinguished, and the workmen have been driven off the ground by the native chiefs. Th conduct of the Gisborne Directors has been strongly animadverted on, and will probably be the ground for legal proceedings. Messrs Macmahon and Jack return to Melbourne by the Rotomahana, to consult the Melbourne shareholders as to further proceedings. Double Mueuee. —The Sydney correspondent of the Age telegraphing on the 16th February, says : —A horrible tragedy occurred at Morpeth this xnprning. A man named Charles Qrimley, residing in East Maitland, went to the house of a girl named Pettit about three o’clock and fired two shots at her while she was sleeping. The second shot took effect, killing, her on the spot. He then returned homp. Three hours afterwards he was found in his bed, having shot himself, ' He had been keeping company with the giri. Jealousy is supposed to have been the cause o,f the tragedy. Two pieces of paper with writing on were found. On one wa.s written “Kill her yes ” on the other, “ Kill her no.’* He had evidently premeditated the crime, and drawn lots to decide his action. A California, Enterprise.— Eagle Lake is located in Lassen County, Cal., 100 miles north of Reno, and near the, projected course of the Nevada and, Oregon Railroad. It is 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, and contains 116 miles of. water surface. It has no known outlet. Marker and Merrill own the lake and many thousand acres of timber and farming land adjacent. They are now runing a tunnel, which will be e ver 7,000 feet long, to tap the waters of the lake at a point 12 feet below its bed. When the lake is reached the fall of water obtained will be used to run a sawmill and flume, which will be built from the mill to Belfast, 26 miles dis - tant. The timber cut in the mill and cordwood will he floated down the flume and its waters will further be used for irrigating the thousands of acres near Belfast, which need but their fertilising touch to swell with an abundant harvest.

Anr Honest Servant. —A Fijian contemporary has the following : —Decidedly the unsophisticated Polynesian is hard to beat, as witness the following: A gentleman who, for reason he deemed all-sufficient,had not the most implicit faith in his houseboy’s honesty, hit upon the very sensible plan of, locking up in a chest any garments the pockets of-which contained money, and hiding the key previous to leaving the ooy master of the premises. One morning lately he forgot this precautionary measure, and Ipft a certain article of attire hanging up, in which was a con. siderable sum, consisting of gold, silver and notes. Some hours after, on discovering what he had done, he posted back to make all secure, but to his consternation found the garment had disappeared. After a hurried and unsuccessful search, he called the boy, and sternly demanded, “ Where is that pair of trousers I left hanging up here ?” “ The trousers ?” wai the calm reply. “Oh, the one with the money in. I put it in the box and locked it up and hid the. key away in the same place where you always hide it when you lock up the box. Here it is. ” The employer has determined tp raise the boy’s wages and find him another master.

A MAyor in a Fix. —The Mayor of Arrowtown lately found himself in a very questionable position. He had for some time noticed a heap of posts near his back yard steadily decreasing, without being able to account for the diminution. Having fixed his suspicions upon a family a short, distance off, he proceeded to the place, and stated his businesa somewhat in this fashion :—“ I say Mrs , have your boys taken any of my posts? ” ‘‘Oh, yes !” replied Mrs ; “they are broken up and stowed away under the bed. Come in and see whether they are yours !” The Mayor entered,the bed-room, and while on his knees, peering under the bod, our merry wife of Windsor locked the bod-room door, and from the outside dictated her terms, either a most abject apology on the spot, or the Lady Mayoress would be instantly acquainted with the whereabouts of her lord. The Mayor chose the former terms.—Ashburton Guardian. Taking His Time.— One of the coolest robberies ever perpetrated, says an exchange, took place the other day on the Blenheim racecourse. A Blenheimite was standing near the grand stand, when a man named Claxton, a total stranger, deliberately removed his watch,, transferring it to his own pocket, and was walking off when the astonished owner of the article requested the immediate return of the watch. The thief produced another watch and enquired whether that was it, A policeman who searched Claxton found

the watch in hi*’"waistcoat' pocket. -In due course both parties appeared before “ the beak ” and the Counsel for the accused said his client had really been punished sufficiently for his frolic, haying been in the lock-up for a couple of days. The Magistrate appeared to think the “ frolic ” was a rather serious one. He said if was one of the most barefaced robberies he had eyer heard of. The frolicsome one was sent up for four mounths, with hard labor.

Alleged Attempted Suicide. -At the Timarip Court yesterday, a man named William Thomas Brown vvas charged with attempting to commit suicide by taking strychnine. It appears that the accused was very much under the influence of drink last Saturday night, and became so unmanageable that his wife had to send for the While Constable Thoreau was in the house he attempted or pretended to swallow strychnine but when Dr Loyegroye arrived shortly after, wards he had no signs of having taken poison. The charge of suicide was withdrawn, and the accuser fined 5s for having beep drunk and disorderly.

Peominade Concerts. —It is notified in another column that the band purposes giving a series of promenade concerts. As this is, we believe, the first occasion on which promenade concerts have been held in this town, it may not be inappropriate to explain what they are like. They consist of singing, recitations, band music, and dancing, and are certainly amongst the most enjoyable classes of entertainments, as they are bound to please all tastes. The concerts are extremely popular in large towns, and we have no doubt that they will a success be here also, and that they will prove a popular resort during the winter evenings, especially as the, charge for admission is brought down to a minimum price of one shilling.

Laerikinism. —During the small hours °£ Sunday morning some larrikins indulged in pranks which were as foolish as they were mischievous. They unhinged almost every gate in town, taking some of them a considerable distance and hiding them; removed vehicles, and did other pieces of mischief The worst feature of the whole affairs is that they broke and damaged gates which they could not take off, and let horses loose from stables. There must have been a good number of them together to lift the large railway gates. One thing they did for which we give them credit. The fence around the Courthouse is a disgrace, and as they hr ok: it down it is to be hoped now that something like a decent fence will be put up. The larrikins seem to have some respect for hotels, as in no instance was any article belonging to hotels touched. We may as well tell them that the police are on the look out for them, and that if they are found out, they will regret they- doings. Fire, Extinguishing.—Some experiments have recently been, m,ade in Revel (says an exchange) with a view, tq test the, efficacy of a fire extinguishing powder which coTuing.in contact with the burning, material, produces heavy fumes, which arise in such quantities as to stifle and overwhelm the fire itself. Fire having broken out inside a naphtha and petroleum store, the fire brigade immediately on their arrival closed up all openings, stopping up completely the doors and windows. A few boxes of the powder were then thrown into the burning shop, and after the lapse of two hours the doors and windows were opened Copious and heavy fumes issued, by which the pi ogress of the fire had been completely arrested. The results of this experiment has been declared eminently successful. The powder is the invention of- an officer in one of the Revel fire-brigades, who is endeavoring to protect it by patent. The powder is expensive, but as a Russian newspaper remarks, nob so expensive as conflagrations. Messrs Henry and Findlay advertise that they are now ready to take orders for the Deering Twine Binders, with latest improvements, at the reduced price of £55. Tenders are invited by the Mount Peel Road Board, for metalling Peel Forest road, improving Eugene’s cutting, and renting reserve at Peel Forest. Tenders must be in by the 17th, instant. Mr Edmonds advertises that he. is ready to receive pupils, to whom he will teach singing. He will have two classes, one for ladies and one for gentlemen, on different, evenings of the week. Mr Edmonds is certainly a firstclass singer, and will no doubt make an excellent teacher.