LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 9416, 16 May 1882, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Longheach, —A portion of Grigg’s wellknown Longbeach Estate, between the Ash—burton and Eangitata, was sold on Friday afternoon, realising £21,000, or £l2 an acre. Other lots were also sold privately, and a total of £61,863 was realised. Not a Success.— A Dunedin telegram states that the big dredge had to be brought back to Port Chalmein on Friday night, owing to the chain which holds up the hopper doors slackening and ■' allowing the sand to runout. It will be soon repaired.

Ageicultueax. - Statistics. The , Victorian ag .'icultural slati-t’cs .for 1881, which, hare just been issued, show ' that The total yield of wheat for the last year was 8,710,000 bushels, a decrease of 1,010,000 bushels as compared with 1830. ’ The average of wheat per a ire wai bush els. , The total yield of oats was 36,100,000 bushels, an increase of 1,’330,000 bushels as compared with the return for 1830, the average produce bemj 24i bushels to the acre. ; ' ' '

A Moot Point. —At Wellington lately, the question Of teaching, trades in gaols was discussed at a meeting of representatives of various' trades, and it was decided that a petition should be prepared for presentation to!the’General •Assembly,;protesting! against prisoners being allowed to interfe e with th# means of livelihobd'ironimanded by hones men. At D unedin bn Friday it' was decided to petition PaiT.ament ~against ,teaching jand employing skilled laborr in prisons, and to forward the petition -for signature to the various centres of popu’ation in 'the colony.

Distress in South .Australia. —The Governor of South Australia has declined to comply with the request - made- by several country meetmgs some weeks- ago that he should convoke Parliament iimnediately to consider'.the distress which exists, amongst the farmers. Advices received .horn the interior report a deplorable istate of a”airs» in consequence of the drought, which at Charlotte Waters has lasted for , sixteen months. Nearly all the squatters have "suffered great losses, except at the M'Donnell Ranges, where the drought has not been so severe. From Peake to Government Gums no water can be procured. gAt the latter p’ace 2s has been charged for a s nail bucketful,

Fatal Railway Accident.—A. native man belonging to Te Ante was killed on Saturday afternoon on the railway line by falling between ,the .carriages. He was proceeding from Waipawa to Te Ante, and when witbhi half a mile of tire latter place he was arranging bis parcels on the carriage platform,.; He was in a stooping position at the time, and there being- a. steep .incline at .• the spot, a jerk must have sent him over . underneath the bar that goes across ..the 4 platform- One carriage and the ran went ; over him, almost cutting him to : pieces belo w the abdomeni The guard felt the jerk of the van on passing over the body, and on reaching the station went back with an engine and -v truck. ' On arriving at the body He found it with a number of Maori women, who had seen the accident, The body was conveyed into the pah.

Wreck of the Duke ob Sutherland. — The Committee appointed, by,.the Timarn Harbour Board, consisting of Captain Sutter and Mr Gray, held an inquiry int 6 the above , wreck last Saturday. The evidence of the boatswain, Stephen Davis, was to the effect j - that while caulking the vessel after arriving i. * in Timavu he . found the , planks ..between wind and water so : rotten and worm estei| J * that his caulking iron sank right up to the"*? head in them. The iron fastenings were loose and the timber about them decayed. The Captain told him not to renioye rpjden ‘ planks. ' She had to be pumped everyjtyw* . hours whenever there was any sea . oh. f was so anxious about her . that he was; not able to sleep at night. All the crew talked of leaving her. He would* have jumped, overboard before he would ' halve i gone bogie, in her. Frederick Gamble, an apprentice on board, gave somewhat ’ similar that the stern post was, rotten, and thafj- his fellow apprentice dugffiis knife to the hilt in it. Several other witnesses , were > examined and all agreed that the vessel was-rotten, with the exception of the first officer; who said-she was as good a wooden vessel ever he was in.

Timartj Harriers.—A meet of the above Club was held at the Washdyke on Saturday last. After a plentiful repast hospitably provided by Mr, Parsras, .of the, Doncaster ’Hotel, had been disousaecl, theTicdd., number* ing nearly a hundred, moved to nearly a quarter of a mile from thd-hotel,— where a hare was soon found, which went away at a rapid pace, followed over the first fences by about fifteen horsemen, the mag* nitude of the fences having impounded the rest of the fields. The hare making towards the racecourse, a temporary check occurred, when the rest of the field, coming round by the road, joined in. The hounds again went away, and after a steeplechase pace for about three miles, killed. After a welcome pause a ; second hare was found, which made away in the direction of the Levels, and’was ultimately killed after a run of fully seven miles. . Dur» j n cr the day several casualties took place. Mr Hoskins, of Timaru, came to grief at the first fence of the second run,, and his horse falling on him’ he was severely bruised. Mr Wareing, of Temuka, had the misfortune to break his collar-bone, which was ; seb, on his’ return to Temuka, by Dr Hayes. A numher ’ of other falls occurred during the day, but were unattonded with such serious results. The Harbor Board—An emergency meeting of the Harbor Board was held yesterday. William Collis, one of the men who were in the boat with Captain Mills, was appointed Harbor Master temporarily

All t!i e members present' spoke in favor of giving some compensation to the widow and orphans of the late Harbor Master. A meeting of the Boat’d will be'held tod ay.

Tht Fib# Brigade. —Mr John Hayhurst Las giveri-!a cheque for £lO to the Fire Brigade in recognition of the way they worked in saving his hotel from destruction by fire recently. The Brigade well merited this liberal recognition of their services, as ho body of men could have worked better than they did on that occasion. We believe that the Brigade want several articles to enable them to carry out their duties efficiently,and that it is their intention to appeal to the public; for support. We trust the appeal will he- responded to as liberally as they deserve. A meeting of Brigade will be -held on Wednesday evening in the; Temuka Hotel to consider important business.

- • Change in Auctioneering Business. — . The.business hitherto.carried on by Mr M Jonas was, handed , over by him to the purchasers, Messrs Robert Wilkin; and Co., last Saturday.,;; Thee occasion was celebrated by a free lunch, and a considerable number r ‘ of champagne ‘ bottles were emptied. The health, of ■ Mr Jonas, and also of Messrs Robert;Wilkin and Co was drank enthu-

-siastieally: '■ n ;The; mams ;of 'Messrs ' Robert ... Wilkin and Go is a sufficient guarantee that the business will henceforth be carried on in a manner that w : ll give sauiffactioU to their customers. Under the guidance of so popular and able a business man as Mr C Rourn their business is bound to prosper, and we wish them success.'...

..Gbbaedine JBea&le Club.—A yorj plea- ' ' sant day with the, above. hounds was passed oh the Arowhenua ' Estate yesterday. The IfthoundAthreh ofP hear, the Station. There ■ffewere-23: horsemen - and ,7- ladies—besides, ■^^reral buggies and traps. . The hounds .got SSIIIKa dodgy hare, which: after 1 ending. the backwards ; and forwards several /times //drer ‘ fences (principally gone) barely managed to save her life by escaping to the river bed,>-her •i-i: windj whichiprevented the seent lying. After / A hunting several other hares without a, • ’ .till, , an adjournment was-made to the, lunch, waggon where the field regaled themselves • ,oh the: acceptable ;repast provided by th -manager of the Station. During the discussion at lunch some am usement was caused by^".chaffing "a, somewhat choleric cockatoo wfio appeared on the scene with a loaded gun, threatening death and destruction to all and sundry, the workings of the bucolic Qutid having'a tendency to hTihi’ism.

Resident Magistrate’s Court. —At the above Court ‘yesterday, before J Beswict, Blq, E.M., judgment was given by default in the case .of T Swinton v. McGuiness, claim £l3 4s. In the case of Connor v. B Marton, claim £2 10s 10d, Mr White appeared for plaintiff and* Mr Johnston for defendant. The evidence was to the. effect that, plaintiff did some fencing for defendant, and he claimed .the amount for extra work done in planting gorse- in the fence. The defence was that, the planting of the'gorse

■ was part of the contract. Judgment ’ was .... given'hoi-plaintiff for £1 17s 6d. Lidsey v. claim £2. Mr Johnston appeared Imsßl?endaub. In this* case it appeared that plaintiff p-epared plans and specification's for for defendant, and the amount claj®feß ; was.for doing so. . The defence was never authorised plaintiff to do softh|| plaintiff made out the plans with the getting the contract, and that as the de-, fendimt never used the plans they were quite useless to him. Judgment was given for the amount claimed, and costs. ’ H- Mahnke was charged with being drunk and disorderly, and ■with being a habitual drunkard. He. was

; fined 10s for the first offence, and an order t ; was made, under Section 167 prohibiting any publican within the district supplying him with liquor for the space of 12 months.

The .King Meeting.— Last Friday

morning, in reponse to a message from Tawhiao, all the Europeans near assembled at Whatiwhatihoe. After waiting some

time they sent a messenger asking -when; the torero would begin. Te‘ Ngakaii came , 1 1 out arid said—“l have come to announce just as the Native land Court does to'all assembled here, that the Court is opened, but will be adjourned till tomorrow, in accordance with all your European usages.” Wakanui strongly opposes; all, land - selling, and it is understood that Eewi.has been persuaded to, modify his recent utterances about submitting titles to the Court at Wakanui. He would like the titles ascertained, but always in the past, surveys bad been followed by the salej of the land. On Saturday the Press Association’s correspondent,says Tawbiao’s speech at today’s meeting may impress the casual reader at first sight with the idea that it is a reiteration of his old cry, “ Ho surreys, no sales or leases, no roads or land Courts,” but there is a very materia! difference in the r way these injunctions are impressed upon the people, i, His speech, was wholly a,, plea for time, and solicitation to his people not to do ~ any of the prohibited things until some satisfactory- arrangement is made by means of which he and all his people may go together. . The other speeches were of,little importance, ■. except Hgatikau’s who is representing the Hgatikau tribes which has been prominent ~ in land selling. He declared Iris determination to cease from leasing or sellihg. One of the ' Hgatiraukawa chiefs, from Wellington, . , spoke of upholding Tawhiao, and approving his policy, but excepting in a complimentary . and figurative sense,- no importance is attached to this utterance. The Ngatiraukawis have been most prominent in laud selling and leasing, and those he.re do not - hesitate to say that the contrast of their own condition with that of the King natives . leaves no temptation to exchange their policy 1 for Tawhiao’s. On Sunday the meeting was to have been continued, hut through the representations of the Eevs Williams and Christian, talking was postponed out of respect for the day. The Kev Mr Williams preached in a large runanga house. The wasted food scattered about the settlement is rotting in the sun and the moistureand causes an intolerable stench. If the natives remain much longer it w.'T unquestionably cause fatal disease.

Thp Storm at Timaru. —The sea in the Timaru harbor during, last Sunday was about the roughest ever witnessed there, but with the exception of the two shipwrecks very little damage was done. The breakwater stood the test excellently,but some loose blocks were swept off the incomplete portion of it. The sea being extremely calm on the previous evening, the wharf crane with a 1 tender truck containing a 400 gal. tank was left at the end of the wharf. The tank was swept away but truck and crane escaped. The force of the sea will bo imagined when it is known that it removed from the side to centre of the breakwater tvo 30 ton concrete blocks. A good deal of the crane road was'also damaged, and the contractors have sustained sonic, loss thereby.