LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 9416, 8 June 1882, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Cricket.—The match Australians v. Manchester was concluded last Saturday, tiro colonials winning with 4 wickets to the good. Hikoki, —Hiroki will be hanged at New Plymouth this morning. The Government recently refused an application for a copy of the murderer’s confession. Sparrow Ci.ub.—The meeting of the above Club lapsed for the want of a sufficient number being present. There are about 40 members, and only 4 of them attended. This is encouraging. Commercial, —Messrs Murray Bros., of Winchester Mills, have issued the following price list for June : Flour, per ton, £ll ; ditto in 1001 b bags, £l2 ; ditto in 501 b bags, £l2; sharps, £5 10s_; bran, £5. Sacks included, and f.o.b. Railway Accident.— The express train was an hour late yesterday in arriving here. The cause of the delay was a landslip near Shag Point, It appears that this landslip threw the engine and six waggons of the Oamaru train, off the line, but nobody was hurt. The Gift Auction. —Mr K. P. Gray yesterday sold a large quantity of gifts presented by various donors to the gift auction in aid of the fund for paying off the debt on St Saviour’s Church Parsonage. There was a good attendance, and good prices were realised. Owing to the inclemency of the weather, the opening of the gift auction in the Volunteer Hall has been indefinitely postponed. The Pensions Bill. —lt wll he remembered that last session there was a dispute between the two houses of Parliament with regard to the Pension Bill. The Lower House passed the Bill but when it went to the Upper House one clause of it was struck out. Sir Maurice O’Rorke held that the Upper House could not do this as it was a money Bill ; others held that the Upper House could, and so Sir Francis Dillon Bell was instructed to obtain Sir Erskine May’s opinion on the subject. On last Tuesday a letter from the Agent-General covering the opinion of Sir Erskine May the highest authority on Parliamentary practice in England, was read. Sir Erskine May holds that it was a money Bill, and that the Upper House could not strike out the clause. The opinion upholds Sir Maurice O’Rorke’s opinion. The Blind Leading the Blind.—A peculiar hall took place recently in Vienna the so-called “ Faschings Ball, ” of mates of the inmates of the Blind Asylum of Josephstadt, The festivity began at 7 o’clock. The married women and young girls, a congst them some of rare beauty and gracefulness, appeared in tasteful hall toilets, flowers and ribbons in their hair, and seemed to enter into the pleasure with all their hearts The orchestra was also composed of blind musicians, who played all the popular dance music, and, as on the programme were noted, all the fashionable modern dances. It was a wonderful sight to see how gracefully the blind acquitted themselves throughout. Particularly the quadrille was an interesting study, the couples always managing to keep together, never pushing, nor in any way coming in contact with one another. The ball lasted till 3 o’clock next morning, and all expressed themselves thoroughly satisfied with their night’s pleasure. Mrs Hamtson. —This lady is now on her way to Melbourne via Auckland. She has been made the subject of some pecular remarks lately. On a recent occasion, when addressing a meeting in Christchurch, she said that one of the men who was drowned in Timaru had sent her a message that “he was all right.” It must not be in* ferred from this that the man sent the message after his death. Mrs Hampson said that when the man was drowning he held up his hands and told someone within hearing to “ tell Mrs Hampson that it was all right with him. ” This harmless little assertion, whether true or false, has created a commotion, and several letters have appeared in papers about it. Mrs Hampson has since asserted that she had been told it by a lady from and some Timaru people have taken such an interest in the affair that they have written to Mr Hampson to obtain the name of her informant. How awfully provoking those sceptics are ? Let us hope that the poor man, whoever ho was, is all right by this time. The Green-eyed Monster. A man named David McNeave was arrested last Tuesday in Christchurch for shooting with a revolver at John Glanville, at Twomer’s boarding house. Jealously is said to have been the cause of offence. McNeave, who had an affection for one of the servant girls, went home about half-past eleven on Monday night, having a revolver in his possession. He entered the passage, and, looking through a small window, saw the servant girl sitting at the table with John Glanville, who also lodges with Toomer. McNeave placed the muzzle of the revolver close to the wall in a line with where the two occupants of the kitchen -were sitting, on the opposite side, and discharged it. The ball, however, did not pass through the wall, but rebounded (probably on accouut of the muzzle being close to the wall), and inflicted a wound in the holder’s own head. The occupants of the house were alarmed by the report, and the police were at once communicated with, McNeave ran out of the house and could not be found, hut on Tuesday morning, shortly after 10 o’clock, he surrendered himself to the custody of Sergeant Wilson.

The Rabbit Industry.—Tho New Zea land Meat Preserving Works at Woodlands t have stopped operations for a time in conse- c quence of rabbit poisoning having been re- 1 sumedin several districts. During the 60 i days the works wei’a in operation 300,000 ( were received, as many as 11,000 in one day. The Company has been paying £2OOO ] monthly for rabbits alone, and the supply I would no doubt have been greater but for ( the heavy railway charges. i A New Railway.—The largest meeting i ever held at Tauranga came off last Saturday night. All parts of the Bay of Plenty were 1 represented, and it was decided unanimously to form a company to construct a railway from Tauranga to Rotorua viaTakeke. The capital was fixed at £24,000 in £1 shares, 5000 being for the promoters. Five thousand shares have been already taken up. A resolution was unanimously carried calling on Captain Morris to ask the Government to bring in a Bill to enable the company to start, or, failing their doing so, calling on him to bring in a Bill himself. Other matters affecting the district were also exhaustively entered into, tho meeting lasting over four hours. A Murderous Customer. —At the Exhibition on Monday morning, a youth named Bathurst Noel attempted to shoot a man named Dawkins, who is in charge of a stall at the ‘ World’s Fair.’ Noel was seized in the act of levelling a revolver, and handed over to the police. Three chambers of the revolver were loaded. The cause of the affair was a dispute between Noel and Dawkins respecting the price of some toys. Noel is a recent arrival from England. Noel was brought before the Court on Tuesday, when it appeared that Dawkins called him a liar and that the reason he had a revolver was because he had been bitten by a dog and he carried it to protect himself. The statement about the dog was shown to be correct, and the Bench, remarking that Dawkins bad been the agressor, dismissed the case, but confiscated the revolver. Erozen Meat. —At a meeting of shareholders of the Frozen Meat Company of Melbourne the Chairman referred to the misfortune at the works. Since then the interior freezing chambsr had been examined, and the walls found a good deal decayed with dry rot, and saturated with spores of mildew. The frozen carcasses were then examined, and out of ten thousand nearly five thousand were found affected with mildew to a considerable extent, and therefore unfit to be shipped to England. The 4423 picked carcasses were shipped per Cuzco, It was possible that mildew spores might to some extent be developed on the voyage ; notwithstanding that, be believed the cargo to be equal to any placed on the English market. The loading of the Europa has been abandoned, but four thousand carcasses were sent per Orient. Everything was being done to guard against a recurrence of the disaster. Mechanics’ Institute. The usual , monthly meeting of the members of the Committee was held last Tuesday evening. 1 Present—Dr Hayes (President), Mendelson, MeS. Gentlemun, Lawson, Gray, Leo, Twomey, and Ashwell- The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed: A letter from Mr O’Halloran, resigning bis position as Yice-President and member of the Comi mittee, was read. His reason for resigning was that he could not attend owing to pressure of business. It was decided not to accept bis resignation. The President reported that he had sold the old clock for 14s, and bought a new one for 30s- The Secretary reported that Mr Hutton was ■ unable to supply Reynolds’s Newspaper. He was instructed to inquire whether any of tno other booksellers in Timaru could supply it. i It being understood that the Government was about fencing in the Courthouse grounds, it was resolved to allow the fencing of the Institute ground to remain in abey- . ance for the present. The librarian’s report , for the month, and the sum of £3 Is for subscriptions were received. Accounts to the amount of £4 were passed for payment.. , The Secretary was directed to represent to the agent of the Lyttelton Times that the paper bad been very irregularly delivered. The meeting then adjourned. South Orari School Committee. — This Committee held their ordinary monthly meeting on Thursday last. Present—Messrs R--1 A. Barker (Chairman) .McLeod, Turpin, Bates, May and Wordsworth. Former minutes were ' confirmed. Touchers were received from the Board for incidental grant and salaries. Also ! 20 applications for’ the post of head teacher, from amongst which three names were selected to be forwarded to the Board in . order of preference. It was resolved on the motion of Mr McLeod, seconded by Mr ' Bates—“ That the Board be informed that the maps granted some time back had not been received.” Also, that the Chairman be requested to bring before the Board at its next meeting the following suggestions, viz., “ That in the opinion of this Committee the Board would effect a saving of time, and give satisfaction to both applicants and Committees, if in advertising for teachers they directed that applications be sent in first to the Chairman of the Committee interested, who would pass them on to the Board after the Committee had selected two or three to be presented in order of preference to the Board for final approval.’* The teacher’s report, showing the average attendance for the last two months to have been 37'3 and 38‘7 respectively, was read and approved. Mr Wordsworth consented to attend to certain reapairs, and Mr May and the Chairman were authorised to order cords fii’ewood, and 1 ton of coal. A satisfactory report was received from the visitor, and Mr Turpin was appointed visitor for the ensuing month_ Messrs May and McLeod were appointed to take delivery of the school books, etc, from Mr Robinson, the locum tenens, and to instal the new teacher should he arrive before the next meeting, which would be called for the third Saturday in June.

Saturday Sales. —We are glad to learn hat Mr K. F. Gray has determined to again pen Saturday sales in Ms auction rooms iere. If people desire to have a local p.arket, or do anything for the advancement if the town, they ought to support him. High Price of Land. —The 25 acres of and, with all the improvements, belonging o Messrs McCaskill and Rooney, were iffered for sale last Tuesday, and bought in it £I4OO. This is at the rate of £56 per tore. Most of the other effects were sold at ■air prices, but the weather was very wet and sold, and doubtless interfered with the sale. A Phenomenon. —-A rare phenomenon [says the Ashburton Guardian) was observed ;he other night, at about ten o clock, in the ihape of a lunar rainbow. The bow was rery complete, but no colors were distinguishable. It was, however, a beautiful sight, the pale appearance of the rainbow being brought out distinctly by a background heavy, black clouds. Sudden Deaths.—A Sydney telegram states that a man was killed on the Botany tramway line, and two men were drowned by the capsizing of a boat in the harbor. Auckland news'states that a man named John Bowls, a gum digger, was found dead in a whara at Kumu. An old woman, Margaret Lawler, widow of a pensioner, was also found dead jn bed at Ponmare. Henry Mason, a gum digger, said to benot quite sober, fell off the Riverhead wharf and was drowned. Mr George Moir station master at Albury fell down in a fit on Saturday night, and although attended by Dr Macintyre, of Timaru, who did everything possible for him, he never recovered consciousness, but died at 2 o’clock on Sunday morning. Deceased was highly respected. Who were Their Fathers ? They have a native difficulty in Victoria, and it has just been discussed in the Legislative Assembly. It is a different kind of native difficulty to that of this colony, and it was discussed in rather a novel fashion, as the following passage from the debate (taken from the Argus report) will show :Mr Richardson said the station consisted, it should be borne in mind, of half-castes, and when the time came for entering legitimately into this question, it would become a question as to who were responsible for those half-castes. (Laughter.) Mr Cameron • A lot of these half-castes came from your district. (Laughter.) Mr Richardson: I know where they come from. (Renewed laughter.) I can tell this House their fathers. Mr Cameron : I hope you don’t include me. (Laughter.) Mr Richardson : What about their semblance to some person* in this House, whose faces color whenever the question of blacks is discussed ? (Great laughter and uproar.) He added that ho could table a list of the putative fathers of these half-caste children, Mr Harris hoped the hon member did not threw any suspicion on Mr Anderson. (Loud laughter.)