LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1036, 28 November 1882, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Sale of JFuenitueb. —Mr K. F Gray notifies that he will hold an extensive sale of furniture etc., at his rooms, Temnka, tomorrow. Shearees Waited.— The manager of Newlands is in want of five shearers. The men are requested to take their own shears. Bank Holiday.—Thursday next being St. Andrew's day will be observed by the Bank of New Zealand as a holiday. The New Governor.—Government have received a cablegram from the Agent-General officially announcing the appointment of Sir William Jervois as Governor of New Zealand, and that the commission will be sent by the San Francisco mail which leaves London on Thursday next, and is due here on January 10. Excursion to Dunedin. —We would remind our readers that an excursion train passes through here on Thursday night, on route for Dunedin ; also that return excursion tickets available till the sth December will be issued up to the Ist December. The fares to Dunedin are 20s and 15s County of Geraldine Building and Investment Society.—We would remind shareholders in the above Society that the annual general meeting takes place 'tomorrow evening, at half-past 7 o'clock, to receive the annual statement and adopt the balancesheet. It is to be hoped that the attendance of members will be large, and thereby prove that they take a lively interest in the institution. Fatal Fiee at Nelson. —A fatal fire occurred at Nelson last Sunday. The house burned down was a very old one, and •was occupied by three men and a woman, the victim being the latter, her name being Fitzsimon, The men were all sober but the woman was drunk. One of the men said that he tried to drag her out, staying till his hair caught fire. The origin of the fire is | at present unknown.

A Brave Wojiak.—We haTe read many instances of a woman's bravery, and consequently we see no reasen why we should not record a plucky action performed by a woman in this district. Mrs Townsend, of Ivakahu, was engaged in leading a horse by a halter, when somehow it took fright, and, raising its head suddenly, it cut off one p£ her fingers completely with the strain which was put upon the rope. Mrs Townsend, instead of letting the horse go, held on to it while making a search for her lost finger, which she found and took home with her. She also led the horse towards home for about the distance of a mile, and when she met her husband she told him that she had only hurt her finger. It was only when he came to look at it that he found out that it had been cut off. Her pluck and bravery is well worthyof a place amongst instances of women's bravery.

Clever Business. —Mr J. W. White, barrister and solicitor, Timaru, acted in a dual capacity in the courthouse here yesterday,. He appeared for the plaintiff and defendant in the same case and pulled both through in a manner that stisfied all partiesThe case was as follows: —Mr Swinton, of Winchester, detained some luggage belonging to a man named Walker, as the latter did not pay the sum of £1 17s which he owed to Mr Swmton. Mr Walker brought an action for £lO against Mr Swinton for detaining his luggage, and Mr Swinton breught a cross action against Mr Walker for the sum of £ll7s due to him. Mr White appeared for Walker against Swinton in the first instance, and for Swinton against Walker, in the second place. If the case had come before the Court he no doubt would have found his position rather awkward. He would just have had to 'lamb' Swinton, and try to make him give up the luggage, and then he would have had to compel Walker to 'shell out' the £ll7s. But Mr White acted the part of a wise man. He took his fee from both, and them to settle the matter without going to Court at all. They did so, and Mr White e;ot through with flying colors. That is the way to get on in the world.

Oeaei School Committee.—The usual monthly meeting of the above School Committee was held last Saturday. Present — Messrs May (in the chair), W. McLeod, E. Turpin, and T. Bates. Correspondence received, as follows was read: —From the Board af Education, advising the Committee bhat the sum of £5 for incidentals had been paid in to their credit. From the same, covering new Act to regulate election of Committees. The report of the standard examination was received from the Board and read. It showed the number of pupils on the roll to be 66, average attendance, 42 ; and present examination 53. The following are the results:—Stnndird VI: Presented 2, passed 1; Standard V: Prescnttd 2, passed 1 ; Standard IY : Presented 7, passed 1 ; Standard 111 : Presented 7, passed 5 ; Standard TI: Presented 1, passed 1; Standard f : Presented 21 ; passed 8. Total presented, 40 ; total passed, 17. Percentage of passes, 42.5. The failure in passes is attributed to the frequent change of staff, etc., during the past year. No report was received from the teacher for the month. The Committee resolved—'That the Teacher be asked to furnish a report on every third Saturday in the month, giving the attendance, etc., and to report all defaulters not attending half time so to enable tha Committee to serve notices on them ; also to hand over to the Committee the proceeds for sale of books." It was decided that steps should be taken to .get prizes for the most deserving children, and that the money on hand received as fee* for the use of the schoolroom from the dancing class should go towards the prize fund, Chairman to be asked to purchase the ,P r and| distribute them. Mr Bates jnH|Dp| pointed to visit the school for period. Mr McLeod handed in 5j collected from the dancing class. Accounts wrro pasßed for payment amounting to £5 15-. The Committee then adjourned to the third Saturday in December.

Amalgamation.—The Otago Daily Times says a Company has been formed to amalgamate Shaw. S&ville and the Albion Company, and take over the present vessels, paying £485,000, or £l4 per registered tonnage. Dk Wilkins.—We would remind our readers that this skilful doctor is now in Timaru. Persons intending consulting him should do so at once, as we believe his stay is limited to five days. The Ashburton Show. —The Agricultural and Pastoral Show *held at Ashburton on Friday was a great success, and was attended by an immense concourse of spectators. There was a large number of exhibits—nearly 600. Service of Song.—The Timaru Temperance Choir, numbering 30 performers, will render a Service of Song, entitled 'The Start in Life,' in the Temuka Voluntee" Hall en Thursday evening, December 7rti, 1882. The entertainment is a capital one, and ought to draw a crowded house. Further particulars will ba given in advertisement. Extraordinary Birth.—A Wellington telegram states that an extraordinary birth took place at Ohau on the 23rd instant. The wife of a settler was confined of twins joined together at the back. One child is doing well. The other is poorly, but is coming round. They are both girls. Bazaab and Gift Auction. —A grand fancy bazaar and gift auction will be held in the Volunteer Hall next Tuesday. The Bazaar will open at 11 o'clock a.m., and the gift auction will commence at 7 p.m.. A sale of live stock in connection therewith will be held at Mr Gray's Yards in the afternoon at 4 cs'-clock. The admission will be free. The Pbxenix Pars: Murders.—lt may be remembered that when the man Westgate gave himself up as being concerned in the Phamix Park murders, he stated, according to the telegrams received in this colony, that the sum of £2O was paid as blood-money. This seemed at the rime a ridiculously small sum to mention, and we learn from the papers now to hand that the actual amount stated was £2OOO. Not Half Enough.—A man named William Fisher was charged at the Police Court, Ashburton, yesterday morning with indecently assaulting three little girls. The children being too young to be sworn, the charge was altered to indecent exposure. There were several previous convictions recorded against the prisoner for indecent assault, and he was sentenced to six mon;hs' imprisonment with hard labor. A Terrible Suicide. —A horrible suicide took place in Paris the other day, a young woman throwing herself down from one of the towers of Nortre Dame. The particulars arc almost-too dreadful for publication. The body alighting on the railing which surrounds the cathedral, was literally cut in two, the upper portion with the head remaining transfixed on the spikes. It was immediately removed to the morgue hard by. Vote or Confidence. —Mr Green, M.H.R., addressed a large meeting of his constituents at Dunedin last Thursday night. He received an enthusiastic vote of confidence. He said ho had been in favor of tha Property Tax, but he had found that the merchants cast the burden on consumers, and therefore in his opinion, a Land and Income Tax would bo the question of the future. He would follow Sir John Hall, as leader of the proposed Middle Party. At the War. —A private of the Ist Life Guards came in, after the charge of Kassassoun, with a nasty sabre cut across his left arm. Respecting this wound the following conversation was heard to ensue :—" Why, Bill, how did you get that ?" " Wsll you see, I got off my 'orse to take one o' these Harabs prisoner, and blessed if the beggar didu't up with his cheese knife and give me this 'ere slice !" " Well, what did you do ?" " Well, I drew my sword, and I halved the beggar!" Accident. —We very much regret to learn that Mr Joseph Beri, cabinet-maker, met with a rather serious accident yesterday morning. Mr Beri was marking for some volunteers at the butts, and was struck in the ball of the eye by a fragment of a bullet that had struck the target. He went yesterday to Timaru, to see Dr Wilkins, who is on a professional visit to South Canterbury. So far as we can learn there is every hope that his eye will not be permanently injured, although it has been severely hurt.

N. Z. Beef for the British Navy.— The Admiralty authorities have determined upon inviting tenders for the of New Zealand salt beef to the British navy, and are therefore cal ling for preliminary experimental shipments of 10,0001bs, in casks, from each of the principal ports of this colony. If the experiment proves satisfactory, as regards quality, when compared with American meat } the Admiralty will make a second trial on a large scale, and will invite the supply of £126,0001bs annually.

Suicide of a Prisoner. —A laborer named Juo. Golton, who was arrested at Dunedin the other day on a charge of stealing a watch and chain from a hotel, committed suicide in the police cell by cutting his throat with a penknife. He expired shortly after being discovered. He had been searched but the penknife must have been secreted purposely. An inquest was held on Saturday. On being brought in he told the police drink had brought him into trouble. The verdict was that deceased committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity.

Thk West Coast Railway.—At the Quarterly General Meeting of the Canterbury Clumber of Commerce on Friday afternoon, the following resolution was unanimously agreed to : —" That this Chamber, having learned that the Railway Commission hare stated that the terms of their Commission preclude theni from reporting upon the question of the best route for a railway to connect Canterbury with the West Coast, respectfully request tlie Government to amend the powers of the present Commission, or to appoint ajiother Commission to report upon the subject before the next meeting of the General Assembly. "

The New Zealand Herald. —The New Zealand Herald has been permanently en- ' larged to a size which makes it the premier newspaper in Mie colony in that respect. It contains twelve pages on Saturdays and eight large pages daily. At the New Year it will be printed by one of Hoe's " Webb " machines, whicli prints from a reel of paper 6000 yards in length eight pages of paper at the rate of 15,000 copies an hour, cutting folding and counting automatically, without further attendance than one man. The cost of the additional buildings, just completed, and new machinery, which includes a 16 horse power Otto silent gas engine, as a reserve for contingencies or accidents, is £IO,OOO- A large new three-storey building has bo en erected as additional premises. GOVERNMENT LIFE INSURANCE.—With regard to the changes tnado in the orovernrnent Insurance Department, it is not intended to close the industrial branch, nsr to limit its sphere of usefulness, but it will be worked in complete harmony with the ordinary branch. The object of the Government is to offer insurance in a form best suited to indus-ti-ial requirements. It is not intended at present to divide the profits annually, but a scheme of insurance with deferred profits at a rate lower than the nonparticipating rates of other offices is aboutto be introduced. The next division of profits will be made ©nfche 31s*-. December, 1885, In accordance with the recent legislation altering the currency" of the financial year, the books will be closed on the 31st prox., and accounts published for the six months which commenced on Ist July last. The new insurances for little more than four months of the period referred to exceed £400,000, and the business generally evidences lasting qualities. Weary op Life.—lf one were compelled to choose death in some form, about the last means adopted would surely bo the wheels of a tramway motor. The passing thought would be full of horor ; charcoal suffocation, a warm bath with an opened vein, poison, or even a pistol shot, would be ecstacy compared to the grinding of bones and tearing of flesh beneath the iron wheels But sush did not appear to be the opinion of one John Kilgarry, who, a few days ago, at the Central Police Court, Sydney, was charged with having attempted to commit sucide. This man, who, the Herald reports, was clad in dirty ragsjthat scarcely clung together, and who had but one leg, the place of the other being supplied by a wooden stump, was seen to deliberately sit down on the tram line in Pitt-street. The flesh and blood leg he put well across the rail, but for some strange fancy he desired to save the wooden one, and kept it outside the line. The tram was not pulled up till within two yar Is of the cripple sitting on the line. He was arrested, but fought with the constable, and made an attempt to rush in front of another tram coming up the line. He said a man might as well be cut through the body as live and have but one leg. A Scare. —A recent telegram stated that an epidemic of a violent type had broken out in Paris, causing much consternation, but no further news confirming the statement was received. The following extract from the Sydney Herald's Paris correspondent's letter seems to throw some light on tiie subject: —'Over thirty persons were poisoned on a recent Sunday by eating ' Indian nuts ' that were being sold at a very low price by a huckster trundling a barrow in the Flower Market in the Place de Greac. These ' nuts,' which wree really the seed of the Tatropha curcas, an Indian medicinal plant, which, even in small quantities, hav« a most violent purgative action, being greedily devoured by the unlucky passers, speedily threw the whole neighbourhood into terrible consternation, and the belief that cholera had suddenly appeared, or that the people had been poisoned wholesale, went through that quarter of the town like wildfire. The hospitals of the region were spesdily filled with people in all the agonies and terrors of a seeming choleraic attack. Happily no deaths appear to have resulted from the imprudent devouring of a fruit of whose nature the buyers were ignorant; and the vendor of the deleterious dainty, arrested by the popce, is now in prison. They Didn't Mean Him. —Giving her experience on board ship during a trip to California, Thorpe Talbot writes to the Auckland News :—One of the planters from Honolulu rather pleased the majority of the passengers by the way in which he extinguished a certain section of shoddy! aristocracy—individuals who had assumed and preserved a grand air of superiorty and proprietorship calculated to take the shine out of even a Czar or police sergeant. The planter was allotted a place at the table that this clique had hitherto monopolised. They resented the presence of a stranger, and their resentment was indicated by rude murmurs and withering glances. The planter bore it awhile uuconeernedly, but eventually his aggravated ' dander ' rose to the occassion. Said he at breakfast one morning, looking defiantly at one of the lordly ones, who had just let fall an insinuating remark, 'Ef I'd. ha' known before starting that this ere steamer bed bin previously chartered by a seleck monepolosin' swell circle, I'd never hev dreamt o' comin' aboard her; I'd ruther walked to San Francisco. "But "sein'l am aboard, and paid my seventy-five dollars for one week's board and residence on this ship, why, by thunder, I'm goin' to hev as full value as I know how, and if anybody has anything to say agin it why, we'll argus the thing out upstairs.' He turned his cuffs back so suggestively and invitingly as he spoke that the man he spoke to could scarcely ignore his intention. ' I beg pardon,' he stammered, ' our remarks didn't —didn't —weren't meant for you at all.' 'O, then, it's all right,, said the planter, resuming his knife and fork with a slight air of disappointment. 'I thought they was, ye know, but I may hev mistook.' I am afraid many of us rejoiced with a most unchristian rejoicing over Ihe discomfiture of the ' seleck and monopolisn' circle.'

Chickkt. --The cricket match at Castlemaine between a local twenty-two and the Hon. Ivo Bligh's team was concluded on Saturday- The visitors in their first innings scored 2156 against 136 of iheir opponents. The latter in their second innings when the time was called had pat together 22 for the loss of eight wickets. The match was therefore drawn in favour of the English team, the twenty-two having 70 runs to make to sav* a one innings defeat. —The Auckland team concluded a match with Dunedin last Saturday, winning it by one innings and 45 runs. The Aucklanders will play a match againat Timaru to-morrow and Thursday.

Australian Fahmers.— Mr Archibald Forbes, in a recent article in the Sydney Mail, thus wvites of farmers and farming in South Australia :—' I think that on the good side of ' Goyder's line ' the South Australian farmer is fairly prosperous. He has a good deal to learn it is true. He is too monotonous with his everlasting wheat, is not fully alive to the advantages of manures, and laclis the versatility of the Belgian or American in discerning the advantages of diversified cultivation. Perhaps he would not hurt if he ploughed a little deeper and thought more of odd corners, and gave some additional attention to the grading up of his stock. But lie goes along well enough, and taking one year with the other, is probably before the times.'

Native Matters.—Te Kooti has called a meeting to be held at Te Kuiti. Tawhiao will be present. At a large meeting of natives attending the Cambridge Court on Friday morning an invitation was read from Tawhiao asking them to meet him at Wahotu settlement, 45 miles south of Cambridge. Il was agreed to accept the invitation, and for that purpose delegates were deputed to app'y for an adjournment of the Court from 20th December to Bth January. It is understood this is one of a number of meetings Tawhiao proposes holding throughout the King Country to o'icit an expression of opinion as to the course he should follow under existing circumstances. - Judgment was given to-day in Wahotu No. 1. Ngatihia was awarded two fifths, Ngatamahi two-fifths, Ngatamatea retaining one fifth of the block. An influential requisition for a rehearing of the claim is to be made to the Chief Judge. The successful claimant has disbursed £IOO in liquor, so that the whole place is in a fair way of becoming a scene of dissipation. Mr E. .D Fenton, acting on behalf of the Government, interviewed Te Wheoro and the natives at Whatiwhatihoe on Thursday. Mr Fenton explained that the Government were prepared to allocate lots of land to landless Waikatos. Tainui was the principal chief present of the Ngatimata The Ngatiinaniopoto natives asked time for consideration among themselves before replying, and they are now in consultation. Mr James Blyth invites tenders for the erection of a cottage for Mr James Scott. Mr McFadzean offers £1 reward for the recovery of a black hack gelding. Messrs Maclean and Stewart will hold a salo of horses, at their Horse Bazaar, Timaru, next Saturday. Mr Geo. Priest notifies that he is in business in Timaru as wool, grain and general produce merchant.