The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1882. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1041, 9 December 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1882. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Sale of Cattle. —Mr K. F. Gray will sell 24 head mixed cattle at the Temuka pound to-day. Wesleyan Church, Temuka. —The Eer T. Fee will conduct the services at the above church to morrow, morning and evening.

1.0.0. F. Sports.— ln another column we publish the programme of Sports to take place, under the auspices of the Loyal Alexandrovna Lodge, next Boxing day.

Property Tax. —Statements of Property for the year commencing Ist Api'il 1883, must be sent in to the Property Tax Office not later than Wednesday, 20fch December.

Who Wouldkt Live in America ? American newspapers are exulting over the case of a barber who has been fined 50 dols and costs for] cutting the hair of a simpleminded customer in a ludicrous manner for fun.

A Talented Jury Foreman. —The following written verdict was recently handed in by the foreman of a coroner’s jury in Hew South Wales : —‘ We are of A Pinion that deceit met her death from voilent infirmation in the arm produest from Unoan Caws.’

‘ Reply Paid ’ and 'Collect ’ Telegrams. —The following regulation regarding ‘ reply paid ’ and ‘ collect ’ telegrams is gazetted ; ‘ The senders of a reply paid or collect message must, if requested so to do by the officer in charge of the telegraph office, lodge a sufficient sum of money to cover the cost of the reply or collect message. Any surplus of cash will be refunded on delivery of the reply,'and the money lodged with a collect message will be refunded when the recipient has paid the charges.’

The Love op Money. —One of the most extraordinary men in Auckland is the Eev. William Comvie, who has lived in a house on the top of West Queen street for forty years. By lending money he has accumulated an enormous fortune, but the habit of saving has grown upon him till he could not find heart to afford himself the common necessaries of life. He lived in a house of squalorlandjdirt which was shameful to behold. A few days since Mr Comrie was removed from his tumble-down dwelling and taken mt to his nephew’s farm at Pukekohe. Utilising Cats. —Cats now form (accord ng to the Live Stock Journal) an ingredient n our butter and cheese. They arc- not cut ip as they are for pork pies. They are iti’isecl in this way : Butter and cheese are abricateclout of oleomargarine. Oleomargarine s made from fat. Fat is mado out of he ordinary refuse of the, dust-bio. The hist-bin often contains a cat. In Manchester, luring one year, 13 tons of cats were found in he bins, and as much fat was got out of the inks in whish the x-efuse is placed sells at 12-1; there is little wonder, then, that it iiould be utilised.—Qlobe.

Another Method eoe Suicide—A New York woman has attempted to commit suicide by swallowing three teaspoons.

Chbistt Minstrel Congest. —The programme of the next concert by the Temuka Christy Minstrels appears elsewhere. The concert comes off next Thursday.

Minister :al Visit.— The Hon W. W. Johnstone arrived here by special train from the south yesterday evening at 7.15, accompanied by some of the head officials of the railway. After visiting the Catholic Church he proceeded to Orari, from which place he went to Geraldine.

Poisoning of Dogs. —lt would appear that poison was again laid in the town on Thursday morning, as a large number of dogs were then destroyed. It is estimated that there have already been about 40 dogs altogether destroyed. Might we suggest to the miscreant who has done this villainous deed that he ought to be satisfied with this, and not do any more. It would give us great pleasure to see him in the hands of the police.

The English in Ebanoe, —The sacred honor of a gentleman in the ‘ Temps ’ stands pledged to the truth of the following anecdote: At a hotel in a seaport in Brittany we are eight at supper, three of us being English, a father and his two children. We were served with three medium sued lobsters. With the National phlegm, the son of Albion took one and placed it on the plate of his daughter; the second he put on that of his son, and the third which was the largest, he adjudged to himself. On seeing this manoeuvre, a poor little collegian, who since the introduction of these interesting Crustacea had been devouring them with his eyes, bui’sb into a fit of sobbing. When his mother tried to console him and asked the cause of his tears he pointed with his finger to the empty dish. The Englishman, always impassive, continued breaking up his fish, but at the stifled laughter that ran round the table he raised his head, and addressing the mother with an accent of the deepest fatherly pity, said: —‘Ah! your little boy is a glutton, I fear, Madame!’and then quietly continued the dissection of his lobster.

Surgical Operation.— The Paris correspondent of the Palmerston Times writes : The operation on Pierre Gremiscain, the waiter, whose case we recently mentioned, for the spoon which he swallowed a few days ago, was successfully performed by M. Feilzat at the Hospital Lariboisiere. It was effected by means of an incision in the epigastric region, the stomach having been previously dilated by means of vapor of ether forced into it through an ingenious, though simple, apparatus invented by the operator for the occasion. The principal difficulty consisted in effecting the opening into the stomach, but once that was successfully and safely accomplished the spoon —measuring 27 centimetres, or nearly inches in length—was easily drawn from the body. During the operation, all the details of which occupied less titan three-quarters of an hour, the subject was kept under chloroform, and no unfavorable symptoms have as yet been displayed. For a few days G-emiscain has not been allowed to take any solid food ; this prohibition was extended for a week, but the patient being now out of all danger has been permitted to take substantial meals.

Life Before the Mast. —The tribunal o£ Bordeaux has just been trying a case which will call further attention to the illtreatment of sailors, and especially of sailor boys, on the high seas. A French captain and his mate were brought up for having brutally tortured a cabin boy named Lartigue on a voyage round Cape Horn; Lartigue was not a perfect character, for he had capped a long series of offences by trying to break open a chest in the Captain’s cabin. For this he ordered the boy to be chained up in the hold: This was done in such a way by the delighted mate that the delinquent’s feet barely touched the ground, and the whole body was on the stretch, with its weight hanging on one wrist. In (his position he remained for five days, with a heavy sea rolling, in bitterly cold weather, and with nothing to keep him alive but biscuit and water. He was dreadfully bruised and knocked about, and when brought out he could hardly stand. His injuries are likely to result in paralysis. The captain has been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, and lus mate to a year’s, while the two together are to pay a substantial sum as damages to the hoy’s parents.

Licensing Court. —The quarterly meeting of the Licensing Committee was held yesterday. Present —Messrs S. D. Barker (chairman), J. Talbot, J. Paterson, and W. H. Murray. The license of the Temuka Hotel was transferred from Mr J. M. Ollivier, to Mr E. Fenton. The license of the Crown Hotel was transferred from Mr E. A. Jewell, to Mr A. E. Kirk. The report of the police was favorable, except in the case of the Eoyal Hotel. Mr Hamersley appeared on behalf of Mr Coira. The report pointed out that Mr Coira had been fined £5, and that the conviction had been recorded on his license. There was also reference made to the burning of the constable in effigy. Mr H amersley held that the Committee had no power to deal with the complaint until the annual meeting, when Mr Coira would apply for a renewal of his license. The Chairman said the Committee very much regretted the report against Mr Coira, as hitherto the reports he had received had always been good. The matter would have to bo considered at the annual meeting. Mr Aspinall applied on behalf of Mr Fenton for an extension of his license to 11 o’clock. Mr Hamersley applied on behalf of Mr Coira jor a similar privilege. Messrs Kirk and Quinn also applied. Constable Morton objected on tbs ground that no public inconvenience had been caused by the hotels being closed at 10 o’clock. The Committee, however, after a short consultation decided on granting to all the hotels license to beep open until 11 o’clock. The Committee after transacting some ' routine i business adjourned. b , j.

The Transit of Venus. — At Temuka last Friday the transit of Venus was observed by many of our townspeople, and it is to be regretted that proper arrangements were not made for witnessing the spectacle. At Tima.ru, owing to the morning proving exh’amely cloudy the preparations made by Archdeacon Harper for viewing the transit were useless. A London telegram states that very successful observations of the transit of Venus were obtained in America, Capetown and Durban, and in the West of England. At Paris and Madrid the weather was cloudy and prevented the contacts being distinctly, observed. The transit was plainly visible at Cork, but at other stations in Ireland the sky was overcast. The observations at Melbourne and Hobart Town were successful but at Brisbane and Sydney astronomers were disappointed. In Auckland, Hew Plymouth, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin the observations were very successful. Mr Arthur Beverley, of Dunedin, furnishes the following with regard to the transit: —At an early hour the prospect looked rather gloomy for the Dunedin observers of the transit, but as the critical time approched the clouds cleared away, and left the sun shining through a faint haze in the upper atmosphere. This haze improved the definition wonderfully, for when it cleared away a few minutes before external contact, the outline of the sun, which was previously 'sharp and steady, began to flicker slightly. The haze also reduced the irritation nearly two iero, so that there was no appearance of the black drop or any of those perplexing phenomena which occur at internal contact when the sky is clear. Altogether the weather could not have been much better if got up for the ) occasion. The disc of Venus while on the sun appeared very shai’ply defined, and as it approached the edge of the sun the luminous line separating them became finer and finer until it vanished at the point of contact. This was not a prolonged affair as we were led to expect. The breaking of the luminous thread was so sudden that there could hardly be a mistake of two seconds in recording itIn about ten seconds after contact the only other phenomena worth mentioning began to appear. The part of Venus which projected beyond the sun’s disc showed a very fine pink outline, caused no doubt by sunlight refracted through her atmosphere, which continued visible until the disc of Venus projected about a fifth of its diameter beyond the solar disc. It then gave way at the north side, but continued visible at the south side until Venus was half off, when it appeared like a minute pink hair standing perpendicular to the sun’s margin at the edge of the semicircular notch. The times of contact, as observed approxi • mately, were —Internal, 7h 31min ; external f 7h Slmin, Hew Zealand mean time, or about 10 minutes later than the time given in the Hautical Almanac. How such a blunder could have been made by the conductors of that publication it is not easy to sec J Accidents, Offences, Etc. —Mr Bold, Inspector of the Postal and Telegraph Departments, met with an accident at Gisborne on Tuesday while driving in a buggy with Dr Pollen. The horse shied off the road, and the buggy was overturned. The doctor escaped without injury, but Mr Bold was thrown on his bead, and was insensible for a time. He afterwards recovered. —A very bad case of blood poisoning has occurred at Greymouth. A girl named Whitemore cut her foot, and the wound became poisoned by her stocking which was of a brilliant color. Her head and limbs are swelled abnormally, and her life is despaired of. —A young woman named Mary Perry was found dead in bed at Phillipstown on Wednesday morning. She was apparently in excellent health when she retired to bed at night. At Leeston early on Wednesday morning a swagger who had been about the place for the last three or four days was found dead in the middle of the road with his throat cut. It is understood ho was suffering from a weak constitution, and was also deranged. —Another case of violent assault in the streets was before the Christchurch Resident Magistrate on Wednesday. From the evidence given it seemed that the prisoner, whose name was Brown, met a man named Holt at Addington, seized him and with the assistance of another man knocked him down. Brown accused Holt of being a Fenian crying, ‘ Down him and rob him.’ In Court he said he respected the plaintiff as a brother, but His Worship said he took a singular way of showing his respect, and remanded him, hail being allowed. —The illicit distillation cases were concluded in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday evening. William Thompson and Thomas Morgan, who were arrested in town with forty gallons of whiskey in their pessession, were each fined £IOO, or in default two month’s imprisonment. George Taylor, upon whose farm at Pahautanni the still was discovered, was mulcted in a fine of £2OO, or six months’ imprisonment. The charge against Thomas Taylor, a part owner of the farm, was withdrawn. —Thomas James McFadden was killed at Waiuka (Auckland) through his horse falling on him.—As a married woman named Pago was milking a cow on Thursday evening at Oamaru the animal kicked her on the chest, causing the bursting of a blood-vesse 1 . The cow then gored the unfortunate woman. The sufferer is still alive. —Henry Clark, a lad who had tried to shoot himself at Dunedin with an unloaded gun not possessing a trigger, and tried to cut his throat in disgust at his nonsuccess, was brought before the Resident Magistrate on Thursday. It appeared that he is of weak intellect, and being a cripple his inability to work preyed upon his mind. The Magistrate decided to see whether he could not be admitted to the Ashburton Homs. At the Magistrate’s Court,Dunedin,on Friday, Robert Ewing was committed for trial on a charge of attempted arson. It appears he quarrelled with bis wife, and then piling all the furniture in a heap set fire to it, but the neighbors extinguished the flames before the house was much damaged.

Messrs Kernohan McCabon and Co. advertise for a supply of butter and eggs.

A notification 1 jy Mr A. Ormshy, solicitor, Timaru, in refere nee to the completion of a deed of arrange] nent by Henry Selwood Austin appears in our advertising columns. Messrs Maclean and Stewart notify that they will hold an t ixfeensive sale of horses at their Bazaar, Tima ru, to-day. On Monday, at Studholme Jui action Yards, cattle and sheep. We would direct, attention to Mr Langskail’s advertisemec it appearing in another column. He thank s his customers for the liberal support they have given him in the past, and solicits the ir favor, in the future. He has recently addei 1 several hundred pounds worth of boots, shod s, etc., to his previously large stock, and has also made arrangements whereby his stock v dll be kept constantly replenished. All his | ;oods are marked in plain figures and from these prices he will take a liberal discount for c ;asb. Altogether, customers may study ei ;onomy, and secure a good article, by patron; ising Mr Langskail.