LOCAL AND GENERAL

Temuka Leader, Issue 1091, 10 April 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Inangahua Seat.—lt is rumored that Mr Edward Shaw has determined to retire from the Inangahua contest, and that Mr Eugene O'Connor, of Westport, has baen requisitioned to stand. A telegram received from Wellington yesterday, denies the rumor that Mr Shaw has retired. There will therefore be a contested election. Strange Company.—The Millennium must be approaching. According to a correspondent of the Hawera Star, the local brewer drove the Grood Templars of that place i o a picnic, and one of the local publicans drove them back again. Strange to say, the conveyance was not upset, either! One of the Family.—Some of our legislators in the early days of Provincialism were queer fish. When Judge Stephen —a brother of Mr Milner Stephen—died, a resolution was proposed in the Provincial Council that, in resp?ct for his memory, the Council should adjourn. Mr Kelly, an Irish baker, seconded the resolution in the following remarkable speech : —" Mishter Spaker, Oi second the moshun with pleasure. There's two things Oi haven't seen—a dead donkey or a dead Judge." Judge Stephen's body was interred in the Svinonds street cemetery, and nothing marks the spot but a willow tree.

Diamond Prospecting.—lt is rumored that the diamond prospeotors oa the Upper Asb burton haye found excellent specimens, which are to be submitted to test

as Boon as possible. TnE Selwyi* Election.—The Selwyn election for a member in the House of Representatives resulted, on Friday, as follow* : —Leo, 258; Richardson, 220 ; MoLachlan, 140.

Fair Averages.—The agricultural statistics for tho Counties in Otago, south of Dunodin, show the following averages : Taicri, 36! bushels of wheat to the acre and 40 bushels of oats; Tuapeka, 28 bushels of wheat and 47 -bushels of oats; Bruce, 30 bushels of wheat and 32£ bushels of oats 5 Clutha, 37 bushels of wheat and 33 bushels of oats.

Interviewing the Governor. —To Wetere, Wiwma (Wahanui's brother)i Ngahaura. Tehaere (who was assaulted when with the Hursthouse party at Auckland), and other jSTgatimaniopoto chiefs had an interview with the Governor. They were acoompanied by Mr Bryce. The chiefs welcomed the Governor, and H's Excell ency expressed his pleasure at th 3 Ngatimaniopotos assisting Mr Bryce in opening the country and maintaining order.

A Losa Drunk.-The Medical Press relates that at Chester, England, an inquest was held over the body of a man who had been more or less drunk for forty consecutive years. He, his wife, and his son had been in the habit of drinking the droppings of various tap houses in the town —a beverage which they purchased for about a shilling a gallon. It is a curious fact that the only night he had been sober for many years was that upon which he died.

The Salvation Ahmt. —The Salvation Army seem to be making progress in Dun* edin. On Sunday afternoon, after fclie open air meeting in the Octagon, a pr.icession of twelve or fifteen persons, including one woman, fell in and marched to tbe Barracks singing a hymn. By the way several have had the Army badge on their breasts for some clays. The larrikins made the indoor meetings very rowdy, but now a sergeant and constable keep order.

The South Bbitish Insubance Company.—The net premiums of the South British Insurance Company for the half year terminated 28th February last, were £96,110 and the profit on the half year's transactions £10,284, which, with interest and the balance brought forward, leaves to the credit of the profit and loss account £23,910. In accordance with the Articles of Association, the Directors have declared an interim dividend at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, payable on the 12th instant. Better haye been Hanged.—A curious paragraph is going the rounds of the Press to the effect that of three criminals in Prance who accepted the scientific trial in preference to hanging, No 1, dieted entirely on tea, lived three years and then died. He had become almost a skeleton and was transparent No 3, on coffee, died in two years, burned as if interior fire had calcined him. No 3 lived on chocolate for eight months, and died in a very advanced state of rottenness, and, as it were, devoured by worms.

The Advantages of a Dbpnkaed.—What nonsense it is to talk of the disadrantages of getting drunk (says a London corre>pondent in the Argus), when drunkenness is considered an excuse for every act of brutality. A gentleman last week rubbed a hot poker over his wife's throat and legs, as though it had been an embrocation. It was urged, however, that it was done in a fit of ' horrors,' under the influence of which he had previously been fined for throwing boiling water over somebody else; so that he only got six months' imprisonment. It never strikes the magistrate in such cases that the victims themselves have "the horrors" under this kind of treatment.

DrvouCE. —At the next sitting of the Supreme Court in the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Jurisdictory, the suit of Maidment v. Maidment and another is appointed for hearing. The petitioner, Charles Maidment, of Wellington, contractor, sues for a dissolution of marriage on the ground of the respondent's adulteiy with the co-respondent, Samuel Eowe, of the Hutt, settler. The parties, were married at Wairau, in the Marlborough district, on the 16th July, 1859, the wife's name being Hannah Pickering. Since the marriage the petitioner and his wife lived together at Wairau and subsequently at the Hutt, and there have been an issue of ten children, the eldest of whom is married to a resident in Palmerston North. The petitioner allegos that on or about the 13th June, 1881, and on other occasional since that date, and on 28th March last, ths respondent committed adultery with the co« respondent at the Hutt, wherefore the petitioner prays for a decree granting an annulment of the marriage, and further seeks that the co-respondent may be ordered to pay th» sum of £IOOO by Way of damages, together with the whole of the costs incidental to the

proceedings. Youthful Caed Playebs.—The youth of Woolston aro certainly not behind their brethren of the city in many accomplishments, one of which is the art of card-playing. Preferring a doorstep to the orthodox " green cloth," and the flickering glaro of a street lamp to the soft sensuous illumination of the shaded chandelier, theso boys congregate at a quiet street corner, and have a general good time. Passers-by are frequently startled by hearing some one muttering such quainfc phrases as " Ante up and pass tha buck ;" " G-o two better;" " Turn it down, and I'm alone," &c, close to them as they hurry homewards, and horrified when they find that these are the devotions of young boys who are studying " the Devil's prayer book." A scene of this description was witnessed by a number of gentlemen who were down to Woolston last night, and while sis " artists ' were " pitching the rags" one was vocally contributing " We won't go home till morning" to the accompaniment by another on oa old tin whistle; and not a constable was seen near the locality.—Christchuroh Tele« graph.

Meat Notice.—ln our last issue in the meat notice issued by the butchers of this town, mutton was stated to be 3£d to s£d. It should have been 3£d to 4£d. Auction Saies.—Mr K. F. Gray will hold a sale of household furniture and effects at his rooms to-day, under instructions from Mr Meade. On Wednesday, on the farm of Mr S. Cain, he will sell live and dead stock. The Life G-uabds.—lt has been a subject of speculation why the Life Guards were among the first troops despatched to the seat of war, seeing that they are one of the three regiments of the Household Cavalry who have not been in battle nor indeed on active service since Waterloo. The explanation is that the " holiday-parade " character of the corps has of late drawn down so much talk on them that the officers smarting under th e criticism, persuaded the authorities of the War Office and Horse Guards to place them on the roster to take their regular turn on foreign service; and thus it is that on the call to arms the Household Cavalry wera among the first to be under marching orders How He Understood It.—Says a Christchurch paper:—" In all forms of application for policies of life insurance these among a host of other questions occur.- —' Age of father, if living?' 'Age of mother, if hv. ing ?' A man in Christchurch the other day, who filled up an application, made his f ather' s age, 'if living,' one hundred and twelve years, and his mother's one hundred and two. The agent was amazed at this showing, and fancied he had got an excellent subject; but, feeling somewhat dubious, remarked that the man came of a very long-lived •family. ' Oh, you see, sir,' replied the applicant, ' my parents died many years ago, but if living would be aged as they are put down.' ' Oh, I see,' said the agent." The Channel Tunnel.—The probable cost of a channel tunnel (observes a London paper) has always been a very obscure question, and Sir Edward Watkin has hitherto been very silent about it. Eecently he felt himself in a position to give some figures on this particularly important point. He is making a tunnel somewhere or other, through one of the hardest stratified rocks he knew. This costs £BB a yard, and that means roughly £65,000 a mile. The Channel tunnel would be about 24 miles. Instead, however, of taking the cost at £65,000 a mile, let them assume that it would be £IOO,OOO a mile, and that would represent a total of £2,400,000 for the tunnel under the sea. That is his estimate of the cost of the actual tunnel. Next, he believed the estimate of £350,000 for the tunnel to connect the Chatham and Dover and South. Eastern railways would not be exceeded. The entire cost of the work, therefore, came to only £3,000,000. With an original outlay of this modest kind, Sir Edward was, no doubt, justified in describing the project as likely to be one of the most profitable ever undei taken—if profitableness was the only thing to bo considered. But then in this estimate nothing is included for the cost of fortifications at the English end of the tunnel.

Mr J. Mclnnes invites tenders for building a chimney. Mr C. Storey, of the Wallingford Hotel, notifies that he has found a sheep dog. Messrs Maclean and Stewart will hold a sale of wool, skins, and hides at their rooms, to morrow. Messrs E. Wilkin and Co, Timarn, will hold a sale of wool, skins, hides, etc,, at their rooms to morrow. The G-eraldine Eoad Board has a notice to those allowing gorse to gr»w from their fences on to the public roads. The N, Z. L. and M. A. Co., in conjunction with Mr K F. Gray, hare received instructions from Mr A. Clark to sell at the Homestead, Arowhenua, on Friday next, a number of sheep, horses, implements, and numerous other articles.