LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1184, 11 December 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. District Parzs Fibino.— Tho Temuka Rifles will fire for the district prizes on Thursday next. - , A Geraldine Road Board.— The usual ' monthly meeting of the Board will be held to-day, commencing at ten a.m. Proposed Postal Service to Hilton.—* A full report of the recent meeting held at Hilton appears in another part of the present issue. Parliamentary. An extraordinary Gazette issued at Wellington on Saturday further prorogues Parliament until February next. Temuka School Commute b. The monthly meeting of the Temuka School Committee will be held ' this evening at seven o’clock. i Pedestbxanism. -The 48 hours’ walking match at Wellington between Edwards and Scott concluded on Saturday night, the latter winning by two miles and 440 yard*. The total distance covered was : Scott, 191 miles 740 yards, and Edwards 139 miles 320 yards. Very little interest was taken in the match by the public. Dibeot Steam. —The New Zealand Shipping Company are advised by cable, that the Fenstanton’s cargo of frozen meat has arrived in good condition. The following steamers of the Company’s direct line are to lefcjfo London this month for New Zealand Dom 5.5.,,0n 13th instant, for Auckland, Wellington and Lyttelton j Fenstanton, s.s., on 21st instant, for Port Ohalmer;. ;. " ; Cricket; —A match between'the Geraldine Juniors and a team made up of the Temuka High School Boys, came off kit Saturday. The Temuka lads proved far too much for their opponents, winning by nine wickets.— Owing to a misunderstanding on the part of the Ashburton Borough Cricket Club, the return match announced to take place at Ashburton with the Geraldine Club will not come off. Nominated Immigration.— The immigration nominations for the outward mail are as follows Canterbury, 109; Wellington 89; Otago, 83; Auckland, 73; Southland, 33 ; Westland, 20 ; Howkes’ Bay and Marlborough each, 14; Taranaki and Nelson each, 5; total, 416, equal to 388 J statute adults.' The amount received'was £1257. The nationalities comprise 173 Irish, 162 English, 94 Scotch, and 17 foreigners. Serious Complaint.—A complaint has been made to the authorities regarding the condition of three children named Neilson, recently released from Burnhanj Industrial School, after being some ten months there. When sent there they were'clothed, clean and healthy; on being restored to their parents at Masterton, (Wellington), recently, they were “ ragged, filthy, crawling with lice, covered with sores, and with dirt ingrained in the cracks of their skin.” Intercolonial Conference. —The session of the Intercolonial convention, closed at noon on Saturday, and most of the delegates left Sydney the same afternoon. At (be final meeting in the morning, Sir Geo. He Voem’s motion for preventing unrestricted purchases of land in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands, was adopted. A resolution proposed by tha Hon. Mr Whitaker, that criminals should be prohibited from landing in the Australian colonies, was also carried. Carbine Match.—Oh Wednesday last a carbine match between ten members of the O Battery of Artillery (Timaru) and ten civilians belonging to the same place took place in Timaru. The conditions of the match were five shots at the 200, 300 and 400 yards ranges, each one being allowed a sighting shot. The targets were 6ft by 4ft with 8-inoh bull’s-eye for the two first-named ranges, and 6fb by 6ft with a two-feet bull’seye for the other. Any position was allowed. The civilians won ; by 27 points. TheC Battery made 146 at the 200 yards range, 125 at the 300, and 71 at the 400 ; total, 342. . The Civilians scored 151 at the 200 yards, 139 at the 300, and 79 at the 400; total 369. Great interest was taken in the match, and the winners were heartily congratulated on tha result. The civilian team comprised Messrs A. J. H. Bower (Captain), R. Fergusson, J. G. Macpherson, J. Hall, 3). O’Donoghue, M. Cochrane, P. Thoreau, and A. Sinclair, and we understand that the same team would be quite willing to fire a similar match against the Temuka Rifles on any holiday, as might be arranged. If the match should take place it is to be hoped that tha Rifles will avenge the defeat of their brothers-in-arms. An Unprofitable Barmaid.—' Ogles’ in the Australasian, says The landlord of ons of the best hotels in a country township lately engaged a bewitching but unsophiacated housemaid. It was part of her duty to take charge of the bar between the hours of 8 and 10 each morning, this being the time when the local civil servants called to obtain the stimulants necessary to brace them up for the day’s exertions. Strange to say, after the advent of the fair Lucy, the daily receipts of tha bar fell of seriously, and suspicion began to haunt the landlord’s mind. Just as the was leaving her poet one morning; he entered the bar, pulled out the drawer, and found nothing in the till, although the callers that day bad been exceptionally numerous. Pointing to the empty space, he slowly said, “ Lucy, look at the till; how do you account for this?” She instantly exclaimed, “Oh, sir, this is not the till I used ; this is the one,” pointing to the contribution box of the local hospital which stood on the counter. The landlord was dismayed.. The hospital committee held the key of that receptacle in o which had gone his receipts) for a foitnight. But rather than apply (p the committee for a refund, and ruisp a laugh against himseU, lie resolved to pocket the loss, and perform an involuntary act of charity, without even getting crejdit for bit generosity' ,

Ihb Holidays.— Owing to the holidays, the Court will be held in Tetnuka next Tuesday instead of next Monday. Thb Unemployed. The Hon. the Minister for Public Works has arranged to receive a deputation of the unemployed on Friday. Masonic Ball.—A Masonic Ball in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of St. George’s Lodge, Temuka, takes place this evening, in the Volunteer Hall. Pisoatobial. —Mr W. Binley a few evenings ago took three trout, weighing ISilbs, llilbs and 10}lbs, or 401bs altogether. They are said to be the best three trout ever raised by one. rod in one place in Hew Zealand.

Accidents,—As two men ware driving in a gig through Temuka last Sunday, one of them who appeared the worse for liquor, fell off and got very severely bruised end hurt about the face. He was taken to Hr Hayes, who dressed his wounds. We have eince ascertained that he was the mate of the barquentme Annie Bow. —As Mr Beswick, E.M., was driving with his wife from Timaru, yesterday, his horse stumbled and fell. Both Mr and Mrs Beswick were thrown out and considerably shaken. The horse’s knees were badly broken. Thb Latb Mbs Eowe. —The funeral of the late Mrs Eowe took place last Sunday. A large number of people and some vehicles went to her late residence, but the funeral procession was not formed until the coffin was brought out of the Church. The order of the procession was as follow* : —The Eev. Mr Hamilton, leading ; the children attending the schools, the Oddfellows, the hearse, the chief mourners, the public, the Carriages, and the horsemen. The burial service of the Church of England was read by the Eev Mr Hamilton, and the Oddfellows’ service was read by Mr Wills. Miieobd School Committee. The usual monthly meeting of the above School Committee was held on Monday, December 3rd. Present—Messrs Woodley (Chairman), Wareing, Maze and Woodhead. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. A letter was read from the Board of Education stating that £4 10s had been paid to the credit of the Committee, in the Bank of New Zealand, for incidentals for the fourth quarter. From the same, enclosing a tabulated statement showing the result of pupil teachers’ examination. Several other routine letters were received from the Board, The Schoolmaster’s report was read, showing the number on roll for month to be 40; average attendance 36. Proposed by Mr Wareing, seconded by Mr Woodhead and carried—“ That the school be closed for the Christmas holidays from December 21st till January 2nd.” Sundry accounts were passed for payment, and the meeting then adjourned till the first Monday in January, 1884. Lady Swimmers.— Speaking of the inability of Englishwomen to swim, a writer in Truth says that he never goes to one of our “ sea side resorts ” without noticing how very few Englishwoman there are who appear to know how to swim. At Brighton, Eastbourne, or Scarborough, you will see dozens of girls ungracefully bobbing up and down in eighteen inches of water, but not one in fifty swimming. Abroad, on the contrary, at Trouvillo or Boulogne, plenty of ladies swim about in the most fearless manner. This difference the writer attributes entirely to our insular and idiotic prejudices. Here the unwritten law of Mrs Grundy decrees that no girl shall bathe with any man, even her father, husband or brother, and the consequence is that few of themlearn to swim, and many do not bathe at all. Abroad on the other hand, where the sexes bathe together, ladies are constantly taught to swim by their male relatives. The sooner, therefore, that we supersede our ideas on this point and allow both sexes to bathe together, the better •-especially for the ladies.

Sad Fatal Accidents. A very sad accident occurred at Abbotsford, five or six miles from Dunedin, on Saturday. Four lads left town in the morning on a rabbit shooting excursion, among them being William Street, aged 15, son of the Mayor elect. In the afternoon a large number of gentlemen visited by invitation the Saddle Hill Com pany’s quartz mine, where some new machinery was being started. This is in the neighborhood of Abbotsford. Amongst these gentlemen was Mr Street, who had arranged to meet bis son at the mine. The lads arrived at the mine in due course, and whilst in one of the buildings one of them named Hawkes accidentally discharged bis gun, shooting young Street in the head, end killing him almost instantaneously. Mr Street was informed of the occurrence, and a very painful scene ensued. The accident threw a gloom over the festivities at the mine, and has been the subject of much sympathising comment in Dunedin.—-Alfred Dawson, manager of the Bank of Australasia at Fielding, was drowned off Waterton beach on Sunday morning. The deceased was on a visit to his father, a farmer at Longbeacb, and went out to bathe with three of his brothers and two brothers-in-law. He got into the breakers and was washed out to sea. The body came ashore half-an-hour afterwards.