LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1169, 24 April 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Football—A meeting of those interested in the formation of a football club is convened for Tuesday evening next, in the Crown Hotel, Temuka. Annual Ratepayers’ Meeting. The annual meeting of ratepayers m the Mount Peel Road Board District will take place at the Road Board office, Peel Forest, on Thursday, the Ist May, at noon. Ball. —The grand annual ball under the auspices of the No. 1 Company, T.R.Y., will be held in the Yolunteer Hall, Temuka, on Monday, the 26th May. Particulars will be found in the advertisement.

The Premier. A Dunedin telegram states that the Hon. Major Atkinson speaks there to night, and leaves for Christchurch on Friday night. He will address a meeting there on Saturday night. The ’Feisco Mail,—The s.s. Zealandia, with the March English Mails, left San Francisco for Auekland on April 13, two days later than time-table time. The City of Sydney, with the April colonial mails, arrived two days earlier than time-table date. Parishioners’ Meeting. The annual meeting in connection with St. John the Eyangelist’s Church, Winchester, will be held to night, at half-past 7 o’clock, when the annual balance-sheet will be presented, and officers selected for the ensuing year. The ladies of the congregation are cordially invited to attend.

The Kaitanoata Relief Fund.—The annual financial statement of the Kaitangata Relief Fund Committee shows that the amount in hand and invested to the credit fund, is £13,050. During the year ending Feb. 19, £1255 was paid in cash to the widows and children of deceased miners, and £298 advanced to recipients for various purposes. Slaughtering Without a License.— At the R.M. Court, Timaru, yesterday, J. Bennett was fined Is for slaughtering a bull without a license, and selling the meat. In this case the animal had been killed because it had become dangerous, and His Worship said defendant had acted rightly in selling the meat. A fine of the same amount was inflicted on William Stevens for a similar offence.

Tempera nob Lecture.—Mr J. Harding, of Hawke’s Bay, delivered a lecture, in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, last evening, on the chemical properties of alcoholic drinks. There was a good attendance, and the lecture, an interesting one, was attentively listened to. Selections of music were given by the Blue Ribbon choir during the evening. A report will appear in our next. Mr Harding will repeat the lecture in Geraldine to night, and the admission is free.

St.John the Evangelist’s Church.— meeting of ladies was held in Winchester last Tuesday in connection with the late garden party. It will be remembered by our readers that this garden party was held for the purpose of providing lamps, etc., for the Winchester Church. The Treasurer reported having £2B in hand. After an animated discussion, it was resolved that two handsome chandeliers should be purchased, and that kneeling boards should also be provided. It was farther decided to procure patterns of material suitable for Communion cloth and cushions. The meeting then terminated. The ladies are certainly to be commended for their laudable zeal on behalf of their church, and deserve the thanks of the congregation of St. John’s.

Thb Rusdeit Libel Case. —The Hon, Mr Bryce has received from Messrs Chambers and Hall, publishers of Rusden’s History of New Zealand, a letter of apology, and stating that all copies of the book will be withdrawn from circulation until the matter complained of is expunged or the libel case goes in favour of Mr Rusden. It was not Mr Bryce's intention to proceed against the publishers unless his agents, Messrs Paines and Co., London, thought it necessary for their client’s interest. Mr Bryce has also been advised that the writ has boen served on Mr Rusden at Cannes, in France. The amount of damages is not known, and the sum to be fixed is left in the hands of Messrs Paines and Co. No date is stated for the return of the writ, but it is understood that if necessary Mr Bryce will go Home.

Divorce. —The civil sessions of the Auckland Supreme Court were brought to a close on Saturday with the hearing of the divorce action Swanson v. Swanson and Wiripu 7 te Mirehana. The circumstances of the case were rather peculiar. In January, 1882, the petitioner was married to the repondent, who, judging by her portrait, is a decidedly goodlooking Maori girl. Five days afterwards unpleasantness arose to mar the honeymoon. The bridegroom, in pursuance of his duties as clerk of the Native Land Court, left for Hokianga, and took his wife with him. On the way she became fascinated by a Native Assessor named Wiripu, and from that time manifested an ungovernable determination to forsake her husband for her lover. Although watched and restrained by her husband, mother and stepfather, she repeatedly left her home, invariably being brought back by her watchers. At last, on the 2nd May, she essayed from her home, and never returned, and since then she has cohabited with Wiripu. The evidence as to adultery being conclusive, and no connivance between the petitioner and respondent being suggested, a decree nisi was pronounced for the dissolution of the | marriage.

Settled. —The slander case between rival bootmakers at Dunedin will not come on, as the defendant has paid the plaintiff’s costs and apologised through the Press. Kate Boyle.—Kate Boyle, charged at the January sittings of the Supreme Court with infanticide and found not guilty on the grounds of insanity, was on Monday released from gaol on an order from His Excellency the Governor. Leasing the Land.—At a meeting of the Otago School Commissioners on Tuesday, Mr Pearson proposed that one-third of certain educational reserves should be disposed of on perpetual lease, but the motion did not find a seconder. The Hon. Mr Reynolds and Mr Menzies were among the members present. The land will be sold on deferred payments and for cash. The Bankruptcy Laws. Speaking at Picton on Tuesday night,the Hon M. Connolly said that last session he was considerably interested in the passing of “the Bankruptcy Bill, which was a considerable change for the better, though no Bill could bo entirely satisfactory, and there was a growiSu opinion to which perhaps he would bo a conyert himsosf, though doubtful at present, that all bankruptcy laws were undesirable, and the relations of debtor and creditor should be left to be settled by the parties themselves.” Btjbnham.”—A new name for a warm place was given by a nine-year-old boy in the Lyttelton Police Court, says the Christchurch lelegraph. His Worship was administering the usual impressive question to the nervous little fellow, who stood with a tear in his eve twirling his bat round between his thumb and forefinger. “You know, I suppose,’ sspd his Worship, “where you will go to if you don’t tell the truth. Don’t you ?” After rubbing both eyes, the youngster took the Court by surprise by stuttering out, Y e e-s, S-i-r, to Burnham.” “ Burn ’em, ” said his Worship, is a very good name for it. Road Board Elections.— An election for the return of two members to eerre on the Mount Peel Road Board in the room of Mr C. G. Tripp and Mr Robert Mackay, who retire in accordance with the Road Ordinance, but are eligible for election, will be held on the 7th May. Nominations must be made with the Returning Officer, Mr Robt. Irvine, before the Ist day of May.—The election to fill the vacancies caused on the Temuka Road Board by the retirement of Mr J. Austin and Mr M. Quinn will take place on the 9th May. Nominations must be made with the Returning officer, Mr W. Wills, before noon on the 6th May. The New Bankruptcy Act.—At the' Dunedin Chamber of Commerce meeting on Friday, Mr George Bell, the Chairman, in tbs course of a long speech, referring to the new Bankruptcy Act, said “ One very extraordinary phase of its operation seems likely to favor fraud and add to expense rather than to reduce it. It seems that this Act has omitted to make provision for conferring upon the Official Assignee the right to examine a debtor except through a solicitor. I have a sort of hereditary reverence for the profession, and can quite understand the desire for putting their fingers into every dirty pie, hut it seems to mo that a trained business man, thoroughly acquainted with the debtor’s doings and misdoings, and technically acquainted with business accounts, is the filter man to investigate the debtor’s affairs thoroughly.” The Noeth Island Trunk Railway.— The Hon. Mr Mitchelson arrived in Auckland on Monday from Wellington rather unexpectedly. He was a passenger from Te Awamutn, Waikato, by the down train. His visit is specially interesting, as ho is on a tour of inspection of the railway routes between Auckland and Wellington, collecting information to be laid before Parliament during the next session of the General. Assembly. With this object in view, he travelled overland to Te Awamutu, accompanied by Mr Knorpp, the civil engineer, and a guide with pack horses, taking notes of the character of the soil, etc. They were well received by the natives. The zigzag route distance they travelled wasabout 600 miles. They ascended every trig station that was at all accessible. Mr Mitchelson thinks it scarcely possible to obtain an easier lino than Mr Rochfort’s, which can be constructed for £SOOO a mile. The distance from the Marton station, on the Wellington side, to Kikikihi, on the Auckland side, is 200 miles. If this line were constructed the railway distance from Auckland to Wellington would be 420 miles. Truth and Soberness. —What is the best family medicine in the world to regulate the bowels, purify the blood, remove costiveness and biliousness, aid digestion, and stimulate the whole system 1 Truth and sobernesc compel us to answer, Hop Bitters, being pure, perfect and harmless. See Advt. Mr K. F. Gray will hold a sale of law books, s.b. b,l. gun, miscellaneous goods, and crockery on Wednesday next. Messrs J. Mundell and Co., will hold a sale of surplus stock on the farm of the late Mr Job a Heney on the 16th May next. The Geraldine Dairy Factory Co., invito tenders for several works. Tenders to be in not later than noon on May 7th next. ‘ Rough on Rats.’ —Clears out rats, mice, roaches, flies, ants, bed-bugs, beetles, insects, skunks, jack-rabbits, gophers. Druggists. New Zealand Drug Co., General Agents. 2