LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1265, 15 November 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A New Gold Find. —A new find of auriferous quartz is reported from Cedar Creek, West Coast. Several lumps of stone showing excellent gold were taken into Ross.

Wesleyan Conyerbnoe.—The Rot. J. Ef. Fletcher, of New South Wales, has been elected President of the Wesleyan General Conference at Christchurch, and the Rer. Spencer Williams, of Melbourne, has been elected Secretary. Railway Returns. —The railway returns for the four weeks ended Oct. 11th show the receipts to have been during that period £70,017 Os <td, and the expenditure £53,796 Is Od. For the same period last year the receipts were £66,683 10* 4d, and the expenditure £51,925 5s 6d.

Leaving fob the North Island.—Mr W. J. N. Upton, for many years a resident in the South Canterbury district, has determined on leaving I'emuka fortheNorth Island, and ha* instruct ed Mr K. F. Gray to submit to auction on the 28th instant his freehold property and household furniture and effects. Mr Upton and his wife have a whole host of friends who will sincerely regret their depart ture.

Geraldine Public school. —Mr Hughes, Hip head master, left on Wednesday last for Christchurch to attend an examination. The school was left open till Friday, when it was closed till Wednesday, as Mr Hughes iexpected back on that day. It is to be hoped he will be successful in his examim’ ion as'he has been working very hard for it for some, and thoroughly deserves the honor of success. Juvenile Good Templar Lodge, Geraldine.—There was a good attendance at the usual fortnightly meeting of this Lodge, held in the Good Templar Hall, on Tuesday evening. After the meeting had been opened in the usual form by Bro. Sherratt, the following officers were elected for the ensuing quarter :—W.C.T., Bro. W. Waite ; W.V.T.i Sister M. Coltman j W.C., Bro. F. Fronting'; 1.G., Bro, Jas, Gaby; W.M., Bro. J. McLean ; R.S., Sister M. Fleming ; L.S., Sister A. Gaiger. After a well-arranged programme, consisting of recitations and songs, had been gone through,the Lodge was closed by the C.T., Bro. W. Fleming. Human Remains. The police received information on Wednesday (says the Oamaru Times) that the bones of a human foot inside a boot had been found on one of the Islands of the Waitaki, near Duntroon. Many years ago it may be remembered by some, the body of a man was found in a boat on Lake Ohau, the man apparently having met his death by foul play. A man named Martin Cunningham was said to have been in the boat with the person supposed to have been in the boat with the person supposed to have been murdered, and as he has not been heard of since, it is surmised that the foot found near Dunfroou belonged to the missing man Cunningham ; but this, of course, is merely conjecture.

Not an Extraobdinakt Shake. —Under the heading of “ A Shark” a southern contemporary gravely states that " A person fishing for cod on the Breakwater yesterday (Thursday), hauled up a shark between six and seven feet long, and possessed of a formidable mouthful of teeth.” It might be assumed from this that a shark six or seven feet long with “ a mouthful of teeth” is a rarity, but history tells a different story. If the shark had possessed no.teeth there would have been something remarkable in the circumstance. However, the “ big gooseberry season” is ac hand.

Major Atkinson. —Tire Wellington Post concludes a recent article as follows : “ Major Atkinson has no reason to be dissatisfied with the course of recent events. In the House for weeks past he has been steadily growing in favor, and perhaps he never stood higher in the estimation of the House than at the dose of the present session. At the beginning of the next one we expect fully to see him at the head of a very large, united and formidable party. He has successfully played a waiting game, and Mr Stout and Sir Julius Yogel have, of course unconsciously, done a great deal to aid and assist him. The result will be apparent next session.”

Duties ot the Government. —At the annual meeting of the Otago Institute, Mr Petrie (President) delivered an address on **80036 scientific duties of the Government of New Zealand.” He referred to the reckless destruction in New Zealand ef forests, and necessity of the Government taking steps to conserve the same, and also planting young trees. He urged that one of the scientific duties which the Government ought lo discharge was to establish science and technical schools. Another duty was the establishment of model farms, where young men might be instructed in the propagation and culture of tobacco, oranges, bananas, sugar, and other products of tropical climates. Ho was also of opinion that the Goyernment should get the native flora fauna properly classified, and thought no abler man could be found to undertake this task than Mr Hooker, of Kow Gardens, England. Mr Kirk, of Lincoln College, Christchurch, and Mr Cheeseman, of the Auckland Museum, were eminently fitted to fulfil the position of Colonial collaborateurs in such an undertaking.

Joseph Mack ay’s Case. —The Wellington correspondent of the Christchurch Press gives the following particulars in reference to the case of Joseph Mackay, who was arrested and committed for trial on a charge of embezzling moneys of the Government Insurance Commissioners and against whom “ no bill ” was found by the Grand Jury at a sitting of the Supreme Court in Timaru ; business accomplished by the Public Petitions Committee before the prorogation consisted in preparing their report on the now frmous case of Joseph Mackay, late of the Government Insurance Department. The petitioner stated that he was for some time engaged in the service of the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department ; that be was criminally prosecuted by the department, but the Grand Jury threw out the bill. He prayed the House to give him satisfaction. The Committee reported that they had examined Mr Luckie, Mr Thorne, Hon. Mr Stout, Mr Munro and petitioner. They also had before them a large mass of documentary evidence. They were satisfied that the petitioner is innocent of any criminal intent, As however the petitioner acted injudiciously and in contravention of the rules of the Department, the Committee adds that they cannot recommend a large sum by way of compensation. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, they are of opinion that a payment of £SO would meet, the case. They accordingly recommended the payment of this sum to the petitioner as an act of grace. It may be added that four petitions in all were preferred last session by persons who felt aggrieved m various ways with the Department, but that of Mackay is the only case in which the Committee considered that the petitioner had any claim whatever for consideration.”

Telegraphic News.—Mr Yolbracht, who has resigned the management of the N.ZTobacco Com.iany (A uckland),has established a Nt-w Zealand Tob .cco Growing and Curing Company, and will commence operations at once. —The Auckland Harbour Board are about to make a claim on the Government for £45,000, the Talus of an endowment at

.Mechanics Bay, taken for railway purposes. — A dairy factory has been started at Cambridge where cheese will be made on the Swiss principle.—The silting of the Divorce Court at Wellington has been adjourned till 2nd December.—Thesanitary precautions taken at Parihaka hare gone far towards stamping out disease. —At Kawaru river, Lake County, (Otago) a lad named Johnstone, son of the proprietor of the Victoria Bridge Hotel was killed by a cart capsizing on him. Two of his sisters were in the cart with him, but received no hurt.— The Northern Maori Parliament will meet at Kaipara on the 22nd instant. This is a gathering of the Ngatiwlmtuas, under the auspice* of Paeroa and Tuahera, and Tawhaio has promised to be present.—Mr W. R. Waddell, a confectioner, has been elected Mayor of Auckland.—A widow woman, Mary McDonald, aged 40, attempted suicide at Auckland early on Thursday morning at her boarding house, by wounding herself with broken glass in various parts of the body. She had been drinking heavily.—A fire broke out in Queen Street, Auckland, on the premises of Cosgrave, draper, on Thursday night, the goods in a window catching fire. The employees succeeded in suppressing the fire, but a good deal of damage was done to silks, etc. —Mr J. H. Graham has been gazetted Clerk of the District Court of Timaru and Oamaru holden at Waimate. —The Governor has been pleased to appoint the Hon. Mr Stout to preside over meetings of the Executive Council.—A constable is coming out in the s.s. Kaikoura to take home Anderson, the English defaulter. —A deputation from the Wellington Labor Council, waited on the Premier on Thursday to urge that there should bo no further grants voted for immigration, and advocated the establishment in Wellington of a Government Labor Exchange. The Premier replied that immigration was now stopped with the exception of for persona nominated by friends.—A young man named Hy. Ash has been killed at Bargent’s sawmills, Takaka, (Nelson) by having his head crushed between two logs.—£7ls were taken at the gates of the Christchurch Agricultural show on Wednesday This represents an attendance of about 1400. —His Excellency the Governor arrived at Christchurch from Wellington by the Arawata. Hii Excellency’s visit is a private one. —During the twelve months ending on 31st October last, six million rabbit skins were shipped Home from Port Chalmers.— The Mosgial Woollen Factory Company held its annual meeting on Thursday when a dividend of ten per cent, was declared.—The N.Z. Grand National Steeplechase Club hare disqualification of the jockeyFred. Hedge.