LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1309, 28 February 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Proposed Volunteer Corps pob Geraldine, —We understand that a meeting will be held in the Young Men’s Club room on Tuesday evening to take steps to form a corps of volunteers in Geraldine. Geraldine Monthly Stock Sale.— We publish this morning in our advertising columns the particulars of the entries made for this sale. Additional entries will be received up to hour of sale by the auctioneers, Messrs Muudeil and Co. Ashburton Dairy Eactory. The Directors of the Ashburton Butter and Cheese Eactory have resolved to try the experiment of making butter at the factory during the winter months, and will give 4d per gallon for the milk supplied. Bogged. —.Yesterday a valuable horse belonging to Mr John Malcolmson got bogged' in the Sod Tows Creek, Temuka, but with the help of some willing hands it was soon extricated from its dangerous position, very little the worse. Wo understand that several other animals have been bogged in the same place.

Geealdine Autumn Race Meeting.— The date of this meeting has been postponed from the ,30th April and let May till the sth and 6th of May in order not to edash with the Ashburton Club’s fixture, they haring decided to hold their autumn meeting on the dates first proposed by the Geraldine Club. Nominations will bo received till March 19tb, and those now received will stand good till that date, or the fees will be returned. Backing thbie Opinion.—A late issue of the Manawatu Times says:—Just after the business of the District Court had concluded, two legal gentlemen backed up their opinions with their fists. For a few seconds wigs and long robes were flying about in confusion, and one of the combatants was struck in the eye. No law points were involved in this animated discussion, though the arguments were forcible. The parties in the case were separated by the bystanders, and it is understood that the Resident Magistrate will be asked to investigate the matter. Wholesale Robbbey, —At the R.M, Court, Timaru, on Thursday Jest, Patrick Ryan was brought up on 17 charges, three of them' being for housebreaking. Only six of the charges were gone into—(l) For stealing clothing, &c., the properly of John Plaisted, value £2; (2) T. W. Begg, value £2 j (3) Alex. Ferguson, value 10s; (4) J. Rowe, value £llos ; (5) S. Halhmore, value £110s; (6) Thomas Howley, value £2. Messrs J. S'. Beswick, R.M'., and F. LeCren, T, W. Hall, and B. G. Stericker, J.P.’s, were on the Bench. The owners of the clothes were members of the Timaru lawn Tennis Club and on the 16th November, asfer playing a game, had left their clothes where they were accustomed to leave them—in the Club's shed. On the 18th it was found that the shed had been broken into and the clothes abstracted. All the witnesses positively identified the clothes. Detective Kirby gave evidence as to finding the missing goods, in three boxes under the floor of a room in the house. The boxes were bound up, and appeared as if ready to be sent away. The boxes contained a vast assortment of goods. The Detective also found in the roof a tin box containing 24 single notes, six half-sovereigns and some silver. In answer to the Bench, accused said all the goods were his; that they were all marked in his name. He had brought them all from Melbourne in the three boxes in which they were when found. The Bench, in sentencing prisoner, said : “We don’t believe a word you have said. In our opinion you are a thorough scoundrel and a pest to society, and to save the public from further depredations on your part, we sentence you to throe months’ imprisonment on each charge, the same to be cumulative.” The three charges against accused for burglary, and the other charges of larceny, were adjourned. '

Sale at Washdyke. vertising columns Mr K. F. Gray publishes the entries he has received to date for the opening sale at the Washdyke yards on Friday next.

Cricket.— A Cricket match between the Temuka and Timaru Cricket Clubs takes place to-day, on the grounds of the latter. The following will represent Temuka :—Messrs Hargreaves (capt,), Hayhurst, Heap, Ogilvie, Gurr, Bryars, E. Brown, R. Pinckney, G. P. Wood, T. Wood, and Cleaves. Emergency—G. Johnston. Resident Magistrate’s Court, Geeaddine. —The Resident Magistrate will hold a sitting of this Court on Monday next at halfpast twelve, when the adjourned charges against several tradesmen for having unstamped and incorrect weights m their possession, adjourned from last sitting of the Court, also will be heard, also the adjourned cattle trespass cases. His Worship will give judgment in the case of Hinckley v. Dean.

Contradiction,— ln consequence of a statement made in the Melbourne Harbinger of Light some time ago that the Royal family are spiritualists, a wellknown amateur exposer (residing in Adelaide) communicated with Sir Henry Ponsonby, the private secretary to the Queen, who has replied stating that the Royal family are not spiritualists. Sir Henry Ponsonby encloses a letter from Mr Alexander York, equerry to the Duke of Albany, denying that the Duke was a spiritualist, or had given, as was asserted, a slate to Mr Eglinton.

Railway Excursions. Tho railway excursion from Timaru and intervening stations to Ashburton was not a very great success. About 75 started from Timaru, and this number was- augmented by about 12 from Temuka, and a few from Orari and Winchester. About 800 persons attended from Christchurch. At the Ashburton station tho excursionists were met by brass bands who played some lively airs. During tho day there was no lack of sports being held in the Domain and cricket grounds. The Christchurch tram left for home at 6 o’clock and tho Timaru one left half an hour later, the bands playing Auld Lang Syne as they moved off. —The excursion from Timaru to Christchurch and, Lyttelton takes place on the 12lh March,

An Old Okfknob. Between the 9th November and Ist December, 1882, a man of the name of John Christopher Cuff was believed to have forged a Jpromisory note for £llO 17s, purporting to be signed by J. Cuthbertson, and which was cashed by J. 0. McArdell. A warrant was issued at Invercargill for his arrest, but he evaded the law and has been at large ever since. He is a half-caste Victorian Native, a horse dealer, thirty-five years of age, 6ft. lin. in height, stoutly built, rolling gait, knock-kneed, and usually wears dark clothes. A man answering this description got mixed up with an assault case at Waiau, and was arrested by Constable Whitty. He had been working for nearly two years at the Waiau Ferry Hotel under the name of Robert Taylor, which named he gave to the constable when arrested. On the road to the station-house Taylor, or Cuff, received permission to go into a store to try and settle the assault case. While there, ho succeeded in throwing the constable off his guard, and made his escape into a garden, and though the neighbors turned out to assist Whitty, none were fortunate enough to come across the escapee. — Press,

Oub Feozen Mutton.—" Anglo-Austra-lian ” in the European Mail of January 9th says“ Apropos of New Zealand mutton, I heard rather a good story the other day. A friend of mine, an old Canterbury colonist, instructs his butcher to supply him with New Zealand mutton whenever he has a very good •onsignment to select from. The other day this gentleman was entertaining some friends at dinner, and among these wore several from Canterbury, who particularly enjoyed liberal helpings from off a fine saddle of mutton. That, they said, was not New Zealand, My friend thought not, too, and remarked that it was probably a fine specimen from the South Downs. This dictum his guests fully accepted, observing that in Canterbury they had never found such a full and delicious flavour in even the best mutton. Well, as may be easily inferred, it subsequently turned out that this saddle did come off a New Zealand sheep,' and the obvious inference is that the dry freezing process actually makes New Zealand mutton, when off the finest sheep* actually better on arriving in this country than it would be if eaten where bred, while it fully equals, and perhaps surpasses, the very choicest product of our English pastures.”

Ceuelty to a Child,— At the R.,M. Court, Christchurch, last Thursday, James and Ellen Radford, husband and wife, were brought up charged with having assaulted Ethel May Radford, aged nine years, their adopted child. The evidence of a young woman named Jane Hussey, who boarded with the defendants, was to the effect that the little girl was moat cruelly ill-treated, by being beaten with a rope doubled three or four times [the rope, a stout clothes line, was produced], and also with a supplejack three or four times. She had also many times seen the girl tied up, fastened by the hands, feet, and round the waist, to a bedstead. She had seen this three or four days in succession. The last time she had seen this was on February 12th. The male defendant tied the child upon that occasion,. It was he who usually did it, though Mrs Radford had also done so. Moreover, the child was badly fed, ‘and on one occasion witness had known her to bo kept without food for nearly 24 hours. This evidence was corrobosated by another boarder, a girl named Kate Seatrce, a dressmaker. The male prisoner was sent to gaol for 14 days, and his wife severely cautioned to be more careful in future.

Accident.—A lad about five years of age, sou of Mr Eli Prattley, had a narrow escape fiom being killed yesterday. He was on his way home across the common at ’Arowhenua, where a horse belonging to Mr King was grazing. The little fellow had a flax stick in his hand and struck the horse on the hind legs with it, resulting that it kicked him, inflicting a deep wound on his forehead above the right eye. The wound was i about two inches long, and it was bo deep that the bone was laid bare. Dr Hayes attended him, and so far as we can ascertain he is not dangerously hurt. Premier of N.S.W. —The Tuapeka Times has the following Among the men of mark who have visited the colony lately, there is one in whom to a certain extent we feel we have a local interest. We refer to the Hon. Mr Stuart, Premier of New South Wales, who has been in New Zealand for some time back recruiting his health. In 1849 Mr Stuart kept a small store at Port Chalmers, but finding that a too limited sphere of action he started farming at Mount Misery (Tokomairiro), and afterwards took up a run which bears his name (Mount Stuart). He sold out and went to Adelaide, where he joined the firm of Messrs Townsend and Co,, of which he soon assumed the active management. Subsequently be went to New South Wales, and entered politics, and his undoubted ability has at length placed him in a position of the highest honor. Questionable Verdict. —The Cromwell Argus reports that about noon on Sunday last it was reported to the Police that the body of a man was to be seen lying at the foot of a precipice off Melmore street. The police at once proceeded to the spot, and the body was identified as that of John Doyle, more generally known as "Paddy Doyle.” Medical aid was at once procured, but life was found to be extinct. The body must have fallen 60ft and death been instantaneous. Doyle, who was a carpenter employed at the Mount Pisa Station, had been about town in a state of intoxication. At the inquest a verdict of " Accidental death ” was returned ; but papers found in his possession go to show that he contemplated self-destruction. One was a letter addressed “ To a friend when I am gone,” and read as follows: " This I send to all my friends. lam tired of the life I lead, therefore it is better to die. By the time this is opened I will be no more. You might hear of me being found in the river, tied hand and foot; so blame no person but myself.— Yours, &c., John J . Doyle. Another piece of paper had the words on it, “ John Doyle, carpenter, flawea Flat, is no more after this day.”

Stephon Tajlor, a bankrupt, will apply at the District Court at Timaru on, the 16th March for an order of discharge, Mr John Lawson notifies the impounding in the Temuta Pound of a chestnut hack gelding. Will be sold on the 9th March if not previously released. “ Rough on Cohns.” Ask for Wells’ “ Sough on Corns." Quick relief, complete, permanent cure. Corns, warte, bunions. Kempthorno, Prosaer and Co., Agonta, Christchurch. 3