LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1316, 17 March 1885, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Sheep for Sale —Messrs J. Mundell and Co. have* a line of good-conditioned merino ewes for sale privately.

liiMiGBiTiON avd Emior ition.—There arrived in the colony during February 1334 person?, whereas only 937 person* departed Laving a gdn of 337 persons.

Thb Truukv Fi«b B« oxoa. The Temuka Fire-Brigade yesterday received a cheque for £25 from the Insurance Association. This should have come last N >vember.

Geraldine Chicket Club Concert.— This concert has been postponed for one week, and will now be held on Wednesday the 8 h April, Rehearsals will be held in the Oddfellows’ Hall everv Wednesday afternoon from 3 o’clock till 5. The Late Mr J. Hbney.—krom th® Guardian wo K-arn that Mr Gfove», stonemason, of Ashburton, has just completed a headstone to be placed over the grave of the late Mr Henry, Geraldine, which is a very creditable piece of workrnana’iip. It is made from Mount Somers stone, and haa hern worked to a temarkably fine face. Over the inacription the Masonic keystone, f-quare, compass, and sextant are cut out in hull relief, showing that the stone is well adapted for the purpose.

Munificent Bequests. A Christchurch telegram says;—The will of the lute Mr Edward Constable Maxwell was proved on Saturday. He leaves the following charitable bequests: £IOOO to be divided amongst the Koman Catholic schools in Canterbury in such proportion as the executor thinks fit; £IOOO to the Christchurch Hospital ; £SOO amongst the deserving Catholic poor of Dumfries (Scotland) ; and £2OOO among such charitable institutions in Canterbury, and in such proportions, as the executor thinks fit. Hoad Dispute, —lt will be remembered tha' the Maoris have for the last 12 months been urging that the road leading to the public road from George Town, near'l'emuba, had never been bought from (hem, and claiming payment for it. Finding that the Board did not pay them for it they recently shut it up, and it has considerably inconvenienced those who had been in the habit of using it. The Board have written to various departments of the Government asking information as regards the road, and, atter many delays and inquiries, have at last received a letter stating that the road had been purchased from lhe natives at the rate of £l2 an acre m 1872. The road is now open for traffic.

Geraldine Tows Board. The usual fori nightly sit,ting of this Botrd will be held to-morrow evening iu (he Board’s offices at hall-past sewn. District Court. -At the silting of the above Court in Timaru, yesterday, the examinations of W. B. Km Bey, P. McAteer, W. Taggart, Divid D. Gibb, and H. Hodgson were declared closed. The examination of J. J. Heap was adjourned. Orders of discharge were granted to James Watkins, John Wood head and Stephen Taj lor. Costs were granted out of the estate in this last case Ihe application of Matthew Wightman was ordered to stand over. DttPAItTUEB OF TH* R.M.B. RIMUTAKA. The R.M.S. Rimutaka Lft Lyttelton on Sunday at 2 p.rn., on her voyage to Great Britain. She was in splendid trim, and had on board a large and valuable cargo, including £6 ,269 worth of gold. She had also a large number of passengers. Her departure wawitnessed by several hundred people from C ’l'istchurch and elsewhere. Hie following is a list of her cargo From Wellington fm London 1214 bales of woo 1 , 421 caselulow, 186 ca-es clise-e, 409 pieces beef, 1165 cio mull on, 6532 carcases do, 72 pkgs, Fiorn Lyttelton : -2170 bales wool and skins, 4196 saoks wheat, 283 cssks tallow, 30 bales basiland leather, 788 cases cheese, 31 kegs and cases honec, 8685 carcases mutton, 80 pkj,*. 14 boxes gold.

Queer Doings at Matatiba.— The pen ulo of Gore must ba a very bad lot, or the Malmra Ensign woull hardly dure to publish such a paragraph as the following regarding the pi oca'ding* at the local Court on 9t!i M&rch ;—“ The amount ot prevarication, Iving, and fraud noticeable in the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday at Gore by those who gave evidence wamost disgusting, an! ought to have been promptly and decisively checked by the Bench. Nearly half the plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses ought to have been committed to the lock-up, and we trust tha the presiding Magistrate will make examples of some of those who I bus make a mockery of their oaths.” Here there is no distinction made, and the litigants included some of the leading men of that go-ahead (Southland town.—Gore. Mixing His Gabmbnts.—A droll incident. (.-ays the ReLre ) occurred during the journey to Sco land of the Maiquis of Salisbury. In the train he changed his costume for a fu 1 Highland rig out, intending it as a delicate compliment to the Land of th# Kilt. But, when he looked at himself in th# glass panel fitted into tha carriage he found that the tailor had cut hie petticoats, or whatever they are called, too short. So he made up his mind to pub oh evening dress. He changed his upper garment* and then sat down for a few moments to read up a speech. This sent him asleep. He only woke with a start to find himself running into the station, Forgetting what had happened, he thrust on hi* hat and appeared at the window bowing and this was how he looked : He had a full Highland costume as far as his waist; above was u white shirt and swallow-tailed coat, and the entire edifice was crowned with a chimney-pot hat, upon which he had sat. down without noticing it. His Lordship’s horror, when ho stepped on the platform and felt the keen wind cutting his here legs, changed to absolute agony when his valet appeared scrambling out of the carriage with a pair of trousers in his baud, waving them wildly, and ezel mining, “ My Lord, my Lord, you’ve foraotien these!’’ The Effects of Competition. —ln the last letter of the Home Correspondent of the Otago Daily Times'the following item appear; steamers have dune for the co'ony, it falls far slioit of what is being done for America by the tierce competition of the rival linos on the Atlantic. 1 observe from recent quotations tnat the cutting is so keen that steerage passengers are taken from Liverpool to Now York for £1 12s, and from Antwerp to New York for £2 ; while, owing to the competition between tha railroad lines, an emigrant can go fiom Liverpool lo Chicago for £1 16s, and as far as San Francisco for £9 4i. Competition is s iid to ba the soul of busmens, though probably the companies would in this case prefer business without soul. But if a small modicum of this competition could take tho place of th* friendly understandings into which rival companies trading to the Antipodes are prone to f ill, it would be better for the colony. At all events, one can see how heavily handicapped New Zealand is in the race for settlers, when the cost of transit to America is such a bigttelle.”

Gale at Auckland. —An Auckland telegram says ‘‘The gala on Saturday was the heaviest experienced for many yearPj infl cting some damage on shipping nod property. The small steam er Blanche is a total wreck. Tiie insurance is unknown. Several yatchs are drmiged, and the Mura ton and Be'a arc ashore, but are not seriously injured. A number of coasters are damaged, and the cutter Evening Star is ashore in the Rmgitoto Channel, and the Harvsst Home has sunk in the harbor. The crew of the latter had a narro v escape before being rescued. The Union Company’s hulk Cautero went ashore but is uninjured. The old Customs launch is badly knocked about*,, The D’Arcy Pratt, brigantine, held off" with two anchors down in the Rangitoto Channel, after dragging considerably. Several houses in course of erection in exposed situations in the suburbs were blown down, also slates, chimneys, trees, verandahs, &c. A large chimney was blown through the roof of Mr Seymour George’s residence. Miss Pearson, of Newton, received a fracture of the leg, and Mr D. L. Murdoch’s coachman, Welsh, fatal injuries from falling timber. . The damage done is over £2OOO.

H.M. Court, Temdka.—At the R.M. Court, Temuku, yesterday, before S. D. Barker and J. Talbot, Ecqs., J.F.’s, a man named John McDonald was brought up charged with having been drunk in a railway carnage at the lerauk* Railway Station, also with obstructing the stationmaster in the discharge of bis duty. Th* accused pleaded guilty to boih offences. Constable Guerin and tlie stationmaster gave evidence to the rffaot that when tbs express train arr ved last Saturday, accused jumped out of a carriage and into the guards van. He was under the influence of drink, and was making inquiries about a dog. The guard and the stationmaster tol I bun to leiv# the van, but lie refused un il he saw the constable. He then jumped out and entered into an altercation with the stationmaster, whom he jostled about, and ultimately lie was given in charge to the constable who looked him up. The defendant said the dog was a Valuable one and he was looking after it. The Bench, taking into consideration that ha pleads I guilty, dealt, leniently with him and let him off with a Gno of £l. Qkhaldinb County Council.—' The following is the conclusion of oar report of Thursday’s meeting of th* CouncilMr Kalland said before Ihe Council adjourned he would like to say a word about the question of charges. They were just on the ere of another grain season and he would in any way reduce the port charges so that grain could be shipped from here instead of bri' g shipped to Cnrislcnurch, It was just a question whether they were not justified in reducing the charges to a merely nomin.il nue so as to get the whole traffic of the district into its proper channel. Anoiher reason was that the price of grain was likely to be y, ry low this season and the Board should therefore do all in iheir power to help the farmers. The Chairman said unless the country people were prepared to meet the reduction by a rale he saw no possibility of the present charges being altered in any way. ihe mailer might, however, be dia ousatd at next meeting when the loan proposals were being considered. Mr Jouas gave notice of metion as follows :—“ That i,he Board at next meeting con-ider the question of proceeding with further works, fur winch another loan is required." The meeting then terminated. Tenders (fur labour only) are invited for additions to Mr A. Russell’s dwelling, Temuku. Ah Que, at th* Chinaman’s Gardens, near Temuku, offers 10s reward for the recovery of a bay mare lost about a fortnight ago. Description in advertisement. The New Mail Steamer Rimutaka.— By bur advertising lotumns this morning it will be observed that th* above eteamer, which arrived at Wellington on Monday week last, ha* brought out their new eeason’e goods for Messrs Drummond and Glasson, of Commerce House, Tiinaru. From their ad* veriisement it will be seen that the goude they are now opening are not yet quit# eight week* out from th* London market, a fact which illustrates forcibly the immense advan: ages accruing to thi* colony from direct steam communication, and—what i» also a subtle end forcible argument, 100, although publishing a weakness—th# fair eex of tin* distant colony can now be provided with garments as new in design and fashionable in construction ae their eisten in the very vortex of London and PuHeian society. Although we are bound to be dependent for lotnc time yet upon the Old World for many of the articles of daily wear and consumption, notably silks, cottons, and linen, it is pleating to observe that in Woollens the oolontul productions have com* eo prominently to the front—Messri Drummond and Gliston announcing significantly that they purpose keeping nothing but c ©thing mad# up in the colony and produced by the mill# of Canterbury and Otago. Apropos of tweed* we have been shown by this firm some of the productions of the Oamaru Mills which are pronounced by competent judges equal, if not superior, to the some class of goods turned out by the longer c»t*blished Cim panics in the colony. A recent, inspection of Messrs Drummond and Glasson’s premise# shows that they have gone to great expense in providing an attractive shop. Having taken in Wade and, Shea’s bootshop, it gives them a Tery full frontage, which will ba made the most of by the immense sheet# of plate gloss (hat for the present, al oration were specially imported per Doric. We wi-h this enterprising firm a continuance of the success they seetr. to have enjoyed during the pist sea-on, —[idvt.]