The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1885. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1320, 28 March 1885, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 1885. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Resident Magistrate's Court, Geraldine. —The usual fortnightly sitting of this Court will be hold on Monday at half-past twelve.

Church Parade. —The member* of No. 1 Company Temuka Rifles hold a church parade to-morrow morning. They are requested to fall ia at the Volunteer Hall at 10 o’clock.

Clearing Sale at Arowhbnua.—On Monday next Mr K. P, Gray holds a clearing sale of lire and dead farm stock, household furniture etc., on the farm of the Rev. D. Gordon at Arowhenua. Particulars will bo found in our advertising columns. The Geraldine Volunteer Corps.— A meeting of the Committee was held on Thursday evening, four members being present. A few small matters were brought before the meeting and disposed of. The Secretary was instructed to make enquiries re price of uniforms. A meeting of all those who have enrolled their names will be held in the Young Men’s Club on Monday evening at halfpast seven. All are requested to attend, as the business to be considered of importance.

Loss of a Horse.—Mr W. H. Walton, of Geraldine, lost n valuable young filly on Thursday last, through an unfortunate but simple accident. Mr Walton was proceeding to break in the animal, and when the surcingle was being put on, it made a plunge and broke one of its fore legs just below the knee. The animal of course had to be shot. The loss to the owner is considerable, it having cost £l2 twelve months ago when a two-year-old and was by Trump Card out of a firstclass carriage mare. Sly Groo.- Hugh Brosnahan, of Kerrytown, was on last Thursday charged with having sold on Sunday the Blh a quantity of bser to one Martha Stock without having a license. Martha Stock deposed that she was at Brosnahan’s, in Kerrytown, on the Bth. On her asking him if he had any beer in the house he replied he had, and gave her some in a 2-ga!loa jar, but she did not know how much be put in it. Accused changed a pound for her, but there was nothing said about the price of the beer, and there was nothing paid for it. Constable Stanley stated he found an 18 gallon cask of beer, a jar of whiskey and some bottles and glasses in the house. The case was dismisssd on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to support the information. Primitive Methodist Church, Geraldine. —The anniversary services in connection with the Sunday School of this Church will be held to-morrow. Two services will be preached by the Rev. B. F, Rothwell (of Temuka): in the morning at 11 o’clock, and at 6.30 in the evening. A collection will be made after each service in aid of the Sunday School. In the afternoon, at half-past 2, a special service will be conducted for the parents and children, when Sunday School prizes will be distributed. A tea and public meeting will take in the Church on Tuesday evening, when addresses will be given by the Revs, Rothwell and Clark, and Messrs Huffey, Maslin, and A. Sherratt. During the ’evening the choir will render selections, and recitations will be given by the Sunday School children. Tea will be on the tables at half-past 6.

He Fem Amongst Thieves. A , farmer living on Banks Peninsula, named William Craw, was at the Christchurch Theatre last Wednesday and afterwards got very drank and called a cab and asked to be driven to his hotel. Lilly Garland, a woman of ill-fame, followed him into the cab and the cabman drove to her home where three men overpowered Craw and robbed him of a gold watch and chain, value £l4 10s, and £3 in money. Another young man was acting the part of a policeman pacing up and down outside the house. The robbers dragged Craw out, and one of them said to the sham policeman, “In the Queen’s name I give this man in charge.” Craw, who was too drunk to resist, was taken a short distance from the house and left there. The affair happened between midnight and 1 a.m. Constable Lawlor, who heard of it much later, had secured all five prisoners by 9 a.m. The chief witness against them is a young woman who lived with Garland. They remanded till Tuesday next. Attempted Escape From Gaol. A most determined attempt to escape from Mount Cook goal has just been frustrated. It appears that for a few daye the convict Crabtree, serving a eentenee of 13 years for offences committed at Christchurch, had been shamming sickness and was allowed to remain in his hammock. However, the goaler had his suspicions of Orabtrse and had him ramovsd to a separate csll. An examination of tbs hammock was made, when the blankets were found to be sewn together and a chisel, gimblet, and a two-bladed knife were found secreted there. Forthef inspection a bows that Crabtree bad been hard at work at the division wall with the chisel and gimblet, and bad nearly succeeded in cutting a hole in the wall sufficent to allow the body of a man to push through. Crabtree was brought before the magistrates and pleaded guilty to the offence. Ha was sentenced to thirty days in irons and seven days on bread and water. On tbs 17th of last month, Crabtree attempted to escape from Lyttelton Gaol, and was fired at by one of the warders. It is believed tha£ had the bole been successfully cut through, ten of the long sentence prisoners had arranged to escape.

The Easter Encampment. -The Lyttelton Times says that the tender of Mr Peter Coirn, of the Royal Hotel, Temuka, has been accepted for the supply of rations to the volunteers at the Easter encampment at Winchester. The price is 2s per man per diem. His tender for forage for horses has also been accepted.

Geraldine Monthly Fair. Messrs J. Mundell and Co. hold their monthly stock sale on Wednesday next at the Geraldine Yards. Particulars of the entries already made are published this morning, and as they are large and varied, the attention of buyers and others are drawn to them. Further entries will be received up to the hour of sale.

Volunteer Parade, The Temuka Volunteers, headed by their band, paroded the streets last evening to the strains of martial music. The attendance was about 40, and their general deportment was very creditable j in fact, we have never seen them to greater advantage. The band also played with much spirit, and appeared to have had now energy infused into its members since they joined the volunteers. Both the volunteers and the band may congratulate themselves on having amalgamated, for both are a credit to the town now. The Maori Prophetess.— The Government do not anticipate any trouble in connection with the Maori craze in the North. Mr Olendon, R.M., has telegraphed to the Government to the effect that the report re the self-sacrifice were circulated by illinformed Europeans. He does not consider there is any danger of a difficulty arising, and says the “ prophetess ” could be arrested at any time if necessary. In fact she has offered herself for arrest, but one of the leading chiefs has expressed a wish that she should be allowed her liberty until the time stated by her for the millenium has paaed.

Oanhibaium.— -A letter receded from Mr Charles Lawlor, of the Wild Duck cruising party, who were lately in the neighborhood of the Engineer Group south-east of New Guinea,gires particulars of cannibal atrocities perpetrated about New Year’s Day on the island of Wornworngay. William Read, manager of the copra station at Bently Island ( was gathering copra, when the natives, instigated by a Chinaman, attacked him. Read made a running fight as he endeavored to regain his host but was shotdown, and the murderers cut off his head and ate his body. A missionary from Test Islamd proceeded to Bently Island prepared to arrest the miscreants, bu fc McCord, the deceased’s mate, was too debilitated to take measures and it was thought better to allow a man-of-war to taka up the chase, Professor Baldwin. Thoughtreading is one of the most extraordinary things of the present age. It is scarcely credible that ’one man can read the thoughts that pass through another’s mind, but it appears to be done somehow. Professor Baldwin, the mind-reader, will appear next Wednesday evening in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, when he will give an exhibition of mind-reading. His custom is to get a committee of the audience on the stage to see that everything is fair, and then get one of them to think in his own mind of something, and the Professor can discover the object thought of. The Otago Daily Times says his performance, and also that of Mrs Baldwin, is quite mystifying, and created a great sensation.

Land nob the Police and Abmbd Conbtabulaet. —Ths Goverment ore setting aside a block of land, about 5000 acree, at the South-west base of Mount Egmont as a semimilitary settlement. This reserve will be split up into sections of about 100 acres each, and any member of three years’, standing in the Constabulary Force will be allowed to take up a section on tasy terms. They are also making arrangements for setting aside certain blocks of between two and three thousand acres, which may be taken.- up in sections of about 100 acres each under the perpetual leasing system by members of the Police force. The conditions are that any member of the Force who exceeds the age of 45, and has been 10 years in the service, may take up any of the sections. It is not at all compulsory that he should leave the Force at that age, but it is entirely optional with himself whether he retires or not. The land to be reserved will be some of the best in the colony, and in each case the reserves will bo in close proximity to markets, and easy of access either by road or rail, A second block under the semi-military settlement scheme will probably x bo selected along the route of the North Island main trunk line. The regulations in connection with both these will be gazetted shortly. It is not intended to make further reductions in the Force at present. The Dunedin Child-beatino Case.— This case was heard last Wednesday in Dunedin. The case against Mrs Carrie Fleming of assaulting John Fleming, aged 11, was first taken. This boy said on Friday last his stepmother gave him a “hammering.” She made him strip naked, then laid him on the bed in the bed-room face downwards, and then beat him with his father’s cartwhip all over his back and downwards. It was a sore beating. Ho did not cry, because he would have got three times worse. (Sensation in Court, which was crammed mainly by women.) In crossexamination the boy said he was sometimes naughty, and had hit his sister with his fist, for which he had been beaten, but this was not on the Friday referred to. Ho was sent to school on the Friday with his knicksrbockers sewn up, because in the night he had got up, lit a candle, and taken a biscuit, when he felt hungry. A Mrs Greatrex described the wounds on the boy as like a lean steak. The stepmother was committed for trial, bail being fixed at two sureties of £IOO,

each. She was subsequently charged with having treated one of the other children similarly. The little girl of five years ap» peared to have been whipped when naked, like the others. The accused was Committed fop trial in this case. The father of the children was also charged with having ill-treated the children, but the Bench reserved their decision. The evidence showed that the father tied the boy to the bed-post and beat him with the cart whip. A Goon Account, —" Ta gum it np, air long yean of bed-ridden sioknesi and sufferlag, costing £4O per year, total £240, all of which wag (topped by three bottles of American Co.’a Hop Bitten taken by my wife, who has done her own houiework for a year ginoe without the loss of a day, and I want everybody to know it for their benefit.”—John Weexs, Butler,—Find Advt.