The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JULY 12,1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1606, 12 July 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JULY 12,1887. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

E.M. Court, Gebaldine. A sitting of this Court will be held to-day. Gbkaldine Road Boahd.—The monthly meeting of this Board hikes place to-duy, Akowhenwa Town Board. The monthly, "meeting of ll>« Arowlion.ua Town Bo'ird ukes plac* to-morrow evening,

A Laugh Ironclad.—The Trafalgar is the largest ironclad which Ims yet been laid down by the British Admiralty. Her hull is estimated to cost £636,000, the propelling machinery £97,000, thegun-njounting£76,794, and the guns £56,340. A Celebrated Oase—With reference to the recent information for i erjury laid against Mr Toner by Mr Herring, in connection with the now celebrated case of removalof some rickers, it is understood that writs have been issued against Mr Herring for m-ilicious prosecution claiming £SOO damages.—Press. Church Parade. A church parade of the Q-eruldine Rifles took placo at the Presbyterian Church, Grerttldine, on Sunday last there being about 20 present. The church authorities not having been apprised of the intention to hold a parade, the sermon preached by the Rev. G. Barclay was not of a special character. CompanibS in England. - The total nominal capital of the new Companies brought, out in England during the last year was £70,9,38,200. In 1885 the total was £20,377,350; so that there was the amazing inorease of £50,560,850. Of this nominal capital £52,881,001 was actually offered by the public (including the holdings of the promoters.) Serious Cattle Disease.-A telegram from Masterton says a dinease it said to have broken out in the lower valleys among the cattle, which has the effect of rotting off their hoofs twenty-four hours after they ure attacked. A number are walking about on hoofless stumps. There are indications of foot and mouth disease.

Salvation Army, Temuka.—A farewell tea to Captain Mclnuess wilt be he'd in the barracks to-morrow evening. Afterwards a public meeting will be held, at which Major and Mr* Buiritt will be present. Tickets for the tea are selling rapidly, and should the weather prove fine thfiTO will doubtless be a large attendance,

Show at TiMABTJ.—On Friday and Saturday list the sixth annual show under the auspioes of the South Canterbury Poultry, Pigeon, Canary and Cat Sooiety took place in Mr M. Jonas' large auotion room. The number of entries was large, the quality of most of the exhibits very good, and the attendance almost equal to former years. Altogether the show may be said to have been a success.

The Grand National. An effort is being made to arrange for a special excursion train from Timaru to Cliristchureh and back on the Grand 1 National day. The entries for the Grand National are larger than they have been for yeais and sportsmen would gladly avail themselves of an opportunity of seeing the races. The train would doubtless also be well patronised by others besides sportsmen.

The Orari. —lt is stated that considerable damage has been done by the recent floods in the Orari. In several placet* fencing has been washed away and paddocks have been injured by the deposit of soil. A few head ot stock have been drowned and the carcases of two horses were observed floatiug down the river on j?riHiiy—one of these had a cover and the othei, it is said, had a saddle and bridle on. No information is to hund regarding the ownership of the animals. A Curious Wager.—A singular incident occurred' the other night in the Faubourg St. Honoti, Paris. Two members of the Club in the Rue Royal laid a waper that they would walk blindfolded from the Club to the Villa Said, in the the Avenue,du Bois de Boulogne. They started up the Faubourg St. Houoifc accompanied !,by a few friends, and were very quickly surrounded by a crowd which increased as they went on. The aeotinel on duty at the Elysee, seeing an unusual crowd in the street, summoned the soldiers on guard, who turned out in force. A police officer then bagged the two members of the Club to declare their bet off, which they did incontinently.

Bishop Hadfield's " Mana."—Preaching rocently at St. Peter's Cburob, Wellington, the Venl Archdeacon Stock, during a reference to the miesionery work of the present reign, mentioned a circumstance known to very few Wedingtoniana of the present day. The Archdeacon stated that the young city and settlement of Wellington was once on the very verge of total destruction by the forces of Te Rauparoha, the formidable rebel chief, which were then some three thousand strong. There wub no doubt that they were able and ready to massacre the whole European population of the place. But their deadly intentions were changed, and the menaced danger averted, through the influence of our present Bishop Haclfield, who used the mighty "iiiana" he had gained over the Maoris through the consistency with which he lived up to the great truths ho preached to them, and caused them to forego their intended onslaught. The Bishop was regarded as being under special Divine protection, one very remarkable incident having occurred during his missionary experience. A native chief and a priest had forpoally cursed him by their gods, und both died on the instant. This filled the Maoris with awe, and the inpreesion was never lost.—New Zealand Times. TnE Illuminated Bioyolh.—The other night (sayH the Melbourne Leader) a cyclist who had a great, idea of winnirg the ten guinea trophy offered to the rider of the best illuminated bicyole in a certain lantern parade, smeared his bicycle all over with phosphorus und then rode it down a street to tee how ilooked. The night was dark and the effect very strange. The whole machine glowed fervidly us it moved noiselessly along the quiet road. Presently a horse and trap approached. The animal sniffed and 6norted thrio-, violently I plunged, turned round and rushed off in the ' direction it had come. At the same timo two young girls who w«re standing at, a garden gate shrieked and rushed inside, telling their father they had seen a ghost. '■ Nonsense girls," said Mio farmer, arJ old Cornish farmer, as he picked dp a cudgel, and with the remark that he'd settle the ghost, he walked down the garden and through the gate, intending to cross the road and take up his position behind a tree. When half way aoross he glanced up the road, and his hair fairly stood on end and his blood curdled, for there, not twenty yards away, was' the white apparition speedily approaching. A moment • lafier the wheel of the bicycle struck him on the bridge of t% nose, while the cyclist tumbled headlong' to the ground, The old tndn shrieked, the girls rushed out in hysterics, and the wheelman picked himself • up. apologised, and' just got &way as tyo policemen arrived on the soene.

Lkjt-Handkd People.—Seventy per cent, of iho inhabitants of the Punjaub use the Ipft hand in p-eference to the right, as do mtny of the Hottentots and Bushmen of South Africu, but no purely left-handed race h«B ever been discovered.

rtiBiiNTBK Pensioners.—ln an electoral address in Dunoditi a day or two ago Mr Downie Siewart remarked that it often happened that people who had been for a long time in the public service here on receiving pensions left the oolony and spent their money in England; and as a pension was continued pay without service being required for it, he thought it would bo perfectly fair to say that only half pay should be granted to peraom who are entitled to pensions if they lived out of the oolony. A Talking lady who is now on a visit at Lowestoft has in her possesion a canary which talks quite fluently. A talking ca»ary is a great rarity, and when the owner recently made application to the Britiah Museum as to what previous records existen of such birds, she was informed that forty years ago it was reported to the Museum authorities that a gentleman possessed a canary which could articulate, but there wns only one other on record, and that was 100 years previously. It is naodless to say that the lady places a non-purchaseuble value on the rara avis, and some time ago she declined to sell it to the Prince of Wales when he desired to buy it as a present for Her Royal Highness the Princess.

TIMARU A. AND P. ASSOCIATION.-«.A well-attended meeting of the Committee of the Timaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held on Saturday last. The prize schedule was revised, aad a number of alterations made in it ; the poultry class was struck out. It was decided to give a prize of five guineas for the best draught horse with five of his progeny of any age, the prize to be awarded on the quality .of his progeuy. A let'er waß read from Mr Tripp recommending the giving of prizes for the best gor.se cutting machine and th» best turnip seed sowing machine, and also a prize for apples that would stand exportation to England, It was decided to thank Mr Tripp, for his letter. Accounts hiving been passed for payment the mee'iug adjourned. The Taib o» a Convict.—The appearance of the convict Crabtree as a witness in the Wellington Supreme Court recently was quite an attraction, if the circumstance that a number of the spectators left the Court when his evidence was concluded is a criterion. Crabtree in the course.of Lis evidence referred to his position before he was convicted, and, upon His Honor Judge Riohmond expressing r«gret to s.e such a man in the garb of a felon, the witness britfly told his Uistory to the Court, He was in business in Ohristohurch, he said, as a baker, and also as a draper, and was doing well until trouble overtook him, and fcuer. his houseß were burned down, and he himself was thrown into prison. At this point, after asserting that he had been persecuted, Crabtree broke down. The story of persecution of this kind is an old and oft told one, true, hi us hope, in few, if any, instances ; but without venturing any opinion one may well eipress regret that a young man, well educated, and who apparently started so well, should now be u prisoner "for <uch a- terribly long term as thirteen years.— Exchange. The Christian Martyr Gbronimo.— Th' re is a curious object of interest in the Algiers museum—a ghastly plaßtsrcast of the Christian martyr Geronimo, writhing iin the agooy of death. Tradition has for 300 years toll the story of the Moorish lad who, corning under the influence of Spanish missionary monks, became a Christian and a saint. He abjured the faith, it was said, for a brief moment nient under the pressure of bitter persecution and slavery, but returned to it with new zeal, and proved it in the end by a heroic and horrible death—that of being thrown alive, with his hands tied behind him, into a block of liquil concrete, which was afterwards built into the wall of one of 'he outlying forts near the city., Such is the tradition, singularly and literally true in the minutest details, as | a-as proved in 1853, when part of a fort was demolished, and a block of concrete found containing the accurate impression of the writhing body, face downwards, with his hands tied with cords behind the back. The block itself was deposited with great honor in what used to be a Mahommedan mosque, but is now the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the town. Pboteoxion. A correspondent of the Press signing himself " Colonist" sends that paper the following extract taken from the New Yoik Trit-une :—"On December the 15ih last, the above-mentioned paper, one of the most influential journals in the States, invited information and suggestions from the farmers relative to the question, 'Do farmers want the protective tariff ?' The Editor received several hundred replies, the great majority of whioh were in the affirmative. Some of the answers are very pithy and practical. One farmer writes, ' The more home manufactures the better markets for farm products.' Another writes, ' Capital cannot pay double the wages here paid in other countries and compete successfully. It is nonsense to say ib can.' Another writes—'Times are better under protection than under freetrade.' Another writes-'The more foreign goods we admit the more we cripple our own people.' The more we buy abroad the poorer we are.' Another writes ' Why make foreign nountries rich that we may become poor? ' and so on. Extracts like the above, siys "Colonist," should convince New Zealand agriculturists that they have nothing to fear from the adaption of the policy of pro? teotion hera. The verdict of tbe American farmers is in favor of the principle, and they j have had many years' experience in the working of the system.

Waitohi Flat School Committbb.— The ordinary monthly meeling of this School Committee was held in -the echoolroom on th« evening of the 4lh inst. Present—Messrs Frasor (Chairman), Scott, Cunningham, and Moore. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The Chairman stated that during the past month the fences we."e trimmed nnd repaired, gorso grubbed, and the drain along the main road deepened bo as to carry the water round Ihe corner of (ha sohool«round, under the supervision of Mr Cuuninjrham ; also that he had receiyed the sum of £2 4s 6d from Mr Gibbs for use of the room by the Salvation Army from January, 1886, to June, 1887, and that he had authorised the school to be closed for midwinter holidays one week earlier than was agreed upon at the last meeting, owing ta the inclemency of the weather. The Inspector's report on his recent yisit of inspection, and Mr Watson's remarks thereon, were con r sidered fairly satisfactory. Mr D. Seaton being absent there was no visitor's report subsmitted. Mr R. Bedpath's account, £1 4?, and Mr Wat?ou'a account for cleaning the school, etc., £5 13s, wero passed for payment. It was agreed to have a piece of the schoolground along the uehoolhouse road ploughed and p.-epared for planting' this season, the Board of Fjducation to be aeked to assist in defraying this expense. Mr M.-Moore'was appointed 'visitor for this monfch, and the tweeting tber/term|natedo'' ' '

Football.—A mutch M)ok pi'ice at vViuciioHti-r :ast Saturday bolween tennis representing the Geraldine and Winchester Clubs, and resulted in the defe»t of the vi&iting tenia by 12 punts to nil. Diving Pigs —ln Wellington Torritory, in the greet snlmon river.*, pigs have been seen to chase fish, divine for them under water. Pigs are not naturally lively animals undiir water, but they are said to pck up deaf! mtlmnn in ten fe<t of water by-diving.

Banquet.—A bnquet in connection with il»- Loyal AlexHudrovnn Lodge, 1.0.0. F., Temuka, was held in the Wa'liDgfnr I Hotel a«t night. A repast was provided by Mr Coira in bis usual sub-stanti-il B'yie. The tov»ts, oustem-ry oo suc!» oco isions were drunk, and a very pleasant evening was spent. Temuka Unseed Company.—A general me* ting of the Directors of this Company was he'd yosteidiy afternoon. Prment--Messrs Talbot (Chairman), Pct'eihwaite, Pilbrow, Birker, "Brown, and Lyons?. The Mhu >g''c win al»o io attend, nee. After fo-ui'il bu.-i tuns the report of the Fiuincn Committee, who hud visited the works in the early pur' of the day, was leceived and adopted. A long and earnest discus sion took place ' s to the. position of the Company, tind it w .s generally cons dered that, their prospects were such as warranted the Directors io carrying the concern on, and it was therefore decided to allot t*'o new iehue of shares as applied for, tho first call to be made payable ou the 20th 'inst. To prevent d«lny Mr Postleih write was requested to cable Home and hasten tho departure of the two girls who liuve been eng ged io work the spinning frame. The Manager reported that the machine he was authorised to at the last meetin-j was now completed, and was working in a satisfactory 1 monner. He also showed some samples of binding twine, which far excelled any yet produced It was resolved to forward samples of this twine to various firms, who an probable purchasers. Tim washing away of the O-uiipiny'a land by the recent freshes in the river c.im<' under discussion, and it was resolved that the Secretary | write to tho Minister of Public Works, drawing his attention 'o the same, and pointing out that the obstruction c-msed by UieTemuka-Oxford bridge wub mainly the reason of the river encoaching. Arrangements wtie made fVf certain a't-r-tio n to the machinery, and the mee iug termlnitet. RATtWAY RkFTSSHMBNT ROOMS, TIMAIUJ. —!'. V'cOuiiKUJSs h":* to inform his numer ous tiiends,' • iifi'ilie liwvelling public in parliculi-, t.h*' bavin* taken the above rooms for u irusii icrin lie htis decided to reduce the cnarg.»« hi'he'io made; and in future'they will b/ >.s follow : Breakfast, in readiness for eailv trains, Is 6d; Hot Lunch or Dinner, s«rv-d iipin the hitherto well-known profese niyle, ou arrival of North and South Exprr.itt train.', 1* 6J. Tea and Coffee always in readiness, >snd elioiuo eonfeotionnry, &e. Ihe lessee would' especially draw attention to the Ladies' Private Dining-room, which has been specially arranged'and furnished for their convenience. A waitress is always in attendance. The; usual Is Lunches are still continued at the Glob Hotel. — advt.

SYNOPSIS OF' ADVERTISEMENTS. W. Bllery, : Bel Bold; Ha«.ohaff; fofjsale at 7d per bug. . ' * "'"' "'■ ' - * H. B. Webster, O-eralduie Qua 150 acres ploughing to'lot:. F. H. Bu ker, Winnh-BtiT—Has two stftcks grass and clove- hay (unthreehi'd) f.ir 8*1",