LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1660, 15 November 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

SYNOPSIS OF ADVERTISEMENTS

Gbbaldikb Road Board.— The monthly meeting of the Geraldine Road Board take* place to-day. Primitive Methodist Ohuboh, Geraldine.—The tea in connection with the anniversary of the Primitiye Methodist Church, Geraldine, takes place to-night. Salb at Gkealdihb.— Mr W. 3. Muslin sails, on account of Mr D. Mollraith and others, at JOeraldine, to-morrow, freehold preperty, horses, harness, household furnig ture, etc., etc. Education.— The Anglican Synod of Auckland passed a resolution in favor of giving a grant to schools established by any denomination j also of the establishmont' kicderga/ten schools for children under seven, to which Government shall give a grant-in-aid to the extent of £llos per head. ..Draught Stock. —Mr W. Moore’s Clydesdale entire Early Morning wag awarded second prize at the Christchurch Agricultural Show. Considering that Victor was placed first, and that several splendid horses were exhibited, Early Morning got a place which must be regarded as certainly an enviable one. County Council Election.— Ratepayers in the Temuka riding of the Geraldine County are reminded that tho poll for the election of two members of the County Council takes place to-morrow. The candidates are Messrs R. A. Barker, J. T. M. Hayhurst, and John Talbot, and the polling places the R.M. Courthouse, Temuka; the Readings'Room j Waitohi j the Mechanics' Institute, Winchester ; the Assembly Rooms, Orari; and the Sohoolhouse, South Rar.gitata. The polling booths will be open from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m. Property Sales. —Attention is directed to the important sales of valuable freehold properly announced in our advertising columns by Messrs J. Mnndcll and Co. .On. Saturday next, instructed by Mr Reuben Johnston, they sell a quarter-acre section in the township of Geraldine, on which ' is erected; the well-known Crown Hotel. • On the 7th of December they sell 83 acres of land, well fenced, and divided into paddocks, with 13-roomed house, and other valuable improvements thereon, and known a* the Geraldine Manse and Glebe. Criminals. —At Christchurch Detective R. Neil arrested a man named John Miller on Saturday on a charge of playing the three card trick on the Show grounds, A man named Gpo. Hosier was also arrested for stealing a > tricyc , lq j value £l2, the property of Mr J. H. Bamblett. .On Saturday Detective O’Connor arrested in Lyttelton two men named Edward McLeod alias Jas. Mitchell, and James O’Bryant alias Tboa. Carmody, who are charged with conspiring with Charles Howard and Temple P. Perkins to cheat and defraud Martin McMahon of two £SO notes at Botham, Victoria, on August 30th last. Bankruptcy.— The Wellington Chamber of Commerce suggests that, in order to .prevent a numerous class of bankruptcies, a distinction should be made between traders and non-traders. In the ease of traders the debtor should not be adjudicated a bankrupt until a meeting of his creditors had been called by the Official Assignee, and the crediditors have had an opportunity of being heard before the Court. In the meantime the estate should vest in the assignee. In the ease of non-traders the Court should not adjudicate unless satisfied that, taking into consideration the amount of tbs liabilities, and all the circumstances ef the case, the debtor ought to be relieved of his liabilities, and the Court might ratify any arrangement for a composition agreed to between the debtor and bis creditors, or order payment and acceptance of suoh composition ns it is satisfied the debtor may be able to pay. Tenacity op Lipb in a Oat.—A singnlar instance of the tenacity of life posseised by oats lias fust occurred at Chatham Convict Prison. A oat which was a grout favorite in the culinary department of that prison was missing for more than three weeks, and was almost forgotten. On August 2G the prisoners at work on a building in course of alteration for workshops, heard a mewing noise. .Between the plastering and the floor above was a apace of about 9io by ‘ 12in, which had been plastered up, and on the plaster being broken down, one of the men looking up saw the paw of a cat between the laths. The cat was quickly released, and proved to be tho missing animal, which must have been thus imurred since August 2nd, that being the date when the hole wos stopped up. The cat, a full-grown one, only weighed one pound or its release. It has since been able to walk and ea», and is likely to survive, notwithstanding its long imprisonment.

“The Nose Must Go."—The nose is, if we are to believe M, le Bee, a French savant, gradually losing its power to discharge its traditional function in the case of civilised peoples; and when tho sense of smell vamshee altogeathe'', «a will infallibly be the case one day, he tells ns, the organ itself is bound to follow its example sooner or later. It ia no doubt the fact, as he points out, that the olfactory sense is ever so much keaner in the savage than in the civilised man, and it is reasonable to conclude that the more we progress in civilisation the duller the seme will grow. Its complete extinction M. le Bee assures up, is a mere question of time, and it is certain that Nature never conserves useless organs. Whan trie nose loses its power of smelling, the nose “ must go. 1. Civilisation is gradually making us bald (about that there can be no doubt whatever), and it will be a heavy price t« pay for it if ars to lose our noses as well as our hair. If this ever happens the civilised world will for one thing have to peyise its standard of courinesn. It may be that the civilised man of the future will see no beauty iu a Greek statue unless it has lost its nose, which, it is true, is the case with qiget of them, ■

Good Intestmbnt.— Advice has been r»ceived by cable that the directors of the New Zealand Land Company, Limited, have declared a dividend at the rate of 8 per cent,, placed £SOOO to the reserve fuad, and carried forward £3OBI 15a Bd. And yet we ore told land does not pay. The conclusion which we s,ußt arrive at is that it does not pay any* one except those who have it. Ihb Wobkihg Wombs of England.—A computation just made oh good data shows that there are in England now about 3,000,000 working women, of whom one-half are in domestic service;' further, that half the working class families in the country sre partially or wholly maintained by women, who are widows, or the wives of sick or drunken husbands, or the daughters of aged, afflicted, ; or dissolute parents, and that most of these latter work at extremely low wages. A Cbioewiko Family. Though the Graces are a great cricketing family, the very ladies of which are said to bo able to punish loose bowling, they cannot put an eleven in the field. Neither can the Steels nor the Studds. Indeed, this is a boast that only the Ohristophersons, of whom one plays for Kent, can make. Every year eleven members of this family are pitted against Blackheatb. For this season the match took place on the 10th, and the Ohristophersons, going in first, made 197. Their Opponents were still 87 runs behind, with only three wickets to fall, when the wickets Were drawn, so that ths family bad the best of it. In Shaboh of A Wifb. —At a meeting of the Ballymes Guardians, Robert Davison, e widower of 70, appeared before the Board, and asked them to get a wife for him. He said he wonld be satisfied with an old or a young woman, with'or without family. The workhouse master was then directed to conduct the- applicant-, through the workhouse, and show him all fcHb girls in order that he might make a selection.. The visit caused great hilarity amongst the inmates. The old man had interviews with the women, but failed in his negotiations, and returned to the Board room without securing a prize. He informed the Board that'the women made nothing but “divarahuu” of him, and, on being told by ths Chairman that they did not supply wives there, he left the room. Not Guilty; —Here is a little story from the Leeds Mercury j-r-Everybody knows that Sir Henry Hawkins has the deserved reputationjof being a very witty man as well as a keen judge. The other day he very neatly combined these two qualities at the expense of a prisoner, who, I should think, if ho was at ell sensitive, would preferably have experienced a severe sentence to such a severe speech. The prisoner, it appears, pleaded guilty to a charge of larceny, and then, on second thoughts, withdrew the plea and declared himsslf to be innocent. The esse was tried, and the jury, affected by this amiable uncertainty on the part of the accused, kindly acquitted him. Then said Sir Henry Hawkins, in that calm, clear, cutting voice of his; “ Prisoner, a few minutes ago you said you were a thief; now the jury say you are a liar. Consequently you are discharged 1” Infanticide. —Among the features of the age infanticide and kindred horrors take a principal place. The Pall Mall Gazette continues its exposure of a horrible traffic that goes on as well in other parts of England as in London, and also in English colonies —as, for example, Canada. But child-murder distinguishes the English Metropolis in a remarkable manner. In the mouth of September the average number of the bodies of infants (iut of the River Lea, in North-Eastern London,, wyis two a week. The indignation of such humanitarians as Mr Qoldwin Smith is reserved for imaginary criminals in Ireland, and a cow with a damaged tail across St. George’s Channel excites their wrath more than a holocaust of human life at home. What can we conclude, therefore, but that such advocates of > condign slaughter for a whole people are more animated by a disgraceful anfidegrading racehatred than by notions of ,justice or patriotism, much less of mercy or compassion.—Exchange. Bret Harte in England.— Bret Harte ,is epid to be living; quietly in one of the suburbs of London. Ha intends to make his home there. He finds it greatly to his Advantage to live in England from a mere business standpoint. Residing there he obtains a copyright in England on his writings, while he is, enabled at the same time to secure a copyright in the United States. If he were to live in the United States his writings would be absolutely unprotected in England, where hia works have as good a sale and appreciation as at Home. Hia writings have a steady sale in England, and bis new stories are in great demand. Mr Harte writes for the English magazines and periodicals; He practically commands for his work any price he wants. He makes from £I6OO to £2OOO a*ye«r, living quietly and as ho pleases. He is much sought after in English society, but does not go out very much because it interferes with his work. Sexton Fined Fob Kissing. —At

Dartfbrd Petty Sessions, Joseph Dean, sa’cton, in the employ of the Darlford Burial Board, was charged with assaulting a girl named Emily Holland, Jt appeared that the prosec.utiix is a domosrie servant in the employ of n Mrs Winch. Prosecutrix waa sent to attend to some flowers on a grave in the Dartford Csmetbry, and while she was engaged in watering the plants defendant came.up, kissed her, end otherwise assaulted, her. When prosecutrix’s mother went to defendant ab'>ut the matter, Mrs Dean said to her husband, “This is a fieqnent ocburrmce. why don’t yon leave the girls alone!” Defendant's wife also said that her husband waa in the habit of kissing young girls who came to the cemetery because they liked it, and Mrs Holland said in future he had better not take French leave, as some girls did not like kissing. The defendant was fined 40s and costs. Defendant, who had denied the charge altogether, asked that a term of imprisonment might be imposed, in order that he might appeal against the conviction, but the magistrate would not entertain the request. Sad Cases of Drowning. A very melancholy, accident occurred last Saturday in Timaru, A picnic party of eleven children of all ages up to 13 yqars went from Timaru to Dasbiog Bocks, During the afternoon they proceeded to light o fire, and a little girl, aged 11 years, daughter of Mr Filraer, burned her toe. She went to the creek to cool it, and somehow got out of her depth and was strugg'ing in the water, when, the incident being ebaervcd by a boy nine years of Hge, a son of Mr E. G. Kerr, of the Timaru Herald, he rushed immediately to her rescue, with the result that both were drowned. Several of the .younger children also got into the wat«r, and nanowly escaped drowning. The screams of the children attracted the attention of the men at the Freezing Works, but they rendeied no assistance. They assert iliac th» children were so excited lhat they could not tell them whore the accilent hippened, but the children assert that when the men apriyed the heads of the drowning ones iSfeie only just disappearing. News having been sent to Timaru, Mr Kerr and others arrived, but . too late.

Subsequently the bodies wore recovered by Messrs Kelt and McQuinneas, who stripped off and went into the water. An inquest was held yesterday, at which a verdict of accidental drowning was returned. To the ladle* of Tiraaru and surrounding district.— Another reduction to meet the times. A cup of tea or coffee with cake buophed at all hours at the Hallway Brfrethrmtt Rooms for 6d. Luncheon os usual. A waitress in attendance for ladies. The Shilling Lunches still continue at the Club Hotel. D. McQuinneas, Proprietor.—Advt.

J. Mundoll and Co,, Geraldine — Advertises sales of valuab’o properties on 19th November and 7th December.

James Findlay, Engineer and General Blacksmith, Temuka—Announces that the Now Deenng All Steel Harvester and Binder for 1887 8 is now on view at his yard, Railway Terrace, and invites farmers requirin g a machine for the coming season to inspect the same before purchasing one ; has the best qualities of English and Colonial binding twines on sale.