LOCAL AND GENERAL

Temuka Leader, Issue 1680, 31 December 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

To Correspondents. —A long letter from W. Miller, Or.ui, ia unavoidably hold over till our next issue. The California]* Thistle. Mr S. Cain has. left at the Temuka Leader Office a specimen of the Californian thistle. It was grown on his Seadown farm. Anniversary Picnic. —The ann'versary picnic of the Welcome Retreat Lodge, No. 48, 1.0.G.T., Geraldine, will take place on Monday next in Mr G. J. Dennietoun's Bush, Peel Forest. Those joining the picnic should thoroughly enjoy themselves if the weather proves favorable.

Expressive.—Mr Walker, of the New South Wales Legis'ative Assembly, has told Sir Benry Parkes that he is " a cross between an Egyptian mummy and a baboon, a jumping-jack politician, and a turncoat." There seems to be ,( perfect freedom of speech" in Australian Parliaments,

Holidays.—ln our advertising columns Messrs Velvin and Taylor, W. C. Koulston, J. W. Miles, A. It. Allan, R. Murray, Q. McSheeby Gentlemun, G. J. Mason, Mogridge and Wiltshire, C. J. Rayner, Job Brown, J. Blyth, and E. Brown announce that they will close their respective places of business on Monday and Tuesday next. Ibis will enable their employees to have a thorough good outing.

Thb Late Pbisb Fight.—A sporting paper gives the following disoription of Smith and Kilr»iD,the two pugilist* who a few days ago fought such a desperate tattle for Ihe Championship :—" Kilrain is 28 years of age, standi sft Biin high, and weighs 2101bs. Hi* chest is 41in, biceps 16in, forearm 14in, waist 34in, thigh 25in, calf I6Jin. It takes a I7in collar to encircle his neck. He has an unbeaten record, is gentlemanly in no bragger, but lores fighting. Jem Smith ii 24 y*ara of age, and has the cut and physog. of a pugilistic gladiator, He standi sft Bin and weighs 182 pounds, Xhje following are his measurements s—Chest 40|in, waist 36Jin, hip 40£in, thigh 24Jin, calf 16fin, biceps Isiin. He- made his advent in pugilism m 1882, and has also an unbeaten record.'

Maori Prophecy. The T*ran»k' Maoris predict an unusually wet eumnur, there being something remarkable abou> fhe flowering of the flax plant this soaso''.

The Coming Ltbbbal Lbadeb at Home. —According to the Spectator, Mr John Morley, M.P. for N§wo\itle-on-Tyn?, is likely to succeed Mr Gladstone in the leadership of the Liberal party. Mr Morley ie recovering from his reoent indisposition. ■R.M. Coubt, Geraidihb.—At this Courl On Thursday last Johanna Almond wj» brought Mp before E. H. Pearpoint and H. W Vfoore, Bsqs., J.P.'s, oharged with being of unsound miad. After hearing the evidenor of Prs Fish and Hayes, sbo was committed to the Timaru Hospital for further examination.

A Steambb IN A Gale. —A late London telegram in the Melbourne Daily Telegraph states that the Asia Minjr etaamer Bellona was overtaken in a gale off Salonioa, Turkey. There were 400 Greeks on board. During the storm a false alarm of fire was raised, and a great panic ensued. ■ The people on board took to the boats, one of which was capsized, and 50 person were drowned. In the rush for the boats others were crushed to death. During the confusion thieves entered the cabin, and stole money to the amount of £2OOO. An Extbaobdinaey AOOIDENT.—A man at Prague, Bohemia, swallowed a watch with a ohain attached, which a joker had slipped into a glass of beer while the man's back was turned. The metal dissolved by the acids of the stomach has poisoned the organ, and keeps it in an incessant fever, making him unable to retain food. The man has been dismissed from the Munich Hospital a« incurable, and now Ims in an hospital at Prague, kept alive by food artificially injocted, waiting to see whether the watch will all diesolve or he will'die-first. Annexation o» Eaiatha. The 8.8. Richmond arrived at Auckland from the Islands on Wednesday. She brings advicoi that the French have annexed Baiatea. Six chiefs, with 800 men, refused to submit, and the warship Scorpion bombarded the rebel town and landed • party of men to destroy the villages and property. They also issued a proclamation that the natives will be fired upon if they do not submit by a certain date. Baiatea is one of the Society Islands, in the Pacifio Ocean. It is about forty miles in circumfereno», mountauous, and profusely covered with vegetation. Caledonian SooißTrs Scholabshh?.— The examination of candidates for the South Canterbury Caledonian Society's scholarship of 12 guineas took place in Timaru on Wednesday, and resulted in Miss Annie Oxby securing the highest number of marks and the scholarship. Out of a possible 500 marks the winner secured 420, John Parr 343, Barbva Straohan 330, W. Mo Connie 317, Nettie Malthus 279, Emma Campbell 278, Lettie Haisell 262, George Stubbs 256, and Harriet Sibly 242. The examiner, Mr Jamss Gibson Gow, Inspector to the South Canterbury Board of Education,' says: "Considering the severe chiraeler cf the examination, i look upon the marks gained as ranging from •good* to'excellent.'" A New Industby.—A gentleman named Eyres, who created some excitement in ono of the Queen's Bench Courts the other day, seems to. have discovered an entirely now mode of jetting a living—no slight achievement in these days. Apparently, says Truth, Mr Eyres is one of th? unemployed, but, instead of hanging about Trafalgar Square, he has been spending his days in those law courts to which special jurymen are summoned. On any juror failing to answer to his name—for which he would not have to wait very long—Mr Eyres would step into the box and proceed to " well and truly try." As a special juror generally earns a guinea a day, and sometimes a good deal more, this is not a bad t'ade, as things, go, and there are many less honorable N.Z. S&imsa Company/.—At an extraordinary gentral meeting of the New Zealand Shipping Company at Christchurch on Wednesday the new regulations were adopted. The principal alterations ore tho' transfer, to London of the head office, the registered office still remaining atOhristahurch. There are to be two boards of directors—one at London and the other at Christchurch. The London beard is to have the supreme financial control and manageme.it -of the administrative commercial affairs of the company except in .New Zealand, Tasmania, and.the ishnds ot the Pacific.-' Tho New Zealand board is to have the management of the cstnroercial affairs of the • oompany in New Zealand and the other places just mentioned. Tho New Zealand board is to be represented on the London board.by a director nominated by the board in New Zsaland, and the London board is to haye a similar nomination on the New Zealand board.

Hi Weighed Nothino.—An amusing incident occured on the wharf at Wellington recently. A terrible Bwell of the true innsher type—eyeglass and throat-cut ollsr, tight breoksj aod la-de-da cap and cane, all complete—stopped in front of tho automatic weighing machine at the wharf book and geoaral emporium, Afier cirefully reading the directions, and inspecting as well as he eould tho machine through the pane in his left eye, he pioduced a humble f/enny from his cash pocket and carefully dropped it into tho slit at the top of the machine. Hearing by the metallic chink that It hud reached its proper destination, he very gingerly .stepped on the scale, and to his utter surprise the machine wou'd not work. A look of very blank surprise passed over his face as he stepped down muttering, audibly, " B*h Jove, it's a fraud." A precocious youth close by remarked to a companion. " Look here, Bill; I'm blest if that core ain't got no weight in him ; he's all emptiness." And the masher walked slowly away, and«ftcr-* brandy-aud-soda at a convenient bar he suddenly woke to the fact 'that he ought to havo dropped the penny in the slit while he stood upon the machine. Plain SPEaKlNOt.—Referring to a despatch sent to the Secretary of State by the Grovernor of Westers Australia (Sir F. N; Broome) in regard to the Chief Justice of that colony, the Perth Enquirer remarks that "a more wunton, unjustifiable, and cowardly scheme could not. have been devised even, by the crafty Sir F. N. Broome." It declares that he " has degraded himself in the opinion of the public by the oonltmptible manner in which he uai behaved." It conclusion it says :—" Sir F. N. Broome ht.s been guilty of making a groundless attack upon a gentleman's honor in the. most cowardly manner; not for tho sake of promoting the impartial administration of justice, bnt simply to gratify his own ignoble spite. We have had ample reason to characterise Sir F. N. Broome as a tyrannical despot •f the most pronounced type, but now ho stands revealed to the world as a cowardly official who doss not hesitate to avail himself

of the opporlunitiea hii poiitisn affords him to ssoretfy attack the reputation of anyone who may chance to incur his displeasure. We can but hope the auspicious day is not far distant when tbe colony will be relieved of such an incubus—when Western Australia will see the last of Sir Frederick Napier Broome." Western Australiu may be a despotically governed colony, but the Press uppears to bo a tolerably free 'institution.

A .Ohiqueekd Cabbke.—Tho death is reoo ded in Sjdnty of Sir W. A. Oongrevp, Bart, a psrson fomerly Well known in Canterbury, where in the early days, he was Sheep Inspector. He disappeared suddenly from Canterbury, and was supposed to have goDe to the Mouth Sea Islands. Subsequently . he reappeared in Australia, but had dropped his title, and passed as Oaptaia W. E. B. Garr.ett. He had formerly held a commission in the 46th Regiment. His first wife was Lady Ann Beresford, but it appears he married again in Sydney some >?eveo years ago, and he leaves issue by this marriage three sons. He was 61 years of age. —Wellington Post. Train Arrangements. We would remind our readers that the train from Timaru to Christchurch on Monday morning will be much earlier than usual, to enable passengers to witness the Regatta at Lyttelton on th*t day. Excursion fares to Christchurch and back, j 18a and 13s, will bo issued. On Tuesday ' an excursion train will run from Ashburton to Timaru, picking up passengers at intermediate stations. It should be noted that this train will take the place of the ordinary morning train from Orari to Timaru. The fares from Orari and Winchester will be 33 first class and 2s second class, and from Temuka 2s and Is 6d. Wednesday next will be the last day on which the excursion tickets availible for return till the 16th January can be obtained. There will be no goods traffic on Monday next. Charters Towers. —lt will be seen by the follqwiog extract that there is at least one place in the Colonies that does not share in the general depression of trade, Writing on the sth December from Charters Towers, North Qiieenßland, Mr Isaac Selby (formerly of Dunedin) says : —"The weath«r here is very hot, the thermometer frequently registering over lOOdeg. in the shade. Pine-apples and bananas are the principal fruits grown in North Queensland ; the former will shortly be obtainable for 3 I each. I lia've lectured hero in Hunter and Hcrte's Hall for thirteen Sundays. Of the gener?l condition of the district I can speak highly. Wages are high, and, what is better still, work is readily obtainable. In my opinion Charters Towers is the best goldfiold in the Australasian colonies at present." Wealthy Rabbithrs. —ln the far West of New South Wales, says a coutampornry, rabbiting seems a ' rabbit' road to wea'th. The bonus paid per scalp ranges from 3d to Is, and the men earn from £3 to £lO per week at the game. The rabbitern grow 'ich as the squatters grow poor. It is a common experience to meet a rabbiter driving to his work in his own buggy and pair. In fact, the most of the carriage folk in that part are rabbiters. At Wilcannia recently a rabbiter entered a hotel and cajled for a sixpenny drink. In liquidation therefor he planked down u cheque for £1,070 odd, and demanded the change. The man also gave the most gorgeous champagne supper Wilcannia has witnessed this season. Many men in New South Wales thus bless the rabbit as heartily as hundreds curse it. The Melbourne Exhibition.— The Royal Commission for the representation of New Zsaland at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition h.'S been issued. The Commissioners are : The Governor (President), (Sir Jas. Hector (Vice-Presi-dent), Hons. T. W. Hislop and Wtiterhouse the Mayor of Wellington, Mflßsri W. H. Levin, A. K. Newman, W. Seed, G. E. Tolhurst, W. Cable, and C. J. Forward, Mr Chap. Gallia has been appointed Secretary to the Commissioners. ; The first meeting was held on Thursday. It was determined I bat 8000 ft of spice should be applied for, and the Commissioners ask for a complete and thorough representation of exhibits of raw products skilled industries, and arts. The attention of flock owners is also directed to the fact "that two wool shows will be held, ono of the 1887 clip, and subsequently the c'ip of 1888, the two shows to be judge! separately. An Effectual Bibd Soabb.—Underfills heading a correspondent signing himself "A. H. K.," writes to the Otago B»ily Tiraas as follows:—"My strawberries havd been regularly picked by different sorts of birds which are about breeding and hovering in the surrounding bushes of my garden, some perhaps coming a distanco. Of young plants which promised a most luxuriant return of fruit, but had little foliage, I could not secure a einglo b.irry, all nearly ripe ones being partly destroyed by the birds, which go in quest of food imafediately after daybreak. I enqu ; red for and tried several schemes to prevent the birds taking the crop, but nonejsuccednd except one, and this 1 got by acoident. One day I partly covered a few rich oearing plants by small pieces of common window glass, and soon after had the satisfaction to see this fruit come on all right j but I also noticod a general absence of the friendly sparrows, starling*, eto, at all times of the day. I caou to the conclusion that the reflection of the gliss caused by the sun or daylight Beared the birds. I followed up this disoovery by a further experiment. I uncovered the formerly covered plants, and phoed instead about 18 strips of common window glass, varying in sin from lin to 3in broad, and from 4in to din long (just such waste strips as the glazier throws.away as useless), in divers slanting positions here and there among the plants. I used altogether about two square feet of glass. The result is astonishing. Not only are my strawberries permitted to ripen and allow a daily gathering, but, indeed, not a bird comes into my gardsn now j they are to be seen on the housetops close by and on the trees, but they will not come down to visit or settle. The several families of starlings whioh were allowed to breed tinder the roof of the house seem to have left in disgust. Observing such good results, I asked myself the qusstion. Would this disoovery do any good to farmers, with respect to the small-bird pest and crops in general? It might. I think if pieces of common glaßs, held by wire, were distributed in a field of grain in such a way freely to dangle and twirl about, suspended as it were from a fishing rod, a good and efficient birdsoars would be produced. The glitter and fhshes from the glass ire constant, and probably painful to the birds' eyes, the same as tbo flush of a piece of looking glass to the human eye. Let some of the farmers try this plan and report on it. The cost is nothing, and the benefit may be great. I enclose my card for any possible enquirers and as a voucher for an unexaggerated statement of facts."

To the ladies of Timaru and surrounding district.— Another reduction to meet the timet. A cup of tea or coffee with cake supplied at all hours at the Bailway Refreshment Rooms for 6d. Luncheon as usual. A waitress in attendance for ladies. The Shilling Lunches still continue at the Club Hotel. D. MoGuinnesSj Proprietor.—Advf

SYNOPSIS OF ADVERTISEMENTS. Yehin and Taylor, W. 0. Roulafcoo. J. W. Miles und others—Notice re closing places of business on Monday and Tuesday next.