LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1683, 7 January 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The .Fivbshibb.— The s.a. Fifeshire, 5000 tons, left Sydney on Thursday last for Timaru, where she will load with frozen meat for London. ' ’ LvNiOT. —At tha Resident Magistrate’s Court, Timaru, yesterday, a young man named Woodman, charged with lunacy, was pom mi t ted to, the Supnysido Asylum.

Satisfactory.—The Croydon (Queensland) goldfield, which was discovered a few months ago, is developing richly, and a large quantity of gold has already been sent to Brisbane. There is now a considerable population on the field. One mine has returned 13o?» per too from 120 tons of stone. BiTBBKPRifBirT, —Ministers hare not had t«b opportunity of considering any comprehensive scheme of retrenchment, but it is known that many considerable reductions aro sure to be made, and with a new of facilitate ing changes which will bo proposed for consideration a large number of officers have .Iready received formal notice of tbs termination of their engagements.

A Falling Oj*.— The number of passengers who travelled on the New South Wales railways during the Christmas holidays was 55,000 loss than last year. This is a sign of tha times.

Primitive Methodist Church, Tamuka. —The anniversary services will be conducted in this Church to-morrow, and the annual tea will take place on Tuesday •veoiof. Sam Nkab vYinohestkr. —Mosers J. Mnndell and Co. sell by public auction on Monday next, on the homestead of Mr B. Plummer, near Winchester, freehold property, horses, sheep dog, etc. England and Fraiob.—A Yellow Book has been issued in Paris which states that the Marquis of Salisbury proposed, in March last, that the New Hebrides and Suez Canal questions should be considered conjointly, and it appears that the French Government have been constantly urging a settlement of both questions. Abowhbnua Town District.—Property holders in this district whose rates are unpaid, and lessees of reserves who have not paid their rents, should, settle before the 10th January to avoid tronb'e and expense, as summon iss will be issued after that date. Owners of unregistered dogs will be. proceeded against after the 14th lust. The Rakaia Tragedy.—'The woman Martha Dalziel, who drowned her boy in the Rakaia river last week and at the same time attempted to drown herself, still remains in a state of hysterical ioma. From the time she was found in the flaxbush near the'river she has never for a single instant recovered consciousness. On Tuesday morning she was to all appearancea dead, dnd her body was about to be taken to the dead house,-blit she commenced to breathe again, and up to Thursday evening had remained in a comatose state.—Press. Sutherlands School Committee, At a recent meeting of the Sutherlands School Committee a letter was read. from the Board of Education, requesting the Committee to inform Mr Reid (the Secro-, tary) that no communications of a private nature will be received from him by the Board, and also covering a resolution of the Board declining to receive communications from the Committee not bearing the Chairman’s signature. It was resolved—- “ That ibis Committee refuse to acknow-, ledge as official any communication from the Board unless it be signed by the Chairman thereof, and that the Secrete ry be instructed tp notify to the Board the passing of this resolution.” Oaptubi op a Burglar.—During the last three months between4o and 50 burglaries or attempted burglaries have been committed, principally in solicitors’ office chambers, in' Sydney. At last suspicion fell on a fashion-ably-dressed young man, who was seen to visit 19 different salioitors* offices in one afternoon, The man carried a bundle of papers, apparently legal documents; He was arrested and taken to his lodgings in a fashionable quarter. There the police found a cash box (which had been prised open, and has since been identified as having been stolen from a lawyer’s office), 621 skeleton keys, latch keys, a file* etc., gold and silver jewellery, burglars* jimmies, screwdrivers, chisels, etc. The prisoner gate his name as James Boardman (or Broadman), and described himself as a clerk. He is supposed to be identical with a man who is wanted for robbing the Union Bank in Queensland of £6O 12s. Tfl* Weather. —For the past few days the weather experienced has been very hot, and culminated on Wednesday and Thursday iu a real old-fashionod nor’wester. The heat and the oleuds of dust that prevailed metde outdoor life a misery. On Thursday night a light rain began to fall, and continued.ttt do so during Friday morning, to ths great delight of the farmers and market gardeners, These complain that the dry weather was telling very seriously on-crops of all descriptions. Up to the present the crops have been doing about as well as could be wished, and it is to be hoped that some more acceptable rain may be experienced era they become shrivelled.

Children's Picnic,—A very praiseworthy effort was mads by Mrs; John Hay, of Geraldine, on Thursday last to give a picnic to any number of children who cared to bo present. Each child was supposed to bring something to eat, and this was supplemented by provisions colected by Mrs Hay from those who favored the movement. Quite a number of little ones took advantage of the opportunity thus offered. The picnic was held in the Geraldine Bush, and although a strong nor’-wester was blowing the shelter of the: bush was most effectual. Many of the parents and frieods of the littlo ones also attended. A great variety of garroa, races, etc., were indu ged in till a late hour in the evening. Bush Fias. —On Monday afternoon last soma boys eat fire to an old tree in the Geraldine Bush for the purpose of disloging some bees and getting the honey from their hive. Having succeeded in obtaining the honey they decamped, leaving the tire to take care of itself. From the original tree the fire spread to others, and a nor’-wester springing up there ■semed every prospect of a serious bush fire taking place. On Thursday the wind had increased to half a gale, and the danger of the whole bush being destroyed whs imminent. Mr Sherratt, the Domain Board’s ranger, obtained men and set them to work to try and get the fire under before it had got any greater hold. After some severe - work they succeeded in arresting the progress of the fire, and the rain coming .on effectually "removed the danger. A Novel Point.—The question whether an action for a breach of promise of marriage can be maintained against the executors of the faithless promisee is a somewhat novel subject, which has been argued in the Court of Appeal, and that the point is a complicated and difficult one is shown by the l fact that the Court took time to consider its ’ judgment. A young lady named Miss Finlay brought an action against a gentleman named Chiroey, but before the case was finally tried, Mr Chirney was dead and buried, and the question is whether Miss Finlay can proceed t There may seem to be something vindictive in seeking damages from the estate of a dead man, but business is business ; the evil that men do live after them, and the wrongs they have done, must be righted if possible. Though Mr Chirney is dead, his property remains ; if ho had not<died ho would have had to stand the brunt of'the action, and if Miss Finlay really suffered damages it la hard that she should qqtjjo recompensed because an event with which, she had no? thing to do, and could in no way have indeath of the defendant—has occurred.

Thh Australian Obnthnabt.— The Governor, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Fortescue, will proceed to Sydney by the Nelson on or about the 16th for the purpose of attending the Australian centenary celebration. No member of the Government will bo present, owing to the urgent business to be transacted, but it is probabls Sir John Hall will be asked to represent the Government, Living IB Cr,OVH«.—H. A. Wood, late curator of Intestate Estates, Adelaide, who levanted two years ago, is it appears now a resident of Oorrigidar, a city of Northern Mexico, where he has a fine estate of a thousand acres. Wood married a wealthy Mexican lady although he has a wife in Adelaide, and when he levantsd he eloped with another woman. It is asserted that influence was brought to bear to prevent the police from punning him energetically.

Oablb Rates.—The Postmaster-Gsneral has received a telegram from the Eastern Extension Company notifying the increase of cable rates to Ss 6d par ten words in addition to terminal charges. The question of continuing ths reduced Press rates is still under consideration. The Premier has replied to the effect that Government have no objection to revert to the maximum laid down in clause 11 of the contract, namely, 7e 6d for the firit ten words and 9d for every additional word, but that if the rates are further increased Government will consider tbs question of making terminal charges. Comfiimbntabt.—At Auckland, Admiral Fairfax, responding to the toast of his health at a dinner tendered him by members of the Northern Club, said be was delighted with his visit to New Zealand. He hoped to return to Auckland during the year with his new ship Orlando to show what advance had been made in the science of naval warfare. Whereas formerly there were eight masts and towering sails now there were but two military mastS, and ships were armed with the best arms of precision and of the heaviest calibre, showing ihe vast advance naval science had made in late years. He was excessively pleased with his residence add charmed with the entourage of Auckland. Obbaldine . Dairy Factory. The monthly meeting of the directors ot ths Geraldine Dairy Factory was held oh . Tuesday afternoon, there being present—Messrs W. Postlethwaite (Chairman), W. H. Moore, J. Mundell, and Dr Fish. After transacting some routine business, it was resolved—- “ That owing to the shipping arrangements the Company find it necessary to defer payment for milk till the last Monday in each month, and all future payments to be made on the last Monday in each month, instead of the first Monday as heretofore j and that in future the directors’ meetings be held on the last Monday in each month, instead of the first.*’ The Secretary's statement showed that 22,711 gallons of milk bad been received at the factory during the past month, valued at £293.

CONOBBT ABO DAHOE AT SoOTfIBDBN. On Monday evening, January 2nd, a concert and dance took place in the schoolroom in aid of the prize fund. Offing to the assistance of several ladies and gentlemen from Geraldine, and the presence of the Geraldine Band, the concert was a great success. Bongs were given by Aliases Andrews, Dunlop, and Menziss, and Messrs Thatcher, Logan, Cooling, Whettou, and Herdmsn ; also recitations by Mr F. Bothune. The songs and recitutions were capitally rendered and most deservedly encored, while the performance of the band was a treat to the district, At the conclusion of the concert Mr Irvine thanked the performers for their generous assistance. The room was then cleared for dancing, which was kept up till an early hour, Messrs G. and A. Baa and G. Newnam eupplying the musio. Determined Attempted Suicide.—A swagger named James Hunter attempted suicide on Thursday morning on the Alford Forest road. He had apparently walked down from Matbven during the night. On arriving about two miles.above the Woollen Factory (says the Press) he gashed his throat with his knife, inflicting an ugly wound from ear to ear. He also cut through one of the veins in his left arm, and then made his way to the Woollen Factory, where he arrived about 4 a.ra. The night hands were still at work, and one of them went into Ashburton for Dr Tweed. Dr Tweed went out and stitched up the wounds, and had the man conveyed to the hospital. Hunter is subject to epileptic fits, and about twelve months ago he was an inmate of the Sunnyside Asylum.

Waitohi Plat School Oommitxbu.— The monthly meeting of the Waitohi Flat School Committee was held on Friday evening. Present—-Messrs J. Fraser (Chairman), Seaton, Cunningham, and T. Orr. The Chairman stated that sines list meeting the patent limestone filler ordered of Mr White, Kensington, Dunedin, had arrived safely. It was rstolvad to hare it placed in the iron tank; Messrs MoClintock and Cunningham to do the work. The Chairmtn read a draft of a certificate for Mr George Anderson, who has been pupil teacher at the school for the past four and a-half years. The Cbairm >n was authorised to sign the certificate and hand it to Mr Anderson. Some discusdon took place in reference to the sweeping reduction proposed by the Government in the incidental expanses and repairs to buildings, and it was resolved to charge the B,u ration Army, Good Templars, and the Blue Ribbon Army Is for each ordinary ocousion they may ‘ use the room and 5s for concerts, soirees, eto.) that the present janitor be offered £5 for discharging his duties as at present during the ensuing year; and that the Chairman arrange with soma woman to scrub the premises os occasion may require. Tbs Chairman was authorised to hare some necessary scavenging work and drainage repairs made at an expense not to exceed £l. Accounts to the amount of £2 18s 2d were passed for payment, and the meeting terminated. A Sad Case.—At the Norwich Assizes on November 16, before Mr Justice Field, Arthur Edward Gilbert Cooper, 34, clerk in holy orders, was indiotsd for the murder of the Rev. William Meymott Farley, vicar of Oretingham, on October 2, Before the prisoner was arraigned, Mr Murphy, Q.C., for the defence, applied that a jury should be empanelled to try whether.ths prisoner,was fit to plead. This .having been, done, and the jury having (opad that' the prisoner was capable of pleading,, the trial proceeded. The prisoner pleaded “ Not guilty wilfully.” Evidence as to circumstances attending the murder was given, after which witnesses were called as to the state of the prisoner's mind. The defence was that there was hereditary insanity in tbs prisoner’s family, and that in India he sustained a sunstroke, which was followed by acute brain fever, and that after his return from India iu 1878 he was confined in two private lunatic asylnms, from which he afterwards went to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he remained until 1882. Dnriog his continetqent bg showed hopqicidul maqia, and auoa tried to out a folic throat. The jury found that the prisoner was iosane at the time that ho coonnilted the not, and ha was ordered to be detained during Her Majesty’s pleasure,

Fir* at Waimaib.— On Saturday night, about half-past 10 o’clock the stables nt Studholme’s homestead were discovered to bo on fire, and before the fire was extinguished the stables, coach-house, and calfpen were destroyed. The stable* consisted of a two-storey building, and contained six stalls and six loose boxes (unoccupied). The buildings contained a large quantity of oats, chaff, hay, and about n dozen saddles and some harness, all of which were, with an old coach, completely destroyed. Seven calves and a collie dog were burnt to death. The loss is estimated at about £460, and the insurances amounted to £2OO. Pitching Folks in Glasgow.— First Falkirk Body ; This Glasgow Exhibition gaun tae be a geyan big affair by a’ hear, It’s said they’ll maybe hae thao “ swuichback” railways—-the new-fangled Ameri can idea, ye ken, an’ tobogan slides as weel, frae London. Second Falkirk Body : Ay, so I believe. But I’ve heard o’ something more oot o’ the ordinar’ still.—First Falkirk Body foagerly): Eh t And what’s that gin a’ may spear 1— Second Falkirk Body; D’y’ ken that they're tryin’ to arrange for a comet at the time the Exhibition’s to be held, an’ I've ria doubt whatever that they’ll get it. They’re pushing folks in Glasgow. A Laughing Plant.— A “ laughing plant,” it is said, grows in Arabia, with seeds producing effects like those of laughing gas. The flowers are of a bright yellow, and the seed pods are soft and woolly, while the seeds resemble black beans, and only two or three grow in a pod. The natives dry and pulverise them and the powder if taken in small doses, make the severest person behave like a circus clown or a madman ; for he wi 1 dance, sing, and laugh, and cut the most fantastic capers, and be in an uproariously ridiculous condition for an hour. When the excitement ceases the exhausted exhibitor of these antics falls asleep, and when he awakes be has not the slightest remembrance of bis frisky doings. Twelve Months’ Progress.— The Cape Argus calls attention te the fact that Johannesburg recently celebrated it first birthday. “The inhabitants,” says the article, “ may well be proud of their bantling. Twelve months ago Johannesburg had no existence beyond the ten shanties of prospectors. To-day Johannesburg is as much a town as anything we have to shew. It has its wide streets, its hotels, its five newspapers, and it is peopled with some of the most energetic and buoyant peop e in South Africa, in no country has there ever been an example of a new centre of industry more rapidly establishing itself, and impressing itself upon the public mind as one of the permanent features of the country.” Photography and Politics.—Photography and politics have helped each other before now. A now proposal, however, is that portraits of candidates should be exhibited at all polling stations. The voter would then merely hate to drop a ball down a tube beneath the photograph of the candidate of his choice. This, it is argued, would prevent the voter being able to spoil his paper, and so might turn a number of elections. It would also probably prove of use to the intelligent electors who are too crafty to make up their minds whom to vote for until they enter the polling booth. But as female suffrage is to be passed next year photothe poll would hardly do. They wonld place some Candidates at an unfair disadvantage.—Home Paper.

An American “Special,” —American journalism, according to the Klei,o Zeitung, has at last “ crowned the edifice ” by producing a piece of “ news” which no European journal can hope to match for its renturenomo originality. The Telegram, of Minneapolis, keeps, or affects to keep, a special correspondent in Berlin. This gentleman has discovered a key by which many of the mysteries and difficulties of European politics may be interpreted. Three year* ago, he says, the Emperor William die I. There are only four or five persons in the world who know that he is dead. Prince Bismarck is one; the correspondent of the Telegram is of course another; the Crown Prince (who finds all manner of excuses for keeping cut of Germany) is a third. It is necessary for the security of Bismarck’s great work to keep the German people in ignorance of the death of the monarch, The person who now represents the Kaissr on State occasions is an old schoolmaster named Earl Sommermann, who is himself in very bad health. In the event of his death the ever-ready Bismarck baa two other venerable gentleman in the background, either of whom can be brought forward if the need should arrive to personate the German Emperor. The Crown Prince consents.to this amazing trick, because he has a terror of the great European war which ho knows must inevitably break forth as soon as Russia and Prance became aware that the German Emperor is dead. Hope pob Queensland. —Probably the most important event during the last fortnight in Australia (save the Sydney Telegraph) has been the magnificent success in tapping an artesian source of water-sapply at Barcaldine, in the Central Western district of Qsesnaland. As we get the particulars, it is altogether the biggest and most encouraging case of bringing subterranean water to the surface. which r/e have had in Australia, Whan the water was struck at 640 ft, a column of water was projected to 20ft in the air, and began to wash away a great excavation at the head of the here. The water is clear and perfectly fresh, and its quantity is estimated at from 140,000 gals to 200,000 gals daily. The overflow is filling all the low places around, and a hydraulic engineer has been sent to control the flow of the great volume of water. This grand discovery, by providing this splendid water-supply in what was before dry country, has caused the selection of a large quantity of land in the neighborhood. Of course, such magnificent springs as this are not to be tapped everywhere, yet we are evidently only just beginning to find out under how vast an area of territory in the central regions there is an abundance of water which only requires boring to enable it to flow up to the surface. Every such discovery gives encouragement to make an attempt, of which some are sure to ha successful. And who is to say that as the years pass on, between the conservation of surface water and the utilisation of subterranean supplies, we may not provide an abundance of water for every possible requirement over the whole surface of what was once considered as the arid and desert interior of the continent 1

Surprised.— There was a great crowd of visitors on board the s.s. Kaikoura on Sunday afternoon (says the Naw Zealand Times, December 2t?nd). Amongst them vote a couple of well-dressed Maoris, who speedily became objects of interest to tho numerous steerage passengers. A group >£ new chum young man ware criticising ib# Natives, and one of thahr number, who evidently thaught no small beer of himself and bis knowledge of the Native race, addressed one of. the Maoris in that half-broken English which Britishers think necessary to address foreigner! in, when 'he Maori aaid to him, “You are a new chum, I beiieve 1” “ the youth. “ Well,” said tha Maori, “ where on earth did you learn to speak such horribly bad English 1 ” The youth blushed at being spoken to so correctly by a Native, and retired to the obscurity of the forecastle.

The vigor of youth give* to the agsd and infirm by using Dr Soule’s Hop Bitters made by American Co. Try it. Bead advt.

Baxtbb’s Lung Pbbsbetbb ha* gained great popularity in this district as a speedy and effectual remedy in the treatment of Gov ohs, Colds, Bbonohitis, and other chest and throat complaints. Bead advt. and try it.

SYNOPSIS OF ADVERTISEMENTS. B. Taylor, Geraldine—lnvites tender* for cutting and burning gone. Reid and Gray tilter for sale—-At homestead of late Mr H. Campbell, Fairfield. Arowhenua Town Board l —lnvite tenders for leaia of gravel reserve; important notice re ratee, rents of reserves, and ninregiftarsd do«»- ■ . ... ... J W. Farrier, Photographer, Tiinairu—Notifies that for one month only Ha' will present to each sitter who orders paa dozen photographs a framed “ivory-type ” by Professor Brookes. Tickets may be obtained at the stndio.