LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2050, 24 May 1890, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Concert and Dance at Waitohi,— A oonoerfc and dance in aid of the Waitohi Library will be held in the schoolroom on Friday evening. Farms for Sale, J. Man dell and Co., advertise thirty five farms for sale, varying in size from 600 to 20 acres. Anyone in want of a farm ought to be able to make a selection ont of this number. ■ • PopTfOAi, Addresses,— Mr A. E. G. Rhodes will address his constituents in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, next Friday evening, in the Pleasant Point Assembly Room on the following Saturday evening, R,nd in the Pairlie Creek schoolroom on Monday, the 2nd June. On each occasion the meeting will commence at § o’clock. Destruction oy Pheasants. —ln con sequence of the large export of pheasants and other game from Auckland to Sydney these birds are becoming scarce, and the Acclimatisation Seoietv have preferred a request to the New Zealand Frozen Meat Company to cease freezing them for export. The directors of the company have decided to grapt the request.

A Cußiops Pr|jse^t. —Tffe Empress Eugenie presented to ' the . fathers who have the keeping of the mortuary chapel at Farnborough, where the remains of Napoleon the Third and the Prince Impenal are interred, a magnificent altar cloth, made frpm hep weffding gown. The cloth was made by the Empress hprself. It is trimmed with the embroidery and lace which ornamented the dress. Lecture at Temuka;—A lecture was delivered last night the Volunteer Hill, J farming.” The lec ! nrer, Mr M. Murphy, well-known as (he secretary of the and P. Association, was introduced by Mr A, M. Clark, 'ff P r 8 B N§9t pf the Temuka Caledonian efopifity, Hndgr lyhq'sp quspjoes the lecture was deliyerpd, 'pher.o a fair attendance. A ffgtaijed report will appear in our next.' ’

Geraldine Literary and Debating boeiETY. —The fortnightly meeting of the members of this society was held in the horary Qf tho Geralqlioe Literary Institute on Wednesday evening last. There was a good attendance, including some half-a-dozen ladies. The programme for the evening was the reading of a piper by Mr H. W. Moore on “Charles Kingsley, v The paper proved to be a highly interesting and instructive one. The writer must have spent hours in getting together the principal facts in the life of Charles Kmgsley, and thus in a paper occupying some twenty minutes or half an hour gave those present a very g.opd pißJine of the life and chief cluracfeeristios pf that gfEipd “ aD - The paper was duly criticised, and Mr Moore was complimented on his very instructive essay. It was decided that (lie next meeting shoo'd be held on Tuesday, June 3rd, the regular night of meeting h rTl Df \> b * eD fixed D P lpn for ifr 9 induction of the Rev. A. B. Todd. It wag decided that the programme fop that ev*nin» ?«mik i, 'c. be a deb,(a ; the subject (p bj Xhebword v. Arbitration,”

Anglican Bishops. —Bishoo Julius is 'ho seventh bishop of the Anglican urch actually consecrated in New Zealand, Clean Sheet. —The Minister of Lands state* that the report* received from the infected sheepdistricts throughout the colony are of a highly satiefactory nature. Praotioally the colony is now free from *oab, but cannot be officially declared so until the period of probation agreed upon some time ago has elapsed. The work of killing wild sheep in Nelson, Marlborough and Auckland is being vigorously carried on, and largo numbers have been destroyed this season, but none of those killed were infected in the slightest degree with scab. The A.M.P.— The Australian Mutual Provident Society's annual report, to be presented at the annual meeting, shows that the new business for the year is largely in excel i of the preceding year, and with two exceptions is the largest transacted by the society in any single year. It consists of II 664 policies, insuring £3.676,459, with a total new premium income of £183,411. The »ocumulated fund has been increased by £740 311 and now amounts to nine millions sterling! The society distributes a cash surplus of £426,494, which will provide reversionary bonuses to policies of about £BB2 500, Two Chops.— The Otago Daily Times aaye :—ln July last Mr Thomas Wilson, of Otago Heads, planted a quantity of early kidneys, which matured and were lifted in the middle of December. Portion of these he again planted before the end of the month and so succestful has his experiment proved that he has now lifted tne second crop, some specimens of which have been left with us for those who are interested to see. The potatoes are w.ll grown, three of the largest turning the scale at 11b, and the plants were on the point of flowering when the tubers were dug up.

Fbsefcl Cash of Suicide.— The body of a women was found hanging head downwards from o wall in a small straet in Adelaide. Investigations showed that the woman who was a domestic servant, named Elizabeth Kerr, became dependent on account of suffering from consumption. She thereupon purchased a bottle of carbolic acid, and entering a yard abutting on the lane she climbed on a piano case and sitting on the wall swallowed some of the poison, which also ran down her face and bosom,’ burning her in a terrible manner. The unhappy woman then fell backwards, and her fo; t catching in a crevice she hung there writhing until she died. A Good Place for Girls. —South Africa must he a perfect paradise for feminine domestics. The wages they can earn there seem almost fabulous. A nurse girl can command 30s at Capetown £3 at Kimberley, and £3 to £7 per month at Johannesburg ; a cook £4 per month at Capetown, £7 at Kimberley, and £l2 to £l4 at Johannesburg. But barmaids are more highly favored mortals. These charmers can count on obtaining £6 a month at C.petovvn, £S at Kimberley, and from £2O to £3O per month at Johannesburg—£36o a year for a barmaid t

Charitable Aid. —Dr Maogregor ha» written a letter to the Auckland Charitable Aid Board in reply to their resolution regarding the six men turned out of the asylum. He slates that it seems to him clear that if a person is harmless and cannot legally be detained in an asylum and is destitute ha ought to be oared for by the Charitable Aid Board. The Auckland asylum is so overcrowded that great suffering must result to the inmates during next winter unless either these chronic cases be removed or the building greatly enlarged. In acting so quickly as he had dona in regard to these six men, ho had no misgiyings that they would be allowed to suffer any hardship after pablic attention bad been called to their situat’on. The board have postponed consideration of the letter. Retaliating.— A woman who had suffered from her husband’s neglect in Dunedin traced him to a bar-parlor, where he was playing cards with several companions. Setting a covered dish she held in her hands down upon the fetbla, she said “Presuming you wore too busy to come home to dinner, I have brought it to you,” and departed. With a forced laugh he invited his friends to dine with him, but on removing the cover from the dish found only a slip of paper, on which was written, “1 hope you will enjoy the meal ; it is the same your family have at home.”

Unusual Growths,— Mr Robert Matthews has grown upon a> portion of Mr E. Waddell’s farm some remarkable root crops. A root of kidney potatoes yielded 24'b weight, one potatoe measuring 13in. in length and weighing 41b. A turnip was found that measured § feet in circura* ference and weighed 231 b. This was of the variety known as purple top Aberdeen. A long red mangold weighed 241 b. Although the specimens are selected ones the average yield of the several varieties was extraordinary, and has been the subject of considerable comment amongst the neighboring farmers.

La Nona. A case of the new trance disease, known as “La Nona,” i a reported to have taken place at St. Leonard?, Hastings. |t appears that a gentleman staying pt a, hotel jp the western pari of the borough, who has had influenza, went to bad at the usual time. Not coming down at the customary hour next morning, his room was entered, and ha was found to be fast asleep. All efforts to wake him vypre fruitless, although three doctors were called ip, and mustard piasters applied to his feet. He eventually came out of the trance late at night in a state of extreme exhaustion and still lies very weak and ill. ’

Agricultural Statistics.— The complete agricultural returns are published in the Gazette. The totaj number of holdings is 38,178, being an increase of 2431 in the year. The area of wheat has decreased 2Q.292 acres, the total being 335,861 apreg, producing 8,448,506 bushels, The area of oats has increased 38,846 acres, from 367 235 to 426,071, the’yield being 13,673,384 bushels. Barlep shows a small decrease. The acreage was 42,402, and the yield 1,442,823 bushels, There were 30,577 acres’ of potatoes, producing 152,739 tons. There \yere 352,903 acres in turpips or rape, and 45.8§9 in hay, yielding Q 5,476 tons, or §8?0 tgna 1|393 last year. Twenty* fire acres of tphagco yfejdpd n,370:b, dried by hand. In gardens are §568 acres; in orchards 15,771 acres, audio plantations of forest trees 28,928 acres. There are 397 ensilage, stacks in the colony. The return of cal tie gives 772,356, Auckland having 190,000, Wellington, 152,000, Otago 142 000, Taranaki, 99,00 Q, and (Canterbury 88,000. Three dwelling" Barksfde, South Dunedin, owned by John Colder and Emanuel Leayy, were burned down at 2.30 on Thursday morning. The insurances on the buildings were, New Zealand, 11120, Victoria, £125 ; ‘ stock and furniture, JjTew Zealand, 1 £220 ; Victoria., £l5O. '' 1