LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 7108, 5 May 1880, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

’Frisco Mail. — The s.s. Taiaroa arrived at New Plymouth at 4 p.m. yesterday, therefore the English Mail may be looked for by train this evening. Tongariro Lodge. — The usual monthly meeting of the above lodge will be held at the Institute this evening, at eight o’clock. Shooting Season. — The season during which imported game may be shot, commenced on the first instant, and continues till the end of July. Sale of Unclaimed Goods. — Mr Albert Barns will sell to-day, at Wright’s store, Taupo Quay, a quantity of unclaimed goods in the hinds of E. and S. Wright, late wharfingers. The particulars will be found in another column. Theatrical. — Mr E. Douglas, agent for the Arethusa Company, arrived last night from Wellington by the Stormbird. The Company will commence a week’s season at the Princess Theatre on Monday night. The programme will appear in to-morrow’s issue. Resident Magistrate’s Court. — The busineas before the Court yesterday consisted of the two following cases, in which judgment went by default :— John Anderson v. H. A. Moore — Claim £1 15s 10d, and same against A. J. Winchcombe — Claim £1 14s. In Harness Again. — We notice that Mr Joseph Chadwick, having secured commodious auction rooms in the Avenue, on the premises of Mr John Wilson, is about to resume business, and will hold weekly sales, the first of which will take place on Saturday next. The Channel. — Captain Doile, of the Stormbird, informs us that on his passage up the river yesterday afternoon he experienced great difficulty in getting between the South training wall and the end of the bank. He arrived at the spot at half-past four o’clock, and when trying to get round the end of the wall, the steamer took the ground with her keel and swung with the flood tide against the wall. Captain Doile managed to get her off, and then anchored at the back of the South wall until the top of high water, when he got inside the wall with some difficulty and came up the river. He says that during the last few days the South wall has been extended forty or fifty feet, making the channel almost impracticable, and that there are now only about eighty or ninety feet between the end of the South wall and the Spit, and that if the wall be still further extended before a new channel is made the navigation will be entirely stopped. It is to be hoped that Mr Barr will not delay his coming. An Octopus — Occasionally fishermen at Lyttelton have reported hauling up in their nets something resembling this species of fish, but on Tuesday forenoon a young gentlemen at Port got a scare from one of these eight-fanged monsters he will not readily forget, it appears that he was gathering mussels on the rocks nearly opposite to the Lyttelton Orphanage, and was in the act of breaking some of the shell fish off the side of the rock when a boy standing behind him and above him drew his attention to a peculiar fish close to the rock on which the young man was standing. Turning round, the gatherer of mussel bait beheld what appeared to be “a head as big as a bullock’s,” having monstrously large eyes. These orbs of vision seemed to be glaring wildly at him, and simultaneously several arms were extended towards him. Each appeared to be several feet in length, as near as he could judge during the very brief examination held. Before retiring from his position on the rock — which it is needless to say he did hurriedly — he observed that there were rows of suckers, resembling egg cups in shape and size, covering the unfriendly arms of the stranger. The moment he stepped back from the rock the octopus coiled itself up and sank. The spot at which this occurred is adjacent to the bay frequented by bathers at Port.

The Queen’s Birthday. — It having been intimated to Major Noake that the Volunteers would be glad to honour Her Majesty’s Birthday in the manner customary for military bodies, and would wish advantage to be taken of the occasion to hold a review of the several corps in the district, that officer has signified his intention of issuing in order for a general parade on the 24th instant. He has fixed on Wanganui as the place where the review shall take place. It is to be hoped there will be a full muster of every corps within convenient distance of town. Very Like a Whale. — Referring to the whale washed on shore at Sumner, the Lyttelton Times says :— “The skeleton of a large whale, 61ft in length, recently stranded on the New Brighton beach, has been presented to the Museum by Mr Joseph Day, of Sumner. The bones, filling four large waggons, were brought in the Museum grounds on Tuesday, and were buried for cleaning. The specimen is the large Southern Norqual (Physalus antarcticus), and only a few specimens of the kind have been secured. Schooling Steeplechase. — At a meeting held at the Victoria Hotel on Monday nigit to arrange for a Schooling Steeplechase on the Queen’s Birthday, the following Committee were appointed to select a course :— Messrs. Duigan, Delves, Pollock, Rowe, and Ward. The following programme was arranged :— Produce Steeplechase, — sovs, 2 miles, open to all horses that have never started for an advertised hurdle race or steeplechase. 1st over weight for age. Birthday Steeplechase, — sovs, handicap, 2 miles, open to all horses. Hack Steeplechase, — sovs, open to all horses that have never started for public money, hack races excepted, 1½ miles. 1st over weight for age. Maiden Steeplechase, — sovs, open to all horses that have never won an advertised steeplechase or hurdle race, hack races excepted. 1st over weight for age. The Member for Lyttelton. — The Canterbury Press, in an article on Mr Allwright’s address to his constituents, has the following remarks :— Mr Allwright has not yet shown any marked political ability, or given any reason to suppose that he will ever make a striking figure in public life. His speech of Wednesday last, indeed, shows that in many respects he has but a slender grasp of public questions. He has, nevertheless, exhibited qualities which challenge the admiration of much more experienced and brilliant men, and which cannot fail to give him, in time, an enviable place in the councils of the country. He is homely without being stupid, and has tact without duplicity ; and whatever party he may belong to, he will always be trusted by his friends and respected by his opponents. There are, as we have hinted, parts of his speech which we cannot agree with, and which, we think, he himself will before long see cause to modify largely, if not renounce altogether. His evident sincerity and total absence of dogmatism, however, disarm criticism. He has mainly come before the public in this occasion for the purpose of explaining why he leaves the Opposition ; and on that subject we have no objection whatever, to make to this speech. We shall be rather curious to see how his quondum allies will find it possible to object to it. Another Native Industry. — AngloAustralian, writing in the European Mail, says :— “Looking to the fact that New Zealand is overrun with rabbits, it has been suggested — now that it has been shown that fresh meat can be brought from Australia — that large consignments should be sent to this market to supplement our food supply. Perhaps this suggestion may be worth the attention of some enterprising people in New Zealand, who are looking for means of achieving fame and fortune. If rabbits could be exported to sell in this market at 6d each, there is no doubt that a roaring trade might be carried on. If, however, it should be deemed unprofitable to export rabbits in the carcase, then rabbits’ skins might be sent with every chance of finding a good market, for it appears that some Belgian skin-dressers have discovered a way of dressing rabbitskins that makes them undistinguishable from sealskins. Perhaps, therefore, as this process will render the skin of more value than the body it covers, it will be as well to export both body and skin, as it will be strange if fortune does not attend upon the double venture. Better than all, however, would be the knowledge of the secret by which rabbitskins can be made to represent sealskins. Enterprising men in New Zealand might then manufacture on their own account. Perhaps the Belgian skin-dressers might be disposed to sell it for a consideration. It is asserted in proof of this discovery that 10,000 rabbits were sold the other day upon the London markets without their skins, and the skins were despatched to Belgium.” Eccentric Will. — A well-known citizen of Brooklyn, United States, alike renowned for his wealth and eccentricity, died a few weeks ago, and his last will and testament was found by his sorrowing relatives, with whom he had been at odds during his life, to contain the following curious bequest : “I own seventy-one pairs of trousers. It is my desire that they be sold by public auction after my death, and that the product of their sale be distributed among the deserving poor of my parish. They must, however, be disposed of severally to different bidders, no single individual being permitted to purchase more than one pair.” These directions were duly carried out by the heirs-at-law. The seventy-one pairs of trousers were successively knocked down to seventy-one purchasers, and their price was handed over to the parochial authorities. A few days after the sale one of the buyers took it into his head to make a careful examination of his newly-acquired property, and found a small canvas bag neatly sewn up in the waistband. Upon opening this bag an agreeable surprise met his gaze, in the shape of ten one hundred dollar notes. The tidings of this amazing discovery spread like wild-fire throughout Brooklyn and New York, and each fortunate possessor of a pair of these precious pantaloons was rejoiced to find his investigations rewarded by the acquisition of a sum equivalent to two hundred pounds sterling. It appears that the eccentric testator’s heirs have instituted proceedings to recover the amounts secreted by him in the linings of his trowsers from the present proprietors of those garments, on the ground that he was obviously out of his mind when he made such an insensate will.

A Stupid Mistake. — The Corporation of Dunedin have erected an obelisk on the site of the Old Cemetery in that city. The inscription sets forth that it was “erected in the year a.d. 1880.” The Governor and the Turf. — The London Daily Telegraph gives currency to a rumour, apropus of racing prospects, that Sir Hercules Robinson is in treaty with Matthew Dawson for a boy who may don the Gubernatorial colours at Christchurch, and make the New Zealand people familiar with a sight of those “Zetland spots” which were wont to arouse the enthusiasm of North-couutrymen when borne to victory at Epsom and Doncaster by Voltigeur, and at Newmarket by Vedette. Handsome Donation. — An anonymous donor has given to the Treasurers of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund (Lord Hatherly, Mr Gladstone, and Mr Hubbard) £10,000 New Zealand bonds for the endowment of a Missionary Bishopric in North China. The donor has stipulated that the See shall have for its area the two Provinces of Shantung and Pecheli ; that the selection of the Bishop shall be rested absolutely in the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being ; and that all existing Missions of the Church shall be under the Bishop about to be appointed. These are at present two in number — One at Chefoo, maintained by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the other at Pekin, supported by the Church Missionary Society. The Colonial Bishoprics Fund has added £1000 to the endowment, and the Christian Knowledge Society is about to vote another £1000. Butterine. — A highly entertaining parliamentary report on the subject of “butterine” has just been published, and the paper certainly affords some interesting reading. It appears that the material known as butterine is very largely sold in England as butter. It is an American invention, and has the decided advantage of being a cheap form of “grease” for the people’s bread. One company in New York devoted to its manufacture have turned out the stuff, at the rate of 80,000lb per week. Of this, 75 per cent was oil extracted from “foreign fats,” (?) cart grease, Russian tallow, and whale oil. A large part of this enormous product was shipped to Rotterdam, whence it was sent into the interior to be “mixed with a certain quantity of milk to give it a flavour of the true article, and a colouring ingredient to give it a resemblance to butter.” After having been dressed up in this attractive form, it is exported to England as butterine, and eaten by the simple natives of that country in perfect good faith. It is further stated to be a “healthful article of food,” and an excellent substitute for butter at breakfast. It is somewhat unsatisfactory, however, to learn from the generally well-informed correspondent of a contemporary that “American dairymen have examined the stuff under the microscope, and found that it contains the most remarkable molecules, some of which resemble spiders, others snails, others decayed teeth, and the remainder deteriorated birch brooms. There are long organisms like worms, and round ones like mushrooms, and square ones like diminutive picture frames.” Pass the bread and butter, please ! Mesmeric Feats. — The London Daily Telegraph remarks :— “Strange stories reach us from India of the feats performed by a native mesmeriser, named Buni, whose magnetic power would appear to be found quite irresistible by the lower animals, upon which he exclusively exerts it. He gives seances, to which the public are invited to bring all manner of ferocious and untamable wild beasts, and, like the Ancient Mariner, he holds them with his glittering eye. In a few seconds they subside into a condition of cataleptic stiffness, from which they can only be revived by certain ‘passes’ which he solemnly executes with his right hand. An account of one of these seances state that a snake in a state of violent irritation was brought to Buni by a menagerie proprietor, enclosed in a wooden cage. When deposited on the platform it was writhing and hissing fiercely. Buni bent over the cage, and fixed his eye upon its occupant, gently waving his hand over the serpent’s restless head. In less than a minute the snake stretched itself out, stiffened, and lay apparently dead. Buni took it up, and thrust several needles into its body, but it gave no sign of life. A few ‘passes’ then restored it to its former angry activity. Subsequently a savage dog, held in a leash by its owner, was brought in, and at Buni’s command let loose upon him. As it was rushing towards him, bristling with fury, he raised his hand, and in a second the fierce brute dropped upon its belly as though stricken with lightning. It seemed absolutely paralysed by some unknown agency, and was unable to move a muscle until released from the magnetiser’s spell by a majestic wave of his hand.”