LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 91121, 22 May 1880, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

«■ *#* Monday next being the Anniversary of Her Majesty's Birthday, the Chronicle will not be published. Mil Barks' Sale. — .Mr Barns advertises the sale of a trichord piano and some good oleographs, &c, at his mart to-day. Review. — On Monday, the Queen's Birthday, there will be a grand Volunteer Review on tho Racecourse, in which all the local corps and those of the adjacent districts willtaku part. Volunteer Ball. — The Drill Hall will, on Monday night, be the scene of ;i ball in honour of Her Majesty's birthday. The arrangements are under the management of the Volunteers, and a largo attendance ia expected. Important Sale of Freehold. — On Wednesday next, the 2Gth instant, Mr J. 11. Wallace will sell by order of the Mortgagee, and under the conduct of the Registrar of the jjuprcino Court, Wellington, two valuable blocks of freehold laud in the Manawatu District, comprising 4* 00 acres. One is section Oiti on the authorised map of the district, and contains 2350 acres ; and the other is JN'ative section 103 in the townhlnp of Sandon, and contains 2100 acres. These properties have the advantage of the metalled road i'rom Eoxlon to Wau~ ganui, and the road to Feilding running through them. The land is of excellent quality, and about 15U0 acres arc laid down in .luiglish grass. The natural grass is good, and the land has carried a large number of btock. A'ow that moiii-y is rather more plentiful, we dare say there "ill a lull attendtUicc of luij cr». '1 he .sale will take place at Mr Wallace's nmiu':, Jluntej-stnvt, Wel--I'i^luJi, :it luiif past vwo o'clock ou the i.'"lii iui.-f.uut.

Auctioneers. — An Auctioneers Licensing Act for the colony will be introduced during the coming session. Railway Traffic.— It is said that tlie railway traffic between Wellington and Greytown has hitherto been very small — about four passengers per train. Naurow Escape. — A day or two ago a man in the employment of Messrs McDowell Brothers, in Wellington, fell backwards through a plate-glass window 12ft by 4ft. He was not hurt. Hallway Hotel, Waitotara. — This fine freehold property is in the murket, for private sale by Mr Barns. It is well situated on the great North- Western line of road, and is said to be doing a safe and profitable business. The present proprietor is in bad health and leaving for England. If not sooner sold, the Hotel will be auctioned on June 7th. Special Phizes. — In our supplement to-day is an anuouncement by Mr F. J. Jones, the well-known grocer, ironmonger, &c, of liidgway-street, of a great clearing sale, to last for a month, during which goods will be sold at much below usual rates. To-day Mr Jones offers a special inducement to th^se purchasing tea. In every lib packet will be a ticket for one of a large number of prizes, which are displayed in the window. The list includes paintings, cruets, vases, and a host of other fancy and useful articles. Queek's Birthday. — We beg to remind our readers that an amateur vocal and dramatic entertainment will be given on Monday night, in the Princess Theatre, in aid of the Dril Hall Fund. The programme embodies an excellent bill of fare, comprising a farce, sentimental, comic, and character songs, dancing, and local sketches. Several amateurs will make their first appearance before a Wanganui audience. There will also be an excellent selection of instrumental music. Chinese Laundries. — The agitation in California has frightened the Chinese as well as the millionaires eastward. New York has now nearly 5000 of the "pig-tailed heathen," and there are large arrivals every week. Already (says the American correspondent of a Sydney paper) John has secured the largest part of the washing business. You cannot go five blocks on any of the main avenues withuot finding a laundry kept by a Celestial. Yet three years ago there was not a Chinese ivasherman in the city. The secret of their success is undoubtedly that they do their work admirably, arid charge only the same as Bridget charged for doing it execrably. The Archbishop of Tuaii. — The oldest bishop in Catholic Christendom at present officiating — John, Archbishop of Tuam, to wit— entered his 90th year only on Monday last (writes Atlas in the World, of March 17th). And he still sails about the wild isles of the West, carrying his crozier, and preaching in the native tongues ; ho holds his monster stations ou the hill sides, and takes care of the polities of his archiepiscopal province. lam told that hia Grace, who has lived and acted in more chapters of Hibernian history than any man of the age, is engaged in arranging his papers and his literary notes in such a form that when — possibly early in the next century — he shall go over to the majority, his memoirs may easily be written. Death of a Chief. — We take the following from the Taranaki Herald : — A Native chief named Pairama Paihu, of Kaipakopako, died suddenly on Saturday last. An eruption of a very extraordinary nature appeared on his leg some days previous to his death, and the usual Maori remedies were applied but without success. On Saturday afternoon the wife of the chief left the whare for a short time in order to prepare some medicine, and on returning she found that the chief had expired. The suddeness of the demise has created no small sensation among the Natives, and preparations are being made for holding a tangi, on a large scale. The Natives are selling horses and cattle for the purpose of obtaining mnney in order to celebrate their solemn rites. A large gathering is expected from all the districts, including Parihaka, and the tangi will doubtless be prolonged for over a week. The Knowsley If all — The island of Amsterdam, on which the captain of the British ship Vancouver saw smoke and lights on the lGth of December last, which led him to believe that, as the island is known to bo uninhabited, the crew of a shipwrecked vessel, probably the Knowsley Hall, had found refuge on it, is the norlhermost of an isolated group lying in the South Indian Ocean, in about the same latitude as the Cape of Good Hope and the south-western corner of Australia, and about midway between the two points, but somewhat nearer the latter than the former. The island was, as far as is known, first seen in lG23by the Dutch ship Leyden ; and in 1033 it was named New Amsterdam Island by the famous Anthonio Van Diemem, after the ship in which he was sailing when he saw it, and which was called the Nieuw Amsterdam. It was visited in 1837 by Captain Wickham, in her Majsty's ship Beagle, and is stated by him to be 2GBsft high, four miles long from east to west, and about four miles wide from north to south. The island is in parts covered with a light sandy soil, producing tall grass and shrubs, and there is a small drain of water half a mile island on the leeward side of the inland, but otherwise there is little on it to support a shipwrecked crew, Tiie Fareell Mystery. — What is known as the Farrell Mystery (says the Melbourne irgus) appears to have quite baffled the police, who have been unable to trace the missing woman, Mrs Farrell. During tho past 12 months every possible search has been made for her, both in this and the adjoining colonies, without success, and the police are now fully convinced that the woman was murdered, and her remains destroyed in some way. Jt will be remembered that some seven or eight days elapsed after her disappearance before the police entered upon the search, and this, it is thought, gave the murderers time to destroy all traces of the crime. A fresh statement has recently been made by a young woman residing in Colliugwood. This person states that late one night, about 10 days after the supposed murder took place, she was standing at the corner of Glass and Wellington streets, when she met two men, each carrying a parcel. As Boon as the meu observed her they changed their course across a piece of vacant ground, and disappeared. The young woman further stated that when the men approached her, a most disgusting effluvium was emitted from the parcels they were carrying, almost cuusing her to faint. This person also stated that tho odour was quite foreign to anything she had ever smelt before. It will be remembered that on the night on which the woman was first missed a peculiar odour was noticed emeiuiliug from Farrell's house iv Montague-street. Other matters have transpired, which leave no donbf on (he iniiuls of tho-o « ho have been engiiijcd in tho search lLi:.(- the w<.uuan was murdered, and her -•cumins afttTWdi'ds destroyed.

Aretiiusa Company.— We regret to 3ay that the Arethusa Dramatic Company will sustain a heavy loss owing to the iiuia not getting away last night. They were engaged to play in Wellington this evening, but it is now almost impossible they can arrive there in lime. A Precocious Yotjngster. — The enterprise and precocity of colonial boys lias become proverbial, but wo (Times) doubt whether the exploit of the four-year-old son of Mr H. D. Monk, of Windsorplace, who was advertised for in our last issue, has ever been equalled. The youngster calmly proceeded on board the Union Company's steamer Te Anau, which was lying at the wharf, and allowed her to leave without troubling himsolf in the least about the matter. He was, of course, soon rliscovered to belong to nobody on board, but every care was taken of him. He seems to have been in a position to give his name, ' as Captain Carey telegraphed his whereabouts from Lyttelton yesterday ] morning. He will be probably returned by the Taiaroa to-day, whether sadder or wiser remains to be seen, though we have a faint idea that his mother's reception may cause a dceided tendency towards the former.