LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 31 October 1882, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

St. Hhil-stbeet Sale. — Mr Freeman B. Jackson announces for to-niorrow his usual fortnightly, stock sale at the St. Hill-street yards. The entries are fully as numorous as ever, and in addition fire pedigree bulls are to be offered by order of Mr Craig. ' Friendly Societies' Picnic. — New 1 Year's Day is approaching, and consequently 1 the Friendly Societies are already thinking I about their annual picnic. A meeting of [ representatives has been called for half-past , 7 o'clock this evening, at the Odd Fellows' Hall, Bidgway-street. ' Bankruptcy. — Mr J. L. Hall, the wellknown . comedian has filed his schedule in Wellington. The New Zealand Times say that he . has been, compelled to do this on account of action taken by his late partner, - Mr 'Wilmott, who, we understand, enforces 1 a claim for a somewhat heavy amount, for which Mr Hall disavows any responsibility. In justice, therefore, to any other creditors, Mr Hall lias felt impelled to seek the protection of the court. A COBPOBATIOIT &ABDEN. — TllO tiny garden in front of the Borough Council offices in St. Hill-street is just beginning to look really pleasing, well stocked as it is with flowering shrnbs, and kept in perfect order. The azaleas and roses are fast breaking into bloom, and, if only the inevitable .larrikin and gai-den plunderer can keep his hands from picking and stealing, the mayor and councillors of the borough will have occasion justly to bo proud of their premises. An Appetising Delicacy. — From whatever cause or other .we know not, but just now the river swarms with those delight-fully-flavoured little fishes known hero by the name of whitebait, but which are (according to somo people's judgment) the young of the New Zealand smelt. The, natives up the river are taking largo quantities, especially from the mouths of the various creeks, and, except upon the assumption that our d\isky brethren are too fond of the fish themselves, it seems a little strange that they have not been brought for sale into town, where they would command a good price. Licensing Cottbts. — The next quarterly Licensing Courts have been fixed as folIowb) and will in' all cases be held at noon : —Queen's Ward, Friday, 3rd November; Cook's Ward; Saturday, 4th November ; St. John's Ward, Monday, 6th November j Makirikiri district, Wednesday, Bth November, at Mr Alex. Higgie's residence ; Westmere, Thursday; 9th November, at the Kai Iwi railway station ; and Brunswiek, Saturday, 9th November, at the Lands Courthouse, XJpokongaro. • By virtue' of the new Licensing Amendment Act, which permits a committeo to meet anywhere out of its own district, all three of the town committee meetings will take place on the days above named in .the Supreme Courthouse. Pcbging the Eleotobal 801 l. — Yestorday morning, before Mr Ward, E.M., no less thari23l notices of objections to persons whose names ai'e on the Wanganui Electoral Eoll came on for hearing. Mr Wnon.the Registrar of Electors, at whoso instance the objections had been brought, stated that 246 in all had been named, and the Act complied with by their being le£t at the last known places of abode in Wanganui of the persons referred to, and also by their having been sent in registered letters through the post. Eightyfive of them had been returned through the Dead Letter oflice, and in fifteen cases the persons named in tho notices had either admitted that they had ceased to resido or had obtained the necessary certificate qualifying them to vote in some other electoral district. By direction of his Worship, the names of the whole 231 were called out three times by the bailiff (with the assistance of Sir Andrew Thomson, the assistant clerk), and not one of them answered. His Worship held the objections to have been sustained, and amended the roll accordingly.

.Visiting- Day at thb Inbant Sohoob. — To-morrow being the firab Wednesday | in the month, persona who take an in- - teresfc in the working of the Infant School can pay it a visit, the time being strictly limited to between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. ■ The privilege was largely availed of last month. Labrikinism Again. — On' Sunday night last, whilst divine service was, being held in the Trinity Wesleyan Church, a large stone was sent crashing through one of the windows, fortunately without striking anyone of the worshippers. Two boys were seen to make off with the utmost speed, and it wil ) probably be doing them no injustice to suggest that they were the mischievous culprits. AeBIVAI OS THE DUNEDHT TEAMS. — We learn by telegram addressed to the wife of one of the Volunteers who left on Saturday night, .that the s.s. Go-Ahead; with the representatives of the Wanganui Rifles, City Kifles, Naval Brigade, and other, companies on board, safely arrived at Lyttleton yesterday morning, at t o'clock. We presume that they will hare reached Dunedin by train last night. . • , A Loot/m Tbkbns.— Before leaving -with liia brother marksmen for Dunedin, Mr Purnell arranged with, Mr Dudley Eyre to act (as far as possible) as his locum ' tenens at the Borough Council offices . till the return of the Volunteers in ten days or a fortnight. Mr Eyre accordingly attended at the offices yesterday, and will continue to do so for several hours in the middle of every day until Mr Purnell comes back. Mr Eyre acts, of course, under the immediate direction of Mr Brooking, the town clerk. Cricket. — The match, fifteen a side, which had been fixed for Saturday last, did not come-off, owing to the absence of several players who ' had been chosen. A scratch match accordingly was organised, the teams being captained by Messrs Fry and Kennedy respectively. Victory fell to Mr Kennedy's side by a majority of 33 runs, a result due to the good batting of Messrs Cross and S. Powell, who put together 26 »»d 13 respectively, and to the destructive bowling of Messrs Kennedy, Bruce, and Gray. ■ ■ - Obituaby. — The Times announces ' the death oorf r Lady Havelock, . widow of Sir Henry ' Havelbek, the captor of Luoknow, which occurred on Friday, September 1, at her residence in Kensington Park Gardens, London; • She was a daughter of the Bey. Joshua Marshman, D.D., of Serampore, and Was born in 1809. It "may be remembered that a few days before the tidings of Havelock's death reached England letters patent to create him a baronet were directed. ' His widow, at the instance o£ the Queen, received the rank to which she would have been entitled if she had lived a little longer, and a pension of a £1000 was bestowed upon her by Parliament. ..' Mrs Hasipson's Meetings. — The mid" day meeting held yesterday for an hour, between 12.30 and 1.30, was largely attended, and an interesting address was delivered by Mrs Hampson. These mid-day meetings will be continued for the whole of the present week. It is unnecessary to add that the evening meetings, which have been such undoubted and great successes, and drawn such unusually largo crowds, will of course be continued also. At her meetings yesterday Mrs Hampson desired that requests for prayer and praise be sent either to her or any member of the committee, and they would be dealt with either publicly or privately, or both. BT/ILDIJJ& ON the Sandhills. — We are glad to see that a beginning has been made to relieve the dreary monotony of the sandhills Murray's foundry by putting up a building on tho very top of them. Mr Wilson, the well-known cabman, recently purchased a cottage from Messrs York and Cornfoot, the removal of which was rendered necessary by the alterations proposed to be made in that firm's premises. The cottage was , with considerable difficulty shifted by Mr Robert Law, who possesses all tbe proper machinery for the purpose, and now stands a prominent object on the summit of the sandhill, where it enjoys a capital view of the cemetery, the gasworks, and the ..foundry. Cobpobation WonKB. — Some five chains of excellent road -making have just been completed under the superintendence of Mr Gilmour, foreman of works, in Harrison Place, fronting the police station. Those who had long known from personal experience the disgraceful and sometimes almost impassable condition of the road and footpath at the greatly frequented spot in question, can thoroughly appreciate the importance of the work thus completed. A public thoroughfare such as Harrison Place should not so long have been left a combination of sandy drifts and grassy bogs. However, in the case of roadways, as of human beings, it is never too late to mend. Opening- op the Wool Season. — Tho wool season appears to be opening with briskness, and earlier than usual. Mr ITrccman R. Jackson's new store already contains a large number of bales, and yesterday morning 15 bales arrived by train from Messrs Baker and Allison's place at Warrengate, consigned to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. The splendid store now in course of erection for the company. may be said therefore to have been yesterday duly inaugurated by these 15 bales being deposited in it. Should the weather continuo fine there is no doubt 'that wool will quickly corao down, the object of the farmers this year being to take advantage of the first London sales in February next. , With this view tho barquo Colleen will be specially despatched from Wellington by the Loan and Mercantile Company as soon as she can be loaded up with wool from Wanganui and elsewhere Field's Thaok. — Quito a lively cavalcade of European and Maori equestrians might have bacn seen starting yesterday morning from Kirkwood's hotel en route for the Murimotu Plains, via Field's track. Tho party was mado up of a body of natives who liave for months past been in and about Wanganui upon Lands Court and other business, and of Mr George Manson and other Europeans whom business takes just now to the interior of the island. Under charge of Mr Manson was a large quantity of pack horses, well laden with stores, bound to Mr S. H. Manson's up-country establishment ; and, besides these, the cavalcado included a mob of ' about a dozen horses purchased as a speculation in Wanganni and intended for sale in the Waikato, a district very easily released now that Field's track opens the way to Murimotu. As this was the first piece of packing and the first party despatched up the track, the occasion was one well worthy of remark. Every ono hero will sincerly hope that, Europeans and Maoris alike, they are but pioneers of a .great accession to the business of the district. Yesterday's party break their journey the first night at Mangawheo. A Cumbersome Pbooess. — Thomachinery necessary by tho Act for purging the electoral roll of persons who have lost then 1 qualification to vote, is cumbersome in the extreme, and so far as simplicity ia concerned far inferior to the public advertisement of the names objected to which was the practice under the old law. In the Courb yesterday morning some discussion took place on this matter, Mr Woon, the Registrar explaining that although he had power under tho new Act to put on the roll the names of any duly qualified, he had no power to remove disqualified voters without going through the complicated machinery involved in giving personal notice of objection to every one of thorn. The old plan of advertising the names in the press had been found to be too expensive, the journals in the larger' electoral districts having been compelled even to issue special supplements. Me Woon's suggestion, in order to meet tho difficulty, is that, directly after a general election, the names of every person who failed to vote should be removed — a plan which would quickly and offcctually purge the roll. The assumption is that non-voters are either dead, or removed from the district, or that they care nothing for their privoligo. Mr Woon f urther pointed out to the Court that,"even if some desirable and properly qualified voter were removed by this suggested summary process, he could easily and without expense or trouble be reinstated upon his making application to the Registrar.

Pitch. — The Hokitika Star says:— -A T great quantity of pitch has been -washed Tip - on the South Spit, and the people living in the neighbourhood hare pieces 6001 b 'in ] ■weight. It is hard outside and soft inside. The finders are at present using it to light - then* fires. Where it came from is a J mystery. 1 Leather Company. — The New Zealand ( Manufacturing Company (limited) of Wellington, concerning which there was such | animated discussion some time since in the ■ Press of the Empire City, has at length | been successfully floated. They are closi" the retail business of W. and J. Stop 1 . , which is part of the property of the conn •i, I and purpose confining themselves to wlwle- '. sale business. I Chubton's Creek. — Preparations are being made for tho repair of the serious injury: to the culvert at the mouthofChurton's Creek occasioned by the recent fresh, and the great "Overflow of water -which 1 descended to the river by this rivulet from the Westmere Lake. The spot, occupying a goodly portion of the roadway opposite Murray's foundry, |is a very awtnard one for Buch an accident to have occurred, and wo are glad. therefore to find that the fore-: man of -works intends without delay to start the repairs. . The creek is to have a scrub, bottom, well staked, upon which the large earthernware pipes are to be laid. Transit 6* Venus. — A recent issue of the Sao. Francisco Weekly Bulletin contains a telegram from Washington with reference to the transit of Venus, that will doubtless be read with interest. It runs thus: — "With the 75,000 dollars appropriated by Congress to observe the transit of Vfenus, three expeditions will be sent out. Admiral Row'en takes a party to Patagonia ; Professor Newcomb has charge of a party that will make their observations from the Cape iof Good' Hope; Professor- Edwin Smith, of the coast survey, goes to New Zealand ; and another to Texas. There will not be another transit for 116 years, and all nations are interested in getting correct observations. .An international meeting will bo held in Paris next year, when the various parties will compare notes." " Grain Merchants. — The Chicago Timesi in an. article on the notable men "on 'change ".in that city, says that one of them, John B. I/yon, ranked for years as the' largest chandler of grain in the world. Two. years ago he received and moved 35,000,000 bushels of corn, on which he netted a profit of one half, cent a bushel, or 175,000d0l in all ; a big roll, but small enough when the risk is considered. That is to say, this one merchant passed through his hands about twice as much grain as New Zealand produced last year, and, if only wheat is reckoned, , a good deal more than all the Australasian colonies. . Another journal gives the respective capacity of 27 grain stores along the lines of the Northern Tacific Railroad Company, controlled by one merchant, the aggregate capacity being 775,000 bushels. . Proctor on Wanganui.— Amongst the answers to correspondents given in Mr Proctor's, journal " Knowledge," of the 27th January last' (to which our attention has been drawn by Mr S. H. Drew), we observe the following interesting paragraph : — '■ "New Zealand — The Wanganui is a splen-. did river for rowing. A year ago we had a splendid 20 miles spin up the Wanganui in a four-oared clinker-built outrigged boat, and judged it to be better for boat racing even than the Paramatta, in New South Wales, on which river also we hod some capital rowing. The Paramatta indeed is. hardly a river, but it is an inlet of the sea, at least so far up as the raceconrse." Mr Proctor lias evidently retained pleasant recollections of a trip he took up the river some two years ago in one of the Wanganui Rowing Club's boats, a party having been arranged by Mr Gibbs, of this town, in order to give our distinguished visitor some idea of the beauties of the district. What Butteeine is made' of. — Scientific investigation brings many strange things to light with regard to the food of civilised communities, but the idea that the refuse of our dust-bins may be worked up into butterine is sufficient to make us (says a Home paper) believe that ignorance is J really bliss. Land relates the facts as follows : — " The ordinary refuse from tho dustbin is first sorted out and dealt with according to its nature. Two tanks are provided, in whichfish, dogs, cats, bones, and slaughterhouse refuse are boiled down. The fat is skimmed off the top, and then put into a canvass squeezer, from which oil is obtained, which sells at £24 a ton, the remaining cake being mixed among otlier manure. In one year 141 tons of fish and tripe .refuse, 13 tons of cats, and seven tons;of-'dogs have been dealt with in this way." ''THen the Live Stock Journal takeß up tho theme, aud says it is just such oil as this which is best fitted for the manufacture of " oleomargarine." The idea of such an abomination finding its way upon our breakfast and tea tables is enough to make wholesale converts to' vegetarianism. It should also awaken inspectors undorthc Adulteration Act to increased activity. Direct Steam Sertice with England. — The Evening Post of tho 27th instant says : — It is understood that the time for the Agent-General receiving tenders for the direct steam service between England and Now Zealand will probably close about the end of December or beginning of January next. Sir Dillon Bell will communicate with the Government by cable if it should prove necessary to vary in any material the general instructions sent to him, but otherwise tho matter is left in his hands. It is thought that there will be o large number of competitors, and that no difficulty will bo experienced in finding contractors willing to uudertake the service on the terms specified. There aro already rumours of several intending tenderers. It is believed that in addition to the Union Steamship Company, the New Zealand Shipping Company, and Messrs, Shaw, Savillc and Co., tho list may iiot improbably include Messrs Sloman and Co., of Hamburg, whoso pioneer, boat, the Sorrento, will be here shortly; the Messagories Maritimes, Messrs Money Wigram and Co., the company now carrying on the Torres Strait mail service, and other shipowning firms of note. It is expected that tho likelihood of tho Panama Canal being completed in a few years may materially influence tenderers, as the contractor who should be in possession o£ tho field by the time the canal is opened would manifestly enjoy a vast advantage at tho outset of the new trade. Tasmania. — A correspondent of the " Argus " writes from Hobart as follows : — The prospects of Tasmania, never looked brighter than they do at present. The revenue shows a steady increase each month, the mines are being opened up and showing further deposits of hidden wealth, and in agricultural matters everything looks most promising. Reference has been made to our improved mining prospects, and the news which has recently come in warrants the belief that there is every reason to regard mining in this country as a permanent field for the employment of labour. Last week the first reports were received from the party in charge of the diamond drill at Bock Creek, near Lefroy. This is the first drill which the Government have imported, and it is doing its work admirably. A depth of 175 ft has been reached, and the prospects are regarded by Mr Thureau, ihe Government mine inspector, as rery favourable. Mr Thureau contends that ■ the result of the first core fully endorses the opinion he has so often expressed that we have a goldfield at a lower depth still untried. In his geological reports he predicted a good future for Back Creek if greater depths were attained, and tho revelations made by tho diamond drill go to show that he was correct in his surmises. We are expecting great things from this drill, and I do not think we shall bo disappointed. Already companies are being floated on the strength of its operations. In the tin mining world there has been a little stir of late. News has arrived from tho ■• west coast that the Cumberland Company t have struck the lode at 300 ft, 6ft 6in wide, ; with splendid prospects. This is almost : more gratifying intelligence than that from ' the gold mines, because the striking of the Cumberland lode means the proving of all t the leading claims on the west coast. a