THE LATEST. [BY TELEGRAPH.-OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Banquet to Mr Ferguson. Te Aroha, Friday Night.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2036, 25 July 1885, Page 2

THE LATEST. [BY TELEGRAPH.-OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Banquet to Mr Ferguson. Te Aroha, Friday Night.

Tiu> banquet last night to Mr P. Fetguson w.i-1 a most successful .ilf.nr. Some mnenty peisnns wcrrj piesont, including most of the pimcipal lesidents of both townships. Mi .Tas. Mills occupied the chan and Mr M. Robeit^on vice chau. After the usual lojal toasts the health of the guest of the evening was proposed by the ch.iuinan who, rofeiied in eulogistic tt'ims to Mr Fergusons pluck and i>prse\erance in successfully can v")g out, m the face of the .strongest opposition, the erection of the new Ivittory and the construction of the branch tiamwiiy to connect it with the mines. Mr Feiguson, in replying, said ho w.ts much gratified t<> know that his efforts were so highly appre ciated by his follow townsmen, and they might rest assured that no time would now be lost in pushing on the tiamuay to completion. The proceedings altogether ueie of a \Piy pleasing chaiaclcr, and lyucli ciedit is due to Host Lawless for the admirable style in which the banquet was got up.

OI'TIIRI- \K Ol S\MNK Fb\ hK IV EnC lvm>. — Swine fe\cr has broken out and is spreading to a large extent in E.ist i'orkshne. Li:oroLo yon Ranke, the venerable liistoiian, is of opinion that it is much better to wear out than to rust out ; foi although lie is in his !)Oth jcar, his pen is as active .mil his mind as bright as ever. He believes that there is no neces sity for him to close his literary caieer until he is a hnndied, when he proposes to give himself and Ins pnblisheis a rest He will have earned it. The Athciiieiim has secured the services of a plain spoken art critic. In his notice of the picture at the Royal Academy lie writes of an Eastern scene by Mr Goodall, that is " lighted by a stage moon." and that '" thedeseit is like a tract of sandy soap, and the sky like a sheet of lead " Of Mr T. S. Cooper's " Fallen Oak," it is observed that •• it is as haul as, glazed eaitlieinvare." In Mr l'ettie's " Desseit," we are told, there is " a buxom damsel bunging forward a salver laden with stony fruit, and does not seem to know what to do with it." But the iinkindent cut of all is the following.— " In No* 133 Mr Dobson has piesented ' The Lady of Beauty,' ami considerately instiuctcd us to ' See Arabian Nights,' and we shall take tho first oppor tunlty of seeing where, in the delight of our jouth, a dunsel made of leathei is dcsciibed." Tm ki. has been no little excitement in Scotland over a case of lepiosy w Inch has occurred m Edinbuigh. But the phenomenon is by no means a novel one on either side of the Tweed. Theie were leper ho«piti.\ls four or five hundred years a»o in many ccnties of North and South Butain, and by a statute passed in 14*27 every borough m Scotland was required to support a lazar-house, Oi c of these was founded nt Greeuside, under the shadow of Calton Hill, and each patient took his turn of sitting at the door with "anc clapper," to solicit alms fiom the people passing between Edinburgh and Leith. Lepiosy did not become extinct in Scotland until about the middle of the 17th century. The great boot sale is now on at the premises next to the Criterion Hotel, Cambridge, The usual Sunday services at the Wesleyan Church H miilton to-morrow are advertised in another column.