LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Feilding Borough Council will meet at 7 p.m. this evening. Mr J. B. Clarkson left 'Frisco to-tlay on his return to the Coloriy'. A man maned John Tuke, of Turakina, Mas killed by a fall of earth while working in a gravel pit yesterday. He was 60 years of age. Mr F. Y. Lethbridge, M.H.R. for Oroua, met Sir Joseph Ward at the Feilding station yesterday, antl introduced the Mayor of Feikling to the future Premier. Mr A. M. Ongley, late of tlio Magistrate's Court, Palmerston North, aud well known throughout the district as a representative cricketer and footballer, arrived in town yesterday, and has commenced practice as a solicitor in Darragh's Buildings, The Squaro. Mr Ongley should prove a valuable acquisition to sport in Feildiug, and his mauy friends will wish him success in his profession. Last ovening in tho Grey-stroct L Hall, Mr Grant, 8.A., supervisor of school classes iv agriculture, delivered an address on agricultural instruction. Several farmers, ladies, and a humber of school children were present. Tho address was very interesting, and the speaker plainly snowed the advantages to be derived from scientific experimenting. On the motion of Mr A. Williamson, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr Grant for his instructive address. His Worship tho Mayor presided. Replying to Mr Hogan, M.H.R., at Aramoho, Sir Joseph Ward said he was not going to deal with questions of policy, but as Mr Hogan had mentioned the position of those living in the back blocks, he wished to say that these pioneers had his warmest sympathy. He looked upon those people who were in the back blocks as the sinews of the colony, without whose energy and bravery the colony could not prosper, and ihe thought they should receive every encouragement and assistance. Messrs Gorton & Son, in conjunction with Messas Abraham & Williams, offered for sale the Lethbridge Estate at thejr rooms, Feilding, yesterday. There was a good attendance chiefly of local farmers. Four lots were disposed of — one of 279 acres to Mr B. Wrightson at Ll2 10s per acre, and three sections, containing 304 acres in all, were purchased by Mr Baddely, of Baddely & Forlong, Wanganui, at £10 5s per acre. The remainder of the sections were passed in at Lll, Lll 10s, and Lll 16s per acre. The editor of the Dunedin Star, a quasi-Government journal, addresses an " open letter ". to Sir Joseph Ward, in which the following paragraph occurs (the names are filled in by us) :--- Never again, it is to be hoped, will" a second-rate politician receive Ministerial rank because he happens tp have been a competent party whip (Hon C i H. Mills) ; or because he is the confi- i dant. and nominee of a retiring Minis- < ter (Hon T. Duncan); or beoause he i hails from a province which possesses i no parliamentarian of first-class capa- i city (Hon J* McGowan) ; or because < his neutlfdity of character njarku lain ( out as a complaisant and docile c6l- ] league (Hon J. Carroll). '

The death in England is announced of Lieut. Tulloch. who was commissioned by the Royal Society to conduct investiagtions into the cause of ihe disease known as " sleeping sick-net-s " at Entebbe. Lieutenant Tulloch was himself attacked by the disease, and succumbed after a three months' illness, which progressed with unparalleled rapidity. " Well, and how do you like Canterbury ?" asked the Premier of the Maoris in the Christcnurch Exhibition grounds when he arrived at the pa. There was an immediate and prompt universal response of " Kapai," but the negation was just as definite and just as universal when he proceeded to ask; " Better than Wanganui P' " Ah," was the response to this, " that's because you left all the wahines behind." — Press. We have been asked to explain tnat the mistake mado by Mr J. M. Johnston, at the Moumohaki State Farm, in ascribing the initiation of the excursion to the Feilding A. & P. Association, was due to the latter's communication to the Palmerston Association, the fact that the scheme had been suggested by a Kimbolton resident to the Farmers' Union not being mentioned. The hares in this district are almost as destructive as the rabbits in the Wairarapa and South Island. A farmer informed me last week that his carrot and mangold crops wore practically destroyed by hares. It is a pity something cannot be done to keep down these farm pests. If, instead of paying so much a head for hawks and rats, the County Council would offer a prize for the greatest number of hares, they might be doing more good with the fanners' rates. — Land Agent's Record. For the benefit of |our readers we (says the Patea County Press) republish the specific of Mr J. O. Eastwood, of Tongaporutu, for preventing blight in potatoes : The specific is made up of 61b of sulphate of ammonia and 61bs of nitre of potash, dissolved in 25 gallons of water, and the samo strength is usod for all kinds of seeds. The seeds may be soaked for 14 hours, and the potatoes allowed to dry for another 24 hours before planting, so as to avoid mildew. Mr Eastwood advised the use of chemical fertiliser, such as Fison's, rather thau stockyard manure. Mr Isaiah Harding and Mrs Isabella Englebrecht, a widower and a widow of Des Moines, lowa, United States, have becomo man and wife after having signed and sealed a remarkable ipre-nuptial contract. The parties agree tbat if the marriage is a failure it can end after 15 years without tho formality of divorce. Every contingency of married life is covered, including the wife's allowance. The number of. children is limited to three, aud the relatives of the husband are permitted to visit the family only in May and October. The husband is not allowed to bring gueßts home without his wife's permission, and the wife is to manage the servants and fix the family menu. Intoxicants are prohibited. When a man is buying a horse, said Mr Lowrie in a lecture at Timaru on Saturday, he knows that he has to be on his guard on all points, and is to take nothing for granted nor necessarily to trust to any statement made by him. But when he is buying barley on one point at least he must trust the seller, and that is the important point whether or not the barley was stacked before threshing or was threshed out of stook. He told an anecdote in illustration of this. A farmer sent his son to a merchant with a sample of barley that had been threshed out of stook. When asked " How 'long was this in stack ?" the young fellow said it was threshed from stook, and the merchant declined to buy. The father took the sample J himself next market day, and went to another buyer. " Has this barley been stacked ?" he was askedV He did not directly lie, but indirectly did. «Do you think I am so young as to thrash barley out of stook ? And on that evasion he was able to sell his barley, and perhaps " sell " the buyer too, as barley threshed out of stook does not : germinate so evenly as that which has been stacked. — Lyttelton Times. Clarkson's great sale has started. Remember this is for one month only, and the bargains arc thoroughly genuine. — Advt.