LOCAL AND GENERAL

Some interesting reading matter will bo found on our first page. " Ootoroon " rehearsal in the Drill Hall this evening at 7.15 o'clock. The Hon. the Premier is expected to arrive in Wanganui from Wellington today. Tho msmbers of the Wanganui Cricket Ciub opon their season on Saturday with a scratch match on the Racecourse. A late wire received from Nelson last night states that Bishop Suter continues about the samo. Tho X.M.S. Eimutaka left Rio for Plymouth on 'Tuesday, with her.frozen meat in good condition. •-• The man Hewitt was brought before Messrs G. Carson and A. A. Browne, J P.'s, at the Gaol, yesterday, on a charge of larceny, and committed for trial. The Tarawera, with an Edglish mail via Brindisi, arrived at Auckland on Friday. The mail should reach Wangaimi on Saturday afternoon. The Lichfield Hotel at Auckland, a two-storey wooden building, was burned down on Tuesday night, it was insured for .£SOO in the South British, A practice of "The Mikado" will be held at the Oddfellows' Hall this evening at 7.30 o'clock. Prompt attendance is requested, . as the rehearsal wili commonce punctually at the hour mentioned. Mr George Hutchison, M.H.8., arrived by train from Wellington yesterday. He proceeds North to-day, and we understand addresses a public meeting of electors at Stratford to-night. The final full-dress rehearsals of the " Octoroon " will be held on Monday and Tuesday evenings at 7 o'clock. Arrangements in connection with the production cf this highly sensational drama are now complete, and the performance promises ' to be ona of the most successfully staged in Wanganui. A now serial story of thrilling interest, entitled "The Master of Silence," will begin in this week'B Supplement. In-: tending subscribers to .the Chronicle should take the present opportunity, as the Supplement will not in the future be delivered to non-subscribers. The following will represent the Kaiefau Juniors in the match against thb jockeys and trainers on Saturday next: — Vincent, Holder, F. Purnell, Richardson,' Hf. Brown, Tuffin, Warwick, John Craig, O'Leary, Luni, F. Hogg, Ecclesfield, McDuff, Perm, and Gordon. Housekeepers would do well to attend the sale of Mrs Sievers' stock, which takes place to-day. The catalogue comprises every variety of groceries, lollies, biscuits, brushware, cutlery, &c, also a lot of useful drapery,, a horse, trap, and side saddle. Mr Keesing starts to sell at 11 o'clock sharp, hopingto be able to deliver the goods before evening. As Mrs Cbaney, wife of tho postmaster at Marton, was ' catching a horse on Tuesday, the animal kicked her on the back of the head, rendering her unconscious, in which state she remained up to a late hour yesterday. It is thought her scull is fractured, .and small' hopes 1 are entertained for her recovery. ■ A telegram was received by the Marine Department, Wellington, yesterday, from the lighthouse keeper at Cape Farewell stating that . the purser of the Murray landed, at West Wanganui, where the ketch Elizabeth was ashore, but none of the crew of that vessel could be soon. The ketch had her sails set and appeared to be abandoned. A Press wire from Auckland states that when Sullivan fell out of his boat he was heated, and the long swim to the shore j under a strong sun, together with the le action after taking a glass of spirits when he landed exhausted, was responsible for his delirious condition. He is now rapidly I improving. Sullivan was going . his haidest when he was thrown out of his boat,' and it' was found that the three rods of one of the outriggers had broken. | The Chronicle Weekly Supplement .to-morrow will contain . in addition to. the usual serial story, the ladies' column, agricultural news, &c, the following : — I ! " The Master of. Silence," a new serial ; j " Straight from the Owner," from the St. Jamqs' Gazette ; "My Travelling Companion," " How to Pac> Cut Flowers," "South : Itlay's Banded Cut-Thioata," " Civilisipg the Savage," " An Incident of American Frontier Lite/' -Encounter with a Lioness," ".Meg and the Burglar," " Execution of insurgents in Chili,-" &o-, &c., ; &c. ■•-.• It is 6a ; .d that the telephone is about to have a new application — thatof foretelling ', storms. Another discovery has been made as to one of the properties of this means of transmitting sound. By placing two iron bars about 25 feet distant from each other, and then putting them in communication on one side by a copper wire covered with .rubber, and on the other side with a telephone, a storm can be predicted at leaßt twelve hours ahead through a dead sound heard in the receiver. -According as the storm advances the sound resembles the beating of hailstones against the windows. Every flash of lightning, and, of courde, every clap of thunder that- accompanies the storm, produces a shock similar to that of the blow of a store cast between the diaphragm and the instrument. News has come to.hand (says the correspondent of a New South Wales contemporary) of a strange accident to Mr Henry Austin, of Home Rule, near Mudgee. , It .appears that Mr Austin's dogs had caught p kangaroo, and the unfortunate young ■ man hai struck the animal and thought it was dead, but just as he was^.bout to skin it, it gave a desperate kick, and catching the knife in its. hand drove the blade rieht into Austin's thigh, inflicting a fearful gash, Austin was four miles from camp, and tearing up his shirt to stop the flow of blood, he had to walk that distance before help was obtained, when he was promptly brought intoGulgong. Dr Bennett at once attended to the wounded man, who had a very narrow escape, as, if in • artery had been severed, he would probably have bled to death. Under the heading "A Good Fellow" the London correspondent of the Christchurch Star writes as follows : — " Mv F. M. Russell, of -Christchurch, who has been studying medicine at Guy's Hospital for between seven and eight years past, recently left there to return to his home in New Zealand, He was extraordinarily popular with his fellow students, who, a few days before his departure, presented him with a handsome silver and cut:glass tantalus as a mark of their regard, and memento of many jovial- nights and days. Mr Russell sailed, I understand, a fortnight ago. Ho will long be remembered at Guy's as " a prince of good follows." Mr Russell belongs to Wanganui, and his London friends will be glad to hoar that he has much improved in health since his arrival here. When Baron Hirsch gave 5500 guineas for La Fleche (by St. Simon — Quiver) at the Hampton Court yearling sale twelve months last Juno, some people thought that he had made a bad deal. Experience now proves that, unlike the general run of high-priced youngsters, Memoir's young sister will prove a remunerative bargain. ," It is certain that I if she had been put up for auction directly after her Chesterfield Stakes success at Newmarket (says an English writer), she J would have br)ugbt a good profit on the original purchase money, and very likely five figures would have been reached. Although sha wsb not greatly liked by the same critics before the race, it must i be said that 3he upset all their adverse opinions by the style in which she won. To many she did not appear to have grown since she Btood in the sale ring at Bushey Park paddocks. La Fleche, though, is bigger than she really looks, and she is all wire and whipcord." However, it is truly wonderful to see what amount of money has been wasted in England on useless thoroughbreds. According to statistics, in six seasons 49 yearlings have been sold by Messrs Tattersall for 200 D guineas' each or more. The total amount of the purchase money is 132,750 guineas, this being an average of 2707 guineas. It is scarcely fair to deal with the yearlings of 1890, as they havp had but little chance to get back their purchase money. Thus we will only deal with the 37 that were disposed of from 1885 to 1889 inclusive. These cost 75,350 guineas, and 21 of them never won a single penny in stakes. The 16 winners, whose purchase money was 43,000 guineas, won 28,381 guineas in stakes during their career on the turf. Thus, if precedent goes for anything, buying big-priced yearlings is a bad game.

I _ I A child named Just, two and a half years old, was attacked by two stoats while lying on the ground j n Collegestreet, Palmerston North, on Tuesday last. The stoats had fastened on each side of the neck, but the child's cries alarmed the residents, and the stoats made oH at their appearance. They have left the marks of their teetb 011 the child's neck, S-everal lambs have been killed by stoats in the Palmerston district lately, At the instigation of Mr W. H. Mackenzie, of bunedin, the Inehelutha Dairy Factory pent a few cheeses with a friend of his returning to the Old Country. The cheese was highly commended, and the vendor guarantees 60s and upwards. Should the factory accept the offer, this price will enable them to pay 4d per gallon for milk, and declare a dividend of 25 per cent, Thes.s. Pakeha, of the Shaw. Savill and Albion line, arrived in Timaru at 10 a.m. one day last week and left again at 5 p.m. next day, having taken on board 17,000 carcases mutton ,200 casks tallow, 3000 bales wool, and over 500 ton's grain. The Railway and Harbor autorities at Timaru might be proud of the arrangements which j enabled them to do so much work in so I short a time. Executive officers in some of the larger ports in New Zealand mighttake a profitable lesson from Timaru. At an entertainment at Birmingham to the two envoys of King Gungunhana, of South Africa, the chief, Huluhulu, in reply to Mr Chamberlain, said he came to England like a young man blind, and would leave it an old man with wide open eyes. He had seen many wonderful things in England, but the most wonderful was the gymnasium at Aldershofc. He saw men swinging on the trapese and rings, and remarked that it must be quite true that the monkeys in Africa came 16 England to be taught before they went wild. •, The Commissioners for re-adjustment of the electoral boundaries, Colonel Haultain, Dr Hjslop, Messrs Crombie, Percy Smith, and Dobson, are hard at work, and it is quite evident that they will have to use every possible despatch, for they mnst, aeoording to the Act, present their report within three months of their receiving from the Registrar-Gonoral his official report of the census. Now, the census waa taken on the 6th of April, and though the returns were very slow in coming in, the official report must have reached the Commissioners some time since. An erroneous statement has (says the Australasian) been circulated to the effect that if Carbine is started for the next Melbourne Cup Bamage will not b 9 likely to ride him, the alleged reason tor .this being that Bamage was not riding : was Mr Wallace now because he had refused to ride Bendigo on .. a recent occasion. Both Mr Wallace and Bamage state that all this is news to them. Bamage still holds the position of first jockey in Mr Wallace's stable, though Power has gone over to ride Mr Wallace's horses at Eandwick. Eamage is only gradually getting to regular riding work after having been laid up for over two month, and is hardly fit yet for severe races, though he is rapidly recoving all his old form. He is going to Queenscliff, and will ride Mr Wallace's horses in work there. It is most likely that should both Carbine and Megaphone start for the Melbourne Cup, that Mr J E Brewer may have the mount on Megaphone: The new divorce law in Victoria, which it will be remembered considerably extends the grounds on which a divorce may be granted, is being very freely taken advantage of. We notice in particular that there are a good many applications for divorce, on the ground of the habitual drunkenness of the respondent, A case of this kind hear i before Mr Justice A'Beckett a week or two ago presents some features which are certainly instructive, although not altogether creditable to human nature. The husband, an engine diiver named Hodgkinson, sued for a divorce from his wife on the ground that his wife had during three years and upwards been an habitual drunkard, and habitually neglected her duties. There was no question that the wife's conduct had been vory bad. The parlies were married in 1874. Within a month of the marriage the wifeVwas found lying unconsciousfrom intoxication, and for many years she was continually addicted to drunkness. On many occasions she was incapable of performing her household duties, and there, was evidence .that both- -"her house and her chidr'en wore neleoted. Decree nisi was granted,— Christchurch Press. The sporting correspondent of the New Zealand Herald writes as follows : — "The admirors of Melos for the Melbourne Cup received a bit of a shock on ■Monday last when a cablegram came to hand stating that the son of Goldsbrough was reported to be amiss, and that as a consequence had been almost knocked out .of the. betting. A subsequent cablegram however, stated that tho horse been supported to win £4000 at 100 to 5, from which circumstance we may conclude that ho has not craeked-up. It is not a little remarkable that the particular horses giving rise to these scares in sevoral former years have been found home in the van on the day of the Melbourne Cup. In 1881 Zulu was supposed to be " dead to the world," ditto The Assyripja in 'the following year, and in 1885 Sheet Anchor was actually knocked out to 100 to 1, while in 1886 Arsenal went off his feed to such an extent that his party lost all hope of his chance ; and coming down to 1889 Bravo was supposed to bo such a " hard case " that one of tho Victorian metalllicans took liberties with the son of 'irand tlaneurtothe extent, of something like £30,000. Tet, all these presumed "bard cases" dressed down their opponentahaud the query suggested by the paragraph is whether history will again repeat itself this year, and the reputfld cracked-up Melos lead home his field at Flomington on the 3rd of November? More unlikely things than that, for glancing over the Bandwick training notes in the MelbourSa Leader of a recent date (which are, I may iemark from the pen of the astute " Asmodeus ") I read : " Melo3 pleased the touts en masse by the workmanlike manner in which he galloped a round on the cours9 proper. He is one of the most improved horses in training. v It is refreshing (says " Mercutio," in the Auckland Herald) to read the manly outspoken utterances of Mr John Bryce in the Waikato, after the flapdoodle — the. stuff they suckle fools on — usually given to Auckland electorates. «• Ho that is not for us is against us," says •" Honest John " ; " have nothing to do with men who will not nail their colours to the mast ! " That talk has the true ring of | manhood and political integrity in it, and I pray that New Zealand may have once I more in its councils — The still strong man in a blatant land, Whatever they call him — what care I. Some curiosity has been felt as to what amount of revonue the Palmerston Hospital and Charitable Aid Board will possess, and Mr Edwards, representative of Palmerston Borough on the Wanganui Board, has kindly supplied us (Manawatu Times) with figures showing this, based on the present valuation. The respective valuations of these bodißS are as follows : —Manawatu Bead Board, .£313,149; Manchester Road Board, £461,147 ; Halcombe Town Board, £ 17,301 ; Fitzherbert Road Board, .£173,916 ; Manawatu County C0unci1£529,717; Foxton Borough Council, £63,006; Feilding Borough Council, .£113,808; Palmewton Borough Council, £340,000; Kiwitea Road Board, .£237,591. The rating on these valuations produces the following,:— Manawatu E. B.j Hospital, £27 8s ; charitable aid, £39 2s lid. Manchester R. B. : Hospital .£4O 7s ; charitable aid, .£57 12s lid. Halcombe T. B. : Hospital, .£1 10s 4d ; charitable aid, £2 3s 3d. Fitzherbert R. B. : Hospital, .£ls 4s 4d; charitable aid, £<U 14s 9d. Manawatu C. C. : Hospital, £46 7s ; charitable aid, £66 4s 3d. Foxton B. C. : Hospital, £5 10s 3d ; charitable aid, £7 17s Gd. Feilding B. C. : Hospital, £0 19s 2d ; charitable aid, £14 4s 7d. Palmerston B. C. : Hospital, £31 10s ; charitable aid, £43. Kiwitea B. B: Hospital, £20 15s lOd; charitable aid, £29 13s J Id.— Total : Hospital, £198 lls lid ; charitable aid, £281 14s Id. To this revenue has to be added tho Government subsidy of £1 for £1. which gives a total of £960 12s. In addition to this the ne.v Board will have in its' possession the site for the hospital, and about £1000 in cash derived from tho sale of endowments, proceeds of exhibition, and other sources. It will b seen, thorefore, that the financial position is well assured, and that in the interests of residents in the districts enumerated no time will be .lost in having the necessary buildings erected.