The Hon. Mr Dick is seriously indisposed. We have received Bradshaw for the current month. Mic Allan McDonald,. M.H.R. : ,,.is at present on a visit to Napier. The Union Cricket Club beat the : High School on Saturday by 20 rims. Mr Grayden, C E., has been "seiit over to V take the place of Mr Holmes on the Wood- „. villeline. ! . " The Municipal Public Works Committee holds its ordinary meeting this evening at the usual hour. , . The Poverty Bay cricketers will try conclusions with our local knights of the willow on the 20th and 21st on the Recreation Ground. The Christchurch* Working Men's Political Association" declined to accept Mr Wakefield as an honorary member,"' because ho would not accept in its entirety their pro« gramme. • -■■•-.■; Government. having taken over th« Tahoraite contract are pushing on wdth it as fast as possible, and are prepared/to put on one hundred additional men if thoy can obtain them. ... ... ' The jury lists, both'for; Europeans and Maoris have been'made up. Objections will be heard by Justices of the Peace for the former on tho 4th April, and f6r the latter on the 28th March. The Government have hot' yet .decided whether Duncdin, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch shall each be formed into ono electorate of four members each, but the matter is under consideration. V; "x A Press Association telegram from Napier states that the new Working Men's Club is a finer: building than that of tho Hawke's Bay Club. The sendor of that -, message evidently was never inside the doors, of the Hawke's Bay Club. Mr; S. McGreovy is going torebuild the Wanstead Hotel, ,and the plans have been prepared by Mr Dugleby. The new house will contain fourteen, rooms, so that the hotel will be. a valuable addition to the travelling portion of the community. It will bo seen from an. advertisement elsewhere that the second drawing'of money prizesby "Boaz" is now announced. Already there have been numerous applications ! for tickets in the second drawing, which : closes not later than the end of -April. i The- following, deeds-have been submitted to the Trust Commissioner during . the past week, to which .he will certify if . not objected to during the next five days:— Transfer, Pokuha Hapuka to Jaincs. Uren ' Carlile, lots 16 ,and ; 17, portions, of rural sections 6 and 175, Woodville,- 2 roods; conveyance of undividedinterests, confirma- . tio'n, Taraipine : Punawai Mokai, Mohanga ; to William Murray', Charles Cairns Murray, and John Roberts, Te Onepu West, 287 acres. V, "'".''' : V .-.. ',''. .'.■ Mr H. P. Cohen, of the .''Little,Dustpan''warehouse, has been the -first tradesman in Hastings streot to run his : premises through the entire length of the section, and present, a shop front.to both, streets. Mr Cohen has now a most extensive -,f urni- :■ ture store, measuring as ,it .does-162 feet from Hastings street to Marine Parade. The class: of business -in which he is engaged has so: largely, increased that an extension .... - of the premises became a necessity. We understand that it is quite as , much as he can do to overtake his orders by the constant employment of eleven hands. It will be seen from a telegram elsewhere that Martini-Henri has won the V.R.C. St. Leger in a canter, the time, however, being the slowest for the last eight years, and should make the ; Champion look a good thing for Commotion. The most wonderful betting race of the meeting, the Newmarket Handicap, has been won, of course, by an outsider, Malua, who has improved by changing his .name, that flyer Le Grand being second, while Claptrap, who ran as a cripple, was third. Neither of tho first two horses had ever been mentioned in.the betting. The time was sees, faster than ever it lias been done in before. At tTie E..MI Court this morning, before Captain Preeco; R.M., Ebenezer Dixon, on ' remand charged with lunacy, was dis»-< charged. Accused asked if he could speak to His Worship, as he had a complaint to make, having been charged with-habitual drunkenness. His Worship said his last conviction was for assault.-—Albert Hackett, on remand charged with lunacy, was committed to the Napier Asylum.—Robert Aplin was charged with allowing his chimney to take fire on the 28th February, Accused pleaded guilty. His Worship imposed a fine of 2s, with 7s costs, or 48 hours imprisonment, a fortnight being allowed to pay the fine in.—A. McCartney was charged with using threatening language to M.. Ryan. Mr Lascelles appeared for tho defenco, and pleaded guilty under provocation, Mr Lee for the prosecution. Tho offence was committed at Taradalo on the 15th February. His Worship inflicted a fine of 10s, costs lis, solicitors fee £1 Is, and witness's expenses 6s, A Jewish Club has been opened in Melbourne. Valentines in Australia were very scarce this year. Paris has still 500 oil lamps for lighting the streets. . .. > , -~..,;, A, The Salvation Army threaten an attack on Wanganui. Nearly one thousand ladies aro now practising medicine iv England. . Tho first two day's racing at JQunedin tho stakes fell short of the, totalisator profits by :_25. . -■: -. : .:-■-.;'. The Vagabond is to be testimonialised in Victoria for his exposure of- French'designs in the Pacific. ; • '■.'-"*' On November 10th the 'first stopo was laid at tho Pope's native place of a hospital to be built at his cost. _^ Sullivan, the Yankee slogger, has backed himself for a thousand dollars to knock down an ox with one blow. In Belgium and Holland the railway em? bankments are farmed out to a Company which raises apples upon them.' '.'! ' Typhoid fever is so.prevalent at. present* .in Victoria that the provisions of a stringen]!; Health Act havo had to bo put iniqreo. A Hungarian Jew sent to a! Vienna paper a grain of wheat on which he had I written three hundred and nine words taken from Tissot's book on Vieiuia. The English Jockey Club will ill futuro prevent jockeys betting on races or 1 owning racers.. This is a fatal blow to, a'brother of Fred Archer. Lord Falmouth' has also decided to relinquish racing.';' 'A."'A A Victorian constable has had a conspicuous monument erected to his memory in the Melbourne cemetery, a largo amount of money having, been collected for tho purpose by the \vifo of a former comradp. A St..Louis clergyman has asfeed the newspapers not torcport his sermons, since some of his congregation themselves from the house of worship beciluse'they can read the substance of his discourse" at their ease at the ; bi'eakfast table;'" '"•''-•'.'"-■•• Mr J. J. O'Koily, M.P., who some years ago represented the. New, York Herald during the Cuban Insurreotiph,. des- ' patched by that j ournal. as. .its special war,' correspondent' to the Soudan." 'VThe hon. gentleman was hot, therefore,' 'in his place •when Parliament met,

A curious circumstance is mentioned in the Sydney Mail, viz., the explosion of fruit on a bonnet. The beautiful red cherries with which a servant maid's head gear fresh from the shop of a_ well-known and fashionable artist in the city had been adorned exploded. The heat of the atmosphere had expanded the air within the hollow artificial fruit.

Colonel Rathbone, the aide-de-camp in attendance on President Lincoln the night of his murder, shot his wife in a fit of madness last Christmas Eve, and then stabbed himself five times with a dagger. His recovery ia, howover, possible. L ° lonel Rathbone was wounded by Booth' at the assassination of President Lincoln, and had since shown symptoms of insanity.

An enterprising restaurant keeper named Jonas, at Ballarat, who deposes of meals at Gd, has, the Courier alleges, determined to increase tho attractiveness of his establishment by giving his customers music while they are'enjoying their meals. He has purchased a large orchestrion, an instrument with as varied a set of sounds as a full brass band, and is having it set up where the music can be best heard by the diners. The instrument cost altogether about £100.

The following letter from Rajshahai was recently received by the authorities at tho Calcutta Exhibition :—" Sir,— I have the honor to inform you that I havo a man from whoso forehead has sprung a regular horn. I intend taking down this man to the Calcutta Exhibition ; please let me know what remuneration can I expect from you if I hand the man over to you." Mr Joubcrt decided that this gentleman comes under the head of "honied cattle," so cannot be exhibited.

The Mormons, or Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ, as they term themselves, are still making converts among the Maoris. We (Wairarapa Standard) hear that seven were baptised last Sunday, and there are about fifty adherents to the faith among the natives'in the Wairarapa at the present timo. In ono or two instances, adds our contemporary, there is a marked change in those, who have embraced the faith, low and di-iiiiken lives having given place to quite the reverse. Tho American woman is shrewder than hor. English .sister. She knows how to 'educe good out of evil. Recently, at a meeting of temperance women, an old lady said—"l.know something of the evils of rtihi.' Thrive buried three husbands, and all were' hard drinkers. But lam glad to say that I didn't fight with them. As soon as I found they would drink I got them to insure their lives heavily, and let_ them go ahead. Ah me ! each one of''them died from the effects of liquor, but thanks be to a kind Providence; each ' death ' netted me a clear ■$i0, : 0'6b." ■"