THE RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

Mb Henry Lyon, of Marton, haß announced himself as a candidate for Rangitikei, and will have been, duly nominated by the time this meets the eyes of pur readers. Ib is to be regretted Mr Lyon did not announce himself a little earlier, but tho truth is/he and a large number of the electors were waiting to see if Mr Maclean could be induced to contest the peat in the Liberal (not " Communistic ") interest. However, better late than never; Mr Lyon is too well known in Itangitikei to require any recommendation at our hands. He <ia perhaps one of the moat, active, intelligent, and earnest politicians the Colony. His zeal in any cause, local of general, in which he may take an active interest knows no bounds. No man possesses in a quarter degree, the courage of his convictions, and when he sides with any cause he makes it emphatically his own. If he should be returned, - lie will make a most useful member. We cannot say we have, any knowledge of Mr Lyon's chances, but he is certain to poll a great many votes; There are now three candidates in the field — Sir W- Fox, Mr D. Praser, and Mr Lyon. Mr Fraser is strong in Lower Raugitikei, and is said to have some support at Turakina. Mr Ballance will address the electors of Wanganui in the Princess's Theatre to«night at eight o'clock. By "the kind permission o2 the lessee of the Theatre the dress circle will be thrown open so as to afford the fullest accommodation. The working plant now in use on the Waitotara railway is advertise for sale, i At the late fire at Messrs York and Cornfoot's a number of the men lost their tools. A subscription list in aid of the men has been started at the Ship Hotel, We are requested to state that the Savings' Bank department of the Post Office will be opened on Saturday evenings from 6,80 p.m. to 5.45 p.m. Deposits only will be received. Mr Joseph Chadwick notifies that he has made arrangements with Mr John Wilson to hold auction sales in the premises of the latter in Victoria Avenue. The central positition of.the mart and the personal popularity of the Auctioneer shonld always ensure that desideratum of auction sales — a . good attendance, - ; The 'Bruce Herald' says :—" From a comparison we made the other day between two jpudding . , basins, ■ pbpwn „tof us 4 by Mr White— K)ne of them of English manufacture, and the other one made at the Milton Pottery Works — we find that the Colonial article is ihfinitly superior. At this rate of progress there should be no difficulty in gradually, but surely-shutting out the importation of English crockery-ware." ' A movement has been initiated in the Greymouth district for taking'steps towards the establishment of a new industry, that of the manufacture of cement. Messrs Yonng Bros, of Westport,have written to Mr Masters, the member for Greymouth, pointing out the suitability of the Greymouth limestone for the manufacture in question. :Mr Masters has laid the lettter in question before the Greymouth Borough Council, and there is a probability of something being done in the matter. ' The Auckland Star says that the Hon Mr Bryce's recent experience must have convinod him of the necessity of his spending some months of each year in Apokland, for the purpose of attending to the duties of his department. This seems to us an argument for the abolition of the Native Department, and the substitution for it of some such system of local Government as that advocated by Mr Rees, " Personal, Government," the Star remarks, "is no doubt an evil." It does not seem to us to be a necessary one. . Te Ngakau, formerly, chief adviser to Tawhiao, visited Auofeland recently and had an interview with Major Mair, the Civil Commissioner. Etc said that ( he had -not been in Auckland for 24 years,' and expressed astonishment at the size of the city, bat was rvery reserved on the -subject of the business that had brought him there, saying that he had merely come "to look around." He also interviewed the Hon. the Native Minister, and said that in future he would visit Auckland more frequently. The Taranaki News says: — "The exhibition of Taranaki ironsand at Sydney has not been without some results. In oonequenoe of that exhibition we. have been visited by Mr Williams, the proprietor of the Bskbank Iron Works, in New South Wales. This gentleman has made a careful survey of the Henui Works, and has expressed his astonishment and admiration at their excellence. He has taken five tons of iroasand and some Taranaki pig-iron for experimental purposes, and it is quite in the range of possibility that he may return to aid us in the development of our iron industry." Mr W. H. Watt writes another letter on the subject o£ his resignation . from .the Rangitikei; seat, and we must compliment him on the improvement in style. Bombast and abuse are conspicuous by their absence, and therefore we have pleasure in replying, Mr Watt admits once more that he did resign in favor of Mr Fox, which was our contention, but he adds "What I deny is, that there was any arrangement or bargain between Mr Fox and myself.'' In answer to that we will-quote the following extract from the speech made by $ir W. Fox at the time, of his nomination in 118681 1868 :— i( Mr Watt 'had' not only"' resigned hi£ seat with perfect readiness, and thus gave up this high and honorable position dut there hqd always been a perfect understanding between Mr Watt and himself on the matter." The words italicised are plain enongh. Both Mr Watt and Sir W. Fox should not trust to their memories. The Wellington Chronicle soys : — There passed away on Saturday another old and much esteemed pioneer settler in the person of Mr Janes Sellar, Thd deceased gentleman

„ arrived in Wellington in the ship Lady Nugent, 89 years a«o. It,ha"s fallen to our lot during the past eighteen months to refer to two • other worthy colonists who reached Wellington in the same vessel — the late Messrs Finnimore and John Fell. With many of the other oldl,-,Bettlers, Mr Sellar underwent many extraordinary vicissitudes and dangers. On one occasion while travelling with the late Mr Geo. Soott to Wanganui, a cowardly attempt to take his life was made by a native. The' Maori was walking quietly, by his side,, when suddenly be lifted his tomahawk and struck a vicious blow at his head. Mr Sellar warded off the blow, wrenched the implement from his hand, and at the same time dropped his fist on the Maori's face. The travellers subsequently finished the remainder of their jovrney unmolested. Mr Sellar retained his senses up the end, and breathed his last on Saturday in his 82nd year. r In reference to the telegram published a. -few days ago to the effect that about 60 men had embarked at Timaru for Cape Town, we reprint the following taken from the North Otago Times: — "It; weuld ' appear r that a number of persons in New Zealand, and 'for whom the Colony has few attractions at the present time, are turning their attention to the Transvaal as a field for their enterprise. A few days ago it was telegrrphed that about. 60 able-bodied men had applied for passages in a vessel leaving Timaru for Cape Town. This is only a slight indication of the attention which the Transraal has been absorbing since the Britishi,GbVernmßnti annexed! it! We believe that a gentleman in this town has written for full information concerning the Transvaal as a suitable field for persons 1 | of small means, and this information has been i asked for. at the request of several, who desire \ to'change'their abode to a p6rti6n\jf the world where there is a greater scope for enterprise than exists in New Zealand at the present 'time. Of course a new country is sure to , offer this at least for a while ; but it remains : to be seen whether the Transvaal is such a i country. The aocounta from it are certainly j glowing—that is, in regard to its climate and •resources, but the Boer population is not yet i inclined to accept peacefully the conditions ' iniposed upon them by the annexation. *It is leaid that the Transvaal is as large as Franoe, land at the present time the white population 'is extremely sparse— in fact it comprises Sonly a handful of people.!' i - The most dangerous feature of the Nihilistic movement in Russia is, according to recent accounts, the disaffection of some high military officers. This is mentioned as shewing iwhat progress the movement has made in ithe army- The Russian army cannot be kept inactive for any length of time with impunity. sNothing can be more dull and unentertaining than the existence of Russian officers at home outside St. Petersburg, Moscow, and a few of ,the large towns. There is no soope for intellectual culture or rational social recreation, and the only resources that are left are gambling and politics. To meet this want ! the revolutionary oommittee are in the habit of issuing Nihilist literature, especially destined for military consumption, in whioh it is- explained, that the revolution counts upon the cooperation of the army, and that those officers who throw in their lot with the people may rely apon the people's gratitude. Fame, fortune, and honours are in store for them, and no matter what their rank may be, no matter how obscure their origin, their reward is pertain. By some mysterious means, too, this kind of literature gets widely circulated, and its influence on those for whom it is intended is said to be very great. , An extraordinary billiard match has been played before 4000 spectators, at Sheffield. The players were Joseph Bennett, ex champion, and W. Mitchell, the winner of the last two tournaments in London. The game was 1000 up, and when Bennet had reached 360 Mitchell ran from 322 to 1000, thus finishing (the game off-hand. He continued his break and scored 48 more, his .total thus bein^ 726— the largest in a great match on record. 1 All but three points were made by Bpot hazards, ; Mr Hardcastle being at Turakina holding a session of the R.M. Court there, the usual difficulty of finding a justice of thepeaoe was experienced here; this morning. At length the police sneceeding in getting Mr Churton to dispose of the business which, fortunately, was not heavy, consisting only of a case of wife-desertion. Michael Hannagan was brought up on a charge of this kind and re« manded to Wellington where his ■wife and family are.