NEWS OF THE DAY.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 74, 25 October 1888, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

■ ■■■■♦ Mr John Murray has been appointed General Manager of the Bank of New Zealand. Mr R. Walker was the successful tenderer for the erection of Mr W. L, Sicklies' new cottage at Makotuku. Mrs Hodder's art union of fancy needlework was successfully " drawn " at Mr Burmester's store on Tuesday evening. A Sydney telegram-says;— Owing to the refusal of the masters to allow the men to take small coal for household purposes, the Lithgow colliers have given fourteen days' notice of their intention to Ceftse wprkjng,

The White Star Line is building two steamers at Belfast whioh are to cross the Atlantic in five days. O'Connor is now champion souller of America, as Teemer was unable to find a backer for 1000 dollars, to enable him to meet O'Connor. , Johnson, the English champion, swam "five miles against, and defeated, Leary, of Pittsburg, at Coney Island. The time was lh 22Jmins, with wind and tide against the swimmers. Jackson, the Australian coloured boxer, is giving sparring exhibitions throughout the country with Godfrey, whom he lately defeated. Jackson is to fight Jem Smith, the English champion, in San Francisco for a purse of 5000 dollars, put up by the California Athletic Club. The Lyttelton Times states that Messrs Herbert Henty 1 and Co., merchants, of Melbourne, were so pleased with the ostrich feathers shown by Mr Matson at the Centennial Exhibition that they have offered to give full London values for all the feathers that he can send them. The Otago Daily Times understands that the appointment of Inspector of Material for the colony at Home is to be offered to Mr Blackett, ehgineer-in-chief. As that gentleman is entitled to retire on a pension, it is thought he may decline the position, in which case it is believed Mr W. N. Blair will be appointed. We learn that Messrs Baines and Dives have sold one of their timber sections to the Hawke's Bay Timber Company at a remarkably good price. The. section in. question contains about 36 aores, and is situated at Makotuku. The vendors have made an advance of. about 400 per cent on the price paid by, them for the land. On Tuesday evening Mr 6asson, of Makotuku, handed over £19 (on behalf/ of ; the. Harwood Relief Committee) to Mrs Harwood. Mr Gasson requests us to correct a statement published in a contemporary by which it is made to appear that the expenditure amounted to nearly £5.> The oorreot amount has been already published in our columns (£3 9s). We learn from the Palmerston Times that Messrs Jones and Peters are making satisfactory progress with their .Gorge railway contract. . Tunnelling is now. fairly under weigh at three different points; at one of whioh 'the men have" tunnelled over a chain into the hill ; a large portion of the concrete work has been, done, and the work of formation bids fair to be completed at no very distant period. Mr Groom's store* at Ormondville is undergoing a startling transformation in' the drapery department. The old stock has been cleared, and the new season's goods are replacing them while the work, of unpacking goes on. Besides hats in latest shapes, Swiss muslins, Persian check, drillits, silver wedding frilling s, laces and ribands of every variety are on view, and form a very pleasing appearance. It is freely rumored here, says the Pahiatua Star, that the Examiner plant is to be moved from Woodville to Pahiatua. This does not say much for Woodville, but it speaks volumes for Pahiatua. For some time past we have noticed that the Editor has been singing to the praise of Pahiatua, to the negieot of his own district. We 'trust the next journalist (that is, supposing the rumor to be true) that starts at Woodville will be more faithful. A mild attack of gold fever has set in at Norsewood and is spreading to other places. Prospectors are out daily,, and are visiting places likely and unlikely in the hopes of discovering gold, or any other mineral having a commercial value. Other parties are organising for a systematic exploration of the most likely places during the summer. It is to be hoped that all this labour will not be wasted, and- that something advantageous will "come of it. ■-. - - It has generally been thought that the late Dr. B. W. Richardson, whose works are text books for temperance* people, was himself a rigid abstainer to the last. The London Times, however, in its obituary notice of the celebrated physician, says : — " It is a curious fact that at one period he somewhat ardently embraced the doctrines of the total abstainers from alcohol, and wrote and spoke in defence of them. The observation of the effects of wine in some cases of serious-illness which occurred in his own family induced him to reconsider his position and to return to the faith and practice of moderate use, in whioh he continued till death." At Norsewood the services rendered by the band are so well appreciated that a "rotunda" is in course of erection for their use, and will be completed in. a few. days, Mr Chicken suggested on Tuesday evening that the Ormondville people should get a "rotunda" built, and promised that if this was done the band should pay frequent visits to Ormondville. We hope to see some action taken in the matter, as band music would b& thoroughly enjoyed by our Ormondville friends, and the cost of building the "rotunda " would not be very great. A meeting of delegates from the Ormondville Library Committee and the Loyal Forest Home Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M.U., was held on Tuesday evening in the Ormondville reading room* Tbe business of the meeting was to take steps towards giving a complimentary concert and dance to the members of the Norsewood Brass Band. There were presont Messrs Groom (in the chair), Codlin, Skinner, Beale, Sargisson, and Packer. Mr J. Chicken attended as representative of the Band. It , was decided to give the concert on the 16th prox., and a sub-committee of four was appointed to oarry out the details. The names of the gentlemen on the subcommittee are Messrs Groom, Sargisson, Packer, and Satchel. The committee, finally agreed to meet and report on the following Tuesday, and the meetmg was adjourned to that evening. « The Engineering News states that, from/ a careful analysis of the work to be do' Tie,* it will require not less than from £90,000,000 to £100,000,000 sterling to' complete the Panama Canal. This will increase the capital on which interest is to be paid to about £170,000,000. The interest on this will be £10,000,000 a year. The highest estimate of the revenue from the traffic, made by M. de Lesseps himself, is £4,500,000 a year, or twice the revenue derived from the Suez Canal. It' is more likely to be a half or a quarter, and from this has to be deducted the cost of administration and maintenance, say, £600,000, this being also Lesseps 1 estimate. The clear revenue available for paying interest is not likely to be more than £500,000, and there may be nothing at all available for the purpose. The prospect of completing the canal is now more remote than ever. The expression " a millionaire " has acquired a considerable inorease of importance by its introduction into the common speech of a people who reckon not by francs, but by pounds sterling; but it seems, nevertheless, to be in a fair way to loose something of its imposing sound. From the report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for Great i Britain it appears that the receipts under I the head of " Probate Duty " during the financial year ending .March 31 last were exceptionally large, and that four personal estates of the aggregate value of nine and a half millions sterling passed by will, producing duty amounting to £283,820. Two of these exceeded three millions each; What was the value of the real estate of any of these testators, cannot, of course, be known, The member of personal eststes reaching £100,000 and upwards was also much in excess of the pveceed,. jng year's returns.,

The earthquake on Tuesday evening was felt pyer a large area, but was not sufficiently strong<to cause any damage. The clock At, the Danevirke Railway Station was stopped, at 8.16 The appeal by Mr W. Broughton against the judgment of Chief Justice Sir James Prendergast. in the JRenata Kawepo will case, will be heard before the Court of Appeal on November stb. The seal of the Auckland University College Council has been received from England. It is an elaborate affair, and , cost £80— a trifle in these days of educational retrenchment. The Danevirke cricketers will play a match .on the 9th November, and a meeting of the club is called for Saturday evening to arrange the teams, etc. It is understood that the single men will oppose the married on the occasion. ' The new racing club established in the ' North Bush Distriojb is growing in favour, and several' new members have joined since its formation. There is no doubt that this club will— as was anticipated— be not only a strong but a popular one; and. good sport may be confidently expected. Tenders were received last evening for building the new Rechabite Hall at Ormondville. . Messrs Dixon (Danevirke), Maynard, Cloles, and Bplstadt were the tenderers, and that of Mr Dixon was accepted. The Hall will be 32 x24 feet, with a portico. Some of the other designs were more completely carried out, but Mr Dixon's design showed a larger room. The Wairarapa Standard Says that a stallion made a savage attack on Mr John Eglingtoh, of Wharekaukau, on the coast about thirty miles from Featherston. He was riding a mare at the time, when the. entire rushed at him, seized him by the thigh/ lifted him clean out of the saddle, shook him, and then dropped him, and bade off after the mare. Eglington was badly injured. „ Now that the framework of Mr Westlake's cottage' is up some notion of its size can be obtained by passers by. It is, or rather will be, a very imposing building, but its size takes away from its height, and one would imagine that the wall was much lower than is the case. Mr Maynard (the contractor and draughtsman) is pushing on the work, and will soon make a show. . The Dunedin Star of the 19th inst says, alluding to the Palace Rink : The attracting item was the debut of the dog skater Hercules, a novel and interesting sight. After the coverings for the feet — to which ace attached diminutive rollers — had been fixed on, the trainer (Mr Clifford, of Anderson Bay) put the dog through a number of evolutions, which found ready recognition at the hands of the audience. At present the animal appears somewhat chary of placing down his feet, but with further careful training should become a fairly fast skater. Says the Auckland Observer ; — Last week a Ponsonby man got home early — early in the morning — and being in a mixed condition, unlocked the wrong door and entered a bedroom in which he certainly had no business. Just as ha was about to disrobe, a piercing soprano shriek brought home to the bewildered senses of the owner of the too-accommodating latch-key that he had made a fatal mistake. He didn't stop to make excuses, a la Mr Pickwiok when that celebrated individual found himself- in a somewhat similar fix, but bolted instanter, his exit being hastened by a large dog, and a boot, flung with unerring aim, caught him fairly on tho side of the head, and made him think for the moment that the end of the world had come. Apropos of the great waterfall discovered by Mr Sutherland, the scientific anchorite of Milford Sound, it may be mentioned that hitherto the reputation of being the highest waterfall in the world has been allotted to the one in Mariposa county, California."" Other famous waterfalls are the Oreo Falfß at Monte Rosa, Gavarnia (Pyrenees), Staubbaoh (Switzerland) — 1000 ft, Maanelvan (Norway), Niagara, and Missouri. In the notes published by us last Friday (adds the Otago Daily Times) Mr T. Mackenzie, M.H.R., expresses the opinion that the Sutherland tfall is between 2000 ft and 3000 ft high. Bowen Fall, the highest hitherto known in New Zealand, is 640 ft. It is hoped that the new discovery may partially atone in the minds of tourists for the lamented loss of the Pink and White Terraces by the Tarawera eruption of 1886. The Wairarapa Star is responsible for the following : — A capital story h told of a New Zealand dentist whose stature is not in keeping with his professional capabilities. In fact, he is so far below the average height that he has had to. erect a sort of platform in front of the chair in which his patients sit while undergoing the agonising process of haying their teeth extracted. He was visited recently by a man of the giant agriculturalist type, who wished to get rid of a . tormenting tooth. The dentist invited him to. the "torture chair,", and then climbed on to the platform already mentioned. When the patient beheld this he opened his mouth to. a width whioh would have put a negro to the blush, and seeing that he still continued i training himself to inorease the opening if possible, the dentist patted him on the shoulder, and, with assuring calmness, said, " Don't exert yourself, my man, for I'm going to remain outside." Lord Wolseley contributes to the Fortnightly Eevieio for September a very interesting paper on " Military Genius," in which, referring to the future of armies, he says : — Small and large armies have each had their day. The present age is one of large masses of fairly trained soldiers, but it is by no means certain to me that the time may not come again when all nations will once more resort to small standing armies of the most highly trained and disciplined soldiers. We may find that the soldier, to be at his best, or to be even thoroughly efficient, will require such long, and, above all things, such constant training that an army consisting of people in arms will be impossible. In fact, we may find out by and bye that a comparatively small standing army of carefully selected men — the flower of the nation — highly skilled in all manly exercises, in all military arts, and kept in a constant state of perfect training, is a more effective weapon for fighting purposes than the slow moving and more or less unwieldy armies of the present day." The Christchurch Telegraph relates the 'following incidents in connection with the fire at the Sunnyside Asylum. In the portion of theasylum burned there was a canary in a cage. The poor little bird was seen through the flames by many of the bystanders. As the fire surrounded it, it hopped about in a desperate manner. Eventually the flames reached the bottom of the cage, which owing to the heat fell out. The canary then climbed on to its perch, and, after a little delay, fell over into the fire. In one of the gutters on the roof of the burnt building a pigeon had its nest, or was sitting upon its young ones. As the rafters on the roof of the building burned away the hot slates began to fall all around the bird. It tried keeping moving from side to side, but would not leave its eggs or young ones. At last the fire got so hot that the pigeon's affections could not stand the heat. The bird then flew a few feet from its nest, but dashed back again for a few minutes. But it had to quit or be burned. It sat on the nest for a few seoonds, and rolled from side to side, and then finding the fight hopeless, flew away. The onlookers were much inteyested in the fight the pigtvon .made, and many said that they would. gtodty give a pow4 for the bird.

Our Woodvilla correspondent telegraphs : —"I understand "that at a meeting of parishioners of Holy Trinity Church last night it was' resolved to ask Mr Robertshawe to resign, as the vestry could not see its way to pay his stipend. Services will be taken by. a lay reader and an outside olergyman occasionally invited. A sad event is reported from Timaru. A little girl aged two years named Caulter strayed from her home at South Rangitata on Tuesday, and was found dead among the tussocks four miles from home at noon yesterday. Tuesday night was very cold and wet, and it is concluded that the poor child died from exposure. - Mr .. Duncan Guy, the well-known ■solicitor, has commenced practice at Makotuku and Ormondville, At present he will reside at the former place, and have an office at Ormondville. By this means the residents in both townships will have every opportunity of consulting Mr Guy when occasion requires.. We are glad to see men like Mr Guy taking up their abode in the Bush. It speaks well for the prospects of the district.