LOCAL AND GENERAL.

«, A bridge of concrete, 30 feet m span, with a roadway 13 feet wide, and capable of supporting safely a load of 200 tonß, was reoently built m Switzerland m a single day. Two months were allowed for the complete hardening of the concrete, after which time heavy trafflo began without apparent injury to the structure. A proposal which is being received with marked favor has been made m Edinburgh to have a national monument raised to the lato David Kennedy, the well-known Scottish vocalist. It is suggested that the various Burns Clubs throughout the empire might be utilised as a meanß of receiving support for the movement. The arrival at Barcelona of some gas coal from Australia has excited there a great deal of interest. It is said to be of excellent quality, and yields a gas of high illuminating power, m this respect being xnuoh superior tv the Boyhead coal hitherto used. So satisfied has the Barcelona Gas Company been with the experiments that it has ordered severai cargoes more, although the price of at least eeren shillings per ton, which the Australian produot runs to, is very high. It is stated that: a Marseilles houis h&e also tried the ooal,

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile A-gency Company pays a dividend of 10 per annum, with a 5 per cent, bonus. The Auckland Gas Company has declared a half-yearly dividend at the rate of 17 per cent, peif annum. The following is from the Wairarapa Star : — Twenty-eight Maoris persuaded Sr Julius Yogel the other day to give them free railway passes from Matamata to Auckland whither ihey are going to fight the Supreme Court ORBe. They pleaded poverty, but have raisfid £700 to carry the case to the Privy Council. A number of Fire Brigades' teams, to take part m the forthcoming demonstration at Dunedin, passed through Ashburton by the oxpress train this morning. Tho railway authorities announce that excursion tickets will be issued from the 21st to 25th inst. m connection with the Dunedin Races. Beturn fares— Rakaia, fir3t-olass, £1 13s; seoond-olass, £1 2: Ashburton, firstclass, £1 8s; second-class, 18s Cd. The tickets will be available up to and including Maroh 7 th. Nominations for a Borough Councillor to fill the place rendered vacant by the resigns- j tion of Councillor Craighead close to-morrow at noon. Last night a gentleman was driving a vehicle across the traffic bridge when the horses shied at some objeot, whioh subequently proved to be a man, lying thereon. Aa the animals could not be goc past, the driver return en into town and informed tho police. A con* stable proceeded to the soene and found tbe man— Sproule Graham by name— lying on tbe bridge m a helpless state of drunkenness. Graham was brought up at the R.M. Court this morning before Mr D. Thomas, J.P., and fined 10s and oosts. the charge being laid under the Bridge by-laws. It was fortunate for the man that he was picked up m time, an had a dray or other vehicle without lights crossed the bridge, it is quite possible that he would have lost his life. A hut and storehouse belonging to Mr Ruddenklau, Rangitata Island, were dee« troyod by fire on Saturday last. In this issue the Asbburton County Council invite offers of a -pieoe of land, suitable for an irrigation farm, of 100 aores. The land must be situated within fire miles of a rail* way station, on that portion of the Main South line which runs through the county. The Waimate correspondent of the Lyttelton Times says that Mr George I.uck, of that place, has a paddock of wheat which is expected to yield the exceptionally large return of from 85 to 90 bushels per acre. Timaru will shortly. bo m possession ol first-class oatmeal works. The Herald states that the building, whioh is to be of five storeys, with a ground space of 66 feet by 4C feet, will shortly be commenced. The plan) is all ready to be erected, and altogether greal things are expeoted as the outcome of the venture. A movement is on foot to ereot a Consump tion Hospital m Victoria. According to the Nero Zealand Times it \i said that a well-known resident of Palmerstor North tendered for thejexecution of Caffrej , and Perm at £3 per head, but his offer was not accepted. Some of the farmers owning flat land ir Poverty Bay will derive this year as much af £3 an acre for the right to out graßd seed. Mr J. E. Redmond, m a letter to the Ncn Zealand Tablet, about affairs m Ireland, says -■— ~»r»,7- day makes the position of th< present Government more untenable, anc makes the return of Mr Gladstone to powei more inevitable." Two young ladies stood beside a wide ditel whioh they didn't know how to cross, anc appealed to a boy for help. The boy pointec behind them with a Btartled air, and yelled " There's a whoppin' great water-rat jusi behind you.." They got across. On the morning of the 23rd inst. there will be an annular eclipse of the sun, visible ir New Zealand as a partial eclipse. It wil begin shortly after 6 o'clock, and will enc about 8.30. Tbe south or upper part of the sun will be obscured. A painful was created the othei night m Vienna;.;by the suicide of a clerk oJ twenty, the son of a seamstress. He jumped from the steeple of St. Augustine's Church, and fell on the roof of his mother's little shop. He had become involved m betting transactions. In a certain district m the Highlands the bellman one day made the following proclamation : — " Oh yeß, oh yes, and oh yer ; and that's three times ! You all take notice that there will be no Lord's Day here next Sabbath, beoause the laird's wife wants the kirk to dry her clothes m." The Wellington Woollen Company has had to go to Canterbury and Marlborough to purchase merino wool for ite requirements, and 400 bales were bought m Christ church last week. As soon as the electrio light, now on its way, arrives the company expect to manufacture 100 bales of wool per month. The plant of the Patea Oil and Fibre Company was recently sold for £150. It cost £1400 and was never unpacked. To-day's Pnss says that it is reported that Mr Recce, telegraphist at Culverden, was on Monday night stuck up and robbed by two men who carried swags, on the road between Hurunui;and Culverden. A nonagenarian farmer who committed suicide the other day is said to have been ! incited to the rash aot by the unremunerative character of the late harvest. It must have been poor indeed to have driven to distraotion a man who had witnessed ninety-four previouß in-gatherings. Holloway's Ointment and Pills. — Couphs, Influenza.— The soothing properties of these medicaments render them well worthy of trial m all diseases of the respiratory organs. In common colds and influenza the Pills, taken internally, and the Ointment rubbed over the chest and throat, are exceedingly efficacious. When influenza is epidemic, :his treatment is the easiest, safest, and surest. Holloway's PHIb purify the blood, remove all obstacles to its free circulation through the lungß, relieve the over-gorgi d uir-tubes, and render respiration free, without reducing the strength, irritating the nerves, or depressing tbe spirits; such are the ready means of escaping from suffering when afflioted with colds, coughs, bronchitis, and other ohest complaints, by whioh tho health of so many is seriously and permanently injured m most countries. Statutory Declaration —l, Franz Raabe, Ironbarlc, Sandhurst, m the colony of Victoria, Australia, do solemnly and sincerely declare that on the 25th Juno, 1877, my eon Alfred, six years of age, was accidentally iiurfc with an axe on the knee. lat once ;ook all pains to secure medical assistance. However, m spite of all efforts, on the 27th August, 1877, the opinion was given by Dr Maogillivray that an amputation of the injured limb had become imperative, m order *o save life. At this juncture I called on Messrs Sander and Sons, procuring some of : heir Extract of the Eucalyptus Globulus, md by tbe application of the same I had the satisfaction of seeing my son within a fortsight out of all danger, and to-day he is recovered. I may just add that it was when \ he crisis bad been reached that tbe Extract referred to was first applied. And I make his solemn declaration, etc— Franz Baabe. Declared at Sandhurst, m the colony of Victoria, Australia, this seventeenth day of I October, one thousand eight hundred and! seven* y.g#Ye.n before me, Moritz Cohjj, J.P.— I