LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 362, 5 April 1871, Page 7

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Auckland Chamber of Commence has resolved to us: its endeavors to introduce the cental system into that province. The scheme for the restoration or the Emperor develops great strength in unexpected high quarters. The Colony of Tasmania pays annually L 20,000, or about D por cent., of its tot-al expenditure, for the support of prisoners. A late telegram in the ' Argus ' says that the Paris indemnity h.-is been paid, and the armistice extended to the 2-lf-h of February. The Chairman of the Westland County Council yets a salary of L6OO, a year, besides an annual allowance of L3OO for travelling expenses. Plf-mro-pneumonia is again alarmingly prevalent in New South Wales. It is supposed to have been introduced by heeds of fat cattle from Queensland. A new and l<>rge house has been destroyed by tire at Virginia Lake, outside of Wanganui. It was insurred for L3OO. _ The inmates had to proceed to Wanganui a la Maori with blankets round them. In the last interview with Bismarck, Favre showed deep feeling. His spirit was much broken down, during the coversation particularly on the subject of food for Paris ; Favre was greatly agitatad and frequently burst into "tears. We are informed that the sentence of death passed on MLeod, has been commuted, but we are not yet in a position to say whether to penal servitude for life or for a term of years. — ' Lytielton Times ' A Wellington paper learns that Mr Chas. Goold, an old and well-known resident in New Zealand, is endeavoring to float a company in Victoria for the manufacture of New Zealand flax on au extensive scale. He proposes the manufacture of rope, sacking, wool-pack-i, paper. &c, in the colony. ] A London paper thus describes the process 1 of road-making now generally adopted in the j larger places of both England and France :— 1 ' ' The road is first prepared by being loosened < with pickaxes, then covered with ordinary 1 granite; above this, a dressing of sand is { laid • the whole is theti watered. An im- j meuse roller, propelled by steam, is then ( moved slowly "over the prepared surface. ] It exerts a pressure of twenty-eight tons, and the result is. that in an unusually short j time a firm and compact macadamised road , is formed, so smooth, that the lightest vehicle j may be driven over it. ] Fifty troop horses which "tool* part on the ( French side at the battle of Sedan have joined £ the Royal Artillery at Woolwich. They formed 'part of MacMahon's army which escaped the surrender, and being afterwards i shipped to England were purchased at r Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, off a contractor a by an officer who is constantly engaged in !-, such traffic ou behalf of the Royal Artillery . t

A tidal wave on a small scale, took place at Westpp'rithe week before last - A publican in Christchurch has been -lined L 4 for supplying drink to men who were previously intoxicated. • - A contemporary says the General Assembly will, we understand, meet for the -despatch of business the first or second week of July. According to the local paper, the population of Oamaru has increased about 400 since last census. . , At the Thames Police Court, a special-con-stable has been fined 40s, and Lls costs for killing a dog. _, „ , , At Christchurch, the Town Hall has been sold by auction, and bought by MiL.i. Nathan, forL39oo. It origmaUy cost L 4480, The Wanganni Rifles have beaten the Wellington Volunteers in a- match. Ihe scores were 292 and 249 points. In Canterbury there are forty miles of railway, and by means of it wheat can be put into the ship's hold at Id per bushel. Stone suitable for the manufacture .of grimstones has been found near the Waipa river, Auckland. . „. , , A man named Baldwin has been killed by the fall of a tree in the Seventy Mile Bush, The 'Christchurch Volunteer Lodge of Oddfellows, M.U., propose building a new a At an inquest held in Nelson a few days a*o a juryman was fined LI for being eight minutes late in putting in an appearance The assessment of Chnstchureh for the current year is estimated at L 63,000, being a slight increase on last yeai\ ... ■ Two men have been seriously injured m the Canterbury claim, Collmgwood, by an c X S ' O TilKfthe2othJa n aary, publishes a letter from Sir Roderick Murchison containing direct evidence of the safety ot Dr member of Council for the Moeraki district, took place on Tnursday and resulted as follows .-Hutoheson, 61; Redmavne, 15. Majority for Hutcheson 4o The terms asked for Chinese labor in Biji are said by the ' Fiji Times ' to be so high as tn put its employment in the group out of th T ?^S^ncSed by the success which attended his attempts to stop toe mail going through his territory, is waxmg insolent. He has stopped the taking of the census. There ate now over thirty Mormons at Karorai, Wellington, and the local papers complain that they are making proselytes, particularly among the young people. 1 An Indian paper states that in Cochin lemon gnu» oil ia used in the care ot cholera. At the first attack a few drops are given with sugar and warm water, and it is also rubbed on°the body to prevent cramp. Mr Henry Anderson, formerly editor of the < Independent,' has issued an address as a candidate for the Superintendent of Wellington, the nomination for which takes . place to-morrow. , A sharp but short shock of earthquake was I felt at Christchurch at about two minutes to I eio-ht o'clock on Tuesday morning In some parta of the town and suburbs it was felt more severely than in others. Native rumor has it that Te Kooti ia at the Lake Waikare, killing and potting eels, &c, preparatory to a great feast to be given by him at Waikare-on the occasion of his submission—to the Pakeha and Maori. The dry dock at Port Chalmers will be : finished in abont a week The captain of the " Agnes Muir" being the first applicant, that vessel will have the honor of firs* occuPYin- the dock, and we understand the Dock Trust has resolved to admit her free of charge. : A Sydney telegram dated March 11, states that H. M.S. Clio, arrived on that day from New Zealand. She goes into dock immediately, to repair the 6an.a 3 e sustained by citing ashore in Bligh Sound, on the West Coast of New Zealand. At an inquest on the b- dy of a man named Campbell, who hanged himself recently m the Hokitika Lunatic Asylum, the jn7.lt>turned the verdict that Ihe said William Campbell hanged himself whilst suffering from roVgions irmomania. WrstW papers state that « the present is the driest teason that has been known since the first settlement of the Coast, the greater proportion of the mmm? popnlatmn having been idle for nearly two momh > for want of water. , , The «uard of the coach now running between Patea and Taranaki was t\e principal leader of the attack on General Cameron, at Nukumarn, when that officer very nearly sustained a b-emendois defeat at the head of a lan/c ssction of the British army.— Indefrom New York of anew arrangement by the Post-office. The pillar-boxes are connected with a pneumatic tube that ' runs round the city to the gen-ral receiving house. As the letters are dropped into the box they are blown along the tube at the rate of sixty-five miles an hour. It is stated that on the Loxer Macquane and Mole country some strange disease has broken out amongst the kangaroos. Iney nro dying in scores, and no one can arrive at tin cause.. The < Wa-.-ga Wagg* (New South Wales) Express ' is inclined to beueve that they must" eat some poisonous herb ; the < Ballarat Courier,' on the other hand, attributes their death to grass-seed. The < Jewish Chronicle ' says :— A cry of distress again comes from the Holy City, Jerusalem.' The fall of rain was copious at first, but for the last forty-two days not a drop of rain has fallen. Added to this the locusts have again appeared in great numbers. Provisions have risen to a fearful price, and a sore famine is anticipated. Contributions have been earnestly solicited to mitigate the sufferings caused by the high price of pro visions. Not many months ago, one of the tentdwellersftt Ross, who had camped over a covered abandoned shaft, was cooking his breakfast, when he was suddenly dropped, with the frying-pan in his hand, some nfty or sixty feet clown the shaft, the covering havinw rotted and collapsed without warning. On Sunday last, a similar accident, although not attended with the same results, occurred. One of the residents had erected the chimney of his tenement over an old shaft, ana during the nicrht the covering of the shaft earned away, leaving the chimney, which was an iron one, suspended over the dark and deep jhasm- below. Ross must be a delightful place to live in !-' Grey River Argus. An invention termed Bird's safety check rein has been shown us (says a Melbourne paper) for restraining runaway horses m harness. The merit of this rein consists m [laving a slip-knot .form ing a loop at the end >f it placed around the neck of the horse, wid kept in position by a strap to the check of the bridle, the end being held by, or Placed convenient to, the hand of the rider or Jriver By tightening the loop around the leek of the horse its breath is weakened or ilopped ' alMirether at the will of the rider vith the greatest ease, and the runaway horse mder continual control..

The cultivation of the silkworm in Canter* bury appears to be attended with a consider* able amount of success. An.agitation.exists in Christchurch for the erection of a tramway to connect the railway with the centre of the city. The ' Wakatip Mail ' says his Excellency the Governor, accompanied by Lady Bowen, [ intends spending a month in the Lake ■district in December next. It is said that whether Mr Yogel returns or not the meeting of the Assembly . will not be postponed after the middle of June. j The drapers of Wellington have agreed to close their stores at six o'clock every even- ! ing, Saturdays^excepted. The Westland Saw Co , at Kokitika, have had their premises burned dewn, and uninsured property to the value of L7OOO destroyed. It is rumored that the fire was the work of an incendiary. A case of very sudden death occurred at Timaru the other day. John Jennings, who had been out harvesting and had come into the dining-room, was at once seized with a I choking, and died in a few minutes. We ('Weekly Herald') have heard that the late Commissioner, St. John Branigan, will visit his native country, a long sea voy--1 age being recommended as the best remedy available for his malady and general physical ' powers. A man named Frivefct, has died suddenly in Chvistchuvch. The local papers say that the sj'mptoms before; and after death favor the presumption that deceased died from an attack of English cholera. Tbe English telegrams mention the appointment of the Marquis of Narmanby. v.s Governor of Queensland. His lordship is son of the first Marquis of JSformanby, who at different times held the position of ambassador at various foreign courts and the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland. fie is aged 52 years, has been Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, and has sat as M.P. for Scarborough. A new machine for taking off the hide 3of dead cattle will shortly be tried at Buenos Ayres. The operation is short, sharp, and decisive, requiring only a minute for each hide. Cold air is forced by a pump between the flesh and the hide, and the thing is done. The process ought to be an improvement on the old hacking and scraping system Some excellent specimens of pur© opium, wo are informed, have been grown in Bairnsdale, Victoria, this season by Mr A. W. Howitt, P.M Its value is estimated at L 2 16s per lb., and one acre of ground in this district, particularly on the banks of the Nicholson; is expected to produce at least 351bs. weight of such opium. We are informed that the boiling-down at Tauherenikau will not be confined to sheep, as many settlers wisli to get rid of some aged horses, and the experiment will be tried, of at least one " potful " to see the amount they will realise. It is expected that about L 4 each will be average.—' Wairarapa Mercury.' We understand that Mr W. D. Barnard has disposed of his celebrated bull, " Comet," to Mr John Martin, of Wellington, for the handsome sum of 300 guineas. We cannot but express surprise that the large stockowners of thi3 proviuce should have allowed a prize animal of such high reputation as " Comet " to go to another province, as it will be very long ere we have a bull here combining so many strains of pure blood. We understand that Mr Martin intends placing " Comet " on hi 3 station at the Wairarapa.—' Press.' < The Americans are ever busy inventing new machinery to meet the constantly increasing demands of the march of intelligence and civilisation in their country. In the matter of newspapers this is particularly the case, and just now we hear of the firm of Messrs Hoe and Co. being busy about a new printing machine, for newspapers, which is to be equal to the production of 75,000 copies per h Hir. It is said that the order will be executed in two or three months. Two notifications by the Mayor of Melbourne were made in the ' Argus ' of the loth insfc. One was a suggestion to the citizens that they should hoist flags in token of rejoicing at the cessation of hostilities, and the other convened a public meeting in the library of the Towii Hall at four in the afternoon, for the purpose of forming^ committee to receive contributions towards the relief of the impoverished people of France. The hoisting of flags was general before the Rangitoto sailed. In South Australia the German residents at Tanunda made a great demonstration to commemorate the end of the war. We (' Argus ') have received from Sydney a telegram which, although it comes from a private source, is thoroughly reliable. It ia to the effect that the Earl of Belmore has received a telegram from the Secretary of Sfcatef intimating that there is a probability of the colonies being visited by a filibustering expedition from the United States of America, and advising him to prepare for such an occurrence. Hid Excellency the Governor of Victoria and the -Chief Secretary decline to give any information on the subject, but there is not the. slightest doubt that Viscount Canterbury has received a similar message.^ The Swedes, who were recently brought out by the General Government, went to their location at Manawatu the other day. A correspondent of a contemporary says :— " They are to have land, rations, tools, &c, on the deferred payment principle. They are a p<".or, dirty, squalid, miserable lot — not one good-looking man or woman among them. They are all small people, and one or two of the men are almost dwarfs. If they are a fair specimen of the immigrants from the n-.rth of Europe, 1 for one don't thiuk much of them. I' should imagine they are not over cleanly in their habits, and the style and material of their dress are remarkably similar to whac I have seen on the lowest type of Irish immigrants landing at NeAv York." The subject of artesian wells has recently attracted a large amount of attention m Canterbury where a very large number of these wells have been successfully sank. The ' Ly Helton Times ' of the 27th ult., says :— " It would appear that artesian wells are to be made yet cheaper to those who desire them- Messrs Grant and Carter have succsssf ully commenced the use of one inch pipe, and the result is not only an increased rise of the water, but an actual diminution of 40 per cent, in the cost. One of these wells has been sunk on the property of Mr A. M'Taggart, Madras street, and the flow, at a height or four feet above the surface, is about 12 gallons per minute. There is also one on Mr Tetley's premises, in High street, the flow of which, at a height of 3 ft. 6 in,, is about 6 gallons per minute. The * Press ' mentions as an <m ait that the Hon. Dillon Bell has expressed himselt in various quarters to the effect that he is willing to accept the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives. ' He is stated tobe endeavoring to induce members to support lus appointment. Further, the Hon. John Hall's name is mentioned as his successor on [;he Ministerial benches. . -