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Bruce Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 1207, 28 May 1880, Page 3

The District Court will ait at Milton on the I 13th July, 1-ith September, and Kith November next. Wn understand that Mr Joseph Parker, of Helensbroolt, yesterday dinposed of the remainder of his property at £15 15s per acre, to Mr Robert Melville. Tin: Secretary of the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club is advertising for a suitable paddock in which to hold the Annual Ploughing Match on the 30th of next month. We have been requested to draw attention to an advertisement in our columns, oii'ering 3SOO acres of Crown Lane's at Table Hill, for selection at 11 p«r aero. Thursday, the 10th proximo, is the last day for receiving applications". Tub annual Tokomairiro ploughing match will be held on Wednesday, the .SOth of June, .•i rid offers <>f paddocks suitable for the ploughing will be received up t<i Tuesday, t-Jjo Bth of ,Junr. Wt; draw aticnii m to Messrs Huthie, Moore & CVs. sale of horses, cattle, farming implements &c. &■:. advertised for this afternoon at ' 2 o'clock. Mr Loiiraer's property at Kapiti will also be submitted to the hammer. We were pleased to learn that at the Tapanui races, on Monday last, Mr D. Corsan's Merrybird won the Queen's Birthday Handicap, Atlantic being second, and Captain Douglas third. The Hurdle Race was won by .Sultan, and the Novel Race by Mountain Boy. A match was fired oa the Queen's Birthday between the Cromwell and Ciutha Pi flee, in which the former managed to beat the latter by 34 points. Ten men fired on each side, the ranges being 200, 400, and 500 yards. The scores were — Cromwell, (532 ; Ciutha, 595. It will be seen in our report of the meeting of the Tokomairiro Farmers' Club that Messrs G. and T. Young, of Dunedin, have presented a handsome silver enp to the winner of the first prize for the best draught entire at the last annual Show. Wo understand that the cup will be exhibited for a few days in Mr Edwd. Stewart's shop window. A monster frostfish was rot on the Hampden brash, near Oamar-.i, on Tuesday. A part of its tail had been bitten off, but it is conjectured that it measured originally '25 feet. It was 4 inches in thickness, IS inches in depth, and weighed 150'bs.— T* seems to us that there must be a mistake about its length, though the oldest settlers are said to have seen nothing like it.

Thb inward Suez mail arrived at King George's Sound yesterday; We are authorised to state that the annual licensing meeting for the various districts, coming under the control of the Tokomairiro Licensing Bench, will not be held till Tuesday, the Bth of June. At the sitting of the Land Board, on Wednesday, the CatJin's River Sawmill Company applied for 20 acres in block VI, Glenoinaru, for sawmilling purposes.— License ordered to issue for three years, at a rental of 7s per annum. The Bruce Rifles paraded at the drill-shed on Tuesday evening last for the monthly Government Inspection. There was a very fair muster, considering the inclemency of the weather, there being 24 rank and file, the Captain, and Sub-Lieutenant. After the inspection Staff" Sergeant Blackmore put the men through the manual and bayonet exercise. At the nomination of two auditors for the Borough of Milton, yesterday, Messrs John James Lane and H. M. Marryatt were the only two candidates proposed, and the Returning Officer therefore declared them duly elected, which is, in fact, a re-election. Mr Lane was nominated by Mr James Ferguson, seconded by Mr Jonathan Golding, while Mr Marryatt's supporters were Mr James Gray and Mr James Chapman. At the monthly meeting of the Otago Education Board, held yesterday, the appointment of Mr Saunders, as head teacher at Upper Owake, Catlin's River, was confirmed. A motion by Mr Fraer ; " that the Board meet on the second and last Thursday in each month," was lost, Mr H.Clark's amendment :" that the Chairman, Messrs Ramsay, Elder, and Shand form an Appointment Committee," being carried. The well-known and notorious character George Titmus, who received a three months sentence at Tokomairiro from Mr Carew in February, came out of Lawrence gaol on Mondny. No sooner was he adrift than he commenced his old tricks again, and threatened to smash Mr Dancaster, and burn down his house, unless served with a pint of beer. He was brought before a Beuch of J.P.s, and charged with ragrancy, for which he received two months in Dunedin gaol. Two more race horses have been lost. Swindler died on entering his box at Christchurch on Monday evening last, and Malvern had his leg broken in Auckland on the same day, through it being caught in some scoria stones. He was most cruelly butchered with an axe. The handle of the axe broke, and the poor auimal writhed in great agony, with a hacked head, until another axe was procured. Another victim has his life lost ou the railway. On Tuesday morning a man, named Wm. Jamieson, while proceeding to his daily work, was caught by the engine of a train conveying workmen to the Hillside workshops. The accident happened on the Anderson's Bay crossins, near Kensington, and although the whistle was blown, and the engine backed," it was too late, the unfortunate man meeting with instant death. Deceased was 23 years of age, of sober, industrious habits, and was living with his parents at Neptune Place. By referring to our correspondent's letter from Tuapeka, the good people of Milton will perceive that the Lawrence Athecanim is far a head of ours, both as regards comfort and support. Could we not go and do likewise ? From the same article it will be seen that an evening school has been started for the improvement of youug men who have to attend to their calling during the day. What a fine chance a similar movement in Milton would give to some of those larrikins who nightly infest our street corners to the annoj'auce of passers-by. There is undoubtedly room for steps in the right direction in our midst. News from Tuapeka states that the rabbit nuisance is being successfully grappled with by the up-country runholders, and that 40,000 rabbit skins were brought to the Lawrence railway statiou, on Monday last, for conveyance to Port Chalmers for shipment. These shins were brought from Messrs Strode and Fraser's Karnscleugh Station, Clyde. The runholdcrs supply the rabbiters with poisoned wheat, at 8s per lOOlbs., and buy the skins at 2d each, at which rate the men are earning from 203 to 30s a day. The • Tuapeka Times ' says, that more men would be taken on but cannot be had, some of the unemployed preferring their chance of loafing on the industrious along the road. About 40,000 more skins are awaiting trasitn to Lawrence at Earncleugh Station. Giw accidents arc becoming alarmingly frequent, the death of three more victims being recorded. Richard Selhy shot himself near C«-n:-bridgp, Auckland, while out pheasant shotting on the 2-1 th instant. Mr Gilchrist, of Wellington, was instantaneously killed on the. same day, through the gun of his companion going oil accidentally, the -whole of the charge lodging in his abdomen. Thirdly, on Sunday jmorning last, a young man named George Bland, near Ashburton, received an accidental charge into his right leg, below the knee, and died the same evening. Not many days before this, Charles Haggic, aged 16, shot himself accidentally near Oamaru, and besides all these fatal cases several parties have been maimed. This points to a sad state of affairs regarding the indiscriminate use of fire-arms. With reference to an advertisement appearing in our columns, soliciting contributions from all who are willing to lend a helping hand towards the Monster Bazaar and Bruce Auction, to beheld in Dunedin on the 31st inst., in aid of the Otago Benevolent Institution, we beg to. state that no donation, however humble, will be refused. Produce of any kind, for storage, can be delivered at the Wool Stores of Messrs W. J. Dyer & Co., near the railway station. As there are only two clear days left, parties should lose no time in coming forward with their contributions. We understand that the Mayor of Milton and the County Chairman have decided to devote one day to canvassing the district. We earnestly hops to be able to record a good result for the credit of Tokomairiro. Wk notice in the Government Gazette the followiug appointments of Assessors under " The Property Assessment Act 1579 " — Mr Thomas Brookes, for the Borough of Milton ; Mr George Byron King, for the Borough of Lawrence ; Messrs T. King and George Pram, for East Taieri ; Mr John McNeil, of Balclutha,

for Borough of Balclutha, South Molyneux, and outlying Districts of Clutha ; Mr Alex. Ironside, for Balmoral, Kaitaogata, Matau, and Crichton Road Board District*! ; Mr Philip Uren, of Lawrence, for Waitahuna and Taapeka Koad Board Districts, and Beaumont, Gabriels, Waitahuna, Brown's, and Waipori Ridings. Mr Robert Haldane Johnson has been appointed Cattle Inspector, and Messrs John Thompson, James MurisoD, Chas. K. Eoskruge and Fred. E. Hickson, Deputy- Inspectors for the Cattle District of Otago. Wednesday's c Lyttleton Times, ' in noticing a prolific grain of wheat, says: — The Secretary to the Agricultural and Pastoral Association has in his possession at the Society's offices, a crown containing 70 stalks grown from one grain of Hunter's white wheat by Mr J. Towden, on his farm at Dunsandel. Each head yielded the average of 56 plump grains of excellent wheat, or a total of 3920 grains from a single seed. In the same paddock there were several crowns containing over fifty stalks. The ' Tuapeka Times ' of Wednesday has the following : — "Mr fl. L. Gilbert, who has been engaged in missionary work for a number of years in connection with the Presbyterian Church at Port Chalmers and on the Waitaki, has been appointed to similar work in the Mount Stuart district, under the Balclutha Kirk Session. We are sure the settlers will give him a cordial welcome. Mr Gilbert, it may be mentioned, is an Englishman, and is the father of the recent Episcopalian clergyman at Tapanui." The incoming San Francisco mail will probably be late again this month, for the s.s. City of New York, with the English mails of the 22ud of April, did not leave San Francisco till the lObh instant, two days after the proper time. This delay was no doubt caused in crossing the Atlantic, and therefore unavoidable. The s.s. Zealandia, with the April mails, made a capital run to San Fancisco, arriving there two days in advance of contract time. The Wellington ' Evening Poat ' says:— " Thn Pencarrow lightkeeper, while oat duck shooting on the Saltwater Lake, a day or two ago, met with a rather curious adventure. He was up to his middle in water after a duck, when he observed a formidable looking auimal coming towards hin*. He immediately took aim and discharged the contents of his gun, which, only being duck shot, took no effect, with the exception of making the auimal more fierce. The keeper, being in closo quarters, gave the animal two or three heavy blows with the butt end of his musket, and succeeded in killing what he afterwards found to be a seal, measuring quite 12 ft. in length. An extraordinary freak of nature is recorded by the 'Manawatu Times.' A butcher was dressing a sheep, when he was astonished to feel a hard substance embedded in layers of fat upon the loft side of the animal. Bringing his knife into operation the adipose matter was quickly cut away, when a youug lamb in a perfect state of ossification was taken from its resting place. The object, which was thoroughly ftcmed— the eyes alone being wanting — waa about 12 inches long by 7 inches broad, and was in a sitting position with its legs doubled underneath it, after the manner of such animals wheu takin<* rest. The mass was as hard as a stone, and when weighed turned the scale at six pounds. The opinion of the medical men who have seen this lusus natures is, that it has been embedded in the side of the sheep— which was a six-tooth om>.— for thfc past two years, and the most singular part of the aff.iir is that the mother has since been lambing. The Piako Swamp scandal, which was nearly fading from memory, says Saturday's 'Echo,' has been revived. Our contemporary adds : This block of about 57,325 acres was sold for about £13,132; the purchaser undertaking to expend in a road through it, about £9,300. The land was sold contrary to law, and at an insignificant price— sold secretly also —to Mr Thomas Rnssel, or rather the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. When the sale was concluded, its illegality was pointed out by the Liberals, and Sir George Grey -was sneered at and ridiculed for stating that the sale was a gift of £150,000 to the friends of the continuous ministry. Was Sir George Grey wrong ? Some money has been spent on roads and ditches, aud we believe we are putting a high estimate on this expenditure if we say i' 40,000 have been expeudud for these objects. Mr Russell, in one of his memoranda, estimated that the expenditure would be only £20,000. To allow a large inarcin, we have doubled Mr Russell's estimate. Wfli. the fortunate purchasers have sold it fur £300,000. It being our duty to chronicle any unlawful nuisance that aviso's within this community, we wish, in thi: interest of those gentlemen, who have' duly paid their licensing fee for coursing aud .shooting hares and other game, to point out to them the disgraceful \v;iy in which the i;\w is transgressed in our midst by a host of boy.s, whoso" partita do not seera at all anxious to Check them. We nlliulo to the many parties of juveniles, wl'-i ro-iiu through the ti ids (if our farmer.* nay nfter day, .Sundays inclu led, in search of b,i:v& and other game. These precocious youngsters are generally accompanied by a variety ot mongrel dogs, though greyhounds arc also to be seen with them, and they scour the country fir and wide often to the great annoyance of the farmers, through whose land nud "flocks of sheep they pursue their mischievous excursions. We think it about high time that this scandalous state of things ■was put a stop to with a .strong hand, and no harm could ho done by bringing it under the notice our worthy Resident Magistrate.