Local and General.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 237, 24 January 1879, Page 6

Lo cal and General.

Mr Dignan, M.H.R., is to ba called to tlie Upper House. Mr O'ltorke has been appointed Chairman of the Royal Commission on education. C. E. Wagner, the well-known Wellington architect, has been arrested, charged \ with issuing a valuelcs cheque. ( A substantial testimonial is being got up { in the Wairarapa for Mr Wakelin, editor I and proprietor of tlie Wairarapa Standard. A man named James Littlechild was drowned near Riverhead, Auckland, on Wednesday when ferrying himself across the river. Preparations are being made to pnt the Government House, Melbourne, in proper order in time for the reception of the Marquis of Norman by. In two actions against the Wellington Tramway Company for damages to vehicles by collission, the Magistrate gave judgment for LlO and costs. The Duke of Buckingham is said to be desirous of obtaining, the Governorship of New Son bh Wales.' Sir J. Ferguson and Sir Henry Ord are also mentioned. The question of the penny banks having been brought under the. notice of the Education department, arrangements have been nearly perfected, and the new experiment will commence when the schools reassemble. A telegram has been received that the ship Loch Snnart, from Glasgow *to Melbourne, was wrecked off the coast of Ireland. It will be remembered that Tom Pearce, who, with Miss Carmichael, were the only survivors from the wreck of the Loch Ard, shipped home in this, vessel. The marble statues of the Queen , the late Prince Consort, and- the Prince and Princess of Wales, executed hj the late Mr Summers, sculptor, to the order of the Hon. W. J. Clarke, M.L.C., were presented by that gentleman to the trustees of the Melbourne National Gallpry on January 9th. Sir Redmond Barry, the chairman, in accepting the donation, expressed a strong opinion in favour of opening the National Galleiy on Sunday afternoons. Sympathy with the Kellys, the Benalla Standard remarks, finds various, forms of expression. We have heard of a pious lady who " wonders whether Christians ever pray for those poor Kellys," and she has sent a parcel. of books and; tracts through the post, addressed -"EdwardKelly, bushranger".; but- as . even the. police do not know his present address the parcel lias not yet reached ±he ; outlaw.

;-,-The Taranaki ..Tockey . Club- hold an autumn meeting on the 31st -March. The discovery 'of a 'new and rich quartz veeSng district in-Onvonland is reported. Tho ' Southland Times ' strongly condemns the' proposal to' commute Welsh's sentence. . • 'A carrier named Robei't M f George has j boon killed by the upsetting of, his dray at Maune^iua. Fires are rawing in the Gippslaud bush., and, a railway station has been destroyed at Port Darwin. During last \veek-»no less than 80 trucks were turned out at the railway workshops, Christehurob. Three armed men, believed to be I-lelly's gang, stuck -up a house atPemberley, near Malmsbury, on Friday night. The Victorian Govern rhen!" .have decided ; to o'o-operate with the Sydney for tho j Exhibition, and will- vote L2,000. ! • The.B.ev. A. 11.. Fitchett was ordained by the Bishop of Melbourne on Sunday, and will arrive in Dunedin in' a few driys. The Hon. W. H.' E-cvnolcls and. R. Oliver, i Esq., M,,H.lk, have been apnoint'xi members of the Otagd High Schools Brfard; ■';*. , . ', - 'Mi'^V'a'rley, the cyangelist, will, it is iihderstood, make a stay or three weeks in Dnnedin. He is expected 01.. cJat'ui'day the 25th inst. There -are over a thousand cesspits 'in Christchurch, to which, and the porous nature of the soil, most of the zymotic disease is attributed. The owners of the immigrant ship Hereford arrived at Sydney, have been fined LSOO for a breach of the charter party rec.Aivdmg the, water supply. At the" firing of a salute by the volnn fccers on the opening of the Queensland Parliament a cannon exploded, killing two persons and wounding two. Father Chiniqny lectured at Mud gee, when an alarm of fire was given, and a stampede ensued. The affair was a hoax, and no casualties occurred. ' An attempt is about to be made in Wellington to establish a society -.to promote moderation in drinkingj as distinguished from total abstinence. Jlailway contractors at ITew Plymouth

offer '14s a day for platelayers, without response.. All complain of the scarcity of labour' impeding the public works. A railway employe named James Atkinson died suddenly at Oreti on Thursday afternoon. Pie avos loading a truck, and suddenly fell doAvn, and died in a feAv minutes. The Commissioner of Railways, Mr Oonvers, has ordered from America, for the South Island, six goods engine^, more powerful than any here. The ordor Avent by last mail. A memorial from the unemployed in Victoria to the Governor is in courts of preparation, repress (-.ing the exisbence'of i severe cUstvcfis , and praying the Government to take steps to ameliorate the same. The Post points out that by a happy coincidence- the opening of the Invercai'.L'ill and Dune-din railway is fixed for the 30 th anniversary, of tho settlement of tho Colony, 'by tho arrival of the first fmmigvant;; in Wellington. Four cases of typhoid fever have been reported from Papanui, suburb of Christchurch. Twenty-nine ca~.es oE infections di'sevie av.-!! i o reported during- l,i~t quarter of 1373— uZteen of tvnhoid, eight of scarlatiinij and sis of diphtheria. A- wife-boater, named Thomas Lukes Webb, at the Whan, hns been sentenced at Auckland to 14 'days' imprisonment, and bound ovov to kaep tho peace. Ho suspected infidelity. The prosccutrix' face AVi'.s a dreadful spectacle. A short time since, a trade-man in Wc l!---in r jrto;i prosecuted hi*, m/uia^ing clerk for ;'!'c;red forgery ; the clerk was aqulufci'd. Ke brought n.n fiction for slander agiiivjt his employer, and tliD Jury,- last night, gave hun a verdict "for L250. Owing to the want of room in tho various schools in Dunadiu, a grjat number Of pupils presenting themselves on Monday had to be refused admittance. I?i the case of one school at least, we know of as many as 93 being refused. The district meeting of the Primitive , Methodists the other night in Wellington ) ac which 10 clergymen of the denomination \ and about 500 members of tho congregaj tion Averp present, declared strongly in i favour of the existing system of education. A fact worth knoAving is that lithographic maps or pictures that have been stuck fast through pressure in the post or otherwise, may be readily opened by placing a sheet of paper upon the back, and ironing it with as hot an iron as the paper will stand. A young woman named . Lucy Hickey, 18 years of age, Avas arrested the other day in Wellington for abducting two girls — sisters — under 13 for immoral purposes. The magistrate dismissed the charge, giving, however, some good advice to all parties concerned. \An extraordinary sticking-up case occurred hear Sandhurst at midnight on Saturday. A cab, Avith seven passengers, was hailed by a man in a white gown, who presented a revolver. He got only lGs, and no resistance was offered. The police have a clue to the offender. The Commission appointed to examine Welsh, tho Wrdkawn, miuvlerer, and decide as to his mental condition, comprises Dr Skae, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums ; Professor Macgregor, medical adviser at tho Duuedin Lunatic Asylum ; Dr Kemp, of Wellington ; and Dr Cecil Jackson;, of lirvercargill. A man, supposed to bo a cook belonging to a surveyor's party on the north bank of the Rakaia, attempted to ford the river on Saturday evening,- and has not yet been heard of. His horse was found all right, but the man, whose name is not knoAvn, is probably drowned, and his body washed far clown, as the search party has been-unable to find it. A sad case of drowning occurred in the '■Cakamvi River, nea,r Teschemaker's, on Monday. A young man named O'Connell , in company with three others, Avas in the act of bathing in a deep pool, .when -he was suddenly seized with . cramp, and sahk. .. One of his companions made an unsuccessful effort to save him, and then «are information to the police. The river was. dragged, and the body recovered. I Deceased was unmarried, .and^ has no j. relatives in the Colony, but had only a ( short time' ago- nomiimieS.' two' of his brothers as immigrants^'''' " , „ .• _„ -. "• ; .<^;£.'' : ;\ -.. ..- .- •■ . "