Local and General News.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 175, 27 January 1897, Page 2

Local and General News.

The Governor and party returned to Wellington today. There are nine cases of typhoid fever in the Wanganui Hospital. Miss Eirke will deliver an address in the Forresters' Hall on Friday evening. A concert will be given at the Young Men and Boy's Club to-morrow evening in aid of the funds. The Cheltenham Sports Committee will meet on Saturday evening at 8 o'clock at Mr Ryan's Hotel. The Secretary of the Feilding Cycling Club desires to acknowledge the receipt of £1 Is towards the funds of the club from Mr W. Hodren. The secretary of the Apiti Dairy Company, Mr B. A. Miller, invites tenders for carting. Specifications may be seen at the factory or the Stab office. In another column Mrs Campbell, and the members of her family, thank those friends who attended the funeral of the late John Campbell, which took place yesterday afternoon. An instance of the unparalleled velocity of New Zealand trains. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday a settler from Woodville was convicted on charge of chasing a train and boarding it after it had proceeded a quarter of a mile on its journey. X47 : " I found the prisoner sitting on a doorstep in College street, yer wortship, at half-pasth three this morning." Magistrate : " Was he alone ? " X47 : "He was, your wortship !" Magistrate: "How do you know ? " X47 : " Becase I was with him, yer wortship. The Palmerston North Rifles have decided to go into camp for a week. The men are only under canvass at night , and are allowed to follow their usual avocations during the day. The military duties are performed morning and evening. The Defence Department supplies tents, etc. A gun accident occnrred near Palmerston on Sunday. Two lads Darned Jensen had returned from rabbit- shooting. The younger of the two raised his gun to fire at some birds, and the weapon went off at half-cock, lodging the contents in the thigh of the other lad. The injuries are being attended by Dr Beard. — Standard. Our readers ere reminded of the concert to be given ia the Assembly Rooms this evening. The programme will include items by Misses Butler and Olphert (of Auckland), Brunette and Chamberlain ; Messrs Hunn and Grace (Palmerston), Eade, Greenwood, Giesen, Moore and Carty ; Mesdames Dickson and James. A special message to the New Zealand Times from Masterton says : — ln the enquiry held into the circumstances under which the house of Mr E E. Chamberlain at Mikimiki was destroyed by fire, the jury returned a verdict that the fire was caused by a bush fire lighted on the property of Mr Hugh Campbell, but there was not sufficient evidence to show that Mr Campbell lighted the fire personally. To-morrow morning the great annual stock taking sale commences at the Bon Marche. On this occasion Messrs Spence and Spence have determined to beat all previous records. The conces sions made and the extraordinary prices quoted are such as no doubt will command a great rush of business. The firm having had a splendid season's trade, are quite prepared to run their business at a loss for one month. In course of the opening speech delivered at the Bowling green in Welling-' ton, Mr Bell remarked : — He saw before him a fine collection of gentlemen, most of whom were probably masters in business, able to make holiday because of the representative character of the occasion. He hoped that if at any time their employes wished to obtain a holiday for a representative occasion, there would be little difficulty in the way of their doing so. This was loudly applauded. ' The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr J. W. A. Marchant, accompanied by Captain Turner (district road surveyor) and Mr Lundius (Crown Lands Ranger) has paid an official visit to the back blocks on this side of the Ruahine ranges — the Pohangina Small Farm, Marton Nos. 1 and 2, Umutoi, Salisbury, and other blocks. Mr Snow, Government surveyor in charge of the co operative works in the blocks adjacent to Apiti, conducted the party over the co-operative works in that locality. A resident of Masterton has a pear tree which, although it made plenty of timber, has for years stubbornly refused to bear any fruit. Speaking on 9 day to a medical friend he was advised to try the effects of a ligature. The settler accordingly fastened a wire round one of the larger limbs, with the result that this year, although the limb has been nearly cut through, as the result of its quick growth and the surgical operation, it is bearing a fine crop of fruit, while the rest of the tree is destitute of pear or blossom.— Napier Telegraph. In answer to the question whether he thought New Zealand scenery had been overpraised, Lord Brassey told a repre sentative of the Dunedin Star emphatically that he did not. " I think no language could do justice to the subject. My experience in such matters has been greater than that which falls to the lot of most men. "Voyaging along many coasts, I have seen many of Nature's beauties. I have made several voyages to the coast of Norway ; I have been through Magellan Strait, I have seen the famous inland sea of Japan, I know Switzerland well, also Italy, and I have seen nothing which equals in beauty and magnificence the New Zealand sounds. Whatever Nature has shown to man of the sublime and the beautiful is to be found there." We learn from the Standard (England) that Major-General George Mein, late of the 13th Prince Albert's (Somersetshire Light Infantry), and one of the last of the survivors of the Afghan campaigns of 1838 41, has just died at Glendor c Lodge, Clarendon road, Southsea, in his 80th year. Born in October, 1817 be entered the Army in 1835, and, receiving his lieutenant's commission in April, 1839, served with his regiment in Afghanistan from 1838 to 1841, being present at the storm and capture of Ghnznee, for which he received the me dal, and at the storming and capture of many Afghan strongholds. He was dangerously wounded at the storming of the Khoord Cabul Pass, and was sent into Cabul ; consequently he was present with the force under Major-General Elphinstone during the insurrection in Cabal and the disastrous retreat, until he was taken prisoner in January, 1842. Released with the other Cabul captives in the September following, he was spes cially mentioned for his gallant conduct during the disastrous retreat by Sir Robert Peel, when moving a vote of thanks in the House of Commons to the Army of the Indns in 1843, at the con' elusion of the Afghan War. He became Lieutenant-Colonel in April, 1864, and was placed on the retired list, with the honorary rank of Major-General, in April, 1878. Having lost his first wife (Marianne, daughter of Richard Coore, Esq.), in 1885, Major General Mein married again, in 1892, Marcelly, tho eldest daughter of the late Mr R R, Burnet. Hie interment took place at Paddjogton Cemetery, Willfsden lane, Kilburn. Mrs D. Penruddock Buchanan, of Kiwitea, is a daughter of the late General by bis firafc wile*

The following Wanganui candidates matriculated on junior scholarship papers : — C. R. Sainsbury and P. Fitzherbert. Seventy-five applications were received by the Wellington City Council for the post of custodian of the Thorndon Baths. The annual general meeting of the Mangaone Public Hall Company, Limited, will be held in the Colyton Hall on Monday, February 2nd. Notice is given to-day that Mr A. E. Batliff and P. P. Giesen have entered into partnership as Land and General Commission agents. We wish the new firm every success. The Opotiki people have wound up their Prospecting Association, and have decided to invest the balance of L6O odd in one of the big Australian sweeps for the benefit of those interested. Messrs Gorton and Son have been instructed to sell by auction at Rongotea, the dairy stock in the estate of the late John Tompkins. This is a splendid op~ portunity for getting some really good milch cows. Our readers are reminded of the concert to be held in the Young Men and Boy's Club rou£nß to-morrow (Thursday) evening. A good programme has been arranged and it is hoped the concert will be largely patronised. The mortal remains of the late Mr John Campbell were interred in the Feilding cemetery yesterday afternoon, being followed to their last resting place by a large number of sympathising friends of the family. Mr W. W. Corpe conducted an impressive burial service. The man named Black, who vraa injured on election day by a runaway horse, and had his foot amputated, has died at the Palmerston Hospital. His body is to be taken to Napier for interment. The deceased had carried out some extensive contracts in the South Island and Napier. He was the builder of the Wingatui viaduct in Otago. A Wellington telegram states that the police now believe that Carroll, who is wanted in connection with the Paeroa acid-throwing case, managed to get aßhore at New Plymouth, as the Mahin apua was not watched when she arrived. He did not reach Wellington by the express train, which was searchad, and if he took that train he must have got off somewhere en route. There has lately been much speculation regarding the origin of the word " tip." The truth is that in an old Englisn tavern a receptacle for small coins was fixed in a conspicuous place, over which appeared in writing: "To insure promptness." Whatever was placed in the box was divided among the servants. Other taverns followed the example and soon the words were abbreviated to " T.1.P." A durable whitewash is recommended as follows : Half a bushel of good lime, 51b salt, £lb whiting, 41b ground rice boiled to a thin paste, suet. Slake the lime to the consistency of thick cream in a tight box covered that the steam may uot escape. Mix all the ingredients together, and when using add as much water as will cause it to flow freely from the brush. For indoor work the salt, rice, and grease may be omitted, and the creamy solution of lime thinned with akim milk. The latter is a secret worth knowing. At the Primitive Methodist Church, Shannon, on Snnday evening the Rev. Mr Boys preached, and, says the Manawatu Farmer, a collection was taken up on behalf of the Sunday School — the third that day. The silver pieces were few and very small, and the rev. gentleman eyed the plate apparently with surprise when it was returned, and looked aad. He looked again, and although a few threepenny pieces shone joyfully in the lamplight he asked in solemn tones if the offertory had been taken up. The collector assured him that it had, and then the congregation understood what the minister felt. A correspondent in the country sends to the Auckland Herald an illustration of how the charitable aid system is worked A man found himself in the dock with the knotty question to decide, " Shall I pay a fine of £5 and return to the bosom of my family, or take a month's holiday at Mount Eden Goal ?" He did what all men should do in difficult crises of life— he consulted with his wife. Her advice was thoroughly practical and business-like — namely, that he should go to Mount Eden, and meanwhile she would be supported by the Charitable Aid Board. The pro gramme was carried out, the chief sufferers being the unfortunate ratepayers. A meeting of delegates representing the various Fire Brigades between New Plymouth and Palmerston North is to be held at the Wanganui Fire Brigade Hall on Wednesday, February 3rd, for the purpose of considering the proposal to form a West Coast Association. One of the chief objects of the proposed association is to brine the brigades on the coast more closely into touch, and to provide a bi- annual demonstration to be held alternately with the bi-annual demonstration of the New Zealand Associ ation It is suggested, we understand, to hold the demonstration at Wanganui, as being the locality mest suited to the majority of brigades interested. The object of holding this coastal demonstration is principally to afford facilities to those brigades who are unable to send representatives to the New Zealand gathering. Judge Wofford, of Kansas city, recently made some extraordinary remarks, whon delivering sentence on a man who had pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing a bicycle. His Honour said :— " Well, well, well. The idea of a man running the chance of going to the penitentiary for a bicycle. I hate to send a man to the penitentiary for stealing a bicycle. I wish some one would steal all tbe bicycles in existence and sink 'em in the middle of tbe Atlantic Ocean. I wouldn't give five cents for the best bicycle ever made. What made you do this, young man ? Was you drunk?" " No, sir, I was under the influence of morphine." " You must have been under the influence of something to steal a worthless trap like a bicycle. I can see how a young man could be pushed to steal something to eat, but a bicycle ; well, a man has a strangely-constructed head who will steal a bicycle. If you had stolen an old blind horse or anything useful it would have gone hard with you in this court, but for stealing a bicycle I'll be very light on you. Six months in gaol."