LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 15, 14 July 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A political letter by “ Pax” is unavoidably held over till our next issue, On page four wiil be found an interesting article on General Boulanger, the popular French general. This morning Miss Porter distributed a number r>£ Jubilee medals to the School ol !!<’ en, Additional shelves are being erected in the Public l ibrary to make room for a number of new books which have arrived, Two thousand five hundred copies of Mr Blair’s lecture on the Industries of New Zealand wore sent to Sil' Dillon Bell. The Choral Society hud a very satisfactory rehearsal of Handel’s sacred oratorio •• Judas Macoabeeus ” on Tuesday night. The rendering of the piece to-night, it is expected, W’H be most suecossful. From the Borough Council report it will be seen Hat Captain Tucker has offered to provide half the contract price for damming up the Waikanae stream. Certain conditions are attached to the offer. There is likely to be another II.M. Court development shortly in connection with the Salvation Army. The tables are to be turned this time, a defendant in the late case presuming to be ths aggrieved party this time. The ratepayers in the Waimata Road district are asked to meet at 4 p.m on Wednesday the 27th inst., for the purpose of deciding whether or not a portion ot the Waimata Inland Road, near sections 2, 8 and 4, Waimata West, shall be stopped. Tuesday was the anniversary of the memorable battle of the Boyne. Locally there was scarcely a mention of the fact, and the news from outside does not make it appear us if the interest was much greater else where in the colonies. At a meeting of the Ormond Road Board on Tuesday evening it was decided to strike a rat ■- ot one farthing in the £. The tender oi Mr T. Smith at nine pence per chain for the south side and Is 9d per chain for the north side, cleaning drain ou the road to Mr Bidgood’s was accepted.

A special meeting of the School Committee was held on Tuesday evening. Present:

Messrs Johnston (chairman), Lewis, Hall, Morgan, Cannon. Applications for the position of assistant mistress were considered, and Mi s Hayes, oi Dunedin, received the appointment. The members of the East Coast Hussars had a drill last night, 30 being present. The arms were served out to the town members, those for the country having to be forwarded to the Baraka. Great interest is being taken in the formation of the corps, and it is expected that a number of new members will be enrolled shortly. The Waimata Road Board met yesterday. Present. Messrs Uroll (in the chair), Clayton, B'-’lers. The following tenders were received :—Fox street, Dunlin street, and Valley Laue.—J. Hassett, £4O 15s (accepted), Talbot & Co., £54 Ils; Loomb, £54 19s; Olli ver and Kelley, £6l 12s 2d; Hooper, £62; Grady & Co., (earthwork) £3B 14s ; Courtney, £27 10s (earthwork). Accounts totalling £B3 were passed for payment. Great interest is being manifested in the peisoiuiance of “ Judas Maccabeus •’ by the Choral Society this evening. The oratorio has been in rehersal for some months past, and as the practices have been well attended and the members extremely attentive to their work, an excellent rendition is looked for. Ticketshave sold very freely, and a crowded anf'enceis confidently looked forward to. At the Waimata Road Board meeting on Tuesday the Clerk (Mr Warren) laid before the Board a plan of the methods under the Local Bodies Loans Act whereby the Board cov’d for £74 a year metal 24 miles of stieets in North Gisborne, or for £l5O a year metal four miles of streets and one mile of the Harpara road. The matter was allowed to stand over till there was a full meeting of the Board, when it is to be hoped members will give the question their careful consideration as being the only means by which the streets in North Gisborne can be metalled. An enjoyable and instructive evening was spent by the members of the Presbyterian Literary Association on Tuesday last, being ” A night with Goldsmith,” Mr E. Evans giving the biographical sketch. leadings and recitations were given by Messrs Ambridge and Armstrong and Misses Evans and Forsyth. One new member was elected. The subject for next Tuesday evening will be “ Science and Religion,” by Mr B. H. Scott. The subject is a very broad one, but Mr Scott is sure to be successful in his treatment Of it. The annual meeting of the parishioners of Holy Trinity Church takes place to morrow night. The meeting will be a very important one, as the proposal to discontinue the system of pew rents will be interesting to members of other churches as well as to those immediately concerned. The Congregational Church is the only other church in Gisborne which does not make use of this plan of collecting rents, but as the Congregational is only a young church in Gisborne, comparison of experiences would hardly be in place. Mr Knight, the Auckland contractor! for the patent asphalte courts of the Gisborne Tennis Club, has now completed his labours, and will leave for Auckland by the first boat. The work done by him over on the Kaiti has been very satisfactorily executed, and both Mr Knight and the Clue are to be congratulated upon the success of the undertaking. We understand that Mr Knight has a series of similar works in hand in the Auckland district. Although retarded much by bad weather since he has been here he has pushed on with the work capitally, and he can be recommended as a first class energetic workman. The Borough Council meeting on Tuesday night terminated at nearly eleven o’clock, There was absolutely nothing in the pro ceedings to occupy this length of time. If Councillors were kept strictly to the rules of discussion it would not be too much to say that the meetings could be got through in quarter the time. At present it it quite a usual thing to hear two or three members talking at once, and not even rising from their chairs. Instead of speaking once on the one subject they are allowed to do so as often as they please. Consequently the meetings drag on for hours.

The Auckland Bell deals it out pretty roughly to a particular class of lawyers. In speaking of Mr Pyke’s threatened libel actions, it says:—We do not know who Mr Pyke’s lawyer is, nor do we seek to enquire, but we have no doubt there are ruffianly lawyers in Wellington, as there are ruffianly lawyers in Auckland, who, under the force of hunger and in the face of starvation, are prepared to hound any man on to law if there is the least prospect of getting costs, either from client or defendant. We are not in a position to say whether it is so with Mr Pyke, or whether he has a lawyer at all, but we think it highly likely; for, just as in France, the wolves come down from the mountains in severe winters, and in starving ferocity attack the villagers below, who are obliged to barricade themselves up in their houses, so in wintry weather the starved and hungry lawyer is a real danger, and with bloodshot eyes and gnashing jaws he goeth up and down like the devil seeking whom he may devour, and woe betide the helpless victim that crosses his path. At the last Borough Council meeting an application was received from Mr Wade tinsmith, for permission to cut down two poplar trees at , the corner of Peel street as the leaves got into the gutter. The applicant did not state what inconvenience he was put to by the gutter being choked up, and seeing that his business premises were some distance away from the trees, Councillors were at a loss at first to understand the reason of the application. Cr. Townley explained that the request was the outcome of a noHee sent to Miss Doran to repair the gutter in her verandah which allowed the water to run on the footpath. Even after this explanation Councillors could not imagine in what possible way the matter concerned Mr Wade, and one member even went so far as to say that the trees benefitted him inasmuch that it gave him a job. During the discussion the Mayor said he was opposed to the cutting down of any trees, ana other Councillors spoke in the same strain. Ultimately the request was refused.

Mr Woon bos a first-class America n-bu-'lt buggy for sale. An adyertisemc .t of interest to builders appears the first column of this page. A new volunteer corps has been started in Orristihurch under the name of the Queen’s Cadets. The Christchurch Meat Freezing and Produce Company is to be voluntary wound up. Berry, Daniel, and Co. advertise a stock of prime maize—a very scarce article just now. Tenders are invited by the Waimata Road Board up till noon on Saturday next, for works near Mr Caulton's homestead, The newly-started Shakespere Society in Christchurch is prospering. Some very clever essays have been read by the members. Noel Peat entered a Christchurch chemist’s shop the other day and stole £4O. He wi'l not burgle again for a year to come, Robert Wood, a Bank of New Zealand clerk at Hamilton, Waikato, has been accidentally shot by a gun exploding. Lord and Lady Braseey of the yacht Sunbeam are being liberally entertained by the Melbourne people. Owing to the heavy premiurii demanded by the insurance people, Government buildings will not be insured for the present. Sir Robert Stout at Dunedin the other day said lie believed £lOO,OOO could be saved in the public service. Why didn’t he save it ? The Waimata Road Board notify that a rate of three farthings in the pound will be struck for the period commencing on the Ist April, Severe classical attire is the latest fancy among Parisian fashionables anxious for novelty. Several arietoqratio beauties are having their portraits taken in proper Boman costume, even to buskins on their feet, and the hair arranged a la Titus. The Duke of Westminster bought Millais’ portrait of Mr Gladstone for £l2OO, and sold it to Sir Charles Tennant for £3OOO guineas. Not the first Tennant by many out of whom the ducal landed proprietor has made a good profit. It is reported, says the Daily, that a Wairarapa solicitor indvertently swallowed the other day a half-sovereign, and immediately resorted to his medical adviser for assistance. The doctor, so the story goes, applied a stomach pump to the suffering lawyer, but after repeated and vigorous efforts only succeeded iu bringing up three and fourpence.

Sir George Grey at Auckland the other day, said: —“ They had at the present moment one of the most magnificent foundations upon which to build a great nation. They hud only to do it well and wisely, and before many months were passed—and certainly before two or taree years—New Zealand would be one of the most prosperous in the world. (Loud cheers.) Heavy arrivals of immigrants at New York cont'nue to be reported. The total number of au-ivals this year is expected to exceed 1,000,030. There are fewer German and Irish immigrants than in former years, but the numbers of those from Russia, AustriaHungary, and Italy have largely increased. The Russians come chiefly from the corngrowing region near the Black Sea. Twenty years ago at Tueana, N.S.W., Joseph Cramp was committed for trial for sheep-stealing, but before the sitting of the Assize Court was held he absconded, and nothing was. heard of him from that day r.itil the 6th inst., wnen he was arrested at Crookwcll. He freely admitted his identity, b..t said nothing would now come of his trial; and his confidence does not appear to have been mispl;' :ed, as all t.ie witnesses are either dead or i: .ve d isappeared. The Evening Bell on Village Settlements A scheme which has placed a thousand families on the country in a year, at an expenditure of a mere bagatelle as things now go, is not to be dismissed off-hand, and whether the present ministry is consigned to oblivion or not, and whether Sir George Grey returns to power or not, the village settlement scheme will stand forth for ever in the history of New Zealand as the first practical and successful scheme ever presented to New Zealand for enabling the poor and humble to have a home for themselves. The ■' prayer for New Zealand,” used in the Nelson diocese during the Jubilee season, has a peculiar suggestiveness for some —of course the cap does not fit ourselves—representatives of the " fourth estate.” The petition is ou behalf of “ all teachers, instructors, and guides, whether in the Church, or in the school, or ‘in the Press.” But here comes the rub. In a petition invoking a blessing on those " who are a terror to evildoers,” and for “ the praise of those who do well," the Press is not alluded to. Thus London Life on the aristocracy: -The Hon. Charles Lowther, Lord Lonsdale's brother and heir-presumptive, has had a committal order for twenty.eight days’ imprisonment made out against him at Chichester County Court, and unless the Ids 9d has been paid, should now bs “ in durance vile." This large amount was due to an innkeeper at Bognor for "food and liquor" supplied, and on his presuming to make an application for the money at Mr Lowther’s splendidly-furnished residence in St. John’s Wood, the Hon. Charles horsewhipped him—perhaps to encourage other creditors to call. The Lowther family are certainly to be condoled with. Fancy having for the head ot tue house and next heir such admirable specimens of the British aristocracy as the present Earl and his estimable younger brother. Country Services, Church of England, on Sunday next.—Ormond, 2,15 ; Waerenga-a-hika, 3.45; Mr Dean at Patutahi, 7. Presbyterian Church, Country Services, next Sunday.—Matawhero, 2.30, Mr B. H. Scott; Te Arai, 3, Bev. J. McAta.