LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 20, 28 July 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

J. H. Aislabie, butcher, has filed his schedule.

Several letters have been crowded out of this issue.

At the R, M. Court to-day E Petersen failed to appear in answer to an information charging him with disturbing' the Salvation Artoyi and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Sir John Hall has two of his family very ill just noW. This has prevented him from more actively prosecuting an election campaign.

At the lost meeting of the Napier Hospital Trustees it was agreed to appoint Mr J. Mahon as Secretary in place of Mr Margoliou.h, who levanted some weeks ago. The following tenders were received by the County Council yesterday for breaking stone near the Te Arai bride :—Roberts Is lOd (accepted), Knox 2s lOjd, Hooper 2s fld, Parker 8s 3d, and Ooppin 3s 6d.

The Australia will arrive from Auckland this evening. She calls in at three Coast ports. The last launch leaves at 7 p.m. The Suva is expected from South to-morrow. The Waihora will arrive from Auckland on Friday.

The northern Hauhaus who resisted the police and gave such a display of lawlessness last week have been severely punished. Sentences of two months imprisonment with hard labour and heavy fines will no doubt aot as a healthy deterrent against the repetition of the offence.

We are glad to hear that our protest against the procrastinating policy of the County Council re necessary works is likely to bear fruit. . The country settlers are very much annoyed at the foolish decision of the Council, and an attempt is to be made to have it rescinded at the next meeting. Judgments for plaintiffs were given on Tuesday at the R. M. Court in the following cases:—W. 8. Green v. Tucker, claim £2 14s, judgment for £ll2s9d and costs; Graham, Pitt and Bennett v. H. W. Wells, claim £l4 12s, judgment by default. The popular landlord of a well known Napier hotel made a sporting bet the other day on the Napier elections, laying £5O to 1 five times that, whoever opposed him. Mr Ormond would be returned. He may lose that £290 yet, more unlikely things have happened.

Mr. G. Fisher, M.H.R., whose strong point is “ facts and figures,” has wotked out that 90 per oent. of tbe extra taxation of £300,000 proposed by the Colonial Treasurer would be charged on the necessaries of life which cannot be produced in the colony.

At a meeting of the Waimata Road Board on Tuesday Mr O’Ryan was instructed to prepare a plan and an estimate of the oost of a footway across the Taruheru bridge. The proposal to borrow £BOOO to metal the NorthGisborne streets was considered, and it Was decided to call a meeting of the ratepayers to consider the matter.

Before handing over the Matamata Estates to their new proprietors, Mr J. 0. Firth presented gold medals and certificates of long service to fifteen of tbe men, six others receiving certificates only. The natives of the district of the Ngatihinerangi tribe were also present and six of them also received gold medals,

Writing on the present political crisis in France the Daily News remarks that it is the twenty-second since the fall of the Second Empire in 1870. The Farit correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph is (of opinion that a coup d'etat is rapidly approaching, and that General Boulanger is likely to repeat Napoleon’s trick of 1852.

Parsons should not meddle in polities, at least not from the public pulpit. Preaching, not politics, is their duty, and let them stick to it, In Wanganui, on a recent Sunday, no less than three sermons were preached in favor of Mr Carsons, Mr Ballance’s opponent. We do not support Mr Ballance, but to be preached into voting tor a man is what the Wanganui people will never stand.

A Napier limb of the law sued a man the other day for profesional fees, £3 fls Bd. It happened that at the time the advice was given the client was a lunatic and was sent to the lunatic asylum the same day he consulted the solicitor. The Napier B.M. slated the solicitor and gave judgment for £l. Talk about skinning a flint, charging for advice to a lunatic is worse. But after all a man is admittedly a lunatio when he onnsults a lawyer that is if he can possibly do without it. Some queer tales are recorded of bankruptcy proceedings in New Zealand, but the following from Victoria is entitled to tbe palm:—A meeting of his creditors was duly convened, and the insolvent's solicitor alone attended with proxies from some of his creditors. He moved a resolution that he be entitled to his furniture, and as he was the only creditors’ representative present the resolotion was carried unanimously I

At the Borough Council meeting on Tuesday night it was decided to agree to the asphalte project for a block on Lower Gladstone road. There is no doubt but this is a step in the right direction, for the expense of repairing the footpaths in the more frequently used streets is very great, whereas when once the asphalting is done it lasts a remarkably long time. As Or Townley truly said, it is a pity we can riot have the whole of Gladstone road done the same way.

Upon one question specially we do hope the electors of this district will insist upon the candidates expressing themselves olearly and distinctly, and that is the education vote. All round the colony the candidates favoured by the wealthier classes, are advocating a reduction of the education vote, but, mark you, it is not the higher education they intend touching, it is the primary branches. They wish to do away with the valuable infant schools and to limit the teaching to the fourth Standard. Of the Universities and heavily endowed Secondary schools they say nothing. Let the people stand up for the present system of Primary education. Retrench as much as you like, but bew are of tampering with a system of which the colony is, and should be, justly proud. A great deal of exaggerated bunkum is being poured forth by the Atkinsonian papers about the alleged wickednesses of the StoutVogel Ministry and it is only fair that both sides of a question should be known. We have always frankly criticised the Premier and the Colonial Treasurer, but we certainly prefer both Sir Robert Stout and Vogel to Major Atkinson and the Continuous Ministry. If the Piemier would only re-adopt his good old political ideas and, acknowledging his errors, give the coun ry the benefits of his undoubtedly great talents, he would find all his old friends returning to their allegiance. Better Stout than Atkinson any day, but the great difficulty is that Ballance has to be got .id of before a member for the East Coast district could conscientiously support a Ministry with Stout as Premier. But people must not forget that Bryce as Native Minister will suit this district just as little as Ballance, for the former is just as firmly opposed as tbe latter to free trade in native lands.

Major Atkinson hat a pretty taste for reparteti Leaking of his opponent Mr McGuire; and the. letter’s chief backer, a local lawyer, Mr Elliot Barton, who was once istrong Atkinsonian, the Major said “ Coining to the ‘ almighty smash ’ of 1884, as Mr McGuire said—l beg uie. pardon, I mean Mr. Barto.n,’.' ,A voice called out ! " Nevoy mipd, it’s all the Same." "Oh no,” said the Major, “ it’s not all the same, because one is being used and the other is using him.”

English newspapers of recent dotes all coincide in the opinion that matters are rapidly approaohing a Climax in Afghanistan. The Ameer is unpopular jsltli most of his subjects and the western provinces are overrup with rebel?, ti is hardly likely that the recent Angto-Bussian agreement will hold good long, for a downfall of the Ameer, or even a seizure of Herat by tbe rebels would Certainly result in a Russian occupation of all the Pendjeh valley down to Herat* Indian papers to hand contain accounts of a singular occurrence at Dehru, when the Viceroy; o! India, with Lady Dufferin, was besieged in the ohuroh by a swarm of bees from the belfry, The red coats of tbe Viceroy’s bodyguard greatly excited the insects, and as the escort waited outside the edifice they were attacked and put to flight. One horse was so badly stung that it lay down and a fire had to be lighted before the bSOs would leave it. Ladies and children were shrieking; horses plunging and bolting, and the soldiers and people were chased a quarter of a mile*

The Wellington correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, referring to the support whibh the Government is likely to receive from the North Island in the coming elections, quotes the opinion of|a very shrewd and well-informed observer to the effect that Ministers do not oount on securing more than four or five votes altogether in the whole of the North Island, and that if Mr Ballance is beaten in Wanganui they would be actually without any real strength whatever in the North. The same correspondent adds that Ministers expect a majority in the South Island, but judging by the Dunedin Press, at any rate, it appears likely that the Opposition will gain largely in the Otago district.

The eccentric individual who Is nicknamed “ The Whiffhr ’’ by the Wellington public, has issued the following highly oharaoteriatio address to the electors of South Wellington) —Newtown, 14th July, 1887. Gentlemen,— I, the undersigned, having carefully watched the progress of the dogs dodging a bone in the idea of representing your new, prosperous, and rising suburban district, cannot fail to see that there are too many hungry land sharks hankering after the position. I hereby tender my services, and can conscientiously say that it elected I will fearlessly do my level best for all. fearing neither Protectionist, Freetrader, Teetotaller, nor Drinker, but will stick up for fair play on all sides, so long as I have a little finger to waggle. I shall shortly place my views before you, which, I may state, are Cosmopolitan to the backbone. —John Smith Harris. At the Jubilee ball in Melbourne, an amusing incident, to all but those who took part in it, happened to a quartette from Malvern. At three o’clock, having danced enough, they determined to make a start for home. The number of their oab was duly given to the policeman at the corridor, who passed it on. In a few moments it drew up, and by the time they had reached the exit gates they were all sound asleep. After an hour’s drive, they were ail awoke by cabby stopping and shouting through the window, “ ’Ere you are.” The four revellers alighted, Btill half asleep. They surveyed the house at which they hud been put down, and failed to recognise it, and on looking round they discovered they were in a strange district. On interrogating cabby, they Were told they were in Studley-Park, Kew. The truth flashed on them suddenly. Through a similarity of number they had got into the wrong oab. All appeals to the driver to take them to Malvern were in vain. His horse was done up, but they could come down to the stable, and sit in the cab till morning, and oatch the first train, There was no help for it, and they accepted the inevitable. The walk to the station in the morning was made more agreeable by the nomorous observations of the sons of toil going to their daily labour. What became of the original hirers of the Kew oab history does not record. Early Seed Potatoes, different varieties, just received by D. M. On, Lowe Street,—an.