LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 22, 2 August 1887, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Harbour Board meet to-night. A meeting of Mr Aialabie's creditors will be held to-day at 2 p.m. Napier has 2047 names on its electoral roll, to which 150 will be Added. Mr Wallace, of Ormond, returns thanks to those who kindly assisted during the late fire.

The Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society hold their annual social tea-meeting to-night. The tariff board at the wharf is in a very defective stale, and many of the prices are not readable.

On page four' will be found some English gossip and a report of the .boiling match between Matthews and Richardson.

Sir George O'RoGie has received a unani. mo'ia vote of thanks and confidence from the Onehunga electors. He will not be opposed. Mr Wybert Reeves’ proposed tour of New Zealand is postponed through the serious illness of the popular comedian’s wife. Fielding, Manawatu, must be an exceptionally sober town, for the first drunk for two months was run in there the other day. Poor pedagogues. Auckland Board of Education have passed a resolution reducing the salaries' list by £1025 per annum. A single bet of £lO,OOO to £5OO was accepted last week in Melbourne, about Silver Prince’s show for the Cup. The Lynch Family of Bell-ringers did a splendid business in Wellington, and ate now working up Taranaki through the Manawatu. Wanganui distriotis, Parnell’s Hall haS then re-christened as “ The Theatre Royal.” It is a commodious building, and highly suitable tor the pur* poses of travelling companies,

The following horses have been sent by the Hon. Mr Robinson to Sydney ; —Thunderbolt, Disowned, Silver Brines, and Enfilade. G. Cults was in ehMge with the jockeys Derritt and Cochrane and three boys.

Captain Carey, who has been Sheriff and Clerk of the R.M. Court at Blenheim for the past five years, has been dismissed. He Will be succeeded by Mr O’Callaghan from Invercargill.

According to a paragraph in the Welling, ton Evening Press, the Circassian Youth, recently shown in Gisborne, has developed more wonders, for, says the par, “ he passes his head round for inspection.”

In the trial experiments with the great guns of H.M. ship Benbow, at the Woolwich Arsenal butte, it was found that every time each gun is fired in action the outlay for ammunition alone would be at least £lOO. Thus the Evening Post, in conclusion of a severe article on Major Atkinson, says:— “ Some day, perhaps, Major Atkinson may return to office purified and politically rehabilitated, but we sincerely trust the day may be a distant one.”

Mr Gannon will begin the campaign on the 11th instant by addressing the electors in McFarlane’s Hall. After that he will hold meetings at Ormond, Wairoa, Makaraka, Tologa Bay, Frazertown, Te Karaka, Mahia, and iPatutahi, of which due notice will be given in our columns.

There seems to be quite a deluge of actions against Road Boards at present. The latest sufferer is a Taranaki Board, against whom a verdict of £l5O damages has been given in favor of a man who was thrown from his horse through the Board's overseer allowing a heap of stones to remain on the road. Eggs are now at a price previously unknown in Gisborne for this time of the year. The general price at present is a shilling a dozen, which is just the amount of one week’s fall in price. This will be pleasing to most of the townspeople, but not so satisfactory to country producers, who must always sell a little below shop rates. The Minister of Defence has received a cable message stating that the first instalment of the new repeating rifles, which had been ordered for New Zealand, Would leave San Francisco by the next mail steamer on the 29th inst... _Thfl..£luaij^efypa;>'"- : ”-- aan

Rotten to the core must the retrenchment system be which allows the General Manager of New Zealand Railways, the almighty Maxwell, to take six months’ holiday on full pay and £l5O pocket money as well. The Post says it would pay the Colony to let Maxwell continue on full pay, on the condition he never came back to the Empire City again,

Says the Post: Rumours are in circulation

that Ministershave been sounding the Auditor* General as to his willingness to retire on a pension. Mr Fitzgerald is said to have scouted the idea, and to have declared that as he feels quite able to perform his official duties he has no intention whatever of accepting a pension.

Says Napier Typo There has been a good crop of libel actions at Gisborne, most of which have oome to nothing. In one £5OOO damages were claimed. None of the actions involved any particular legal point, and not one possessed the slightest public interest. This little town maintains its reputation for quarrels and litigation.”

The horse purchased at Home by Major Walmsley on behalf of the New Zealand Stud Company to replace Musket is not Limestone but Sword Dance, a half-brother to Limestone. He has been shipped from England by the s.s. Aorangi. Sword Dance is by Tomahawk—Duvernay, and has done some excellent performances on the English turf,

We have received the first number of the New Zealand Chess Chronicle, a monthly paper, published by Mr B. N. Manley, printer, Wellington, in the interests of the noble game. A speoiality of the new paper is to be the records of the New Zealand Clubs, special correspondence from leading players, and a well selected supply of problems and “ openings,” The get up of the little magazine is very neat and reflects great credit on the printer, and as the subscription is only 3s 6d per annum, a goodly number of subscribers should soon be obtained.

New Zealand is to be well provided with entertainments before the next few weeks are gone. At Auckland, Hugo’s Buffalo Minstrels open to night, and will probably visit Gisborne on their way South. Another minstrel company of high repute is working up this way through Wellington and Hawkes Bay. The great Sydney and Melbourne favourites, Signor and Signora Majeroni will also be in the Colony before long, playing “ Fedora ” and a dramatised version ol Guida’s novel “ Wanda.” In addition to these, Bland Holt is to give the Colony a visit with the latest Drury Lane successes, “Human Nature,” and “ A Run of luck.”

In the National Review for June appears an article on New Zealand from the pen of Mr Brodie Hoare, one of the gentlemen sent out by the London syndicate which floated the Midland railway. He says in the course of hia article: “To sum up my impressions of the Colony, it is a country which cannot be beaten as a home for Englishmen. It must increase in prosperity, and the progress of the next fifty years should surpass a hundred fold the progress of the past,” And again : “ The borrowing has been too rapid in the past, and the check just administered will do no harm. Tue partnership between English capital and New Zealand enterprise is a legitimate one, but the capitalist partner must do his share and see that the working partner uses the film’s money wisely.” On Monday evening the Hall-Perman Dramatic Company open for a short season at McFarlane’s Hail. From what we have heard of the Company and of their abilities Gisborne lovers of fun may anticipate a great treat. Amongst the pieces to be played by the Company are the side-splitting tarcical comedy “ Fun on the Bris ol,” whioh was first introduced into the colony by Mr Sheridan. Mr Harry Hall is said to portray this character to perfection and the other parts are in efficient hands. The marvellous Gerards will exhibit their extraordinary dancing, and the Australian Vokes will appear in the everp ipular ‘ Belles of the Kitchen ” made famous by the original Vokes family in London. But of course Mr J. F. Hall, the popular “ Johnny,” will prove the main attraction. We trust the Company will put on “ Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp ” during their stay, for Mr Hall is simply inimitable therein as the Widow Twankey,

An information against J. B. Hurrey and G. B. Worgan for obtaining £4O from Mr McDonald, of tfie Mahia, by false pretences, will be heard before the B.M. to-moirow.

Mr Giya's funeral took place on Saturday and was well attended by friends of the deceased. The service was conducted by the Ven. Archdeacon Williams and the Jtev. J. E. Fox.

At a meeting a! the Committee of the Borough Council last night for the purpose of revising the Bye-laws, there were present Ore Lucas, Townley, Tucker, and Whinray. The bye-laws ware largely amended and several new<bye*laws|were ftam'ed.

It is now almost absolutely certain that the writs will be issued on the 25th of this month, and made returnable about 21 days after. The election will take, .place on September 19, the new House meeting on the Ist October,

The hew company, which is called the Colonial Union, will hurt the N.Z. and ShawSaville a lot, as saloon passages are to be £4O and steerage £l3. Against which must be put the time, 60 days. The boats eome via Sydney, but return direct.

The Evening Pobt, Wellington, and the Voluntebr Gazette, published at Auckland, are now sent gratuitously to the Gisborne Library. The New Zealand Herald has been written for, but no answer has yet been received. The shelving presented to the Library by Mr J. H, Stubbs, has now been fitted up, and proves useful in increasing the accomodation for the books; &c.

Business is evidently going rapidly the downward path in Auckland whence we hear Some very heavy failures, amongst others those of Messrs Hesketh and Aitken, the wellknown seedsmen and produce merchants and Mr F; Lewiason. the jeweller-. The first mentioned firm is said to have let in the Bank of New Zealand fob nd less a sum than £16,000. Besides these two, other serious failures are announced.

With reference to the shooting case on board the B.s.TLlameda at San Francisco we have made enquiries and find that there is really nothing whatever known to justify the identification by OUr contemporary of the woman Who fired the shot with a former Gisborne resident; Mrs Fritter 4 flairie and that of her sinter have both been mentioned niost unjustifiably as we believe it is almost certain that both have been living in Auckland for some time past.

We learn by wire from Auckland that Walter Cross, who up to a short time ago acted as Clerk to the Poverty Bay Road Board, has been arrested there on a charge of embezzling the sum of £3l 6s 7d belonging to that body. He will be brought down to Gisborne at once, and charged with the offence. The accused was suffering with a bad leg when he went away, and we understand that he would have returned voluntarily last week but had not the requisite funds at his disposal to do so.

A meeting of the Library Committee was held last night. Present: Messrs Greenwood, Johnston, Lucas and Wilson-. The usual routine business was transacted. The Librarian's report stated that ten new names have been added to the subscribers’ list and seven taken off, making the total number 112, an increase of three on last month and twelve on the corresponding period of last year. The Treasurer, Mr Featon, wrote reporting that the books had been re-insured for £250, but at a much higher rate of interest than last year.

Having found out by bitter experience that it is hardly worth while libelling prominent citizens, our contemporary now deals in vague generalities, throwing mud on the credit of the community at large and hoping that some of it wili stick. Paragraphs similar to that which appeared in its issue of Saturday evening do no good, and only lend to bring the Bay into disrepute outside. If any “ purgation ” is to be done, the process should begin with the morbid maliciousness of its own columns.

Our contemporary, the Herald, is con* tinually exhibiting its lamentable ignorance of facts which have been previously correctly stated by this journal. In its Saturday’s issue it says“ The longest shot probably has been Illfttfe, two'citizehii Saving bet £5O to £1 that Ivess beats Ormond.” This is quite wrong. The truth is that a Napier boniface offered 50 to 1 that whoever opposed Mr J. D. Ormond, the great J. D. would win. His offer was taken up to £250. The bet is really £250 to £5 on Ormond against the field. If Mr Ivesa and the Napier Liberals work hard, the layer of the above bet will regret his faith in Napier’s big gun. We trust he may. Meanwhile our contemporary should take care to, at least, try to tell the truth. In reference to the Case on Appeal to the Supreme Court from the decision given by the R,M., Mr Booth, in the suit of Ratcliffe v Ponsfqrd, we learn that the appellant, Mr Ratcliffe, has been successful, the judgment being that the case be remitted to the B. M. with the opinion that the defendant, Pons, ford, appears to have been guilty of wrongs under each claim, and that the damages must be assessed by the B.M. Costs of Appeal were allowed. This is an important decision, especially to those who distrain for reiit, where great care should be used. In this case not only was the distress illegal, but the distrainer has been adjudged a trespasser upon the property, In the original case Messrs Brassey and Robinson appeared for the appellant, Mr Ratcliffe, and Mr Chrisp for the respondent, Mr Pousford. “ Thauma ” drew a large crowd of visitors on Saturday and during yesterday. The illusion is certainly a most marvellously wellmanaged one. Two or three feet away from the spectators is the upper part of a woman’s body on a little swing. Where the legs ought to be, there is mere space, and to further mystify the visitor, fans and swords are passed underneath the body. When the lady chats and shakes hands with her visitor, astonishment is intensified, and any attempt to discover the illusion is in vain. The idea of having the upper portion of a woman’s body suspended in mid-air, and ending apparently at the waist, is something quite out of the way, and, however it is managed, the mystery is certainly a most unfathomable one. There is nothing in the exhibition to offend the most fastidious, and people go away with mingled feelings of amusement and wonder. As an illusion —for, of course, it is an illusion —“ Thauma ” is the best we have ever witnessed, and a shilling spent in visiting the show will bejwell laid out.

The regular monthly meeting of Lodge Montrose, 5.0., will be held to-morrow night at the usual hour. Visiting members cordially invited.—(Advc.)

Pastor Wallace lectures this evening at Waerenga-a-hika; Thursday evening at Makauri, at 7.30. Magic Lantern. Adults, Is; children, 6d.