LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 167, 10 July 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

“ Petrolea ”11! Another Smith episode may shortly be expected. The latest figures show that there are 16,449,890 Sunday scholars in the world. Mr A. Graham moved the toast to the Chairman at the banquet to Mr Bryce. The usual meeting ot the Borough Council takes place to-night.

Mr Alfred Ward has been authorised to collect accounts for Mr A. J. Cooper. Notice is given that poison has been laid on Mr Bousfield’s Waikanae property, and dogs trespassing will be destroyed, The ordinary meeting of the Hospital Trustees will be held at the Court House torn orrow, at 7 p.m. Ths Princess of Wales and associates are setting the fashion of wearing as much jewellery as possible. Charles Worth, who was charged with murdering O'Neill at Roxburgh, has been acquitted. The accused was defended by Sir Robert Stout.

A Wellington journal states that many more brilliant or imposing men may be returned to Parliament before Mr Pearson’s place is adequately filled. The prospectus of the Kauri Timber Company has been published at Sydney. The capital of the company is £1,200,000. One hundred thousand shares are reserved for New Zealand. The road leading to the wharf is much in need of repair, and many and loud are the complaints of the owners of vehicles, who state that this piece of road is the worst in the Borough.

“ Trap ” wants to know whether a portion of the specifications for the Gladstone road contract etipulates that stones are to be strewn over the surface to make it look picturesque.

An amateur photographer in Opotiki tried to get a shot at Te Kooti with his camera. That “celebrity” declined to allow the possibility of his photos being distributed for sale. A statement has been made which we record for what it may be worth, that in the event of Penfold being beaten in the walking match on Saturday (as it turned out ha w»«), his brother, who is a crack pedestrian down South, will come up and try and wrest the victory from Hooper. At the usual weekly meeting of the Mutual Improvement Society last night the Magazine was read. Five papers were brought forward, on “Courtesy," "The Dignity of Labor," " Borrowed Language," and two on " Essay Writing.” Thera was a good attendance. Mr J. Bobb occupied the chair.

The following riddle has bean appearing for some weeks part in the Half-way House column of the Wellington Press, and though the riddle is an extremely simple one no answer has yet been given : —“ If a hen and a half lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs will six hens lay in seven days.”

Information has reached us of the discovery of two complete skeletons in a bush along the Coast road, some distance beyond the Wainui station. The skeletons, it is stated, do not appear to be of a great age. It is surmised they are the remains of some Maoris, but further than the scanty information we afford there is nothing known as to the facte. Constable McGill met with a painful accident on Sunday afternoon. He was travelling on the Gisborne-Wairoa road on duty, and when a few miles past Waerenga-a-kuri the horse fell, jamming Constable McGill’s leg against the edge of the cutting, and breaking his ankle. Mr Herbert kindly lent his conveyance and the sufferer was brought into town, where he was attended to by Drs lunes and Pollen.

At the R.M. Court yesterday the oase against W. Maude for a breach of the Borough by-laws, which had been adjourned from Friday to allow Mr Booth to consider the objections raised by Mr Kenny, was again called on, when His Worship said he would like to hear all Mr Kenny’s objections before giving his final decision. Mr Kenny again stated his objections, and His Worship reserved his decision till Wednesday morning,

Two little country papers up North are exercising their minds as to newspaper etiquette in the event of the death of a foreign monarch. Number one was rebuked for using black rules when noting the death of the late Emperor, and No. 2 says it is not right to use mourning rules except in the case of the death of our own Sovereign. Number 1 retorts that then the whole paper must go into mourning. In sentencing Henry Fuller for receiving from a lad a stolen diamond ring, worth £l5, Mr Justice Richmond (at Wellington) said it was quite evident that he (the prisoner) had been telling a pack of lies. He was satisfied that he had put the lad up to steal the ring and had given him a piece of crooked supplejack for that purpose. He was worse than a thief, he was a maker of thieves, and a man of his stamp must be made an example to others. Prisoner was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude.

It is with a feeling of regret we have to record the death of Mrs Harris (wife of Mr W. H. Harris, of Matawhero) after a very painful illness. The lady passed away peacefully on Saturday morning and the remains were interred on Sunday. A great number of people paid their respects to the memory of the deceased lady by taking part in the funeral procession. People from all parts of the dietrict were well represented, fully fifty going out from town, and many school children also attending. At Holy Trinity Church on Sunday evening the Rev. Mr Fox made feeling reference to the sad event, and lu other churches it did not pass unnoticed,

“ Harriett Beecher Stowe is failing,” says the New York Mail. “ Her memory grows daily more treacherous. She is muon of the time her old self, conversing on all tonics io which she is interested with great intelligence and fluency. But there are intervals, not infrequent, during which she forgets the names of friends, loses track of her own business concerns, and cannot speak accurately of the events of the past. Her condition is not unlike whet Emerson’s became in the days when he asked a question three times over in ten minutes, and could not remember the fact that it had been three times answered.

A Melbourne correspondent writes:—As the Te Anau was oonjing up the Yarra, completing her voyage from New Zealand, a steerage passenger named Edward Martin terminated his voyage on life’s troubled waters. The poor fellow died ot dropsy.— The Queen’s Fund Committee have collected up to date over £lO,OOO, the revenue derivable from which sum will be devoted to the relief of distressed women in Victoria. The fund, as you are no doubt aware, was inaugurated as a memento of Her Majesty's Jubilee.—The Argns printed an alleged portrait of the late Emperor of Germany which eveiyone took to represent Sir Henry Loch, so accurate was the engraving. The Governor has felt ill ever since—The Minister of Defence has stated to a reporter his opinion that the Victorian forts are superior in armament to those of Great Britain. We all feel considerably relieved at the announcement. An accident of a serious nature was narrowly everted at the harbor works on Sunday, and upon someone's shoulders there is oer. tainly an amount of blame to be laid. A party of young men were walking down the pier on Sunday afternoon, and one of them not noticing anything particular, stepped on a board near the end of the work, when the board suddenly gave way, and the young man was precipitated below. Fortunately in fall. Ing he managed to grasp the person of one of his companions, and thus broke the fall. On being hauled up it was found that the unfortunate one had severely hurt his left thigh and was bruised below the knees, but though the consequences were painful, no bones were broken. The board had apparently been left as a covering for a hole which for some purpose has been left in the stone work, but instead of being a protection the board was a dangerous trap. Who ever is responsible for the cause of the accident is deserving of censure as it is not so much what the consequences were as what they might have been.

Mr E. Murphy has been appointed Government nominee on the Gisborne Harbor Board. An Auckland journal estimates there at least 100,000 fools in New Zealand, that being the number cf packets of medicine sold by the Canadian doctors.

The Salvation Army intends to celebrate the opening of its new barracks on Tuesday next with a " Monster Tea.” Major Lovelock arrives in Gisborne on Sunday to take part in the proceedings. At the Trust Commissioner’s Court yesterday certificates were granted to a deed of conveyance in trust from Riperata Kahutia to W. H. Tucker, of her interest in Makauri and other blocks, also a conveyance between the same parties of Matawhero 8., Makauri, Waikanae, Waiohiharore, and Whataupoko. A preliminary advertisement, inserted in this issue, announces that the annual concert given by Mr L. Harvy’s pupils will take place on the 25th and 26th July. The second part of the entertainment will be devoted to the performance of the comic operetta, entitled 11 Petrolea.” The operetta is a local production, the libretto being by Mr F. J. Piesse

and the muSic by Mr Harvy. and is sure to be greatly appreciated by the audiences, as the music is pretty and sparkling, and the author is also to be congratulated upon hie production. The prices of admissio n are extremely moderate for an entertainment of this nature.

The Canard liner Etruria, from New York, recently brought a thrilling tale of the sea. A vessel named the Dwarka, whilst bound to Korrachee, with a crew of seven hands, foundered on the Cutch Coast. The seamen took to the mast, but it became unshipped and drifted near the shore. Then one of them was heard to shriek, and was seen to disappear. The others, to their horror, saw they were surrounded by sharks and had no means of escape. The mast not only gave way with their weight, but could not ba kept steady, on account of the rough state of the sea, and the poor fellows, one by one, were snapped away by the monsters until only one remained to tell the tale, and he, after being tossed about for two days and nights, expecting every minute to be devoured, was washed ashore.

The members ot Holy Trinity Church are reminded of the meeting to be held in the schoolroom to-morrow evening, for the purpose of electing churchwardens and vestrymen for the year, and for receiving the report and balance-sheet. On Sunday evening the Incumbent announced that it was the intention to make the meeting of a more social nature than usual, and whether or not they were registered members of the Church all would be cordially welcome, and ladies were specially invited. He intimated that they would be enabled to make the gratifying announcement that the Church was now free from debt, and he said ho had to heartily thank those who had given assistance in achieving this result. He hoped that in the coming year they would be able to devote greater attention to matters which were of more importance than finance, and that they would ba able to again dieect their attention towards the building of a Sunday School. The mesting commences at 7.30 p.m. Captain Barry has been experiencing a further share of ups and downs. His recent country tour ended in misfortune. A buggy accident at Echuca laid him up in the hospital for six weeks. When he came back to Melbourne he got the Town Hull, secured the mayor in the chair, and the city organist tn entertain the audience with a little music. The night was dreadfully wet, and the audience was miserably small, A fresh attempt in the Collingwood Town Hall mat with exactly the same fate—a wet night. It had a worse result for the captain, who caught cold and was confined to his room for a fortnight. Next, he secured the patronage of the Australian Natives’ Association, whose president (Purves, Q.C ) took the chair for him at the Fitzroy Town Hall a few nights ago ; and there was a full house. The captain is now bound for Adelaide, where he breaks virgin ground. His sustaining power ie his faith in himself.

In a triumphant article, recording the completion of the fourth year of its existence, the Wellington Press states “We have had to suffer prosecution and injustice because we dared to speak the truth in the public interests ; and when no jury could be got to inflict legal penalties upon us, unjust Judges have inflicted illegal penalties in the shape ot costa, so monstrous in their nature that they must have crushed any such undertaking as ours not buoyed up by indomitable strength of purpose or cordially and substantially supported by the public opinion. We can safely say that the Evening Press is the only newspaper in this country which has had to pay £2,000 for the courage of its opinions, without losing any cause. But we have paid it, and hard as the struggle has been, it was the making ot the paper. We have gone from strength to strength, and if we have had much to suffer, we have also had much to be thankful for and much to be proud of.” In the course of tour years the journal referred to has made a wide reputation for itself, hut where Mr Wakefield has been successful it is not likely that any other journalist would have come out victorious.

Writing on the falling off in the railway receipts the Wellington Press says :—“lt would have been perhaps comprehensible if we had in the last five years closed some 300 miles of railway and decreased our population by 60.000; but the magnitude, the gravity of the evil is apparent when we consider that exactly the reverse of that has taken place that our population in the last five years increased by 61,000, and we have added 300 miles to our railways. In December, 1883, our population, including Maoris, was 583,000. In December, 1887, it was 644,000. We hope ous readers will grasp the indisputable significance of this fact, namely that 644,000 persons using 1700 miles of railway gave a result in revenue from freights and fines less by £50,000 than 583,000 persons using 1400 miles of railway gave. Do not let it be thought that a reduction of freights and fares caused this loss. “ That ”Mr Maxwell says, “ is responsible for part of the £50,000,” probably £BOOO of it at the outside—a set-off well enough if railway mileage had remained stationary but which does not pretend to deal with the great fact that 61,000 more persons and 300 miles of railway added not one single sixpence to the gross revenue of this colony, but actually resulted, on the contrary, in a falling off of the gro as revenue."

A correspondent sends a Wangapui piper the following valuable hint to sheepfarmers : —“I have been informed that there is considerable mortality in the lamb flocks up the coast and that some settlers are heavy losers thereby. It may surprise them to know that a very simple and effectual remedy lies at their very doors, possibly unheeded by most of them. Perhaps its simplicity will in some oases prove a harrier to its use. The plan or remedy is to out down one or more blue gum trees according to.the size of the flock, lop off the boughs and cart them out into the fields where the lambs are running, strew them about in the most frequented parts, when the result will sui prise as well as delight the flockowner. I have during the present season practically realised the benefit of this simple and most effectual remedy, and would not be afraid with its use to run lambs on the most polluted of pasture. I was induced to try the novel way of treating my young flock by seeing iu a newspaper during the past year or two that a well-known sheepfarmer down Rangitikei way had turned some wretched looking lambs into a youug gum tree plantation, and to his surprise they commenced eating the gum tops, with the result that thny were cured and throve wonderfully. I feel certain that the same happy results will attend those persons trying the above plan as was the case With the writer."