LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 169, 14 July 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

« Petrolea "111 PJsy will commenoc ai 3 sharp this afternoria. 1 Tbs complimentary dinner takes, place at the Masonic Hotel at lAS this evening. Tieiiets may. be obtained from the Secretary and Committee, The Theatre Royal Skewing Rink continues to be a source of attraction, ospsnially in the mornings and afternoons. On Monday next, wa gnflgrstancl, a mile skating match will take plana between Messrs A. Reed and B. Johnston, for £5 a side. Both are young skaters who h&vo acquired considerable profloienuy and experiness on the wheels. According to advices received by Mr Piesse, local manager of the South Pacific Petroleum Company, the Directors have been authorised to accept any sum not less than £§o,ooo. and .60,000 fully paid-up shares, for the new Company, the capital to be £160,000. If there is any difficulty in floating the Company, the Directors are empowered to float it in Engpud, with £250,000 capital,

Mary Sharpless, the richest child in America is nine years old and worth ten millions. There are, according to Dr Bichardson, 1,000 deaths per week from alcoholism in England and Wales.

The heaviest fall of snow know for years on the Australian Alps took place lately, near Harrietville. It was three feet deep. The Rochester (Victoria) Licensing Court has decided to close five out of the nine hotels at that place, in accordance with the local option poll.

The Broken Hill mine has paid fourteen £l, five £1 10s, and two £2 dividends, since its opening, the grand total in two years being £408,000.

The Chinese storekeepers in Wellington are bo disgusted at the increased duty on opium that they have unanimously resolved to stop importations. The convict Crabtree, who was sent to Auckland some time ago, has become insane, and has been removed to the Whau Lunatic Asylum, Blood to the extent of 8,000 to 10,000 gallons a day is used in making buttons in a large factory near Chicago, which gives employment to about 100 men and boys. Truth says that a peer whose revenues have been reduced to a minimum has lately accepted an engagement as “ town traveller ” to a well-known firm of pianoforte manufacturers.

Mr Reynolds, of Waikato, forwarded this week a shipment of seventeen Jersey cattle to Australia by the s.s. Manapouri, the principal object being to have them ready for exhibition in Melbourne for the August show. Dunedin City Council complain of the delay in the audit of city accounts in the Audi tor-General’s Department, and have resolved to ask the city members to obtain a system of audit more economical and expeditious, and more satisfactory to the ratepayers. A Jewish coolie has been discovered at Suva, and considerable surprise is expressed at such a combination. The local paper says :—“ A Jew and an Indian rolled into one. Shades of Moses and Brahma. What a chance of bargains.” Numbers of horses are dying from a peculiar disease in South Australia and Queensland, and the South Australian horses examined after death are found to contain large numbers of white worms. Ths malady is said to be infectious, and is said to be assuming serious dimensions. There was considerable excitement at the Brisbane Exchange recently, when a gentleman, largely interested in Mount Morgan, offered to bet £lO,OOO to £lOOO that the shares in that wonderful company would touch £2O each before the end of the year. The bet was accepted and booked, and considerable eagerness was shown to be allowed to “ stand in " with the taker.

A southern paper, after speaking of Mr Bryce us " the coming mao," goes on to say, “ Mr Bryce’s record is absolutely untarnished. He has proved himself to be one of those still strong men that will speak out and dare not lie. With him and Atkinson, and Fisher in the same team, the affairs of the country would be tolerably sate,” Another paper says:—“ Mr Bryce is a disappointed politician, of moribund views—a paltry political pessimist. The Waitotara electorate rejected him, and the country doesn’t want him.” Owing to another case occupying the attention of the B.M. Court yesterday the cases against a number of persons for recovery of harbor rates, were not called on until 3 p.m., when Mr Booth said he thought it was rather late to commence such weighty cases. Mr Brassey said the only difficulty was that Captain Carey had come ashore for the purpose of giving evidence, and his vessel would not be in port again for a month. Mr DeLautour said that the case would have to be heard immediately as Mr Bourke had to proceed to Wellington that afternoon. It was decided that Tuesday, the 24th inst., should be a special day for hearing the cases. The following from a Sydney paper has a bearing on certain wonderful cures alleged to have been effected in this colony :—“ Two Dunedin (N.Z.) medicos have ruined their prospects by permitting their hired men, a coachman and a door porter, to expose the workings of the perfesh in a court of law. The men servants sued their masters for wages due, and, in evidence, informed the Court that, though only engaged to groom the dropsical horse and polish up the handle of the old front door, their chief duties consisted of compiling the wonderful curative nostrums upon which the successes of their masters were mainly based.” A the R.M. Court on Tuesday Bowyer Wynn Weston sued John Griffin for £l, a fee for riding a horse in a hack race at Tologa Bay. The defendant denied that he promised to pay £l, and he also asserted that Weston did not attempt to put the horse round the course, but pulled it up after going over the first hurdle. Plaintiff admitted “ pulling ” the horse, but said he was ordered to do so by Griffin. Mr Booth said it appeared that a swindle had been going on, but with that he had nothing to do. The proper ocurse for Griffin to have taken was to have complained to the stewards and got Weston disqualified. Judgment was given for the plaintiff.

The Wellington correspondent of an Auckland journal telegraphs : —Some curious statements have been made before a Committee of the Legislative Council appointed to determine whether the Gisborne Harbour Act, 1887, has been contravened by the Harbour Board. It is alleged that out of a loan of £200,000 borrowed by the Board, £15,000 had been loaned to the Borough of Gisborne, and £lO,OOO to private citizens, on terms that the monetary institutions of the colony cannot compete with. The Chairman and Secretary to the Board are to be summoned to Wellington to be examined before the Committee, and they are likely to have some very awkward questions put to them. In connection with the recent walking match between Hooper and Penfold (which was won by the former) another match is likely soon to eventuate. As previously hinted Penfold’s brother has taken up the running, and has telegraphed a challenge to Hooper, which the latter has decided to accept, the match to be for two hours on boards. Hooper will not need to make light of his opponent this time, as the latter has a colonial reputation which cannot be winked at. At any rate it is certain a greater distance will have to be covered by the winner than was done in the last match. However, there are many Confident that with proper training the local man can hold his own with any of the outside cracks. He has really not been thoroughly tested yet, and we believe he would surprise even himself if he got into the bands of a good trainer, and if he is to be again victorious his mi;st bcap in mind that it can pnly be done by thoroughly recognising the capabilities of his opponent.

There js tq be an attractive feature introduced at the Bink next Monday evening, when a football match is to be played on skates, the contestants being Niggers v, Chinamen. Both sides are indulging jn a good deal of practice on the quiet, and it is anticipate!) that there will be a scientific as well aS an exciting game. Sj Mon ig the captain of the pigtailed crew and Massa Sambo Bqotem bosses the darkies. He vouches that fie will send the Chinese helter-skelter to Hong Kong, to which Si Mon replies, “ All litoe, darkie, you sac—me likes makes ohow.ohow you.” Soms people wonder how it is possible to play a game of football in the hall—so did our representative until he saw ths players Btaotising. TJis ordinary football rules are much modified,' and the goal ie only a couple of feat wide. A’ ft rale W hlrvder anyone kicks the ball ths mare difficult it is tq soO're, while with a properly placed field it takes a ■rood opposing team to defeat dribbling tactics. No picking up is allowed except by ths goal-keepers. From a spectator’s point ot view it is capital fun—as for the players that is their trouble. A juvenile football match is also set down for next week, some ot the boys fealng already quite proficient at the game, though Middy Scott can perhaps Claim superiority.

Service of Song, “ Eva," in ths Te 4>'ai school house on Monday, 16th July, at 7,31). Adults, la; children, 6d.— (Advt.) Lscture, 11 In the field,” by Colonel Simeon (under auspices of the Mutual Improvement Society) in the Wesleyan Church, on Monday next, at 7130 p.m. Admission free; all invited.—(Advt.)

Thursday was what is known as Orangeman’s Day. The occurrence of the anniversary does not create much interest in Gisborne, but now that the cables ate down, there will be much anxiety as to how things are faring in Ireland. The anniversary is one that always stirs up the slumbering elements of the factions in Ireland, and it would be interesting to know how things are going on there just now. A complaint has been forwarded to the Auckland Education Board by a Mr Vausa, of Te Aroha, that a Chinese boy was allowed to attend the school. An Auckland paper says the Chinese boy’s schoolmates are ideal Democrats, for they like and respect him, but the man at Te Aroha ie not worthy ot breathing the pure free air of colonial life. The paper concludes “He (Mr Vause) seems to have a foreign name, and we hope it will be found that he is not an Englishman, but some mongrel creature that enjoys our British liberty without knowing what it means.” An article in the Post says:—“ The principle on which the Premier intends to proceed is that ‘from him that hath not shall be taken that which he hath.’ It urges the working men to remember that the Government which is going to retrench them in a drastic fashion is the same Administration which refuses to reduce the property tax exemption to £lOO, although doing so would, according to an official return, bring in an additional £BO,OOO a year, which sum would render the reduction of small salaries and wages unnecessary. It is also the Government which resolutely refuses to tax the £2,800,000 a year of private incomes above £l5O a year accruing from sources not touched by the property tax."

The country districts have caught the contagion. Nothing but skate, skake, skate. The “ Niagara ” Bink is responsible for most of it, as it is now opened twice a week at Matawhero, and ditto at Ormond. The jovial “ Dusty,” of Matawhero is great on the wheel question. “ You come out to Matawhero,” he says, with a smile as broad as a small lake, “ and we’ll teach you how to skate.” Then he contradicts himself straight away and says that the floor has been “ busted ” by the falls that have been plumped upon it—regular “Niagaras.” “Dusty” is sage, guide, philosopher and humorer at Matawhero, and without him Matawhero “ consols ” would be below par in the twinkling of an eye. It is authoritatively stated that two Patutahians who have a good opinion of their own expertuess, have issued a challenge to skate any two rinkers in the Matawhero district. Failing the acceptance by any other competitor, it is anticipated that the valiant Mr 8. will die or ie (on the floor, of course) for his district, A home paper states: —Mr Gladstone made another great hit last week. Somehow the G. O. M. is in immense form this session, though he never seamed further from office than he does now. But his own oonfideuoe in the future begets confidence in other people. To quote an ardent follower ”It is Gladstone’s fine oooksure, winning-hands-dowa spirit which make's The Times' leader writers writhe in their boots and curse through miles of clumsy Johnsonese the impertinent old man who will not die when it suits them. For Mr Gladstone, who could about equal the combined ages of Mr Chamberlaiu and Lord Hartington, has twenty times their enthusiasm, a hundred times their force, and a thousand times their belief in the righteousness of the cause.” He knows he is going to win, just as they know they are going to lose. Aud it is this grand self-confidence that impresses, and rightly impresses, the country. We lo )k to our leaders for the note of decision which clears the moral atmosphere, helps us to plain issues, and generally relieves the strain of the present situation. The annual football match between Napier and Gisborne takes place to-day at Captain Tucker’s paddock, and if it excites anything like the interest that previous matches have done, there is certain to ba a large attendance. The general opinion is that Napier will have the best of the match, though no local man will admit that they have any other advantage than that of form and combination, but those are the very points which may cause a defeat of Gisborne. Still what is lost in one way will be made up to a great extent in other directions. The local team is considered, individually, to be about the best in the forward division that has yet been placed on the field for an outside match. Individually, too, the men are all in fair and some in excellent form, though lack of combination is likely to be their weak point. It is certain the local men will make a hard and game struggle for victory, and if they are defeated it will not be through “ chicken heartedness.” Some are fond of asserting that Napier will run over the local men, but we would advise the visitors not to allow that notion to impress them, or they will be a few points out of their calculation when the time of reckoning comes. With favorable weather, the match is sure to be worth seeing. As a parting word of advice to the Gisborne men, “ No matter how things are against you, or in your favor, or what your personal opinions may be, obey your umpires.” This advice is not. intended as a reflection on anyone, but it is simply given because experience has shown that players often forget themselves when in a state of excitement.