LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 181, 11 August 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Our usual Saturday instalment of “ Opinions ” has been held over for want of apace. Mr Foster, chemist and druggist, invites special attention to some of his preparations. The business advertisement will appear in our next issue. There was a large attendance at the Theatre Royal Rink last night. After a capital race Mr Somers, on the bicycle, beat Mr Tucker, on the skates. Lieutenant Gladding, of the Salvation Army, left for the South last night. Captain Wright goes on Sunday. A big farewell coffee supper we.s held on Thursday night. Last night Sergeant Stagpoole left Gisborne for Kaiapoi, to which station he has been transferred. He may shortly have to come back for a week or two to attend the local sittings of the Supreme Court. Nothing further has yet developed with regard to the Mahia “goldfields." Diggers who have been near the place confess themselves very dubious on the matter. Every one will hope that experience may prove the find to be a valuable one. ' The patent fire kindler for which Messrs Wingate, Burns and Co, are the agents is meeting with an enormous sale. A Melbourne order fqr four thousand kindlers has been received by the patentee. A fresh supply is also required for Gisborne, tne kindlers only cost a shilling each, and are a great check on the dangers which are incurred by some people when lighting fires. The erection of the new skating rink is progressing as quickly as was expected, and before the enfi of the month it will be in full swing, Tfie opening is tq take place with a grand ball under the auspices of the Lawn Tennis Club, and the next event will be a benefit to the Cadet Clothing Fund, for which preparations are being made on a scale which gives promise of a big success. From Messrs Sargood, Bon, and Ewen we have received a most elaborate trade circular, the )jt)iographio and letter press work having been done (if the New Zealand Herald office. The Circular is In the form of a pamphlet, the cover of which is one of the most beautiful specimens we have yet seen of colonial lithograph work. The design on the first page of the cover is that of a shield, in the centre of which is the Royal arms, with the British ensign and Union Jack at either side, and below are illustrations of the firm's principal business houses—On the last page of the cover appear maps of the North ahe fiohth Islands of New Zealand. The letterpvees is Squally oreuitslfiq to the printers, There was quite a pathetic incident of the effect of stage realism when Mr Charles Arnold first produced “ Hans the Boatman ' |n England. He h’mself taught the little child, May Hannan, to play the part of Fritz. In the second act, the tiuy might, after jumping on his knee, used formerly, instead of being put to sleep by liana as how, io go 0 ft’ the stage. When Haus first introduced the explosion incident into the piece, the child who was standing in the wings, regarded the incident as wholly true, snd burst into passionate flood of tear* which it was impos-a sible to subdue. When the curtain dropped she ran towards him, crying “ Are you blind Mr Arnold ’ Are you blind ?” It was only when ho explained matters that the child rhd her eyes and bocaine calm again.'.

At Eketahuna, there are four hotels and a population of about 100 adults, 40 of whom are teetotallers. The last meeting of the Wairoa County Council lasted from 2 p.m. on Saturday till midnight 1 That beats our Borough Council. The Rev. Mr Wills of Opotiki, on one Sun' day evening lately, during his sermon, re', cited “ The Charge of the Light Brigade. ’ Owing to the severe weather in Otago, it is expected that the loss of sheep will be the heaviest yet experienced. Six hundred and fifty four accidents were treated at the Sydney Hospital in one week lately. At Whangarei a woman named Courtenay while drawing water from a well fell in, and was drowned. The Hon. Colonel Brett, M. L. C., owing to,ill-health, has been compelled to relinquish his legislative duties, and has returned to Canterbury. An Auckland journal, commenting on the Otago Central infamy, says it seems as if we were distined to pursue a mad career to the bitter end. What will the end be 1 Sir Robert Stout, in a letter to a Dunedin paper, asserts that by not adopting the policy of the Stout-Vogel Government the colony has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds, and thousands of settlers. News has been received of the death of Wi Kingi, the celebrated Opotiki chief. The de ceased chief was a firm ally of the whites during the troublous times, and fought against Te Kooti. It cost a Wairoa man £2 13s last week for the amusement of knocking a Maori’s hat off and into the sea. In some places it would have cost him less had he knocked the Maori’s whole “ box and dice " overboard. “ Come, George, you’re tired out. Hurry up and go to bed. ” Georgie looked solemnly at his parent, and slowly said : “ Papa, you shouldn’t hurry up a boy when you know he’s tired out. ” The £3OOO which Sir Morell Mackenzie has consented to accept for his attendance on the late Emperor will only partially reimburse him for his prolonged stay abroad, although he had a fair number of German patients outside the palace. In his annual mining report, Mr MoKerrow thinks the gumflelds have been a drawback to the settlement of the North of Auckland district, as “its pursuit has a tendency 0 foster roaming and irregular habits, unavorable to after application to steady ndustry." The Waimakariri, which is causing anxiety in Christchurch just now, has within the ast four years scoured away its right bank lor a 4 width of six chains, and a length of fover a mile. Tb« river is 400 feet above tChristohuroh, and the volume of water.is very great. Commenting on Professor Salmond’s last letter to the Dunedin Presbytery, the Dunedin Herald says :— 11 With considerable dignity and the moat punctilious courtesy, he has pressed his professional thumb to the tip of his professorial nose, and informed the Presbytery that they oan go to —■»" The Christchurch people have got Jonathan Roberts on the brain so badly that the Press agents there telegraph all over the colony that the police mistook for Jonathan some lazy skunk who preferred to risk starvation rather than work for the support of his wife and children. Bad as Jonathan is we should think he would take the comparison as an insult.

Few people (says a Northern paper) are aware of the extent to which the truck system has been carried on at most of the mills and timber stations. Notonly are stores limited, and workmen obliged to buy at those stores, but at one place if a man rears and fattens a pig of his own, for his own family consumption, he has to pay a tax of Id per lb to his employers. An odd coincidence has been pointed out by the London correspondent ol a Liverpool paper anent the funeral of the late Emperor Frederick. He was born on the anniversary of the battle of Leipsic, where, on October 18, 1813, the French were defeated with so much slaughter, and he was buried on the anniversary of Waterloo, the historic day which ended the first French empire, and soldered the Anglo-Prussian alliance for which the new Emperor seems to care so little. At Auckland on Friday, 3rd inst., an old man named Delaney fell off a doorstep and broke his leg. He lay for some time before assistance came, when some neighbors lifted him into the house, qnd sent a message for a doctor. The doctor wrote a note to Dr Bell, who is in charge of the Auckland Dispensary, but the note was left at the dispensary, and did not pass into the hands of Dr Bell till midday on Saturday, and on that afternoon Dr Bakewell set the leg. Delaney thus lay during Friday night and the greater part of Saturday with his injuries unattended to. Amongst the business before the Lyttelton R.M. Court last week, was an application on behalf of W. Hildyard, bootmaker, fora judgment summons against Mrs Matthews. It appears that the creditor obtained judgment for the amount, some £l3, a short time ago, and now applied for an order requesting the money to be paid within a stated time. Before going on with the case, Mr Russell, who was appearing for the debtor, said he would point out that the Court had no jurisdiction to make an order against a married woman. His client was a married woman, and it would only be wasting time of the Court to go on with the case. In support of his contention, Mr Russell quoted late Law Reports, from which it appeared that no order could be made unless it was clearly proved that the debtor was possessed of an estate to the value of £lOOO or upwards. Mr Beetham said the matter was beyond argument, and the order must be refused. This information may be of interest to tradespeople and others,