LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 515, 7 October 1890, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The criinnal session of the Napier Supreme Court commences today. Mr Dinwiddle, of Ormond, advertises for tenders for the leasing of 64 acres of land. Mr Arthur, M.H.R., addresses his constituents this evening, at McFarlane’s Hall.

An ordinary meeting of the Charitable Aid Board will be held at 3 o’clock on Thursday afternoon.

The Rev M. Rybnrn is to be ordained in Si. Andrew’s Church on October 19, when his induction will also take place. Lessoning, af’erthe style of the cowboys, is now the popular game among Gisborne boys, some of whom have become fairly proficient at this useful sport. It is expeo'ed that a good number of ladies will attend the political meeting at McFarlane's Hall this evening.

Mr A.N. Williams writes notifying us that be has decided to withdraw from the contest for the East Coast seat, as he finds that he is unable to devote the necessary time to the prosecution of the election campaign.

The Gisborne Racing Club’s nominations, forthe Flying Handicap. Grandstand Handicap, Hurdles, and Park Hindicip, close this evening. Nominations should be addressed to Mr M. G. Nasmith, Secretary, Argyll Hotel.

The alarm of fire early on Saturday morning was caused by the burning down of Mr Lane’s two-roomed house, on the Wha'aupoko side of the river, opposite Mrs Mills’ place. Mr Lane was on his way home from town when the fire took place, and cannot account for it in any way.

Sergeant Carlyon and Constable Reddell yesterday evening arrested J. Lane, who will be brought before the R.M this morning on a charge of arson, and a remand for a week will be applied for. The arrest is due to suspicions that have been aroused concerning the fire on Saturday morning. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, have received the following London market cablegram, dated 4'h October Tallow is dull of sale, and has declined 61 per cwt. since last report. Fmzan m^at—There is rather better demand. N.Z. beef—forequarters are worth 2|d per lb, hindquarters 3d per lb.

The Kaiti Road Board met at noon yester. dav. Present : Messrs Harris (chairman). Dickson, and Liddle. ■ The following tenders were received for road Warks, Esplanade :— D Malone (accepted) £34 14s, P, McLoughlin £44 19s. Tt Knox £42155. F. Hioks £33 17s, and W. Jones £4l 10'. It was decided to oal! tenders for formation, <Ssc., DeLautour, Brown, and Owen Roads. Tenders to close on Saturday the 19th inst. At the Mutual Improvement Society last night an interesting evening was spent in listening to a sketch.of Roslyn, a village near Edinburgh, by Mr W. Nisbett (who had visited the place), and “ Some recollections of Australia,” by Mr O. Veale. A committee were appointed to superintend arrangements for the Society's annual picnic, which takes place next month.

A local amateur entertainment will be held on the evening of the first holiday, November 10, in support of the Gisborne L’brary. A drama of three acts will be produced, entitled " Heroes,” for which careful preparations are already being made. Messrs John Bourke and W. F. Crawford are working up the preliminaries. and rehearsals are being held by the P’rtormers, Particular attention wi'l bo paid to the soenis effect, and judging bv the way in which iha initial difficulties are being surmounted, and the nature of the play, its success may almost be predicted at this early period,

The young man Smith, who was killed at Wellington in the effray with a number of Chinamen, had previously been employed by Mr Splait, of Halcombs, where be had charge some months ago of a rac-horse, from which he was thrown and sustained injuries that necessitated hie being confined in tha Wanganui Hospital for a considerable time. A short time ago, however, he was well enough to come home, and had intended returning to Halcombe the evening following that of the dreadful occurrence, to reaumehia duties there. He and his mother had bean to his sister’s at Alioetown to spend the evening, and whilst there several mates had called and asked him to go on'. They then appear to have gone in the direction of Petone and the occurrence took place on their return. Smith was the chisf support of his widowed mother and the family bad lived in Alioetown for many years.

At the Police Court, yesterday morning, before Mr Booth, William Ratcliffe was charged with being drunk and disorderly. After hearing the evidence of the arresting constable, the prisoner, in reply to His Worship, said: I was just leaving the hotel on Saturday night on my way home, when I was arrested, and have been kept in close confinement until this morning. I do not intend to drink any more, and God helping me I will never enter an hotel again. Mr Booth : You anpear to be still suffering from the effects of drink, and you are not now in your right senses. You wilt be imprisoned for four days. By that time yon will have recovered, The prisoner: Could you not make the sentence wiih the option of a fine ?— I can get as much quietness in my own house as I could elsewhere. . Mr Booth said that the same promise had been made before. He would also sign a prohibition order lor twelve months. The prisoner was then removed. James Priest appeared on bail to answer a similar charge. The prisoner was fined the amount of bis deposit, 20s. Electricity not having been eminently successful as an agent for carrying out the extreme decrees of the law, the use is now suggested of the lethal chamber, devised by Dr Richardson,— a humane method of killing animals, and which is now in use at the Dogs' Home. ■ The chamber is filled with carbonic oxide, a gas which replaces the atmospheric air necessary to sustain life, and is a deadly poison as well. It appears to produce no distress, the animals killed by it speedily becoming unconscious, and the unconsciousness, in the course of a few seconds, passing into death. As carried out at the Dogs’ Home, the condemned animals are placed in a oage on a wheeled platform, which runs down rails on a gentle incline to the chamber, and opens by its momentum doors which are closed behind it by springs. When the cage is drawn hack the dogs are found to have died without a struggle, and to be in attitudes resembling those of sleep. It is stated that there would be no .practical difficult, in applying a similar method in thq oase of criminals, and it would certainly do away with the risks of failure from breakage of ropes, and other causes.

Mr John Laidler, a Newcastle workman, on returning a ticket which had been sent to him to attend the presentation of the freedom of Newcastle to Mr Stanley, gives the following reasons for so doing :—Mr Stanley has proved by his own writings and speeches that he wishes to be the annexor and subjector of native African races. His explorations have resembled more the marches of a brigand chief than the peaceful marches of his predecessors, and have carried with them slavery, misery, degradation, and death. If we look to the Emin Pagha expedition we find Mr Stanley in alliance with the slave trader Tippoo Tib and the Manyenes. He writes ” The abundance found by us will never be found again, for the Arabs have followed ’my track by hundreds, and destroyed villages and plantations, apd what the Arabs spared the elephant herds oomplpted.” Mr Stanley'has first broken the spirit of the natives with the deadly fire of his breechloaders, and they have fallen an easy prey to the Arabs, who have followed closely on his heels. Finally, if his ultimate aim is successful, what do we see but an extension of shoddy commercialism, including the improvement of the savages off the face of the earth, the MartiniHenry, Gatling guns, and whisky bottle, and the wont diseases that (our civilisation bleeds