LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 606, 12 May 1891, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Some Government journals urge that the dismissal of Mr Kenny, RM. at Westport, is ;ery harsh because he gave up a good practice in Gisborne to accept the appointment. Judging by the number of lawyers in Gisborne we do not think that Me Kenny has anything to complain of in being allowed to quit the profession for a time to take rank in tho service of his “ bleeding country.” But it has ever been thus. If a man gets a billet in the public service, he forthwith concludes that it must be a life appointment. At Napier a drover got saddled with £lB 13s 61, besides his own expenses, fordriving sheep through another man’s run without giving tho notice stipulated by the Act. Mr Kiely, the retrenched Police Inspector, has a nice farm on the West Coast, and intends to settle down as a sheepfarmer. The meaning of this is that instead of Inspector Kiely drawing public pay when his services can be done without, he will to an extent become a producer, and add to the wealth of the country. Now, what have you been howling at, P.B. Herald ? It is tha usual thing when an ordinary person is aocussd o£ nepotism unjustly to apologise for such a statement, but we notice that the Post unblushinglyoontradiots its own statement that the head of the Stock Department is a connection or is about to become one of the Minister who appointed him. Where is the howl of rage uttered a few days ago by that veracious journal ?—Manawatu Standard,

The Napier Telegraph says Forty- five days after tho proclamation appears in ths Gazette, between seventy and eighty thousand acres of land in the Poverty Buy district will be thrown open by the Hawke’s Bay Land Board for public selection under the alternative system. A contemporary pays the late Dr Magoo the doubtful compliment of saying that ha was one of England’s brightest ornaments. There arc too many ecclesiastical ornaments ’in England, but Dr Magee was something solid, . The ordinary monthly meeting of the Hospital Trustees will be held on Wednesday evening, at 7.30, at the Hospital, The ordinary monthly meeting of the Charitable Aid Board will bs held on Thursday at 3 p.m., at the County office. An Ashburton telegram of Friday slates : — A girl aged 14 and a boy aged 11, who were charged yesterday technically with stealing turnips, were shown to have lived without their mother on the father's 20-acre section near Methven. The father was constantly absent, and the children were entirely neg? lected and almost wild, The ease created a scene io Court. They were committed to the Burnham Industrial School till they attain the age of 15, the father paying five shillings weekly for each.

The statement of the Harbor Board’s position in regard to the defalcations has been sent to n loading Wellington solicitor, for bls opinion. Nearly every paper in the colony has dealt with the subject, there being strong condemnation of the Audit Department, Tho Napier News has an article, in which it alludes to the vindication of the late John Baldwin. Journalistic amenities go a considerable length in some places: A Wairarapa journalist must have had a bad headache when he penned the following lines concerning a contemporary:—"lt has reached the grovelling condition of a sycophant that licks the feet of its masters and draws sustenance from a diseased diet. We pity Buch a journal. It has no freedom ; it is a slave. It has no soul; no spirit; it is dead, an inanimate, squeaking forth the utterances of its masters, after the manner of Edison’s phonograph. Such a journal, living on misropresenta'ion, and distributing the venom that is peculiar to tile crawling reptile, is a blemish on a free prase, and an insult to the intelligent reader,”

The total savings bank deposits in Prussia, January Ist, were £155,000,009. Mutual Improvement Society resumes i<s session this evening, at 7.30 ; all invited.—Ad. A son of Mr A. Graham was badly injured yesterday morning by being accidentally run over by the wheel of an empty waggon, from which he alighted while it was in motion. The Trust Commissioner yesterday granted certificates to a deed of transfer from Wiremu Kaipuke to 3, R. Cooper, of Kaiii 281, and to a deed of lease from Mere Karaka to the Bank of New South Wales, of Pouawa No. 2 F. The widow of the late John Baldwin is now in Auckland in a sad condition. We learn that she is employed at a miserable wage at. shirtmaking, and that she cannot earn sufficient to give her children the nourishment ordered by tbo doctor.

The Princess of Wales is introducing a novelty in the shape of a tea service adorned with photographs taken by herself in Scotland. The service will consist of 63 pieces, and the photographs will he printed by the manufacturer of the ware from the Princess’s own negatives. As the launch Tuna was towing the ecow Good Templar through the opening in the Turanganui bridge last evening, the scow camo into violent contact with the bridge, the report of the collision being heard a long distance off. Some slight damage was done to tho boat, and it is believed the bridge has bean damaged to soma extent,

In a paper in tha last Fortnightly Review apropos to tho Parnell sctndal, “M” (Dike of Marlborough) lays down the diction that the adulterer is indispensable to society. The Duke is an authority on tho subject, having been twice divorced. It ha bad written on cruelty to women, his utterances would alsn have bean received as those of a man of experience, for at the first divorce trial it transpired that he had twice kicked his wife during her confinement. This is a fine creature to bo permitted to fit in the House of Lords and suffered to sully the pages of a decent review with bis cynical contempt for morality.—Marton Mercury. The N.Z. Times thinks it is nothing short of rank nonsense to talk about 20,000 Boers marching out of the Transvaal to form a new Republic in Marhonaland. The total number of whites in 1899 in the Transvaal was 110,000, and of lhese only 62,000 were Boers, Mhe balance being principally British, evidently there are not 20,000 Boers capable of bearing arms. Of these of 'ha fighting age, moreover, a proportion must bo answerable to President Kruger’s authority. That a Boer expedition is getting ready in spite of tho President is likely enough, The Union S.S, Company are. making special arrangements to encourage travelling between New Zealand and Australia during the winter months, Every four weeks passengers are to bo allowed to travel at reduced rates, commencing from May 24. The fares are:—From North Island ports to Sydney, single £6, return £10; steerage, single £3. Hound tickets, via Auckland to Sydney and back via Melbourne, will bo issued at £l2. The currency ol there tickets will be two months, and although only available for outward passengers by the special boals, passengers returning may ooms back by any of the Company's steamers, and may break their journey at any port. Four thousand sheep were sent from Carterton by rail last month to Wellington for freezing purposes, This is the greatest number ever sent from there in any one month.

The Dunedin Globo relates the following : —A young lady who had been engaged to a prosperous you ng manufacturer, wasinformed a few days before the marriage was fixed that the firm was insolvent. Not a moment was to be lost. A let'er was written and posted, breaking the engagement; when within two hours it was discovered that the report was unfounded. The daughter with her parents rushed to tho post office, and no words can describe the scene—tho appeals, the tear.’, the wringing of hands, the united entreaties of the family to have tho fatal letter restored. But alas 1 all was in vain—the rule admitted no exception,

The Anglican Bishop of Tasmania states that, "The art feeling of the colony still slumbers. We are waiting for a few rich men to present pictures to the public museums, which can stimulate our native artists and give the purest of pleasures to thousands, These aims are purely Christian. Until they are taken up there is a want of breadth in our Christianity. I should like to see the Church of England take the lead in this as in all other questions.”

At Greytown a nice young man took unto himself a wifi’. Tha affair was conducted without any fuss, being arranged in the ordinary dinner hour. At night the young ooup'e were sitting beside the fire, congratulating themselves upon the secrecy of the affair, when suddenly came an awful din of kerosene tins. The startled bridegroom, Wondering who had made the affair public property, quickly dispersed the mob by liberally scattering small coin about. Then, to prevent further disturbance, the lights were put out, but suddenly gentle steps were heard on the verandah, and one after another departed when they found uo response to their rat-tat on the door. The couple could not understand it, but on going to his work next morning the bridegroom was exasperated to find that some friends had played him the joke of issuing printed invitations to all his friends throughout the district, to be present at the marriage feast, They came from far and near, some with handsome presents, and as each one found tha place in darkness, there was lamentation, mingled with wishes not conducive to tha young couple’s future happiness.