LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hastings Standard, Issue 9, 6 May 1896, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In the Native Appellate Court to-day no business of interest has been transacted.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Borough Council takes place to-morrow evening.

Several cases of pilfering have been reported of late, clothes-lines coming in for a deal of attention. Housewives, beware !

The two men, Mitchell and Power, arrested for assault on "William I'rue, will come before Mr Turnbull, S.M., tomorrow morning.

"We remind our readers of the grand ball to bo held in the Theatre to-morrow evening in aid of St. Matthew's Church Uenevolent Fund. Great preparations have been mad.;, and everything points to a successful evening's amusement. The local Brigade rolled up in full force last night when the steam tire engine was taken to one of the sewers in the main street opposite the Rank of New Zealand, for the purpose of testing the locally-made couplings for the new German hose. The full force of water was turned on, and the couplings were found to be quite sound. After an hour's work the Brigade was dismissed.

Another runaway took place in the main street yesterday afternoon, when an empty carriage drawn by a rather Hash horse en me tearing alctng from the direction of the Stortford Lodge Hotel. When it reached Station street it suddenly turned the corner and came to a full stop on the water-table opposite Wawn's refreshment rooms. As far as we can ascertain, 110 damage was done. In St. Matthew's Ilall last evening, the Rev !•'. Chatterton delivered a very interesting lecture on '• Japan " to a large audience. The discourse was listened to very attentively throughout, and frequent rounds of applause testified to the appreciation of the rev. gentleman's addiess. A number of excellent limelight views were shown by Mr F. Nelson. Had the lecture been slightly condensed the effect of the last pictures might have been more striking, iluwever, the whole affair was full of interest.

To-night at the Hand Hall the young ladies of Hastings are giving a Leap-year ball. The room has been tastefully decorated with (lags and evergreens, and no end of pains has been taken to make the affair a huge success. A string band has been engaged, -which is a sufficient guarantee that there will be good music. Apart from the novelty of the affair, an opportunity for which will not occur again fur eight years, it is generally conceded that the gentle sex can manage' a dar.ee much better than anybody else.

Shortly before one o'clock this morning an alarm of lire was given, a two-roomed house in St. Aubuyn's Road being burnt to the ground. The place was occupied by Mr Walden, who had barely time to escape with his wife and child. The inmates were awakened by the smell of smoke, and immediately afterwards the whole house was ablaze. It is supposed to have been caused by a defective chimney. Nothing whatever was saved, and the occupants were fortunate in getting out as they did. The building was insured for in the North German office, and the furniture and effects for .£BS in the same office.

Our Napier correspondent writes: —At 7.15 last night the tire-hells rang out an alarm, and, as there were a good number of people about, the streets leading in the direction of the supposed blaze were quickly thronged. The alarm was a false one, however. Clothes were being washed in the rear of Mr Higgins's premises, White road, and some youths, seeing the flames from the lire underneath the copper, raised the alarm. At 4 o'clock this mornin" the firebells were again in action. Before the brigade could arrive, the threeroomed cottage in which Mr Morrow, painter, of Thackeray street, dwelt was burnt to a shell. -Mr Morrow and his wife and infant child just escaped, saving nothing but their lives."

Writing of the dinner tendered to Sir Westby Perceval, on vacating his office as Sew Zealand's Agent-General, a London correspondent says : —" Sir Westby Perceval was happy in manner and apropos in matter. He's a thoroughly good all-round man, this young New Zealander, and I agree with Lord Ivnutsford that if he reenters colonial politics he should leave a large footprint on the sands of time. But will he mix himself up with the quaint clique now ruling New Zealand'? Mr Seddon, I know, offered him the Colonial Secretary's portfolio, and he refused it. At present, however, Sir Westby doesn't mean returning to the colony. Next year, should things go well with the Ministry, we may hear another story."

There have been many rnmonrs of late about the Pope's health, but, according to to Mr F. Marion Crawford, who contributes an exceedingly interesting article on Leo XIII. and his household to the February " Century," it is excellent, and His Holiness leads a life full of occupation from morning till night. He has in

no respect changed his habits since he was a cardinal. He rises very early, often before six o'clock. He is accustomed to sleep little —not more than four or five hours at night, though he rests a while after dinner. Sometimes he has been found asleep in his chair by the writing table at dawn, not having been to bed at all. As in sleep, so in food. The Pope is most abstemious; indeed, his private physician has been heard to say that he himself eats more at one meal than the Holv Father eats in a week !

An extraordinary sequel to a mysterious " death '' of a man who was recently found with his throat cut on the top of a haystack at Ribchesteer transpired at Blackburn, Lancashire. The man was identified and buried by Mrs Walmsley, of Blackburn as her husband, from whom she had been separated 18 years. The insurance money at his death was paid, and the family of sixjwent into mourning. A day or two afterwards Walmsley, who is a licensed hawker tramping the country, seeing the newspaper report of his supposed suicide, returned home to Blackburn and walked into the house, where his wife and several daughters were at breakfast. An extraordinary scene followed, the supposed widow at once recognising him, and in a minute the whole family were round crying joyfully and congratulating liim. It appears that mistaken identity arose through the dead man also holding a hawker's license in the name of William Walmsley- t

The Brunner fund in Wellington now amounts to £2,483. At Cliristchurch the fund amounts to £4770. It is stated by a Dunedin resident that a new process of condensing milk has been discovered, by which it will be possible to make a substantial profit after paying 4d per gallon for the milk. On the Enfield (North Otago) settlement, a crop of velvet wheat yielded 53 bushels to the acre, and one of Danish oats 65 bushels. The N.O. Times says the only thing the settlers complain of is the high rent. A Reefton paper reports that a fire occurred at Stevenson's Hotel in a bedroom occupied by Mr R. H. J. Reeves, M.L.C., a gust of wind blowing the curtains into contact with the lighted candle. Sir Reeves managed to extinguish the flames, but burnt his hands, one of them seriously. The shecpfarmers in this district, says the Feilding Star, have been singularly fortunate in getting last season's wool clip Home in time to catch the top of the market. Although there is now an apparent decline of 5 per cent it can have no appreciable effect as regards New Zealand. The act of bravery of a Queenstown youth named W. Mehaffey, .in saving a man named Fred. Hunter from drowning, is to be brought under the notice of the authorities. A local paper reports that two drunken men pushed Hunter into the water, and made fun of the fact that he was nearly drowned.

A Victorian mine-manager who recently visited the Coolgardie field says, " I think it (the field) is the biggest swindle the world ever heard of." The Bendigo Independent says : " The total gold-yield of Western Australia for the month of March was not sufficient to pay for drinking-water for the goldfield's population." In response to requisitions, the Premier will deliver an address at Otaki on Thursday night, and at Paraparamu on Saturday night. He has also been requested to speak at Johnsonville and Waipukurau, the dates for which meetings have not yet been fixed. The Nelson Colonist is informed by a Nelson fruit-grower that ho estimates that 150,000 eases of fruit have been shipped from Nelson this season, and notwithstanding the duty now charged on imported fruit the local grower received less on the whole than last year. The London Daily News states that the women of New Zealand " combine an aptitude for public business with an unflagging attention to domestic matters ; " that "the men are grateful for their cooperation." The assurance that "no symptons of mannisliness have yet broken out in New Zealand " is, however, distinctly comforting.

The Minister of Lands in New South Wales said in a recent speech that dummying had been a disgrace to that colony, and was ruining the national life. He had made one Western pastoralist disgorge improperly-acquired land, and ho warned those who were trying to get behind the land laws that the fullest power of the Government would be used to bring them to task.

A distressing occurrence took place at Giumedah, when the members of the family of Mr Thomas Hay, an employee of Mr Arthur .Tasmain, coaclibuilder, were seized with severe vomiting fits, caused by eating preserved pork, and resulting in the deatli -of a son aged '.) years and a daughter aged 13 years. The father and one child are still seriously ill. Mr Iu Crabb, the New Zealand lecturer for the Grand Lodge, 1.0. G.T., has resigned his appointment, which has been offered to and accepted by Mr Thomas Walker, of Sydney. Mr Walk er was a member of the last Legislative Assembly in Now South Wales, and is spoken of as being without exception the most eloquent speaker in that colony. The Wairarapa Star says:—Mr W. Gillespie, of the Masterton Post and Telegraph Office, made rather an important discovery the other day. He found that by manipulating the telegraph wires in a certain manner and connecting them with the telephone he could procure telephonic communication with any part of the colony. Accordingly lie conversed with operators at both Wellington and Napier. Says the Farmer: —The grass caterpillar and the grass bug are competing keenly for the honour of being the most destructive to the grass in various parts of the district down this coast. From Shannon to Te Horo complaints are being made, and from observations it appears that the caterpillar pest is at its worst where the bush has been newly burned. The beetle is also very prevalent, and between one and another many of the settlers are very anxious about their stock. The Natives held a meeting a few days ago at Waitora, for the purpose of selecting a candidate for the next election, reports the Chronical. Four names were put forward for selection—Major Kemp, Wi Ngapulii, Ngaranga Kaititia, and the present member Eopata te Ao. After considerable discussion it was decided that the four should go to the poll, the Wanganui Natives declaring in fav our of Major Kemp, the Waitotara Natives for the two new candidates, and the Otaki people for the old member. At Timaru the other day an important ruling was given by the stipendary magistrate in three eases under the School Attendance Act, to the effect that where the defendants did not appear to admit the charge it was necessary for the truant officer to produce the school registers in evidence of the neglect of the parents to send children to school. The truant officer pointed out that clause 11 throws the onus of disproving an information or complaint upon the parent or guardian. His Worship, however, held that the charge must be proved. So far as he could see at present it would not be necessary to call the teachers as witnesses ; the production of the registers would be sufficient.

No public man (says the Post) ever managed to efface himself' so completely as did A. W. Brown, ex-Mayor of Wellington, wlien he took flight from these parts some five years ago. From the time of his departure from Sydney he seems to have completely blotted out all traces of his movements. Now, however a resident of Fielding has received what appears to be definite news of him in a letter from a Mr Tresseder. a native of New Zealand, now engaged in journalistic work in the city of New Orleans, U.S.A. "Writing on 15th March Mr Tresseder says : —" I was in a house the other night, and in the room were five New Zealanders (born), and you can bet we had quite a time. Three of us were born within eight miles of each other down in Dunedin. and the other two in Wellington. One of them was Brown, who was at one time Mayor of Wellington and in the grocery business. He is doing very well here."

The New Woman, the new fashion, the latest erase, have "wfine particular virtues to commend them : '.j it is with the new cough mixttr VVoodV Great Peppermint Cure —insiai>: •• relief for man, woman, or clul* <5. u-aiure of this unfailing remedy. 'Ah viroeers, and Chemists keep it. i* reasonable, 1/6 and 2/6.—Aim,