LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hastings Standard, Issue 21, 20 May 1896, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In tlic Native Appellate Court to-day evidence is being adduced in support of tho appeal against judgment in the Olnahaki case. The monthly meeting of the Rabbit Board will be held in the Council Chambers to-merrow morning. The Premier, will address a political meeting in the Princess Theatre, Hastings, on Friday evening next. Mr E. M. Smith, M.H.R., is to leave London on the return journey to New Zealand next Wednesday. At the New Plymouth Police Court oil Monday last, a blacksmith, of Inglewood, was fined XI and costs for raffling a racehorse. In 1885 the number of sentenced " drunks" in New Zealand was 1,200, whereas the annual number has now fallen to less than 600, a decrease of 50 per cent in ten years. A serious buggy accident, the result of travelling without lights, is reported from Carterton. On Sunday two traps came into collision, and the occupants of both conveyances were thrown out, some of them being severely bruised and shaken, but fortunately not seriously hurt. Some little sensation was created at the Ashby de la Zouclie Station of the Midland recently by the arrival of a passenger train from Burton on Trent without its driver, and a confession of the fireman that he did not know when or where his " mate," a Londoner named Lucas, had disappeared. The mystery was explained the next morning by the discovery that the driver had been blown off the engine by the gale while examining a defect in the smoke box. He had sustained no injury but a wound on the head and a shaking, and had walked home after reporting the accident. The incident and the narrow escape are regarded as the most remarkable in the history of the line. In an article upon the question of corporal punishment in schools, the Feilding Star remarks Who ever hoars of Sunday School teachers arming themselves with a strap or .cane while carrying on their noble and gratuituous work among children'? Surely if they can control and govern the various tempers and dispositions of those who attend such schools by firmness and kindness, the masters and teachers in the State Schools can do the same. We think, therefore, that the practice of corporal punishment in schools should be abandoned at once with a good grace. The parents of children are, in the various centres of the colony, beginning to resent it, and it will be well for those who favor the practice to give way now, before they are forced to do so by legislation." Quite a crowd of friends and admirers congregated at the Hastings Presbyterian Church this afternoon to witness the marriage ceremony of Mr John Collinge, son of our worthy Town Clerk, and Miss C. C. M. Collins, daughter of H, Collins, Esq., of Hastings. The bride looked charming and was attended by her two sisters. Mr E. Collinge acted as best man. On entering the church the choir sang the well-known wedding hymn, " How welcome was the call." Rev. A. S. Morrison, M.A., tied the nuptual knot. On leaving, the " Wedding March " was spiritedly played by Miss Collinge, sister to the bridegroom. Their path was strewn with flowers on the way to the carriages, and the happy couple left for the residence of the parents of the bride amidst showers of rice and congratulations.

A young girl to assist in house-work is wanted. See advertisement. The G rev town Standard, which was recently purchased by Messrs J. and G. Nicol (brothers of Mr F. Nicol, till recently connected with the local Telegraph Office) has been greatly improved under the new management. AYe wish the enterprising young proprietors every success. A southern paper says that Mr John Spratt, of Mataura Island, has threshed a crop of oats which yielded an average of 90 bushels to the acre. From one paddock a yield of 100 bushels per acre was obtained. " Cancer is carrying off all the women, and drink all the men," says Dr Youl, the Melbourne coroner; " soon the country will be depopulated." P. A. Herman and Co. sell by auction at 11 a.m. on Saturday a quantity of goods saved from the recent lire, and at 2.00 p.m. hold a large sale of furniture, &c., at their rooms.

We again remind our readers of the tea and concert in connection with the Star of Hope Lodge, which takes place in St. Matthew's Hall this "evening. Arrangements are complete for a big gathering. Cattle are dying in hundreds daily in the Townsville district, Queensland, from the tick plague, with the prospect of scarcely a beast being saved. An Ingham telegram states that the disease is spreading in a southerly direction. A bricklayer named Charles Hook was drowned off the Government launch Ellon Eallance in Wellington harbor yesterday. A plucky attempt was made to save him by Torpedo-man Gauntlet, who jumped overboard in his heavy uniform and narrowly escaped a watery gave liimse'f. According to the Featherston correspondent of the Greytown Standard a resident of Featherston was caught redhanded at sheep-stealing, and the owner of the sixeep has given him a month in which to leave the district.

T!io Fans! Family gave their concluding performance in tlio Princess Theatre last evening. Tlio attendance was very fair, and the audience were enthusiastic over many of the items of a good programme by the clever company.

Messrs Hannah and Co., the well-known boot manufacturers and importers, are today removing from their corner shop to the premises lately occupied by H. Williams and Sons. The new 7 shop is commodious and attractive. It is a fact variously commented on and for the most part not favourably, states tlio West Australian, that there is not, at the present time a single dividend mine in the proximity of Coolgardie. Dividends paid out of the profit made from gold mining have only been recorded from two mines—Bayley's Howard, £130,600; and Mount Burgess, «£2,637. No fewer than 29 cases of breaches of borough bye-laws are down for hearing at the S.M. Court to-morrow morning. It is understood that amongst the charges of driving without lights is one against Frederick Gibbs, who was in charge of the spring cart that caused the serious injury to the lad Peter Jarris. The Melbourne Argus of May 2nd, states " A small business has been done in Victoria hops. The Tasmanian crop has nearly all been sold in Sydney, Adelaide, and I'erth. The New Zealand crop is reported to be only sufficient for local requirements, and prices there are reported to be higher than for several years past." At a meeting of the Citizen's Institute in Wellington on Monday evening, Mr A. E. Atkinson in a paper on " Bible-reading in Schools" denounced the Irish National Scripture Text-book as a barborous anachronism, and said it was out of the question that the public of New Zealand would ever accept such a book.

The authorities, says the Lvttelton Times, having reason to believe that a Cliristchurcli lady used intimidating threats in connection with the late byelection for the city, the police have taken the matter in hand, and the sworn statements in connection with the case have now been forwarded to the head of the police in Wellington.

The Chinese are up to date. 011 the women question. The Fooehow Conference voted unanimously for the admission of women to the General Conference, and backed np this vote by another electing Miss Lydia A. Trimble lay delegate. Miss Trimble went to China in 1889 under the auspices of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, and is a teacher in the woman's school at Hok Chiang.

Attention is directed to the change of advertisement of Mr Bam Ilidgway, the popular draper, of Heretaiuiga Road. Mr Ridgway is alive to the wants of the district, and has laid in a large stock of winter clothing. Seasonable garments in the shape of oilskins and mackintoshes are on view, and a good stock of general drapery makes a first-class display. Amongst his specialties is tailoring, in which every satisfaction is guaranteed. With the motto " Small profits and quick returns," and with his genial business propensities, Mr Ridgway deserves the support of the public. Included in his varied stock is a splendid selection of carriage rugs, imported direct from Home. ,

The farmers in the Waikato district have promised to give the beet-growing and sugar making industry a fair trial, and will put 3000 acres under cultivation shortly in areas of a quarter of an acre upwards. Mr N. Lewenberg is notV in America negotiating for the supply of seed and the construction of the necessary machinery. He is of opinion, from his observations made in the Colony, that some special features will require to be introduced, but whatever may be considered necessary will be accomplished, and he states that the plant, when constructed, will embody all the latest improvements known to scientific men in Europe,

Much consternation was caused last winter, amongst the medical men in Wellington, by the introduction of Woods' Great Peppermint Cure for Coughs and Colds ; that a ■ very bad cough could be cured by a 1/6 bottle, and a whole family, with a 2/6 bottle, was a serious loss to them. It is sold by ail Grocers and Chemists.—Advt. Stop that Cough by taking Neil's Balm of Gilead, a positive cure for c-oughs, colds, chronic bronchitis, influenza, <fec. In large bottles at 2s 6d, at Neil's Botanic Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt. Neil's Celebrated Liver Toxic, a pure botanic remedy for all affections of the liver, biliousness, jaundice, yellowness of the skin, indigestion, &c. In bottles, 2s and 2s 6d, at Neil's Botanic Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt.

Ntii/s Compound Sarsapapjlla. A household medicine for purifying the blood and toning up the system. In large bottles at 2s 6d at Neil's Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeeper.—Advt .