LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hastings Standard, Issue 66, 13 July 1896, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Captain Russell arrived in Hastings by the express on Saturday night. He returns to Wellington to-morrow. The jockey Wooley, who received a nasty fall last week whilst exercising The Plug, has, we are glad to announce, almost completely recovered from its effects and is walking about town. He goes to Wellington this week. A horse and trap driven by a Maori boy came to grief down the Karamu road this morning. The horse took it into its head to have a bolt, and bolted accordingly. Coming to a four-feet gate the animal negotiated it safely, but the trap was not so successful, and the forepart got considerably damaged. The boy was thrown out, but escaped uninjured. On next Wednesday afternoon the Columbia Skating Rink opens in the Princess Theatre under the management of Mr J. C. Lyon. In latitudes like ours, where the exhilarating pleasures of iceskating are unknown or exist only as a memory, the roller-skates come as a boon and a blessing, and, under the efficient management of Mr Lyon, the Princess Theatre will be the centre of attraction for the skating season. The tenders for the erection of a residence for Mr Patterson on the Maori land opposite the racecourse were opened today by the architect, Mr R. J. Roberts, and Mr J. Garnett's tender for ,£B3B was accepted. The other tenders were S. T. Tong £B7O, and R. Sowersby £lOBl 7s. Mr Roberts wishes to correct a report which has been circulated that the acceptance of Mr Garnett's tender had been pre-arranged. The tenders were considered merely oil their merits, uninfluenced by fear, favor, or affection, and the lowest got the work. A well known Sandon resident is being " enquired after." Embezzlement. According to last returns there are 2,765,407 sheep in the BLawke's Bay district. Mr P. A. Herman, late of Hastings, assumed possession of the Club Hotel, Palmerston North, on Friday last. A jockey named "W. Ashdown had his collarbone broken by a fall from Lord Raven in Gisborne last week. A Greymouth paper congratulates Mr Guinness on his promotion to the AttorneyGeneralship. Is the writer not a little previous'? The Premier says New Zealand lias the cheapest telephone service in the world, and further concessions as to rates cannot be made. The population of the four chief cities of the colony, including suburbs, is as follows :—Auckland, 57,616 ; Wellington, 41,758; Christchurch, 51,330; Dunedin, 47,280. The Wanganui Freezing Works put through 120,000 sheep and lambs during the last season, and it is now making provision for freezing another 1000 sheep per diem. The New Zealand Times appeared on Saturday as the largest morning paper ever issued in the colony. It was certainly a very creditable production, and the enterprising management deserve well of the public. The sale is reported of Mr W. Douglas' large training stables and five acres of ground at Hastings to Mr T. Quinlivan, serur., for the sum of £BSO. Mr W. Douglas has removed his team of horses to the smaller stables alongside.

Lambing has started in Otago. ] We acknowledge receipt of a batch of, Parliamentary papers. Pollard's Opera Company did big business in Woodville and Pahiatua. Heavy falls of snow are reported from the West Coast. G. H. Vickers and Co. hold a sale of household property at Kaikora on Wednesday next. There are 681 lunatics in the asylums of the colony. The number out of the asylums is not given. The Napier and Waipawa football teams meet on the latter's ground on Wednesday next. The bore at the Taranaki petroleum works is now down 1700 ft and has not yet struck oil. British Columbiaimported s7o,oooworth of oats last year and $40,000 worth of wheat and flour. An argument in favor of subsiding the Vancouver mail service. The strongest Working Men's Club in the colony is at Napier. It can boast of 850 members, as against 830 in a similar institution in Wellington. A laborer named McLauchlin, who had been employed poisoning rabbits on the Blairlogie station, near Mastertoil, was found dead on the road three miles from the homestead on Thursday last. Some splendid samples of St. Michael oranges are at present on view in Mr Guthrie's window. The fruit has been grown on Mr Guthrie's property at Havelock, and is a credit to his nurseries. According to the official returns of the Advances to Settlers Office, up to the 31st March last 37 applications for advances were made from Hawke's Bay, the total sum granted being £11,245. The sculling match between Stansbury and Harding for the championship of the world takes place on the Thames to-day. According to a London writer the colonial will be a wonder if he can win, and adds, " The man who licks ' Wag ' Harding will have to be a better sculler than has ever rowed on the Thames in his time." The Native Land Court was occupied this morning in a survey lien. G. Walker's claim was opposed by Mr J. M. Fraser on behalf of Brougliton and others on the block. The case was adjourned until 10.30 a.m. to-morrow. The court is now busy with claims to succession interests' of Horiana Tai Tulia in Omahu and other valuable properties. The former occupations of male patients in the lunatic asylums are interesting to note. No fewer than 117 laborers are incarcerated, 33 farmers, 21 gum-diggers, 20 miners, 20 carpenters, and 8 seamen. Gardeners, clerks, bootmakers, and commercial travellers furnish six each. Compositors, farm-hands, medical men, and shopkeepers number five each ; and fours are contributed by soldiers, cooks, hawkers, and rabbiters. There are three blacksmiths and the same number of engineers and schoolboys. Of cabmen, cabinet - makers, chemists, dairymen, fishermen, hairdressers, watchmakers, schoolmasters, tailors and wool sorters there are two in each trade. Singles comes from a policeman and publican, army officer, artist,barman, baker, groom, horse-breaker, miller, solicitor, and a telegraphist. The only professions that don't contribute to the members in the insane asylums seem to be clergymen and editors. Why is this thus ? It took the united efforts of the San Francisco Press to remove the Rev. I)r Brown from his pulpit in that city, the executive of his congregation feeling disposed to cover up his delinquencies. Yet this was the catalogue of them ; " Adultery, perjury, subornation of perjury, bribery of witnesses, intimidation of women, and harboring under the same roof as his wife a notoriously unchaste woman who was in love with him." Though the charges were proved up to the hilt there are clergymen who are even now willing to allow him to occupy their pulpits and he has received messages of sympathy from his brethren in Iowa! Whereat the News Letter remarks caustically : "It is time to say that, unless the churches shall rediscover the Ten Commandants, men and women who desire to be of clean repute will sedulously avoid the sanctuary." A scene of an unusual nature occurred in the New Plymouth Court during last week between two women who had a case before the Magistrate. The plaintiff made a statement which did not coincide with the defendant's idea of the fitness of things. The latter stepped forward caught the plaintiff [by the shoulders, and dared her to " look me straight in the face, and repeat such a story." The plaintiff looked, but the sight of the other lady's ominous countenance in such close proximity was too much for her risible faculties and she laughed consumedly. In no wise mollified the indignant defendant retired to her seat, only to break out again, and this time she addressed her opponent in the following terms : —" I did think that you, as a good Catholic, would not tell such lies. God help you when you go to the priest next time." Rev. Mr Griffen, speaking in the Pahiatua Methodist Church on the subject of " Morality in Pahiatua," indulged in some very straight hitting. Among his hardest hits were the following : "Pahiatua is often spoken of as the home of all the evil gods it was possible to cram into so small a space." "In his opinion Pahiatua should be associated with Sodom and Gomorrah." "If 50 righteous men were required to save Pahiatua from destruction in his opinion they could not be found in the time." The reverend gentleman intends to continue the speaking on the same subject for the next two Sunday evenings. Whatever may be said as to the truth or otherwise of his remarks he certainly has the courage of his convictions. Stop that Cough by taking Neil's Balm of Gilead, a positive cure for coughs, colds, chronic bronchitis, influenza, &c. In large bottles at 2s 6d, at Neil's Botanic Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt. Neil's Celebrated Liver Tonic, 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. Neil's Compound Sarsapaeilla. 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 storekeepers.—Advt. Neil's Corn Cure removes either hard or soft Corns. A few applications only necessary. Is per bottle at Neil's Dispensary, Emerson street, Napier, and all leading storekeepers.—Advt It's a fact, says a well-known Christchurch divine the other day, to a friend, that Cough Mixture, called Woods' Great Peppermint Cure, is the very best thing for throat Irritation and Cough I have ever taken ; I notice all the Grocers and Chemists keep it—a never failing remedy. Wholesale Agents, N.Z. Drug Co.—Adtt.