LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hastings Standard, Volume III, Issue 866, 9 March 1899, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Park, Government Veterinarian, was in Hastings to-day. Mr John Drummond, Inspector of Stock for Wellington, is at present in Hastings. A charge of cruelty preferred against a Hastings resident by his wife is to be investigated in the Magistrate's Court tomorrow.

The travelling allowances and expenses of Dr Macgregor, Inspector of Hospitals and Asylums, since 1896, have amounted to £'3318 7s lid.

From 1877 to 1897, a sum of-£8,125,140 was expended for defence purposes in New Zealand. What have we to show for it ? Mr -J. Garnett, of Hastings, is the successful tenderer for the erection of the Commercial Hotel, at Woodville, for Mr E. Newbigin. The twelve first prize onions at the Hastings Show, on Wednesday, turned the scale at 231b5., and the second prize exhibit, at 181bs. The former were grown by Mr Nettlingham. The bleeding taxpayers of this colony have had to pay over .£6OOO during the last three years in travelling expenses to Ministers of the Crown. We need not talk of a " breeches pocket policy " after this.

To illustrate the competition in cut flowers (general collections) at the Hastings show, we may mention that it took the judges three-quarters of an hour to decide which 1 of the competitors were to take first and second place. The Press Association sends us, to-day, some information regarding mortgages registered. This is rather late in the day. We have had a return in our possession for tweny-four hours giving all the information.

A .young man who was charged in Hastings this morning with being drunk, expressed his sorrow for overstepping the bounds of moderation. Mr A. L. D. Fraser, J.P., convicted and discharged him. Au elderly man was similary treated.

Mr Sullivan informs us that his firm are now landing, ex "LadyMable" and " Lady St. Aubyn," from Newcastle, best selected household and steaming coals, which can be purchased, ex truck, in Hastings, at satisfactory prices. * A field trial of Massey-Harris implements will be held on Thursday next in Mr R. M'Gaffin's paddock, Railway Road, Hastings. The trial will be commenced at 10 a.m., and will continue till 4 p.m. All interested are invited to attend.

The Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club's committee have decided to recommend Brownlee, Martiu, and M'Cormack for the Australasian championship meeting. W. V. Kingston would also have been recommended but he desired not to be, j owing to the association representative's report-on the recent meeting; £lO was voted towarfla the expenses of the team. At a meeting of the Auckland Benevolent Trustees, it was reported that 27 inmates who had received the old age pension, had left the institution. With reference to outdoor relief, there were 80 eases, comprising 60 men and 44 women, whose allowance had been stopped in consequence of pensions. This represented about <£looo a year. The payment from those receiving a pension would amount to about £4OO a year. The whole returns from the country districts are not in yet. James Strickett> laborer, and James Taggert, an old gumdigger, known over the gutnfields as " Jimmy the Devil,'' had an altercation on the verandah of the Heilensville Hotel. Strickett, who, it is alleged, had bee* drinking, challenged the old man to fight. In the course of the scuffle. Taggert was knocked down with great force, and internally injured by falling over a stool. Taggert's depositions being taken, he was sent to the Auckland Hospital. Strickett, when apprehended, made a desperate attempt to leap over the bridge across the Awaroa Creek, but Constable Kelly, with the assistance of the landlord of the hotel, overpowered him. He has been remanded for a week. Eccles' Hair Restoeer stops the hair from coming out, and restores it to its natural color. 2/6 per bottle, from As Eccles, Chemist, Napier aud Hastia s,— j Wvt,

( The Salvation Army harvest festival I opens in Hastings this evening.

Fifteen holders of the New Zealand Cross are at present in receipt of pensions.

Succession cases were dealt with at the sitting of the Native Land Court iu Hastings yesterday.

Vocal and instrumental items will be rendered at the horticultural show iu Hastings this evening. The Naval and Military Land-Claims Commission cost the Colony £1,092 us Bd. Tlje Commissioner drew £742.

A young man, well known in Wanganui, attempted suicide the other morning by taking a dose of diluted matches. The stomach-pump beat the undertaker.

During the year ending 30th June last, 4816 bushels of wheat and 39,909 bushels of barley were imported to New Zealand from the United States.

The average yearly rainfall at Napier for twenty-one years prior to 1897 was 87-270 inches. The highest record was in 1893, when it was 57 - 730 inches. A number of exhibitors at the Hastings horticurtural show have very generously donated their exhibits to the Society. These will be sold by auction at the conclusion of the show to-day.

The difficulty experienced with a certain Hawke's Bay settler, who refased to allow the Inspector of the Rabbit Board to inspect his property, has been satisfactorily arranged. At the meeting of the Hawke's Bay Rabbit Beard in Hastings to day, Mr T. Crosse recommended that pollard poison should be used by settlers all the year round.

Afr the meeting of the Rabbit Board in Hastings to-day it was reported that a great number of rabbits are located at the back of the Te Ohu block, both on Government and private lands. Several parents whose olive branches were kept from school to rock the baby, or for various other reasons, were before the Court in Hastings to-day, but the cases, were either dismissed or adjourned.

According to a return recently published the amount of mortgages registered in Hawke's Bay during the twelve months ending March 31st last was £634,842. Of this sum £'2oo was lent at 20 per cent., £5,999 at 10 per cent., £50,396 at 6 per cent., £139,707 at five per cent., and £154,555 at per cent.

On a motion to recall Mr Brigam, secretary to the Auckland Harbor Board, on Tuesday, the finance and legal committee reported the consideration of Mr Brigam's last communication from London regarding the progress of negotiations with the Admiralty 011 the question of the Calliope dock, and recommended, " That the Board be requested to ask the Treasury if they will guarantee the amount required by this Board for the equipment of the Calliope dock, as the Board cannot obtain the money under 4 per cent, and failing that Mr Brigam be asked to return." The following cable from Mr Brigam, received on Monday, was also read : " Impossible to hurry; I await reply from the Admiralty." The recommendation was rejected. The chairman said if the motion had be carried he would have instructed Mr Brigam to leave all papers with the Agent-General. At the Wesleyan Conference in Christchurch the Bev. Dr Morley moved that a recommendation be made to the minis* terial session to confirm the appointment of the Bev. C. H. Garland as secretary of the centenary commemoration fund. The Bev. Mr Bull moved an amendment that Mr Garland be appointed to a circuit with an assistant probationer. The amendment was lost by 76 to 27 votes. The executive committee of the fund was located in Christchurch, an amendment in favour of Wellington being lost by a large majority. The report of the committee appointed to deal with the are insurance scheme was presented. The committee reported having received guarantees amounting to £10,460, and promisese amounting to £BOO. This with £2OOO guaranteed by the loan fund committee gives a total of £18,600. It is proposed to locate a committee to manage the fund in Christchurch. The report was discussed in committee, and the two clauses as to the rules and regulations referred back to the committee to bring up a final report as soon as possible. ADVERTISING MEMOS. Overcoat cape advertised as lost. Williams and Kettle advertise sale of thoroughbreds for Saturday, March 18th. Gentleman's umbrella advertised as found. \V. G. Benson, baker, contradicts a rumour regarding the price of breadFor Stomach Complaint and Biliousness De Wint on's Pills never fail. Price 1/6. E jcles' Corn Paint has no equal for the speedy, permanent, and painless cure of bird or soft corns ; usually cured after a few applications, In bottles, 1/, from A Eccl-is Chemist, Hastings and Napier,