NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1574, 14 March 1887, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

A letter received from Mr. J. W. Partridge, of Glen Innes, New South Wales, mentions that in January the rainfall there registered B'22in. ; and up to the 25th of February there bad been a fall of 4in.

Tho declaration of the weights for the Taranaki races, has been postponed to the 18th inst. at the request of Mr. Evitt, the handicapper, in order that his allotments of weight may be guided by the running at the Napier meeting.

The want of rain is being seriously felt, and unless there be a fall pretty soon many a farmer on the open will find himself without winter grass ; for very soon the cold weather will prevent free growth, and then the rain will be too late to be of much service.

The total sum won by the Taranaki Rifle representatives at Christchurch was 10s. Lieut. Okey won £25 10s, and a badge for being one of the ten highest scorers for the championship ; Vol. E. Howell won £2 and cruet ; and Sergeant F. Jackson won £2.

The uew Protestant Cathedral recently finished in Nelson is understood to he the first church in the Southern Hemisphere illuminated throughout by the electric light. The lighting is pronounced thoroughly satisfactory, and the contractors have received instructions from the Primate and the Bishop of Waiapu, who were both present on the occasion of the consecration, to prepare plans and estimates for similar work in connection with the Christchurch "Cathedral, and the new cathedral now buildiug in Napier.

A party left Manaia on Saturday, sth of March, for the purpose ot ascending the mountain, which they succeeded in accomplishing on the following day, most of them reaching the top. Oue or two cried " spell ho !" after they had climbed the greater portion, but this was done not on account of their inability to go further but with the knowledge that they would not bo successlul in obtaining a good view, owing to the clouds overhanging the mountain. Those who gained the top encountered a party from the New Plymouth side.

It is not often that bagpipes interfere with acclimatisation, but such would seem to be the case if the facts of the story given b9low are correctly stated. Our readers' may have noticed that the Hawoi a Acclimatisation Society have for some time been attempting to obtain some starlings for liberation in this district. A 6on of a well known Pihama settler, lately on a visit down south, was commissioned by his father to bring up a consignment of young starlings on his return. Tho young birds were succpssfully caught, carefully fed, and throve until tho o.ro< of the young man's return home. That night a dance was given, and a Highland piper was Bectncd as musician for the occasion. A pleasant evening was spent, but next morning all tho young starlings were found to liavo died during tho night. Tho owner of the birds was at a loss to account for their death until he went to tho water butt, where an eel had been kept comfortably fattening in confinement for some weeks, when to his surprise he discovered that it also had died during tho night. Punch's picturo of the Crimean hero who fainted whon marching through the streots of London on first hearing the bagpipe?, occurred to him, and he folfc satisfied and convinced that the eel and the starlings had succumbed to the fatal music of fclio pibroch's piercing strains.

It is said that those who have suffered intensely from asthma have found almost instant relief from a single teaspoonful of warm honey. A professor of medicine has declared that honey disturbs the formation of fungoid growths, and lias, therefore, been of great use as a preventive of thrush in babies. It is also claimed that an ointment made of honey aud flour is an excellent remedy for boils. The medical authorities claim that its internal use can* not be too highly praised.

Gould and Cameron, Methven, Canterbury, reaped and stacked 4000 acres of splendid grain in three weeks and two days. Two paddocks of nearly 1000 acres are expected* to thresh 60 bushels per acre, while the remainder is expected to yield about 40 bushels.

At a meeting of the Wairarapa North County Council the other day it was found that a loan of £4255, raised by the county under the Loans to Local Bodies Act, had been shelved by the Government on a technical point after the Government had accepted it, and intimated that it was prepared to pay the money. Contracts are let on the faith of the Government endorsement, and the financial position of the county is serious. Other local bodies are reported to be in a precisely similar position. It was asserted by one councillor that the Government were short of money, and were putting the local bodies off with that as a pretext.

lii his reply to the letter sent him, with reference to delaying the train to connect with Waitara, recently, the Minister for Public Works has informed Mr. Samuel, M.H.E., " that consideration has been given to the statements made by members of the deputation, aud the Department will in all such cases endeavor to meet the reasonable requirements ot the travelliug public. He, however, hopes that when the proposed wharf accommodaiion inside the breakwater is provided the steamship companies will see their way to tun to New Plymouth and connect re»u'arlv with the trains "

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Westpoit, Mr. Moynilian, counsel for a defendant charged under the municipal by-laws with allowing cattle to be at large, raised several legal points as affecting this by-lay throughout the boroughs of the Colony. He contended that the by-law was bad because it was repugnant to the provisions of the Police Offences Act, 18S4, which was a later Act, and th 1 ? pena'ty different ; that it was inoperative ; that even under s°clion 345 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 187G, and sections 405 and 407 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1886, the by-law could not stand. The R.M. said on the first view it appeared to him that the points raised by Mr. Moynilian were fatal to the by-law, but as it was of some importaucehe would reserve judgment. f A pickpocket was tried and convicted in /the rfan Antonia District Court. Before pionouncing sentence Judge Noonan asked — " Where do you live when you are at home ?" — " In New York." Why didn't you stay there?" — " Ido stay there during the business season." " When is that ?" — " When the weather is warm " Why don't you stay there in winter?" " Because its cold there in winter, and everybody has got his hands in his pockets. None of us make expenses when it is cold. Cold weather don't interfere with your business, Judge, but it plays the mischiet with me." Judge Noonan subsequently remarked that on New Year's Day he was going to swear off from asking convicted criminals any superfluous questions. — Texas Sittings.

Complaints reach us of the failure of the railway department on Friday to cope with the traffic along the line. By the train on that day there travelled the Auckland and Taranaki representatives at the recent Eifle Association meeting, many people who had been to Wanganui races, and others ; and to carry these from Wanganui to Aramoho, there was put on but one composite carriage. At Aramoho, all hands were bundled out, and after three quarters of an hour a train was made up ; but the accommodation then was quite insufficient, many having

per force to ride on the platforms most of the way. There were many complaints of the failure of the department to provide for a little extra traffic which ought to have been foreseen and taken account of.

Detective Campbell effected an arrest the other day under somewhat amusing circumstances. He was on the look-out (says a Wellington paper) for a man named Drain, whose attendance was required in connection with the alleged larceny in Auckland iv January of a dray, valued at ,£lO, the property of Patrick Grleeson. Mr. Campbell, whilst strolling about the city, recognised liis mao from the description in his possession, driving one of Sornerville's cabs. The detective hailed the cabby, and requested the driver to drive him to the police station. The cabby quite unsuspecting, did as requested, chatting comfortably with his fare (who was on the box) en route. Arrived at the station, the detective asked the jeha to enter. Still little dreaming of what was on the board, the invitation was accepted, and then the situation was disclosed, to the disgust and astonishment of the captured one. Subsequently the accused appeared before the K.M. Court, and was remanded to Auckland.

Below is an extract from a long and interesting article in the English Snorting Chronicle on " How the racehorse is made : his origin, progress, and end " :—: — " In Australia, by judicious crossing with British blood, the horse is even lai'ger than this ; hence the Australian horse has become a factor in trade, and is largely imported into India for cavalry work. In fact, the horse of the Antipodes is the warhorse of the future, so far as our Eastern Empire is concerned ; and he is being gradually crossed with Arab mares to give stoutness and endurance to the offspring. The British racehorse and warhorse, even in his present perfect state, is practically useless in India, for when worked there lie soon becomes subject to sand crack, whilst his Austi alian brother's hoofs stand any amount of wear and tear, but even with this advantage lie is not equal in endurance to the Arab. Hence our army studs in ludia have been done away with, and tho native dealers and importers have vow the furnishing of the cavalry horse in their own hands ; and a class of horses better suited to the work in hand is gradually being raised in India. This explains the reason why the British racehorse when lie is deported to India soon sinks from the public gaze. He is physically incapacitated for the work in hand, whilst, on the other hand, it is a fact that the ordinary selling plater of an English racccourso would give the host Arab that could be pitted against it from four to iivo stone in tbis country."