NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume X, Issue 1914, 26 April 1888, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

Keports and correspondence and a full budget of telegrams compels the holding over of leader, &c

There is a capital newspaper in Boston devoted to the interests cf the society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It is called Our Dumb Animals. In the number to hand by the last mail there is a letter written by a gentlenaan, who tells the following story :— " My father owns a very fine spaniel dog. named Curley. She generally stays at my father's office. The other day I was at home sick, and telephoned to the office to know if Curley was there, and one of tbe men said she was. I asked him to hold her up to the telephone while I whistled. Curley pricked up her ears and turned her head, and' acted as though she knew my voice. I told her I wanted her to come home. The man put her on the floor and opened the door, and, without his saying a word, she started at once and came to tbe house."

. Owing to the football meeting this evening the meeting as to forming a rinking club is postponed until to-morrow evening.

Mr. Hoffman, a celebrated aurist, who has been travelling the colony for some time, is now staying at the Commercial Hotel, where he may be consulted by all who require attention for complaints of the ear, chest, or throat. He will be hero till Tuesday evening.

Mr. W. H. Clark, of Parnell, waited upon the Hon. E. Mitchelson in Auckland, and laid beforo that gentleman a scheme for settling people on tbe land, finding employment for all, and saving the State i>70,000 a year. Mr. Mitchelson listened very attentively to Mr. Clark's explanation of the system which he believed would accomplish these results, and Mr. Clark agreed to draw out in writing an outline of the scheme, which Mr. Mitchelson promised to lay before the Minister of Lands.

Just as church-goers were soberly walking home through the square, Palmerston North, on Sunday, a constable hove in sight with an unmanageable drunkard in tow. Of course there was an immediate scatter when it was pieceived that assistance might be needed, but the minion of the law was fortunate enough to invoke the aid of one young man attired in his best, who seemed anything but pleased at having to walk through the principal street arm-in-arm with a drunkard and a policeman.

Our Opunake correspondent writes : — A meeting of the retiring School Committee was held- on Monday evening at 7 p.m. Correspondence was read trom the Education Board, forwarding a resolution, That School Committees be informed that no schools can be allowed to be closed above three days on account of alleged sickness in tho district without the permission ot the board ; also submitting the matter of the proposed Opua school to the committee for recommendation ; also that, as the average attendance was under 70, the school was only entitled to one teacher and one pupil teacher, and the board cannot pay for Miss Young's services, which had been secured without the authority of the board. It was resolved that Miss Minnie Pennington be appointed permanent pupil teacher. Resolved, That this committee, on retiring, expresses great dissatisfaction that the board shonld not promptly pay capitation allowance to committees, as this committee has to retire leaving debts unpaid and money overdue.

The fallowing extract from an Indian paper has been sent to the London Times by a near relative of one of the players mentioned in it :: — '• Has any whist player ever held the 13 trumps in one hand ? The phenomenon was seen at the United Service Club, Calcutta, on the evening of the 9th instant. The players — we trust they will forgive us 'naming' them, but whist history must be above suspicion — were Mr. Justice Norris, Dr. Harvey, Dr. Sanders, and Dr. Reeves. Two new packs were opened, and were ' trayed ' and shuffled in the usual way. Dr. Sanders had one of the packs cut to him, and proceeded to deal. He turned up the Knave of Clubs, and on sorting his hand found that he had the other twelve trumps. The other three suits were unevenly divided in the other hands, but in tho excitement of the moment no record was taken of them. The fact was duly recorded in writing, the six gentlemen signing their names to the document. The odds against this combination are, we believe, according to Dr. Pole, 158,750,000,000 to one ; the probability of a player holding 13 of a particular suit, named before the deal is concluded, is put by the same authority at once in 635,000,000,000 deals. "