LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 249, 30 December 1887, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS.

Press Holiday. —There w ill he no publication of this journal on Monday. Advei risers will please note the fact. Attention ! The district orders for January are published in another column, and the attention of volunteers is direct' d thereto.

Likes tiie Old Place. —Mr Hernessy hairdresser, tobacconist, etc, intimates that he has i emoved into now premises, next W. H. Macey’s photographic studio, Market street.

A Maori Prediction. — The Taranaki Maoris predict an unusually wet summer, there being sometb’ng remarkable about the flowering of the flax plant this season. Directory. —We have to acknowledge receipt of a copy of the New Zealand Handbook and Directory for 1888, issued free to subscribers by the N.Z. Mutual Creditors’ Association. Tho work contains a vast amount of information valuable to the business community, and mechanically, is a very creditable production. Messrs Green and Nosworthy are the local agents of the Association.

Money in Honey. —Mr T. Conway, of Gust, Canterbury, recently shipped Home through the New Zealand Farmers’ Cooperative Association 19 kegs of honey, contammg IGowt 2qrs 31b, which sold in London at 4fd per lb. The total charges amounted to about Id per lb. A Reminder. Mr G. T. Corbett wishes tho public not to forget that he will run a first-class refreshment booth at the Caledonian sports on Monday, lie docs not positively assert that a haggis, “chieftain o’ the puddin’ race,” will be included iu the hill of fare, but a Caledonian gathering would not be complete without that important dish. Wo make Mr Corbett a gratuitous suggestion on tho subject. A Pleasant Surprise. Upon tho arrival of the “ Jubilee Fifty ” officers of tho Salvation Army, who left London in August for India, Commander Tucker found a cheque for £II,OOO, which had been sent to him to assist in maintaining the work of the Army in that country. The donor, who has amassed a largo fortune mainly in India, recently gave a cheque for LSOOO towards the same object.

Western Australian Markets. —From a Perth exchange (Western Australia) we leai n that on December the 3rd the wholesale prices for dairy produce were as follows: —Bacon (duty 3d) 1 Old to Is Id, butter (duty 2d) lid to Is 3d, cheese (duty 3d) 8d to lOd, potatoes Jduty 10s) were fetching from £0 to £7 per ton, while local grown ones were worth £9, Adelaide flour (duty 20s) was worth £l2 10s to £l3 1 ob, pollard (duty 10s) £0 to £6 10s, bran (duty 10s) £6 5s per ton, oats (duty Id) 3s 5d to 3s 7d per bushel.

Shabby.— Life insurance agents are generally cussed by all and sundry, but tho Porirua blacksmith seems to have as good reason as any one for his dislike to the whole tribe. He says:—“ You I now, sir, I was once engaged to a young girl, and one of those life insurance agents persuaded her not to marry unless her husband’s lifo was insured. Well, he came to me and I insured for £3OO. Well, what do you think he did ? He went to my rival and got him to insure for £SOO, and the girl married L»'m. I hate those agents, that I do.

Vice Rather Than Virtue. The Parisian police are investigating a singular society of an international character, with branches in all the capitals of Europe and in New York. The “promoters” have for aim to purchase all private letters of a compromising character, and making the persons interested in their suppression pay heavy blackmail. It is not certain if the central office is in Par's or at London. Servants aro encouraged to steal the confidential papers of their masters and mistresses. It appears to he a far more money-making business than floating a bubble bank or salting for a mining company. In tho matter of dividends, beyond all doubt vice pays a higher rate than virtue.

The Drowning Accident at Topiiouse. —Mounted Constable Dew, who proceeded to Tophouse late on Wednesday evening to make enquiries regarding the man who was found drowed there, had not returned up to an early hour this morning, consequently wo are unable to give particulars as to who the man was or where he came from. Tho body was found lying in the edge of the river by Mr J. C. Oldham, a cadet on Birch Hill station. The unfortunate man was evidently in search of work, as he had a swag upon his hack, and he adds one more to the list of fatal accidents that have taken place in tho river, J. E. Hodson, Esq., J.P., Acting Coroner, drove up yesterday morning to hold an mquest.

Ineffectual. —Ferrets have been found to be no match for the rabbits on tho Otematata run. At a special meeting of the Cainaru Harbour Board Mr Parson, writing on behalf of Messrs Tescliemaker and Ritchie, stated that “ ferrets had beep turned out on Otematata many years ago, and for some time they appeared to keep the rabbits in check, but latterly the rabbits obtained the supremacy, and this last winter the ferrets appear to have taken to eating the poisoned rabbits, as they have been found dead all over the run ; so, in the face of this, it would he waste of money to turn out ferrets there.” He pointed out that the turning out of stoats and weasels would be of no use to the present tenants, whose lease expires in three years, and he therefore suggested that a bonus should be paid on the skins.

The Motor of the Future.— The use of electricity as a source of power is increasing rapidly. An inquiry started by the Electrical World developed the fact that there were probably more tfian 10,000 electric motors now in operation iu the United States. They are put to most varied uses. They are employed in several newspaper offices for running presses, also for sewing machines, ventilating fans, operating dental instruments, driving street cars, and in machine shops, shoo factories, book binderies, knitting works, they are stated to be common. Some of the answers to the World’s enquiry stated that thay were also used for washing bottles, pumping water from artesian wells, brushing down horses, driving ice cream freezers, coffee mills, elevators, circular saws, laundry machines, glove machines, and in “ throwing colors on portraits.”

The Rubies.— The facts connected with the discovery of rubies at Eketahuna have been communicated to the Wairarapa Star. It appears that the discovery was made by Mr S. Bacon in a blind gully seven miles from Ekatahuna, following up the Maltakahi. The formation of the o- u lly on one side is sandstone, on the other fr rey and white marble. Close to this is a patch of volcanic formation, which has greatly surprised the geological department, as they believed the formation through the bush to be green papa. The rubies discovered were about the' sizp of small pins heads, and were found washed up in the gully, haring come originally, Mr Bacon thinks, from the volcanic formation. The marble will be used as a building material if a solid body is found. It contains 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime, and, it is said, would make better quick-lime than the Maurioeville limestone. The rubies are too small to be of any commercial value, and we learn that better rubies we: e found years ago washed from the V angawa and Kuumyhunga rivers.

He Cot Wiiat He Wanted.—A man at Belyidere, 111., placed a rock on a rail way track and then flagged a train that was rushiug upon the obstacle. In return for his services lie asked the railway company to give him a position. The company did so ; he has a position in the penitentiary. This beautiful tale of heroism and gratitude probably will never find its way into the story books for children.—Chicago News.

An Irish Postal Official.— -It having been alleged that the Nationalists out the telegraph wires from Woodford, the Pall Mall Gazette says We hope that this is untrue. There has been no more pleasing feature in the Nationalist movement than the honorable neutrality of the postal service throughout Ireland. A high official of the Irish Post-office some time was at Woodford itself, and ; n discussing a postal matter with an audience of Nationalists, was at once able to cany the meeting with trim, by saying, “ Su r o, boys, don’t we carry the threatening letters for ye as safe as we eatry the evioton notices ?” It would be a great pity if the understanding embodied in tbL humorous sally should not be adhered to.

Another “Loan” Land. A good deal has been said in tho newspapers about tho reckless borrowing of . New Zealand in the English money market; but the great rival of Australia—the Argentine Republic—seems equally afflicted with the same malady. Since 1882 tho Argentine Republic has borrowed on tho English Stock Exchange £14,239,300, or at the rate of nearly £3,000,000 per annum. Yet it seems to bo still invited to come, for each successive loan is floated to greater advantage than its predecessor, and if the London Stock Exchange showed any signs of caution it is understood that the financiers of Berlin aro will''.ig to open up their hearts and their coffers to tho lucky South American State.

Is The Caucasian Played Out ? Perhaps the smartest a ll -round boy at tho Lawrence District High School is Lee Sin, a full-blown Chinese youth. During the twelve months he has been at High School he has (says tho Tuapeka, Times) leai ned to speak English pretty fluently, he has mastered tho school work up to the third standard, writes a specimen hand ; and in addition to other prizes taken at tho late annual examination, he was awarded by bis 'fellow scholars the first prize as tho most attcutivo and tho best mannered boy in the school. It is a romarliable fact teat in some of the North Island schoo.s, the Maori scholars arc invariably at the top of their classes, and carry off the first prizes at tho end of the year.

Wealthy Rabbiters. —In the far West of New South Wales, says a contemporary, rabbiting seems to be a rabbit road to wealth. The bonus paid per scalp ranges from 3d to Is, and the men earn from £3 to £lO per week at tho game. The rabbiters grow rich as the squatters grow poor. It is common experience to meet a rabbi ter driving to his work in his own buggy and pair. In fact, the most of the carriage folk in that part aro rabbiters. At Wileannia recently, a rabbiter entered an hotel and called for a sixpenny drink. In liquidation thereof ho planked down a cheque for £IO7O odd, and demanded the change. The man also gave the most gorgeous champagno supper Wileannia has witnessed this season. Many men in New South Wales thus bless tho rabbit as heartily as hundreds curso it.

A Simpie Barometer.— One of the simplest of barometers is a spider’s web. When there is a prospect of rain or wind tho spider shortens the filaments with which its web is suspended, and leaves things in tb’s state as long as the weather is variable. If tho insect elongates its thread it is a sign of fine, calm weather, the durarion of which may bo judged of by the lcngih to which the threads are let out. If the spider remains inactive it is a sign of rain ; but if, on the contrary, it remains at work during a rain, the rain wIU not last long, and will shortly be follow'ed by fine weather. Other observations have taught us that the spider makes changes *n its web overy twentyfour hours, and that if such changes arc made in tho evening, just before sunset, tho r : ght wIU be clear and beautiful.

Eighteenth Century Romance. —The Pall Mall Gazette says that many people thought that Shakespeare strained probability a little too far in the incidents which close tho tragedy of “ Romeo and Juliet.” A case investigated before the coroner for Central Middlesex recently shows that similar incidents actually occur in real life. An elderly Frenchman, separated from his wife, took a young French la.dy vocalist into his house at Euston square as his mistress. On a Tuesday morning early tho man swallowed poison, and seemed to he dying. His mistress, terrified at being left alone in tho world in a discredited position, seized tho bottle and drank a deadly draught. She died. The man recovered, and found to his horror that his Juliet was dead. After trying in vain to resuscitate her, ho seized a revolvor and shot himself through the heart. This occurred, not in tho tombs of tho Capulets in the ancient city of Verona, in tho middle ages, but in 12, Euston square, on a Tuesday morning. Romeo’s name was Ernest Carlin, and Juliet’s Jane Hures.

Disestablishment. —In alluding to the question of Disestablishment, recently, the Bishop of Peterborough, probably the ablest prelate in the English Church, remarked that when tho time came for the redistribution of church revenues tho bishops must bear their share, and that he had never shrunk from the responsibility. But with a reduced income he must be allowed to cut his coat according to his cloth. At present, the bishop said, he lived in what was called “ a bloated palace,” not because he wanted to do so, but because he could not help it. He was quite willing to surrender his palace, which had cost him £BSOO in repairs and dilapidations, and to live in a smaller and more convenient house. A palace is part of the “ plant” of a diocese, according to Dr Magee, and fine rqay just as well talk of the “ bloated” factory of a manufacturer as of the “bloated palace” of a bishop. “My house,” he continued, “is said to be a very picturesque one, but I should be glad to get rid of the picturesque, and the expense too. lam told we should be surrendering historic houses. I am not insensible to the value of history ; but there is one thing we have to q o —we have to make history. And if the church surrenders these palatial abodes for the sake of the work of the church, there would hang over them during all time to come a hale oven more interesting than the history now attached to them. I, for one, am perfectly ready to do it.”

Holloway’s Pills. —lndigestion and Liver Complaints.—Tho digestion cannot bo long or seriously disordered without the derangement being perceptible on the countenance. These Pills prevent both unpleasant consequences : they improve the appetite, and with the increase of desire for food, they augment the powers of digestion and assimilation in the stomach. Holloway’s Pills deal most satisfactorily with deranged or diseased conditions of the many organs engaged in extracting nourishment for our bodies from our various diets—as the liver, stomach and bowels, over all of which they exercise the most saluta'-y control. By resorting at an early stage of this malady to these purifying and laxative Pille, the dyspeptic is speedily restored to health and strength, and his sallowness gradually vanishes.

Sad. —lt is announced (says the Manchester Guardian) that the little Earl of Arundel and Surrey is dangerously ill at Buxton. There is a pathetic irony in the fate of this little boy. The only child of the Duke of Norfolk, heir to the first place in the English peerage and »o revenues larre enough to endow a German principality, little Lord Arundel cannot walk, or see, or speak plainly. This time last year his mother, the Duchess of Norfolk, who has since died, founded under the shadow of Arundel Castle a large convent, where a community of nuns of the strictest order Aero to offer intercessions for the poor child’s amendment. I was passing through the town of Arundel at the time when the convent was dedicated, and I was greatly struck by the pathetic tone of the opening sermons and addresses, in which this great sorrow was frequently referred to, and by the almost feudal feeling of loyal attachment to the house of Norfolk, which seemed to animate all classes in the district which surrounds their happy home.

France v. Germany.—A very remarkable article appears in the September Blackwood, dealing with tho comparative military strength of Franco and Germany, and their respective chances in tho war which most people think inevitable. The writer, whose anonymity must be respected, but who (says the World) is known to be an artillery officer of repute, demolishes Sir Charles Dilke’s theory that “ Germany cannot attack France’s “frontier of fire,” and can only invade by violating tho neutrality of Belgium. Tho French fortresses are only a new Chinese Wall, the whole value of which is lost when pierced at one point. Germany, unlike France, has devoted all her energies to tho perfection of the mobolisation system, and could be so much the sooner in tho field, in overwhelming numbers, that she could break through where sho pleased, of course at an enormous sacrifice, but success would be worth it. As to the two armies, the writer believes that of Germany to be the superior of the two —in arms, seeing that it is already armed with magazine rifles ; in drill, which is admitedly bad with the French, especially as regards the relations between officers and men ; and last of all, in the prestige that still hangs around the victors from the last campaign.

We have received our first shipment of Spring Goods ex s.s. Arawa, London, consisting of Prints, Zyphers, Lace Stripes, Galateas, Beiges, Cashmere, Serges, Gloves, Hosiery, &c. _ A largo assortment of Juvenile Clothing. In the Tailoring Department we have to hand a splendid variety of now Tweed Patterns from the various New Zealand Factories, Garments made to measure on the shortest notice - Inspectton solicited— Smale and Hay, London House.