Mataura Ensign GORE, TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1883.

Mataura Ensign, Volume V, Issue 225, 30 January 1883, Page 2

Mataura Ensign GORE, TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1883.

. Harvesting, has commenced at several ;p}act>sin this distriot and in a few days will be general. i We are informed that Mr Sutherland, j oi the Knapdale school, has notified the Education Board of hia resignation of the mastership; . This step has been taken, we understand, owing to the uncomfortable relations that have existed for some time between Mr Sutherland and a prominent member of ihe sohool committee. 1 The Btatement'is in circulation at Lumsden tbat evidenoe of a character favorable tc the defendant in the recent seduction case at Inveroargill is now forthcoming. Why it was not. adduced at the sitting of the Supreme Court at which defendant was mulct in damages is not stated, but probably we may hear more anon. '

._ M^ Gladstone is improving in health. Hope of Gore Lodge,. 1.0.G.T., meets to* night at 7.30. '■'Ti-/ Harvesting is in full swing in the New/Plymouth district. Natives are being employed, as white labor is scarce. / Dr Stookwell has been eleoted .tfy^lfche , Railway Employes' Benefit Society, medical s officer for the Woodlands-Clinton; district. . Dr Lewis, of Invercargill, who was reoently unsuccessful in an action for libel against the Southland Times, has on the application of the Colonial Bank been adjudicated a bankrupt. [ From London oomes sews that Messrs Healey and Davitt, who were repaired" to find bail for their good behaviour, or to be im- ■ prisoned for six months, have refused to find the necessary sureties, and they have consequently to undergo imprisonment. A large and . influential meeting has been held at Tapanui, Mr David M'Kellar in the chair, with the object of forming a company to build a tramway or light railway from the railway to Tapanui township, and thence on to Crookston. A provisional committee was formed to make enquiries ag to the cost, &c, and report to the next meeting. i Since our last issue two murder oases have r beeu decided— one at Auckland, in which a j young man named Priestly and a woman named Hamilton were charged with murdering the husband of the latter ; the other at Dunedin, Alexander Beattie boing indioted j for the murder of his wife at Papakaio. In both cases the jury returned a verdiot of acquittal. A curious suggestion in corn growing has just been made. Mr Joseph Hall, of Hertford, writes to the ' Mark Lane Express ' to 1 say that he aas made many observations which lead him to the conolusion that where corn is drilled from eaßt to west the yield is much larger than where it is drilled from north to south, as in the former case the sun can shine down therowß, whereas in the latter case each row makes a kind of wall whioh shades the next row. A meeting of the oommittee of the Gore Cricket Club was held at the Railway Hotel last evening. Present — Messrs Henderson (chairman), Douglas, Martin, and G. Bonsey (secretary). The following members were chosen to play in the combined team Gore, Mataura and Wyndham v Invercargill on Saturday, 3rd February :— Douglas, Hosking, Martin, Mullaly and Simson. A challenge from Tapanui was held over until it could be be seen whether a suitable team would be prepared to proceed to Tapanui on the 16th Feb, the day fixed by the challenging team for the matoh. A sad accident happened at Tokomairiro the other morning to Patrick Walib, proprietor of the Helensbrook FloUrmills. His eoat was caught by the shaft, whioh dragged him up, but he fortunately managed to lay hold of something, and held oa till every article of 0 lo thing, with the exception of his sooks, was torn in fragments from his body. He was much bruised and strained about the arms and chest. It is supposed that his muscles '■ have been torn. The poor fellow is also , greatly injured between the legs. Drs Raid : and Stewart have been in attendance, but can- ' not say at present if he has sustained any internal injury. " { |w_M^aj^;of - our readers i hayß Jieard of Mr f ance^lrdn.wb'rk's, r Sh^eWsrary^^p^md^hb?. I is now on a visit to the oolony in order to 1 become personally acquainted with the a wants of agriculturists and others. With I the object of gaining information he has * visited most of the important places in Otago I and Southland, and the other day he passed ;• through this distriot and took a " bird's eye " - view of our farms and farmers, their equipments and their needs, so that on his return ■ to the Old Country he will know exactly what is wanted and be able to seud out implements specially suited to the colony. Mr Oorbett's manufactures are of course very 1 numerous, and the non-elasticity of our \ columns forbids more than a brief reference 0 to one or two, The most prominent perhaps ! is his world-famed winnower the " Eclipse," 3 whioh, as a contemporary puts it "has eclipßed almost everything else tbat haa been oontrived in the way of corn-dressing 3 maohinery." This great success seems ouly to be on a par with other sucoesses in ploughs ' and harrows, rollers and clod crushers, chaff- ; cutters and oheese presses, &c„ for exhibits of which and other manufactures Mr Oorbett has sincelß67gained upwards of6sofirst prizes -, in competition with the world. Mr Corbett T has a special catalogue for the colonies, ahd> ' although we have not his authority for say- ' ing so, we feel sure he would willingly for , W-rd this to the address of any of our readers r on application being made to him afc Wain's Hotel, Dunedin. There, also, he would be glad to see any of our agriculturists who may be visiting the city, 1 Gore was on Friday afberaoon visited by a . thunderstorm of unusual violence. It will t no doubt surprise many of our readers to learn on the authority of the Gore correspondent of the Southland Times Otago ' Daily Times that "Garden and farm orpps have suffered very serious damage. Oats and wheat, nearly ripe, were dashed down level with the ground. Vegetable crops are almost ruined, and the results to farmers 1 must be very serious indeed." We have visited several of the most important grain producing localities in this neighborhood, and may be permittei to give the result of 1 our enquiries to the public, who will be glad to learn that the storm was confined to a very small portion of the district. Ab Man- . deville for instance, its effects were scarcely felt, and ab Chatton and Kluaplald the storm was by no means severe, la these places, and indeed even immediately around Gore, ; the downpour, heavy though it was, has proved positively welcome io the farmers, whose • crjps. under the influence of the hot weather L experienced prior to Fiiday last were ripening I . too fßßfc to allow, of the ears thoroughly filling. Friday's rain will put them back a bit, and if I harvest iB a day or two later the crops will be all the heavier and the grain of superior quality. From these statements it may, be '. reasonably inferred that the storm did good i rather than harm; and we regret that the . Gore correspondent to the journals to which we have referred should, under the excitement of the moment, have given to the outside pub, lie an incorreot view of what took place. From our northern exchanges w© observe that a very ' heavy thundershower fell at W*eka Pass, near I Waikari, on Friday evening, but, as. at Gore, ' the rain was confined to a small portion of the I district, and as moßt of the crops are in stook , at the partioular spot, it is hoped the damage j will be small. I

/ Tenders are called by the Southland County Council for the erection of a bridge over the Mataura at Stoney Creek. . rains fell in Canterbury on, Sunday hight,:but it is not calculated to do any harm to the! crops. It was terrifically hot on Saturday, and a case of sunstroke in the harvest field is reported from/Pre bbldion.. ■.-) The New Zealand Eiectrio Light and Power Company have entered into a contraot with the Lyttelton Harbor Board for lighting the harbor by means of the " Bmsh " electric light. Sixteen lights of 3200 total, candle power are to be used, A terrifie gale has been experienced in the northern and western distriots of England. It haß done an immense amount of harm, both inland and at sea. The. havoc in some places, has been most disastrous and many shipwreck 8 on the coast are reported. Amongst the cases called at the last sitting of the B.M. Court at Lumsden was one in which a well-known aspirant for Parliamentary honors was sued for the maintenance of an illegitimate child. The case was, however, adjourned, and it. is most likely some satisfactory arrangement will be mad 6 between the parties before the court sits again. Is "damn" a profane word? The question has come up before the District Court of Philadelphia, whioh is hearing the suit brought by a printer against a telephone company, The latter, removed their instrument on the ground that it was being made the medium of profane and vulgar language. The former denied the charge, but admitted the use of " damn," The point, therefore, for the Courtis whether that word is profane. Their decision, says an American contemporary, " will be awaited with deep interest by a host of worthy men, and possibly by 'devout women not a few,' who in moments of grsat physical or mental torture have found a great solaoe in the use of that compact and cogent expletive." According to an Egyptian paper the Bedouins were greatly puzzled by the garb of the Highlanders, who they came to the conclusion were not soldiers, but the wives of the soldiers. Distance, of course, favored this delusion, as bare legs were obviously more discernible, than men's faces, covered as these were with veils. The Bedouins noticed that the soldiers' women camped by themselves, and they resolved to go down and spoil the infidel soldiers of their wives, and a body of them actually went, with a result which must have added to the wonderment of both, for the British harem turned out with rifle and bayonet, and very speedily thirty or forty of the amorous Bedouins bit the dust. After this episode the soldiers' wives were not again attacked by Arab Sheikhs who wanted to replenish their harems with English moonfaoes. Romance is not yet dead, in spite of all the croakings of latter-day cynicism. The other day at Ipswich the marriage of Count Carl Esterhazy with Miss Mary Charters, of Stoke Park, was duly celebrated. The details up to the happy event afford more than sufficient materials for a realistic story. A boat cap* sized on the Nile— the occupants struggling in the water until the gallant resoue by the Count, who was passing in his yacht, further acquaintance ripened into affection, and the happiest consummation of all, Londoners are particularly partial to Ostend rabbits, and thousands of these rodent quadrupeds find their way weekly into the poorer districts of the metropolis. A fact has just come to light whioh should mondsey having rome^dcmbt : ooncei«BHß^| anatomy of her purchase, took her .',' ostend : rabbit M to the medical officer of health, who - at onoe pronounced it to be a cat ! The subject was brought before the local authorities) and fears were expressed that this was not an isolated case— not a stray tabby, in fact, but an indication that the skins of cats were in demand amongst the Bermondsey tanners The 'Popotunoa Chronicle ' says :— " A peculiar rumor has reaohed us regarding the new Presbyterian Church, Clinton. It has been the impression in the district that the new church would hold 250 worshipped. The rumor to which we refer is to the effeot that, owing to an egregious error made by those appointed to communicate with the architect, who resides in Dunedin, the new structure is being ereoted on a plan whioh will accomodate about 140 persons, thus leaving the congregation in almost the same position as at present, notwithstanding the expense to whioh they have been pat." There have have been many definitions of a gentleman, but the prettiest and most poetic is that given by a lady. A ' gentleman' says she, "is a human being combining a woman's tenderness with a man's courage'. The hymnology of the poets of the Salvation Army puts the efforts of Pusey and Koundell Palmer in the shade. The newest thing in the shape of refrains is as follows:— If you can't get in at the golden gate, Get over the garden wall. ; In a case at tbe Aberdare Police Court, the other day. in which a young man named Hooker was ordered to contribute towards the maintenance of his father, it was stated that the defendant's mother had had thirtytwo children. Defendant said that on three occasions she gave birth to twins, twice she had triplets, and afterwards four children' at a birtb. i Murders seem to be on the increase. From Mangamantu, in the Kaikoura district, jwe have news of one of the most cold-blooqei and deliberate imaginable ; jealousy being its oanse. The murderer and his brotker had married two sisters, but the wife of hie latter died a few months ago ; and since then improper intimacy it is alleged has, subsisted between him and the murdered woman. The murderer, Ratima, cams from 1 Waipapa, eight miles from- Mangamantu, about midday on Friday, and at once ground and sharpened a large sheath knife. He had made all arrange ments for effecting his escape after despatph-* ing his wife. ' Knowing that nearly all .the Maoris residing afc the pah were engaged cutting gra.ss some miles distant Ratima,after trying in vain to induce his wife to enter a dwelling, seized her hand after a struggle, during which he 'made several ineffeofiual attempts to stab her, cutting her in several places. At length he succeeded in doing po . theknife a large butchers one,passing through her neck from side to side, severingjthe jugular' veins ; and the stab cutting |her windpipe, The murderer is now very {unconcerned, and says he knows he will J be, hanged. The Maoris of tho pah would hjave lynched him had they aot been dissuaded by the native teacher. ". j