LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIV, Issue 141, 4 July 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

«. Arrived. — The barque J. D. Peters, aboet which, owing to her being so long I out from New York, some anxiety was felt, arrived yesterday at Port Chalmers after a passage of 139 days. The Volunteer CjjUi;, — A meeting of : the committee will be held tp-morrqw evening at 7.30. Vital Statistics. — The vital statistics of the Pelorus district for the quarter ended June 30th, were : — Births 7, marriage certificates issued 2 (onemarriage being m the Anglican Church) deaths 3. The lonic — This steamer, as will be seen by our telegraphic columns arrived yesterday at Port Chalmers with an Englisll mail on board — likewise the stoats and weasels for the Awatere Babbit Board. Grazing IVcn. — A 500-aci - e block ill the . Linkwatcr Survey District lias been set apart as a small grazing run under part 7 of the Land Act 1886, sections 198-219. Adjournment,— The House yesterday afternoon adjourned until 7.30 as a njark .bf respect to the memory of the late Mr Pearson, M.H.R. for Ashley, who has just died. Mr Pearson's death will occasion considerable regret m Canterbury where he was well known and highly esteemed both m public and private life. Voi/DNTUEit District Committee. — A meetiug wag held last evening, Major Baillie m the chair aijd it was decided to order the new instruments for jJie Garrison Band from Messrs Besson and Oq I^orjdon :; also that the Building Committee should confer with the architect as to certaih details m connection with the Drill Shed. Seymour-street.— The Seymour-street Bridge wiU probably be available for traffic to-morrow, My IJay having now completed his contract for repairs. The widening of the opening and the lowering of the bridge have materially strengthed thg structure. Wesleyan Blue Ribbon Band of Hoi>e. —At the usual fortnightly meeting last night, Mr Heyhoe presiding, there was a lo,r{*e attendance. The Chairman and Mr 'Verooe delivered addresses, thc Misses Rose sang q, duef, ajid readings and recitations were given by M}bs/?,s Ij. Miller, E. Chuck and E. Jones, and Messrs Sinclair,I Heyhoe and Penney. I Pjjission. — In our notice of Mr Howard' s ( entertainment at Havelock, on 29th ult., • the mention of two. songs by Dr Drury was inadvertently omitted, viz., "Alonzo the brave and the fair Imogene," and " Betsy Baker," both of which were splendidly rendered.

: The Cost of thk Natuhal Enemy.— By inadvertence the cost per head of stoats and weasels to the Babbit Board was the other day set down at £3 16s, whereas it should have been L3 ls 6d. Sube to Succeed.— Those irrestible hallelujah las?ses are busy collecting subscriptions m aid of the. fund forthe forthcoming anniversary. They would draw blood out of a stone, and there is very little fear of the fund m their hands. Havelock.— Our Haveloek correspondent supplies the following itelns :— I have been shewn some good samples of coarse gold by Mr Charles Pope which were found at the New El Dorado m a space of ground about £ feet square weighing loss 3dwts. One nugget weighs 6 pennyweights. What will be the outcome of these diggings I do not pretend to predict, but one fact is undeniable, gold is here.— The sawn timber industry m this district is not quite defunct. Two vessels left the Blackball Mill last week for the South with more than 60,000 feet timber, and the Champion is now taking m 20,000 feet for Welling, ton. Hebring Season.— Our Picton correspondent writes :— This season has proved a good success for the fishermen. Mr Perano made a splendid haul of about 150 cases on Sunday night, and also on Monday night he got another good haul. He consigned six casks of pickled, herrings to the well known firm ofThompson Bros., •Port Chalmers, on Tuesday; and he shipped a quantity of fresh and smoked fish of all description to Wellington, Christchurch, Port Chalmers last week. His fishing establishment is full of smoked aud fresh fish ready for markpt and he is still busily engaged m curing so as to keep a good supply on hand for purchasers. Competition. — There was a deal of excitement and amusement caused by lookerson on Saturday and Tuesday. morning by. the departure of the s:s. Phoonix and Picton — two'opposition boats — whicli both left Picton wharf at 9 a.m. on dates mentioned for the antimony mines, the s.s. Phoenix taking the lead all the way. As the mines are now m a flourishing state we wish both steamers success. The New Bkoom.— lnspector Broham has had a brush with the Auckland Bar about the precedence of police over summons cases m the Police Court. Hitherto the practice has been to take summous cases first. Inspector Broham asked that police cases be taken first, so that his men could get g.way to their duty, or if they had been up all nigM, to bed. The "uew Broom," as the Inspector was punningly referred to, was not able to sweep away the old custom. Gift Ajiction. - The gift auction (on behalf of the Church of the Nativity) m Mr Girling's old shop, bids fair to be a thorough success. Frieqds of the Church and others, and particularly the ladies, have been unremitting m their efforts to collect goods for disposal under the hammer of Mr Green, and the settlers and others have contributed liberally of their abundance. The consequence is the presence of a miscellaneous assortment of live and dead stock, and articles of all sorts, useful and ornamental. This afternoon there was a good attendance, and m the evening we look to see a large gathering of buyers. B.M. Court. — At the B.M. Court to-day, before Me.ssrs A. J. Litchfield and N. Pritchard, J.P.s, one inebriate, a first offender, was charged with drunkenness. Sergeant Scanlan said the man was un known to the police, and although he had got drunk he had given no trouble, and had, ■ besides, just come down from the country and spent all his cheque except one shilling. He did not desire to press the charge. The Bench fined the man 5s and 2s expenses, or 24 hours, but he pleaded to be let off, as he had no money, and .was expecting to get a job, and the Magistrates inflicted, as an alternative, "imprisonment till the rising of the Court." When this decision was communicated to the poor fellow, he appeared to regard it as an order for his immediate execution, and when at the rising of the Court two minutes after, the Sergeant told him he " might go, and had better not come back m a hurry," he moved mechanically "out like a man m a dream. ' Allotment of Stoats and Weasels. — At the last meeting of the Awatere Babbit Board, it was decided not to release stoats and weasels on runs where trapping was carried on. Yesterday, at the suggestion of the Chairman and a member of the Board, the owners of Starborough, Bichmond Brook, and Blairich runs were, written to and offered a quota of stoats and weasels, on condition that trapping operations were suspended. This action is, of course, subject to confirmation by the Board, and is merely taken to meet the emergency. The Nelson Steeplechase Meeting. — The settling m connection with the late Steeplechase meeting took place at the Masonic Hotel, on Monday evening, when tho Stewards of the Nelson Jockey Club handed over cheques representing the winnings, payable as follows : — Mr Hathaway, LSS 10s; Mr Newman, L 57; Mr F. Green, L33 5s ; Mr H.Warren, L33 ss ; Mr P. B. Adams, Ll2 ; Mr Askew, Lil 8s ; Mr D. Young, L 4 15s ; Mr Clarke, L 4 15s ; Dodson, L 3; Mr H. Harley, L 2 17s. Flax-dbesking Machinery. — The flaxdressing industry has called into play a good deal of inventive, genius. Among those who have endeavored to facilitate the dressing of flax by the invention of machinery, Mr Powick takes a high rank. Yesterday afternoon we had an opportunity of seeing a portion of his machinery at trial work on his ground, Grove Eoad. A threshing machine engine supplied the motive power, and the stripper was connected with it by endless bands. The stripper consists of a funnel through which it is fed with flax-leaves, and a drum, m which is the stripping machinery, revolving so fast as to fully occupy the feeder. Each strip on disappearing down the funnel is taken possession of by the strip^ per, and quickly emerges tlierefroni m green fibre. Only this portion of the machinery was at work, and the smoothness and celerity of its movement were clearly visible to the most inexperienced onlooker. From this the raw fibre is transferred to the scraper, a peculiarly contracted machine consisting bf a small caisson cpnt f ajning a doublp set pf revolving flangea, with a pair of wooden rollers above them. Thc green fibre is led between the rollers, wliich partially strip it of green vegetation, and allow it to fall among the flanges, which, revolving at a great speed, thoroughly separate the threads. While this action is going on, two spouts facing each other,, just above the flanges, pour ■water upon them and take the'green stuff away m solution, so that the fib.'c, when it emerges from the scraper, is white. So complete is the scraper's action, that each individual fila- ( ment is subjected to a double action of 20 scrapes to ihe inch.- Thc action is perfect apd only one defect has as yet met the inventor's critical eye, but that is of so trivial a character that it will be remedied easily betore £hp public trial takes place. Mr Powick believes thai his machine will enable dressers to save something like £10 per ton of fibre. The clearance of the fibre from vegetation is a matter of very great importance, as there are six tons of adherent vegetation to overy ton of fibre. The perfecting of this machinery has taken Mr Powick two years of thought and cost him a considerable sum of money. The machiucs were made ' of steel m Christchurch, by Messrs Scott ]si'os, and very soon a public trial will afford those interested an opportunity of judging of the fitness pf the intichiriery , for the \yorli, j

Death of an Old Settler. — The Colonist says : — On Sunday evening, Mv William Brent joined the great majority, having reached the good old age of eightythree years. Deceased came to Nelson 33 years ago m a vessel named the Lady Grey, from Prince Edward's Island, Canada, and for many years he carried on business m this City as a builder, being greatly respected hy all who knew him. He was a consistent member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, aud for many years filled the position of Classleader ; and he was also an earnest advocate of the Temperance cause. [The deceased gentleman was father to Mrs W. B. Girling, and Mrs B. Penney, of this town.] Land Settlement.— The Bill for the amendment of the Land Act, prepared by the Minister of Lands, provides that the deposits made with applications m respect of cash purchase of. land shall be made uniform. Under the Act of 1885, the proportion deposited was one-fourth, and under that of 1887 it is one-fifth. It is now intended to fix the amount at onefifth all round. The thirds from deferred payment selections and the fourths from perpetual leases are to be paid directly by the Receiver of Land Revenue on the first day of each quarter to the local bodies entitled to them, instead of having to filter through the Treasury Department. Residence on swamp land is to be dispensed with for the first three years, as m the case of bush land. Pastoral lands are to be classified under two headings— purely pastoral, to be let on an absolute lease,, and semi-pastoral, to be occupied subjectto the right of the Crown to re-enter for settlement purposes on twelve months' notice. The security of title m the case of purely pastoral lands is the main feature of the Bill. The right of exchange of title is to apply only to lands acquired before the passing of the Act of 1887, and can only be exercised once. Provision is also made for the appointment of Commissioners to administer the Act on the dissolution of the Land Boards, it being assumed these bodies will cease to exist after the expiry of the present Parliament, m accordance with the arrangement arrived at last session. Evolution — The theory of evolution, or the gradual development of man from the lowor form of animal life, has received another supporter m the person of Dr William H. Bryant, who has just discovered that valves exist m the portal veins of very young infants, which disappear m the adult. These valves were formerly supposed to exist only m beasts. Breach of Promise.— lt is generally given out (says the Wellington Press) that the attention of the judicial authorities will be shortly engaged m investigating the circumstances of a suit for breach of promise. The rumour says that the defendant m the action has lately entered into the matrimonial state with a young lady resident m one' of the chief towns m the South Island and by so doing has failed to make good his accepted proposals to a young lady m our city who m consequence intends to seek damages from her fickle fiancee. To the Deaf.— A person who was cured of deafness and noises m the head of 23 years' standing by a. simple remedy will send a description of it free to any person who applies to Nicholson, 15, Lincoln Inn Chambers, William Street, Melbourne.