NEWS AND NOTES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIV, Issue 292, 13 December 1899, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

Tbe Mirlborongh Land Board sat till a lute hour yesterday. Our report will appear iv tlie next issue. Mr James Oolvio, the newly elected for the Bailer, was m the Wakamarlna rush, after cuning oat from Ireland to Melbourne m 1861. . A large nugget weighing 31oz lOdwt, and of the value of £120, was purchased hy a Hokitika bank on Saturday. The nu^fpt, wliich whb of a rugged woro •ppeaiance, han b^en nauwd "The Smile." The 1 otlity m whiob it was diHC>verFd is kept a oecret. Mr 0. H. Mills, M.H.R., left for Wellington last evening to see about arranging for the High School grant of £1000 to be paid to the Board of Governors and other votes to be ex« ponded on roads and tracks m different parts of the electorate. a, Bin nit thing m the Wellington eleo* tion which raised a rather large laugh at the expense ot Mr Hsmer, tbe Premier's secretary (says the N ew Zealand Times), was the fact that a wag adroitly fastened a " Vote for Atkinson 1" ticket on his buck, a trophy which he thus unconsciously exhibited to smiling beholders down several streets. According to the Palmerston Standard, Mr Charles Oliver, formerly of Napier, who has been a resident la tb« TrarißVi^l for many years, is fighting for tbe Boers m the present war. He married a Dutch girl, and fatrilv Interests made him take up arms m. defence of his countr/. Many Englishmen are m a similar position. Evidently (says tbe New Zealand Times) tbe political education of some of the gentler sex has been sadly neglected, for among several amusing blunders on election day was onb of a womnn who, entering the Skating Bink booth, wnlked rou d the various divisions ilosejy Feminising tbe usual alphnbetical notices. Bavine completed her tour 6he looked puzzled, and then going up to tbe police officer asked, " Oan you tell me which of them offioes is Jellieoe's ? ' Expl motions followed, and the vote no doubt was recorded. A highly amunog instance of obfosci'ion occurred m couneotion with the local option poll at Blenheim. A worthy lady elector was met m front of the voting pl«ce by som* of her friends, and, m the uHual spirit of pleasantry, was asked what she was going to do* " Are you going to strike out tbe top line ?'' No, she was not goin<? to do that. " You're going to strikeout the two bottom lines and vote for continuance, then?" JN either would she do that. With a determined tone, she said, " No, I'm going to vote for reduo'ion ; I always have thought that the publicans cbarge too mnoh for their liquor. Their prices ought to be reduced !" At tbe meeting of the Land and Railway League yesterday, the advantages of a railway line through the Awatere were discussed. In answer to a query as to whether the propertyowners would not prefer to forward their wool and otber produce to Wellington hs at. present, it was stated that Mr Symor.j, of the Kekerangu Station, hud said that bo would use the railway. Tbe trouble of shipping goods on an open coast was very great. As for shipping produce from Piolon to Wellington, the questiou was only one of quantity, and tbe stuff would not go past Pioton. There would ba direct shipping.