LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 1369, 25 January 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Two letters have reached us respecting the recent householders’ meeting, but space will not allow of their insertion in this issue.

The English .Cricketers have, avenged their defeat by the Australian Eleven by winning the return match by 27 runs and-one innings to spare.

It -iar notified in the Gazette .that Mr John J. W. While f ha| rbeefi appointed superintendent collector of Agricultural statistics for. the Sounds , Marlborough, and Kaikoura districts. The collection takes place next month.

A meeting of the subscribers of the Literary Institute will be held on Saturday evening, when a new Committee will be elected and the outgoing Committee will give an account of tlieir stewardship. The meeting will be held in the Institute building and will commence at 7.80.

We are requested to remind seat-holders in Iloly Trinity Church that the rent for the. halfyear ending June next is now due, as rent is supEoaed to be paid in advance. Either Messrs >art, Duncan or Greensill will receive payment, and will take applications for the few sittings in the Church now unlet.

The contest for the Mayoral election will be between Messrs Fisk arid Swanwick, Mr Dart, as was anticipated, having withdrawn from the contest in favor of Mr Fisk. The reaeon of Mr Dart’s withdrawal is creditable to him, as he did not wish to split the votes and thus imperil the chances of the candidate lie would perfer to see returned.

The barquentine May left on Tuesday ovening, with 175,000 feet of timber from the mill of Mr A. T. Thompson, for Melbourne. The vessel was towed out by tho steamer Lyttelton, which vessel arrived early on Monday morning with a cargo of railway iron for the extension from Blenheim. Should the cargo of timber meet with ready sale at remuneiative prices, it isnot improbable that she will return for another cargo, and thus open up a wider market for one of our staple productions.

Evidences arc accumulating which goto show that tho efforts of the Acclimatisation Society to stock the Picton waters with fish have been highly successful. In the Waitohi stream numerous small fish have been seen which experts declare to be young trout and a further confirmation of the fact lias been found by the discovery in the inside of an eel of three small fish which were also stated to be the young of the trout. A strict w*tch is kept over the waters where the young fish have been Been, but it would aid the efforts of the Acclimatisation Society if some means could be devised to destroy the eels with which tho stream is infested.

. Some very excellent specimens of portrait painting are on view in tho town, tho: portraits being the work of the New Zealand Copying Company and Portrait Agency. The Company’s representative, Mr Neilson, will’remain in Picton for one week only for the purpose of taking orders, and will wait on any person wishing to have a portrait painted with specimens of the work" already done. The portraits are very satisfactory and it does not require that persons shall give regular settings to the artists, a photograph showing the features being all that is required. Any persons possessing a port.raii of a departed friend may have a finely executed portrait in colors by applying to the Company s agent, for whom instructions will be received by Mr A. T. Card. • It is satisfactory to find that, some little interest is being taken in the election of Mayor, to come off oh Saturday next at the Borough Council'Chambcr. Mr Swanwick and his Honorary Secretary, Mr T. Williams, have been active in striving to obtain promises of support and the other side working for Mr Fisk, seeing this, have also began to exhibit-signs of activity. Presum ing that the ratepayers will respond to the invitations addressed to them, Saturday’s election promises to be an exciting one. and as both sides are sanguine of success, the contest is likely to bo close. From reports that have reached us we should say that Mr Fisk is likely to receive the majority of votes, but his friends must not neglect on this account to vote, or they may find that they have contributed to his defeat by their own negligence. We hope the best man may win, and if he does we know which name will appear at the top of tho poll. Owing- to the unfavorable state of the weather on Wednesday evening the attendance at the Volunteer Hall, to hear Mr Howard’s readings, was very limited. The entertainment deserved a much larger amount of support than it received, as on no previous occasion has a reader of Mr Howard’s abilitv appeared before a Picton audience. The selection of readings was judiciously made, ranging from the pathetical to tho farcical, and were given with truo dramatic force, so that all could find something to interest or amuse A daughter of Mr Howard, a young lady of some ten vears of age, recited some pathetic verses in a most able manner, and.with this exception the whole weight- of the entertainment was borne by Mr Howard himself, and the manner in which he acquitted himself of the task showed that he was quite capable of performing what he had undertaken. If it were possible to secure the aid of this gentleman on another occasion, he would be met by a larger audience, and if young people would attend they might learn a valuable lesson in elocution and the. art of reading. A most enjoyable evening was spent in company of tho characters introduced and individualised by Mr Howard’s art, and several persons have expressed a wish that another and a similar entertainment may bo given at no distant dato.

The value of wool exported from Wellington during the last quarter was £186,000. A tender is let for a Sailor’s Home at Lvttelton to cost £2460. At the Christchurch Police Court f several larrakins were fined £5 each for creating disturbances on New Year’s Eve. The Auckland City Council has imported a firehell from Sheffield which can he heard seven miles. The Lyttelton Harbor Board are going to distribute 200 photos, of the opening ceremony as a means of advertising the dock. Upwards, of 170 aplieations have been received applying for the right to participate _in the £6OOO granted by Parliament last Session for libraries.A bushman arrested at Auckland for drunkenness, on being starched, had £206 and four orders on him. Op getting sober, he was not at all thankful to the police for taking care of his money. Under - sectiou 67 of “The Customs Laws Consolidation Act, 1882,” an ()rder-in-Couneil has been signed prohibiting the importation into New Zealand of the grape vine or grape vine cuttings an«l grapes. It is estimated that fully 1500 emigrants for the Colony would leave during December and January. A large number of single women are making application to come to New Zealand, and the whole of the emigrants are referred to as being most desirable colonists. > A man was before the Resident Magistrate at Christchurch recently who was separated from his wife, charged with assaulting her and destroying her property. Amongst other tilings he tied a fireband to her cow’s tail and set the animal loose round the paddock. He had to pay for the damage he did, and to find heavy securities to keep the peace.