LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 206, 6 August 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

To-day was the first meeting of the Manawatu County Council uadsr it new constltion. The meeting of Hunt's creditors will tnke place at Messrs Hankins' and Baker's office on Wednesday, at 11 a.m. The D'Arey Pratt ia now m Wanganui riyer, and will sail shortly for Sydney direct with timber. We are sorry to hear that Mr Beck is still m a very helpless condition, being i quite unable to move m bad without assist* ance. Mr James Bridg^formerly of Palmerston, has asain token up his residence m Wanganui. From a returnfpres mted to Parliament we learn that the tr«r >lling expenses of District Judges and Regide-tt Magistrates for the year ending 31st March, 1883, amounts to £5486 4s lid. Mr Holmes said m the Legislative Council that the preservation of our forests was more important to the future of New Zealond than a five million loan or want of confidence motion. He strongs ly advocated the Government deriving a large income from timber by placing a heavy royalty on timber, so that it could not bo sold under what it would cost to import. A royalty of two shillings per hundred feet should be placed on all timber cut. In the Legistative Council on Wednesday, Mr. Chamberlin said one result of the denuding of our forests had been to seriously diminish our rainfall. In Auckland, for the first five years after the statistics were commenced to be taken, the rainfall averaged 48 inches ; the next period showed a reduction to 43 inches : and the third period showed a still furthei reduction to an average of 40 inches, Chriatchurch, from the absence of forests had rainfalls for the same periods of 27, 25, and 22 inches. The railway embankment at Patea seems now to be standing fairly well, and it is said that the line will m all proba« bility be opened for through traffic tc Manutahi by the 14th instant. One reply to the question put to Mi Babbage during the late examination it: connection with the estate of Mr Lingarc was certainly unique. He was asked whal became of the £225 that Mr Lingard got from Mr Shield iv cash, and how the former gentleman disposed of it, Mi Babbage replied that it was difficult tc saj, as Mr Lingard was such a "fiuancial artist." Horses are so thoroughly acclimatised m Tauranga district that they are devour* ing the fruit trees. There are 44,000 Jews m London, and they yearly contribute £37,000 to Jewish charities m the Metropolis* The lectures delivered at Ontario, Canada by Commander Cheyne, have resulted m the formation of a committee to organise » balloon expedition to the North Pole. The New Zealand Free Press states that Mrs Auffray, better known as "Edith o'Gorman,"J(an escaped nun, shortly m. ! tends paying a visit to New Zealand. She js at present lecturing m the OldCoun* try. 1 ' ■.. . " Crowded out of hi« gfave " was the novel complaint which an • elderly man ' preferred m a London police court. He declared that his son, who h*.J a large family, had insisted upon burying his deceased children m a grave which the complainant had purchased for himself. "The consequence will be," said the elderly man, " that by-and-by there won't be room for me; and that's a very uncomfortable thought for a man who has taken the trouble to provide a last rest* ing place for himself, as I have done. It's too bad, you know. Messrs Linton and Macarihur were passengers by rail an Saturday night for Foxton en route for Wellington. Mr Levin M.H.R. is now able to take his place m the House, after his long and isT9t« illntss.

• A notice of assignment will be found advertised elae where. Mr Goold, the very efficient and popular stationmaster at Hulcombe has sent m his resignation, and leives the service at the end of the present month. He will be much missed m Halcombe locally, and also by the travelling public. The outward English Mail via San Francisco will closa at Palraerßton North on Friday, 10th August, at 7. 45 p.m. The reuowned Dr. Wilkins, who is a specialist m diseases of the eye, ear, and throat, is now on a brief visit to Palmers* ton, and can be consulted at the Commercial Hotel. DrWilkina will only be m Palmeraton till Wednesday evening.