LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 282, 1 November 1883, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

4lt is proposed to open /the , tomb' of ; Shakespeare m order' to ascertain whether' the-MSS. of his plays were buried With him, and- also to i measure r ihe bbnes," m; 'order- to settle the point whether the. bardv was tall or short .. i . Factory girls m Melbourne who have to entirely keep' themselves by their needles have t a hard struggle to do so, and, only succeed by working a { good deaf of * overtime. One of the witnesses before the. Shops Commission states that she, hWtoiworkQO hours per. week fbr : 23s, ; which, as she has to pay ! for board*and < . .lodging,~is ,only a bare subsistence.^,^, „ v There are-,now ;; eighty«seven Orange -Lodges inNew' Zealand, and the- Grand "Secretary of the Sbif th~~lslafid has "just" received applications for warrants for two more. In Australasia there are 404 Lodge?, with a membership of over 20,000, and m Canada there are 150,000 Orangemen. ■ : ; The butchers of'Rangiora and surround' ing district have:. intimated that the price of meat has: been risen. * The King of the Belgians, speaking at Bouna,rd, said.he hoped soon to see permanent, business relations established between Antwerp and Sydney, especially m regard to Australian wool , ■ The. Otago Daily:; Times: .has at length had xh'a courage to make the assertion, in^ "its' leading columns that-' an .impression exists that the Otago Education Board is/ led by tho noie by Irispeetor c Petrie and Secretary' 'Pryde. Tbis^ itiip'ressidn has been m existance ever since Mr Pryde ..overcame' his surprise at. being forked into his ;present : position— a . legacy . -for. obse* quiousness underthe old ProTinQial sys<»: j.ieU.V'^onld'.that.t^Qhets.^ared to telh 'of the ( ,'Ja'ck>-in^office " airs i assumed since, that auspicious ti lie J /The time wijl, ( come when' Inspectors 'shall' themselves ' be inspectad' and ■ secretaries themselves be examined as to their 'educational qualifications. ..it. ...'•:. ■, :.hl:. L--V Sir Thomas' Brassey declares that, taking into jviewihe rate of wage?, the hours, of worl',the cost of livinp, and the general Abundance of employment, the position of the British workman at the present time compares favourably with that of working people m the ljntfed f States. The aqtreaß (Mißa Fortescue) who has jußt become the wife of the eldest son of Lord Calms is after all plain Miss Firiney n < J;he,dau3hterjnf cqaL meirohant,! head of the'well-known" London firm' of Finny, Steel, and Co,, whose carts afe'seen everywhere m the " city and suburbs. 7 ' : i Last year the. N>w Zealand Parliament, cost L 38,089, and this year, no doubf, the" oos.t will^be equally, as great, r SeyenlyV Acts were' passed bY the two Houses, and; compared with the jcosty this makes L 494 13s each Act. Truly, legislation is costly work 1 , ! Sir Wilham.Gull, the eminent physician, m his evidence before the Select Committee of the' House of Lord?, said : — " lam persuaded that nothing better could be. done than that lecturers should go about the country instructing the people on the. disadvantages of alcohol as it is daily used. People will not listen to the temperance societies, because they carry their theories too far." . A At the* Education Board • meeting on Tuesday, on the motion of Mr Sanson, it was resolved, That the Secretary prepare a circular m terms of the letter received from the 1 Central Department, and se.nd a copy to • each J3ommittee, requesting them to prepare their accounts not later than the first week m January, and to advise the Secretary of this Bonrd of the same, m order that the Auditor may be directed to proceed to their- seve* ral districts and audit the accounts. The cricketing season was opened by the. Wyjodyille people on Saturday, when a good number turned out to enjoy an . hour at this manly game. The new tools just received were found to be of first' quality, and gave .the greatest satisfac* iion; Ali '■' ' : - ;; ; A mob of over one hundred horses passed through Woodville en route for ; Napierj on Saturday last. - Moat of them will, we hear, be used for wool packing. There were only a few draughts among them. , A contributor to an Auckland " Agricultural paper, the Worth New "Zealand Settler, remarks on the subject of con vertin? bush into pasturage :— ' When the ashes,, have cooled, English grass seed jssown^ amongst the charred stumps half* burnt logs that remain, »nd it generally -

erowa luxuriantly, affording aome good; feed m the following spring. : : But oar experience is that^ paaturage,thuß formed | is not lasting, Ajs^the sujrime^r advances ; myriads of caterpiilars; swarm out of the ] surrounding: buSttrand eat up thin grass to the very roots, aitdj ja dry season com-: pletes its ruin by fnzzling'up what litile life there is left inyit.'f^Evidently thia writer has never been m tliis part of th«fe world, where caterpillars : v we next to unknown. The Secretary of the Woodville Cheese and Bacon Factory Co. has received m« timation that the remainder of the dairy plant will arrive per Lady Joyeelyn shortly r -The f buildings committee of directors have accepted an offer from Heary Clifford, to split 10,000 shingles ,f or J;he. building.-™.Tenders»are fco-be called for the biiildiug almost immediately * According to the Cape papers, Miss, Webb, sister of Uaptafn Webb, who. lost j his life m trying, to swim the Niagara became deranged upon hearing his death, and drownedheraelf. She had. residedvatljadyT Smith, Natal, .for tie' last three" years. She dis3appearejd mysteriously, and her body was subsequently.! found m the Klig river. ; ; Shortly after the close of the session, onr press telej?rams informed ns Ministers /were about ."lo^cphsider .(means as to the rje^, ' organlsaiaon of the Civil^Serfioe. As a ije* '' sult^pf the reform initiated by the Ministry, it is reported that ; a numb r er-of 'Givil! Servants have received notice that their >: services are no longer required. '. a