LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 39, 14 January 1884, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Town Band astonished proraenaders who were m the Square on Saturday night by giving an open concert op* ppsito the Stan da ud .Office at nine o'clock. The programme had been got up rather huni-dly, and consequently the music whs not up to the usual mark. As a traveller observed :— " A mouse must have got into some of the instrtuents." The Timaru Herald concludes a leading article on tbe financing operations of Education Boards as follows : — " It is a common thing for Ministers, the AgenfaGrill mil and others to boast of the extra 1 " ordinary development of public education m New Zealand, and to represent the colony as being far m advance of the Mother Country m that respect. Where* ever any of these puffs about public edur cation m New Zealand appear, there ouxht to be attached to them « statement that we borrow the funds ' for school buildings m London from year to year, and that the Government shirk payment of the money so long that every Board of Education m the Colony is over head and ears m debt]" • A Southern contemporary reports a nasty accident which happened to a settler m the district. While out fetching ia his cows, he found the Bull with its tether rope rather long and was proceeding to put it round his neck when the anioial attacked and knocked htm under a log, and then went upon its knees and butted at him for some time. Eventually he laid hold of the ball's nostrils ; it then pulled him to bis feet and tossed him over tbe lop, and he escaped. ~ He is con* aiderably bruised and knocked, .abqafc as might be expected, * .■■...-• A Melbourne reporter ( says JEifles) is usually equal to the occasion, it is said that an able member of that body was informed m Sydney, by one of the Con" yention delegates that there waa a majority unfavorable to the Press being present at the meetings, and the delegate added. " And so your duties are ended," "Oh, no,' 1 replied the pressmau, ''" they are only beginning." » How is that I" asked the delegate. "Because if you do not let us hear what you do say, we must just say it for you." A notable inspector of schools m tbe Old Country, whose ability to perform his duties is of the highest order, says : "My experience is auch that I can generally pick out from a number of girls .those who have been during the past few months preparing for an examination, especially if their faces were familiar to me before commencing the: course of tbe celebral torture. I hare watched the fading, of childish blood, the undermining of childish joyousnessness, the cruel growth of unnatural pallor, and the expression of anxiety and aged seriousness." A Wang-anui paper has the following : l — "The once celebrated racehoursa As« tronomer has come to a sad fate. Last .Sunday he was lying m. a lane near Virginia Lake m a shocking condition through recent excessive riding, and with ' the blood exuding iike sweat from the pores of his body. The unfortunate animal bad been ridden all over the country, and left by the road-side, an object of commiseration on the part of many be* holders. Such is the end of turf greatness, at any rate m ihe Wanganui district. 1 ' An Inspector of Schools while, lately examining the young children of a country school, asked them the following questions; — "Are there any mountains m Palestine ;" " Yes/ replied the children. " How are they situated P" inquired the the Inspector. " Some are m clusters, and some are isolated ones," they an* swered. " What do you moan by the word isolated ?" asked, the Inspector. " Why covered with ice", of course !" quickly replied the children. The Otago Daily Times considers that it is now the duty of the Groverntiient tio indict Captain Brotherton for a breach of discipline under the 117 th clause of the Shipping and Seamen's Act of 1877, which provides that ' Any master of any ship who by wilful breach of duty, or by reason of drunkenness, any act tending to the immediate loss, destruction, or serious damage of such ship, or tending immediately to endanger the life or limb of any person belonging to or on board such ship, shall for every offence be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, wh eh is punishable by fine or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding twelve mouths.'