Untitled

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 35, 17 February 1877, Page 2

A compendium m pamphlet form is being prepared, and will be issued from the General Government Printing Office, of the Counties Act, the Financial Arrangements Act, and Public Works Act, of last session, all of which are connected with our recent legislative changes. "We ("New Zealand Times") may venture .to predict that the compendium will prove of great utility. The Wellington reclamation works have now been carried as far as the -site, of the - .new Government Buildings. ' The "Wanganui Herald" of the 14frh inst. says : — "ln our last issue we 'gave an extract from a Southland paper stating, that . a black Spanish hen at Invercargill laid an egg measuring six and a half inches round one way and eight the other. Mr John • Lee brought to us this morning an egg laid by a» common hen, measuring six and a half inches round one way, and seven and threequarters the other, and weighing nearly four and a half dunces. These are something like hens !" l Doctors disagree as to the state of r the Wanganui river. The " Herald " says — "There is no truth m the report that the river had forced a new channel through the South Spit. The river rose 'over a portion of the Spit during a remarkably high tide, and this fact was taken by, the Natives, who rushed off to give the information to Mr K. Woon> as the basis of the report." The Melbourne Xean Waterworks have turned put a splendid paying scheme. The net revenue last year was £64)586 6s Irf, which gives a profit of £53,586 6s- 2d .over interest paid on outstanding debentureaV , The Victorian revenue .returns, for. the quarter -ending •December 31 have been published; The total revenue for the, quarter was £1,082,700, and i or 1 .the^year £4,462,262, showing an .increS^gggj^he quarter, as compared with ; the" corre&|da|ding period of last year, of £16,'O7OjvSPte the year of £246,738. .' . /; \*&p-~ : The " Spectator", says :— The four millions of Armenians oppressed by the Turks m Asia intend, it would seem, to appeal to the Great Powers against the oppressions to. •which they are subjected. Their peasants are. whipped at the stake, their women and children are carried off, and when they complain, their journalists' are fcoldby the Grand Vizier himself that they are revolutionists, and are ordered into confinement, beaten by the police, or sent back to Armenia to answer their complaints to the authorities whose misdeeds they have exposed. There will be no redress from the Great Powersunless the Armenians, like the Slavsand. Greeks, do something! for themselves. They hold the gates of Asiatic Turkey, they have Russia behind them, they have wealth m every country m the "world, and theirjclear duty is to aid their co-religionists m shaking, off the authority of the caste against which thsy complain-to Europe. One battle won, however insignificant, would* be worth an acre of .memorials, v ' Loversy. says -the -"Leader," who are m the habit of takifig 'moonlight walks along' the beach between; Sanctridge and St. Kildashould take warning' by a story that an old' Tasinanian friend once told me. He was walking with a lady-- to. whom he was engaged on a country road a few miles but of Launceston, wnejiT;wp cojiyictsan prison attire suddenly appeared befdre^theht and told them to undress. ■ Remonstrances were perfectly useless ; "the men' were desperate, and resistance would have been Triadnesa. In about ten minutes .an exchange of ■: clothes" was effected— the/ lady -it ;appears-was very large and. one of .the. convicts very small; — and' the : loverß-^weie- :left3n ' particolored -garments, richly; : Bmbroidered: with- broad !: t6',Tnake-'th^ir way home,"while the (ege^ped^pnsonerst^wen^fbn their way re'jofcingO'My frierPd and^his companion were arrested by the police as soon as they came within the lights of Launceston, and it was" only by sending for the young lady's father, who hated the gentleman, that they avoided being locked up all night. If the prisoners at work down at the Sandridge batteries continue to escape as they have been doing lately, my friend's history may repeat itself on the shores of Hobson's Bay. During a recent ' musical festival at a fashionable church the vestry fondly hoped and believed that the* collections, would go along way m assisting them .to meet their financial engagements. - The . congregations were large, and the music of a character that should have. produced a bountiful response. Every man was exhorted to give, " not grudgingly, nor of necessity, but just as he felt disposed m his heart." The collection .exposed the natures of at leaSfc^ree mean individuals, for when the bag^ras emptied two gelatine lozenges and one corn plaster were found amongtst- theKcpiitributions. — Wellington " Argasl".. .. JmT^'- . A new and most interesting €&ld of Missionary work has been opened by a few Christian ladies m Dublin. The plan (observes the " Express) "has bejßn adopted m London with signal success} anditf has recently been introduced into Belfast;, where it is working well. The system-may briefly be explained. When the female prisoners are discharged m the morning, after putting m the terms of sentence m gaol, they; are met at'the gate by some' Christian ladids, who invite them to' a house m tike, immediate vicinity, where a repast is provided for them, inquiries are made, an' interest expressed for their personal history, and advice is -given as to their future course. of life.- [They are offered, not merely sentimental sympathy, but employment.-. \ , .' f