TOPICAL TITBITS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1190, 21 December 1894, Page 14

TOPICAL TITBITS.

A good many people who enjoy reading Mr Blackmore’s novels.. are perhaps not aware that he is a market-gardener on I a large scale near London. - I The public has a right to expect that J the terrible lessons of the recent wreck will I not be thrown away. —Lyttelton Times. ' I The Palmerston North Fire Brigade I Library is in future to be open as a circuJ lating library each Saturday. 'There are 1200 books to choose from. The Sluggish River Drainage Board, Manawatu, have fixed the special rate for the loan of <£lßoo. / A man named Diamond was thrown. out of a trap at Campbelltown, and had one of his arms broken and an elbow dislocated. A very sudden death has occurred at Okaiawa in the Hawera district. A man named Edward Collins was carrying buckets/when he was seized with a fit of coughing and bleeding from 'the nose. He put the buckets down, and then Jell down, breathed twice and expired. The cause of death was fatty degeneration of-the heart. Saturday was the eighth anniversary of the foundation of the Wellington Rowing Club. Considering its age, the club has a record unsurpassed by very few rowing clubs in the Colony.

The West Australian Goldfields Company (Limited) shows a profit for the six months of .£47,000. A dividend has been declared at the rate of 25 per cent, for the yehr, and .£25,000 carried forward. ' / The Premier of Tasmania confirms the cablegram from London that the-Govern-ment is about to issue a loan.' The HawJce’s Bay Herald has received a bottle of water obtained from the upper reservoir containing a red water-worm of ferocious aspect, with a most peculiar mode of locomotion —a kind of ' leverage from head to tail. The editor 'has been told there are plenty more like him (the' insect) in the reservoir. , . The language used by some of the lads who attend the Awahuri State School is said to be very florid, and some of the residents have complained. . ’. . The recont “ social ” in aid of St. Joseph’s Orphanage resulted, after paying all expenses, in a credit balance of >BBO Is 6d. A circus procession in the street almost broke up a meeting of the Marlborough Education Board the other day, - A man running to catch a train the other night at Wanganui fell, and broke or 1 sprained a limb.

Otago Daily Times, anent the Wairarapa enquiry:—“We must give utterance to the general disgust of the community respecting the bad ? business of the ‘ so-called boat-drill,’ The Union Company bannot'be exonerated from blame in this matter.” The London dailies published cable messages of a couple of columns about the Wairarapa wreck. . It is- understood that negotiations have been concluded with the Government; for' the purchase of a block of 600 acre's near Timaru—Mr Pringle’s Rosebrook Farm. With regard to the Gothic case That the captain, who knows nothing about disease, should be made to suffer for the fault of the doctor shows that; the law is wrong, and that an alteration .of, it is demanded.”—Pal merston Standard. :

The cutter Pride of the Ocean,, which left on a sealing cruise in June, and whibh it was feared had been lost, is safe. The application to the Otaki Licensing Committee for the removal of the license of the Manakau Hotel to a house at Levin has been refused. ' Wild flowers are specially protected by a Bill recently introduced in'the.New South Wales Parliament. Under this measure anybody assisting at any entertainment "at which wild flowers are ’shown, -displayed, or exhibited ” —whatever may be the subtle distinction so drawn—will be liable to a fine of £ 100. / • A man named William 1 Ruddle, while felling a tree near Ha wera, had his leg broken. The Stipendiary Magistrate yesterday granted Mr J. Za’chariah a twelve months* renewal of his pawnbroker’s licensee. The co-operative men, under Mr Snow,, are making good progress with the bridle track across the Oroua River to connect Apiti and liangiwahia. x A young man named Anderson had his thigh broken at Poxton through trying, to stop a horse by jumping on its tether

rope. | A lad named Joseph Green, 16 years of age, has been taken to the Palmerston Hospital from Feiiding suffering from a bullet wound in the knee, caused by the use of a toy pistol. r ' At a meeting at Dunedin of the. New Zealand Bowling Association, it was decided to commence the tournament on January 14th. During the voyage of the .Mararoa, which arrived at the Bluff on Monday from Mel-, bourne, the' vessel’s speed was slackened for several hours on two days owing. to dense fog. The tender of Mr B. Poole, £1 Ss 6d per chain, has been accepted : bythe,Kiwitea County Council for work on the Mangapipi - - road.

What the Minister of Lands really said at Clinton was that he was convinced, after visiting Pomahaka, that the price paid for that estate was hot too dear. The word " not ” was omitted from the Press Association message. - . The shares in Baron Schroeder’s Assets Company, formed to take over the Union Mortgage and Agency Company’s guaranteed mortgages, have been allotted. A Food Reform Society is an accomplished fact in Auckland. The members are thinking of having a vegetarian picnic. About the Premier’s speech at. Rotorua: —There ran through it a spirit of manly independence, a courageous outspokenness and sincerity which have not always been features of the speeches delivered by Ministers of the Crown.” —Marton Mercury. The Palmerston Standard pleads strongly for a giant to complete the road between Palmerston and Pahiatna.

Christmas number N.Z. Mail great success. ’ ■'■

In the making o£ wills some are left out and others are left tin.

The Palmerston Standard reports that the creditors of A, F. Laurenson, builder, have passed a resolution that steps be taken to have the bankrupt criminally prosecuted: A--delicate-looking Maori tribe up Rotorua way who waited on the Premier about a road rejoice in the name of NgatirangiuOnnkukopakongatirangiuewehi. W.ounded in the house of its friends! The* abolition of Canterbury Anniversary Dayis suggested by the Christchurch Press, in a leading article complaining that there are too many holidays. The Benmore and Balmoral cases prove conclusively'that it is absolutely necessary that shearers should be protected against the caprices of managers.- — Temuka Leader. From Nelson:—As some bandsmen on board a train were crossing a bridge over the Wairau river, Marlborough, the oscilla- , tion of the car jerked the mouthpiece of one of the instruments into the river. The men who write for the papers over that way deserve recognition for this. The proposal of the Kiwi tea County Council to borrow <£looo for the construction of Hayne’s line and Perry’s road has been carried at the poll of the ratepayers, ■/ ' ' A sumptuous banquet was to have been given the Eltham children with the supper provided for a ball at which the attendance of the public had been only moderate ; * but when the poor little ones mustered to the number of about 150, they were sadly ; disappointed to find that, with the exception of a few dishes of pastry, all the food had been stolen. All Eltham is at white heat over the incident. ’ By the aid of the Convalescent Fund in Dunediri, fifty-four women and girls who were quite,broken down in health were sent to the country or seaside during the year for rest and change for periods of four, three, or two weeks. Nearly 100 tons of butter and cheese collected between New Plymouth and Palmerston -was to Wellington by the prodtxceTtrain on Tuesday night. - : The' French Admiralty has resolved that for attainment of a high rate of speed by warships, large coal-bunkers are an essential ‘ feature. In all new vessels this innovation will be adopted. : ■ Ice creams are now manufactured in Palmerston North. This circumstance is

hailed by the local press as a fresh proof of the advance of civilisation in that district.; "<■ :

It is reported (says the Oamaru Mail) that the Government has sent a representative' to the New Zealand Estates Company’s station; Waihaorunga, near Waimate, to prepare a valuation and report . with a view to cutting the land up for settlement. The station contains 18,000 acres, which is all cultivated. ;; Wo acknowledge a tasteful almanac from "the Commercial Union, Company.. . \ ,