TOPICAL TITBITS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1200, 1 March 1895, Page 21

TOPICAL TITBITS.

Some 5000 newly-enrolled French conscripts have been discharged owing to illhealth, the result of the severe cold. Insurgents are besieging Lima, the capital of Peru. The Paris Figaro is causing a hubbub by the statement that all the Parisian papers, except about 13, receive douceurs from the financial companies. When the Arawa was at Sydney . she landed some 281 b tins, apparently of patent paint. They were actually tilled with deadly cartridges, sent to Samoa from foreign ports, 'tis said, for the sole purpose of ending the native troubles there. The Samoan Government didn't quite see matters in the same light, and sent the packages on to Sydney. Some much-needed improvements are to to be made at the Palmerston railway station.

It is reported that the Union Steam Ship Campany holds the Mersey Marine Board, responsible for the recent accident to the Pukaki. The school excursion from Foxton to Palmerston on Tuesday was a great success. About .£3O were received for tickets. About 600 school children from stations between Palmerston and Danevirko are going to* Foxton on Saturday for an excursion. Arrangements have been made for the Star of- the South to take them to the heads. ' The Otaki Brass Band is to don new uniform. A house in Lawrence street, Havelock, occupied by Mr Mitchell and owned by Dr Drury, was totally destroyed by fire on Monday night. The insurances are unknown. The Devonport Ferry Company, Auckland,has declared a dividend of 10 per cent. Some beautiful blocks of mottled totara have left Mr Bartholomew's sawmill, Wereroa, for England. At Dunedin on the 20th for the halfholiday about 800 people went on a railway excursion to Waihola. The Tailoresses' Union had a picnic at Quarantine Island and the JRavensbourne Regatta was well attended.

It was pretty -warm at Otaki on Tuesday week. The thermometer registered 94 degrees in the shade. A judgment summons ease was heard in the Magistrate's Court on Monday which appeared on the record book as " Gr. Heseott v. E. H. Lough, claim £2 25." As a matter of fact the case was Lough v. Hescott. The case against John Swann, charged with attempting to murder Hugh Campbell, solicitor, at Auckland, was dismissed, the Magistrate (Mr Northcroft) deciding that the evidence adduced did not disclose intent to kill.

At the Marton Police Court on Tuesday, Gr. E. Bently was sent to the Wanganui Gaol for seven days' curative treatment. It is alleged that Bently, who had been drinking, and was in low spirits, attempted to commit suicide on Monday night.— Mercury. The Attorney-General has refused, states a telegram from Auckland, to issue his fiat to test the validity of the Gazette notice of the half-holiday in the Supreme Court. The Hastings Knights of Labour protest against the running of Sunday trains to Napier. A man named "William Ibbofct died suddenly at Wanganui on Monday. He had been ailing for some time. The jury in the case of John Restall, charged at Napier with attempting to murder 10 men at the Patoka Station, disagreed, and the prisoner has been remanded till next sessions of the Court. The native who murdered Mr Lowe, an ex-Aucklander, in the Fijian Group, has been sentenced to death. At the inquest concerning the death of the infant daughter of Mr Arthur Pollock, Ohau, a verdict of death from suffocation was returned.

Witnesses examined by the Armenian Commission are making revelations of a terrible character. The London and River Plate Bank has been ordered to refuse all classes of exchange. In a forgery case at Christchurch, Judge Denniston said that those avlio so readily cashed cheques for strangers do r e<l their share in the loss.

Yesterday week a large lump of quarts crashed through the window of an office in Willis street and fell on the pavement at the opposite side of the street, narrowly escaping striking a little girl. The Tariff Commission heard further evidence on Friday in Dunedin. A deputation of Central Otago f suit-growers asked for an increased duty' on fruit from Australia.

Mr Mcßeath is having the* Family Hotel at Otaki renovated.

The Katoomba and Karakatta have 1 left Sydney for Auckland. The trial of the press blackmailers _ ire Paris has concluded, and sentences of imprisonment have been imposed upon several of the accused.

Mr Martin on Friday further adjourned! for a week his decision in the case in whisia Jeremiah O'Neill, licensee of the White Swan Hotel, Cuba street, was charged witht Sunday trading. . . :' Major Somerville has arranged with the Union Steamship Company for saloon return fares to all Southern 1 competitors at the annual " Bisley " at Tresttham for 255. The Union Company has also gratuitously granted the winners of the Union Company's Cup now and in future a free passage between Lyttelton and Wellington. Mr George N. Baggett has been appointed local secretary in Wellington. Mrßaggetts i is a popular secretary among shooting menThe contract for the formation of the North Tiraumea road has begun. Five cases of typhoid fever have been reported to the Masterton Board of Blealth during the last few days. * ~ Three Chinese stoi'ekeepeis were fined at Palmerston North on Friday for breaches of the half-holiday Act.

Work at the Mangatainoka Bridge is proceeding* apace. There are 5000 ft o>.* more of totara on the ground, in addition to the piles which have been driven. The settlers at'Makuri are talking of a public meeting to ask for a school. ~„A powerful menace to health exists ab Pahiatua in the shape of a noisome creels running through the centre of the town. At the inquest on the body of the man Pidgeon, mysteriously poisoned at Invert cargill, the juryl found that he had inhaled fumes of and that the mixing of poisons should be under: Government control. C

The half-caste Maori boy-Daniel Kelly, shot at Port Hills, is dead. ";;: Walter Burgess, a son of Mr OV-Bjirges3, of Campbelltown, cut the forefinger o]|, his. left hand while chopping mangold roots/_ ___ During last month three artisans ancfr 1159 labourers were employed on co-opera-tive works under the Survey Department, and 139 artisans and 709 labourers on cooperative works under the Public Works Department, the grand total, therefore being 2010. The artesian water supply at Campbelltown is found so beneficial and economical in the dairying pastures that the settlers are putting down wells as fast as their means permit. A parcel of new books has arrived for the Feilding Library. On the trip of the Manapouri from Wellington to Nauier, Mrs Crabtree, a salooa passenger booked for Auckland, gave birth to a still-born child, which was buried at sea.

The police raided some houses in the Prohibition district of Clutha, but their mission was not so successful as was expected. Liquor was found in one or two of the places visited. Th© liquidators of the New Oriental Bank have declared a fourth dividend of Is. Sicily is in a disturbed state, and the troops have been reinforced. . Three bands ! of armed conspirators have been arrested. The United States Government has protested against the exclusion of American cattle from Prance, and denies the ex--1 istence of pleuro-pneumOnia. A correspondent of the Dunedin Star urges that those who sell rotten fruit should be proceeded against. It is now believed that the wheat yield of New South Wales will be very much smaller than was at first expected. - A swimming contest among the scholars attending the Woodville, Hawera, Mangatainoka, and Pahiatua Schools is to take place shortly at Manpatainoka. It is proposed to make it an annual event, and a challenge cup is to be competed for. At a meeting of the Council of the Flock Book Association at Palmerston North, it was decided to send copies of the entries received for the flock book to the various A. and P. Associations for public inspection.

The tourist traffic by way of Ohingaiti to the Hot Lakes is largely increasing., A license has been granted for the new Theatre Royal built at Marton by Mr McChesney. Father Mulvihill, of Hawera, is seriously ill at Opunake. The valuation of the Borough of Wanganui for the year is' .£41,820, against .£37,700 for the previous twelve months. The Eltham School Committee have decided to take the school children for a trip to New Plymouth on Saturday, March 2nd, instead of holding their annual picnic. The Borough Council of Marton ha.s declined to establish public baths in the town, though willing to assist private enterprise in thac direction. The Government totalisator tax at the Dunedin meeting amounted to .£315. The Club Hotel at Shannon has again changed hands, Mr McLeod having sold out to Mr Moynihan, late of Barrett's Hotel, Wellington. — Farm. er. Another one from the Oamaru Mail : "We may safely assert that Oamaru has attained unenviable pre-eminence as the home of the most thoughtless, silly, noisy youth in the Colony, and last night's exhibition of yahooism in the pit of the Public Hall was, beyond question, the worst we have ever experienced in any part of the globe." The Palmerston North Borough Council intend to ask the police to prevent shooting galleries from being erected in the Square

Maiden Hack Race, of 25 sovs; second horse, 5 sovs. One mile. "Weight for age. Entry 255. 5. St. Patbick's Handicap, of 60 sovs; second horse, 10 sovs. One mile and a quarter. Nomination, 20s ; acceptz ance, 40s. 4. Handicap Hack Race, of 35 sovs; second horse, 5 sovs. One mile and a-quarter. Nomination, 15s ; acceptance, 20s. 5. Flying Handicap, of 45 sovs; second horse 5 sovs. Three-quarters of a mile. Nomination, 20s; acceptance, 255. . 6. Selling Hack Race, of 15 sovs. One mile. Weight for age. Entrance, 15s. The winner to be sold for 15 sovs immediately after the race, any surplus to be divided between the Club and second horse. 7 . Flying Hack Handicap, of 30 sovs; second horse 5 sovs. Three-quarters of a mile. Nomination, 15s,- acceptance, 15s. The winners of St. Patrick's Handicap and Hack Handicap Race to carry a penalty of 71b. NOMINAI lONS, Etc. Weights will be declared on or before SATURDAY, 2nd March, at 9 p.m. Acceptances and Entries for the Maiden Hack "and Selling Hack Races close with the Secretary on SATURDAY, 9th March, at 9 p.m.

RULES AND REGULATIONS. All races to be run under the New Zealand Rules of Racing. In case of a protest, the same must be lodged with the Secretary within 15 minutes after the race has been run, with a deposit of £2, such deposit to be forfeited if the p • sest be found frivolous or vexatious: ' . No scratching of horses allowed, unless through the Secretary, and 30 minutes before the time of starting. No entry will be received for any race unless on the conditions that all claims, disputes, and objections arising shall be decided by the Stewards, or whom they may appoint, and their decisions upon all points shill be fihaL All nominations, entries and acceptances, accompanied by the necessary amount, must be addressed to the Secretary, Masterton. No entry will be received after the hour named on any pretence whatever. Any jockey riding except in colours will be fined 2 sovs. The amount for second horse will be deducted from the advertised amount of stakes. Horses walking over will receive 50 per cent, of the stakes. Hack means a horse that has never won an advertised race at any time (Hack or Hunter races excepted), and is not or has not been nominated in any race, other than Hace Race at the same meeting. , E. H. WADDINGTON, ' - ■'.';', Secretary. Submitted to and approved by the Wellington Racing Club this 15th day of February, 1895. H. M. Lyon, Secretary.