OMNIUM GATHERUM

Otago Witness, 14 December 1893, Page 34

OMNIUM GATHERUM

NEWS. GOSSIP, AND ADS.

At Waipu, oce old lady, 85 years of age, recorded her vote at the recent election for Marsden.

Mr Edward Palmer has purchased Meadowbank, Tokomairiro, the price mentioned being £16 per acre.

It is stated that Mr George Fisher, of Wellington, has accepted a lucrative position on a Queensland newspaper. HA fierce gale on Saturday and Sunday did a good deal of damage to orchards in Dunedin, while a few windows have been blown in.

The Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has adopted a scheme for the establishment of a game farm for rearing partridges and pheasants.

In Heligoland a "giants' burial ground " has jusfc been discovered by Dr Holzhausen in the higher land of the island. A huge stone coffin has been laid bare.

Joseph Lue, a Chinese missionary, has arrived from Ballarat to labour among his countrymen in Auckland under the direction of the Auckland Chinese Mission.

Mr John O'Meara, who unsuccessfully contested the Wakatipu election, intends leaving the Lakes district very shortly, his destination being the West Coast. The total rainfall for Auckland for November was 7 T7in, the highest yet recorded for that month. The mean temperature for November in Auckland was the highest since 1864.

The Government have appointed Judge Kettle to hold an inquiry into the charges brought by Mr Taipua, ex-M.H.R., against Mr Williams, the licensed interpeter at Patea.

Although Mr Reeves was the Government candidate for Inangahua, that did not prevent the Premier from telegraphing his congratulations to Mr O' Regan on his " well- deserved " success.

The frankest announcement we have read for a long time appeared in the Marlborough Express on the day of the election. It was delightfully brief — "No leading article today. We are tired."

A leading Auckland solicitor declares that the lawyers have reason to complain of the reduction of fees. At one time they received fees that were honouring to the profession rather than dishonouring.

The Premier leaves for Kumara, via Christchurch, on Thursday by the Hinemoa, and will spend Christmas at home and celebrate his silver wedding on January 13. He returns to Wellington in five weeks.

The Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times states that Cr Petherick fluttered the city fathers on Thursday night by naming several well-known citizens who, he alleges, are owners of disorderly houses.

The hospital returns for the past week are : — Remaining from previous week, 98 ; admitted during the week, 14 ; discharged, 18 ; deaths (James Sharp and John 31 ' Lay), 2 ; — total remaining in the institution, 92.

The Hawke's Bay Herald says: — "Masters of vessels from the north have for some time reported schools of whales in the Bay of Plenty and all along the East Coast. Such a mine of wealth as this should not go begging."

A settler at Kerem says he believes the most effectual m> thod of destroying American blight on apple trees is to dissolve a pound of soft soap in two gallons of boiling rain water, adding half a wineglassful of kerosene. Stir the whole well together, and apply to the affected parts by means of a good Btift' brush.

The lambing iv Hawke's Bay thi3 season is something very remarkable. The sheepfarmers declare that never yet have they seen such an increase. Twin lambs are more common than single ones, triplets are numerous, and one writer says that at Pourere he saw in three cases ewes with no fewer than five lambs iv attendance.

Applications for letters patent have been made by Robert Easton, of Mornington, for "Easton's Transverse Flax-dresser"; Thomas and William Bennet, of Dunedin, for improvements in mangles, entitled "Bennet's Improved MaDgle"; and William Ward, of Otago, goldminer, for improvements in wire-strainers, to be known as " The Dot Wire-strainer."

A boy named Harold Waterhou&e, the eight-year-old son of the manager of the Atlas Insurance Company, was killed at Knightsbridge, near Adelaide, by his six-year-old brother. The little chap secured a revolver hanging on a nail in the house, and loaded it with a cartridge. While playing with it the revolver went off, instantly killing Harold.

While not inclined to take up the rule of weather prophet, the Southland News thinks that settlers on the Mataura and along the broad valley of the Oreti should be on the alert for floods in view of the recent bad weather. A pioneer of 1856 points out that there were then traces of a much higher flood than has ever

occurred since that; in fact, the wide plain from foothill to foothill had been submerged. Cremation is becoming increasingly popular in Paris, and the crematorium erected at the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise has already been found to be too small. Additions are being made, and a third furnace, a large hall, and a columbarium will soon be ready for use. The latter somewhat resembles the Campo Santo of Genoa, and will contain 10,000 receptacles for the ashes. These niches are closed with slabs of marble, on which inscriptions can be cut. The dreaded Hessian fly has made its appearance on the Taieri Plain, but we (Advocate) are pleased to say that compared with last year its numbers show a welcome decrease. We are pleased to learn that on several farms where the Hessian fly was last year noticed among wheat no trace of them has this year teen discovered ; so that those who last year thought that by the next harvest their numbers would have increased are dispelling their fears. The Timaru Herald says :—": — " The weed seeding season is here again, and there are a good many plants of what Mr Gideon Rutherford called the true cape weed, and declared worse than the Bathurst burr, now dying after delivering their seeds to the late strong breezes for distribution. For variety and healthiness the weeds growing on the reclamation would be hard to beab. The shingle appears to be much more fertile than the average farmer would give it credit for."

Some 940 names have, in the process of purging, baen removed from the Timaru electoral roll, probably one-half of the number being the names of people who are dead or gone from the district. The number of women who voied at the election was 1592, of men 1829. Only about 200 women have been struck off for not voting, as there were about 1800 enrolled. The Parnell (Auckland) roll has had 802 names removed from it, 3302 persons having voted out of the 4194 on the roll.

Mr Stevenp, M.H.R-, Mr J. Ivess, and Mr Gardner waited on the Premier as a deputation on the 6' h, and asked for a compassionate allowance to the Quinlivan families, four of whom were killed by a slip on the railway works near Ohingaiti. Mr Seddon said that these people had been warned they were nob safe, and the department was in no way legally responsible. He would, however, recommend the Cabinet to grant the little girl £50 per annum till she was 21, Quinlivan £200, and P. Quiulivan £100.

The next contest of the New Zealand Bands Association having been fixed to take place at Invercargill in October 1894, a preliminary meeting of citizens was held on Friday v night last to make &uch arrangements as will secure the success of the contest. The general opinion, was that the prizes hitherto given were inadequate in value for the arduous practice required of the competing bands, and strong efforts will be made to increase the money, £100 for the winning band being the goal aimed at.

The house of Mr Isaac Jacobs, of St. Kilda, Victoria, was robbed last week of jewellery by a young man named George Cox, engaged as a butler. Cox was seen by a Bervant maid at a drawer where the jewellery was kept, and he shortly afterwards left. Later on jewellery valutd at £490, belonging to Mrs Levy, a daughter of Jacobs, was missed. The police arrested Cox, but when searched the only article of value found upon him was a sovereign, which Jacobs had marked, as he suspected Cox of dishonesty. Accused|was remanded. Some uneasiness is felt regarding the safety of some persons who put to sea from Gisborne in a large boat with the intention of sailing to Lyttelton. A man named Harris bought the boat from the Harbour Board, decking it in and rigging it, and took on board with him another man with his wife and four children, and a Chinaman. They left on Sunday morning, and soon after setting sail a heavy storm arose, driving them out to sea. A dingey which they had with them has since been picked up on the beach. At a special session of the University Senate held on Tuesday for the purpose of considering the reports of the examiners for the three professional medical examinations of November 1893, it was resolved that J. M. Matthews, Miss E. H. Siedeberg, and A. Stenhonse, M.A., be recorded as having passed their first professional ; that J. L. Grigg be recorded as having passed the second professional ; and that M. W. Ross, having passed the third professional, be entitled to the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. The Auckland Board of Education have received 283 entiies for [the junior and senior scholarships. The board has on the teachers' list at present the names of 100 persons, who have passed examinations, for whom they have no employment. At a meeting of the board las'; week the chairman stated that only one out of the eight applications for the post of chief inspector might possibly prove satisfactory, and the committee could not recommend any of the applicants. It was decided to invite fresh applications, with £600 a year salary and a three years' engagement. A most amusing incident in connection with the Pareora election has come to our ears (says the Temuka Leader). One of the candidates was arguing the point with a lady at her buck door, when a rap was heard at the front door. The lady went immediately to answer ifc, and there stood before her a gentleman who introduced himself as " Mr , one of the candidates for the district." The lady, bewildered, exclaimed, " Ob, dear ! Oh. dear ! and I havo Mr at the back door." Both candidates shook hands, and left in doubb as to who succeeded in winning the confidence of the lady. At the annual meeting of the Christchurch Charitable . Aid Board on the 6th, the chahman said that with regard to the management of '^institutions for housing destitute aged persons, tverj thing was satisfactory; but the results of another important feature of the bofrd's work — distributing o itdoor relicf — were not satisfactory. It voald be hard to satisfy the demands of all applicants unless the public were prepared to submit to much higher taxation. Neither could the board prevent complaints from many persons who already allege they were overcharged. No one grudged reasonable assistance to worthy objects of charity. On the other hand, it was with reluctance the board were obliged to submit to the demands of idle and vicious people without being empowered by law to compel them to render an equivalent for help that in certain cases could not be denied. The application of a test in gome form became a necessity, and the sooner would the strong and increasing tendencies to pauperism which were becoming so abundantly evident, more especially in the large centres of population, be likely to be repressed.