OMNIUM GATHERUM

Otago Witness, Issue 2083, 25 January 1894, Page 20

OMNIUM GATHERUM

NEWS. GOSSIP. AND ADS.

A dairy factory will shortly be erected at Dipton.

The expenditure of tho colony last quarter was £1,460,290.

Notice of tho disbandment of tho Palmerston South Rifles is gazetted.

The Australian crop of grapes for this season is the largest known for years.

There are about 70 dwellings in course of erection on the Cheviot estate.

The Oamaru Mail says a canvass is being made with a view to break down the 9 o'clock closing on Saturday nights. The shop of Mr W. C. Cochran,Queenstown, was burglariously entered last week and between £3 and £4 in cash stolen.

The Wellington City Council has decided that after a week's notice all unregistered dogs about the city aro to be drowned. The Hinemoa will transfer 40 patients from the Seaeliff Asylum, and a similar number from the Suunyeide, to the Porirua Asylum this week.

The coal export from Westport last week was 6296 tons, of which the Westport Company contributed 6010 tons, and the Mokihinui Com- j pany 286 tons. The Lyttelton collector of customs has received £2 conscience money from an anonymous importer, forwarded as duty short paid upon a parcel of clothing. The Cabinet last week decided to transfer Mr Rawson, R.M. at Invercargill, but his destination or the name of his successor has not yet been determined. The Colvin family, of Auckland, who were rendered dangerously ill by eating rhubarb pie, in the crust of which ptomaines had been generated, have now recovered. At their last meeting the Mosgiel School Committee took the somewhat unusual course of declining to nominate any candidate for the vacancies in the Otago Education Board. The question of lighting Wanganui by electricity is under the consideration of the borough council. The cost of a plant to drive 100 street lamps of 20-candle power is given at £750. A young man named Alexander Mill Copland is under remand at Invercargill on a charge of forging and uttering on November 20 last two promissory notes of the value of £62 and £9. The" services of the matrons who are to be appointed at police stations in the chief centres will probably by utilised as typewriters in the police offices when they are nob otherwise employed. Mr J. W. Thomson, ex-M.H.R, points out that by the Alcoholic Liquors Act it is required that members of licensing committees must reside in the electoral district as well as being on the roll.

The Gore Racing Club appears to have foolishly decided to boycott one of the local papers for some strictures — without any direct local application — on things done in connection with horse-racing. The Cromwell Argus reports that Messrs James Horn, A. Fairbairn, A. B. Tomlin, and George Rivers made the ascent of the Remarkables on Sunday, reaching the highest point without mishap. The Public Trust Office during 1892 and 1893 paid £10,269 into the consolidated fund, besides making good out of the profits the deficiencies on the realisations of mortgage securities to the extent of £3758. The directors of the Wellington Gas Company recommend the declaration of a 5£ per cent, dividend, making 11 per cent, for the year, the writing of £2000 off the plant, and £1700 to be carried forward.

The Wellington Times estimates that from the returns of receipts and expenditure for the nine months of the present financial year there ought to be a b irplus of between £260,000 and £290,000 on March 31. Tho Foresters of New Plymouth last week established a second female court, with the title of Fidelity. Though only four months in existence the parent lodge, Pride of New Plymouth, has 31 members. The timber destroyed at the Union Saw Mills (Southland) fire on the 11th was insured in the New Zealand office for £500, and reinsured by that company in the Phoonix for £125. The loss was much greater than the insurance.

The Onehunga ironworks have been shut down for a few days pending negotiations, which have been practically completed, with a syndicate of co-operative workers from New South Wales, some of whom were previously employed at Onehunga. Mr E. Ivens (says the Taieri Advocate) has resigned tho head mastership of the Greytown School, and proceeds, we understand, to Canterbury, where he contemplates securing an appointment under the Canterbury Board of Education.

The Tasmanian Government have purchased the great nugget of tin found in the Gormanston tin mine recently at a sum of £50. The nugget is the largest of the kind ever discovered, weighing 2 tons 14cwt. It is estimated it will assay 20 per cent, of metallic tin.

The State farm near Waverley, Wellington, which was placed in charge of Mr Hislop, from the experimental State nursery at Whaugarei, will now be carried on by the coiinty council. The farm, which consists of 250 acres, 70 being bush, will be stocked with sheep. At last week's meeting of the Forbury School Committee it was announced that a scholar had not missed a single day from school during the last seven years. Thiß record was beaten by a boy who left last year, and who was not absent for a single day during eight years. At the annual meeting of the Leeston (Canterbury) Presbyterian Church the treasurer reported that he had taken among the collections defaced coins to the value of £1 10s, which would not pass in ordinary circulation, and were sold as old metal, only realising 8s 9d.

Old Thamesites will learn with deep regreb of the death of Mr T. B. Hicks, the well-known mine manager, who was -one of the earliest miners to arrive on the gold field. He had suffered from asthma for many years, and passed away last week at the age of 61.

In accordance with Colonel Fox's recommendation, the big breech-loading guns in the forts are to be sent Home to be strengthened. They will go one at a time. The total cost is estimated at £9000. Since this type of gun. was first used it has been found too weak.

The promoters of the scheme for au electrictramway to Karori from Wellington have prepared plans for a line two milesand a quarter long, costiDg about£l2o,ooo; The faro is expected to be between 3d and 6d. The gradients range from 1 in 12 to 1 in 132.

The licensing elections are expected to involve an outlay of from £6000 to £7000. Candidates for licensing committees will have to deposit £10, like parliamentary candidates, under the same conditions of forfeiture. The Government will help the local bodies who are unable to bear the expense of the election. The heat for the last three days (says the Cromwell Argus of the 16 th) has been excessively oppressive. The thermometer in Mr Mountney's hotel bar, which has no fewer than three outlets to the street, registered 96deg. with all these doors open on Sunday last. In the sun 120deg. were registered on the same day. It is authoritatively announced that the National Bank are about to transfer their New Zealand headquarters to Wellington. Mr Coates (the new general manager), who has justs, returned from England, says that most favourable opinions are expressed on all sides in the< old country as to the position and prospects oft the colony. Three Maoris have been arrested at the; Morea settlement, Rotorua, on a charge of having set fire to a store owned by Bennett, at* Te Puke, on December 27. Some of the goodsknown to have been in the store, and identified by Bennett, have been found with the Natives. Other Maoris are suspected, and efforts are being made to arrest them.

A most enjoyable evening was spent at Pukoteraki on the 15th, when, at the invitation of Mr Harry Pratt, who is leaving the district for the north, a large number of friends and visitors to the district assembled in the hall. Dancing was kept up with great spirit till daybreak. Songs wero contributed by the host and several ladies and gentlemen.

Mr Robert Paulin, in a letter in the Daily Times on the subject of the purchase of a new school site at Ngapara says that the evidence of men who have known and occupied the ground for many years shows that the ground is liable to be flooded, and tho board have decided to do what the majority of the Ngapara people justly consider a lasting injury to themselves and children.

The Rev. Mother Sharman, first superior of the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Timaru, died on Tuesday after a few days' illness ; aged 70. The deceased retired from the head of the establishment a few years ago on account of deafness. She was greatly respected and beloved. She is said to be a member of an English noble family. Bishop Grimes conducted the funeral on Wednesday.

The Cromwell correspondent of the Dunstau Times writes : — " The disappearance of the proprietor of the Golden Age Hotel, of Cromwell, who has left the district without bidding any of his friends good-bye, has furnished the people of Cromwell with a subject of conversation during the past week or so. A petition to have the missing one adjudged a bankrupt has been filed. His assets are sufficient to pay his debts nearly, if not quite, in full."

The Wellington Post says : — " We understand that members of the Legislative Council who opposed the Government measures which were thrown out in the Upper House last session will not further oppose them. Councillors are of opinion that the country having had these measures before it, and having returned tho Government with a substantial majority, they are under a constitutional obligation to pass them."

Mr J. C. Firth, Auckland, has purchased from the Waihi Goldmining Co. their large WhiteLowell revolving roasting furnace, with a daily capacity of 30 tons when worked to its full extent. It is intended to erect thia ponderousfurnace at Mr ' Firth's pumice works, near Rangiriri. At present Mr Firth's machinery is running night and day for the supply of pumice insulation for the Hon. J. G. Ward's new freezing works at the Ocean Beach, Bluff.

Late on Monday, the 15tb, a man named Flood drove his binder into a swarm of bees that had hived or settled on the standing wheat which he was cutting near Leeston, The bees savagely attacked the •horses, which bolted, and then- settled by thousands on Flood, severely stinging him. He pulled his hat down over his face and pluckily stuck to his horses until assistance arrived. Some other men on going to his assistance were also stung severely. -

The Timaru Harbour Board have received the report of the Royal Commission (Messrs Ussher and Hay, C.E's.) on the proposal to extend the breakwater to • form a groin to entrap the shingle for the greater convenience of working. The commission decline to recommend the Governor to sanction the work. Consideration of the other schemes recommended was deferred till the new dredge arrives. This vessel left Thursday Island for - Timaru, via Newcastle, on the 15th.