LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 13

LOCAL & GENERAL.

The National Bank have received advice that their London board will recommend at the Approaching annual meeting the usual 5 per cent, dividend, in addition to whioh £20,000 will be placed to reserve, and £4500 oarried forward.

A new organisation, calling itself the Liberty League, has recently been formed in Christ- ' church, and the question of forming a similar league in Dunedin is being discussed. The oon- - stitution sets forth that the league is composed of men and women who are prepared to use every constitutional means to' uphold and protect the liberty of the subject. It is to be entirely free of patty bias, but will not support any candidate for Parliament who is an extremist or faddist upon any subject affecting the individual rights of the people. The attempt now being made to force prohibition uponthe people of New Zealand is regarded as a serious menace to personal liberty, whioh, if successful,' would be the forerunner of further enoroachments upon individual freedom. 1 In the course of some ohaoty reminifcences of his college life a&-O«mbridga 'University, given before the members of the Otago University Debating Society on Friday night, Professor Sale , mentioned that it was his opinion, based on a good deal of observation, that present enjoyment was a better preparation for future work than anything ehe w*s, and that overmuch " study was a frequent came of breakdown, in after-life. He eulogised the system prevailing at Oxford and Cambridge, where all kinds of attractions were offered to students to fill up their leisure time, without - neglecting their ' work ; and referring to the student life in Otsgo, he said the amusements of the place llad'as much". to doiu fitting one for the world ,as the work in the class ,room had. The advantages of , the -residence system were briefly f '.touched on, the "Professor expressing th« hope ; - thafc-'Bome wealthy benefactor, would, some day . leave' a large sum of money^to the council to :. enable them to build a college ; and he said the main, secret; of a student getting on with his. work at Cambridge was that he had a good eolid' time to himself in the morning and another good solid time in the evening. The general result -was entirely wholesome— the -work the student did was done by himself, he had to trust to. himself, and there was no system of cram. ' ' ,

The staff of one of the local banks (says a "Wangariui paper) have been busily employed counting out gold deposited in that institution by a local gentleman on behalf of a deceased' wealthy friend who some time ago, during the bank' scare, drew all hi« money out— a very considerable sum— in gold, which he kept hoarded .op in his room till the time of his death. What a chance the spielers missed ! , v The Southland Times reports that ab a largely-attended meeting at Winton it was ■ tmanintously resolved— " That this meeting has unabated confidence in Mr Ward as representative for Awarua, and notwithstanding^the attacks, that have been made upon him is still prepared to support him for Parliament." Mr „> Swale, in supporting the" motion/ held that Mr '' Ward was charged with nothing more than 50 . per cent, of the farmers, knew something of— namely, over-estimating his securities. What farmer wanting a loan had not over-estimated the value of. his farm ? In speaking at Invercargill of his reception at Diinedin, Mr J. G. Ward is repotted to have said:— "He was amused upon reading the report in the Obago Daily Times to find that the fact of three groans b3irig called for and moit'vigorofesljr given for Sir R Stout and Mr ' Dufhie wai suppressed. They, even in suppretsing thin, actually attempted to convert some of -these groans into a demonstration sb ' against- himself— (laughter),— heedless of that it was an insult to the vast assemblage that' surrounded them, and that their tactics would at once be seen." We are not prepared to say that at some stage of the proceedings groans were not given for' Sir ' Robert Stout, but it is singular that_pf the four members of our staff who were on the railway station not one. heard these groans or any request for them, and yet each one' of .the four strove to get as good a position as possible to - see and hear what went on. One reporter made his way to the top of .the railway carriage in which Mr Ward was a passenger and wts within 6ft of the ex-Colonial Treasurer. If three groans were called for, as stated, the fact was not generally known nor was the response very effective, for, as stated in our report, the groans were on each occasion drowned by the cheering. . v • .

. A singular discovery has been made by Mr F. King, ot the Exchange Hotel. A day or two ago (aays the Westport paper) it was noticed that the small quantity of sand at the bottom of the bucket used in scrubbing out the bar contained gold. Since then he has panned off the sweepings of the bar, and can always get & nice prospect of fine gold. Probably other householders will have a similar experience. If so it would go to show that the gravel of which the streets are formed is auriferous. Among the passengers by the b.b. Alaska, which arrived at Liverpool on the 6th May, was the Rev. N. Asohtenreitb, of the Basel Mission, who iv exploring the great C&meroons Mountains penetrated into country where no white man had previously been. After he had proceeded for several hundred miles his progress uras stopped by the natives, by whom, without knowing it, he was condemned to be killed and jeaten. -The natives, however, considered .he "would not make good "ju ja," and he was allowed to live. Mr Auchtenreith reporfca that the country he explored is inhabited by cauuib»lfl. The climate is perfect, being quite cold N»tl night!, At first when he appeared the women

and children ran shrieking away for fear of being bewitched by the whits man ; but at lasb the natives consented to a mission being established in their oountry. > The Rev. H. Bryant, the new vicar of St. Paul's, Burwood, New South Wales, is introducing new methods of ministerial work. After expressing satisfaction at seeing so many men, "young and old, rich and poor, in attendance at the churoh services, he states that his difficulty is that he does not get to know them in church, and that "I want to know you all, not just to speak to, bub intimately." He then goes on to Btate that he intends to hold a smoking concert in the schoolroom for all the men in the parish, who are to remember only two things— to bring their, pipes and tobacco, and not to come in their best clothes. He then proceeds:— -"In the Vicarage we have family prayers at 9.15 p.m. ; after that I smoke my pipe in my sluty. I want any of you who will care to do so to come and smoke a pipe with me in my study on any evening, except Tuesday, after 9 IS. Look on it, please, as your, clubroom if you like, and come and make yourselves at home ; you will be heartiljytvelcome, so do not feel shy abaui accepting this invitation. This applies to all men, no matter ' 'who and what they are." In addressing the members of his congregation on their attitude towards one another, he says : — "We see each other in churoh Sunday by Sunday, we pass each other in the street as strangers for the next six days : the rich man does nob know his less fortunate brother, the hard-working woman is a stranger to her more favoured sister ; and yet they sing and pray under one roof on the ficsb day of the week, and kneel tide by side before the altar. Brethren, these things ought not to be." The Scottish papers record the death, on April 22 at Qrwgmill, of Mr jl.j 1 . Denoyan A4am,, R.S.Ai, who was the foremost animal painter of Scotland; The funeral iu.Cathcart Cemetery was attended by a numerous representation of artists from Glasgow and a large concourse of mourners from all parts of -Scotland. Mr, Bilfour Neill, son of Mr P. C. Neill, and well known in athletic circles in Dunedin and Christchurob, is a passenger by the Gothio for England. Mr Neill is going to the" Cambridge University to study, we understand, for the Jaw, and will doubtless keep up the reputation of young New.Zealanders in his examinations as wfill as in the athletic field. On the eve of his departure he was the recipient of a handsome taken of remembrance from the staff x>f •Neill and Co. (Limited) in the shape of a tolid gold sovereign ease v . *, The Lambertville (N.J.) correspondent, New York Herald writes :— '•' George Burroughs, 10 years old, died a few days ago at his home near the city limits. It was reported that dropsy was the cause of his death. " He had been treated for that complaint in the oity hospital, and had only just been taken home whoa he beoame worse and died in a short time. It is now said that he was & victim, of -nicotine poison. He bad early acquired the habit of chowiug and smoking tobacco. In fact, he had just about begun wearing knickerbockers when he began to use tobacco, and soon he could chew or smoke like a man, The Burrough^family lived on the outskirts of the city. ' The family is quite large, there being five or six boys, and an equal number of girls. The father and all the boys use tobacco 'to excess, having begun wh^n quite young. It has been no uncommon thing to bear the children ask their father for a chew, whioh was always cheetfully given. George exceeded the others in the use of tobacco, aud when he could gel; it by no other means, housed to go around the streets, picking up atumps of cig»r* and smoking and ohoning them. ' The desire for tobacco re* mained until the last moment. While he lay on his deathbed he begged for it, and during his entire illness he was not satisfied withont it. The undertaker who had charge of the funeral said, the body was in a terrible condition. He arrived at the Burroughs home .about two hours after the boy died, and said the body was badly swollen and discoloured. He tried in every possible way to preserve the body for burial two days later, but on the day of the funeral it could not be looked ab by the relatives." Doubtless the most successful concert, artistically and otherwise, ever held in the district came off in the Volunteer Hall,' Green Island, last Friday evening. The programme submitted was qf more than ordinary merit, aud the performers were all well-known Dunedin artists. There was a very large and enthusiastic audience. The chair was occupied by Mr D. M'Pherson, president of the New Zealand Bowling Association, who briefly stated the object of the evening's entertainment, whioh wa3 a complimentary concert to the Green Island Bowling and Lawn Tenis Club, The male quartet, "In the glooming," sung by Messrs Salvini, 'Robertsh&w, Smith, and Ibbotson, opened the proceedings. At a latter stage in the evening these gentlemen sang the quartets— (a) "Killarney" and (6) " Good night ". Mr J.- F. Marshall sang "The mighty deep" and "Father O'Flynn " ; Mrs J. H. Coombs "By the waters" -and "The link divine"; Mr Harry Smith "The postilion" and "Glory"; Signora Venosta sang "The carnival" and "Five o'clock tea"; Mr A. Salvini "My queen";' Mrs William Murphy " The mountain maid " ; Mr D. A, de Maus, the humorous song "The mermaid and the bosun" and a Scotch comic song. Ml- T. Dallas played a cornet solo. Mrs and Miss Murphy "plkyed a pianoforte duet from " The Bohemian Girl," and Mrs Murphy and Mr A. Salvini rendered the 'prison scene from "II Trovatore." Mr D. M'Pherson gave a Scotch recitation, and in response to a vociferous encore that gentleman called upon Dr Jeffcoat, who willingly re- { sponded, and told a story, for which he was j waualjr applauded. Needless to say all the '

vocal items were received with rapturous applause, -the singers good-naturedly and almost invariably responding to the wellmerited demonstrations of approval from the audience. In proposing a vote of thanks to the performers, Mr J. Loudon referrod to t&a excellent quality of the programme, and stated that the funds of the club would be considerably augmented by the entertainment. . Mrs and Misa Murphy played the accompaniments during the eveuiog. A very enjoyable ball, given by the bachelors of Stirling, was he!d on Friday night in the Stirling Public Hall, whou there were between 50 and 60 couples present. The dance passed off with great iclat, reflecting the greatest credit on those who were at the head of affairs. Several vecal items and step dances added greatly to the enjoyment of all present. The M.C's. (Messrs Duncftn, Byers, and Hastings) and tho genial secretary (Mr M'Kissock) did everything in their power to render the dance one of the most enjoyable that have taken place in Stirling. . The graduation ceremony takes place at the Otago University on Friday evening, and will be on similar lines to that' of last year. Halfhour ooncerts will be held alternately in the library and chemistry room, and, with the various displays in the mining school and 'mtcTosoope room, should prove attractive. The. students' programme will bring the proceedings to a close. The Oamaru Mail reports that a trap was driven on Friday from the Kyeburn Hotel by way of Danfley's Pass to Duntroon. When two breaks in the roitd have been repaired, which will be in six weeks' time, the Mail believes the settlers at Naeeby-and district will find their way to Oamaru instead of to Dunedin. , It w\s .stated at the meeting e# the Wellington Benevolent Trustees last week that competition amongst the butchers in Wellington was never. so keen as, at the present lime. The ohairinan asserted that' some of the larger firms with a desire to crush the smaller tradesmen, were selling for 113 p9r lb mutton which had cost them double that amount. The*Oamaru papers record the death of Mrs Dalgleisb, of Papakaio, who. arrived in the colony with her husband, the late Mr James Dalgleish", and family in 1858. An interesting point arose at a recent meeting of the Thames Licensing Benoh. An unfavourable report upon a hotel from Constable ■Donovan was presented, but as he was not a sergeant, and was not in charge" of the district, it was held that it could not be received, and a renewal of a license which he had opposed was granted. •Despite occasional instances to the contrary, the old rule still seems to hold good that travel exercises an opening and ezoanding influence upon the intellect, and performs a valuable function in restoring or adjusting- the sense of proportion that may have been atrophied or distorted by isolation. That is the outstanding reflection (says the "Lyttelton Times) suggested by the record whioh the Rev. L. M. Isitt has allowed to be made of the results of his visit to England. What he saw in the mother country and in America has made him "thoroughly satisfied" with the state of temperance reform here and deeply impressed (though this latter is implied rather than stated; with the sobriety and intelligence of the people of New' Zealand. By contrast with the " gigantic barriers " to progress that exist elsewhere, he recognises that iv this oountry the path of the reformer is smooth and his goal easily attainable. According to a London paper the eleotrio bicycle has at last been perfected— of course, by a Yankes. It is de«cribed>as light and speedy, and gives every promise of perfeot success. Taking a wheel weighing 271b, Mr James O'Brien, inventor of the eleotrio bioyole, has added a battery, motor, and switchboard, which together bring "the weight up to 601b. The battery, which is known as the dvy chloride, is the main part of Mr O'Brien's Its weight is about 151b, whionMs considerably leas than anything' used in previous experiments. With this bicycle a force can be maintained which will carry the bicycle over rough oouotry roads, up hill and down hill, for a period of 48 hours. The speed of the eleotrio bicycle is^ practically unlimited. It has been tested up to nearly 50 miles an hour, faster than which no one. has yet dared to try it. This " bike " should catoh on. Schism of a curious kind has (says the London Daily Telegraph) rent in twain a Congregational Church in the Midlands, the point in dispute being, not theology, bub music. The pastor claims the right not only to dose his flook with the doctrine which be believes orthodox, but to dictate to them what tunes they shall sing during the service. That, he declares, is the prerogative of a. pastor. On the other hand, .the organist regards such a claim as ecclesiastical tyranny, and will not submit to it on any. consideration. He does nob attempt to interfere ' with the minister's dogma, and will not have that gentleman meddling with the musio box. The dispute has reached the stage of a strike, the organist and the choir refusing to perform, and the minister being left to lead the psalmody as best he o&n. He has advertised for a new musician .and a new choirmaster, bub the strikers have retaliated { by a counterblast whioh sets forth that "organists and, choirmasters are respectfully requested to keep away from Drenfield during the dispute." How it will end nobody knows, but the. point involved is a difficult one. Messrs Sinclair and Sim were on the bench at Tapauui on Friday, when Daniel Low was charged with having a, still in his possession, I and with distilling spirits. Constable Matheson - stated that on Wednesday lasb he wenb to ' acousod'o hut on Logan's Hill, and there found

a 10-gallon can- with close-fitting wooden lid over a fire. A pipe led from the can to a tub of water, where it was coiled several times and then passed out, and a jug was under the end of the pipe, and spirit running from, the pipe into ■the jug, Accused told him he made it from malt, sugar, and cabbage-tree, and said "I suppose I'll get six months for this." Acoused, in defence, said he was trying an experiment in rabbit poisoning, mixing the spirit with other stuff the rabbits' took. He did not sell any. Their Worships (saya the correspondent of the Mataura Ensign) sample^ the but were very coy with it, and pronounced it to be something like gin, but from the hasty way in whioh they got rid of it one would think "it was like and yet unlike." Acoused was found guilty, and a fine inflicted of £50, or six months' imprisonment. A meeting of the labour organisations (union and non-union, male aud female) waa held at Auckland on Monday. Mr W. Leys, chairman of the' Liberal Association, presided. The object^ was to select a Labour candidate for the forthcoming general election for the City of Auckland from the four already nominated — namely, Messrs Fawcus, Pro3ser, James. Regan, and J. Patterson. Mr Fawcus deoiined to abide by the deoision of the meeting, -but snid he would stand by his nomination already made by the Trades and Labour Council, and a ballot was taken of the remaining candidates, which resulted as' follows :— Prosser 217, Regan 76, Patterson 75. A large number left the hall, deolining to vote. At Outrun, on Saturday, John Rankin and John Neill were charged before Me E. H. Carew, S.M., aud Mr J. Dow, J.P., at the instance of laspector Aitken, with cruelty to a*dog by tying to its tail a tin which out the hamstring of one of the dog's legs. Defendants pleaded guilty, but urged that they had no intention of being cruel. Mr William Allan, appearing- to prosecute on behalf of the Society for, the Prevention of, Cruelty;, to Animals, called evidence- as to the condition of the dog, aud applied for .compensation. The owner/ Mr Duff, butoher, of Outram, valued the dog. at £10. Defendants • agreed- to pay .£B, and after this was arranged Mr Carew said that a fine of 2s .{id and costs would .meet the case. The fines and' costs came to £1 14s Bd. The Union Steam Ship Company anuounoe iv another column a series of winter exsursions to the South Sea Islands for both Nenr Zealand and Australia. Those who have' .made the round trip on previous occasions have pronounced the excursions to b"8 simply delightful. This season the company are able to._open up new grounds The'Tavinni and Ovalau, commencing on the Ist July, leave Auckland regularly every' *four weeks for the Tongan group, Samoa, and Fiji. The TJpolu leaves Auckland on the 16th July, and .every four weeks thereafter for Suva and Levuka in Fiji. Should excursionists by this steamer desire to extend their trip they can travel by the Oreti between the various islands and return by way of Tonga. The Taupo leaves Auckland for the Cook Islands and Society group on the 6th July, giving excursionists an opportunity to visit Tahiti, << the gem of. the Eastern Paoifio." August is the finest mouth of the year to visit the South Seas, and a speoial excursion has been arranged for that month by the s.s. Corinna, leaving Auckland on the sbh August for- Rarobouga, Raiatea, -and Tahiti. She returns to Auckland on the lab September. The fare from Dunedin is fixed at £30. At the tenth annual dinner of hor Majesty's civil service Mr Balfour, who presided, said :— " The compromise at which we have succeeded in arriving, of a trained permanent civil service, absolutely iudependent of parby, absolutely at the service of eaoh party in turn, not aiding, not impeding the patty machine, bat' yet combining tb.3 a'dvantagesof accumulated experience and tradition— they would say that such a service as that was beyond thecontrivanoe of human wisdom. Yet it has come about, not by any great measures, not by the fruit of any one powerful genius, but by the gradual operation of the common sense of the oommunity, whioh has obtained a result which might s#em almost impossible." This, said Mr Balfour, was due to the fact that the civil servants of the country keep themselves studiously free from l party politics and t'rom all concern with elections. Referring to the opening on the 22nd of the Catlin's River railway for traffic to the present terminus ab Owaka,-the Ciutha Leader says the event took place jaab 17 years to a week after the first sod was turned on the line, on the Invertiel contraot, -the tender for which wan accepted in May 1879. The length of this contract was two' and a-half miles, and the lowest tender, that of George Maokie, Dunedin, was" £5388 10s lOd. At that time it was reckoned the line would be through to Owaka in five or six years. That the line will eventually connect with the Seaward Bush line from Invercargill and one day become the main line between Dunedin and Invercargill there is little doubt. - '• . There was an amusing scare at Beira recently when Mr Rhodes reaohed that place en route for Buluwayo. The Portuguese had got the idea into their heads that there was to be a row when Mr Rhodes arrived, and that the local Englishmen— 3s all told, of whom two-thirds were down with fever— would rise as one man. Some 300 men were- sent down from Mozambique to assist the 200 trooDS and two gunboats already there in quelling the "disturbance." The troops were equally divided, with Maxims and 7-pounders, on either side of the town, and the two gunboats to cover the rest. But the " row " did not come off. The Auckland ■ police having received information concerning the escapß oi Jas. Peroy Gaffeney from legal custody in Sydney, while under a oharge of 'horse-stealing, were on the lookout when the ADglian arrived on Monday^

and picked out a passenger who went by the name Nealloy and.invited ' him to come to the police station in connection with' the matter. In Shorbland street he gave the detectives the ilip, and bolted -with Deteotive Graoe and Actingdetectives Bowles and Quirk at his heels. - At the ory " Stop thief," a number of civilians joined in the chase, and after a hard' run over fence? and throagh allotments he was blocked ia a blind alley. During the chaie he exhibited a revolver, whioh cleared his way when cornered. He at first refused to surrender, but' ultimately did so quietly, and at the station admitted ha was the man, bub that his name was James Peroy Gaffey. The revolver was found to ba loaded. - A lady resident at Kaiapoi, who is determined at all iiskj to stttle on tho land, signed aa application to the Wellington Land Board as " J. E. Brown, mariner," in regard to a section * in a spetial settlement at Pohangina. She also signed the subsequent declarations as the mariner himself, and it was only when the title was about to be granted by the Wellington Land Board that the adventurous teaman was found to be non-existent so far as New Zealand was concerned. Trouble seems to be in stor« for this latest edition of the new woman, at the ~ board 'has called upon her to appear at its next meeting to explain her aotions in connection with land settlement. The Elsthorpe estate, a highly improved and fertile property of nearly 10,000 aores, 30 miles from Napier, acquired under the Land for Settlements Act, was balloted for on Friday. There were 604 applicants, mostly for the small farms or rich laud 7no applications being ' put in for six' large sections aggregating 2850 acres. As usual, the same people applied for a number of seoftbns, and whole families were ia the list 1 . The village sections were not much sought after, there being no applicants for the majority. ■ < At the City^Poiic'e .Court 6n Friday William Buobanao. was charged withhaving, on 24th ult ,at Dunedin, assaulted William Buchanan, insurance agent.'— Mr Wilkinson, who appeared for. complainant, asked for sureties to koep the peace. He ■ snid this was not the first instance in which* troublo had occurred between the parties. Accused had been a great trouble to his friends, and did not make bis appearance before the court for the first time. He had been given opportunities to leave home, but he always came back 'again. MtQt being released from jtaol hey went back to his father's house, a thing, his fejther did not wish ; for while he was there the place became a psrfect pandemonium. He used blasphemous language to his Bisters and was otherwisa troublesome. On „ the morning in question he hit bis father in a playful manner with tho poker, and then struck him with his hands. He was in tho habit of ' " squaring up" to his father and telling him what a strong man he was, and how he could use his fists. He bad threatened to burn the house down, to cut his father's and sister's throats, and his own afterwards. He was also in tha habit of telling them tales of burglaries. He would not leave the house, but in«isted upon remaining • there. There was no desire to put him into gaol, but he simply would not leave the house. --Mr Carew suggested that something might be arranged. Perhaps accused would loave the house.— Accused said he would. He was willing to go away that day by tho first boat.— On this undentinding the case wai adjourned for a week, accused to be kept under police supervision. H» was then, released from custody.