LOCAL ANd GENERAL.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 91, 2 August 1895, Page 2

LOCAL ANd GENERAL.

The Agricultural Department has under consideration the advisablenesaof offering a bonus or otherwise encouraging the pro* duction of European flax in the Colony.— N.Z. Times. A new Good Templars Lodge is to be opened in Stratford on the 12th inst. The L.D. of the Patea Lodge has been specially commissioned by the G.L. Executive to perform the work of inaug oration, Tenders are invited through our advertising columns for felling six hundred and eighty acres of bush, at Otauio, in six contracts. Specifications may be seen at this office. Tenders close on Saturday, 10th August. A gentleman, learned in the origin of social customs, was asked the origin of throwing an old shoe after a newly married couple as they started on their honeymoon trip. Said he, “To indicate that the chances of happiness in matrimony are very slipper-y,” Dr Newman (says the N.Z. Times) wants the Government to assist country settlers by burning wood for fuel iu their railway engines. The Minister of Railways says the Government railway engines, are not suited for burning wood as fuel, and there are too many objections to altering them. Tho Dunedin City Council have adopted a motion that in all future contracts the person or firm tendering shall undertake to pay all workmen, whether artisans or labourers, the current rate of wages ruling in the district, an! to obs serve eight hours as the working day for which such wages shall bo paid. There was a largo clearance of goods at the Wellington Customs office yesterday in anticipation of the increased duties. Tho amount collected was about £5750. The principal lines were tobacco, boftled beer, and spirits. Of this amount £3OOO represented the clearance of one firm, which is said to have made £SOO on the transaction, —Post. The Good Templars ha l a social even ing on Wednesday, a largo number of members being present. A good programme was prepared, which took till about half-past ten to get through. Re fresbments were provided in abundance, while steaming cups of hot tea put members in a splendid humour on such a very cold night. Two new members joined, 1 There is great dissatisfaction existing among the men employed on the cooperative works, (says the Pahiatua Herald). There are a number of single men now engaged on the WoodvilleEketahnna railway line who have been in constant employment for years. Through all tho long months of the winter agitation and discontent have been rife on account of this manifest injustice. Married men with wives and families in this district are sent away thirty miles from homo to work half-time on co-operative works, and single men who have been in constant employment for years are married only to tho best and canstanfc jobs. This unfair treatment of men is a disgrace to the administrating officials of tho co-operative system. Tho system is good, and has done goo 3, and is doing a lot to solve the labour trouble in the colony. The trouble lies iu the adujioistratwp.

In spite of the strenuous exertions of the authorities, smallpox continues to gain ground in Glasgow, and it is said to be aided by the extreme reluctance of people to report the outbreak of the disease in their houses. The number of patients in the Smallpox Hospital show a steady rise. A slab from the Labor report: “ With the now financial year the tide had again commenced to flow, and that probably the depression was over. There were signs of a steady, though gentle, upward tendency in prices, and employment W£B uot so difficult to obtain as some months ago.” A slab by the Hon Richard about a week ago : “The unemployed trouble was more acute just now than for very many years past. The Government had 600 to 700 unemployed men at work.” The above two slabs fit beautifully.— Pahiatua Herald. The Wanganui Herald of Monday has the following:—Wanganui’s old settlers are fast returning to the dust from whence they came, ns no loss than five have passed away in little more than a week, whose combined ages total 380 years. It is not eften that the old settlers, three of whom have passed the allotted span, follow one another in such quick succession. The deceased were Messrs J. Alexander 77, W, McLauclilin 76, and J. Sniley 68, and Mesdamee Lind 93, and Rusooe 64, the average being 76, which certainly speaks volumes for the salubriousness of the climate.

A preacher, to 'a newspaper man, said —•'You editors dare not tell the truth. If you did you couldnot live; your newspaper would be a failure.” The editor replied—“ You are right; and the minister who will at all times and under all circumstances tell the whole truth about his mem hers, alive or dead will not occupy his pulpit more than one Sunday, and then he will find it necessary to leave town in a hurry. The press and the pulpit go hand in baud with whitewash brushes and pleasant words, magnifying little virtues into big ones. The pulpit, the pea, and the gravestone are the great sainl-making triumvirate.” The 24,000 up spot barred match, iu which J. Roberts conceded E. Higgle 8000 start, which had been iu progress at ;he Free Trade Hall, Manchester, during the preceding fortnight, was concluded on a recent Saturday. Tue contest, which was pla-v ed with th > new pneumatic cushions, was of an even character, each player in turn holding an advantage of the handicap. At the close of Friday’s play Higgle had reached his points, 2*4,603 ; while Roberts whose score was 21,384, was 616 behind his. At night Higgle increased his break to 274, and then made others of 156, 117, and 189, finally winning by 1,361. Roberts during the evening made breaks of 108, 133, 121, and 117. Wellington, says the Spectator, was the only mau after 1800 who faced the French armies without a sense that Napoleon was somehow or other invincible. “Just before he left England for Portugal, in IBOS, ho remarked :—* The French have beaten all the world; and are supposed to bo invincible. They have besides, it seems, a now system, wh'ch has out-maneeuvreo and overwhelmed all the armies of Europe. But no matter, my die is cast. They may overwhelm, but I don’t think they will out-menoeuvie me. In the first place, I am not afraid of them, as everybody else seems to be; and secondly, if what I hear of their system of manoeuvre be true, X think it a false one against troops steady enough as I hope mine are, to receive them with the bayonet. I suspect that all the Continental armies were more than half beaten before the battle began.” One of the most annoying and worrying sights in a church is a dog roaming aboul whithersoever be pleases; at least such a sight annoys and worries a section of the worshippers and the minister. The othei section composed of small boys, highly intelligent young men and giddy, full feathered, gushing creatures are filled with giggles when they see a dog walkingaboul a church. The sight of a dog in church will always tickle a girl who is anxious to focus all eyes on her particular self. A dog that outside would harrow her very soul to look at and would be s yled a “ nasty, horrid, brute ” would in church be sufficient to make her beak something. However, ‘ As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world,’ etc. Surely people when going to church could leave their wretched canines at home. Last evening in a church in town a shabby looking enr “ like a log of wood with halt the bark off ” wandered about anywhere and everywhere, annoying some and tickling others. It would add to the dignity of the servic3 if the minister in such cases would suspend the service until the cur was ejected. Its affectionate owner could follow if he or she felt aggrieved.—Pahiatua Herald. There is a good deal of witchcraft in nineteenth-century England. Only 30 years ago (says a writer iu the Illustrated London News) an old man was swum to death by a mob at Castle Hedingharu. in Essex. In 1875, one Hayward was charged at Warwick Assizes with the murder of a woman of 80, the man’s plea being that he was “ overlooked ” by her and 15 others, whom he had threatened, quoting Leviticus xx. 27 as the justification of his act. In 1883, a West-country lad suffering from painful scrofula attacked a labourer’s wife as the cause, scratching her so as to draw blood, with which be smeared his face and hands. In 1885, an old woman named Maria Pring charged Hester Adams with stabbing her in the face, shouting—“ I’ve drawn your blood ; now I’m happy!” The defence was that Pring was a witch who “ hagrided” Adams and her husband every night- Last November, at Cborley, in Lancashire, a youth was bound over to keep the peace for having pricked his sweetheart with a pin. He had had a wasting illness, and had consulted a wise woman, who told him that the girl had a charm buried in her house which caused his Hesh to wither, and that shedding her blood would break the spell. In 1890, at an inquest on the body of a child at Fressinlield, in Suffolk, the parents attributed its death to the witchcraft of the child’s step-grandmother, who, dying a few hours before it, predicted that it would soon follow her. The child had been taken out for an airing, and died a little while after its return, the mother stating that it was hot and dry, and smelt of brimstone. Recently a farmer’s wife in Nottingham shire showed a threecornered holed flint to a visitor which was believed to keep away witches. The woman said -“We never toll gentlefolks about such things, for fear they should laugh at us.” That is why the hole-and-corner superstitions that rule ClUJilbei’lpss liven ate Uai'4 to get at,

When Sir John Douglass, who was a great favourite with the populace, was contesting Glasgow, a dog began to bark at one of bis meetings. A voice ja the crown shouted out: “ Hey, Jock, is that your doug ?” To which came the witty rejoinder, which set the house in a roar: “No, sir; I’m doug-less ! ’ In another contest, a certain member, being questioned by one of the “ black squad ” as to what taxes he would take off, settled his questioner, to the great amusement of the audience, by declaring, “ There is one tax I intend to take off for your special benefit, and that is the soap tax.” One more to conclude with. A sporting member of Parliament, who knew more about the racecourse than the Senate, was asked, out of pure mischief, by one of his constituents, if he would Ivote for;,.the abolition o: the Decalogue. In vain the questioned one tried to solve in his mind whafc the objected referred to was, as to him the Decalogue might be anything from a regiuni donum grant to a settle nient in the Straits of Malacca; but failing in this, and in order to sustain his own consistency, he replied: “I won’t pledge myself, but I'll give it my consideration.” *• Jockeys and their Ways ” is the title of an article in the English Illustrated Magazine for May. The jockey interviewed, on being asked what it feels to ride a horse going at the rate of 40 miles an hour, replied—“ When you’re used to it, it’s better than champagne. What you’ve got to do is to keep your mouth shut and your head low. Otherwise you’d be winded in a couple of furlongs, I can t describe the feeling better than by telling you to put your bead out of a railway carriage window next time you’re in an express, and just take a mouthful of air then. That will give you an idea riding a racehorse. And don’t forget that you’ve need of hands gentle as silk threads, and of all the judgment and nerve in your body, A good jockey can tell by the toiuh of.Lis nag’s mouth exactly how the race stands. He knows when his mount is tiring long before his mount shows it. And sometimes he will kid the youngsters by riding just as. if there wasn’t another ounce in his horse, when really he is win ing hands down, It’s part of the art never to show your game, while, if possible, you learn all about the game of the other man. A what with watching the others and geltingan opening for yourself, and using your judgment about the nag, racing wants a head and a nerve, I can tell you ”

The circumstances under which a little girl named Slater was burned to death at Oamaru are thus detailed iu the local evening newspaper. It was about 3.30 a.m. that the three roomed cottage occupied by Mrs Slater was seen to be on fire. The cottage is in Kibble street. Mrs Slater was awakened by the breaking of crockery, owing to the shelves burning, and the fire had then got such a hold that she was unable to escape by the usua 1 outlet, but was forced to break the window with her hands and escape through the aperture thus made. By this means three of her children were rescued, but the fourth—a little girl of seven—was overlooked in the haste and excitement, and when assistance arrived all efforts to rescue the child were futile. Mr Annand, who arrived early on the scene, tried hard to effect an e.itrance, and even chopped away the weatherboards near the child’s cot with a view to a rescue, his efforts being stimulated by sounds of the little one groping about to find an exit, though uttering no cries. When the flames werefinally subdued by the brigade the body was recovered between the window and the door, the poor little girl having apparently fallen there and crouched up. Mts Slater’s husband is a tradesman in Naseby, and, in addition to three children of her own, one of whom was burnt, she has charge of a fourth. The doors of the house were, we understand, all badly warped, making an entrance at any time a matter of difficulty. It is thought that the disaster was caused through a defective chimney.