LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume 6, Issue 594, 8 January 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Henry Corbett writes us a long communication, the substance of which is, that m a letter he forwarded a few days back, and which we found room for, the word "them," by a printer's error, is substituted for "him." Will our readers relieve Mr. Corbett's mind by accepting the word "him" for "them." The s.s. Arawata, with the New Zealand portion of the Suez mail, left Melbourne on Friday evening for the Bluff. She will be due on Wednesday. The only grand prize awarded for sewing maohines, at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, was that patented by Messrs. Wheeler and Wilson. There were eighty competitors m this department of industrial inventions, from which the Wheeler and Wilson was selected for the highest class medal by the Commissioners. Messrs. Graham and Co. have been appointed Wheeler i and Wilson's sole agent's for Gisborne and Poverty Bay. Mr. J. Smith's speculation m the wreck of the Taranaki, which he purchased some time back turned out an unfortunate one. Mr. D. Gouk, who proceeded to the spot, with a number of men and appliances necessary for saving portions of the wreck, has returned, and states there is nothing of it to be seen above water. He waited an hour an a half for a low tide, and then came to the conclusion that it would cost £5 for each £1 wreckage recovered. The wreck will, therefore, be abandoned. The Sydney correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, writing about Father Chiniquy, says : — He has just returned from a tour northward, where he has beeu holding a fierce credal tournameut with the Roman Catholics. He is again m the pulpit, from which he holds forth on the subject of auricular confession, and why ho left priesthood. The subject, as he puts it, has produced much discord and aggravation — not to speak of showers of road metal, the latter, accepted with the spirit of a martyr. lam sorry to say that so far from discountenancing his unwholesome revelations, the ministers and other churches have egged him on a repeat them, and the consequence is the stirring up of dissension much better allowed to sleep. He is not, however, permitted to have it all his own way, for Joey Goughenheim, the once., popular actress, now Mrs. Constable, has entered the arena on behalf of Catholic matrons and virgins, and follows close on the Chinquy track. She assails him with all a woman's wit, and what she lacks m logic is eminently made up m heat. Both draw crowded houses, and gather m much com. A Sydney telegram says that one of the Victorian towns i 3 garrisoned with ten artillerymen against the Kelly's gang. The railway drivers, stokers, and guards are armed with rifles and revolvers. The gang threaten to raise the rails if they are unpardoned or preventedfrom leaving the Colony. Some idea of the sort of weather that at times prevails at Hokitika may be gathered from the fact that during the month of September 15.9 inches of rain fell, the average for that month being 7.3 inches. In Wellington there was 6.8 inches, the average being 4.4 ; m Napier 1.3 inches, the average being 1.5 ; m Hpkotikarain fell on 22 days, m Wellington 16, and m Napier on 7. " The Victorian police have captured five of the persona who sympathised with the Kelly gang of bushrangers, but have, not succeeded m arresting any of the the principals. . \ - »- - -■- L