LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 619, 6 February 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Our telegraphic columns will be read with no very cheerful feelings. Many persons are suffering in Melbourne from heat and prolonged dry weather. An epidemic is feared. Business is in a very unsatisfactory state, and over-buying and overspeculation is telling its own tale. In Auckland deaths of children are numerous from diarrhoea and whooping-cough. Suicides appear generally on the increase throughout Australasia. Altogether we are under an evil star. Have the three near planets now in conjunction anything to do with the prevailing epidemics ? If it be so, then five years must elapse before these planets will part company, and pursue their onward course, each in its own particular orbit.

The Thames Stai; speaking of the encouragement given to journals in NewZealand, mentions that in the Provincial District of Auckland alone, there are five daily papers. Three of these are issued in the evening. These are the Thames Evening Star, the Auckland Evening Star, the Poverty Bay Herald. The Auckland Morning Herald and the Thames Advertiser. The evening papers are always read and are very largely circulated, the age we live in being too impatient to wait for the morrow for news which may be obtained the night previous. The advertisements in the evening journals are always read. Those in the morning journals are seldom glanced at. The news columns of morning papers are as a rule, merely a harsh of what is previously known, or "an old face with a new frock," copied from the evening journals. The day of morning papers is rapidly passing away. [Our contemporary omits mention that the P.B. Herald is both an evening and morning paper a circumstance he has overlooked.] We regret that much sickness is rife in our midst. Three deaths occurred yesterday, and one child died this morning. It is hoped that the cool winds and the few showers we have experienced the last two or three days will bring about a so much desired change. But long continued drenching rains to clear the air and wash away the impurities of the town is what is so much wanted. The quarterly sitting of the Licensing Court is advertised to be held at the Court House, Gisborne, on Tuesday, 4th March, at the hour of noon, for the purpose of hearing and determining all applications for licenses, and renewal, removal, and transfer of licenses. The gold cup to be run for at the ensuing Wellington races has just been manufactured by Messrs. Kohn and Co. It was made of 18-carat gold, weighs 17 ozs., aud is worth £100. On one side is a sketch of the Hutt course, with the grand stand on the reverse, and a medallion for the name of the horse and owner.- The lid is surmounted by a figure in solid gold of the horse and jockey. It is surprising at times how in a goldmining community some old property becomes suddenly of value. The old hospital at Hokitika, according to the West Coast Times, was won about a year ago by art union by Mr Halligan, of Kanieri, who had considerable difficulty in disposing of the building and ground at aything like a fair price. At last John Holley, who had been engaged in mining, and subsequently in boating between Hokitika and the Lake Mahinapua rush, bought the property for a little over £300. Now that the population has begun to increase in the direction of the Lake, a demand has sprung up for timber, bricks, and iron. Holley taking advantage of the times commenced to strip the wards of the hospital, and he has already sold nearly the value of the land and buildings. He has yet one wardi which was occupied as a female ward, intact, and has likewise the doctor's private residence, and the six acres of freehold ground. So that the purchase has turned out a very profitable speculation. A death of a very singular nature is related by the Tovvnsville Standard as follows : — "As a boy named Peter Clarke, an old resident in Townsville, was bathing in the sea on the 30th December, he was heard to scream out loudly. Mr. John Winniett hearing the boy's screams, and thinking he had perhaps got out of his depth, plunged into the water and went to his assistance. Having reached him he took him up in his arms, the boy apparently having fainted. Mr. Winniett carried him to the Retreat Hotel, when Dr. Geldard was immediately sent for, and on arriving ascertained that the boy was dead. The lower part of the body had the appearance of being whipped across the thighs, and it is concluded that he must have come into collision with a poisonous fish, known as a devil-fish or octopus, and thus met his untimely death. We are informed by an old resident in town that these kind of fish are very prevalent thia season of the year, and are mostly to be met with on the Queensland coast in shallow water." The English Courts have at length decided that the agricultural population have rights which fox-hunters are to respect. Heretofore it has been assumed that the latter are at liberty to go over any man's land in pursuit of their " game," regardless of growing crops and of the owner's objections. It has just been decided that this is all a mistake, and if a farmer objects to a troop of horse and hounds tramping and racing over his demesne they must keep off or be liable for damages.