LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 658, 24 March 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The plans for the new Albion Hotel have been drawn, and approved. Tenders will shortly be called for the erection of the building, which will in all respects be superior to the one destroyed by tire.

Our readers, perhaps, will not be angry if we tender them a little advice in regard to the domestic economy of their households. Firewood is just at present very abundant, ancl, in comparison to previous seasons, low priced. That is while the roads remain good. A week's heavy rains, the roads axle deep in mud, and daugerous to travel, when up will go the price, at double, or nearly double, its present quotation.

A question is asked of us. Are the prisoners in the Gisborne jail being utilised ? We have enquired, and find they are regularly engaged in cooking and consuming their rations, which, we feel proud to say, on behalf of our beer-stealers, are sufficient in quantity, and in quality most excellent. Still we .think the Borough Council might have their services in filling up the holes in the town pathways, and levelling the inequalities of the streets.

By a return, laid before the House of the General Assembly, showing the total cost of the working and maintenance of the Hinemoa, we find the amount does not exceed the trifling sum of £10,000 per annum. Among the items of expenditure are ''Rations," £811 10s. lOd. In this case rations means claret, champagne, iced drinks, turkeys, chickens, pastry, dessert, and the like — not four-pound lumps of salt horse and weevilly biscuit, which are the two articles generally coming under the denomination of "rations." But "what's in a name?" Certainly champagne and devilled chickens scarcely go by the term, but then Sir George Grey knows all about these things, as to how they should be done. A Minister's stumping tour at £10,000 for the year may be an economical outlay, only we cannot see wherein it lies.

Letters brought by the Mail to New Zealand, we are informed, convey instructions to the managers of Colonial Branch Banks, whose head-quarters are in London, that Colonial securities are now considered as much sounder than was the case some few months ago. So far as we can understand, the London directorates consider they have been too hasty in so suddenly witdrawing all accommodation, or, in other words, having put too much pressure on. This has no doubt been the case.

The schooner Emerald arrived off the port on Saturday evening, from Blind Bay, with 31,000 feet of remu, consigned to Mr. R. G. Gibbons. The whole of this timber, which is pronounced to be of the finest quality, has been disposed of to Messrs. Forbes and Skeet, the contractors.

We are informed that Messrs. Somervell and Co. have made arrangements to take possession of the Makauri Bush, and have procured the necessary machinery for sawing timber, much of which is of the best description, and had been left untouched by the late proprietors. This is a most timely enterprise, as a very large demand for good timber for building purposes has sprung up, owing to the many new buildings now in course of erection, independent of the many others which are to follow.

The new tariff, by which Colonel wines have been reduced two shillings a gallon has induced Messrs. Graham and Co., of this town, to enter largely upon a new branch of their departments. The firm have received a large consignment of Victorian wines, selected from the finest viutages of the Western districts of Victoria. These are now on sale and comprise both red and white wines. They possess an exquisite aroma ; are delicate of flavor to the palate with a most pleasing after taste, and are free from acidity, as in the case of Spanish, Madeira, and Cape wines. For invalids, these Victorian wines are specially suitable. For breakfast, lunch, or dinner use in semi-tropical climates they are to be highly recommended. The same description of wines are now in general use in all warm climates ; for which being gently stimulating, they never produce any unpleasant effects. They have also the great recommendation of being low priced in comparison to the coarse wines of Continental countries. A trial of any of the wines now in store at the warehouse of Messrs. Graham and Co. will fully bear out all that we have said in favor of them.

Mr. Good has received a summons, issued from the R. M.'s Court, charging him with, holding an Art Union of jewellery, in contravention of the Act- The charge will be entertained on Friday next.

On Saturday last Messrs Bourke and Fryer sold a house and a quarter acre of land, the property of Mr. A. Martin, situated next the Old Brewery, in the Glad-stone-road, Mr. W. Adair bemg the purchaser, for the sum of £220.

The adjourned meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of Robert Featherstone, carpenter, Gisborne, will be held in tho offices of Mr. Bromley, Gladstone-road, on Thursday next, at 11 a.m.

An adjourned meeting of the Gisborne Licensing Court, will be held to-morrow at the Court House, when the plans of the new Albion Hotel will be submitted for approval. The plans to be exhibited show the intention of the proprietor to erect an hotel which will when completed, compare favorably with any of the largest hotels in the colony.

Mr. Reeves, M.H.R., has told us (Chronicle) a story in connection with the murder of the man Costello, near Reefton, in 1872, which borders on the supernatural. Years ago, Mr. Reeves and Warden Broad were in the habit of riding over a culvert at Boatman's Creek, hard by the scene of the murder. Every time (subsequently to the k date of the murder), that they approached this culvert, their horses began to shy, though there was no apparent cause for the alarm. The riders had invariably to dismount and lead the terrified animals across the mysterious culvert. Mr. Broad said that if Costello's body was discovered, it would be under this culvert. Strange to relate, now that the murderer Libree's wife has "peached" upon him, she says that Costello's body was buried under this very culvert. This sounds like one of the tales relative to gaping children by the winter fireside, but it is perfectly true nevertheless.

We are, says the Age (Dunedin) credibly informed that between five and six o'clock yesterday morning the Ocean Beach was enlivened by a prize fight. The pugilists were a tailor and a cabdriver, and the amount fought for was £10 a side. The rules of the Ring were strictly enforced, and the exhibition was witnessed by a large crowd of youths, many of- whom belonged to Dunedin, and had taken up their abode in the vicinity of the battle on the previous night. The affair was well planned, for the police were perfectly innocent of what occurred. After an encounter of over an hour, in the course of which bruises became plentiful and blood flowed freely, the prize fell to the tailor. The Ocean Beach has lately been obtaining a celebrity for rowdyism, but this last affair is said to eclipse anything in the sensational line that has hitherto taken place in that neighbourhood.

We beg to call attention to the alteration in the time for the inspection parade of the Gisborne Rifles, advertised in our former issues is 7.30 a.m. of 27th, and now altered to 7.30. p.m.

A Tiuiaru telegram says : — A number of tlie male immigrants by the Boyne refused to work in the harvest field at wages varying from 12s. to 15s. per day, and the immigration officer consequently turned them out of the barracks.

The New Zealand Press Neios has made its appearance this month in an altered form. Instead of an eight-page demy quarto, the News is now a sixteen-page royal octavo. Referring to the rumoured strike in Wellington, it has the following sensible remarks : — "Of the merits of the case we cannot with any certainty speak, not having been posted up in the facts. Still knowing that some at least of the papers in Wellington are not paying at the present rate of wages, and that to be compelled to pay a higher rate would, of necessity, close such offices, we think the demand made by the Society for an increase was, to say the least of suicidal ; as not only — even if successful — would it tend to throw numbers out of work, but Would, as a natural sequence, materially injure the whole of the Trade in New Zealand. ' Another thing printers should bear in mind ; and that is, that their true interests are identical with those of their employers; because if apriuting, or any other business, does not pay, the proprietors must either 'shut up shop, or get cheaper labour."