LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 887, 11 September 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

-^ A flue day ;an election, and a nomination, the influx of a number of Maoriea m town, departure of the Football Team, gava the throu^hfares quite a lively and animated appearance. Tnere has been business doing too. for the Natives appear to have come into possession of money, and having so come are spending it freely. There has beeu some betting as to the result of the poll, but this will not be known until long after we have been to ( >ress. The ballot, is pro* ductive of great uncertain by, and all at the hour we write is pure conjecture. Messrs. Ratcl.ffe and Piesse have been appoimed agents f<<r the Waka Maori newspaper, and are authorised to receive money, aud transact other business. A parcel of old linen for the Hospital is lying at our office, for which those concerned will oblige by calling for. ' The nominations for two Borough 1 Councillors to fill the vacancies ciused by the resignation of (Joucillors Walker and Page were made to-day — the same ou which the polling for the ttiree otnet* vacancies has taken place. The persons nominated were Messrs C. D. Bennett, E. Woon, J. Whinray, Edward P. Joyce. The excitement on the Borough eleotion to-day, was intense. On seeing a vast crowd collected around the unices of Messrs. Ratciiffe aud Please, stopping all progress on that side of Gladstone-road, aud being of an enquiriug turn of mind we attempted to ascertain the cause. We were informed on enquiry that, owing to only a limited number of seats being reserved for the Rowing Club performance on Saturday evening next, that the crowd were eager to be m time and secure good places.— [Advt.] The Turanganui Hotel to-day was the scene of a hot fiasco. There were two bailiffs m possession. One on the part of the holders of a bill of sale ; the other for the trustee of the insolvent estate. How it came to pass only the lawyers engaged on the two sides can say, but the upshot was this afternoon the bailiff for the insolvent trustee was ejected by force, the doors of the hotel locked, and the windows barricaded. There is likely to be more law before the dispute is finally settled. The Inangahua Times says : — Constable M 'Donald, formerly of the Reefton police force, has, we believe been appointed gaolkeeper at Greymouth. While m Reefton, M 'Donald, when off duty, was m the habit of seating himself on the threshold of the lock-up and making night hi resonant with the tootlings of the bagpipes. A friend of ours who happened t» be passing the camp on one of these festive occasions, when the martial soul of Big Mac was throbbing fourteen to the dozen to the sound of the pibroch, remarked that he had heard of malefactors being sentenced to imprisonment and the lash, but imprisonment with bagpiping was, m his opinion, a step beyond, and if capital punishment was done away with, no more fitting substitute could he found than that. West Coast papers aver that the following notice was placarded about Ros3 lately : — • "Notice. — When the gentleman who was carried away drank on Dr. Bakewell's shutter, has quite recovered, perhaps he will be nood enough to return the shutter, which may be useful to him ok a future occasion of a similar kind." We have the following items furnished us concerning the late calamitioua fire iti Dunedin : — The building was a perfect hive of bed-rooms, especially on the top floor. There were about forty beds m the cafe, aud it is conjectured that 100 people were ou the premises. The delay m bringing up the fire escape to the scene of the conflagration is severely commented upon. When the fire was first discovered, the i police rushed to the Masonic Hall, where the escape had been kept for a long time, only to find that it had beeu removed to the new Fire Brigade Station, at the back of the Town Hall, where it was reached with difficulty, on account of the narrow exit. The building was one mass of flames before the escape arrived. During the height of the fire, some exciting scenes occurred. One man, who occupied a room on the third story, escaped from 'his window on to thepar&pet, where "he was han^inj fully ten minutes whilst ladders were being joined to reach to him. Creditors' meetings have their comical aa well as their serious aspect, says the Poet. At a recent meeting held privately there were about 30 creditors present, and it was stated that the obief asset was a small piece of land. One of the creditors seriously proposed that they should divide it between them. The chairman characterised the proposal as ridiculous ; even if it were possible to carry out such an idea, it would only give each of them about six feet. "Just what I had calculated," rejoined th« creditor ; '^if I have to attend many more of these meetings it will not be long before / thall want a grave /"