LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 910, 2 October 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Gisborne District School held their ; annual monthly meeting last evening, all the members being present. The business was of a routine character. Several ac- ' ccounts were passed for payment. A letter ' was read from the principal of the School i asking for an enlargement of the headmaster's residence. The letter was referred back to the applicant for a correction as to the estimated cost of his present residence, ! when it will be forwarded on to the Board , at Napier, with the recommendation of the : Committee attached. To-morrow the compulsory clauses of the Education Act come ' into force, and we look to their being most ■ stringently canied out. The country pays . for the free education of youth of both sexes, that they may not grow up iu the ignorance which invariably leads to crime. 1 Schools are considered preferable to gaols, 1 because all gaol records show that crime is invariably the offspring of ignorance. It , will not avail the object intended, if, while a proportion of children are receiving free 1 education at the expense of the State, the parents of children iguSre the commands of the Act by allowing them to grow up in idleness and without educational training. Here there is no real excuse for parents detaining children from school attendance. We hope the first dffence sheeted home to * parents will not be dealt with as first offences too frequently are, but that the law will be strained to the utmost in the punishment awarded. It will be the means of bringing neglectful parents to understand that the Act means what it says, and that the administrators of the law do not mean to allow themselves to bo played with. There has been quite a lull in town to- ; day — a cessation from excitement. There has been no " next case" to call on in the R.M.'s Court. Captain Gudgeon has been at rest. The justices have not been called to attend the " roster." There has not even been a " drunk and disorderly "to deal with. After a storm, it is said, there comes a calm, and the calm has been much needed ; but so much mischief has been done that even with the calm it will be difficult to repair damages. A number of vessels have to sail for Wellington tomorrow for survey and overhaul, and until the surveyors employed in the Supreme Court decide what shall be done with them, we are unable to pronounce upon anything. To-day, the Police Office had but an echo to the tread of man's foot, There was no command for " silence in the court." There was no ' hard swearing that would make the Book sworn upon ready to burst from its binding. There was much talk in town as to what had occurred and what is likely to come out of it. A few days will decide, when let us hope all once more will be peace and harmony.

The quarterly meeting in connection with the Wesleyan Church, was held on Monday evening, Sept. 29, the Rev. W. L. Salter in the chair. The membership was reported as twenty-five, with two on trial. Notwithstanding the general depression, the balance-sheet showed that the income for the quarter had exceeded the expenditure by a few shillings. There is, however, still a deficiency of £16. It was decided to ask the lady members of the congregation to prepare for another Christmas Tree, the proceeds to clear off the circuit 'debt of £16, and any balance to go towards paying off the trust debt of £80. Tenders are required for alterations to Gisborne Gaol. Particulars will be found in advertisement. The partnership existing between Judd and Petersen, grocers, Gladstone Road, has been dissolved, and the business will in future be earned on by Mr. Judd. During the electoral contest in the Wairarapa. the Wairarapa Daily utilised its job wood-cuts in announcing the political virtues of Messrs, Beetham and Bunny, and produced au illustrated advertisement, which ran thus : — Vote for Bunny and Beetham, who (cvt — clasped hands) always work together. Every small farmer (cut — ploughman and team) should vote for Bunny. For the sake o' yer bairns (cut — two musical cupids) vote for Bunny. Two to one against (cut — pawnbroker's sign) Pharazyn. Bunny and Beetham ! "Won in a canter (three racehorses and jockeys). An example of the usual fate of assigned or bankrupt estates is given by the Rangitikei Advocate in that of Messrs Traynor and Davidson, of Bulls, who although possessing a flourishing brewery business were compelled through temporary pressure to assign their estate. Since then, through injudicious management on the part of those most concerned, the assets must have depreciated to almost one-half their original value. When assigned, the estate was supposed to be worth thirty-five shillings in the pound ; it is doubtful if it will now pay twenty.