LOCAL AMD GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 913, 6 October 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AMD GENERAL.

There wasa.clean sheet at the Police Court this day. Surely some one has left the Bay or such an event could scarcely have happened. We must congratulate all our fellow-citizens on their forbearing natures and on their law-abiding proclivities at the present time ; what may ' happen m the future we are hardly able to predict. With all the growing capabilities of Poverty Bay, there is not such a thing to be obtained at the shoos and stores m Gisborue as an onion. We have learned this fact from having been informed that a married lady m an interesting state of health had a great craving for a piece of this pungent esculent, but m despite of the efforts of the lady's husband and her lady friends, an onion has not been procurable. What the consequences may be our ignorance of the matter qiiite precludes us from giving expression to an opinion. On Saturday last the butchers of Gisborne displayed for the first time this season a show of young Lambs. They were exceedingly small, but the delicacy of the flavour and the tenderness of the flesh was not appreciated as it might have been, owing to the fact that the price asked and paid averaged about a penny a mouthful. The lamb-eating season here has set m very late. Upon enquiry, most of our oldest and most experienced of meat-salesmen inform us that the backwardness of lambs for the table ia due to the backwardness m the growth of mint. That by by a wonderful provision of nature, lamb never matures until the mint is of sufficient growth to impart the necessary flavour. We wonder this fact has never been communicated to Professors Darwin and Huxley. Mr. Thomson, Inspector of Armed Constabulary, at Auckland, has been appointed Resident Magistrate for Gisborne, and will arrive on Wednesday, to enter upon his duties. The Supreme Court opened at Weilington on Saturday, as we are informed by our telegrams. To-day was officially announced for the opening of the Court. Why it should have been done on Saturday we have not learned. Messrs. Bourke & Smith will hold a sale to-morrow at 12 noon, at the Makara-ka yards, of cattle and horse.B, the property of Mr. Sam Stevenson, consisting of milch cows, heifers, young stock, draught horses, hacks, &c.

Through our wire messages, from Wellington, it would appear that there will be uo difficulty m forming a strong Ministry if ojily Sir George can be induced to resign. Sir George, we are told, would be willing to resign the Premiership, m favor of Mr. Macandrew, which is generous of Sir George who, as a Minister, has received an emphatic vote of no confidence, that he should dictate his own terms. Sir George Grey will have to resign disagreeable as this must be to him ; and it is not likely the Governor will ask his advice who he shall send for to form a Ministry. However, no doubt the leader of the Opposition will be the one, and he will be likely to ask for a few days time, to afford him the opportunity of consulting the members of his own party who shall be the men to hold the respective portfolios which fall vacant. A case, involving a singular point of law, as respects ownership, is likely to come into the Resident Magistrate's Court m a day or two. The facts are these : — Mr. Wheatm&h, of Makaraka, has a valuable Spanish-bred heu. His adjoining neighbor is a widow iady named Speers. The hen of Mr. Wheatman lays eight egga under Mrs. Speers' house. Now Mrs. Speers has a common bred barn-door hen, and this hen takes upon herself to set upon Hie Spanish hen's eggs, and m the course of time comes forth with a brood of chicks. Mr. Wheatman claims the chicks because they came of the eggs laid by his hen. Mrs. Speers says his hen might possibly have laid them, although she doubts it very much ; but at any rate her hen hatched out the chicks, aud evinces a strong affection for them, while Mr. Wheatman'a hen, although it may be of a Spanish breed, which Mrs. Speers also very much doubts, evinces no affection at all, appearing to give her whole attention to a Cochin China rooster. Mr. Wheatman demands the chicks, or £1 per chick as an equivalent for their value. Mrs. Speers answers m words of rudeness and defiance, and so a summons is to issue forthwith, but what will be the issue of the claim remains to be seen. Yesterday aud the night previous a very strong south-westerly gale was blowing, accompanied by heavy showers of rain. The latter will have a good effect m the country, but the gale has done'onsiderable damage to fences and out-buildings m several districts of the Bay. The barometer still indicates the continuance of heavy weather. A meeting of the Turauganui Caledonian Club is advertised to be held this evening, at the Masonic Hotel, at 7 o'clock. Rangiora possesses a jewel of a borough councillor, who has lately presented himself for re-election, with what success we know not. His name is W. White. In the course of his address to the burgesses, he said he did not often address so large an ordinance (laughter), and that he had supported a shilling rate for the sake of the subsides. (A voice: "Subsidies.") He would be glad to have all their support spiritually (laughter), not mentally (Renewed laughter.)' This gentleman passed through the catechising ordeal with unusual credit. We gather some curious information from his replies as to the properties and qualities of the Rangiora roads and gas-lights. Mr. White said the lamps had not been erected as the Council found they were too costive. (Loud laughter.) He was m favor of having gas to improve the fulminating of the roads. (Laughter.) A question asked Mr. White if a 2ft pipe could go through a Gin. grating. (Laughter. ) Mr. White thought it might, and it might not. (Roars of laughing.) He was not bigoted on fords.^-(Laughter.) This kind of thing reads like a burlesque of the broadest kind ; but it is a genuine extract from a report m a very respectable and mater-of-fact paper — the Press of Christchurch, The following extract from a letter (says the H. B. Herald) received by Captain M'Lean of Glenonby, Hawke's Bay, from the leading grain merchants of London, Messrs F. Lenders and Co, will interest our Agricultural friends: — "We are receiving a good many parcels of New Zealand wheat at the present time, and are glad to say that the quality is so much superior to what it was m previous years, that this wheat will no doubt fairly compete with other good qualities, as soon as it becomes generally known. Mr Miller's opinion regarding the future of wheat growing m your country is very valuable to us here, considering the means he must have of judging, and we hope that his views will soon be realised to their fullest extent." The Mr Miller referred to is Mr. M. R. Miller, of Napier. Some days ago Mr. Joseph Chicken, watchmaker, of Waipawa, aud formerly of Gisborne, was on the railway train proceeding home from Napier, when he was stung on one leg by a katipo spider, the only poisonous insect m New Zealand. Ihe pain was intense, aud he felt so unwell that he got out at Waipawa and returned to town, and went to his mother's house, where Dr Spencer was called m. Every attention was paid to the sufferer. He is now quickly recovering. The spider which stung him is a very small one, with a black shining body edged with red. It is fortunately fare, and is thought to frequent only the seashore, being generally found m the sand. The Maoris have a great fear of the insect, and they aver that its sting is fatal. In Dunedin there is an objection to blinds being used m the public schools ; becausa while blinds exclude the sun's rays they also exclude the air. A very simple and inexpensive method is adopted and meets with the general approval of teachers. The school windows are frosted with an almost imperceptible. tint of blue or purple. It is pleasant to the sight and* answers to perfection. Here is a hint to the Gisborne and other school committees. It is curious to note the interesting facts that crop up m the course of ordinary conversation. Not long ago we ( Manatoatu Times) observed m the papers an obituary notice of one of the earliest settlers m New Zealand, who had passed away at the ripe old age of 105 ; but the other day, m the course of casual conversation, it transpired that two of the pioneer settlers of this district, Messrs J. and W. Whisker, are descended from a still more long-lived family. Mrs. Whisker, sen., is now m her ninetieth year, and her two maiden aunts, the Misses Sturt, at the date of last advices from Home, were hale and hearty, one being m her 120 th year and the other m her 110 th year ! This is the greatest age attained m modern times that has come under our notice. The case of Edmund Gatley, who was convicted at Easter m 1836 of the murder of a farmer named May, has been discussed m the house of Commons. The prisoner was sentenced to transportation m Australia. Doubts of his guilt caused several investigations, but successive Home Secretaries refused to disturb the verdict. Sir Eardley Wilmott moved that Gatley's innocence being now established beyond a reasonable doubt, the Queen should be asked to pardon him. After a long debate, the motion was agreed to, asking the Queen to grant a free pardon, but all mention of innocence was omitted. Gatley is seventy-five years of age, and is poverty-stricken. An appeal will be made to tho house of Commons for compensation, for the 50 years' wrongful imprisonment lie has suffered.