LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 948, 12 November 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An election for the return of a councillor to fill the place vacated by Mr. John Viliers who has resinned his seat m the Cook County Council, will take place on the 29th instant. Nominations will he received up to noon on the 21st, at Messrs J. nnd A. Davis's store Boseland. Three or four names are mentioned as probable candidates, among others those of Mr. W. K. Chambers and Mr. W. King and Mr. Tatchen.

A meeting will be held at the Masonic Motel on Saturlay, at three o'clock, by the members of the Poverty Bay Turf Club. The business is to arrange the Annual Race Meeting ; to fix the day for the same, and to arrauge matters generally. A full attendance i 9 requested. By inadvertence, the preliminary advertisement of Messrs. Ferris & Pitt's sale of stock remained m our issue of last evening, which states that the sale will be held at Makaraka, whereas it will be seen by the present one the place of sale ia to be at Waerenga-a-hika. This will be one of the most important cattle sales which has been , held m the district for some months. The stock is the property of 0. W. Kerns, Esq., who has relinquished dairy farming, ami comprises among others 40 head of wellbred, quiet, thorrughly broken m cows, 20 heifers, 15 steers, all of which are milker's calves. There are also other 20 head of cattle. The milking cows wil be sold separately to suit purchasers. A meeting of gentlemen interested m the annual race meeting, Te Arai, was held at the Bridge Hotel. Owing to the little interest manifested, and the small attendance at the meet in.', it was decided that no races be held this year. Mr. J. E. Browne, treasurer, of the Te Arai Race Committee, submitted a statement of accounts, which were duly passed, and there being a credit b ilanoe of L 5 it was resolved to donate that sum to the Poverty Bay Hospital. This sum has been handed m to the Herald, and will be paid to the treasurer of the hospital on application. We are informed that everyone at the meeting concurred m devoting this balance to the benefit of such a worthy institution. A special general meeting of the Star of Gisburue Loyal Orange will be held m the lodge-room to-morrow evening, at 7.30, for the purpose of meeting Brother Donald, Grand Secretary of New Zealand. The celebrated stallion " Disraeli " will travel to Waereni{a-a-hika and Ormond every Thursday and Friday m the weok, and the charge for the service of m >res by the stallions " Tregeagle " and " Disraeli " has been reduced to £2. The Union Steam Ship Company notify that from Ist December t<> 31st January, there will be a reduction on return tickets to Sydney of 10 per cent, off ordinary fares. On the 19th instant — this day week — Mr. C. D. Pitt, Returning Officer for the Borough of Gisborne, will hold a nomination, m the Council Chamber, for the office of Mayor. So far as we learu the present Mayor, Captain Porter, is likely to be the only candidate. The present Mayor has had many difficulties to contend with, which he has lately succeeded m overcoming. He has now got his work well iv hand, aud knowing the run of the ropes, he is likely to be much more useful m the interests of the rate-payers than wouM be a new hand at the Muncipal bellows. This appears to be the reason «hy it is thought that no opposiug candidate should be brought forward. A curious scene occurred m the inner harbor at Napier, the other day. Some fishermen, upon hauling m their nets, found that an enormous shark was entan Jed m the folds of the netting. A line was muile fast to the tail of the monster, and, released from the netting, he was towed at the stern of the boat. Suddenly the shark made a violent jump half into : the boat, and endeavoured to capsize it. I He was happily unsucessful m overturning I the boat, but the indentations, fully half I an inch m the wood, go to show what a great risk the would-be capturers ran. The Wellington Chronicle thusly romances about Mr. Hurst M.H.R. one of the Auckland turn-coats : — " When the Earl of Pembroke was m Auckland, some wags, knowing Hurst's vanity, wrote him a note signed ' Pembroke.' requesting him to take the nobleman for a drive. At the appointed hour Hurst had a carriage ready, and sat m gleeful expectation of beinj; m company witli a real live lord. The Earl I of Pembroke heard of the practical joke, and, taking compassion ou poor Hurst, went for the drive, and did not inform him that he had not sent the note. Next day Mr. Hurst met the e;irl m the street and rushing up seized him by the hand, exclaiming" How dp you do my lord 1" The earl withdrew his hand disdainfully, re-:, marking > "Mr. Hurat, I -yesterday went for a arive with you to save you from being the victim of a practical joke, but that i is the limit of our acquaintance." In the debate on the Public Revenues Bill, Major Atkinson, m the course of his speech narrated the following anecdote : — He said : One honourable gentleman during the recess — I need not mention his name — ' told his constituents that he always voted with the Government during last session. This was a matter of very great surprise to the persons who heard him speak, because he was known to he a staunch Oppositionist. When he was asked how this came about, he said, " Oh ! half the Government always go into one lobby, and the other half into another, and as there are only two lobbies, I am always obliged to vote with the Government. ; The London papers recently announced that, owing to an accident iv the machineroom, the extra double number of the Illustrated London News, advertised to appear |on Wednesday, would be unavoidably postponed until Thursday. As a matter of fact, the "accident " was not a mechannical one, but a literary one, the proprietor cancelling several thousands of printed co pie i rather than allow the publication of an article by one of the edit ra, reflecting as he conceived, with ill-timed severity and offensiveness on the family of the Prince Imperial. Instantly ou perusing the article Mr. Ingram ordered "stop press> " — a sac ifice of over £2000 to a delicacy of feeling aud generosity of sentiment which did him credit. Crushing a public-house looks a singular statement to make, but it is founded on fact. The old Commercial Hotel at Castlemaine has actually been put through a crushing battery and yielded at the rate of 7dwts to the ton. The bricks used m the construction of the house were made from sludge and clay taken, from the bed of Forest Creek, which necessarily contained tine gold which escaped from the primitive appliances used by the miners m those days. For many years a roaring trade was done m the old house ; the reverses came ; the hotel was deserted and into ruins, until lately a speculative genuis hit upon the happy idea of putting it through the mill and after taking away all the woodwork about the premises he sent the bricks and mortar to the crushing battery, with the result above stated. We have heard frequently of Victorian streets being paved with gold, but the fact of houses being built with gold is rather difficult to beat. An old whaler named Thomas 0. Hay, captured a whale at Pigeon Bay, lately, m a novel manner. He skilfully planted a rifle bul'et m the animal's eye, and boiled sixty gallons of oil out of it afterwards. A correspondent informs us that he does not remember any^season m which sheep more badly shorn were to be seen m the neighborhood of Napier than at the present time.