LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 954, 19 November 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There will be a meeting of the Cook County Council as directed by the 54th and 67th clauses of the Counties Act for the purpose of electing a chairman, and of doing other business, on Wednesday, the 26th instant, at noon. As will be seen by advertisement, a meeting is called for the'purpose of forming an Atheletic Club. This is as it should be. We have frequently drawn attention to this matter, and urged the necessity for the formation of such a Club. We have not the slightest doubt but that the meeting will be well attended, and that the result will be the formation of an Athletic Club on a sound and lasting basis. The meeting is to be held at the Masonic Hotel, to-morrow evening, at 7 o'clock. The charge of the Maoris killing a bullock on the station of Messrs. Sommerville by the Natives was not a case of stealing'; but was done m retaliation for the dogs belonging to the Natives which were killed by some of Messrs. Sommerville's men. This matter is now also settled. The Waxworks exhibition was crowded to excess both during last night and the previous one. In addition to several really good presents which were made there were given away a silver hunting watch, a set of decanters, a handsome flutina, and a £1 note. Mr. Snyder informs us that he was the drawer of the latter, which resulted m a serious pecuniaiy loss to him. There was a doubt expressed by divers persons whether the note was a genuine one or merely one belonging to the order of the Bank of Elegance. To prove this, there was an adjournment insisted on to the Masonic Hotel, and the note was discovered to be good by the landlord giving full I change after deducting the price of thirtytwo drinks ; for that was the number of persons of the male sex who asserted the note was not the correct article. The remaining four shillings, with an added six shillings, disappeared from Mr. Snyder's pocket m a mysterious way, such as is known to jugglers who make one thing appear, and then suddenly vanish into space — gone no one knows where, the juggler only being m the secret. Chemists, we know, by certain scientific manipulations can turn solids into liquids, but if they could have witnessed, as they might on Monday night, the conversion of a one-pound note into bottled beer and whisky tonics, they must have been struck with, the simplicity and rapidity of the process. Mr. H. E. Webb, m our advertising columns, announces that he is anxious, if possible, to make some arrangement with his creditors for the purchase of his estate to the mutual advantage of both. For this purpose he requests his creditors to meet him at Townley's Hall,* to-morrow afternoon, at 3 o'clock. ,

Captain Thomas William Porter, our Mayor for the present Municipal year, was this day at noon elected for the ensuing one without opposition. Probably next year thqre may be a contest, but assuredly Captain Porter, now well versed m our municipal affairs, will be found the right man m the right place. The West Coast, according to a local organ, bears a reputation of being most prolific m children, but Gillesbie'a Beach, near Okarito, will certainly take the palm for exceeding m this respect, and would be instanced by Malthus no doubt, as a shocking example, if that estimable gentleman were m the land of the living. There are only nine married couples living at Gillespie's and no couple has borne the married yoke for more than seven years, yet they have brought into the world no less than fifty children. This is increasing and multiplying with a vengeance. The Union Company's vessels traverse 55,000 miles of ocean each month, burning 4,500 tons of coal, one half of which is supplied by New South Wales mines, and onehalf by those m New Zealand. Six hundred and fifty men are kept on active service, and it will be seen that the 18 boats employed by the company represent 14, 500 register tons. The aggregate expenditure of the company is £30,000 each month ; m other words, about £1000 a day is paid away. The Company's pocketguide, published monthly, shows that the convenience of the travelling public is carefully studied. At theJlast meeting of the Hawke's Bay Education B6;/rd, a letter was read from the Gisborne School Committee recommending the appointment of Mr. H. Bull as second master. — Approved. A letter was also read from the Chairman of the Matawhero school committee, recommending Miss Alice Dunn for appoitnient as pupil teacher, and stating that she had been acting m that capacity since the beginning of November last year, under the impression that she had been appointed. The Board decided to pay Miss Dunn for six months, and that she be appointed pupil teacher. One of the most extraordinary instances of the affection of animals of different kinds for each other occurred m Napier last week. A hen hatched several chickens and one duckling about the same time that a cat gave birth to a single kitten. The kitten died. The duckling seemed likely to go the same way, and the owner, to save it, carried it to the kitchen fire and wrapped it m flannel. The cat, searching disconsolately for its kitten, came across the flannel-enveloped duckling. After examining it curiously, the cat carefully took the duckling iv its mouth, and carried it to the box wherein she had her " nest." The owner, thinking that she meant to devour it, took the duckling away, but pussy again carried it oft. As she seemed to take the little stranger, it was left with her, aud for three days the cat carefully kept the duckling warm watching it feed with some curiosity. On the fourth night puss accidentally overlaid her strange pet, and m the morning she showed most uumiatakeable signs of grief. The story is a "tall" one, but we can vouch for its truth.