LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 966, 3 December 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A crush of advertisements has compelled us to crowd out much local and general news of interest. Should theie be no abatement, we shall be compelled to issue a supplementary sheet, iv order to place our readers m possession of the current news of the day. We would remind those interested that a meeting is convened for to-morrow evening, at 7 o'clock, at the Boseland Hotel, for the purpose of considering the best ipeans to prevent the rapid increase of scab m sheep m this district. The Rev. E. Williams will for the future conduce Divine Service m Makaralca school room at 3 p.m. every Sabbath. In reply to a question, m the Legislative Council, the other day, the Hon. Mr. Whitaker stated that copies of telegragh messages are kept two years by the Department, and are then sent to the Mataura paper mills, to be again converted into new paper, care being taken that they are not read previous to being destroyed. The Parihaka correspondent of the Wanganui Chronicle saya : — I really pity the officer m charge of the A.C. on this coast. They have to put their inventive faculties so much m play to find out means to occupy the men under them. One day they will have hare and hounds, shooting, and then a march round the country, and so on, simply to give the men something to do. It is very rough on the officers at present, as they have exhausted their store of means to amuse the men, and are now on their beam ends for a new idea. I will give them one. There are a great many roads about that require forming and repairing. Now, is not this a brilliant idea to amuse the men and develope their muscles at the same time, and I am quite sure the general public will be glad to learn that we are getting something m return for the thousands we are taxed for keeping these men. If they are intended to fight, then let them do something useful. The public do not generally care to pay for ornaments. The first horse-race was held m Melbourne on Batman's Hill m 1839. The population of the whole Colony was then about 500, and the whole crowd turned out to see the Squatter's Purse and the Town Plate run for ; on which occasion m connection with many other interesting events Mrs Gubb the original owner of Petrel, herself turning the scale at fourteen stone, raced her husband for a bottle of rum. Now Victoria has a population of 800,000. The Flemington race-course is pronounced equal to any m the world. Time as fast as any on record has been made there, and the Melbourne races are looked upon as one of the principal (if not the chief) racing events m the Southern Hemisphere. An exchange has an article on "How to Run a Newspaper." This should be read only by editors, as every other person m the world knows how.

The Dunediu police are exercised over a sad case of domestic infelicity. Three weeks ago a Chiuese hawker, Ah Kutn by name, married a dressmaker from the establishment of Messrs. Herbert, Haynes, and Co. Although the bridegroom was a yellow almond-eyed Chinaman, the bliss of their honeymoon turned out more matrimonial than Celestial, and matters reached a crisis on Saturday night. The couple went to the Queen's Theatre, where they witnessed "Struck Oil." Shortly after their arrival at home, Ah Kum rushed into a neighbour's house with blood flowing from his throat. The wound, which was three inches long, had been " carefully " inflicted with a razor, for it was only skin deep. Mrs. Ah Kum declares that her husbaud was offended because* she spoke to an acquaintance after leaving the theatre, and on reaching home attempted suicide. Ah Kum's story is that this lady love tried to obtain a divorce by cutting his throat while he was asleep. The result is that Ah Kum is m the hospital, and Mrs. Ah Kum m the gaol, and the police are endeavouring to cast some light on the singular affair.