General News Items

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7543, 25 January 1896, Page 4

General News Items

V Thbi s^s. Flora will probably be flagship

. ; at the Auckland regatta. ,>. ~ ; Apricots are so plentiful in the Taradale "- district, Napier, that they are being sold at"|iperlb. '')'-. Responding to the toast at the com--7- merciai travellers' banquet at Sydney • Lord Hampden expressed an earnest hope ;, ", 'for the early federation, of the four chief Australian colonies.

r '~-" • Liliuokal'tni, ■ the deposed Queen of Hawaii, has a passion for the collecting of rope-knots made by sailors of different nationalities who visited her domain. Miss Antique : People are always talk- : ' ; ing of Self-jnade men. I wonder why they never apeak of a self-made woman 1 '.'. Miss Austen: Because a self-made woman generally dqesn't like to have ib known. The Quean is, and has always been, tho most hatd-working woman iv her dominions f her labpr has been incessant, -".'- her performance of it bo assiduous as often ■ io.tryviiot .only her own strength, but , that of those around her. —Times. ■ The Royal Standard Hotel at Milpar- ■ fnka (N.S.W.) was entered in the night, and a large iron safe was removed through . ' a window and taken some distance away. ; It was discovered next morning in a creek, hot had been burst open, and its-contents, valued at LIOOO, abstracted. A ■ novel form of robbery occurred at Townsend's. butcher's shop, Norwood, in Spnth Australia. Two men rode up on ■ bicycles and informed Mr Townsend that , ' his back premises were on fire. He rushed round to the back, and found everything right, but on returning to ■ the shop discovered his till rifled and the informers gone. .'. - • Jib ia stated that the Mormon missionaries are proving very successful in their ■ labors among the Maoris, as many of the - latter are taking kindly to the Mormon tenets, .which fib in with their old-time usages and customs in some respects. The ■ Mormon teachers endeavor to improve ' the physical condition of the Maoris with ' whom they come in contact, and it is said that the natives under their influence are -. more industrious, and enjoy more social comfort than in any other settlements. ; The Posb comes out with a suggested ' -;. explanation of the retirement of Mr J. L. ■; .' Scott from the Ohristchurch electoral -f contest, which is that Scott Bros., of .: - which Mr. J. L. Scott is a member, have !;~ at present on hand a Government con-;-/-'.tT»ot, •vrhich would disqualify Mr Scott ,- ■ were be elected. The contract in question £'. is fif»ni»tainpku bridge on the Eketahuna- '-: Woddyille railway, which is expected to '-'_" , take six months to complete. The recent 1 visit of the Premier to inspect tho state 1- . of the work is advanced by the Post as a ■" confirmation of its statements. ', The folly of bathers diving into water without ■ first ascertaining its depth w;i3 ; manifested at the inquest which Dr You), . .the City Coroner, held at the Melbourne ; J ' Hospital on Monday on the body of a lad ;, named Samuel Corke, aged 15. In the ["middle -of December last the boy, in „ ' company with a young friend of his named / Thurbull, went fora bathe in the Yarra, 1 . near Hawthorn, and without attempting ; to discover the depth of the stream at '; that spot,, dived in. He was seriously .■ injured, and after lingering for some ,; weeks died in the Melbourne Hospital. - ' - Death was caused by a fracture of the :';;-• spins, and 'the jury returned a verdict of .-. accidental death.

The Nioaraguan Canal Commission, appointed by Congress, is very unfavor- - able to the proposed construction of the - canal by the United States. The pro- :'' /'visional estimate of the cost of con- ;•:: Btruction made by the Commission is : 133,427,893 dols., as against an estimate ; r '; of 60,893,660 dols. made by the Maritime :'=> Canal Co. Tho Commission considers .that farther surveys are necessary, and ■>i .-{recommends the appropriation of 350,000 '&' dpls for that purpose, allowing 18 months ;-y\,time for the re-survey. fj V*. The consumption of gas in Wellington 'if continues to increase, despite the cornpefc tition of electricity. . During the past year \S r : the Gas Company supplied six per cent. rf-i more gas than ia 1894, The present plant j.: ; v will be only sufficient to meet the demand g/j daring the coming winter, and there is j?,':«very probability that extensive additions cf?, will hare to be made to the works before rHlong. " V^K The Government is evidently of opinion i -kthat Victorian meat requires Victorian j£.v accompaniments to render it properly ft; : palatable, and, not content with supplygjiing the Englishman with his Bteak, hf»B rjs:'fgo6, his eye on the necessary onions. !■/; Recently an experimental shipment of k£ ; this savoury vegetable was sent to London. I/It 1 Was' carried out successfully, but l}£ advices - received by the Agricultural j;',/ Department show that it arrived »t the lj|;/BXong time to' command a profitable IVinarkefc. The Department has been adii .vised to, make shipments so as to reach wk, JBngland in March, when there will be a I. ' tfood market. Acting on this advice the ■^Department intends shipping a quantity K^early next month. Brown Spanish and || "Brown Globe are stated to be the most l^uitable sorts for the English market, fcf, .Business ciroles in Wellington are being I|i agitated in order to bring to a successful ■I issue an industrial exhibition on lines Rp'B»milar to the one held last year at> ChristH';churob. It is proposed to open the ■ft exhibition about the end of October next. Hi; j Already the Government have promised H|l Rl Subsidy of L6OO if the promoters can ■J?raiße a similar amount. At present there RJn abouj: 100 subscribers at a guinea Breach to the scheme. . B^Tbe^Bililer Miner is the latest journal Hfjtpiliear on pretty good authority, as it Hiiputa it, that the Premier does nob intend Bgtpjreek re-election for the Westland seat, Kfeufc will contest Wellington City with Sir KB. 'Stout, and goes, further. It intimates Hph»6' Grimmond, a former member of the ■JgHouse, will be a candidate for the district Know ■represented by the Premier. ■ppThb/gold yield for Western Australia Rpa> 'year was 231,0000z being an increase Bjj)f 3.i,6Q00z on the previous year. The BR-OUtlbok has improved greatly during the Hff ae X ' owing to the rain (writes a corresjHppndent on January 18th), but a much copious fall is required to properly Wpreak up the drought and give sufficient Kwatetfor crashing purposes. The feeling ■un the soldfields runs high against the Hinfiux of Chinese, two of whom having ■Racrived at the Kanaowna under engageHbaent to a hoielkeeper, were forced by the ■fiminers to leave tho township. |BM?A London correspondent writes : -The Hftey. Leonard Isitt finds time amid all his SBimperance crusading to sing the praises HSefUne colony whence he comes. He is ■■folding a big meeting next Tuesday in the ■H|bnc'ert Hall at Stockton-on-Tees, and he to "go in a perisher " in the way H||jNew Zealand trumpet-blowing. He HRaa written to the Agent-General's departasking that; 3000 or 4000 Imnd-bills HmforriDgUq Ujß reduced fares to the colony Bttiay .bo gpfit llim for distribution ufc this HR|eting ;prtHo / copied of Sir Westby HKKeral'i'ibdpkt pn New Zealand, of tho Blew ZeaJftb"t|;Hij,'udbook, of the New ZenGuide, and other publicuHHonB. t Ttibße- ; have been duly sent, and ■H&u' will -pro&ably hear from Stocktonshortly. BBS'Pca the first of December last about BB|people have boon drowned within the B^Hloiijr, at least thpse-foiirths of the cases preventible by the exeroise of the B^pHegt/^modioum of common sense and HB^sHfje. ;As regards the bathing acoithis is especially so. Many of the HH&ons co drowned, must have day by HKjf' read the continual succession of narcasualties, and noted, if they ever j^^ft^cted nt all, the primary cause of these K^fci^bjo disastnrs, by which men, BHp|9£f^ boys,' and gtrls have lost: their .brought 'bitter sorrow to many r V : Year by year at the bathing H^fjtbiia annual 'sacrifice of bamaa life

goes on, and nobody seems able to pub a stop to it, either by friendly counsel or monition. — Auckland Herald.

For some little time past there htwo been sinister rumours afloat of a jockey ring being in existences in and about Napier, i The correspondent of the Weekly Press has tho following on the subject : — •' There is a feeling existing, and one . that is growing stronger of late, that a I jockey's ring has been gradually springing |up in our midst. I sincerely hope that such is not tho case for the profession itself. If the rumour should prove correct, the sooner some strong measures are adopted to put it down, tho better ib will be for the jockeys themselves, and likewise the ' ownerß and the public. For some time, however, both owners and trainers have been very dissatisfied at the running of their horses, which has not been borno out by previous and subsequent running and track form. That thore is some reason for the suspicion is due to the fact thab reputed good horsemen have been up in some of the big events, and the animals have failed completely, while with the stable lads on their backs in other events they have reversed their previous form in a marked manner. The conduct of some I riders is being closely watched, and should an opportunity occur, they will find themI selves iv the near future without a mount." It is proposed to connect Wellington \ and Karori, a suburb some three miles from the city, by an electric tramway. Estimates of cost have been prepared in London, and when they are received, it is proposed to form a syndicate to construct the line. The line is to be worked on the single trolly system, which has been found to work well in large centres in England nd America. Mr James Yates, of the Leeds Public Library, says, in a letter to the Times, on the subject of libraries :— -" It might !be interesting to your readers to learn what is being done in the United States on the above question. In the New York State, for example, travelling libraries are established, which are worked thus : Application is made by the residents of a town or village to the agents of the State Library at Albany, and, if found satisfactory, 100 volumes are despatched, on payment of a fee ranging from 12s to 20s. The selection of books for these libraries is varied to suit the communities and classes of readers for whom they are desired. In some a larger proportion of standard works is included ; otherß contain only the books of a given year. About 20 per cent are works of notion, with 10 to 20 per cent each of biography, travels, and history. Popular science and general literature are woll represented. Several conditions are necessarily imposed upon borrowers. This recont device of the regents of a series of travelling libraries brings freshly to each community in turn afresh set of books, and, therefore, a new set of influences." f James Quinn, one of the survivors of a party who tried to walk from Norseman to Ooolgardie, says that his two mates who died of thirst — Cantwell and O'Connor —had LSOOO awaiting them in a bank at Coolgardie, being the value of shares they had sold in the Norseman Great Boulder Mine. They started on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon their supply of water had given out, some having leaked away. Oantwell, who was a noted wrestler, and O'Connor were reduced to terrible expedients to quench their thirst, and weresoon unable to keep up with their companions. On Monday afternoon they asked' to be loft to die, and sent messages to their friends by Quinn. At Sunday Soak, Quinn met a teamster, and they went back to search for the missing men, but they had wandered away on the ironstone country, and could not be traced.

"It's all right, Mary," ho said patiently. *' Go into politics and run for. office if you want to. But, remember one thing, the cartoonists '11 be after you as soon as you're a candidate." "I don't care." " And they'll put youz picture in the paper witH your hair ouh of curl and your hat on crooked." "Do you think they would do that ? " she inquired apprehensively. ' 'Of course. And they'll make your Paris gowns look like ten cent, calico, and say that your sealskin cloak is imitation." " William," she said,. after a thoughtful pause, "I guess I'll just stay right here and make home happy."