LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1468, 16 February 1886, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Geraldine Tow Boabd. A special masting of this Board will take place tomorrow evening at half-past seven. Bible in Schools.—The Presbyterian General Assembly, Auckland, carried a vote on Friday in favor of the introduction of the Bible in public schools, Temuka Monthly Stock Salk.—The monthly sale of stock at Temuka takes, place to-morrow. Mr K. F. Gray and Messrs J. Mundell and Co. advertise entries. Mb Burnett. —Mr Burnett opens hie second temperance mission in the colony at Lyttelton next Thursday. After a short stay there he proceeds to the West Coast. Larceny.— A case of larceny occurred at Pleasant Valley on Saturday. Mr Thos, Taylor, who was engaged in cutting grain for Mr Gregan, had his watch stolen from the pocket of his waistcoat, which he had left lying in the paddock while at work. A Floubishing Colony. Western Australia is in a particularly flourishing and jubilant condition. They have had a surplus of £90,000 in revenue over expenditure daring the past year ; consequently public work* are to ba pushed ahead with vigor. Property is selling briskly in all directions. Tea and Public Meeting.—A tea and public meeting under the auspices of the Blue Ribbon Army will bo held in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, to-morrow evening. Tea will be on the tables at half-past 6 p.m., the meeting commencing at a quarter to 8. The Revs, Clark, White, Hamilton, and Thomas will address the meeting, A Cbhdixoes Paradise.— Under the Mexican law a creditor can have a debtor arrested on the day when the debt falls due. The prisoner is chained to a post five days, guarded by an officer. At the end of that time, if the money is not forthcoming, the man’s labor is sold to the Government for forty cents a day for as many days as yyill be necessary to discharge the obligation. The urserable debtor is sent to the silver mines, where he is chained to a gang of felons, and compelled to work underground. He sleeps underground, and never sees dayligLt again until he is restored to freedom.

Cricket. The Temuka Cricket Club intend playing in Timaru nest Saturday against the Timaru Cricket Club, and as the members of the local Club require practice it is to be hoped they will muster well iu the Park every evening this week. The team will be picked from the members practising. Concert at Winchester.--A tea and concert will be held in the schoolroom, Winchester, on Friday evening next, the proceeds of which will be in aid of painting St. John’s Church. The chair will be taken by the Rev. T. A. Hamilton, atid the Revs. J. Preston (Geraldine) and T. Jaaper-Smythe (Pleasant Point) are also expected to be present. Several ladies will take part in the entertainment, including the best talent in the district, and it is to be hoped it will be great success, more especially as it is for a laudable purpose. Anglican Synod. — In ths Synod at Auckland on Saturday the Primate requested the Bishop of Nelson to visit the Pacific Islands if the Bishop of Newcastle could not. The recommendations of the Committee on Cathedral matters are to be printed for the consideration of next Synod. A rule has been prescribed for bishops wishing to resign. A Committee was appointed to consider the advisability of trying to influence public opinion on religious education by sermons, lectures, and pamphlets, and it was decided to recommend the diocese to again consider the pensions scheme. After three nights’ close debate the Synod agreed to the return of the St. John’s College to the old site at lamaki as soon as funds were provided. Distinguished Visitors.— Last Friday evening Dr Redwood, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington, arrived mTemuka, and was the guest that night of the Rev, Father Fauvel, On Saturday, by the express train, he proceeded to Dunedin to be present at the opening of the Cathedral there. The Rev, Father Fauvel yesterday received a telegram to the effect that His Eminence Cardinal Moran accompanied by Bishops Murray (Maitland), Reynolds (Adelaide), Moran (Dunedin), Redwood, (Wel'ington), and Luck (Auckland), would arrive in Temuka about 1 p.m. to-morrow (Wednesday), They will arrive in Timaru on Tuesday, and drive out on Wednesday to Temuka, calling to see the Kerry town Convent on the way. There is to bo no public reception. A Grim Joke. —One of the grimmest of ■jokes is that perpetrated by an old lady who recently died in London. In her will she bequeathed to the physician, who for thirtyfiye years had assiduously attended on her, and faithfully proscribed for her ailments, a huge wooden box. It was massive and heavy, just the box to contain a valuable treasure, say the hoarded savings of thirtyfire years. The medical man’s heart was touched, and bis fancy revelled in the delicious discovery ho was about to make. With trembling hands bo hurriedly prized open the precious box, when, lo! there met his horrified gaze all thosa bottles of medicine be had during those long years sent to his patient. So highly had she valued them that she bad preserved every one untouched, and there they lay, full of physio, piled one on the other in compact layers. A Shocking Occurrence. A young physician of Nimes, Dr P,, was lately consulted by a female patient in regard to some trifling ailment. He took from a glass case a box containing some white powder, and gave it to her with direction* for use, Mine. B„ the patient, took a small pinch of the powder, and finding it very bitter expressed some doubts to the doctor. He, to quiet her feelings, swallowed a good-sized dose of the powder in her presence, and dismissed her. Before reaching her house she fainted, and was carried home by her neighbors who called another doctor. Emetics being administered, ehe was soon out of danger, when she related what had occured in Dr P.’s offiice. The physician at once rushed to his brother practitioner, but found him lying on the floor dead. The white powder was strychnine. This painful accident shows once more the wisdom of the French pharmacy laws which forbid physicians to disperse their own medicines, and pharmacists to keep all poisons by themselves in a looked closet, the key of which must never leave the dispenser’s possession. Crown Lands Board, —At an ordiuary meeting of the Canterbary Crown Lands Board held on Thursday. Mr Stonyer’s application to buy 11 acres of land on the Opihi river-bed, Pleasant Point,was refused, the land having been reserved for river conservation. The New Zealand Mortgage and Investment Associates were granted permission to deepen the creek at Pleasant Point in such a way that the flooding of adjoining land did not occur. The Board granted Mr Huddleston a temporary pastoral lease for £5 of reserve 2652, Mount Cook, the land to be re-valued at the end of seven years. It was decided to recommend the withdrawal from sale, with a view of perpetual leasing, of lots 6, 7 and 11, reserve 389, Orari; to inspect, before fixing a price, the blocks of land set apart by Government in Canterbury for perpetual leasing ; and to recommend the reduction of the upset prices to £8 per acre on lot 8 reserve 641, Otaio, to £6 on lots 8 and 10, and to £4 on lot 11, reserve 640, Pareora. The Board ordered the forfeiture of various excess areas, as the purchasers had failed to pay the necessary fees. Licensing Committees.— Yesterday the following were nominated as candidates for membership on the Temuka Licensing Committee, viz., Messrs S. D. Barker, F. W. Badhrna, J. Meyer, J. Paterson, W. Storey, J. finlbot, and W. Wheelband. A poll for the election of five of these gentleman will be held next Monday between th* hours of 9 s.m. and 6 p.m,, the R.M. Courthouse, Temuka; the Reading Room, Milford; and the Reading Room, Winchester, being the polling places. For the Raukupuka Licensing District the following persons were nominated ; Mr C. G. Tripp (nominated by Messrs R. H. Pearpoint and J. Mundell) j Mr W. S. Maslin (nominated by Messrs T. Farrell and R. H. Pearpoint); l)r Fish (nominated by Mew* R. H. Pearpoint and J. Mundell); Hon. L. Walker (nominated by Messrs R. H. Pearpoint and T. Farrell) ; Mr W. U. Slack (nominated by Messrs R. H. Pearpoint and T. Farrell) ; Mr Geo. Ward (nominated by Messrs J. Cunningham and R. S, Cook). The poll for the election of five of these gentlemen also takes place next Monday, the | polling place being the Resident Magistrate’* Court, Geraldine. Incendiarism. —A fire, which must be regarded without doubt as the work of an incendiary, took place yesterday morning at Winchester. About tea minutes past one o'clock that morning Mr Deßenzy was awakened by something, when his attention was immediately attracted jby the glare of fire. On getting up he discovered some stacks of wheat belonging to Mr W. Budd on fire, He proceeded to (he paddock, which is situated in front of his hoyse on the other side of the road, and found the four stacks there on fire together. He immediately went down aud informed Mr Budd, but it was too late. The fire had caught such a firm

hold that it was impossible to extinguish it, and it continued blazing all day yesterday. The wheat was insured, but not to its full value, Mr Budd had an insurance of £2OO on the whole crop, half of which was destroyed in these four stacks. He will therefore get only £IOO, while he values his loss at £lB9, There is no doubt but that the fire is the work of an incendiary, and it is to be hoped that he will be found out and punished. Entbbtainmbnt, On Friday evening last the members of the Geraldine Dramatic and Christy Minstrel Club gave an entertainment in the Schoolroom, Woodbury, for their own benefit. The company have been to a good deal of expense in providing dresses, scenery, etc., and as they have on several occasions kindly given their assistance at concerts in aid nf the prize funds of different schools in the dUtriot, they are entitled to some little support. There was a fair house at Woodbury to witness the entertainment, and it doubtless would have been larger had the Company been better advertised. Tho farce “ Leave it to me ” was given, the same persons sustaining the characters as on the occasion when the piece was given on tho stage of the Oddfellows’ Hall, Geraldine. The members of the Christy Minstrel Company caused a good deal of amusement with their jokes, conundrums, songs, etc. The audience appreciated the entertainment very much, and the various items were well applauded. A dance was held after the entertainment which was well attended and kept up for some hours.

A Savings Bank Cash.—A case of some interest to depositors in tho Savings Bank was heard at the Wellington Magistrate’s Court on Saturday. It was one brought by a depositor in the Post-office Savings Bank named William Nicholson, against the department for the recovery of the sum of £l4, being the amount of balance which had stood to his credit at the Saving* Bank. Nicholson, the plaintiff, when he originally made bis deposit, was handed a depositor’s book, which book was subsequently stolen or lost. On the day following the loss or theft the book was presented at the savings Bank by a person who forged Nicholson’s name to a receipt, and obtained the balance standing to the account of tho depositor (Nicholson), viz., £l4. Under these circumstances the plaintiff now sought to make the department responsible for the money. The defence relied upon regulation 34 of the Post-office Savings Bank, which provides that if any person shall obtain by any means any money belonging to any depositors, the postmaster shall not bo held responsible for the amount. Tho Magistrate reserved judgement.

Dbbpaibing Bamibbs.— The number of suicides among the brightest aod most capable of business men, bankers and others, will be reduced to a minimum as soon as the specified virtues of American Hop Bitters are known. As all men who work with their brains and neglect to take the needed exercise, the food taken does not nourish, and dangerous debility, physical and mortal, ensue. Bead Advt.