LOCAL AND GENERAL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7727, 10 June 1903, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Wairimoo, from Sydney, arrived at Wellington to-day. Her mails will probably reach Christchurch early to-morrow. The cargo from the s.s. Gracchus having Undergone a second process of disinfection, %as delivered over by the health' authorities |b-day. / ; Messrs Fraser and Sons, of Auckland, are the contractors for a supply of 300 tons •f iron bridge work on the North Island • Main Trunk Railway near Whafca-paki. The .price is about £7000. The Taranaki Maoris do not view the .elevation of Mahuta to the Upper House «nd the Executive Council with approval, and the question will be discussed at a large meetjng at Parihaka next week. A man named Arthur Sutton was arrested at Wellington last evening on a charge of bigamy, and was remanded this morning. It is alleged that he married Margaretta Daffield at Sydney in December last whije bis wife (nee Agneß Bonford) was still living. ■ ! At the Assessment Court this morning, j Mr Haselden, S.M., said that he did not approve "of agents coming to the Court to support a number of objections to valuations obtained from various people. This •was likely to bring about an undesirable •state of affairs. A considerable amount of interest is taken in the Cust district in regard to the i construction of a new bridge over the iQust. V It is hoped, as the outcome of the held at Rangiora on Tuesday, that definite* arrangements/will be made by the Boards interested, so as to secure the grection of the bridge at an early date. John M'Gregor, who was remanded for medical treatment last Saturday by the Magistrates, having been charged with drunkenness and with breaking ten panes „-of glass in the window of a house occupied ' by Mary M'Gregor, was stated in the report to be the husband of the complainant. fhjg is denied by the complainant, who as•erts that he is not related to.her. In the series of articles under the heading of "Fifty Years Ago," the first of which will appear in Saturday's " Star," the writer will deal with the " trials, tribulations and adventures of a pioneer," the humorous and . sensational incidents he has been an eyewitness of, and life as the pioneers had to live it, before tie '-'yellow-haired tussock" .gave, place to the golden grain and homesteads dotted the waste. » Mr Justice Conolly allowed an appeal against the decision of tie Auckland Magis. trate in two cases against Mr King, the " Registrar of Electors for Auckland, charged with refusing to enrol the appellants. The ' Magistrate disinisseds the informations, but Mr Justice Conolly ruled) that there should have been convictions in both cases, though - only a nominal fine should 'have been imposed. Costs were allowed in one case. The Assessment Court sat this morning ; present-VMr W. R. Haselden, S.M. (chairman), .and Messrs W. Rollitt and F. Pratt (assessors). Messrs A. P. O'Qallaghan, H. Murray and A. Millar represented the Valuations Department. Objections. ■ >to valuations in the south-west district of . the city were heard, but only one alteration in theiland values was allowed, a section off St Asaph Street being reduced by £5. • Some small alterations were made in the values of buildings. A motor fire-engine— the first of the kind brought to New Zealand — was landed 'at Wellington from the Ruapehu yesterday. It was built by Merry weaflier and Co., of London, to the* order of Messrs Aitken and Wilson, of Wellington, on behalf of the Wanganui Fire Brigade, and has cost about . £900. The engine was sent to Edinburgh for a trial in that hilly city, and did wonderfully good work there. It can- travel on a flat road at a. speed of between twenty and thirty miles an hour, easily run up /an. incline of one in ten, and deliver a jet' of •-, water at the rate of 400 gallons a^minuja. to a height of 160 ft. ........ .. : J " To-day's weather forecast is as follows: —A (Strong gale from between the northwest, west and) touth-west at all places northward) of East Cape, Taupo and Ragu lan, and" from between the south-cast, coUth and sbuth-west at all other places.. The barometer will, rise everywhere. The . sea will be heavy on the east coast southward of East Cape, moderate thence northward ar.d considerable on the west coast. The tides will be high on both coasts of the North Island and on the east coast of the. South Mand, good on the | west, coast of the So'ith at Cape Farewell and poor at Nelson. Warning signals for westerly gales are exhibited at Cape Maria Van Dieinen, Tiritiri, East Cape and Canes Farewell, Foulwind and 1 .Campbell, and for a southerly gale at Nugget Point." During the last twenty-four hours throughout the country, the barometer continued pto fall steadily,. There have been strong winds from the northward 1 in the toortfl Island generally,' and moderate easterly winds in the. South Island. Rains have been heavy' (northward of Napier and Raglan, and have fallen also at most places thence eouthiward. A low pressure from about the west-north-west has cwissed the North Island 1 ifrom &out Raglan to the,Eist Cape. Captain Jackson Barry's new book, " Adventures and Experiences of a Pioneer Colonist," which was promised some time back, was (says the Auckland " Star " of May 30) issued this "week. \Thc writer's experiences date back to; 1829, and the recital of his personal ups and downs as a colonial pioneer afford- many intimate glimpses of the vicissitudes of the early colonist in all of the Australian colonies and in New Zealand. Particularly good are the \ adventures in cattle-driving in Australia in the thirties, and the accounts of the various gold-rushes.*, .^Several chapters of the book are devoted to>he early years of the Califomian gold-rush, duriug which Capfctdn Barry put together a comfortable fortune, only to see it dissipated later in whaling and other unfortunate speculations. Amusing are the stories of early trading, municipal lita and racing of the period that Captain Barry spent on the Otago goldfields, and during which he was thrice Mayor of Cromwell — and a vigorous mayor to boot. In addition to the autobiographical portion of the book, there is a concise historical account of the earlier' days of the various Australasian colonies, attached to which are of several of the earlier Governors and; of the piesent New Zealand Ministry. , The last fifty pages are under the title of "Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Men I Have Met." They ! contain some seventy portraits, many of them those of ' very early colonasts..