LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1889, 27 April 1892, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The inland mails via San Francisco reached Lawrence yesterday by the midday train.

The proposal of the Victorian Government to revert to the twopenny postage is not meeting with approval.

An agitation has been begun in Auckland for the repeal of the gold duty and the abolition of the stamp duties on share transfers.

On the principle of •• live and let live," the Hawke's Bay County Council has adopted the plan of not accepting any tender for work which is below the estimate of the engineer.

Mb Jas. Allen, one of the candidates nominated for the Bruce seat, will address the electors at Glenore this evening ; Manuka Creek, to-morrow evening ; Waitabuna Gully, Friday evening ; and Hillend, Saturday evening.

A MAN named John M'Gregor was brought before Mr J. N. Wood, R.M., on Monday, charged with being drunk in a public place. He was convicted of the offence and fined Is, with the alternative of twelve hours'imprisonment.

The ordinary meeting of the Lawrence Borough Council on Monday evening was allowed to lapse owing to the absence of a quorum. The Mayor and Crs Taylor, Davidson, and Johnson were the only members who put in an appearance.

Mr E. M. Smith, M.H.R. for New Plymouth; draws a salary of 25a a week for his work as turncock, etc., to the borough, and. a ratepayer asks why the salary is not raised so that Mr Smith will be paid according to the services he has rendered the place.

A northern contemporary is responsible for the following :— A certain supercilious member of a County Council, at a recent banquet, observed to a neighbouring councillor : " The acoustics are very bad in this hall." "Really," replied the latter, "you surprise me ; I can't smell anything."

The gold returns of the following mining companies are to hand :— lsland Block Extended Co., nine days' sluicing, top and bottom stuff, 530z 9dwt6gr ; Upper Waipori Alluvial Gold Dredging Oo.'s No. 1 dredge lOoz sdwt 6gr of gold for 5 days 14 hours' and No. 2 dredge 16oz sdwt for 5 days 9 hours ; Jutland Flat Dredging Co , 9oz for 64 hours' wages I time, 47 hours actual dredging ; Duaedin Gold 1 Dredging Co.,'2lqz.

THE Colonial Treasurer has promised to deliver his Financial Statement early in the session.

The " Lyttelton Times " reports that on a farm about a mile from Amber Icy, and the property of Mr J. Stanton, the yield of wheat recorded by the threshing machine was 58 biwhels per acre. The oats, which bad been sown with grass, for seed, gave a return of 79 bushels per acre. The grass seed has not yet been cleared, so that the yield has not yet been ascertained.

A publican was fined at Melbourne last week for Sum lay trading on information which caused the Bunch tv regrei th.tt they had no power tv dismiss the caso. Two married women, nam n <i Meeksand Burville, members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, obtained the liquor on the pretence that it was wanted for a .sick person. The police said the women bad acted under instructions from the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Rabbit drives are in full blast in the southern counties of California. There is a drive every few weeks in the months of March and April, sometimes over the same ground, with an almost invariable result of from 10,000 to 15,000 dead rabbits and other noxions quadrupeds, including coyottes. The line of the "drive" is generally about four miles in length, and the slaughter corral to which the animals are headed has wings one mile and a-half in extent.

Archibald Forbes, who is declared to have made £20,000 by his lectures in Ans» tralia and New Zealand, says that "in America it takes you a year to get your name up, a year to make your pile, and a year to fizzle out." Mr Forbes' manners savor more of the camp than the court, and he hates show. He loves, after a hard day's campaigning, to have a seat near a wood fire, a plate filled high with cabbage and beef, and a quart mug of Bass to wash it down.

THB heavy rain that fell on Monday night considerably affected the attendance of householders at the annual statutory meetings for the election of school committees for the current year. Only half-a-dozen householders turned up at Lawrence for the election of the High School Committee; and in the other parts of the district the attendance was of the same meagre character. In Dunedin also the weather affected the electious, the attendance at the various schools being exceedingly sparse.

Mr Knott, the temperance lecturer, asserted in Hokitika the other evening that he believed that in every hotel in this colony adulterated drinks were being sold and that he had offered £5 in most of the large cities and towns of the colony to any person who would produce a half pint of beer, wine, or spirits, that was not adulterated. Mr Mandl, a Hokitika brewer, has replied, accepting the challenge, and offers to forfeit £150 and close his brewery if Mr Knott can find any adulterated beer on his premises.

A sitting of the District Court, before his Honor Judge Ward, was held in the oourt-hou-e, Lawrence, yesterday. The following applications by the Official Assignee for release in the undermentioned estates under section 179 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, were granted :— James Blair, J. J. Oursey, M. Harliwick, D. M'Taggart, Charts Creb3, Thomas Roughan, Geo. Courtier, J C. Lorimer, W. Weatherall, G. J. Grant, G. Murray, D. J. M'Donaid.Wm. Lauaon.W. T. Bowden, R. Ferguson, J. Bryant, A. Sturm, and John Giryan. Mr Crooke appeared for the Official Assignee, who was also present.

A bankrupt named M'Nanght was committed for contempt of court by Judge Ward at Oamaru on Friday. When the case was called, the Deputy-Official Assignee said that the police had been unable to serve the bankrupt with a warrant to appear and be examined. Just at that moment someone pointed out that the bankrupt was sitting in tbe body of the court, quietly listening to the proceedings. On being brought before the judge, he repeatedly refused to answer questions, and was committed to Dunedin jail until he consents to submit to examination. Just before he filed, the bankrupt sold sheep to the value of £174, and declared that he wrapped tha whole of the money, hard cash, in a blanket and deposited it in an outhouse, and that it was stolen.

A case having some unusual features came up for adjudication at the Lawrence R.M. Court on Monday. F. Pringle was charged by tbe Police with driving sheep through the Borough of Lawrence during prohibited hours, contrary to the by-laws bearing on the subject. Accused claimed the indulgence of the Court, contending that he was ignorant of the existence of the by-laws in question, but he was fined £1 and costs (12s). According to regulation 45 of the Borough by-laws, sheep are described as cattle, and the penalty for driving cattle through the streets during prohibited hours is £1 per head. The hours during which cattle can be taken through the streets are from 10 p ra. to 8 a.m. The information is worth making a note of, and it strikes us that on the passing of such a law means should be taken for making those to whom it applies aware of its existence.

A meeting of delegates representing the following friendly societies was held in the Borough Council Chambers last evening to arraDge for the appointment of a medical officer ia room of Dr Withers, who lately severed his connection with tha societies named. The delegates were— liros. Varcoe, S. Johnston, and Chas. Campbell, Loyal Blue Spur Lodge, M.U.1. 0 0,F. ; Bros. Hansen and Black, Loyal Waitahuna Lodge, M.U.1.0.0.F., and Court Havelock, A.0.F. ; aud Bros. Smyth and Murray, Court Star of Tuapeka, A.O.F. It was resolved to offer the appointment of medical officer of the lodges in question to Dr Nicoll, of Lawrence, on the same terms as those previously existing with Dr Withers. A deputation, consisting of one delegate from each of the societies, interested^ was appointed to wait upon Dr Nicoll requesting his acceptance of the offer.

Thbrb are reasons for believing that the predicted advance in the price of wheat has set in steadily, though prices have not improved greatly at present { says the Auckland "Herald's" Home correspondent). For a Ions; time the weekly receipts in Europe have been less than the current requirements of importing countries, so that the glut occasioned by the heavy imports of the early portion of the cereal year has pretty well subsided. Then, there are reports of damage done to the winter .wheat crop in America, and of very serious injury in South Russia and Roumania. In Northern France, again, a considerable acreage has be6n spoilt by frost, and will require re-sowing. In most other European countries the prospects are fair at present— or rather, were so before the present severe weather set in j but Hungary is the only important exporting country in which there is a fair outlook for a wheat crop.

The Dunedin correspondent of a contemporary writes :— ln connection with the case of the Rev. Mr Ryley who resigned his charge of the Port Chalmers Presbyterian Church owing to his becoming so much involved in business that it required his whole attention, some rather unfair attacks have been made on him owing to his recent purchase of an hotel. It appears that Mr Ryley was imperceptibly drawn into the flour milling business by assisting the widow of a friend until he found himself compelled to take an active and leading part in the business to protect his own and other interests. After the roller machinery had been erected the vibration was found to extend to the hotel close at hand, and the lessee alleging that his business was being injured, as boarders objected to the vibration, threatened to take out .an injunction from the Supreme Court. The matter was put into the hands of experts and on examination these who were acting for Mr Ryley and his partners gave it as their opinion that the vibration was distinctly and disagreeably felt, and that the Court would almost certainly cause an injunction. Only two courses remained. The one was to shut up the mill which had just been fitted up with splendid machinery at a cost of thousands of pounds, bringing ruin to those concerned, and the other was to purchase the hotel. The latter, after much consideration, was the course resolved upon. The moral is of course that clergymen should have nothing whatever to do with business affairs of the world, as they never know where it may lead to. It does seem somewhat singular to find a clergyman and a fervent supporter of teetotalism as the proprietor of a hotel, but as Mr Ryley could not sacrifice his own interests without sacrificing those of others it is difficult to see how he could have avoided the position.

THB morphia soiree is the latest Parisian craze. According to the Paris correspondent of the " Standard," the abuse of morphia has developed to a frightful pass in that city. It seems to be quite a common habit to carry hypodermic syringes for the purpose of administering the drug, and the correspondent describes a morphia tea party, at which tea and biscuits were followed by morphia injection. Several of the guests, he says, were down-spirited on their arrival, but almost immediately after the little syringe had done its work they became animated, and even brilliant in their conversation. The reaction is terrible.

It is stated that no less than 12,000 rations per month are distributed to the indigent in the city of Wellington. And yet Wellington is said to be the most generally prosperous and go-ahead town iv the colony — if not the most prosperous in every way ! What a commentary on the state of the colony ! It will be noted from the lust monthly returns thaC tho departures from the colony still exceed the arrivals.' There is one advantage in this that the more and faster people leave the sooner Will an equilibrium be restored and tho system of Government rations be abolished, though not to be despised in the meantime.

The Melbourne correspondent of a Hokitika contemporary gives this doleful description of the present condition of things in the Tictorian capital : — " No one has ever seen such a general slackness in Melbourne trade. Literally, nothing is stirring. The shops are crammed with good things marked at ridiculously low rates. You could furnish your house or renew your wardrobe in Melbourne just now more cheaply than you could in London. £ have seen both furniture and clothing of nil kinds, but especially of the best sorts marked at prices I personally know to be less than London cost. All classes feel it, from the great stock-brokers, one of whom recently assured me that there had not been one really bona fide transaction for weeks, that the daily business was mostly a sham, brokers making purchases of each, other to give a semblance of life to the place, and, moreover, that there were not four companies in Melbourne who could absolutely defy the chances of the times."