LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1902, 4 June 1892, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS

The Hon. Mr Fergus, M.H.R. for Wakatipu, has decided not to seek re-election to the next Parliament. The season for shooting native game closed on Tuesday in the district under the charge of the Otago Acclimatisation Society. Reports from the Murchison diggings, South Australia, stato that a terrible amount of sickness exists on the field, and that men are dying on the road. Master H. Cameron, one of the pupils of the Lawrence District High School, who recently passed the Civil Service examination, has received an appointment as a cadet in the Railway Department at Clinton. We learn by cablegram that in the Sydney grain market New Zealand milling wheat is dull at 4s 8d to 4s 9d. Oats bring—Discoloured, 2s 2d to 2s 3d ; medium, 2s id to 2s sd ; bright short (scarce), 2s 6d. MR DIBBS, the New South Wales Premier, made a sarcastic answer to a deputation which waited on him to ask that Chinese-made furniture should be stamped. He asked, why not go farther and stamp cabbages grown by Chinese. The last wash-up of the TSo. 1 Hercules Company, Roxburgh, gave a return of 720z 14dwt 3gr of gold, of the value of JE279 18s 3d, for eight days 1 sluicing. The Millers Creek Dredging Co. have obtained lOoz 13dwt of gold for 125 hours' dredging. The mine manager of the Amalgamated Waipori Deep Lead Gold mining Co. reports for week ending 28th May us follows :—" I started sinking the new paddock on Wednesday last, and have been working full timethree shifts per diem — since then." The "New Zealand Times" office was broken into the other Saturday night, and the publishers desk was broken open. It is said the robber received for his enterprise, three half -penny stamps and a chunk of dried bread and cheese. The very sight of a printing office now gives him the shivers. An extraordinary gold find took place at Hokitika. In washing some potatoes a fair prospect of gold was obtained. The dirt was then taken out and washed, and found to be payable. The potatoes were grown at Kokataha, about twelve miles from Hokitika, and several diggers have gone to the locality. MR C. W. Adams, Chief Surveyor, has been on a visit to the Tuapeka West and Rankleburn districts during the last day or two on behalf of the Government, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the moneys allocated for road works in these districts to open up land for settlement have been advantageously expended. The local paper says that if some provision is not made for the opening of a number of small areas for settlement on Run 199, Teviot, in accordance with the petition recently sent to the Minister of Lands, it will certainly damage his reputation in the Mount Benger district among those who have hitherto recognised him as being a Minister well suited for his office and the real friend of settlement. The "Bruce Herald " says that Mr H. S. Valentine's address to his constituents at Lawrence last Saturday evening was a really good one. The " Witness " says the speech "was a sober and practical contribution to the political facts of the day, and unpretending and homely as its composition is, it will be found more useful reading than most of the more pretentious^addresses of the old Parliamentary hands." The "Evening Star "also gives Mr Valentine great credit for his speech, regarding him as the right man in the right place as representing a country district.

A bullock driver at Percy, Queensland, lately unearthed a piece of stone which yielded 117 ounces of good gold, and expects to get 50 ounces more from two other specimens. The following is a durable white wash for farm buildings :— Take 101 b of mutton suot and 401 b nnslacked lime. Pour in water and stir. It has all the appearance of paint. It can be kept after use. When required again, pour in some hot water and it is ready. We understand the people of Lwrence are to have another opportuaii " >f ■? iauring their drapery, etc., at rock-bottom prices, as Messrs W. Aul'l and Sons intend j,jeuiu^ here on the 22nd inst. .vi.U a winter f j -•, .v.ian they will utf or an immense stuok of seasonable goods.— ' [Advl.] The "N>w Z-mlaud Timps," the Government organ m Wellington, states that Ministers had no intention of abandoning the proposal to bring in an inland penny postage. It will not be practicable to make the change for several weeks on account of the details having yet to be arranged. Ax the Land Board meeting on Wednesday, J. P. Kirke applied for consent to occupy under section 185 of the Land Act, 1885, an area of 150 acres on run 212G, and also 150 acres on run 212F, Greenvale.— Referred to ranger for report. The Tuapeka County Council forwarded a supplementary list showing upon what r jads it was intended to expend money accruing from runs for a period up to Ist February, 1892. — Road lines approved. TWO employe's on the Ebtrick Dredging Co.'s dredge had a narrow squeak for their lives one day last week. The dredge's boat, iv which both men were, suddenly turned turtle, and precipitated its occupants into tho river. One of the immersed ones lost no time in striking out for the shore, and succeeded in planting his feet once more securely on terra firma, while his companion in distress was rescued by a friendly boat. The incident caused some excitement, being witnessed by a scora of people. The local courthouse is at present receiving a much-needed touch up at the hands of the plasterers. The plaster in the interior of the building is crumbling away in several place", and the appearance of the workmen on the premises was not a moment too soon. We wish the authorities could be made aware of the extreme discomfort of the building in the winter weather; it is every degree"cold enough for a refrigerating chamber, and some* thing should be done to make it habitable for those who are compelled as a matter of duty to shiver out occasional hours of their existence in it. The Otago Education Board is likely to furnish some lively episodes (says the Dunedin correspondent of the "Cromwell Argus") during the next few months. There are elements in it, as at present constituted, which are liable to cause an explosion at any moment. When the Finance Committee's report comes up recommending -if current rumor doas not lie — further curtailments in teachers' emoluments, while the highly-paid inspectors and secretary are not touched, there will be "wigs on the green." Mr Fraer, the chairman, is tactful, but it will take all his suavity to keep down much longer the indignation seething in the breasts of some of the members. * THERE were only three patients in the Tuapeka Hospital last evening, three having been discharged during the week and none admitted. This is a state of things exceptional as it is comforting ; indeed, wo cannot remember any time that the number of patients in the Hospital had fallen so pleasantly low, and the circumstance is all the more remarkable at this season of the year when the average number under treatment runs from 8 to 12, Whether this diminution is due to an improvement in the climate or to the institution having lost its old-time reputation as luxurious asylum for those of the population who feel inclined for a little repose and rest during the long tedium of the winter months, we cannot exactly say ; but from whatever cause it arises, we welcome it and hope it may long continue. Thb fence surrounding Sergeant Conn's residence — one of the most unpicturesqueand unsightly objects in Lawrence — is shortly to be removed and a picket fence erected in its place. The Borough Council have on one or two occasions lately notified the Sergeant of their intention to institute proceedings against somebody unless steps were taken to keep the feuce from encroaching on the footpath. These minatory missives the Sergeant transmitted to headquarters ; and the result, after much time, of course, has been the decision to provide a new fence. It has taken many months to decide this small matter ; but then allowance must be made for the fact that the Public Works Department had to be communicated with, which means an expenditure of red tape and a succession of stupid and circumlocutory forms, of which the average, plain citizen has not the remotest conception, A meeting of the stewards of the Beaumont Jockey Club was held a few evenings ago, when the Treasurer submitted a statement showing that the amount to the credit of the Club was £78, of which £31 was the net proceeds derived from the last race-meeting, the balance being a fixed deposit (with interest £2) at the Bank of New South Wales, It was resolved to vote Mr Chas. Bennet the sum of £5 in consideration of his services as secretary of tho Club during the past year. The stewards further considered the alleged suspicious running of Apres Moi in the Beaumont Handicap at the annual meeting, tho feeling prevailing at the time that she had not been run honestly. The trainer (Mr H. M'Lean) testified that he had six tickets (which were produced at a meeting of the stewards held immediately after the race was run) on the mare in the Beaumont Handicap, which she was sent to win. The mare was in foal at the time of the meating, and was not in proper strip for racing. After giving the matter full consideration, the stewards expressed themselves as satisfied that the mare was run honestly in the Beaumont Handicap, and accordingly passed a resolution to that effect. The editor of the "Bruce Herald" is determined to give his old friend Captain Jackson Barry a good run for it, and it looks as if he has whipped him. Anyway, the author of the whale yarn had to go all the way to the King Country for his tin mine, whereas tho editor of the " Herald," without going out of Milton, has, at intervals, within the last six months, announced himself as the discoverer of no less than half-a-dozen mines, including manganese, silver and copper, and a goldfield twelve miles in length within cooey of the " Herald " office, which will give employment within the next year to between 2,000 and 5,000 men. The latter discovery, curiously enough, was made during the late election for Bruce ; and a contemporary asserts that the lie of the ground is dangerously close to the White Horse Hotel. A peculiarity about this gold mine discovered by the editor of our contemporary is that there are several rich seams of coal, •• equal to the best Newcastle," interwoven with the gold seams, We understand he intends to claim the reward for each of his discoveries, and, if so, we may expect to see him scoop in the whole of the Government surplus, besides having a national monument erected to his memory somewhere in the vicinity of the White Horse Hotel. Captain Jackson Barry and even J. G. S. Grant must now haul down kheir colours.