General News.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2055, 15 April 1887, Page 2

General News.

i A gatekeeper employed on th« Victorian railways at Haruawarth* died in a rather tragic manner the other day. Uo met the down train lor W idouga as usual at his post, waved the signal announcing that all was w !, and, as the train passed by, sudden y eupired, Mr Thomas Collier is erecting a boiiuig nown establishment on the banks ui tun \Vanigawa at the Upper Minima. ino buildings are partly i creeled and ilie plant w ill be put down in a iou days, dir Collier has applied to tiio County authorities lor a slaughtering license.—btar. At the K.M. Court, Carterton, on Tuesday, before .Messrs Boys and booth, J.P.’g, (ieorgo Vickersuil', who was taken to Carterton by the previous evening’s tram from Maetortoa, was charged with deserting his wile and child, and was remanded to the tilth April, bail being allowed in two sureties of £lO each, and one for himself at £25. At the meeting of the North Wairarapa County Council, Mr Baker said that over a thousand swagsmen were ferried over the Akiteo terry in twelve months lor wiiieb nothing waa paid, all the men pleading poverty to tho ferryman. Mr J. U. Col stated that at a station on the coast, over • 00 swaggers called during siv mouths and each got - upper, hi i and breaklast from t.io owner before proceeding on their .journey.—Daily.

An audacious robbery is reported, says the Star. The victim is a horse in Mr Collier’s paddock on the Waipoua, which Tas had its tail cut off, apparently with a knife. Horse hair is in request at the present time and about a pound and a half lias been removed. There are a lew horses with tails left, and as they have active hind legs the owner is in hopes that the thief may yet receive the punish ment he deserves. The amount paid for destroying rabbits in New South Wales for three years is £321,-192 10s. lu this time. 7.853,787 bunnies have been destroyed, and still they come.

Prolific New Zealand ! Out of the 600,000 people in the colony, 120,000 are under 15 rears of age. It is proposed to have the name of the late Mr Maxwell, who bequeathed £IUOO to the Christchurch Hospital, placed over the new entrance to the new operating theatre of the hospital The pensioners of Hei Majesty's naval ai el military forces at Christchurch have decided to celebrate the Jubilee by holding a dinner on May 21th, in honour of Her Majesty s birthday. Svdncy market-*, April S. —New Zealand oats Is 9d to 2* 3d per bushel. New Zealand w heat 3s Gd to 3s 9J| Cer bushel, maize 3s to 3s Gi per ushel. Butter (duty Id) best local, quiet, at 9d ; New Zealand butter nominal; cheese duty 2d), 5d to Gvd —market glutted ; bacon (duty 2d) New Zealand in cloth, Gd to 7d—very scarce; potatoes, 60s to 70s; cocksfoot, 3 to Id. A syndicate has been formed in Sydney to construct a branch line of railway to the Jenolan Caves, via Mount Victoria. It is reported that Dr Kinsman, of the Free Church of England, Melbourne, haa married -WOO couples. Two diggers in the Coromandel district have been working quietly on some private ground and got £looo worth of gold since Christmas, Another party haa also done well. An Auckland boat builder is building a yacht to order at a cost of £ISOO to compete in the next intercolonial yacht race at Sydney. Mr Benefield, of Aramoho, complains that the Wellington volunteers who went to the encampment, robbed his orchard. His nursery was rushed on Friday morning, and when he went out he found the place full of volunteers. He offered them plenty ot milk if they would rear out of the dairy, but the raid they made upon the orchard cost the owuer £3O in the damage done.

By the last trip of the Zealandia from San Francisco a pair of extremely pretty fancy fowls, Wyandottes, were received by an Auckland lirm to the order of Mr T Uixon, of Mastertm. The label which was attached to the coop bore the following unique inscription ; —“ Please give me a drink ; I am a Wyandotte chief, and this is Biddy, my squaw. We are on our journey to our new master, Thomas Dixon, Esq., Worksop Apiary, Masterton, Wellington, New Zealand, care of King, Walker and Co., 3, Queen street, Auckland. By the wav, toss us a few crumbs from the table, and a raw potato occasionally ; wo like onions.”—Post. Mr J. \ ile, secretary to the Parkville Special Settlement Association, has received a communication from the Surveyor-General's department informing him that the Government will place a sum of money on the estimates for building a bridge over the Maka-' kabi river to give access to the block by the road. —Star During the voyage of the barque Sutherland Bell from New Zealand to Newcastle she was struck by a large whale. The shock was so great that the hardwood beam forming the straight part of vessel’s prow was twisted, and some copper torn awav. The ship has been placed on the slip for repairs. A J.soa.-e has broken out among horses at Urana, NS. W. Tin, tv have been attacked, and some dc troyed. The animals tir~t stagger with drooping head ami hind quarters, and sometimes the forequarters become partly paralysed The limbs got inflamed, and the horses fall. The pulse is regular and the appetite good. Ihe Papaum Conner states that this season the Tapanui district will have h-r export something like Bhiakm bushels of grain in excess of ar.v previous year, Je-pre the poor yield's in some places. Threshing i ~orations on the farms between New Plymouth and t >kato are Dow well over, and the yields are found to be much heavier than in previous seas..iis. i'ne average vieid of Messrs Mi ■ ri.s and U barchan., wheat and oats, was about thiuy bushels.