LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIII, Issue 9347, 1 March 1881, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

School Treat. — The annual treat to the children of the Christ Church Sunday School will be held to-day, at Putiki Mission Station. E. and C. Aid Corporation. — Rumour says that the above Association are negotiating for the purchase of the Otamakapua Block. Boiling Down. — Mr Joseph Beale has establishedboiling-down works upon the banks of the Manawatu, near Awapuni. Pulpit Exchanges. — The Rev. Messrs Treadwell and Lee, the pastors respectively of the Presbyterian and Wesleyan Churches, exchanged pulpits on Sunday evening last. Kairanga Block. — The total amount of cash received by Government for the Kairanga Block was £10,560 3s 6d, of which £329 6s was deposits on deferred payment sections. The Timber Trade. — The Manawatu Times has been informed that all the timber to be used in the construction of the Waverley section of the railway is to be brought from Manawatu. The Racecourse. — The Racecourse will be closed to trainers after Tuesday, the Bth March. Horses will not be allowed to gallop within three hurdles of the fence during the present week. Horticultural. — The annual Autumn Show under the auspices of the Manchester Horticultural and Pastoral Society, will be held to-morrow, in the town hall at Feilding. Retrenchment. — Messrs Seed and Batkin, the officers appointed to visit the various districts of the colony and ascertain what further retrenchment can be effected in the Civil Service, are at present in Wanganui. The Hospital. — A number of plates of fruit, which formed part of the thankoffering at the Service in Christ Church on Friday evening last, were afterwards presented to the inmates of the Hospital. Turakina Races. — To meet the convenience of persons attending the Turakina Races, the train which usually leaves Wanganui at 11 a.m. will leave at 9.20 a.m. An extra train will leave Turakina at 6.30 p.m. Trustees' Reports. — A contemporary says that eighty-eight insolvencies have been gazetted in the Manawatu District, and that in only one of the number has the report by the trustee been filed according to law. West Coast Railway.— Mr Travers' declaration at Palmerston the other night, that it was intended that the terminus of the Wellington-Manawatu Railway should be at Palmerston and not at Foxton, appears to have taken many people entirely by surprise. Quartz Reefs.— Mr J. C. Crawford has written to the Evening Post concerning a quartz reef on the banks of the Waiotauheru branch of the Otaki River, about which he reported seventeen years ago. Mr Crawford believes the specimens showed gold. Prison Labour.— A gang of prisoners commenced making a road up to the Gaol from Maria Place yesterday morning. The time they have now been idle is considerably more than was required in the improvement of Cook's Gardens. Assessment Court. — At the sitting of the Assessment Court held at Aramoho, before Mr Hardcastle, R.M., the following alterations were made: — No. 2 Ward : Sections 15 and 40, rated to "John Davis," transferred to Richard Davis ; Sections 53, 58, and part of 42, containing 2936 acres, property of Robert Pharazyn, valued at £1096, redoced to £900 ; Michael Reardon, valuation reduced, from £5 to £2 14s; Section 42, transferred from John Parsloe to Lawrence Meara. No. 3 Ward: Charles Small's name struck off the roll, by consent, forepart of section 230, 50 acres, he not having occupied the same for 12 mbnths ; J. Brownlie's name was struck out by consent, for part of section 230, 15 acres; T. Peapell's name struck out for part of section 80, he having parted with it to William Armstrong; Robert Charles Earle, rated for 120 acres, part of s section 227, instead of 30 , acres for which he claimed to be rated at £15 a year. Allowed by consent. No. 5 Ward : Wm. H. Gibson, section 22, lOf acres, reduced to £10; Thomas PeapeJTs name struck out as not the owner or occupier of part section 25, £- acre; John Parsloe, part of .section 29, £-acre with two houses, reduced* from £30 to £25; P. Thatcher", rated for 595 acres> reduced by consent to s.62*acres.- >

State of the Gaol.— The following is the state of H.M.s 'Gaol for the month ending 28th February: — Hard labour: 25 males; 5 females. Imprison' ment.lmale. Awaiting trial: 10 males. Received during the month : 16 males, 2 females. Dischargedduringthe month : 12 males, 1 female. The Chief Justice's Cup. — The Cap manufactured by Messrs Kohn and Co., to the order of His Honor Chief Justice Prendergast, and to be competed for by the Wellington Volunteers, has received very favourable notice from the Press. It is shaped as an ancient amphora, is of solid silver, frosted, and is mounted on an ebony stand. Dredge Punts. — One of the punts which was used in carrying stone down the river for the training walls, is now having a comfortable deck house built upon it for the accommodation of the hands employed on the dredge. The portion of the dredge originally intended for the men to live in was found quite unsuited for that purpose on account of the heat from the boiler. The Astlum Enquiry. — It seems to be the generally, received opinion in Wellington that Whitelaw, the" Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum, ought to have been suspended troim office during the enquiry now going^ on. There is no rigid rule on the subject, but it is usual to suspend the accused official when the charges are of such, a character that, if proved, they wouW as a matter of course lead to dismissal. The Government have now suspended the Superintendent. Extravagance. — A ' { Lambtdh Ratepayer " writes as follows to the Evening Post : — " The cost of the bridge to carry the 30in water-pipe over the river at the Hutt is estimated by two of the largest contractors in Wellington to cost £10,000. These contractors further assert that the work can be done in a substantial and lasting manner by using totara, and that £3 per foot is ample to cover the cost; and that to spend £10,000 over the job is simply throwing £7000 away." Wanganui School Committee.— A special meeting of this Committee has been summoned for Saturday afternoon next, to consider a letter received from the Chairman of the Board, requesting the Committee to reconsider their recommendation of Mr Curtis, of Wellington, for the post of third master to the High School — an application having been received from Mr Halliwell, a certificated teacher in Dunedin, for the post. It may be mentioned that the Education Act only allows of, the employment, of uncertificated teachers when certificated teachers cannot be obtained. Why are Jews Clever ? — The Jewish Chronicle writes : — " It is manifest that in less than a century after Mendelssohn's death the Jews of Germany have overtaken their neighbours in the race for wealth and power in a truly astonishing degree. The whole argument of the agitators comes to this : ' The Jews are too clever for us.' What are the reasons why the modern Jew is ' clever ?' We reply : The modern Jew is clever because his ancestors have seen more of life than any other people, and he inherits their experience as the privilege of his birth. If a whole natioa has been subjected to peculiar conditions of existence as the Jews have, these conditions will develop special national qualities, and these will be developed more and more by hereditary transmission. Thus, for instance, if Jews have been accustomed to the higher finance for many centuries longer than any other nation, it would follow naturally from the principle of heredity that they would surpass all European nations in financial ability. To sum up the principle in one sentence : The ability of the individual represents the experience of the race." Millions of Crows. — The latest " yarn " from America is the following, which we take from the Lexington S.C. Press. It is a little "taller" than usual, but coming from such an excellent authority as the above it must, of course be quite true: — "A gentleman who resides near the elegant premises of Mr Inksheep, about six miles north of our city, reports what is probably the most stupendous thing in the way of a crpwroost that has ever been seen since Noah's crow went to roost in the olive tree. The roost is in the magnificent woodland of Mr Inksheep, and our informant estimates the number of birds at 150,000,000. He says the largest oak trees have been uprooted and smaller ones crushed into kindling wood by their weight ; that the noise made by them is so great that people for three : miles around have to stuff cotton in their ears and are only enabled to communicate with each other through speakingtrumpets after the crows begin to assemble. Cattle weighing 1500 pounds have been killed by the birds and their bones picked clean, and the skeletons of hogs and sheep, which weighed 150 to 200 pounds, are dangling from the trees, where the crows have carried them, and the whole country is strewn with bones, as in the prophet's vision of " the Valley of Jehosaphat." Shooting at them is exceedingly, dangerous. A gentleman in the employ of Mr Inksheep fired two shots into one of the trees and narrowly escaped suffocation from the falling birds."