LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 11404, 18 May 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

«, Mr A. Loughrey, M.H.R. for Lin wood, was banquetted by his constituents last night. The Wanganui Gfas Company's annual meeting, called for yesterday, lapsed for want of a quorum. The Coptic sailed from Lyttelton last night, with the lonic's passengers and most of her cargo, for London. A. ■strong, southerly blister set in at Wellington; yesterday morning and continued all day. Mr J. H. Keesing willsellto day at. his mart, under instructions, the furniture, &c, belonging to Mr John Kirkwood, : photographer. The local Committee of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition meet on Monday at the Borough Council Chambers at 3 p.m. The Fire Brigado have voted the sum of dBIO to Foreman Sharp, as temporary compensation for the injuries he received at the fire at Mrs Reid's house. A well-known resident of Palraorston North, named Clark Dunn, died on j Thursday night very suddonly from ) heart disease. ' • / 'An Auckland telegram states that Hanlan, the sculler, has decided to return to America by the mail boat leaving on Monday. ■ ' Wo are requested to acknowledge the sum of 10s paid by Mr H. S. Harrison yesterday to ,the fund oponod at the Post Office in aid of the Chinese famine. The large bell for the now Wellington Post Office, weighing 1J tons, was successfully east on Thursday. This bell is said to be the largest in the colony. The ships which were in port on Thursday are still woather-bound, but they will sail for their respective destinations today should the weather moderate. Owing to the inclement weather last night the new Town Band did not parade the streets as intended, so will make their debut this evening, starting in tho Avenuo noar Guyton-street at about 7.30 o'clock. In Milan, Italy, lately, a plebiscite was taken as to whotlior children should receive rcligirus instruction in tho public, schools, and the result was that 25,000 voted in tho affirmative out of the total population of 27,000. At tho Palmerston District Court yesterday, the caso Loyd v Manawatu Road Board, claim .£l3O damages, was concluded. Tho jury returned a verdict for the defendant body. A new trial was granted on • the ground of misdirection by Judge Rawson to the jury. Wo are requested to remind our readers of tho naval demonstration by the Salvation Army on the Queon's Birthday. The Tuhua has boon ohavtorod, and a trip will be made up the rivor to Parakino, where tho Maori Brigado from Jerusalem will join tho party. A circular has been issued by tho Defence Department calling upon tho officers in command to send in a return of tho number of "non. coins." in their corps, and to state whether they have passed their examination ; and, if not, why. Mr A. Laird, of Fairflcld Nursery, calls attention to the fact that he has a largo assortment of seeds to offer suitable for immediate planting. •He has also a 10---roomed house for salo with oight aoi'Qs • of land, the lease of which has 10J years • to run. I There will probably bo <i smoke concert . given by the WanganuißowingClubnext week, when tho Fitzherbort and Alexander cups and captain's trophies will be pro- ! seutod to the winning crew.s. The pewters won by the W.R.C. against tho Col- ' legiate School will also bo presented on i this occasion. j 1 Some time ago a lawyer in Boston was ' conducting a case against n street rail- \ way company, and there was an old sailor on tho jury who seemed to give no heed. Tho lawyer made his utmost appeals, but all in vain ; finally ho stopped in. front of the sailor and sakW Mi? juryman. I will tell you how this happened. The plaintiff was in command of the outwavdbound open car, and stood in her starboard channels. Along came the inward-bound close-car, and just as their bows mot she jumped the track, steorod to port, and < knocked tho plaintiff oft' and ran over i him." The old sailor was all attention ■ after this version of tho ali'air, and joined in a SOOOdol. verdict for the injured ' man. 1

Tho railway time-fcuble for the Queen's Bivthdtiy appears in this issue. ! Madame Tussaud's museum in London has just boon sold to a joint stock companyfor4ll3,ooo. Fourhundredthousand people visited it last yoar. j Tho Wellington City Council have, by tho casting vote of the Mayor, rosolved to decline not to enforce ratos on schools, lodge-rooms, &c, until after tho next session. The Minister of Jvebice intends to make use of some of the suggestions from tho Magistrates as to the dealing with juvenile crime, and to incorporate them in an amendment to tho J.P. Act. I • Miss Schulze, who has just taken the degree of M.D. in Paris with highest ' honours, is a particularly pretty young I woman of 21 summers. She is going j oarnostly at her professional work, and i says she has only one . regret — that she | cannot go to balls .and the opera as much ' as of old. ■ The rubbish 'destructor at Wellington is reported to be working better than it > did, but there is apparently more rubbish ; than it can consume, and most of the | metal debris has to bo sorted out and put on one side, a couple of days ago some cartridges got among the rubbish and causod some alarm by exploding and 1 blowing out tho doors. The blanchUseuics and lavandiercs of Paris have organised themselves to the number of 10,000, and in future shirts and pocket handkerchiefs : will be only washed in accordance "with regulations to be drawn up by a committee of management. As the committee'eohsist of twelve -washerwoman of "irreproachable morals," tho happiest results are anticipated. : - The State telegraphs in England still fail to meet expenses. The outlay last year exceedod the receipts by more than ,£6OOO, and there was still interest to pay upon ft loan of ,£10,880,571. The total deficiency amounts therefore to no less a sum than .£332,501. Since 1872 the country has paid in taxation towards the working of the telographs the enormous sum of .£3,357,400. A physician in New York City is said to have the following inscription on his bill heads : — " A pationt's gratuitudo to his doctor is a part of his disease, and is most declared when tho fever is highest, cools off dnring convalsccnco, and entirely disappears with the complete return of health. N.B.— Office prescriptions and attendance strictly cash." A moeting of tho Council of the Parliamentary Union was held in ; tho Mayor's room at the Borough Council Chambers yesterday afternoon. It was decided to open the session on Monday week, tho 27th instant. A Committee was appointed to arrange the details. An interesting and successful session is confidently looked forward to. The figures as to tho actual cost compared with tho estimate of tho cost of tho Panama Canal are as follows : — Panama level canal, total estimated cost l,070,000,000f . ; lock canal, 700.000,000 f.. It was intended to out the level canal originally, but this intention was recently abandoned, after 1,400,000,000 f. have beon spent, and admittedly 375,000,000 f. more are required to complote it-as a lock canal. Tho following is an incident that happenened during aperformance of "Romoo and Juliet" in the " Wild Wost." Romeo had slaughtered Paris. Bending over his dead rival, he murmured, " Give me thy hand, one writ with mo in sour misfortune's book!" He hardly expected that the corpse would have responded. But ho did. He was a willing corpse', a polite corpse, who appreciated a courtesy when he found it. So he wrung his enemy heartily by the hand, and only then subsided. Tho Defence Department absolutely deny that there is iray foundation 1 for the statements that have been made as to the bad condition of 'the barracks at Fort Takapuna, Auckland. They say the ox--eellence of tho accommodation afforded the men has elicited the greatest commendation from the officers of the Naval Squadron; and the real meaning of the'complaints : isthat the nion'wAnt- td" bo removed from the barracks and given quarters in a large liouso on- the grounds now in the occupation of officers, a thing which tho Department do not intend to permit. A Wellington- telegram states that in consequence of the reported statements jto the effect that. the agricultural estimates are below the mark tho RegistrarGeneral has caused further inquiries to | be made, and has published a memo. oni? r bodying the results. He considers the actual crop of wheat does-- not differ 1 materially from the estimate in South | Canterbury. Ho found one instance where machine results show 20,000 more bushels each of wheat and oats and 27,800 of barley, but in Oamaru and several countiosof Otago he considers the actual yield will bo slightly under the estimate. In Bruce County it will be 10 per cent more. In Southland there will be little or no difference, A strange gepno has been witnessed in a Birmingham concert hall, A dramatics sketch was in progress in tho course of which a sailor, who had returned from abroad with a quantity of diamonds in his possession, is onticod into an inn, and after boing murdered and robbed, his body is thrust through a trap into the sea. When it caino to the murder, a young sailor who was sitting in the body of tho hall, rushed from his plaoo towards the stage, declaring that he would not see a comrade robbed and murdered. Tho fireman and three officials who tried to hold back tho sympathetic tar were floored one after another, and it was only after four policemen had come to the rescue that Jack was prevented getting at the stage robbors, He was perfectly sober, and had returned from a long sea voyage the previous day, Thus the Pariß correspondent of the Daily Chronicle : A gravo scandal has been unearthed at tho municipal laboratory, attached to the Porfecture of Polico. The object of the laboratory was to detect the numerous adulterations of wine, milk, butter, spices, and other articles of gonoral use. It now appears that M. Girard, the director of this excellent institution,which is supported by tho ratepayers, has been guilty of tho grossest corruption. Ho has not only accepted sums of money, varying from 480 to 4700, from tradesmen and manufacturop accused of adulterating their goods, but has carried on a system of extorting douceurs by threats of exposure. These scandals go to prove what is generally felt about the monstrous peculation which is the rule in nearly every public department in France. To take only one instance— it is impossible to obtain the authorisation of a club in Paris without spening nearly 41000 in "tips" to tho right people. The same remark applies to every concession in which the snpport of certain functionaries is required. No better specimen, however, can be fonnd than this M. Girard, who is. openly accused of allowing tho people of Pariß to be slowly poisoned bocauso the poisoners mako it worth his while, Li Hung Chang, tho Viceroy of China, lias a forfcuno of about 42,400,000, some of which was acquired in rather a shady wanner. Lately one of his henchmen sent him a cask or wicker basket of wine in which about ,£20,000 in gold was concealed as a reward for some job. The wine fell into tho hands of a suspicious Government Customs oißcor, who discovered the gold and promptly convoyod it to tho Imperial Treasury. As the . monoy was ovidontly a bribe, tho Viceroy J was unable to say anything, but the ! i?oo Chow Customs, officer onjy managed j to retain hit) placo by the story being told i to tho Emperor. J?oo Oljpw is a. groat j Customs jjoit, and tho principal tea mart 1 of China. It is a city larger than Chicago, J and one of its wondors is the " bridge of i 40,000 ages," which is built of granite, 1200 foot long, and with 05 arches, and ] which dates back over 1000 years for its • < building. ' |

I A young woman of Ridgeway, Canada, has had the banns of matrimony between I herself and two of her lovers read in the ! parish church, the clergyman having de- ' cided that she is free to chooso between i them at the altar. This is a new and ! startling doparturo in weddings. According to a Dnnqdin telegram, rumour statos that, as the outcome of tho recont correspondence re the Blue Spur mine, Mr F. M. Byrne, of Lawrence, is | being sued for libel, at the instance of Mr J.. C. Brown and Mr Vincent Pyke. Sir Bobert Stout is retained for Mr Brown, Mr Stanford for Mr Pyke, and Mr Fraser for the defence. Tho Inman steamer, City of Paris, has beaten the record for fast passages across the Atlantic, doing the "distance from Quecenstown to Sandy Hook in one hour under six days. In the year 1819 tho Savannah, a steamer of 350 tons, crossed from New York to Liverpool in twentysix days, and this was thought a wonderful achievement in thoso days. Now tho distance is done in less than a third of the time. A meeting was hold at the Warrcngate Schoolhouse of those interested -in opposing the granting of a license for an hotel at Fordell. Mr W. McWilliam was voted to the chair, and at once stated the object of the meeting. The following letter was then road:-" Wanganui, 15th May, 1889.— T0 the Chairman of tho Meeting re drinking house at'Fordell. — Sir, I regret that a provious engagement provents my attending the meeting tomorrow, to add my small voice of protest against providing a man-trap at Fordell. The only possible argument in favour of licensing a house there for the sale of intoxicating liquors is, that a good accommodation house cannot pay without it. Present facts contradict this argument. But if it were truo that an accommodation house could not, at present prices for mo'als and beds, be carried on successfully, all the proprietor mod do would be to increase tho price of meals and bods. If still then it should not pay, evidently it is not required at all, or if required, by only a very fow. No one in his senses ■will pretend to say that the inhabitants of Fordoll and Warrengate would be benefited by a drink-shop being established amongst them — (I am sure many a wife and mother there has prayed earnestly against suoh a calamity) — and, if it is only for the sake of travellers that tho drink is required, let the travellers carry it with thorn. . They do not really require it, of course ; but if they think they do, it can be no hardship for thorn to carry a bottle or a flask in kavorsack or ; pocket. Lost any one object that I have no personal interest in Fordoll, and so have no right to interfere please let me say that I have sons constantly travelling on the road between Maungakarotu and town, that I frequently pass to and fro myself, and that I have a wifo and daughter who will soon be doing so, find I should wish tho road- to continue as safe ; in future as it is now. — I am, &c, George Allen." — On tho motion of Mr Burnett, ' ■seconded by Mr C. F. Harrison, it was j unanimously resolved that a form in | shedule to tho Act be taken round for ! signature. A committee, consisting of i Messrs W. McWilliam (Chairman), Bur- j nott, Greenhill, Lindsay, Harrison, and Bakor, and Mrs McNicol, with power to add to their number, was then formed to j carry out tho object of the meeting. Bemarkablo news, and a fact to' be long romemberod by the public of Wanganui in our opinion is what follows. To our certain knowledge tho unprecedented sale of Nicholls and Boundy's stock (thrown on tables by Mr Bouncly on Saturday la^t) is of such an order that littlo, if any of it, will remain over this week. This, in our. minds, is the most genuine of tho many sales we have hitherto had 1 in Wanganui. Messrs T. W. Boundy and Co., we are assured, have been selling their now goods at greatly reduced prices. Wo can, with confidence, recommend all intending purchasers to judge for themselves. Wo ■wish the new firm continued success. — Advt.