LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11155, 30 December 1890, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

«. # According to custom the Wanganui Chiionicle will not be published on New Year's Day. We direct attention to Messrs Tennent and Simpson's catalogue of stock to be offered at Marton on January Bth. William Jackson, a boat builder, was drowned a,t Lake Wanaka of Sunday while bathing. The City Rifles have decided to send a team to compete in the teams match at the New Zealand Rifle Association meeting; at Napier. The prizes offered for the Fire Brigade competition, to be held next month, may be seen at Mr T. Ferry's, in whose window they are now on view. We are requested to notify that Dudu's nomination for the Wanganui Cup was left out in error, and that she is qualified for that race. Mr Peter Cowie offers a useful pleasure boat for sale, particulars of which will be found in another column of this issue. A silver headed walking stick has been lost and the owner advertises- for same. The finder will be rewarded on taking same to Messrs A. Collier and Co. The Tradesmen's Handicap at the Palmerston races was won by Montrose (9st), Cruiser (7st 71b) being second, The finish was a very close affair, and the dividend was £2 16s. We are requested to remind our Aramoho friends of the meeting called for this evening, in connection with the erection of a public hall. The meeting will be held at Tutty's hotel, at 8 o'clock. The asphalt pavement on both sides of the Avenue is getting vory much, worn, and dangerous in many places to pedestrians. We are sure the authorities will have the pathways repaired now their attention has been directed to them. The Manawatu Daily Standard notifies that Mr F. Pirani will conduct that • journal on and after the New Year, he having taken a lease of the paper from Mr McMinn. Mr Pirani -will probably accept the terms of purchase offered, which form part of the conditions of the agreement that has been entered into. Tenders are invited in the West Coast papers for the construction of an extension to the Westport coal staiths (about 600ffc), including all material. The probable cost of this work (says a telegram) will be between £10,000 and £15,000, and plans and specifications will be sent by the next mail to Auckland, Wanganui, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Greymouth, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill. All arrangements have now been made ' for the New Year's Eve demonstration by the Fire Brigade. Both the Garrison and Town Bands will take part in the procession, which ia timed to leave the Brigade Hall at 11.30 p.m. We are requested to state that all who wish to contribute flowers or foliage for the purpose of decorating the reels, &c, are asked to send in their donations to the Station as early as possible on Wednesday morning. A full dress rehearsal of the entertainment to be put on by the Friendly Societies on New Year's night was held last night, when the performers showed themselves thoroughly perfect lin their parts. The comedy "Urgent Private Affairs" is a piece far above the average put on by amateurs. The leading characters in that amusing domestic comediette " For Better or Worse " will be sustained by Mr John Clifton and Miss Maud Comvay, two performers of high-class abilities. The performance will conclude with the side-splitting farce " The Rival Apprentices.' Cowhide horse shoes, it is said, are fast coming into use in England and in many parts of the Continent of Europe. It is claimed for this style of shoe that it is much lighter, that it lasts longer, and that split hoofs are never known in horses using it. It is perfectly smooth on the bottom, no calks being required, the shoe adhering firmly oa, the most polished surface. Its elasticity prevents many sprains, the horse's steps being lighter and surer, It is said thut straw, treated with chemicals unknown, has been used for horseshoes for centuries in Japan. Park's Alainanac and Directory, for which Mr A. D. Willis is agent, is a publication of great usefulness, and should become a household and office reference book on this coast. Besides an almanac and calendar it contains a large amount of most useful information, such as astronomical phenomina, statistical returns, Acts of Parliament, nautical almanac, and .interest tables. Then there is an extended directory of the Wellington province, census returns, mail tables, customs duties, and tariff tables, and a quantity of other matter. Household recipes and domestic emergencies are also given, and tend to make the book one of the most useful of its kind we have seen. The races at Manaia on Boxing Day were very numerously attended, and big fields made the sport most interesting. Mr R. E. Mcßae's Pukaka won the Handicap Hurdles (25 soys), and Mr J, Watkins' Jack's the Lad beat a field of 13 horses in the Farmers' Plate (15 soys). The Manai Handicap (40 soys) was won by Mr G. H. Gibson's the Peer (Lett), and Mr R. McEao's Pukaka secured the Selling Race (15 soys). Mr J. Watkins' Empress carried off the 15 soys Maiden Race, while Kiora came in first in the Maori event. The Peer, ridden by C. Lett, won the Tally-Ho Handicap of 20 Boys, Empress coming second. The Consolation was won by Mr P. Murphy's Ishmael. It seems almost too good to/bo true to learn that some hitherto iinpublished writing of Sir Walter Scott's is about to see tho light. Such, however, is the fact. Among the treasures preserved at Abbotsford, it appears was a journal, or diary, started by the great novelist in 1825, incited to the performance of the feat by a perusal of Lord Byron's diary, and continued by him until a few months before his death in 1832. Lockhart had (says ; tho Christchurch Press) access to these volumes in compiling the " life," but i hitherto only extractshave been published. . Now we are to have published in extenso ' the "Journal" — or " Gurnal," as Sir Walter has playfully entitled it—imita- '• ting the childish spelling of his youngest ; daughter, who also started the keeping , of a little diary. The work will be looked for by the public with eager anticipation. In the meantime, the Quarterly Review 1 which at one time was edited by Lockhart, is publishing extracts from au advance copy, and our readers will, no doubt, be glad of some of these.

The Marlon hack races take place today, and n, special train will leavo Wangiiuui at 8.15 a.m., arriving at; Cliff Road station at 11.10 a.m. There will be a train leave Cliff Eoad at 6.30 p.m. for Wanganui. The annual entertainment of the Friendly Societies on New Year's night promises to bo quito as successful this year as any of its predecessors. In another column will be found the full programme, a glance at which will convince everybody that it has been framed with a view of properly catering to the popular taste. On Christmas Day there was an impromptu sweepstake hack meeting at Willow Bank, Lower Rangitikei, when some good sport took place. Messrs J. McDonnell and J. McKelvie scooped the pool, the former winning the Maiden and Flying with Poppy, and the latter the Hurdles and " big money " with Moor. Mr Charles Yoss' unique company appears at the Oddtellows' Hall this evening. Some of the principal featnres of the programme are ventriloquism, and dances, besides songs, glees, &a. The prices are popular and there should, consequently, bo a large house to welcome what i<< spoken of as a talented company. The following is given in the Archivf ur Eisenbahnwesen, as the railway mileage at the beginning of 1889: — Europe, 133,900; America, 190,000 ; Asia, 18,000; Africa, 6200; Australia, 10,000; total, 367,600, as compared with 293,000 in 1884. Of the increase of 64.000 miles during the four years, 40,000 is in America, and 30,000 in the United States alone ; 11,000 miles were opened in 1880, 17,000 in 1886, 23,000 in 1887, and 13,005 in 1888. The New Zealand trade with Australia in 1889 was exceptional. That was a very bad year of drought over moßt of the Continent, but nowhere so bad as in New South Wales. Even Victoria, which in 1890 had an exportablesurplus of 3,750,000 bushels of wheat, took, in 1889, nearly .£IO,OOO worth of that cereal from New Zealand. Of oats the Victorians took nearly ,£250,000 worth. Although the Continental colonies took .£2,000,000 worth of New Zealand produce, New Zealand, on the other hand, bought .£14,000 worth of their wine and a similar trifle of fruit. Saya the Post — It has been suggested that a Ministry composed as follows would probably command the confidence of both the House and the country :— Hon. W. Rolleston, Premier and Lands ; Seobie Mackenzie, Colonial Secretary and Education; Captain Russell, Native and Defence; F. Lawry, Postmaster-General; D, H. Macartliur, Colonial Treasurer; and Hon. J. C. Richmond in the ijpper House with portfolio of Justice. This combination would not include an Attor-ney-General, but such a portfolio is not absolutely necessary, and it would be preferable to do without an AttorneyGeneral rather than have to call Mr Downie Stewart or some other legal gentleman to a seat in the .Council to fill it. This, according to a clever Paris Society paper, is how our game of football strikes the intelligent foreigner. " I went," says he, " to the Blackheatb on Saturday to observe the game, so essentially Britannic, of football. Thisiswhatl saw: —The players precipitated themselves furiously upon each other; arm 3 and legs were instantly dislocated ; collarbones broken, children of tender years limped off the field with fatal injuries, and all around were weeping mothers and distracted fathers tending their bruised and battered offspring. Anon the game w'aa resumed, amid howls and execrations from all sides ; fragments of clothing, and of hair and Bkin, torn ruthlessly from the heads and bodies of the rivals, strewed the field. It was a spectacle terrible and affecting ! I turned away with tears in my eyes." The Friendly Societies' Picnic Committee held their usual meeting last night, when the final business in connection with the picnic was transacted. The Secretary reported that all the arrangements on the ground were complete, — the running course and dancing space woro already roped in, the tents and Blondin's appurtus are to be erected today, and the gipsy tent and Punch and Judy show will bo fixed up on Wednesday. The tickets were then handed round to the various members appointed to sell them. A report was received stating that the performers engaged in the Friendly Societies' entertainment were now proficiont in their parts. The Secretary of the art union was instructed not to issue any more tickets, but to permit those in circulation to be sold before the drawing of the prizes, which will take place on Now Year's night. The Secretary stated that he had received erood offers for some of tho oil paintings, but the Committee agreed that it was best not to make any arrangements but to let winners sell for themselves. About forty is, according to the writer of tho article on Wilkie Coltina' novels in Temple Bar, the golden prime of literary labour, Itflwas between thirty-five and forty-five that the author of "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone " wrote his four best stories. Nothing that came before or after from his pen achieved a like fame, Thackeray was thirty-soven when he completed "Vanity ' Fair," and forty-oiie when he published "Esmond" — perhaps the most finished of all his works. Dickens wrote " David Copperfield" at thirty-nine, which was the age of George Eliot when "Adam Bede" first made her famous : and Anthony Trollope -was forty-two when he achieved his first great success with "Barch ester Towers." Those who fall short or are in excess of this fruitful period, however, might derive comfort, as the case may be, from the case of Chaucer, who is reputed to have written the "Canterbury Tales" between fiftyfour and sixty, or of Victor Hugo, whose romances, " Notre Dame " and the "Toilers of the Sea"— each equally remarkable for boldness of invention and imajjinitive power — were produced, the one in his twenty-ninth, the other in his sixty-fifth year. Very aged aspirants for literary fame may draw courage from the case of Theophrastus who is believed to have sat down to write his only great literary success, the "Ethical Characters," at the ripe age of ninety.