LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11847, 19 July 1893, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Trask, Mayor of Nelson, and his daughter airived in town by train yesterday, on a short visit. A meeting of those interested in the formation of a gymnasium in Wanganui is, we believe, to be held this evening. Messrs T. ■J. Gibbs and Co., of the Ridgway Brewery/ invite tenders for a sixmpnths' supply of coal, commencing from Ist September. Tenders will be received up to tsie 24th mat. Tenders are 1 invited until noon on Thursday, 27th. mot., for fittings for the/ Museum. Plans, &c, may be seen 1 at the office of the architect, Mr A. Atkins. The German Reichstag finally passed the Army Bill by 201 to 181. The Emperor, in closing the session, thanked the Reichstag for its patriotic action in passing the measure. At his mart to-day, commencing at 1.30 o'clock. Mr. T, H. Heesing will hold an extensive sale, without reserve, of household furniture, clothing, drapery, cutlery, and sundries. For further particulars we' refer ' our readers to the advertising columns. . Our readers will no doubt be interested to learn that the measles were not introduced into Dunedin by the now defunct monkey, late of Filha' circus. The base slander is officially denied by a Prass Asßooiation ■wire in' another column, and the fact is announced— no doubt witb regret— that the dear departed met his, her, or its death through the effects of a kick from a horse. We honestly lament its death, but it is pleasant to know that it was not caused by common measles. The following paragraph from "Circular Notes" in the Christchurch "Truth," will bring to mind' a certain well-defined peculiarity of our local theatre :—"Provided witb a shilling box of Keating's insect destroyer, a bottle of Condy's disinfectant, and'a big tin of chloride of lime, I paid a visit last evening to the theatre to see Pollard's Liliputians in the Gondoliers. -I enjoyed myself very much. The entertainment provided both by man and beast was of an exceedingly high order. But I csuld have dispensed with the very lively form of amusement provided by tho latter. Let me, in drawing this painful part of the subject to a close, point ont that the agile theatre puler is as agile and as numerous as ever. . According to the Chicago Herald, Professor Garner, who went out to Africa to study monkey language, has had extraordinary success. " I am safe on the coast," writes Professor Garner, ''just reoking with quinine, the proud possessor of a chimpanzee that can say, "Tenakoe Pakeha," which is, you know, the Maori for " Good day, stranger," a gorilla that knows twenty words of Fijian, and a female orang-outang that has picked up " Dormer and blitzen" from my German valet, and has, judging from her actions, quite fallen in love with him. I have also got written down, which is. more important, nearly two hundred monkey words. Here areja few, spelled phonetically:— 'Achru,' meaning sun, fire, warmth, &c., 1 kukcha,' meaning water, rain, cold, and apparently anything disagreeable ; ' goshku,' meaning food, the act of eating. You will see from this thaj; it is a very primitive language: Ther9 are, perhaps, not more than twenty or thirty words in it that I have not already got, so that my task is now practically completed." How is it likely to fare with armed merchant ships in the next raval war ? Prince Louis of Battenberg reminds us that in the Franco-German War the invaders made short work of non-comba-tants caught with arrcs in their hands. He does not suggest that the enptsm and crew of an armod morchant vessel would be treated in a similar manner, but he warns ns tlut the possibility should be kept in viow. Apart from this, however, the moment a merchant ship bo«ins to fight the commander of the enemy's. ship has a right to treat her as one of the fight, ing units of the country against which his country is at war— that is to say, instead of trying to make a capture, to attempt to sink her. Therefore, apart from the danger of being killed and wounded by gun-fire during action, Bhe becomes a legitimate target for a 'Whitehoad torpedo, which this distinguished naval officer justly observes is a tolerably appallinc thing to contemplate in the case of a merchant ship. Speaking on those matters at the discussion at tno United Service Institution, Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon remarked that the Germans during tho war with France started <vhat they called a '• Volunteer Nayy," by way of evading the Declaration of Paris, and that Russia followed suit, and has now a Volunteer Navy composdd of merchant sliips that aro Baid to carry their guns ip their holds, nnd do partly Government work and partly cargo-carrying.

A skeleton wssfoundon Shndayon the Vlaxbourne run, 55 miles from Blenheim, Ainounted.constaljlo is making inquiries" .Mrs Simmex died last Sunday night at ■[ Oarterton through poison being administeied in mistake for medicine, the labels having been put on the wrong bottles. Tho delegates from tne Wangauui Branch attending the Conference of Railway Employees now sitting in "Wellington, are the station masters of Wanganui, Palmerston, and Hawera, Messrs Marcus, McKenna, and Hill, respectively. Mr C. Carson, who has for some time been compiling data for a "West Coast Business and Private Directory, commences a canvas of the Feilding district in a day or twoj and leaves for that place to-day. ] Mr. Carson,. we understand, expects to' have the directory in the hands ,of the printer in the course of a week or soi The Misses Albu are opening in Napier to-morrow evening for a season of two nights. , We sincerely hope that thoy will get an attendance.more.in keeping with, their deserts than was accorded them in Wanganui. They are indeed artists of the highest class, and tho poeple of Napier have really a brief treat in store far them.. With reference to Saturday's cable message Lord Kintore explains that when ■ appointed Governor his term of office was limited to five years, which expires in March next. But though the Marquis of Ripbn has since pointed out that the' .usual term is six years, and desired Lord Kintore to remain in oflbe until that period has expired, the Earl has not yet decided what to do. Mr J. Notman, Secretary to the Harbour Board, received the following telegram from Mr A. JD. Willis yesterday afternoon :--" Local Bills Committee have decided, on my recommendation, to postpone consideration of Waitotara representation until next Monday, to allow time for joint meeting of Harbour Board and Waitotara Council." Mr Notman is endeavouring to arrange a meeting of the representative 3 of both bpdies, which will in all probability take place on Friday or Saturday. The following extract, from a letter received by a member of the legal profession here, should interestour readers, referring as it does to a work of great colonial im-portance—namely,-the compiling of the practical statutes. of, the colony— a work that it is hardly too .much to say entitles its editor to be designated the Tribonian of New Zealand:—" 2580 odd pages all in metal, have taken some getting out, but this I know, that tne work is genuine, and what it professes to be, viz : — a collection of all Public General Statute Law in force "Slst May, 1893, from early 1843, as you will see. Every word of every line has been three or four times carefully examined before stereotyping, which I went to Melbourne and learnt for myself, so as to bo independent of strikes if need be.— - Yours truly; Wilfred Badger.' ' There are now .on view in Messrs Couchman and Stuarf s large up-atair show room, a fine lot of pictures, mostly oil paintings and engravings. Amongst the former we noticed a splendid view of . Mount Forlesse (from the Midland Line), a representive of a ; " Canterbury Harvest " from the brush of the well-known southern artist, Mr Gibbs, as well as 'views by various artists of merit of Duskj Sound, Preservation Inlet,- Mount Cook (from Lake Pukati), Lake Hawea, Lake Wanaka, arid a, scene on our own river. In the black ; and white class, the most conspicuous are "The Music Lesson," "Eine IPrace," "Rejeoted Love," and ''The Squire's Daughter." The worksare to be catalogued for sale in a day or two, and meanwhile lovers of art would not, we think, deem their time wasted in a visit of inspection. At the Police Court yesterday, before Messrs J. Notman and Paul, J.P.s, a man named Thomas Thomas was, on the information of the police, charged with being an idle and disorderly porson, having no visible means of support. The accused pleaded not guilty, Sergeant Villers stated that the man had given himself up, because he had no means and could get, neither work' nor charitable aid. The Secretary of the Hospital and Chari&blo Aid Board; Mr. A. C. Ritchie, said that shelter had bach found for him at the Old Men's Home, but having violated the rules and loft of his own accord, he (Mr Ritchie) did not think lie could be re-admitted, as it was essential that the inmates should' recognise .and obey the regulations. After hearing the evidence, the tench convicted the accused, and sentenced him to '23 day's imprisonment in the Wanganui Gaol without hard labour. On the information of Mr Richard Hull, Sheep Inspector, A Dickie was charged with being the owner of infected sheep, found in the sale yards of Messrs F. K. Jackson and Co., atWaverley, on the 17th inst. The defendant, who did not appear, was convicted and fined .£1 and costs, 7s. &.. B. P. Pyemont, also charged with having infected sheep at the same place, appeared and pleaded guilty, and the same fine and costs as in the case of Dickie were inflicted. For having infected sheep in Messrs F. E. Ja'ckeon and Co 's Wnngaaui yards, J. Phillips, Thomas Higgie,and W. Bamber were each convicted and similarly fined, the costs being the same in each case. Alas, for the poor of the worthy Sir Eobert Peel— especially if they hail from the Emerald Isle. Verily they seem to be taken as the butt on which an inhumanely funny public outpours its superfluous satire. Fancy telling a yarn like the following about a guardian of the peace ; and yet we heard it as a fact, A respected burgess had been made the victim of the pranks of come midnight prowler, and awoke one moraine- to discover the unpleasant fact that a valuable piece of property which he had left outside had been knocked down and smashed. Sorrowfully and with feelings of pain he gathered up the pieces and stood them carefully agamat an adjacent wall, after which he sought the advice of the presiding police officer. After having done so he returned to his domicile with a hopeful heart, fully trusting in the efficacy of an all powerful law and confident that, at least, restitution was a thing of the very near future. Scarcely had he settled down than an official knock cams to the door, which on being opened admitted in deep-toned voice with unmistakeable broffue an equally official " Aye you any thracks ? " Somewhat astounded, but imagining that it was either a Christian worker or a bullock puncher, the distressed citizen made answer " No, friend, I have no pamphletf, neither did I notice any cattle tracks." Thinking that that answer would serve no matter what the njan was, he backed inside, only to be followed by his visitor with " No, no s shure I mean human thracks : thracks of the man ivhat you're afther." Bealising the position and coming to the conclusion that.his friend wasa " mimber of the force " ho conducted him out to the yard and pointed to the neatly packed ruins, saying "those are the only tracks," That policeman's chest visibly expanded, and carefully placing a finger in the third button-hole of his tunic, and turning majestically to the owner he said "Is that tho posashutt you found it in ? " This was too muoh, and the poor victim retired indoorß. An unmanageable tongue is a misfortune in any case, but in a Minister, and especially a Premier, it is, so to speak, a Branding calam'ty." We should say Mr Seddon is beginning to perceive if not to feel this. During the recess he let his " unruly member" wag as it pleasod, and now he is reaping his reward. The dressmc; down given him by Sir John Hiall on Wednesday would have put almost any other man out of countenance, but happily tho Premier's hide is as thick as Wb tongue is long, and Sir John's scath-ing-words seem to have run off him like water off a duck's back. No motr.ber of the Hous3 was louder in applauding the castigation ho had -just received. And he deserved all be got. When tho honourable gentleman said in his Auckland address that Major Atkinson manufactured the alloged liabilities left by the Grey Government ho decidedly put his foot in it. There was no question as to tho particular liabilities referred to by Mr Seddon : they were in black and white, and could not bo denied; and Sir John Hall felt himself on sure ground when he went on to say that the total liabilities wore upwards of two millions sterling. He was -justly indignant at the Premier's attack on the memory of hia dead friend, and challenged him to hold an inquiry into the matter of the charges — an inquiry w'liioh will no doubt be postponed to the Greek Kilends. But Mr Seddon will put his position as Premier in peril if he does not bridle his tongue.— Otago Daily Times/