LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11901, 8 December 1893, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ordinary monthly meeting of tho Fire Brigade this evening. A full rehearsal of " Messiah," with orchestra, will be held at Christ Church , Schoolroom at 7.30 this evening. At a Committee meeting of tho Union Boating Club last evening it was decided, on the report of the Selection Committee, not to send a crew to Nelson. A magic lantern entertainment is to be given in the Christ Church Schoolroom on Sunday evening next, tho proceeds of which aie to be devoted t:> the Sunday School picnic fund. A contemporary says that " if all the babies born in one year were laid in n, line, head to foot, they would stretch j from New York to Hong Kong. 1£ they could walk past n corner at tbe rate of twenty per minute it would take them six years to pass " But the question is. who want 3 to lay all the bnbie.3 in a line, head to foot, from New York to Hong Kong, or to see them walk past a comer at the rate of twenty per minutes ? Any. how these things that can't be done, and j so it is useless discussing them. The juvenile natives of Putiki aro, we understand, to have a treat to-morrow week, when sport 3, consisting of races and other competitions will be held for | their amusement. Prizes, comprising a great variety of pretty and useful articles, been been presented by a friend, while the proceedings are lo be carried out under the auperviaion of Major Kemp. We would suggest that the Eaniiaa Band should favour the occasion, and in that case, we have no doult tbut a large number of townspeople will be present. William UcSkimmiug, tailor, of Wan ganui, wfti yesterday adjudged a bankrupt. The following is a statement of the assetß and liabilities : — Stock-in-t-ade, JSIGB; book debts, £170, estimated to produce £180 j making a total of £298, as against liabilities amounting to £471 43 4d, made up as follows:— McKay, Logan, Shear, and 30., (Auckland), £168 19s 7d; Dodgaliun and Co. (Wellington), JS2O 15a 3d . Clark and Sons (Auckland). £118 133 9S ; J. H. Dalton, £37 14s lOi ; Me Arthur an 1 Co, 17s Id; Fenton, £1 15s 6d; R and E. Tingiy, £3 63 0d; Chronicle Co., W. Armstrong, 2s ; Wanganui Gas Company, 9s 2d ; J. Coburn (rent), £14 12j Ci j Herald Co., £6 2s ; wagss (including W. Johnston, £li Is 2i), £24 3s 81. Thoflrst meeting of creditors -will be held on Thursday next, at the oflice of the Deputy Official Assignee. There are some ttrango and deplorable cases brought under the notice of Charitable Aid Boards. For instance, one of the mstters referred to at the last meftiog of the local Board. In this case the recipient is a poor old man, like many of his felbws has seen better days, and who was in fact a business mni of standing in one of our large cities. Now be is a pauper. But — and here is the rnh — it is alleged lliat he has a son whose circumstances aro sufficiently prosperous to allow of his keeping a grown-up family in ft comfortable home, but that when asked to assist his aged father his ploa is poverty. If these facts are true, then it is a pity that the country holds such men. Certainly the law can force relatives of destitute people tj contribute towards their support — if it can be proved that they are in a position so to do. But tho proof is difliou'.t to obtain, and there aro so many avenues of escape open to unprincipled people, that invariably elude their just burdens and throw tho onus on lo the shoulders of tho woary taxpayers. Tn lllis case, howover, wo understand that tho gentleman in question will have an opportunity of justifying his conduct before a magistrate, tho authorities having taken it"jp3 in the matter. M, Terront, the 1 rench bicyclist who has just ridden from St. Petersburg to Paris, has given the Daily News correspondent in that city some account of his journey. The Bussian=, he says, are friendly people, but they do not know how to make good i oads. Ho could never have imagined such tad roads as theirs. They wore indeed not rideable; For a couple of hundred miles he was in a mud river called a road. The mud was slioky, and il was impossible to ride. In the mire were deea ruts and stones like boulders Ho had to trudge alongside his bicycle. In tho sandy putt of Russian Poland the machine was constantly sinking deep in the sand. The cold was bi/jng, add there were slec-l storms. He bought sacks, which ho cut open at the ends, ■i.ni, making slits in them for his arms', woro them over his close-fitting buckskin wai'ineril-3. Governors of towns accomp.ir,'io(l birn out on (.lie way jn Iheir I roil a?. Tho Folisli ladiea at Warsaw covered him wilh compliments acdilowers. lie lrusl/indly rrceived in Germany .where ho enjoyed good roads; some honest Germans cried" Vivo hi France!" but thoy might h&vc beon jeking. Be this as it may, ho found them with good naturod exeopt in one instance, wh<m a pistol was fired at him.. Notwithstanding tho badness of tbo roada in liusi ia, he found that, cycling iB cultivated a, goad deal thetb,

The Melbourne Argus says: — Some ittle time ago a man named John Hastings, employed at tba Western railway station, Ballarat, had the mistortuue, when half his day's work was done, to be knocked down by a train and run over, the result at tho time being that he lost his arm. Since then the consequences have been aggravated, for Hastings has been "docked" half a (lay's pay for tho half-day he did not work. A hint on the domestic question — how to get the girls married— is contained in the following: A thriving trader in Wisconsin, with eleven daughters, succeeded, greatly to the astonishment of Ms neighbours, in marrying them all off in six months. A friend of his, who had likewise several single daughters, called upon him to obtain the secret of his success, when the latter informed him he had made it a rule, after a young man had paid attention to one of his girls a fortnight, to call upon him with a revolver, and request him to choose between death and matrimony ! " You can imagine," continued he, " which of the two they preferred. The Orngo Supreme Court was occupied the other day with the hearing of a suit between brother and sister. The plaintiff, Iticbnrd Voughan, a lighterman, residing at l'ort Chalmers, being, as was supposed in August, 1893, on the point of death, conveyed money to the amount of £380 and a house to his sister, Mrs. Evans, a married woman living apart from her husband. Vaughan recovered, and requested his sister to give him back his property. She refused to do so, and hence the action. After hearing evidence, and the arguments by counsel, His Honor Mr. Justice Williams gave judgment for the plaintiff, and ordered that the document as to the cottage be ordered up to be cancelled, that the funds and the accrued interest in the banks be re-transferred to the plaintiff, the defendant to pay tho costs as for £450, disbursements and witnesses' expenses to be fixed by the registrar. Professor Kentoul, who was a deputy from the Victorian Assembly to the recent Pan-Presbyterian Council in Toronto, states that he found when he got there that the sesretary of the council did not know where Victoria was. Professor Kentoul was described on the roll ns from Melbourne, Victoria, New South Wales, and in order that there should be no iealousy his fellow delegate was described as from Ararat, Victoria, South Australia. Professor Rentoul tried hard to instruct the secretary in geography, and the result of his exertions wos that in the volume of reports of the council the papers read by himself and others were attributed to N.W. Australia. The London correspondent of a contemporary writes:— Captain Hutton, of the Christchurch Museum, applied recently to the Agent-General lo get him Some specimens of the old English armour for the Museum, ivlr. Perceval, accordingly, worried everybody he could think of, but in vain, He asked the British Museum authorities, the South Kensington Museum swells, ihe Horse Guards magnates, successively to lend, give, or sell New Zealand some suits of armour, "But, with one accord, they began with much excuse." They declared they had none to spare. So, I fear, Christchurch must either wait or go without} or else manufacture the old armour aa a new local industry. There is plenty o£ that sort of thing done here ! Writing of the probable attitude of Mr Seddon on the liquor question, the Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Herald writes: — The unanimous opinion, of all Wellington members, and at least one of the Wairarapa members who has been in town since the election, is that Mr Seddon will practically cast the party who supported him aside'; that he will be prepared to make the threefifths majority one-fifth, or, if necessary, accept Sir Robert Stout's Bill ,• that, indeed, he will go any length in order to retain office. One member likened Mr Seddon holding on to office to a bull-dog holding on f,o anything; you have almost to cut its head.. off before it leaves go. Of course Sir Bobert Stout has no objection to the Premier giving way to any extent on this question, but in the event of a compromise being offered he will have to carefully consider the conditions. Probably, says the Queenslander, there are no people in the world who aro mort, sanguine than those of Northern Queensland. Nothing crushes or daunts them. Out from every disaster they rise serenely and hopefully. Every man in the north has a fortuns in prospbet, and over a glass of whisky he paints his coming prosperity in roseate hues. It is almost impossible to bo otherwise in a land of blue sky and white light. Day after day tho sun shines in uuoluded vigour, and its brightness und intensity creates and perpetuates an optimistic spirit, To sit down and moan over a lost fortune.to bewail wasted opportunities, to grunt because of missed chances, or to chant n dirge because your all has gone in a mine or a pastoral property is to be shunned and despised. Under all circumstances it is necessary to keep a tt ; ff upper lip. Mieawber like, there are hundreds of men iv the noith waiting for something to turn up, and no matter how grevious or painful may be the process of .watching and waiting, it is tho worst of form to rub the spot where you have beon hit. The Auckland Sfar, referring to the election of Mrj Yates to the Mayoralty of Onehtm<?it, says :— •' From her husband, Mrs fatop, who was once Mayor of Onehunga, she has learned somswhat of the routine of the Mayoral office, as doubtless sru has derived from him a taste for the po xer which is associated with that office. There is nothing in the duties of Jfayor which may not, as far as we aro aware, be as competently performed by a managing woman as by a man. There are other duties which are usually associated with those of the Mayoralty. Mrs Tates may be expected to preside on the Bench as Jnsfcice of the PeaM. Well, if she has to pass judgment on drunps ann other repro bates she will, we fool sure, prove an ornament to the Bench. Combining the shrewdues3 of the stern sex with tin softness of hor own, she will know well how to temper judgment with mercy. We hear there is likely to bo a striko in the Council because of Mrs Yates' advent; but we will not believe these rumours of one Councillor resigning and of another withdrawing from the contest for a seat in the Council. This must be false, or we are much mistaken io. our sister city by Ihe Manukau." AH those who wish to secure their photographs for distribution to friends at Xmas should be photographed at Mr Ma-tinsjwithin the next few days, as it will bs impossible for him to have them ready othewise. — Advt. The Dresden Piano Company desire to diaw the attention of the public of Wan ganut and district to the fact that they have pianos by all tho leading English German, and French makers, and those requiting- aa instrument would find it to their advantage to inspect the varied stock ivnd to compare for themselves the Dresdon Pianos. Organs ranging from £17 103 to £-1,0. Pianos from £35 to £120, which cen be purchased from 20s monthly. A first-class guarantee is given with every instrument. Shest and Book Music and Musical sundries at Wellington prices. Tuning and repairing in town or country nt greatly reduced price 3. Inspection invited.— The Yellow Shop. Victoria Ayenue. E. H. Mabtih, Manager for Wanganui. BETTEu. TO j,e OUIIE THAN SOEBT.— To preveut mouU spots, &0., on your butter and paokagos for export, pair.t your boxes or kegs with a (solution cf Salsaline. A shilling packet makes one gallon. Odourless and harmless. Sold everywhere.— Advt.