LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3166, 5 April 1871, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Commute k of gentlemen appointed to carry out tho Featheraton testimonial held a meeting yesterday afternoon at -winch the draft of tho address to be presented, was further considered, and eoruo other preliminary arrangements made. Land Tbansfer Act.— We notico in our advertising columns the firet application that has been made in the province to hare land brought under the operation of the act In Dnnedin and Chrißtchurch an immense number of application we believe are being made. Edith Palmebston, as might have been expected, had a good house again last night, and we need hardly say that it was in every respect as great a succeßß 0.9 on the previous evening. The company proceed by the Wanganui this evening.

Notice to Correspondents. — Robin Hood ought to reply in the columns of the paper n which he has been attacked. City Council. — Owing to the usual fortnightly meeting of the City Council falling on Good Friday, the meeting will be held to-mor-row afternoon at four o'clock. Registry. — We have been requested to state, for public information, that the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages has been removed to the Supreme Court Building, Lambton quay. A Narrow Escape.— Wo learn that a man named M'Laggan, a hawker of vegetables, was very nearly drowned yesterday morning in tho lluttßivor. M'Lnggan, who endeavored to cross in his cart, was capsized in mid-stream, horse and cart being rolled over several times in succession, eventually landing a considerable distance down tho stream. Mr M'Laggan was under water for a considerable time, and when rescued was in a semi-unconscious Btate. Dr. Wilford was promptly iv attendance, and succeeded in bringing him round. The horse and cart escaped without injury, but tho load of vegetables was lost. Sheep Inspector's Reports. — Messrs R. and F. Maunsell, Te Nui, have been granted a clean certificate by the Inspector of Sheep for tho East Coast district. Tho Inspector for the Wanganui and Rangitikei districts has examined a flock of 900 belonging to Mr John Winks, Rangitikei, and reports them clean. The flock of Messrs Owen and Lbthbridge, Wnngaehu is infected with the scab ; and ulso the flock of Mr G. Y. Lethbridge, Turakina. Upper Rangitikki Road District.— The following persons have been appointed a Board of Wardens for that district ;— -S. M. Curl (Chairman), G. Maunder, E. Snelgrove, Thos. Harris, C. J". Hanneke, John Rowe ; Mr W. Henderson and Mr G. Perry being elected auditors. James Woox, Esq, has been appointed trustee for the management of the General Cemetery afc Wangunni, in lieu of James Harper, deceased. Wanganui Racecourse.— The following portions have been appointed trustees of man- j agemont for the above reserve :— Messrs James Alexander, John Cameron, Edward Lewis, and W. H. Watt. Confiscated Lands Office.— Wo understand that the Government has agreed to Mill. Pharazyn's recommendation that his office .should be' established at Wanganui, thus making the administration of the confiscated lands as local as possible. As most of tho old questions which required frequent comnmuicalion with tho Government have now been disposed of, and as land in tho West Coast district is now being surveyed for sale, we regard tho change as a Blep in the right direction, and one that will be duly appreciated by the public, especially that of Wanganui and its neighborhood. A Reminder.— lt is very seldom that we complain of irregularity on the part of any of our exchanges in forwarding their files ; but we might havo done so of tho " Wanganui Herald " many times during the last few months. Latterly, however, ho seems to have forgotten us altogether. Wo beg to assure him we are still in existence, and hope nothing serious has happened to our contemporary. We hope he still flourishes, but we would like ocular demonstration of tho fact. Wo would like to sou how persons and thiug3 are progressing in Wanganui ; but as tho record of the " Chronicle" even is sometimes broken by a slight hiatus, and that of the " Herald" missing altogether, our very natural curiosity haß not been altogether satisfied. A Consul.— Mr Henry Driver, of the firm of Driver, Stewart & Co., Dunedin, has received the appointment of Consul for the Hawaiian Islands. Drowned. — A woman named Sarah Salt, and her child, were drowned in the Ashley, (Canterbury) on Saturday night. Tho body of the woman has been recovered, but that of the child had not been found on Sunday deceased was tho wife of Mr William Salt, a farmer afc Ashley Downs. Gun Accident.— We (" Press") regrot to hear that an accident occurred to a young gentleman, a aon of the late Dr. Willis, at Opawa, on Saturday. It appears that Mr Willis, in company with somo other gentlomen, was out shooting, when by somo moans or other the gun of another gentleman of the party accidentally went off, tho contents lodging in Mr Willis's right side, carrying away part of the muscles of tho right Bide of tho body, tho shots lodging extensivoly in the neighborhood of the wound. Dr. Eurlo attended at once to the wounds, and Dr Patrick was afterwards called in in consultation. Up to a late hour last night we understand tho patient was progressing favorably. Prosperity of Gbeat Britain. — Those who are so fond of depicting John Bull as a plethoric and gouty old gentleman, who has ' seen his best days, and is no longer capable of holding his own in a quarrel, or of keeping trespassers off his estate, cannot be careful students of facts and figures. Tho London " Economist " calh attention to tho following items of evidence, going to show that the country is not exactly on the road to ruin. First— Tho traffic on tho railways of the country has increased considerably, the net increase being £815,825. Secondly— Tho Clear ing House returns have increased, which is one of the best tests of the prosperity of the country ; the aggregate for 1870 was £3,997,88 i,OOO ; increase, £303,925,000. Thirdly— Tho dividends of tho joint-Block banks have increased, which is very satisfac- • tory, because tho second half of tho year has, owing to tho low value of money, not been favorable to banking. Still thore is an improvement on tho year. These are not the signs that indicate national decadence, and but for the depressing influence exerted by tho war on the Continent, there is no doubt the showing would have been still more favorable. A Blasted Tooth. — There is a story extant of an Irishman in Camden who had the toothache. Ho was a quarry man by profession, and he considered that tho best way to rid himself of tho afilicted tooth would be to blast it out. So he filled his mouth with powder, fixed a slow match in it, lighted the match, nnd run round the corner to get out of the way of the blue*-., und to watch the result. When the explosion occurred he was surprised to find how close it seemed. It was very successful, so far as tho tooth was concerned, but when tho man went home, the general aspect of his mouth resembled that of tho Delaware Water Gap. The dentist says he would not undertake to fit him with a new set of teeth of the necessary size for less than 1000 dole. Fat and Lean. — Fat people are constantly inquiring how they can reduce their weight, and lean individuals as frequently desiro to know how they may become plump. We are rarely satisfied. " Man never is but always to be blest." An American physician says to the former: "Reduce the quantity of your food | one quarter, and iurrense the proportion of animal food. At the end of three months reduce the quantity another quarter. Rise early, sleep little, and walk an hour before breakfast. Exorcise into a profuse perspiration at least once a day." His advice to (lie lean is: — Eat freely of oatmeal and stowed fruit. Retire a*i nine o'clock, or, if you are in a hurry to become young as well as plump, go io bed at eight, and rise when you feel inclined. Cultivate jovial society, and do your share of the luugh'ing." Fat peoplo will perceive that they are not expected to bo in a happy frame of mind, and by no means to indulge in much laughter. Moreover, if you wish to live to the age of eighty-five iv (he full enjoyment of all your faculties, go to bed at nine o'clock, and eat twice a day a moderate quantity of food. The reason why so many people are such dyspeptics, we are told, is because they eat and drink so much and so fast. A Strangt, MATCn.— Writing of cricket matches, iEgles, in tho " Australasian says :— "In a country journal I obsorvo an account of a cricket match between an eleven of Ararat, and elevon lunatics from tho asylum. And what is more, tho lunatics won. Tne day was a blazing day — bo hot tliat the female lunatics could not attond as ipectutore— and I

think the teams were fairly matched, and that there wasn't much to choose between the eleven in esse and the eleven in posse. The ono eleven had got into tha asylum, the other was qualifying for admission. It must require some pluck to defend one's wicket against a cracked boviler. He might happen to pitch at the batsman instead of at the wicket. Such things have been done ere now by men who are still outside gaols and lunatic asylums. A New Firea-BM.— The " Nora" states that Captain Tackels, a Belgian officer, and a writer on military subjects, has invented a new firearm which loads by ono movement and discharges twenty- four shots a minuto. A Body op Springs.— A correspondent of a South Australian paper, who is engagod in the erection of the central sections of the Port Augusta and Port Dorwiu telegraph, writes to that journal from Thrwg s, Whataliok, lat. 26 deg. 3m. 155., under dale Jan. 9. In his letter he says :— " Wo have found the largest and finest body of springs, I suppose, in the Australian colonies. Ab far as we have seen them (15 miles in length), they must cover something like 100 square miles of country, and appear to be stretching f»r away to the north and oast. They are fine large running springs, and throw out an immense quantity of the best water. They havo been named the Edith Springs, after Lady Edith Ferguson." Sold nis Maw&itj.— The original founder ! of the " Auckland Times" of New Zealand, gays an English contemporary, was at first starting, and pending the arrival of his materiel, allowed tho use of the Government press and types ; but, having commented rather freely on the acts of tho local Govern^ ment, the further use of them was denied him. Ho was thus driven to great straits to carry on his paper ; but by great, exertions collected a miscellaneous lot of type of various founts, and for a press bad recourse to the family mangle. Being a man of as much humor as enterprise, he made himself merry over his troubles in such phrases as, "We stop the mangle to announce," &c. " Our paper went, to mangle yesterday at 12 o'clock," till tho arrival of the ship with all his jobbing office enables! him to announce thet he had " sold hia mangle." A Magnifier. — The megalethoscopo is the name of a new apparatus connected with the fino art b, which is attracting crowds of visitors lo Messrs Guesdon and Westbrook's auction room in Hobart Town. It is constructed on the same principle as tho kaleidoscope, and it bus the property of magnifying to full s'v/.o photographs of buildings, landscapes, &c, at the same time preserving all tho stereoscopic appearance of tho picture.