LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 221, 13 November 1888, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

At the meeting of the Mutual Improvement Society last night Mr M. B. Ford read'a paper on Byron, giving a short sketch of his life and some selections from his poems.

The adjourned monthly meeting of the Gisborne Library Committee was held last night. Present: Messrs Greenwood (in the chair), Featon, Johnston, Kenny, Watson, Bourke, Coleman, and Lucas (Secretary). 'After the ordinary business was disposed of, it was decided to hold the Exhibition and Flower Show on the dates as advertised, viz, the 23 d and 24th, notwithstanding any outside company which may perform on that date, . An named Duckett got a little bit mixed iip last week. He had become possessed of a good cheque, and naturally was not long in finding friends to ai<) him in disbursing it. He had been generally enjoying himself and generously treating his friends, and Intended departing by Friday’s steamer. One of bi? friends, a fellow named 0. Shaw, had reasons' of ifjs own for frustrating this intended departure, inj Jjy him Duckett’s swag was hidden. This had the desired effect, but also a very undesirable one, and Shaw Was invited to an interview in the R.M Court, the rssnlt of which was that he received thirty days' imprisonment, with hard labor. Thomas Hayes, presumably a friend of both parties, was fined £5 or fourteen days’ imprisonment for obstructing the police when arresting Shaw. The latter alleged that Duckett' oyed him some money, and it was for that reason he wished to prevent him going by the steamer. A,t any rate some one seemed bent on having a picnic, and Shaw i? now in tar tn extended one.

An ordinary meeting of the Borough Council takes place to-night. The next meeting of the Hospital Trustees takes place on Thursday evening. Major Lovelock, of the Salvation Army, has heen transferred from New Zealand to Victoria.

The forthcoming Exhibition will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 20lh and 21st instant, instead of the dates heretofore advertised, being two days earlier. It is now stated that it was a mistake to say that the man Dixon (who died suddenly at the Karaka a few days ago) was insured in the Colonial Mutual for £5OO. It is understood he made proposals to have his life insured, but they were declined.

The widow of Werata ; the Maori who died in the Auckland Hospital from wounds received in the Poroti fight, committed suicide at Dargaville on Thursday last by shooting herself through the head. She has been in a desponding state since her husband’s death. The launch Snark had a narrow escape of being seriously damaged yesterday morning. She was driven by a heavy sea on to the spit on the western side. With the assistance of the Harbormaster the little vessel was got out off all right, but the passengers had a thorough drenching. The foundation stone of the new Municipal buildings at Port Chalmers was laid on the 3rd inst., with full Masonic honors. The building will include a Town Hall and Municipal offices, Fire Brigade station, R.M. Court, and Customhouse, and the contract price is £37,000. At the meeting of the Borough Council to-night the application for assistance for a females’ swimming bath will probably be again brought up. We are informed that £l9 15s have been promised, and all that the Council will be asked to do will be to provide the actual material. This certainly seems a very reasonable request. Judgment was obtained by a Mr Fifzroy last week against the Hastings Borough Council for having purchased with the Borough funds a portrait of a former Mayor. The amount claimed was £8 Bs, and this was allowed, with £4 Is costs. The Mayor himself had objected to the portrait being bought by the Council.

Mr Buckland, of Taieri Lake station, estimates that he loses at the rate of from 300 to 500 sheep a year by the depredations of one dog, and during the two years Mr Buckland reckons that the animal has cost him £5OO in hard cash. The brute has been shot at and chased byotherdogs timesontof number, but seems to bear a charmed life, and can in no wav beantrapped

At the Kaikoura races on Friday last the horse Dodds bolted a mile and a half in the Flying Handicap and his rider (Bhaw) was obliged to throw himself off. In the same race the jockeys of Pills (Page) and Argo (Tucker) came off. Argo, when rounding the bend, slipped and fell, and Pills, who was immediately behind, came down on top of Argo. Neither of the lads were much injured. At a meeting of the Wairoa County Racing Club on Saturday, November 3, a programme for the forthcoming annual meeting was prepared, the County Stakes being fixed at 75 sovs. The date of the meeting was fixed for January 80. Messrs Barry and Cooper, of Gisborne, made an offer to run a totalisator at the annual meeting, but the club thought it would be premature to accept any tender at that stage.

A Christchurch paper, in referring to the Maori footballers, says : —lt is not so long ago since England was sending her red coats out here to make targets of the Maoris. Now the Natives are at Home fighting bloodless battles for a very different kind of victory to that for which they strove in the days gone by. Truly the affaire of the world, like the world itself, are “spinning down the ringing groves of change.” At the R.M. Court yesterday the adjourned case of Borough Council v. W. Maude, for failing to comply with the Bye-Law in not providing tanks at certain buildings, came on. Mr Macdonald appeared for the plaintiff and requested that the case should be further adjourned till the judgment on the late appeal case was received from Wellington. Mr Kenny, who appeared for Mr Maude, objected to the cases being further adjourned, as they had already been before the Court eight times, and it was causing unnecessary expense. Mr Booth wished the judgment to be laid before him and granted and adjournment till Monday next. At a meeting of the Wellington Benevolent Society Trustees last week, the secretary, Mr A. G. Johnson, reported that a woman with a child, who had recently arrived from Gisborne, had applied for aid. The woman stated that when she left Gisborne for that city she was under the impression that her husband was shortly to follow her there. Soon after her arrival, however, she received a telegram from a friend in Gisborne, informing her that her husband had gone to Sydney. She was thus forced to apply for aid to the Benevolent Society. It was decided to send the woman back to Gisborne at the cost of the Gisborne Benevolent Society. According to the Opotiki paper they have in that district a lunatic, “ who is a nuisance, a menace, and a terror to all." A short time ago an Opotiki doctor pronounced the man insane, and he was committed to the Auckland Asylum, but was returned by the next steamer. “But what is most surprising of all,” says the paper, “is that his father, Mr Thomas Dawson, a well to-do settler, with hundred of acres of land, member of local bodies, an active electioneering agent, and all that, should allow his lunatic son to roam the country to the terror and annoyance of his neighbors, without making a sing'le effort to restrain him."

One amusing feature ef the Friendly Societies’ fete at Napier on the Prince of Wales’ Birthday was a Menagerie Race. A lamb, “ Rev Sam,” was the first to breast the tape, but was disqualified as he was too assiduously assisted by his driver, so the prize was awarded to Mr Lynam’s “ black, tan, scarlet, and purple pig, The Rint,” which was urged along with a bullock’s bladder attached to the end of a stick, and used in the form of a whip. The second prize was won by Mr Howe’s “ crushed strawberry and green rat, Whiskers," The rat had a particular fondness for running in the wrong direction, and trying to make his escape between the people’s legs, and had to be “ assisted ” along by a string tied to his tail. A New York fcorrespondent writes: — Word comes from the North that the French cod fishing fleet on the coast of Iceland met with s. terrible disaster several weeks ago. A furious storm qarne up suddenly and engulfed several vessels with their crews, and damaged many others so seriously tliat they had to be abandoned. According to the accounts 137 persons perished in the storm, and 300 of the French fishermen were left destitute and starving on the coast until a steamer came and carried them away. The coast of Iceland is the cod fishing ground for the French, and the whole fleet hid concentrated there according to its usual custom. On the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland the fishing has been very poor for this season, and if it- falls off in the next few years as it has for the past twelve months there will be no fishery interests for Gre >t Britain and the United States to quarrel about. A late Auckland piper says the larrikins had a grand innings at Government House grounds on a Sundav afternoon, The' custodian had occasion to go out for a short time, and on returning found that some boys had been in the grounds and had torn up roses out of the flower beds, broken shrubs, clambered up trees and smashed the trees in bird-nesting. In order to complete the fun they released a peahen gnd a turkey which were tied up in the backyard, It is hard to say what now remains to be done skrith the Auckland larrikin. A tradesman was lately at the Police Station and was likewise in trouble. His property is being defaced, and his dogs poisoned with strychnine. This is the work of larrikins of larger growth. The following notification sen! to another respectable tradesman is a specimen of the little pleasantries in which they indulge Amalgamated Association of Liars, Auckland Unity : This is to certify that you have been admitted a member of the above Association, having fully qualified your?e!f, and that you are now eligible to act as office-bearer.—Kail Nomed, Secretary. The next meeting of tfie Society will be held in • Sheol at an early date.!’ To add insult to I injury, it is needless io say the postage was I unpaid. '

Rinking is still kept up at ths City Rink, and last Saturday evening there was a large attendance, the coolness of the atmosphere having an exhilarating effect. The Trust Commissioner’s business was adjourned from yesterday until to-day. Mr Booth yesterday referred to the new rules that had come into force, and invited the members of the legal profession to be present at 11 this morning, for the purpose of discussing the new rules. The Woodville paper must at times be hard up for matter. In one of last week’s impressions nearly half a column is devoted to the death of a dog, with a brief history of its life. We have round our back yard a few eats whose history would read like a Yankee’s tale of adventures, in comparison with the history of this lamented dog, but unfortunately the wretches won’t die. Mr James Rowe, of Christchurch, forwarded a shipment of pigs to Sydney on Thursday last. Mr Rowe has shipped no less than 101 within twelve months to Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, and has obtained twenty nine prizes at the Sydney Centennial Exhibition and at the National Show, Melbourne, this year, the prizes amounting to £lO4 13s. There is a great demand for New Zealand well bred Berkshire and Yorkshire pigs, the New Zealand Berkshires making a splendid cross with the Australian Berkshires. A well-known poundkeeper was beautifully “ sold ’’ recently. An individual noticed a loose horse (with tether rape attached) grazing in the street, and performing the part of an amateur ranger the said individiftl took the animal to the poundkeeper’s place. That gentleman gave him the pound keys; the horse was duly imprisoned, and the driving fee promptly paid. A description of the horse was then asked for, and the poundkeeper’s face was observed to suddenly extend, and to wear an expression between a laugh and of a suppressed swear—it was his own horse 1 Further information may be obtained at the Roval.

The Anglican Synod at Dunedin wanted the clergy there to preach against the sin of intemperance, but the clergy wouldn t I They said they’d be laughed at if they did 1 They haven’t a single intemperate person in their cjugregations I Whew I Whe—w 1 Whew ! I’m a bit of a—hem I Hem 1 I forgot the benefit of the clargy! No, don’t you see, they don’t call it intemperance down there 1 They call it just a wee bit fou, mini 1 They consider a three bottle man abstemious I All, well, I suppose if they only take a little wine for their stomach’s sake, it’s all right I But Lord, what stomachs 1 Saratoga trunks are nothing to ’em. Tanks! Tanks 1 Tanks 1 — “Puff.”

An American paper says:— 11 A compositor on the New York World set up type from the dictation of Edison's new phonograph. Two small tubes were fitted to his ears and connected by a large tubs with a phonograph. The latter was run by a small electric motor, and regulated by a pedal attachment by Which it could be started and stopped at the compositor’s pleasure. The phonograph would talk off a sentence into the printer’s eats and then he stopped it until he had put the words in type. This is obviously one of the many ways in which the machine may make itself hereafter a highly important factor of modern civilisation.”

A London oorrespondentjjwrites ; —Poor H.R.H. It is distressing to think that after all the toadying laudation of the Jubilee and the Silver Wedding he should have to seriously contemplate the possibility of pleading in forma pauperis to Parliament for provision for his children, yet such, according to popular rumour, is his intentiun. His income is £BO,OOO a year—not counting extras from semi-official sinecures, but of late, his expenses have increased to such an extent that he is just as much a ‘ broker ’ as the Jubilee Juggins, Mr Benzon himself. In theopinion of many people, H.B.H. is ;more to be pitied than blamed, as owing to the Queen being, as the Yorkshireman said, ‘ so very backward in coming forward,’ Wales has to appear at dozens of ‘ functions’ which should be patronised by his Royal and wealthy mother, and the expenses of which are a sad drain upon his purse.