LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 242, 3 January 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

“ Sundowner ” writaa: —Sir, —Coming from the Mahia on Monday last I noticed some dead horses lying on ths road. Is thia the fault of the persona who rode them,.or the neglect of the authorities in charge of the highway? Some £5O or £6O would improve the track—for you nan only call it a track—and make it passable for travellers; as it is it is merely a mantrap.

There was splendid weather for the New Year holiday, which in Gisborne was specially marked by the large number that went out picnicking. The Waimata river was largely patronised, there being about 120 in one party alone. Io a paddock near the town boundary the Salvation Army had a big gathering. There was also a large number of picnickers in the direction of the Wainui, the sea breeze being delightful at that place. Other parties took different directions, many going iirto the country. A very successful race meeting was held at

the Ksraka on Tuesday, the results being as follows :—Hurdles —Ariel 1, Darnley 2, Nancy 3; Dividend and Grayling also started. Hack Hurdles—Tim 1, Cloth of Gold 2, Tom Tackle 3; three others started. Maiden Plate— Myth 1, Irapotior 2, Forest Queen 3 ; Vivid also started. Selling Bade Handicap—Tom Tackle 1, Witch 2, SlynterS; Bristowe and Kitty were tbe other starters. Karaka Handicap—Ariel 1, Impostor 2, Fitzjames 3 ; Cairngorm, Dividend, Off Color, and Myth started. Hack Race—Tit Bit 1, Duchess 2, Cloth of Gold 3. Forced Handicap—lmpostor 1, Myth 2, Dividend 3; Gipsy also started.

The ingratitude of some people is painful to contemplate, and how certain parties who shall be nameless could start the New Year as they did is enough to greatly shock a foreboding mind. These gay and thoughtless people who are to be nameless were invited by a boniface who shall also be nameless, to welcome the new born infant 1889 by partaking of a little refreshment. The treat was joyfully accepted, and the landlord soon after retired to dreamland, having happy visions of great future prosperity in the Empire Oil City. But while he was dreaming those nameless knaves were already at their cruel work. The tumblers were scattered in different places, the chimney being one of those places; the doormats were put to strange uses and abuses which enter not Into tbe imagination of the good housewife, and things were otherwise turned generally topsy-turvy. To cap all, however, these moonlighters surrounded a convenience that also requires not to be named, carried the affair bodily up the yard, and had not the door been shut, would pos sibly have deposited the burden indoors. When all tbe material for maintaining these frolics had been exhausted, an adjournment was made, the moonlighters wishing tho victimised landlord the happiest of happy New Years!

This is the way a contemporary takes off petulant subscribers: —“ After you get angry and stop your paper just poke your finger in the water, and pull it out,' and look for a hole. Then you will know how badly you are missed. A man who thinks a paper cannot thrive without his support ought to go off and stay a while. Wh tn he comes back half his friends will not know he was gone, and the other half will not care a cent, while the world at large keeps no account of his movements. You will find things that you cannot endorse in every paper. Even a Bible is rather plain and hints some hard licks. If you were to get mad and burn your Bible, the hundreds of presses would still go on printing it, and when you stop your paper and call the editor names, the paper will still ba pub. lishod, and, what is more, you will read it on the sly.

In a recent article on the poverty of our public men, in the Pall Mall Gazette, it is stated that Mr Gladstone is not as well off as he might have been had he devoted his energies to other than public affairs. Ha resisted when in office a motion for increase of salary. He has taken no pension, he is entitled to one. When he left office, says one of his biographers, “ the numerous claims upon him are understood to have compelled the sale of his very remarkable oollsc. tion of valuable china and articles ot vertu. There was something dramatically suggestive in Mr Agnew’s bid of £35,000 in a lump sum, for the Marlborough gems.” Here for the present,” said the Times on June 29th. 1875, “ ends one of the remarkable sales of an art propertyjwhich has ever occurred in the annals of auctions in this country.” Mr Gladstone not only sold his house, but his library. Sir Arthur jGuineei bought the former; Lord Wolverton purchased the latter, to return it te Mr Gladstone as e gift,

The official journal of the government of Olonetz reports that the district of Welikogub is blockaded by bears. In five villages the inhabitants do not dare to venture beyond the boundaries. Although not more than 100 miles from St. Petersburg the district is encompassed by primeval forest, stretching hundreds of versts in every direction. Here bears seem to have formed a settlement. They form groups of seven or right and, descending into the cultivated patches, attack the horses and horned cattle, reducing the peasants to despair, making them afraid to till their fields. Their terror is so great that none of them will any longer venture into the forest. The aid of the local authorities has been frequently invoked, in vain ; and the peasants were looking forward, as a last hope, to tbe autumn battues of the soldiers of the district, who will according to usage organise regular bear hunts.

Says the Rev. Mr Don, missionary among the Chinese at Lawrence :—A curious outcome of the autl Chinese agitation is the antiopium crusade now in operation among the Chinese in New Zealand. The Chinese of the principal ports have agreed to etop importing opium, and placards have been issued broadcast containing rules, <tc. No opium is to be sold after the 4th Oct. at the New Zealand ports, and after 2nd December up country. Anyone secretly importing is to be fined £l2O for every large chest seized, and anyone buying from a non-Chinese is to be fined £5 for every tin so bought—these fines in addition to the confiscation of the opium seized. medicinal pills are to be distributed gratis to euro those having the opium habit. Subscription lists have been opened at all the chief places to defray the expenses of the crusade, and iu Dunedin over £207 was so subscribed. The main object of this movement.is, I think, the reduction of the customs revenue ( which one of their placards giv<« as nearly £lO,OOO on opium ) in retaliation for the unjust treatment of tbe Chinese.

Several newspapers have referred to a new invention by one William Timmins, which, if successful, will revolutionise motive power. The inventor is an unpretentious English mechanic residing at Pittsburg, Penn., who c'airns to have invented a machine by which united motive power can be stored or used without the expenditure of fuel. The story goes that ho had been engaged for years perfecting the invention, and is now negotiating with the Governments of England, Russia and the United States for the of the right to use his discovery, which, if after examination it proves to be what it claims, will revolutionise the motive power of the world. Ha claims to be able to create a pressure of 29,0001bs per square inch—more than sbffloient to propel the largest ocean steamer afloat or to move 80 laden freight cars in one train. The machine seems to be simply an air compressor of the simplest sort, It consists of one small cylinder (six horse-power) with a balance of weight of 751 b, which runs the entire apparatus ; another small cylinder Sin in diameter, with sin stroke compresses the air into a tank from which the power is utilised. Under the piston plate the inventor has placed two layers of bars containing eleven different minerals, the magnetic influences of which is the secret ef the invention. The advantages he claims are durability, economy and simplicity. Experts have examined the machine and pronounce it a success. In submitting his design to the Government named, Mr Timmins claims that the pneumatic generator can not only be applied to war vessels as a motor, but can be used as a defence against hostile attao'ts by means of air chambers place) behind tbe rmour plating.”

It has puzzled the heads of a good many young ters to know how tho earth turns round. A German educational journal, published in Frankfort, gives tho following direction for proving that tho earth “ does move":—“Takea good sized bowl, fi'l it nearly full <f water, aud place it upon the floor of a room which is not exposed to shaking or jarring from the street. Sprinkle over the surface of the water a coa'ing of lycopodium powder—a white substance which is sometimes used for purposes of the toilet, and which can be obtained at almost any apothecary's. Then upon the surface of this coating of powder make, with powdered charcoal, a straight black line, say an inch or two in length. Having made this little black mark with the charcoal powder on the surface of the contents of the bowl, lay down upon the floor close to the bowl a stick or some other straight object, so that it will be exactly parallel with the mark. If the line happens to be parallel with a crack in the floor, or any stationary object in tho room, this will serve as well. Leave the bowl undisturbed for a few hours, and then observe the position of the’black mark wi h .reference to the object that it was parallel with. It will be found to have moved about, and to have moved from East to West—that is to say in the direction opposite to that of the Earth on its axis. The earth in simply revolving has carried the water and everything else in the bowl around it, but tho powder on the surface has been left behind a little. The line will always bo fouud to have moved from East to West, which is perfectly good proof that everything else has moved the other way.”