LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 317, 27 June 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Another slip has occurred on the Riverside Road, a high sandy cutting about a chain past the bridge on that road having given way. It is stated that Mr Mackenzie, of Auckland, has been offered the appointment of Judge in the Native Land Court, and that if he accepts it he will be deputed to adjudicate upon the Omahu land disputes. The Financial Statement delivered on Tuesday night, is the shortest that has been made for some years. It contained 9,263 words, and the telegraph operators engaged upon it at the Gisborne office were Messrs Cumming and Percival, and it was transmitted in a most legible and correct manner, the “ copy" being very pleasing to our compositors. Tho operators were on tho work for five and a half hours. At the sale of Kaitl land by Graham, Pitt and Bennett on Tueeday the following was tho result:—No, 47, £B5, T, J. Dickson ; No. 54, £66, J. Ponsford; No. 61, £3B, F. Parker; No. 163 and 164, £65, F. Parker; No. 263 £l4O 2s, J. Peiistonl; No. 258, £129 10s, F. Parker; No. 283, £197 12a, G. Houghton; No. 310, £172 4’, Public Trustee ; No. 819, £B, 11. J. Finn; No. 197, £46, F. Parker; No. 161, £l9, R. Thebvall. Mr Booth left yesterday morning for Tologa Bay in order to hold a sitting of the R.M, Court there. Cases over L2O In the Gisborne Court for to-day will stand adjourned till next Thursday. We underatend that proper security has been lodged for the prosecution of the appeals to the Supreme Court in the Roas-Whinray interpleader case and in the case against McKenzie for harbor rates. We may therefore expect to hoar something more of both these matters, It is understood that Gisborne is to bo favored with a visit from Devere and Moore’s Minstrels. This company consists of the leading members of the Hugo Minstrels, who at Auckland had to undergo ths somewhat novel ordeal of being summoned for having overcrowded houses. From exchanges we notice that the company have been doing big business, and as a first class minstrel troupe they should meet with every success in Gisborne. The opening dates ata not yet finally fixed. A cruel joke was perpetrated on one of our leading and most respected citizaos on the morning after the earthquake. He was standing in Lowe street under the shadow ef Adair's wall, intently reading a document which ha held, when a couple of gentiemen who were old enough to know better, shouted “ Look out I" Instinctively the reader jumped back from where he stood, looked up expecting to see the parapet tumble, and, as t didn’t, turned towards where the alarm had been sounded from. He onlysaw two gentlemen deeply engaged in conversation, their attention fixed upon some object in a totally different direction. Then he gathered himself together and walked off, any remarks he might have made being inaudible; at any rate we do not feel justified in reproducing the impromptu sayings of gentlemen, made under such circumstances, Another large and appreciative audience gathered at the Theatre lecture last Sunday night, Mr Hare took the position that the wicked will not be eternally burning, but that they will be, as the Scriptures declare, destroyed, burnt up, be as though they had not been. An interesting subject is advertised for this evening. It is the first of a series of health science lectures. AU arc invited.

At St, Andrew’s Literary Society on Tuesday evening the Ven, Archdeacon Williams delivered a very interesting lecture entitled I' A second contribution to the early history of Poverty Bay." Tho night was wet and cold, and this materially affected the attendance. The lecturer (whose extensive personal knowledge of tho subject entitles him to speak as a high authority) referred to the earlier days when the labors of the missionaries were of so arduous a nature, and then the outbreak of troublous times, of which the lecturer indicated the cause and effect, and not omitting a reference to th© imprisonment of Te 'Kooti at the Chatham Islands, Pressure on our space precludes our giving the full report of the lecture which we should like to have done. A Vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer, on tlie proposition of Mr EvauS, seconded by MfEwwlvk.

Mr Smith, of the Masonic Hotel, Napier, is the purhaser of the Tangihanga property. The Napier Park races, to have been held yesterday, were postponed, owing to the bad weather. The Maori football team have beaten the Arforma Club by 27 points to 3. The game was a very rough one, three of the Australians having their ribs broken. Two libel actions against the Melbourne Age are pending, the claims for damages being L 20.000 and LlO,OOO respectively. A new process for preserving meat has been patented in Melbourne. The meat is immersed in a solution for a few minutes, when a coating is formed, effectually preventing escape of juice. The experiments have so far been successful. In his lecture at St. Andrew's Literary Society on Tuesday evening, the Ven, Archdeacon Williams said that at one time there were 40,000 bushels of wheat per annum exported from Poverty Bay. Mr J. T. Evans remarked that in that respect the work of the present settlers compared most unfavorably with what was done in former days. Archdeacon Williams said that then the price ranged extremely high, varying from six to fourteen shillings a bushel.

Numerous incidents of an interesting nature continue to be recorded of the effects of the recent earthquake. The dumb animals were affected in a most peculiar way, and in the stables the horses seemed to all get terrorstricken. The shock was felt on board the schooner Awaroa, which was lying in the harbor. A plumber, who was engaged in the repairs that are being made to the Gisborne. Hotel, was in an elevated position of the building whan he felt the first symptoms of the earthquake, and thinking that there was something wrong with the building to make it rock so, he put his foot on the ladder to come down, Then the building swayed in a manner that soon removed his doubts. Ths ladder was jarked about, but ths workman clung on to ths spouting so tenaciously that ha kept the ladder from going down. Had he lost his presence of mind, tho result would most likely have boon serious, A burglary was committed in a local hotel a short time time ago, and since then there has been a vigilant watoh kept, in the hope of gaining some clue as to the perpetrator. The other night the good lady of the house heard a suspicious noise on the lower floor and a tremendous crash as though some thief had made great havoc among the whisky bottles end had been deprived of his booty by an accident. In a few* seconds the alarm had been quietly communicated to the other members of the family, each of whom discarded his sleepiness, the moment ha heard tho word " burglars,” as a terrier does when he hears the expression “rats.” All the lodgers were also roused to take part in the expected fray, and the first-born armed himself with a gun, probably having in mind the desperation of the Sydney burglars. A descent was then made, the room was surrounded, and the first-born (who by the way la one of the To Kooti veterans) had his gun cocked, ready to take aim the moment the burglar gave the slightest indication of bis existence. " Come ont, now, you villain, or I'll blaze the hair off your scalp, you rascal I” said the irate veteran, but not a budge would the villain make, nor would he even Indicate his whereabouts by drawing breath. As the burglar would not ooms to be scalped, a desperate rush was made towards where the noise had bean heard—and a large picture was found to have fallen to the floor and been shattered to pieces I Burglars may now come and go in future, but no alarm will again get the veteran away from beneath ths blankets at unreasonable hours. Union Literary Society, thia (Thursday) evening, at 8 o’clock. Business: “ Waste Paper Basket.”—Advt.