LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 373, 5 November 1889, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At tha Trust Commissioner’s Court yesterday, certificates were granted to a deed of conveyance from Horomana te Rakitai to PimiaAata, of Kowhai, transfer from E. F. Harris to P. Bourke of Haiti section 50. The opening of the Gisborne Park promises to place on record the most successful race ; meeting, so far as the patronage of the public is concerned, that has yet been held in the lUstrjct, The privileges, with the exception of the cates, were sold on Saturday, and brought,excellent prices—Grandstand booth £l5 and outside booth £l7 (Ferguson), inside dining room £3 10a ,(L. Stevens), outside dining room £0 5a and refreshment booth £5 (J. Craig), right of publishing rase books £4 10s (T. H. B. Smith), right to take .-barge Of lueses £3 10s (Gardner!.

The Opotiki Herald strongly urges the establishment of a weekly mail between that plane and Gisborne, and bitterly complains of the state of disrepair into which the connecting road has drifted, A Brisbane telegram states a man supposed to be insane, named, it is believed, Elwell, started to race the train.from Ipswich to Bandamba, when the engine ran into him, cut off one of his legs and smashed his head to such an extent that the brains protruded. The man’s recovery is considered impossible. At the Mutual Improvement Society last night the Society’s Magazine was read. Thia contained three papers Will England ever deteriorate as a great nation ?” which caused some discussion ; “ My New Chum Experiences,” a lady’s experiences on her arrival at Dunedin 16 years ago. “ Our coming picnic ” was the third paper.

A Wellington paper states that the Government have refunded to Judge Rawson the whole of his disbursements and costs in connection with the Royal Commission held at New Plymouth, to enquire into his character, in March last. The report of the Commissioners so thoroughly exonerated Mr Rawson from all the charges brought against him. that as the lav/ was so defective as not to enable the costs to be recovered from the

complainants, no other course was open to the Government but to pay them out of the colonial chest, The amount paid was £346 19s 9d, and the repayment to Mr Rawson was made by the Government voluntarily without any request from Mr Rawson.

The remains of the late Mrs Warren were followed to the grave on Saturday by a large number of mourning friends. On Sunday evening the Rev. J. Ward conducted a memorial service at the Wesleyan Church. The church building was so full that some persons who came late were unable to secure seats. The rev. gentleman took for his text, “And their years were three score and ten,” Ro made touching reference to the memory of the deceased, and said that to him the grey hair of age, on the person who knew Christ, appeared like a silvery adornment in preparation for the golden crown. He re ferred attention to the great number of deaths that occurred every day—neither skill, intellectual capacity, nor kindness could prevent the occurrence of death—-but to the Christian, its approach should give no cause for fear. The scene of which Florence Nightingale was the heroine was introduced in a fitting place, tynd the way in which Mr Ward portrayed the acene wag a masterpiece which had a deep effect, On Saturday an order was made by Mr B-iuth, und«r_ th« Ltrnaoy Aot T for the committal of Mrs Julia fUehabina Marshall to Auckland Asylum, Ths order was made on the application of the father, Mr Joseph Longley. The case of the poor stricken woman is a sad ono. It Is not quite twelve month a’ aso since she camo to Gisborne with her husband, the marriage having taken place the day before she left Auckland. Mr Marshall was always very delicate, and shortly after his marriage he became very ill. He was assiduously nursed by his wife throughout a long and painful illness, during which her loving care and kindness did much towards relieving, though it could not save, him, The constont strain told upon Mrs Marshal’s mind, and the sickness attendant upon her confinement, coupled with the shock caused by the death of her husband, at last snapped the tender chain of reason. The doctors advised her removal to an asylum, but the heart stricken parents, to whom the shock came as a thunderbolt, elung to their daughter, in hopes of her recovery, until it became necessary to apply for the order abovementioned. The heart felt sympathy of all will be extended to the parents and relations of the bereaved woman, and it is to bo hoped that her recovery of her senses is not altogether hopeless. A religious ceremony of a description that was new to Gisborne took place near the Waikanae flagstaff on Sunday morning. A time had been fixed for the baptism of some of those who had resolved to adopt the form of worship indicated by Mr Hare to be the one taught by the Bible* A large crowd of people had assembled to witness the proceedings, and about eleven o’clock Mr Hare, from the lower part of the bank, conducted a short service, the preacher being surrounded by a large multi'ude, as well as those to whom he was especially addressing himself. Then an adjournment was made to the brink of the stream, the tide flowing in and being nearly half full. Those who were to be immersed were dressed in ordinary garments in regard to which damage by water would be of no consequence. Mr Hare went in first and tried the depth, which did not quite reach his waist. Mrs H. Warren was the first to be baptised, a cool breeze making the atmosphere keen. The minister recited a prayer, and then with one hand catching the hick of the convert’s dress, the other he placed on her breast, and a backward duck completely immersed her ; a hand shake followed and the ceremony was complete, the convert at once proceeding to a house near by to change her clothing. Each of the other converts (numbering nearly a dozen) went through a similar form, all bravely standing the test. Those baptised included one male, an elderly man, who was taken last. The ceremony was conducted with solemnity, and those taking part in it appeared to be deeply impressed by the pro? ceedings. In an article on ‘ Mr Buekley and ths Bank,’ the Wellington Evening Post says :— Mr George Buckley has oartainly placed himself in a moat unenviable position by his recent action in connection with the Bank of New Zealand. From end to end of the colony that action has been condemned by the press in the strongest terms. Some of the comments we have reproduced, hut others are of such a severs character that wa deem it inadvisable to reprint them. On all sides it is spread that in this case the truth of Mr Buckley’s statements would not justify the course he has adopted in making them, or the steps he has taken since the Committee of Investigation reported, From independent enquiries which wa have been enabled to make from sources quite as well informed as Mr Buckley, we are, however, convinced, that whatever was true in Mr Buckley’s statements was not new, and that what was new can scarcely be accepted as true. All the majn facts stated by Mr Buckley were well known to the committee before the April halfyearly meeting of the Bank, when Mr Buckley nothing alarming in the condition of affairs, The deductions that he had since chosen to draw from tha facts do not appear at all justified by the data. When Me Buckley comes to read wbat has been written about him all over the colony, we expect he will wish that he had neither sold his shares nor made the he did on Thursday afternoon. In some lesser degree Mr John M‘Lean may be expected tg entertain similar feelings of regret. In the course of his speech at Napier, M Ballance said Bill of the last Government put the extinguisher on the speculator and monopolist, There were people who were now negotiating .for the Borangahau block, who had worked the natives and tfye Native Minister, and yet in Hawke’s Baylthey were land locked. Consider the future of themselves ? Where were the employments to be found ? Some of those large land-owners had their suits of clothes made by a London tailor, Protection was condemned fov the opening of lopal industries, and they were monopalhing lan.4s. They were going further—they consolidating farips in the bush. There was eac man in hie part of the country who had driven pyt forty-eight families, and he mortgaged the estate t<s a commercial company. The interest was not h.exog paid, and the company were afraid of selling him up because they would show a loss. The map who added field to field, yjid brought gloom amj depression on the peopU. was as guilty of a crime he was when Isaiah pronounced a curse on the man doing so. No temporary recovery from low prides would benefit them unless they got population. Population was xycalth, and that could only bp secured by finding the means for their support. If the people, except the large land owpers, left the countrv the colony would be bankrupt. The interests of the great majority yvers what they should study. were they all striving for ? The welfare of thf people: that was the great end. Mr C. F. Lewis reports the sale of five | acres and dwelling on KaUi Bt a satisfactory figure.