pith and point.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 456, 20 May 1890, Page 3

pith and point.

Harbor Board election to day. Wirth’s circus is doing big business in Napier. Palmerston has for the year an increased valuation of £l-5,000. Hastings was last week lightened of nearly £3OO by Wirth’s circus. Mr B. J. Hogg has resigned his captainship of the Napier Rowing Club. New Zealand harbor debentures are recover, ing from the recent shock. A new Catholic Church, to seat 200 people, is to be erected at Rotorua.

The County Council requires tenders for cut'ing drains at Tcbga Bay. A miner fell down a 333 ft shaft in France, and he was not seriously hurt.

The balance of opinion in South Australia is in favor of intercolonial freetrade.

A duty cf 41b per lb is to be imposed upon olive stones that have been ground. Mr Nathan Hart, of Dunedin, dropped dead through cessation cf the heart’s action. As an outcome of the tollgate squabbles a new borough in the Hutt district is being agitated for.

The Tongariro took 117 passengers away from New Zealand, and also gold to the value Of £l7 666.

From a consignment of butter sent from Canterbury to the Hom- market a net 9Jd was realised.

On a consignment of 700 sacks of potatoes eent to Sydney from Wanganui, a few weeks ago, £2 15s to £3 per ton was netted. It is a curious example of colonial snobbishness that Mr Varley’s previous connection with the butchering trade is always being cast up to him. Some newspapers convey the idea that Mr Varley’s having been a butcher makes him less entitled to speak on simple religion than if he bad been a debauchee or a spoiled darling of society. the Auckland Police Court the habit of leaving goods outside was Wrunced as a temptation—disgraceful and uSfeal.

The Star says that to some of the insurance companies doing business there Masterton must evidently be as good as a gold mine. A politician says that colonial s'a»»smen differ from those at Home, in that the former are quicker to devise and create, while the latter are more thoughtful to execute and repair.

Tenders for a further section of Napier breakwater pier open this evening. A motion is to be brought on to have future work done by day labor. The Spectator thinks that it we have but a year cf genuine fasting from new literature we might look more hopefully to the future, but a literary Lent is not easily obtainable. A silly joke has been circulated to the effect that a Wairarapa man is going to call for tenders for the making cf hiswinter sv.it of clothes. In the flooded districts of Australia it is ■aid travellers had to pay as much as £1 for a meal, consisting of fowls, potatoes, and jam.

It is said the London Board of the Bank of New Zealand is making free use of the Eruning knife, to tbe disadvantage of many igh officials.

Mr Gladstone says his bead has grown considerably in size during the last 20 years, as ean be proved by hie hats. The life insurance companies and frendly societies in England have been put to the expense of a million pounds through the outbreak of la grippe, and another million may be added for loss of wages. Bimon Barnard, an Adelaide broker, did a “ broke ” to ihe tune of £l3,9oo—assets, mostly book debts, £lB2O. A meeting of Australians and Americans at Johannesberg resulted in telegrams being sent to Australia warning people against going to the Transvaal, things being so despairing there.

A Nelson schoolmistress, of 34 years’ service, has been discharged, but with a year’s leave on full pay, £l4O. It is quite certain that country settlers do not get half the educational advantages obtained by residents in town. —Press. Larrikins caused about £lOO damage in the Wairarapa, through destroying telegraph insulators. * The N.Z. Herald is agitating for a telegraph line between Auckland and New Plymouth, so as to avert tbe inconvenience which now arises when the lines are interrupted. Tbe Napier Telegraph says, when the enormous expenses are considered, it is in most cases cheaper to buy freehold improved land second hand than to acquire a lease from the natives. A scheme is being considered to construct a basin to give sufficient depth of water at all stages of the tide at Westport. There was an offer to buy the racer Audacity for the Indian market, but as 500 guineas were wanted the deal came to nought. The City Bink continues to be an attraction on Saturday evenings to those who delight in roller skating. Messrs A. Kemptborne and W. King have been returned unopposed as members of the Waikohu Road Board. The steam»r Fanny, which recently came in contact with the Taruheru fontbridge, i« the largest vessel that has been so far up the river.

A game of football, without umpires, was the interesting spectacle witnessed on Saturday afternoon, and there was good temper all through the match. Mr Goodall says it was not possible for the Ejaculations at the Napierf breakwater to have on for years. The rubble foundation in present contract was not started until he V>elt the Board's service. Mr Goodall, formerly Napier Harbor Engineer, says he firmly believes Mr Grainger to be a most reliable officer. Watson, a seven year old boy, of Blenheim, died through the bursting of a tumor on tbe liver, la grippe having brought on the crisis. Mr Bussell says the Bank had rather a desire to put money into the New Zealand Stud Company and nurse it until a better price could be realised for the property. Sir Bobert Stout has opened a series of winter lectures at Invercargill with a lecture on Federation—he preferred a perfection of tbe present system cf government. Billy Murphy, who worked a slinter fight once in Gisborne, has received the belt for the lightweight championship of the world. Shaw, Saville and Co. are contemplating the building of two extra cargo steamers of very large carrying powers.