LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 463, 5 June 1890, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Patutahi Licensing Oommitte met on Tuesday, the Bench comprising Messrs Ferguson (jun.J, Lewis, Price, Sadler, aud Sunderland. All renewals were granted, various little alterations in premises requiring to be attended to. Additions must ba made witbia three months io Mt Arundel's Lake Heaae, »t Tinksta,

At the Police Court yesterday morning Charts Trimmer, a sailor on board the ketch Prince Rupert, was charged with stealing a lump of coal, valued at one shilling, from Messrs Kennedy and Evans’ yard on the previous night. The bench considered the charge was a trivial one and dismissed the information. Soloman Black was fined 10s for being drunk. Messrs J. Townley and C. D. Bennett were the presiding justices.

Mr Harris tells us in his excellent book on Advocacy not to overprove a point. A case occurred at Leicester which well illustrates this rule. The question turned on the identity of a certain ham which had been found in the possession of the prisoner, but which the prosecutrix swore to be the one which had been stolen. She was certain that this was so, not merely from the general resemb’ance, but from certain holes which, as she alleged, had been made by two pegs inserted in the lower end to keep it from touching her wall. The case looked black against the prisoner, especially when the wit ness, as a final and conclusive proof of identity, produced the fellow ham for the purpose of comparison. One glance sufficed for the jury—they were both left hams, and, alas I a pig has only two hams.

At the Commission Court on Tuesday one objection in Maori was a protest against Lieut.-Colonel Porter acting ns inerpreter in the case, and alleging that he was an interested party. The objection was read out in Maori and then Lieut.-Colonel Porter was interpreting the document, when His Honor stopped him and said there was no necessity to read out that sort of objection. Mr Commissioner Ormsby then, in the Maori language, informed the natives that there was no necessity to have fears on the grounds alleged, the interpreter was only a part of the Court machinery, and he (Mr Ormsby) was there to see that the natives were fairly considered. He had been paying attention all through to the interpretations and so far they had been veiy fairly rendered.

Two settlers in this district are confident they have discovered an effectual cure for lungworm in sheep, and they are of course desirous of convincing other settlers as well as themselves. With that object an nfier which could not be more fair is made—that owners of sheep affected with the disease will allow the supposed remedy to be tested, and in case of the loss of any animal resulting from the test the parties undertaking it are prepared to guarantee a refund of the value of the sheep. By such a proposal it should be very easy for sheepfarmers to judge of the worth of the remedy, and it certainly seems well worthy of their attention. The tests being conducted at the risk of those who possess the cure a better arrangement could hardly be made to thoroughly satisfy sheep farmers one way or the other. If the remedy is what the discoverers believe it to be it should be worth a great deal of money.

Mr Sydney Hoben, in one of his letters from Leipsic, says : —Luigi Arditi the other day told me the story of “Il Bucci©.” His father was 25, and poor, when he took this with two other compositions to Rieordi, the great Milan publisher. Rieordi would accept none of them, and in despair the young composer went home and cast two of his cherished creations into the fire and stood by watching their destruction. “II Baccio ” was the third, and having spared it Arditi worried Rieordi so much that he at last gave him J>s for it. Within a week it was selling by thousands ag - fast as it could be turned out, but the £5 was >.ll poor Arditi ever got for it beyond the fame it brought him. Some years after he was in a magnificent music shop in Paris, and complimented the proprietor on his possession. “ Ah,” he replied, “ I built this place on “ Il Baccio.’ ” I was in a email music shop with Arditi this week and bought a copy for 2d.

“Literary Ladies” was the theme of a well written and very interesting essay by Mr J. Smaill which was read to the members of the St. Andrew’s Literary Association at the regular weekly meeting held on Tuesday evening. The essay was full of information concerning the lives and works of Frances Burney, Jane Austen, Madame Rowland, and “ George Eliot ” (Miss M. A. Evans). Mr Smaill highly commended these ladies as having proved the ability of women to give to the literary public works of fiction worth reading, aud thus led the way and set the example for the ever increasing army of Literary Ladies. The Rev. R. J. Williams presided and expressed his pleasure at the attendance of so many members of the Association, and hoped to see a deep interest taken in the Association and its good work by many of the young people of the congregation who were not yet connected with it* Mr Smaill received a warm expression of thanks for his essay. On Tuesday next Miss G. Adair will read a paper on “ A Biographical Sketch of Tennyson.”

The Gisborne Licensing Committee met at noon yesterday, the members present being Messrs A Gray (chairman), Boland, Bidgood, Parker, and Currie. William Ferguson anplied for a license for the Matawhero (Royal Oak) Ho’el, and Sergeant Bullen (Inspector) reported against the application, considering a licensed house to be unnecessary in that locality. Mr Sievwright appeared for the applicant, and apetition signed by 45 persons was handed in in support of the application, and a petition from 30 persons protesting against a license being granted. The committee decided to grant the license, a majority of those residing in the locality appearing to favor it. The death of RobertBryson was urged as a reason why licenses should not be granted to Messrs Steggall and Hogan, the latter also having been fined for Sunday trading. It was decided to grant a renewal to Mr Steggall on the condition that he soli out within six months, and Mr Hogan’s license was granted with the advice that he should be more cautious in the future. All the applications for renewals were granted, various little requirements being insisted upon,

The resignation of Sergeant Bullen (who has had charge of the police force iu this district for about nine years) is announced, and there cannot- help bring a feeling of regret at such an efficient officer being lost to the public sPFvice. The position he resigns is one which often makes it necessary for all feelings of friendship to be suppressed in the sense of duty, and an officer of the kind has often to put up with much unrea-oning enmity, but in the case of Sergeant Bullen wo feel safe in asserting that nothing of the kind exists. His duties, though not st all tim«s of a pleasant nature, have been con i no'cd with th? u'most. impartiality, and for Ids efficient discharge of ■those duties Sergeant Bullen hag earned the respect of ci'izens and settler**. He retires voluntarily, having given the fullest satisfaction to his superior officials. Ho is entitled to a certain compensation according to his years of sorvico. During ths period ha has bean stationed on the East Coast he has had some of the most difficult cases to deal with, and has been remarkably successful in eheeting home crime, especially in murder cases. He is still in the prime of life, and there is reason to believe that he will remain in Gisborne, devoting bis attention to another branch of labor. Sergeant Carlyon, of Woodville, is Sergeant Bullen’s successor, and arrives in Gisborne on Sunday.

The Post is very severe upon the Hon. Mr Fergus, and makes the following remarks “ At Queenstown the Hon. Minister of Mines had the audacity to speak about the rapidly increasing population of the colony. How he could venture to do this in the face of the facts which he must be familiar with, we cannot imagine, He must know, as well as we do, that the marriage rate is decreasing, and has fallen to an abnormally low ebb. This, of course, means a diminution in the birth rats, and, added to this, there is the steadily going on exodus of adults by almost every steamer which leaves our shores, Last month, for instance, the number of departures from the colony was 2115, while there were only 1232 arrivals, a balance of 882 on the wrong side. Of this balance 430 con-* Bisted of adult males. In the previous month the excess of emigration over immigration was 629. Upwards of 1500 people lost to the colony in two months, and yet Ministers talk of a rapidly increasing population, and propound schemes which will increase and perpetuate stagnation, impose farther burdens on the shoulders of the taxpayers who remain, render employment nm re difficult to obtain, and increase the cost of living. How long, we wonder, will the people submit to be governed, on a system productive of ouoh iwwwr*

A Cambridge settler who had some bottles o£ lemonade and hop beer stored in a room in which was a quantity of apples, noticed that some of the bottles were fizzing, and on investigation found codlin moth grubs in some of the corks. In one instance there were two well developed healthy looking grubs in a single cork.

The following team has been selected to represent the Turanganui Football Club in the Cup match on Saturday, with the Poverty Bay Ciub :—Full back : J. Morgan ; Three quarters : H. Branson, Ma'thews, L. Maude ; Halves: H. Maude and Alf. Wade; Forwards Slierrifi, Skipworth, Robinson, Crawford, Leslie, Marshall, Piies'.ly, Arthur Wade, and R. Hepburn. Emergencies : Featon, Nisbett, E. O’Meara, and Thomson.