LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 493, 14 August 1890, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mr Quigley, architect;, calls for tenders for building a residence in Childers road. The supplementary mails sent by the s.°. Southern Gross to catch the boat for San Francisco arrived in Auckland too late. A business announcement from Messrs Dunlop and Bourke, wine and spirit merchants, appears in our advertising columns. A meeting to form a local branch of the N.Z. Working Men's Association will be held in Porter’s Hall on Wednesday evening next.

Mr Hislop spoke on Friday night, says the New Zealand Times. “We heard him with wonder. We wondered what he was doing there, wondered how he got there at all, wondered what qualities are required in a man before he becomes a Minister of the Crown, wondered what earthly use he is to the people on the Treasury benches.” The changing of the venue io the murder case will result in a large expense—something over £290, it is estimated. As the application was heard in Chambers we are precluded from giving a report that would enable our readers to judge as to the grounds on which ths application was granted. It is to be assumed that the reasons were quite sufficient, or Hia Honor would not have granted the application, but where the necessity is for secrecy io such matters is not at all apparent. The public is deeply interested in such cases, and there seems to be no reason why they should bo denied a full knowledge of all the prooaedinge. The Supreme Court proceedings are not without an element of humor. On Tuesday Constable Reddell was giving evidence to the effect that there is a good deal of traffic on the Papatu road ; “ but not,” flaid His Honor, in allusion to the people continually tramping in and out, “so much as there is in this Court,” When the time for luncheon adjournment approached the clock showed that it was a few minutea to one, and Mr Cooper said he had only another witness to call and the evidence would not tako long. His Honor said the cross-examination might take some time, and he remarked that the Court clock was a few minutes slow. Immediately nearly every man-jack in the Court had jerked out his “ ticker,” and click after click could be heard as those present took means to satisfy themselves as to Jthe uccuriiey of His Honor’s remarks*

A business announcement from Mrs E. Ledger will appear in our next issue. A special meeting of the Poverty Bay Rowing Club will be held in the Masonic Hotel next Saturday evening. Tho ordinary monthly meeting of ths Charitable Aid Board takes place this afternoon.

An article strongly condemning the practice of conducting Supreme Court business “ in Chambers,” appears in a recent number of the H. B. Herald.

Not an island has been h?aved up or. sunk from sight in the Pacific Ocean for the last 34 years, and geologists say that nature is resting for a mighty effort in the future. An English geologist predicts 1h it within 50 years a convulsion will sink the whole of New Zealand 50ft, below the surface of the sea.

“ The occupant of the British Throne,” says a Melbourne paper, ‘f is sworn to uphold a certain religion, of which the due observance of the Sabbath is one of the cardinal points; therefore, Crown officials who conspire against the sanctity of the Sabbath are guilty of something like sedition.” The Western Australian Land Company commenced an action for £35,000, and an injunction against the Government for alleged breach of contract in selling land within the areas reserved for thi company in exercise of its right of selection under the land concession clauses of the contract.

A flag was flying yesterday from the framework of the new Wesleyan Church. Tea and coffee were provided, and there was a pleasant little gathering of ihe workmen and others. The architect and comractor were present, and the Rev. J. Ward made a few remarks, expressing pleasure at the progress that was being made and the absence of anything to mar the general feeling of satisfaction.

Mr E. Wakefield had recently, if we mistake not, a pot-boiler in Temple Bar describing the manner in which be had, on one occasion, fallen into a New Zealand geyser. The reason why we feel so certain this perjury was from the pen cf the veracious Mr Wakefield is because the geyser promptly ejected him, after a very short acquaintance.—Catholic Times.

An old Invercargill resident now in Victoria (according to the News), recently said—- “ Butter, cheese, bacon, eggs, and lots of other staple articles of food are frightfully dear here compared to what they can be got for iu New Zealand. With butter at from 2s to 3s a pound, and eggs at 2s 6d a dozen, a working man has to regard them as luxuries to be used on rare occasions only instead of for daily diet as in the island coiony. I was a protectionist once, but I’m a Freetrader now.”

A woman in the waiting room at a railway station the other day had a great deal of trouble with one of her children—a boy of seven or eight—and a man who sat near her stoiod it as long as possible, and then observed—“ Madam, that boy of your* needs the strong hand of a father.” “ Yes, I know it,” she replied, “ but he can’t have it. His father died when he was six years of age, and I’ve done my best to get another man and failed. He can’t have what I can’t got.” Mr D. Courtenay writes :—To the Editor : Sir, —I would like, through your columns, to call the attention of the members of the County Council to the disgraeeful state of the road leading in the dirootion of the Ormond quarry. It is almost impassable. The Council has at various times promised to give their attention to the road, but have not yet made-any amends. If there is no prospect of anything being done, and the locality is to be allowed to remain in its shamefully neglected state, the Council might at least provide us with a dingy so that there would be some chance of making our way through the quagmires.

Races were hell at Alton, near Kakaramea, in the drizzling rain last Saturday, at which the Bullock Race was the great attraction. For this event four bullocks were saddled up which caused some amusement to onlookers. Mr D. Sergeant’s Spot did not take to the saddle very kindly at first, for in a preliminary canter he bolted off the course and managed to get rid of his rider, who, however, escaped without injury. Mr Derrett had no difficulty in despatching his field. Mr Scown’s Stout cut out the running fir the first quarter, when Mr Sergeant’s Jim came with a good run and drawing away from the others ran home any easy winner.—Press,

An Enoch Arden case is the sensation in America. Agents have arrived in England to trace the movements of a Mr Stewart, formerly a wealthy merchant in New York. In 1862 Mr Stewart’s clothes and money were discovered near the sea. A body washed ashore close to the spot was identified by the supposed widow, who thought her husband had bean drowned while bathing. She bad the body buried, and erected a suitable monument over the grave. Mr Stewart’s property, including his life insurance, was divided between the widow and three children. Three years later Mrs Stewart married again, and has now five other children. Recently the supposed husband turned up, claiming the wife and the property, and stating that he had reasons for deluding them into the belief that he was drowned twenty-eigbt years ago.

Says the London Daily News, treating of Miss Fawcett’s great triumph“ The publication of the class list of the Mathematical Tripos this year has been awaited with the keenest interest, and although it was expected that Miss Fawcett would occupy a very high position, even if she did not take first honors, there was an unusually large attendance of both sexes to hear the results thia morning. Indeed, the probability is that never before have so many ladies congregated within the ancient walls of the Senate House. After the position of the man had been officially announced, there was a mighty roar for “ Women I” and indeed it was some time before silence was restored. Hardly had the words escaped the lips of the presiding moderator than P. G. Fawcett, of Newnham. was above the Senior Wrangler, than tremendous cheers broke forth. Of course, the female students were overcome with the success of one of their own sex, but the undergraduates were not backward, and nobly joined in the hearty demonstration ta the first lady who has achieved higher honors than the male students. The “Mount Athos” referred to in the cablegrams is a place ot great historic interest. It is the principal mountain in a chain extending from the coast of Macedonia into the JEgesn sea, between the gulfs of Contessa and Monte Santo, and connected with the mainland by a narrow {isthmus. In ancient times there were several towns on Mount Athos. In the middle ages the mountain became covered with monasteries, of which number there remained twenty prior to the present fire, besides several hermitages, chapels, &a. The entire number of monks inhabiting the mountain is 8000, forming a kind of monastic republic under the Turkish Government, to which they pay annually a tribute of about £4OOO, They carry on a large trade in amulets, image*, crucifixes, furniture, etc., and they reap profit from visits of numerous pi'griais. They hold such strong opinions nn the wickedness of associa'ing with females that none of the latter (not even of the lower animals) are allowed on the paninaula. In the middle ages Mount Atbos was the centre of Greek learning, but now there are probably not 50 tolerably educated men on the whole peninsula, learning being quite neglected.

Writing of the action of the Prince of Wales in ranking Cardinal Manning next to him in precedence the Catholic Times says: —“But the Heir Apparent ! Those who set his ancestor the first George on the Throne of England, and called him “ Protestant Ascendancy,” made no law of freedom of speech for royalty. They laid it down that whenever the King ceased to be a good Protestant he would ipso facto cease to ba the King. What a flourish of trumpets there was in the first days of the “ Protestant Succession.” When the Durham letter was written it seemed as if the same spirit were alive. But the sequel showed that if alive at all it was dying fast. The Act forbilding eeclessiastical titles to be Catholic Hierarchy in England proved a dead letter from the first day. The change in public opinion has gone on steadily ih the same direction ever since. The distance it has travelled is measured by the ptedddenae accorded to Cardinal Manning.