LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 598, 23 April 1891, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ths Rev. Mr Gibson, Wesleyan pastor, will be unable to reach Gisborne in time to preach here next Sunday. He is detained on account of ill-health. It has been arranged that the Borough cottages in Roebuck road will be utilised for an Old Men’s Refuge, and applications are invited for the condnot of affairs. Rules are to be framed for the purposes of internal management, and to safeguard against any undue burden being placed on the ratepayers. A correspondent writes To the Editor : Sir,—By the method adopted in calling for tenders for the Old Men's Refuge it sems to me that a premium is being offered to pauperism. It would appear that the more men a caretaker can get the better for him. I think that a very bad plan, but of course I may be mistaken in the matter. Great care requires to be exercised, as experience proves that whenever the slightest encouragement is offered the burden upon the publio is greatly Increased. The departure of Captain Garbutt, of the Salvation Army, is generally regretted in Gisborne, where his earnestness in his work ins been fully proved. Falwell services were conducted in the barracks on Sunday, and were largely attended. On Monday .evening there was a very successful coffee supper at Patutahi, which was attended by a number of townspeople, the night being a bright moonlight one. This evening a farewell tea meeting takes place at the meeting house in town, and Captain Garbutt goes off by to-morrow's steamer,

Writes the Bydntsy Bulletin Recently the Melbourne daily papers printed long and serious accounts of how Lord Hopetoun turned on a new Rater tap, away in the Gluosland Ranges. A true description of thaf ceremony has just reached no, The «■ Watts' River scheme " had already been in full Forking tjrder for a fortnight when Hope toon and Party foqye 1° Bi S bl ' Whereupon a boy on horseback galloped up to the scant; of action and shrieked: “ Bill, foe's coinin'l” and the new supply tap was turned off. , Ten minutes afterwards the Gov, »nd a disorganised mob of hangers-on (mostly with their coats off) arrived, and began dusting ops another down. Anon His Excellency, smoking a cigarette, turned on the water again, and everybody gave three cheers. Drinks brought tbi? great occasion to a close. The Union Literary Society open their session this evening with a debate on the motion that “ ft is undesirable that papitgl punishment be abolished," The lead on the two sides will be taken by Messrs B. N. Jones and J. W. Bright, and a good debate is expected. All members that can posslMv do so are asked to attend, so that a good start may be made. There is every prospect of an increased membership this year. The syllabus is a better one than last year's, and if the subjects are taken up well there need not be one dull night, The Committee have triad to profit by the criticisms passed on the Society in past sessions, Among other altera, lions they have decided to strictly limit speakers to their time, and to allow only members to speak or vote. As before, the ordinary meetings will be open to all, but the Committee would aok those who take an interest in the Society to join it. Another criticism on the last session, that tfoey are anxious to profit by, was to the effect that a few members did al) the debating, etc. It would be far better if it could be arranged that no member led in more than one debate throughout the session. An attempt will be made to carry opt this idea, and members are asked to volunteer their services for one of the evenings. A good deal of the preliminary arrangement would have been done at the opening entertainment, but as that has bsen postponed till the recess, the Committee wish to fix as much as pcgsibla to-night. Any suggestion that would tend tu improve the Society would always ba gladly received by the Metretary, and if found prlbliogble would be acted upon,

About a hundred natives altogether are in town in connection with the Nubaka case before the Land Court. They are nearly all Mormons and are total abstainers, quite a different stamp of Maori to the drink-swilling Int.

An enormous meteor burst over the town of Mauison, U.S.A., the blazing fragmen's being scattered in every direction. The houses were shaken as if by an earthquake, and the inhabitants greatly alarmed. Horses have been successfully groomed by electricity in America, and the fringe on ladies’ foreheads is also curled by the same means. In San Francisco the electric light is used for fishing. By it fish are lured into nets by multides. A man has been released in Ireland after undergoing 40 years’ imprisonment for murdering his wife. The trial created a tremendous sensation at the time. He was a young artist, and murdered his wife on a lonely island.

A gentleman met a strange death near Birmingham. When nearing the canal the retriever dog he was leading by a chain made a rush for the water. The dog plunged in, and the chain being fixed tightly round his wrist, he was dragged in and drowned. A Chicago millionaire had a desire to be buried beneath a monster tree which he had greatly admired. By his will he left £2OOO far the removal of the tree from the forest to the Chicago Cemetery, The tree, which is 75ft in height, was removed with great difficulty, and now overshadows the millionaire’s tomb.

Mr William Adlam, the “ Somersetshire Centenarian,” died at Taunton, aged 107. He recollected two Royal Jubilees. In early life he tended sheep on the Wiltshire Downs, and was fond of open-air exercise. Until quite recently he attended a Bibleclass for aged people, and up till within a fortnight of his death he took a walk before breakfast. His wife died at the age of 90, and out of her 10 children only two are living. The Napier Telegraph in a short article devoted to abuse of the present Government generally, makes use of the following choice phrases ‘ Crass ignorance,’ • bull at a fence.' ‘blundering along with their eyes shut,’ • fancy they are really smart,’ ‘ Given rope enough they will fill up their destiny for themselves,’ ‘ lots of harlequins,' ‘ wearisome fooleries,’ • strong following of thick heads, of conceited puppies, and of greedy politicians.’

Foul chimneys were merrily emitting fierce blazes between seven and eight on Tuesday morning; some one counted fire of them, others counted more, and some were unable to see any, neither could they draw oa their imagination. The firebells were tuned up, and the Brigade were out smartly, but they had nothing to do beyond blessing those people who will cheat Messrs Burch and Holford out of a job in the chimney sweeping line,

Another meeting of natives is to be held to-day to protest against the reduction in the number of Land Court Judges. It will oome very hard on the Nuhaka natives if, after the expense they have been put to, the ease should require to be gone into de novo upon the retirement of Judge Clendon. The Government ought to make some provision to prevent such a great hardship upon the natives. A fishing party went out in the launch Snark yesterday. In the earlier part o£ the day the enjoyment was good and a large haul of fish was made, but things got lively in the afternoon, The tow rope caught in the screw of the little vessel, and there was a difficult task to get things rectified, over an hour being occupied in the work. The sea got very lumpy, and there was a rough passage in ; nearly all on board—and some who would be expected to bo superior to such frivolity—were heavily laboring from the side of the vessel, while an occasional seagull flitted overhead, peering at the scene with savage glee. The party got back before five. In the course of some severe remarks on the subject of the now famous Education article, the Catholic Times states ** there would not have been so much good dignity, anger, and sarcasm, wasted had the attack in the New Zealand Herald been untrue. It was true. There lies the sting of the whole matter. The Education Board knew it was true—sting the second I It is nevertheless consolatory to reflect that neither the article in the Herald nor the venom of the Boards will be utterly lost in the marvellous economy of Nature. The article has awakened the attention of large numbers of persons; and the Boards, by the terrible want of self-restraint and dignity which they have displayed, have also aroused many co the peroeption that some entrusted with the supervision of the training of our children have not shown, by their own selfcontrol, any peculiar fitness for the task.” They have a bullying lawyer in a Southern city—we'll be excused from saying where. However, there is a suggestive paragraph in the Wellington Press, which has some bearing on the subject There are many amusing and harmless fictions in many wa'ks of professional lite. A doctor, for instance, must not advertise, a lawyer must not "tout" for work, and soon. Yet we see, when a doctor has a fad like Bcown-Sequard's Elixir of Life, Pasteur's rabbit exterminator, or Koch’s consumption killer, how they cry, loud enough for the world to hear, “ Eureka I" And lectures that will be reported and flashed by the electric spark all over the world are at once given, and manifestoes sent forth which are sent, day after day, to the ends of the civilised world, and the most gigantic free advertising indu'ged in for stuff not any more beneficial, and certainly not so harmless, as the veriest quack nostrum. Lawyers mns’nt advertise in newspapers, and they never—hardly ever—ask a client for a job. Their method of advertising, when they do descend to It, is strictly on as free a ticket as the doctors’. A little scene in court, some impertinent remarks to a magistrate, or judge, downright rudeness, and sometimes what might be termed blackguardly treatment of an unfortunate witness—these are the methods of getting cheap advertising resorted to by some lawyers. The reported anxious for "copy" feels like a digger on a gold bearing leader when the scene io being got up, and falls delightedly into the trap laid for him. The unenlightened public say, ■■ What a cute lawyer Mr So and so is! My word, he frightens the judges and the juries and the witnesses, you 1 bet—ho don't care a darn for anyone I" Aid the scene god the paragraph have done their werit,