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Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1081, 1 May 1882, Page 2

It is announced that Mr T. S. Weston will address the electbrsln Rater's Hall, on Thursday evening next. We(Wanganui Chronicle) are glad to be able to state that Mrs Basdn (who was recently stabbed by her husband) is making satisfactory progress towards recovery her medical attendant Dr Tripe, having expressed the opinion that she is now out of danger. As a consequence she is being allowed a more liberal diet, and doubtless her restoration to health will be all the more rapid on that account. The Tarahaki Herald says :— An aged, sickly, and decrepid Maori woman was burned to a cinder at Awahuri. It appears that the unfortunate creature, who had been ailing for some time, was left alone in her whare, and it is supposed that in lighting her pipe a spark ignited the bed covering, resulting in the destruction ni the hut, and the burning of the poor old creature to a cinder. Says a Southern contemporary — The Oamaru people are amibitions. They are actually going in for a two-mile tramway. It will be a one-horbe affiur, With a twomile tram and something of a breakwater, Oamaru will be heard of in the world. The Westport CoaJ Company's Mine

Manager, tho lowering contractors, and the shipping agents, says the Times, are to be congratulated upon the very noticeable increase in the coal export during the past few months. Colliers are now filled up and despatched with a celerity that reflects the highest credit upon all concerned. The delay in loading, which used to be so annoying in the past, is happily a by-gone experience, and the hope is that it will remain so. The coal Bhipped this week will amount to 1400 tons. It is understood that the Company will open up their Granity Creek property shortly and the Koranui Company will be, sending down coal immediately. The facts indicated should guarantee some important works for the improvement of the bar being taken in hand in the course of a few months. A short time since the ship Phasis, which arrived at Lyttelton; from Calcutta, brought a boat's crew— the captain, second officer, and ten men who had belonged to a Dutch ship named the Alblasserwaarrd, which took fire, and they had been compelled to abandon her having been subsequently rescued by the Phasis. From their report the other boat's crew had not bejn heard from but a Montrose (Scotland) for Batavia, was abandoned on fire November 21st, in latitude 35. 5 N., 30 E. Part of the crew saved by the U.S. barque Caprera, and afterwards landed here by the British ship Titania. Eleven of crew are known to be saved. Nothing known of remainder — captain, second officer, and ten men." No lives were therefore lost. The Ashburton Guardian has the following : — The case of J. M. Shepherd the levanting storekeeper of Timaru, will not soon be forgotten in that town. In connection with the affair, a good story has reached our ears through a private channel. Shepherd had a bosom companion employed in a certain Government office in Timaru, where the hours are longer than the pay, and this "guide, philosopher,' and friend " of the erratic storekeeper's received several substantial proofs of his regard 'while they,, lived in Timaru together. But when Shepherd went up to Christchurch to have . that surgical operation, performed, and never canto back, then came the tug of war for the faithful companion, who was sternly requested by the trustees in the estate to " ante up " the money and valuables bes--1 towed upon him by the generous but not too conscientious vendor of groceries. " From information they received," those trustees learned that Shepherd, ere he bid good-bye to Timaru had donated his friend with over £100 in each, to say nothing about a gold watch and chain and other trinkets. The recipient of the gifts was requested to attend a meeting of the creditors, and promised to do so, but instead of doing thjd, he : followed Shepherd's example, andfcugzled. ,- Where he has gone is hot certaißlgSUfcby those who i ought to know sotfmnßppbout It, he|s supposed to have gone to share the exile of his friend in San Francisco. The New Zealand Herald says :— The classification of the operators of the Telegraph Department now being carried out, was attempted previous to the operators' strike, but abandoned owing to the opposition of the Southern officers. It was proposed to clasa them A, B, and C. In grade A officers were to get 10s per week extra ; in grade B, 7s 6d ; and in grade G a proportionately diminished amount, when working eight hours per diem. The officers looked with disfavor on the Bcheme as an insidious attempt to make the eight hours' system the standard of the department. It is not quite clear that the operators took much by their motion in rejecting the proposed scheme. As a matter of practical experience it is found that six hours, on the average, is as much as can be done and get good reliable work out of the men. The operators, after undergoing the present examination in electricity, are also to be tested as to dexterity in transmitting and receiving messages, and their order of merit in this respect will also be an element in determining their grades. Speaking at Auckland the other day, Mr Bryce said he would be prepared to advise his colleagues next session, that a Native Minister was no longer a necessity in New Zealand. According to the Auckland Star the monotony of the Karangahape ratepayers' meeting the other night was relieved by an atrocious pun which might well have secured for its perpetrator an excellent supply of eggs in single instalments had it been produced under more favorable circumstances. It had been decided to take a poll of ratepayers to decide whether the district should be joined to the city or formed into a separate borough, and the meeting was engaged in nominating gentlemen to act as scrutineers, when a ratepayer rose, and proposed Mr Gray as one, remarking at the same time that " he was a barber, and was accustomed to going over the poll." An agonised yell burst from that portion of the audience who were not Scotchmen, but their thirst for vengeance was appeased when they observed that the would-be punster was a well-known undertaker. His melancholy frame of mind was forgiven.