Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on tHe West Coast. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 8, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 241, 8 September 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on tHe West Coast. MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 8, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The flood has caused great devastation at the side of Warwick-street bridge, which was washed away. A 'large portion of the embarlcments on both sides are gone, as well as a part of the potee.tive work's. The building of a now bridge (says the Star) [and making the banks good again will be a big "and costly job. . The settlors of ' Makinb have given another evidence of their energy and enterprise by starting a Public Library. They have subscribed a good Bum of money for the purchase of books, to which.is added regular annual subscriptions. There are already about 100 volumes on hand, and a large number of subscribers oh the list. . Messrs P. and J. Bartholomew shipped last. week 15,000 feet of timber per Stormbird, from Wanganui to Wellington. ■ ■•,'•' That His Excellency is m sore straits (says the Parliamentary correspondent at the Napier Telegraph) may be judged from the fact that. on Saturday he telegraphed to the Governor of Victoria aud New South Wales for advice, and during the day received and despatched telegrams. The Wanganui School Committee have repolved that teachers bo instructed- that so long as children are sent clean, boots, or the want of them will be no objection. Out of six members of the same Committee four were against flogging at all, one would only ttog m exceptional cases, while the sixth took a ditforent view of the matter, and said he did not think there was any too much flogging for colonial boys. Notwithstanding bad times, Hastings section maintained' good value. At Mr M. R. Miller's sale seven-quarter acre sections, purchased originally for £120, realised at auction £340. The Telephone has the following memo, written by our Poet Laureate on seeing the Costly monument ".—Down m this laud lies Costley's dust ; above, the Btgpid work of Costely's trust. The natives attribute the heavy flooding of the country between Eketahuna and Woodville to a waterspout ; but the rain was too general to admit of this supposition. Our Woodville readers will scarcely credit it, bat a Danivirke geutlemau who has been on a visit' to Napier informs us (Examiner) that the weather there had been delightful of late, and m fact equal to the fiuest summer weather. The Woodville Dairy Factory is likely to be an accomplished fact after all. At a recent meeting of directors it was resolved to write to Mr Tanner asking him to guarantee a curtain amount on bills, to enable farmers who could not well afford it to purchase cows, bills to extend over six months, a local gentteman having already offered to do a Bimilar thing. At the London wool sales on Tuesday 9300 bales were catalogued, and a firm tone prevailed. Sydney fleece wools are now irregular. Up to date 13,250 bales have been withdrawn from sale out of 225,000 catalogued. Draught horses were m great demand at Auckland last week. A five-year-old gelding brought at Buckland's sale £52 10s, and two four-year-olds £45 10s each. .. ... . We learn th^at the principaljprizes m Vulcon'B sweep went to the following places: —The first to Wanganui, and the second aud'third to Wellington, one company there holding two books taking, the second prise and four Others. The winner of the third prize also got two starters out of five tickets. In the sweep Qn the Wellington Cup, the second prize wept to Waverley. A cable message. has been received m Auckland announcing the publication m Loudon, on the 20th ult., of the first issue of Mr G. M. Reed's new paper, "The Anglo New Zealander and Australian Times." It will, of course, be [ some wcnks yet before copies reach colonial subscribers or advertisers. The Sydney Evening News m its issue of the 23rd ultimo congratulates this colony, on having escaped" the catastrophe " of ".another long reign of Yogel, with the inevitable squandering of borrowed millions," and having " now settled dowu to work out its destinies under the less glittering, but more substantial rule of Major Atkinson." The Brooklyn bridge has the largest span and is enflsidered the largest bridge m thd world. But the Yankees will soon be obliged to yield the palm of having the biggest bridge to another country. There is now building over the Firth of Forth, m Scotland, a bridge of two spans, each of which is as long as the Brooklyn bridge. This is the greatest bridge ever designed anywhere. An allusion to the political crisis was made m the course of a prayer offered up m Wesley Church Wellington by the Rev. W. Bauinber. The preacher expressed a hope that members of Parliament would not seek personal ends m the present state of political affairs, but would sink party differences and unite for the general good of the people.

The British Association will hold their next meeting m Aberdeen. They have been invifed to make an early visit to Melbourne, A very peculiar action is about to be hrough m Victoria. A girl named Plummer was seduced by a rich farmer, and gave birth to a child, which she subsequently murdered, for which crime she was tried, convicted, sentenced, and reprieved. Now she is about to bring •vi action for damages against her ■seducer, and subscriptions of between Is and 5s are being collected to raise the sum (about £50) necessary to enable her to do this. The Taranaki Herald says that history has repeated itself after a lapse of thirty years. On Thursday, Auguat 29th, 1854, a Ministry, consisting of Messrs T. Forsaith, E. J. Wakefield, Travcrs, and Macandrew were sworn m and gazetted ; on the Friday they W9re defeated, and next day tendered their resignation. On Thursday, August 28th, 1884, the Atkin-son-Wakefield-Hursthouse Ministry were sworn m, and gazetted— on Friday they were defeated, and to-day we suppose they will teuder their resignations. It is curious — that the name of Mr Wakefield figures m both Governments — and that the life of the Ministries should have been exactly of the same duration. A bullock belonging to Mr Carlilo performed an extraordinary feat on Wednesday. H(s was washed all the way from Mr Carlile's farm through the Gorge to the Lower FFerryy y a distance of some seven miles, where he got ashore. He then started to return borne, (says the Examiner) and cleared everthing before him on the Gorge road on his way back. How he escaped being knocked to pieces on the rocks is marvellous. In the face of the heavy loss sustained by Mr McKenzie by the flood m the Maiiawatu River, we (Examiner) hear that it is his intention to abandou the contract. Mr McKenzie must be a heavy loser, some £800 or £900 worth of dressed totara timber for the bridgo work having been swept away. The pneumatic machinery and engine used m making the piers were all under water, and the engine shed thrown down at one end. Mr McKenzie's trap was also carried off, and a now pneumatic box for sinking the piers was carried away.' It is impossible as yet to ascertain the actual financial loss Mr McKenzie has suffered, but it must be very heavy. A correspondent gives us the following particulars of . the floods m the Seventy-mile Bush: — "McKenzie's losses at the Upper Manawatu bridge are said to be £1000. About 100,000 feet of totara timber have been washed away. , The Gorge road is full of slips, and more are expected to come down shortly. A great many cattlo have been loe>t m; Woodville. One man saw a mob of 30 being washed down the stream, all drowned. At the annual meeting of .the Wellington Meat Export Company, Mr G. Beetham, M.U.R., gave some valuable hints as to the situation of the frozen meat trade. Having recently returned from England, he did not think they were justified m expecting that the low prices would continue. He attributed them to the fact that the last winter had been exceptionally mild all over Great Britain, the stacks of hay and fodder being hardly touched, as the grass was growing throughout the winter. The album of the Bank of England m which specimens of counterfeits are preserved has three notes which passed through the Chicago fire. Though they are burnt to a cru'p black ash the paper is scarcely broker., and the engraviug is as clear as now. . Our readers will wonder how blind people can play cricket, yet a late English paper says a very interesting match took place recently at the Blind College, m Worcester, England, under the title of Oxford aud Cambridge.. Cambridge eventually won by one wicket on the first innings, as time would not permit two innings to be played out. Constable, for Cambridge, took eight wickets at a cost of only 15 runs. The game is played with a wickerwork ball which contains a bell, so that the batsmen and fielders are guided by the sound, while the wicket-keeper claps his hands to intimate to the bowler where the wickets are. The blind are only able to play single wicket matches, on account of the collisions that . might occur m the case of a run. The blind boys are passiouately fond of the game, and take quite as much interest m it as those who are blessed, with- sight."*