Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 260, 30 September 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1884. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr Thomas Bracken, formerly M.H R. for Dunedin, is lecturing m Wellington. Ho has beeu well received m other parts of the colony. Mr Bryce's offigy was burnt m Wanganui on Saturday night. There has probably beeu more burning iv effigy during the last few months than has ever occurred before m New Zealand iv the same period. If this is going to be a sort of national mode of the people of this colony giving vent to their indignation, we cannot say that we much admire it. There are many more dignified ways of people expressing their disapproval of the actions of public men Hum by resorting to eiligy burning. The Government of Victoria has offered a prize of £250 for the best improved reaping and harvesting machine m time for trial at the next harvest. The first sale of ostrich feathers that had been grown m South Australia . was held recently. There was a laige attendance, and the bidding was' brisk. : The. highest price realised was 14s 6d each, the average being 9s. t Mr McKeuzie, the contractor for tho brjdge pver the Manawatu rivei, has made a fresh start with the work although it must be very uphill work after such Severe losses. Some of the limber washed away has been recovered along the banks of the river. The cheese from the Paterangi Factory, made on the Ohedda principle, i& fetching higher prices by nearly Id per lb than that sold from other factories. The famous steeplechaser, Loch Lomond, had to be shot on Mouday last at the stables, owing to continued illness. He was the property of William Douglas, of Hawke's Bay. Loch Lonioud was the winner of several races, aud was a very fine hurdle racer. At a meeting of the Ashburton Cheese Factory Company, held on August 29, it was resolved to pay 3d per gallon of 101 b for milk supplied during the ensuing season, also to co-operate with other factories to obtain a reduction of freight to London on cheese shipped. Should this concession be obtained.the farmers would i derive the benefit m a higher; price paid to them for their milk. > -In our obituary column,(says the Post) it will be seen that another old settler has passed away. . We allude to Mrs Cheesman, relict of the late Robt; S. Cheesman, who up to his death, which took place a few years ago, practised m this city as a solicitor. The deceased lady arrived m Wellington m the ship London on the Ist May, 1842, and has resided here ever since. We learn that she has been an invalid for many years past. She had reached the ripe age of 85 years. - An exchange says Mr K. Fraser's racehorse, Orphan — the winner of the Derby at last year's Invercargill races—met with his death m a, peculiar manner a few days ago. A bull is kept m the paddock m which the stable is situated, and the lower half of the- door of the loose box m which the horse was aocomodatcd. was left open.- The bull entered the box through this open portion of the door, and gored tho horse so severely, that it ..died, a day or two afterwards. Another horse was m the box at the time, but it made its escape through the door before ifcrebe.ived &hy injury.' The Washington correspondent of the New York Sun- writes under date June 14:— ".-Ml de.Lessepshas found his attempt to build a canal across Panama exposed to to the most serious danger of failure. The work already done, costly as it is, has been to a groat extent swept away and destroyed by the spring freshets. In his despair of re-making that line he has turned his attention to the route through. Nicaragua, Guatomnla, and Costa Rica. Under the patronage of the French Government he has opened negotiations for the concession to him of -the right to build a canal there, the idea being to abandon the Isthmus of Panama altogether." A few days' ago a Canterbury Vogelite called on his political chief, but found he was not at home. " What time dors Sir Julius usually dine?" he inquired. " About three hours, sir," was the landlady's prompt reply. Mr Maurice Weston, of Longford, Tasmania, is a large sheepowner, and a staunch advocate of teetotalism: He recently sent a number of sheep to Melbourne for sale, arid announced that he intended devoting all the proceeds to the establishment of coffee palaces m Tasmania. The natives of the East. Coast are becoming alive to the advantages of a sound English education for their children. We notice from a report sent to the Native Office by Mr Booth R.M., the Native officer for the Gisborne districts, tbnt at a school at Waioraatatini, of which Major Ropata is the special puperintendent, being chairman of the School Committee, the absence of any of the pupils is quite a rare occurrence. On one of his visits Mr Booth asked the reason of this exceptional regularity, and was informed that the Committee had made a regulation, which was rigidly enforced, by which the parents of absentee children .were fined 10s for the first absence, £1 for the second, and so on. Tho schoolmaster said the rule worked admirably. This is working the compulsory clause m a more stringent manner than Europeans would care fpr. The Chinese were the first inventors of printing, the first inventors of gunpowder, and the magnetic needle. They were the first to hatch eggs artificially*; the first to have chain pumps and artesian wells. Their great wall and great canal were made m the remote ages of the past. Their penal code is two thousand years old, and their Civil Service examinations, which we are just loaming to imitnto, they havo had for the last two thousand years. Whon our barbarian forefathers were wandering about the northern coasts of Europe, ignorant of letters or of any of the fine arts, the literary Chinaman, dressed m silks and satins, was lounging on his sofa and drinking tea from painted porcelain oups.

Til : cler;;y m th« West of Mngland was formerly devoted lo whist. About the lioginiiini; of Iho century there was a whist club m the country town of Somersetshire, comprised mostly of clergymen, who met. every Sunday eve uiug m the back parlour of the barber's. Four of these were acting aa t pall-bearer* at the- funeral of a reverend brother, wheu a delay occurred through tiie grave not being ready, ami the coffin was put down m the chancel. By thway of whiliug away their time one o) them produced a pack of cards from hispocket and proposed a rubber. Wheu the sextou camo to announce tho preparations were complete, ho found the clerical worthies deep m their game, usiug the coffin as their table. We hope the sexton surprised them a9 much as another sexton did a curate at his first funeral; when he walked up to him with the appalling announcement, " Please, sir, the corpse's father wishes to speak to you. Tho Kyneton Observer (Victoria) states that Mr William Brereton hns made over to the Salvation Army his Malmsbury fai/n, containing 156 acres, on which are two valuable quarries, and through which the Iroustoue lead is believed to pass. The farm is valued at L2O per acre, so that the value of the douation amounts to a little more than L3OO. On Saturday morning " Major" Barker and " Lieutenant " Downos drove out to Malmsbury, and visited the now addition to the property of the annj\ California, according to all accounts, must be a veritable paradise for spinisters. It is asserted that ladies are so scarce m Modoc County that one Pennr sylvanian maiden of eighty-four summers, and nobody knows how many winters, recently received no less than sixteen offers of marriage, with no cud of inducements, during one day's stay m the place. Surely English girls would be overhelmed with advantageous offers were they to visit that spot. If a spinister of eighty- four received sixteen proposals, belle of twenty would certuiuly get at least, six hundred from Calif ornians who are huug^rihg for helpmates. Say 8 a Southern paper :— The Austra,lians are evidently rapidly catching up to the Americans m humourous advertising. Just vow they are making tho most of the. Maori Kiuj's visit to the. Old Country to indulge m a little bauter. A Sydney paper notified that iv its next issue would appear a sketch of Tawhiao's first interview with Queen Victoria. The interview did uot- come off, but an imaginary illustration of it did, and m it liis Majesty, m half-Maori, half-Higland custume, is made to appear as if tryiug to rub uoses with Her Majesty, who is m the robes of State. " Haere' mai ! Kapai 1" saith the King, and, pointing to his face with its tattooing adds, "Me big rangatira." Her Majesty is made to reply that she will be delighted to give him an audience wheu he has washed his face and donned a swallow-tail aud certain other garments which • are generally called pants.