NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 91, 24 November 1880, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

Cricket. — We understand the annual match between the Palmerston and Foxton Cricket Clubs will take place on next Tuesday (St. Andrew's Day) on the ground of the former, the last match having been played at Foxton. The names of the player* m both teams will appear m our next. The Manawatu County Council. — The annual meeting of the Manawatu Council, for the purpose of electing a Chairman for the ensuing year, takes place to-day, at the Council Chambers, Foxton. There has not been even the rustle of a rumor as to an opposition candidate being brought forward against the re-election of Councillor Macarthur, who has so ably presided during the past year. The Manawatu Highways Board, — The usual monthly meeting of the Manawatu Highway Board will be held to-morrow, and it is more than probable that it will be the last meeting held, as the Board is at present constituted. The new Boards of Foxton and Carnarvon have been gazetted, and at to-morrow's meeting no doubt arrangements will be made for the election of Wardens to the new Manawatu Highway District. Horse Play.— The danger of rough or horse play, was exemplified on Friday night, when a little fellow, a son of Mr. Meyrick, met with a nasty accident through being kicked m the eye by a companion. The boys were tricking m the grass, and while rolling over each other, the heel of his playmate's boot itruck him m the eye ripping up the skin. The little sufferer was brought to Mr Leary who doctored it up, but still it will be some time before the effects are likely to disappear. Off for the Plains.— The Palmer, ston Cricket Club has sustained a severe loss m the departure of Messrs. Thompson and Benson, who on Monday morning took their departure m order to survey the Parihaka Block. As the work, is attended with considerable risk, the Gk>« vernment called for volunteers for the work, and a ready response came from Messrs. Sicely, Thompson, and Annabell. The many friends of both gentlemen will wish them a good long innings, and hope, that they will neither be stumped nor bowled over by their Maori antagonists. Information Wanted.— f A contractor writes to u« lo fay that he was m« formed by one of the Campbellton School Committet that tenders have been calltd for the erection of the school-house m that township, although the cornmitteman could not inform him m what journal the advertisement had been inserted. Our cor* respondent further writes that he had looked carefully through both the Foxton and Palmerston papers — the two m which above &\l others it should appear — and wm unable to find anything of it. He atserts, and we|certainly agree with him, that if it were published, at th,e other end of the Coast, a very great injustice, has been done 10 the local contractors. The Murder of Moffatt,— Since the outrage at luhua, there is not a paper published which has not some sensational story about either Moffatt or his wife. 0-ne journal says that Mrs. Moffatt is tha belle of her race, and considered the most handsome Maori woman on the West Coast. There is no doubt Emily is a fine-looking young woman, but without intending to, be ungallant to the lady, we must say we think the picture somewhat overdrawn. It is asserted that the murdered man was a very near relation of Dr. Moffatt, the celebrated missionary. Eumor has it that the Natives of Awapuni have petitioned the Government to supply them with arms and ammunition m order that they might visit Tuhua, and avenge the slaughter of Moffatt, who was one of their tribe. A Rush for the Reef.— There were all sorts of rumors floating about on Mon« day us to the results of the assay made by Mr. Skfv of ihe pane 1 of. stone forwarded to him by Mr. Den rda, the result of analysis on which', it was reported, had been received on SSaturdnv. The most ridiculous stories were abroad as to the yield, the proceeds ranging from five pennyweights to ten ounces to the ton, and t lie public were left to take either esti'u.tiii!, both, or. anything they liked between. Be the result,, however, what it may, a regular rush to the reef took place, a number starting away on Sunday, while otliprs followed at. tvvo o'clock on Monday morning, the number being added to every dv.v ijnee. ' We hear that Mr, Gillett, m renpany. wit.h Mr. John Reidi started yesterda«-, 'but. the. sa.fno. of their, operations will be altogether a different one from, that already prospected, and located m a piece of ground over, which l;e has travelled before. [Since the above was m type, we lea'-n that Mr. Skey's assay resulted^ m 9 dwt. 13 drachms.] Fresh Slaughter on the Line. We regret to have to chronicle the destruction of a very valuable trap horse, belonging to Mr. Greorge Richardson, of Kavere. It appears that Mr. Richardson called at a friend's house for a moment, leaving his horse hitched up outside. Neither lie nor Mr. Mafhieson, to whom he was speaking, heard the approaching train ; but it appears the animal did, and breaking loose, got rufa down by the engine. Mr. Richardson has been singularly unfortunate m the number and amount of his losses by similar accidents, and certainly when the value of the various animals slaughtered m the 9a me way is taken into consideration, the line has been a very high tax upon him, and proved anything but a boon. In Victoria every solitury mile of line m the colony is- fenced in— no matter though it runs through the most unsettled portion — and certainly we fail to see why the same should not be carried out m this colony. The wonder to us has been that accidents have not been of more frequent occurrence, and Mr. Richardson may be thankful he was not on the animal, as he might have been when, it met with its end. TakQn E>oWn a Peg.— Mr. Michael Rooney, "the 'gentleman whom we introduced to our readers m our last issue, as the Bacchanalian Swashbuckler,' bin coma to grief, and his pugilistic pe.rigrination.9 have, been interrupted for the space, of- one ca» lendnr month. When. Michael heard that Constable Grillespie had returned to Palmer.' ston, he very wisely argued that the town wa9 too hot to hold both of them, so shaking the dust from his shoes, he headed for Foxton. After coming so far, however, to make his acquaintance, the Constable^ declined to accept such a reception, and hiring a vehicle, proceeded m pursuit of the fleeing belligerent. The day was bofc, and no doubt worn out by hie previous orgies, the

fugitive turned into tbe bush to pay homage at the shrine of Morpheus, where calmly reposing, sub ttgmine fagi, ho wai discovered bj his pursuer, his siesta rudely interrupted, to be renewed, however, m the Palmerston lockup. On Saturday he interviewed hii Worship the Mayor, and Mr. Warburton, JT.F., and as his only excuse for his riotous conduct was that he was "a little on," the Bench very wisely came to the decision it was about time ha " was a good way off," and despatched him to Wanganui Q-aol for the space of on» calendar month, Sale of the Bainesse Estate.— Thoie who are m search of small farms will be interested m an advertisement m another column of tbe sale of the well-fenown Bainesse Estate, on Monday, December 6th, whioh has been subdivided into small farms ranging from 100 to 500 acre*. Tbe quality of the land is far-famed, and is known to carry an extraordinary number of stock, the soil being drained swamp land, and all laid down m English grass. The main feature is its proximity to the Foxton-Wanganui Railway, the Bainesse Railway Station being situated within a few yards of the homestead, The property has an unbroken frontage to the line, and is distant only about eight miles from Foxton. To assure purchasers that, the vendors will make no bid, directly or indirectly, the auctioneers, Messrs. Kennedy, Macdonald, &. Co., of Wellington, announce that the properties will be put up at upset price, particulars of which appear m another column. Purchaser* who are unable to attend the sale, will be able to have their wishes carried into effect by communicating with the auctioneers, and full particulars ,will be obtained from lithographed plan 3, to be issued m a few days. The Very Latest from the Goldfield. — In our last issue we mentignad that Harry Goodisson was expected m on Saturday with a quantity of stjne fram the supposed auriferous reef which h« had discovered m Fitzherbtrt. The stuff, about three hundredweight, was brought m Jen night and placed m safe keeping until Momday morning, when about twenty of the principal residents of tha town assembltd at Mr. Waldegrave's office, to inspect the stone, and take some steps for having it properly crushed and tested. After some little discussion, it was resolved that tht quartz should bt handed over intact to the Bank of New Zealand, and by it forwarded to the Thames to be retorted. The prospectors brought m two lots, taken from different places, and these were num> bared 1 and 2 respectively, and it is decided to keep^the rcuslts of each crushing separata. W« 'confess tht samples which wara submitted for inspection on Monday were vary unlike any gold-bearing quartz which we have hitherto seen, still there ara a few practical man who inspected them who hold a vary different •pinion. The public are to be congratulated upon tha prudent and sensible course whiah 1: a> > . been taken, which is not only the most safe, but the most expeditious mode of arriving a.l thj value or worthlessness of the discovery. Such is Life.— An Auckland paper says: — Mr. James Pembsrton, the winner of the first prize m Abbott's £5000 sweep on the Melbourne Cup, 13 a gum digger at Whangarai. He spent his last £5 m tickets and then bartered the. winning number to Mr. D,avis of the Eamo Hotel for two drinks. Whether Mr. Davis intends to stick to it has not as yet transpired. The Baroness Burdett-XJoutts. — All the efforts that have been made to induce Lady Burdett-Ooutts to re-consider her matrimonial intentions, have proved unavailing. Her Majesty and the Archbishop ojj panterburj have both written to, her on the subject Negotiations are still going on respecting the suggested modifications m the will of the late Duchess of St. Albans, m order that the fair bride may retain her . share, m the Cocits' Bank, and her resi* dences m Statton-«tree,t and Highgate during her lifetime, but as yet nothing ha,s. been settled! - Billiards. Extraordinary, — The 'Sportsman' records what Joji.n Roberts, junior, considers his. greatest achievement with the. cue. At his rooms at Brighton he played a match of 2,000 u.o with his father, giving the latter half the points as a start. Roberts, junior, was m wonderfuj. form, as will be seen $,v' the following items m his score: — 411 (134. consecutive, spots), 27,4 (85 spots), 903 (inclusive of 284 spot hazards), 151 and 263 (173 spots. Roberts, junior, took up the cue but ten times, thus giving an average of 2CO for each break. While the son was scoring his 2,00.6 his father only put together 240. The game was concluded m the remarkable time of two hours and five minutes. Not a Lord of Creation.— A London firm summoned one of their clerks for embezzling the sum of £4 15s lid, which he had been sent to collect. The prisoner was a tall respectable young man, 21 years of age. He admitted the charge, but stated m defence that his wages were only 5s pei week, and that out of this he paid 3s 6d per week for permission to sleep at a coffeehouse m Bethnal Green, which left him for all other purposes Is Gd per week. He was often without food, and was at the time receiving medical attendance. He had tried m vain to borrow 2s to keep himself from' starving, t should like to know the secret by which a young man, who has rot done growing, pays butcher, baker, tailor, grocer, doctor, and washerwoman upon Is 6d per week, and keep aa appearance decent enough for a city office. ! This gay, beautiful, rich, mysterious, hungry London puzzles me more, and more. " * A Railway Train Lost. — This curious casualty has actually happened m the United States to the Kansas Pacific Railway, which hsfl spent" 25GOdols m searching for tb,e. runaway, and "has at lait given it up m despair! About 400 miles west of Kansas city*, the lirw rum threugh a place called Monotony, which was vis.ited some time ago by a terrible stor,m and waterspout, over 600 feet of track having been washed away. The adjacent neighbourhood, which consists of huge rolling prairie, was eight fee ||under water, a.nd it is conjectured that the locomotive and waggons (it luckily not being a passenger train) were carried away and buried under a land - slip. This is the second time of such an occurrence, an engine having been lost m a quicksand at Kiown Creek m 1878. A Cardinal m the House of Lords. — The spectacle of a Roman Catholic Cardinal sitting m the Briti-h House of Lords will be witnessed before many years. It seems that the heir- apparent to the title and estate of the Petre peerage is a Aqman Catholic priest upon whom the Pope' lVas recently conferred the title of Mqnsigriora/ ' The rev, gentleman has already renounced his claim to the estates, but of course he caunot. dispose of the title m the sarnie way, and when the present peer dies the Monsignore will succeed to his seat m the House of Lords (of course^ if he should survive him)j and heyond doiibt vtill receive, the." Cardinal's hat' from the Pope. A relation of the Monsignore 'is at 'present m Dunedin practising as an architect, andi one of the most rising young men m the profeision. " " ~

Using the Vernacular. — When (writes "^SEgles") the Acting-Governor of Tasmania, Sir Francis Smith, journeyed overland to Sjdnay hence, he was not so. ceremoniously . treated m the matter of special conveyance as some of our other visitors with more distinguished patronymics. (After all, there is not much to choose between Smith and Mobinson.). Havingr reached Wodonga by rail, Sir Francis occupied the box seat of the public vehicle whioh conveys the, railway passengers over the. border, Lady S.. travelling in*, side.'- It occurred to Sir Francis that % buggy or- some other vehicle more, comfort-, able than the coach might be.obtained to, take him on to the terminus on the New; South Wales side. ; So, 'addressing the'oldfashioned driver, he said, " Do : you think that I could find a trap over here ?" .Then jinto him replied Jehu, with -some scorn,. "Why, didn't • yer see t^o of the beggar*, Qn the bridge ju.sfc now ?" (\Fdr the en^ lightenment of the* uqinitjiated, we add'that m Victorian phraseology,' <f trap '"• is the vernacular for " bphby,,"]