LOCAL AND GENERAL

Kossutl), the great Hungarian patriot, is passing his old age m the bitterness of poverty. He is eighty-four years olil, feeble aucl sad hearted, and may not long remain unclaimed of death, The fastest vessel afloat is said to he the 3200-ton English builtwar-ship intended for Uio Argentine Government; she made 21 '2 knots* ander ordinary draft, and 224 knots with forced draft. "I regret extremely," said a Japanese student m Boston, "that the veptnen of Japan bsgin to copy the English and American style of dress. They have nqt> $c right kind of waist for it." () ■/. -! Messrs Wright, Stephenson, andjCo., of Dnnedin, have Bold Bey Ohau Station,'in/ the Mackenzie, country, comprising 54,700 acres leasehold and 17,000 sheep, etc., for £7700 to Mr James H. Preston, Haldon Station. i An eitertainment m aid of the funds for the restoration of the Rakaia parsonage and Methvon Church is to be held m the school room, Methven, next Friday. Sereral'well known performers from Ashburton and Rakaia have promised their assistance, and a very good programme may be looked for. The largest and heaviest building stone ever quarried m England was taken from the| Plankington quarry, near Norwich, m February, 1889. It was m one piece, with. • .it cr.ick or flaw, and weighed over thirty five tons. It measured 15 feet long, 6 fett high, and five feet wide. , Among Congo negroes when a man wishes a wife he secures one and keeps her on probation a year. If her temper and de portment are satisfactory,he, at the end of the year, formally marries her. But should she prove anincumbrance, he sends her back to the parental roof. A German left his wife m the old country. f( urteen years ago, Battled m Whitewater, Wis., and married again. About six weeks ago his deserted wife dreamed of his location, came over and went direct to the town, the street, and the house, and her old man now sits m gaol and wonders about the magnetism, of the female intellect. / Some idea of the fecundity of rabbits may be gathered from the fact that on a property m South Otago this season no less than 132,752 bunnies were destroyed m the past nine months, and the slaughter has. 