LOOAL AND GENERAL NEWS. Woodyear's Circus opened in this torn, last even. ing, to a very fair audience. The " pit" was packed, and the higher circles were also well represented. Horse-riding, jeggling with plates, glasses of water, to., were freely indiiged in, and solns graceful trapeze-performances were much admired. But the chief feature of the performance was the really excellent feate of Japanese athletes, whose skill end prowess were well-nigh beyond praise. The company, who are well worthy of a visit, pe form again tonight. Two accidents are reported as having occurred on the afternoon of the 5th instant, the subjects of which are now in the local Hospital. Ferdinand Neuman, a sawyer, employed at the Dundas Saw mills, Northbrook, badly lacerated three fingers of the left hand, by allowing them to come in contact with some of the machinery, and a portion of them had to be amputated. Michael Kelly, a recent arrival, lost the second and third fingers of the left hand while working at a chaff-cutter, at Mr. Sealy's farm, Harrisville. Both patients are doing well. A Harvest Festival takes place at St. Thomas's Church, North Ipswich, this evenuig. We intimated a short time ago that an examina tion was conducted at the School of Arts in this town, under the superintendenue of Mr. P. O'Sullivan and Mr. D. Cameron, head master of our local GrammarSchool, in connection with Ormond College, which is affiliated with the Melbourne University. Mr. E. J. Sydes and Mr. A. W. Hargreaves were the two young gentlemen who submitted themselves to the crucial test, on the occasion, and we now hear that they have acquitted themselves most creditably. In addition to the usual academic honoura, a further inducement in the form of a scholarship of the value of £50 was held out to the most successful candidate, and we are gratified to learn that Mr. Sydes has distinguished himself in winning this valuable trophy -if we may so term it-vanquishing, in the compet'. tion for it, a considerable number of other students. Mr. Hargreaves had, we understand, to take part in an engineering examination, as wellas the usual arts course, and the fact that, under these circumstances, he sooceeded in gaining second class honours is an achievementof which he has just reason to feel proud, Both gentlemen areex-pupils of the Ipswich Grammar School; and we congratulate them upon their one ess, hoping that atill higher honours await them in the future. Concertes and entertainments are coming thick upon ns. Two are announced in this morning's issue vis., the. Half holiday Association's, on the 5th of May next; and the Fire Brigade's musical and literary melange, on Monday next. Mr. Chubb pro vides a prologue for the former. The latter will be heralded :by a torch.light procession, and further particulars regarding it are promised for Saturday's issue. About twenty minutes past 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning last, the alarm of "fire" was raised in Ipswich. The night-watchman who patrols near the intersection of Brisbane and Nicholas Streets ran down to the residence of Assistant-Superintendent Harvey, of the Fire Brigade, and awoke him. This was a very desirable course to pursue in such a case, and it is one that Mr. Harvey has before requested night-watchman to follow, but without avail till the present instance. That officer had a reel out of the brigade shed, and was on his way to the fire before the bell was rung. The burning building was a wooden house in the eastern Suburbs, situated im-mediately beyond and in front of Mr. George Bashford's residence. It was the property of Mr. James England, formerly of Tarampa, and is said to have been last occupied by a Mrs. Phillips, at one time his house-keeper; but though there were a few articles of furniture, &c., in it, the house did not seem to have been inhabited for some time. The Fire Brigade turned out to a man, and a detachment of police, under Senior-Sergeant O'Driscoll, was also present. No attempt could be made to save the building, but no damage was done to any of the adjoining premises. The members of the Brigade, of course, put the fire out as soon as possible, and also remained by till about 6 o'clock in the morning. A very pleasant social gathering took place, last evening, at Rollo's Assembly Booms, North Ipswich, tihe occasion being the making of a presentation to Mr. Thomas Venables, the late manager of the Waterstown Brick and Tile Company, who has just resigned that position. The employees of the com. pany decided to invite Mr. Veuables to a little spread, and to make him a present in token of their appreciation of his conduct while over them, as well as to manifest the good-will they feel towards him. Mr. and Mrs. Rollo prepared a very nice luncheon, to which between fifty and sixty men and boys sat down. Mr. G. K. Moffatt presided, and, after supper, he made the announcement that he had been asked there that evening by the employees to pre seat Mr. Venables with a ring, as a mark of their esteem and of the friendly feeling they bore to wards him ; and it spoke much when he said that every man and boy subscrihed willingly towards the affair. No one felt more friendly towards their guest than he did. As ashareholder in the company he would say that Mr. Venables h td done his duty while manager to the best of his ability, and who could do more? Mr. Moffatt then handed to Mr. Venables a handsome gold ring, bearing the repre sentation of clasped hands. The speaker also wished the recipient and his wife health and prosperity wherever they might be, and expressed a hope that Mr. Venables would not value the gift at its mere intrinsic worth. Mr. Venables thanked the donors for their present, and assured them that, whenever he looked upon the ring, he would think of the Waterstown brick-makner-a better lot of men than whom it would be difficult t3 find. Ipswich and brick-making were only in their infancy ye t. ' ihe town and district were bound togo ahead, having in them such abundant resources. It would take time to develop these, and he hoped that he and many of those present would assistin the process. The health of Mr. Venables was then drunk with musical honours. That gentleman, in turn, proposed "Suc cesn to the Waterstown Brick and file Company." The toasts of "The Ladies," "The Coemmittee," and "The Chairman" followed, and the company soon dispersed, but only for a period of short duration viz., while the hall was being cleared up for a dance, which soon occupied the attention of the guests anud their lady friends. The weather for the past few days has been excep tionally hot and close, and indications of storms were not wanting. Early on Wednesday morning -before daylight-two or three smart showers fell, but there was not enough rain to do much acod. We observe from the obituary column of a Too woomba contemporary that Mr. Hlenry Jubb died in that town, on the 6th instant. at the age of forty-six. Mr. Jubb was well.known in Ipswich, having resided here for some time. le was, if we remember rightly, a sub contractor under Mlessrs. Pto, Breasey, and lietls, during the constrnction hy that firm of the railway to Tl'ouoomba ; and, subsrquently, me acted as inspeetor of works when the railway between Ipe. with and Brisbane was being made. For a time lie was connected with tle Roads Department, and latterly had, we believe, some interest in the branch line to (ow'e Neet

The quarterly meeting of the board of manag? ment of the Ipswich Hospital will be held this after A general meeting of the members of the United Tradesmen Cricket Club, was held at the Council Chamber last night, when there was a fair attend ance. It was resolved that the wind-up of the season should be celebrated by the holding of a fancy dress match, the players to be selected from amongst the members of the club only. It was also decided to communicate with the different mnembers, asking those who wished to take part in the proceedings t, intimate the characters which they would assume. The b ecretary was instructed to request the trosteer of the cricket reserve at North Ipswich, to grant th, use of the rouund on the let of May. In connectios with the proposed match, combined Ipswich v. coat. bined Brinbane, a resolution was passed, that the general committee of the West End Club should be invited to meet that of the Tradesmen on Friday evening next, at W. Andrewe'e,Nicholas-street, and endeavour to make arrangements for carrying out the match at North Ipswich, on the 24th instant. The West End players, we understand, are favour ably inclined towards the game, so that, if the Bris bane men can see their way to send up a team, t good display of cricket may be looked forward to. Some improvements at the works of the Ipswich Gas and Coke Company were referred to in the report presented at the last annual meeting., and, or making an inspection of the works, yesterday, in company of Mr. R. Hoare, the manager, we notice that the alterations are in a forward state. Brick arches have been erected for the two new benches ol retorts, of five each. One of the benches is cosm pleted, and the other is about ready to admit of thi retorts being placed in position. Thirteen rrtoets have recently been imported. They are 2in. wider, Ijin. deeper, and gin. longer than those now in use, ?onl they bear the brand " Hickman, Stourbridge." Fortunately, they all came to hand without breakage. Thie fire-bricks used w·ere front Campbell's (late Fiecher's) pottery and brickworks at the Albion, near Brisbane, and the others came from the yard. of Mr. It. H. Rogers, of this town, who is perform ing the work at the Gas Company's premises. Two new lengths of hydraulic main have been put is position above the new benches. The iron castings, &e., required came from Measrs. S. Shillito & Son's foundry. It will be remembered that a dividend and bonus equal to ]2j per cent. was declared by the company last year; so that, with the knowledge of this gratifying fact, it will be easily understood that matters are progressing satisfactorily at the factory. the by-products are all readily disposed of. What is not sold here goes to Brisbane, the tar having lately been taken by the tramway companies for pavement making, and the coke going into private household nse.

The magic-lantern exhibition previously announced will be given in the Wesleyan eohool-room here this evening. A piece of good luck has just come to two well known West Moreton farmers, Messrs. Michael and William Kerwin, of Redbank Plains, who have disposed of some coal property lying between the Plains and Cooneana. The first-named of them was the owner of portions 274, 275, and 276, containing about 210 acres, whilst his brother owned portion 273, containing between sixty and seventy acres. The property lies between the Six-mile Creek, Cooneana, the New Chum coal-mine, and the old Aberdare mine, and was selected, many years ago, by the late fortunate holders, who used it as grazing paddocks. Some speculators made an arrangement with the Messrs. Kerwin, in November last, to prospect the land, with the option of purchase at a certain figure. Their preliminary researches seem to have been satisfactory, for, on Monday last, they concluded the bargain, paying over about £10,000, or at the rate of £15 an acre. Two seams of coal were disclosed in portion 276, one of them, at a depth of only 10ft., showing 5ft. of clean coal. The other is a small seam, with a 4in. band in it; but the Cooncana seam. it is said, runs through the land at a depth of about 40ft. below that already opened. We congratulate the Messrs. Kerwin on this good for tune, and also the new proprietors on obtaining a property that must yield them a handsome return for their capital if judiciously worked. The second of M. Leon Caron'e grand concerts was given in the School of Arts on Tuesday evening last. Our remarks regarding the first one will apply in almost every respect to this. The public of Ipswich do not, as a body. sufficiently appreciate such grand performances. Nor do all who do attend care enough about good music to abstain from unseemly, if un meant, interruption. The pianoforte recital of Cyril de Valmency was a masterly perfermance, and M. Caron's violin-playing was such as we do not hear every year, any more than we have the opportunity :f listening every day to such vocalists as Miss St. John and Mr. Warwick Gainor. A very pleasant episode in the life of the gentle man most concerned took place, at the Lower Bun daubaStateSchool, on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. T. J. O'Carroll, late assistant.teacher at that school, has lately entered the service of the Queensland National Bank in this town, and he, being so popular with his fellow-workers, the pupils, and the committee of the school, was not allowed to leave without some token of the great respect in which he is held by them. This token took the shape of a very substantial gold Albert and diamond locket, which. in the presence of the full muster of the pupils, the teachers, and Mesers. Colledge and Perrett (of the committee), was handed to Mr. O'Carroll by the secretary (Mr. Colledge), who, in a very neat speech, advised the children to merit similar tokens of respect by walk ing in Mr. O'Carroll's footsteps. He had not the slightest doubt that, if Mr. O'Curroll exercised his ability and energy in his new sphere of labour as he had in the school, he would be the recipient of rapid promotion, with an ultimate grand success. After three cheers for Mr. O'Carroll, three more each for the head teacher, Mr. O'Carroll's successor, and the committee,. a verse of a farewell song was sung, and this very pleasant meeting terminated. The usual quarterly Revision and Registration Court was held, on Tuesday last, at the Police Court, the Police Magistrate presiding. Seven names were received for addition to the Ipswich roll, five for Bundanba, and two for Stanley ; while five names previously registered were placed on the Ipswich electoral list, and the same number on that for Stanley. A Court for the revising of the jury list for this district will be held at the Court-house, Ipswich, to morrow morning. Magistrates residing within forty miles of the town are required to attend. A good little story comes from Brisbane. A late Ipswich resident, now ''keeping shop" in the metropolis, was working somewhat late, one evening, when a couple of revenue officers popped into his " grocery," and, in an off-hand manner, asked for a couple of bottles of poi ter. Our friend. while in another line of business, had come across these men before, and knew their occupation. Instead of in forming them, as he would have done with stranger I civilians, that he was nots bottle grocer, he thought to have a little fun. and so asked " What sort large or small?" Either would do; and, hearing this, the shopkeeper politely informed his would-.? customers that, if they went to the " pub." at the corner, they could get "either," and have it labelled if they desired. They went- away. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's ship Canterbury, from Timaru on the Sth of January, arrived in London, on Saturday, with her cargo of frozen mutton in good condition. At the quarterly licensing meeting, yesterday, some little delay and inconvenletice were caused by reason of several of the applicants not producing the original licenses or inspector's certificates Appli cants would do well, in future, to take the hint, and produce or forward all required documents. A deputation representing the Queensland Rifle Association waited on the Premier, on Tuesday last, relative to arranging for a couple of marksmen to visit the old country for the purpose of taking part in the Wimbledon competition. Mr. Griffith pro mined that, if an intercolonial team were going home, Queensland should not stand out of the affair. A correspondent writes, under date April 3 :-" I understand that the new Anglican church, at Laildley, will be opened on Easter Monday. Besides the usual services, there is to be a tea-meeting in the afternoon, thetickets for which will be sold at a low price. The Church of England drum and fife band, from Toowoomba, will be present the whole of the day, and will, doubtless, contribute not a little to enliven the day's proceedings.--The tender of Mr. J. Olsen has been accepted for the erection of a new Anglican church at Gatton, at a cost of £260. I hear, also, that an architect is drawing up a plan, Ac.. for another church at Mia Ma Creek. The Anglican Church is evidently making head-way in thcae districts. The luildign bheing erected are not only well built, and of good designs, but are so constructed that, at any time, they can be easily enlarged to two or three times their present size, without injury to the design and harmony of the whole,"

Special arrangements are made for the issue of railway excnrsion tickets, in connection with the approaching Easter holidays and the Brisbane races, partieulars regarding which may be obtained on reference to our advertising columns. Some of the most valuable of the trophies offered for competition at the Oddfellows' sports, on Easter Monday. may be seen at the establishment of Messrs. S. and C. Mayfield, watchmakers, Brisbane street. Among them are the prizes for the Amateur Race-the first being a silver tea and coffee service of four pieces (the gift of Mr. Gee. Bashford): the second, a silver cake-bssket ; and the third, a silver. plated buscuit brx. Dr. E. R. Webb's special prize for the Members' Race (a silver-plated double pickle. stand), and Mr. C. Baldrey's second prize for the same event (a silver butter-cooler) are both really fine articles. A nickel-plated clock forms the third price for the same event. Three valuable prizes are offered for the Girls' Race-viz, a gold watch worth C4 (Mr. Mayfield's gift), a large work-box, and a silver locket. Last, but not least, is Mr. John Johnson's silver cup for the Miners' Race-a remark. ably good five guineas' worth. All the articles ex cept the work-bov were obtained from the shop in which they are displayed, and reflect great credit upon the enterprising proprietors. There are at the immigration depot, North Ips. wich, awaiting engagement, four married couple and fire single men (farm labourers) per a.s. Quetta and Waroongas. The usual fortnightly meeting of St. Stephen's Temperance Society and Band of Hope was held, in the Oddfellowa' Hall, Brishane-street, on Monday night last. The Rev. P. Robertson (president) oc, cupied the chair, and there was a very large attend. ance of both old and young. The committee were glad to see so many members from other hands of hope and temperance societies, who seemed to enjoy themselves. After the usual opening service, ten new members were enrolled. The first item on the programme was the recitation "Measuring the baby," given by a young lady ; two songs-one of which was sung by the youngest male member of the society-and two dialogues were next given, one of which-"Dr. Quack"-seemed to cause much mer. rimeut, tihe "doctor" hey doing his port very well, the other being the " BeRt Strike." The remaining pieces on the programome were three selections by the choir, which were all well rendered. A very good collection was taken up during the meeting, Which was closed by praye-.

Since the last report of the woogaroo Lunatic Asylum, one female has been admitted and one has died. Her name was Bridget Ryan, lateof Warwick. aged twenty-nine years, and the cause of her death was jaundice. The medical superintendent acn knowledges, with thanks, the receipt of parcels of newspapers from S.P., Courier Cricket Cluh, and Mrs. Ayscongh. Brisbane, for the patients at Goodna, also a parcel of newspapers from Mrs. Oilliver, Ipa. wich, for the patients at Sandy Gallop. A cablegram in last night's Observer states that the Privy Council have decide I in favour of the view held by the Legislative Assembly in connection with the constitutional question which arose last session regarding the right of the Council to alter money hills. The point cropped up, it may be remembered, owing to the Council desiring to omit from the Appropriation Bill the item for members expenses. The decision of the Privy Council supports the con. tootion of the Assembly that the Legislative Council has no right to alter such bills. At a sitting of the Laid Board, held on Tuesday last (says the Courier), Mr. t. Newton (of the Qoeansland Mercantile and Agency Company) appeared for Simeon Lord, lessee of the Eskdale Run, to ask for a concession to be made by includ ing two small pieces of land in the available portion of the run; to wit, a forfeited selection and half.a. mile frontage to Salt Water-holes Creek, so as to provide accessible water in that p 'rtion of the run. After hearing evidence, the Board granted the con. cession asked for, and confirmed the rental, which was not objected to by the lessee. During the course of a drive over the Canning Dwns plans, a day or two ago, we(Warwick Argo.s had an oppartunity of inspecting one of the fineat crops of maize we have ever seen in this district. The field, about eighty acres in extent, is situated on Emu Creek, and the stalks average lift. in height, each one laden with one or more cobs. We selected several cobs, and find on counting that the average number of grains per cob is about 800. The crop is now fit for pulling. At the Brisbane Police Court, yesterday morning, Adjutant Wright, of the Salvation Army, was charged with playing a cornet in the public street without the written permission of his Worship the Mayor. On being asked to plead. Adjatant Wright said he played the cornet. but he had the permission of the late Mayor to play the instrument. He had not a written con'cut, as Alderman Babbidge in. formed him that it was not necessary. Inspector Lee Bryce said he was perfectly willing to withdraw the case on the defendant giving a promise to the Bench that he would not off nd again. The defend. ant replied that he did not plead guilty to having offended. Mr. Power to the defendant: " Do you consent not to offend again ?" Adjutant Wright: ' Your Worship must drop the word 'again,' an I do not admit haviog offended at all." The Bench, after a short ensaultation, intimated to the defendant that he was fined 20s., and 3s. ld. costs of Court. In. spector Lee Bryce said he was not aware that the defendant was a ratepayer, and he should like the Bench to etita how the fine should be recovered. The Bench ordered the fine to be recovered by a levy and dietress. On hearing this Adjutant Wright smilingly replied that if they could raise the fine on his belongings they were welcome to them -Observer. Says the Thargomindah Hcrahl:-This district is at present infested with a plague of rate. They are not confined to any particular portion of the district, extending from Thorgomindah to Wompah and from Thargomuldah to Windors. We are not aware whether they have yet got as far as Cunnanmulla. We don't think it probable they'll go in that direction, as the grass around here is better than it is near Cunona mulla. Perhaps our Charleville friends deserve to be congratulated on the fact that they won't go where they would die of starvation. So daring are these ravenous creatures, that they recently ate a portion of a nmail-driver'a boots while he was engaged in driving his buggy. In a few other instances, also, they have evinced a partiality forshoe-leather. They are eatinggrass very rapidly in come places. With the iata in our midst, the labbits close to the border, anR1 a dry winter 'tariug us in the face, the lot of pastoralists and others is not the happiest in the world.