Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1888-06-02 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

NOTES AND QUERIES, BY 0. L. A. F.  WHITSUNTIDE has passed away, and with ! it has apparently disappeared for an uncertain ; period all traces of the fine, bright and warm I weather with with which we were then favoured for a brief spell. The "ethereal mildness" ' which was welcomed so heartily has now ; turned into what might not inaptly be called, in Mr. Mantalini classic language, "most demnably horrid" tornadoes, which possess the cutting intensity of wintry blasts. Individuals with the bump of speculativeness abnormally developed are beginning to question whether our chronologists have not got wrong, and whether by some means or other we shall not awake to find that a cruel trick has been played upon us, and whether we are not really just emerging from mid-winter, instead of just entering upon what usually is one of the hottest months of the year. Certainly our conservatism which looks with so much unction upon the way in which we considet Nature ought to perform ' her duties has recently suffered a great shock, and the Universal Mother does not seem to care a fig how much she trifles with the feelings of her children. THERE IS just at present in Denton a marvellous dearth of even the most commonplace events.--The Whitsuntide festivities are apparently producing a re-action in the shape of the most profound dullness. —A spark of animation was observable a few days ago, when it became known that there had been a seizure of meat in Denton, which, as an article of human food was doubtful. 'that spark of animation however, was extinguished when it transpired that the magistrates decided not to condemn it.—There is only one other subject exciting the public mind locally,—the Mancheste- murderer Jackson, whose marvellous tact and which cleverness has thus far saved him from the officers of justice has proved the theme for many an earnest confabulation. A REPORT was current in Hyde on Tuesday that Jackson had been observed in Hyde and a number of police were on the qui vivo, animated by a kindly solicitude to provide him with free quarters for an indefinite period. If Jackson really was in Hyde he did not allow his would-be friends to put their benevolent design into operation, for all their efforts to 1 find him were fruitless. THE CHAIRMAN of the Ashton and District Board of Guardians on Thursday morning commented felicitously on the fact of the decrease of pauperism in the Union—both in and out-door. The figures in the latter division are certainly striking, for they show a decrease on the corresponding period of last ; year, of not less than 209, whilst in the former there is a decrease, on a similar comparison, of 22. This is gratifying, especially, if the disparity proves to be not merely temporary. PROPERTY in Denton is apparently a "drug in the market" if Wednesday evening's proceedings at the King's Head Hotel be taken as criterion. Mr. Higginbottom, of Hyde, offered for sale by auction half-a-dozen lots of property, including freehold buildings and chief rents, and there was not a single bid, It is to be hoped this is not to be taken as an indic-1 ation of the commercial prosperity of the district.