Latest Locals.

The following items appear on the fourth page of this issue : — Christ's College Annual Sports; "West Christchurch School Committee; Masonic Ceremony: Installation of P.W.D.G.M. Bro H. Thomson. Another smart shock of earthquake occurred at 5.52 this morning, lasting a few seconds; direction uncertain. The shaking was very distinctly felt in Christchurch and at Sefton. . A public meeting of the ratepayers of Sydenham is convened for 8 o'clock next Wednesday evening, in the Colombo street Oddfellows' Hall. The matters to be submitted are detailed in an advertisement. The usual "Wednesday sittings of the Lyttelton Resident Magistrate's Court will for the next two weeks not take place, bui on Monday next and the following Monday any cases brought forward will be heard. At a recent meeting the Selwyn County Council passed a resolution asking the Government to take the protection off chaffinches, skylarks and blackbirds, on account of the damage done by these birds in fields and gardens. In compliance with the request a notification has been published in the Gazette of Oct 2, to the effect that it ia lawful to destroy the birds in question within the boundaries of the County of Selwyn. Thi3 morning, a deputation of prominent citizens, waited upon the Mayor, Mr C. P. Hulbert, for the purpose of presenting a petition, bearing 250 signatures, requesting him to accept nomination for a second year of office. Mr Matson referred in highly complimentary terms to the manner in which the arduous duties of the office had been discharged. Mr Hulbert had decided notto come forward; but eventually he yielded to the request so widely preferred, and consented to become a candidate. Tools and tents sufficient for about 100 men have been sent to the Waian by the Public "Works Department for the use of the unemployed. These will be followed by further supplies for others as they may be required. Arrangements have been made with the local storekeepers for furnishing the men with provisions. During yesterday 89 free railway passes to the Waikari were issued to applicants at the office. This morning 62 men, who had obtained passes to go to Waikari, left Christchnrch by the North train. During the course of to-day a few men applied for passes either ta Waikari or Little River. A meeting of the Committee of the Kaiapoi Cricket Club was held at the offices of Messrs Champion and Smith last evening ; present — Messre Montague Smith (captain), in the chair; C. Hayman, F. Sherratt, and A. Pearce (Hon Sec). The Chairman reported the gift of a bat and ball to the Club from Dr Ovenden, and a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the donor. It was resolved to hold a match on ' Saturday — A to L v. M to Z, all members • of the Club to take a part. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Messrs Champion and Smith for the offer of their offices a3 a Committee room for their Club. A very successful pigeon match took place yesterday in a paddock attached to ! Mr Pym's Hotel, Port Victoria. Three sweepstakes were fired off, and some good shooting was displayed. The birds, which were supplied by Mr Young, were strong on the wing, and afforded capital sport. I The following are the scores : — No 1 match • — Stening, 5 ; Pym, 5 ; Smith, 5 ; Hill, 4; ' Francis, 4 ; Bradley, 4 ; Hawkins, 3 ; '■ Atherley, 0; the first three divided the stakes. No. 2 match— Bradley, 6; Hill, ' 4; Stening, 4; Pym, 4; Francis, 4; i Adley, 0. No. 3 mateh — Stening, 6 ; Pym, 6; Bradley, 6; Hill, 3; Francis, 2; ! Atherley, 2 ; Smith, 1 ; Hawkins, 0 ; the • tie between Messrs Stening, Pym, and Bradley was fired off, with the result that Mr Stening won the stakes. An excellent , luncheon was provided for the party by Mr ' Pym. The quarterly meeting in connection with the Kaiapoi Wesleyan Church was held in the vestry on Wednesday evening ; ! present — Rev J. A. Luxford and 14 officebearers. The membership of the church was stated to be 129. The stewards said the income for the quarter would exceed the expenditure, but an extra effort had been put forth to Eecuie this position. A question relating co the boundaries of North Canterbury Circuits, remitted from i the district meeting, was exhaustively ! discussed, and the following resolution passed : — " That this meeting recom- : mends circuit boundaries to remain as at present, but feels convinced that Kaiapoi ( Circuit will liberally help Woodend to ; build a parsonage." Mr J. T. Burrows was unanimously recommended to district meeting as a candidate for the : Wesleyan ministry, with a view of re- ; ceiving three years' training at Wesley ' College, Auckland. The Rev J. A. Luxford was unanimously invited to remain a second year in the circuit, and cordially accepted the invitation. The competition for the prizes offered by the officers and non - commissioned officers of the C.V.C. took pla;e on the i Drillshed ground this morning, in the : presence of a considerable number of visitors, among whom were several ladies, ' and Lieut.-Colonel Lean and Captain ' Newall, commandant and adjutant of the j district. The judges were Messrs F. J. > Kimbell and Quick (late 12th Royal , Lancere). The first event npon which i these gentlemen had to adjudicate was the competition for the prize given by the ; officers for the owner of the best charger. ' This was awarded to Trooper Godby, out of 11 competitors. The officers' prize for the smartest trooper brought forward eight competitors, who were put through various drill movements by Lieutenant Dundas. The trophy was gained by Trooper Lance. The appearance of the I whole squad, it may be remarked, was very creditable. The event, which excited most interest among the spectators was the contest for the prize, a handsome silver-mounted spirit stand, offered by the non-commissioned officers for the best jumping. There were about a ' dozen entries, and the horses were first ' tried at a hurdle, 3ft Gin high. Most of J them surmounted this obstacle easily enough, and a bar was laid above the , hurdle, the height being raised from time to time, till at last the trophy was gained by Corporal Brown, whose horse, a fine ! grey, cleared 4ft lOin. Trooper Peacock ' was second. Both rode with great skill and judgment, and the jumps were taken in very pretty style. The same may, indeed, be said of several of the competitors, and altogether the contest was a very good display of horsemanship. Last evening the promoters of the Kaiapoi Glass Factory tried an experiment in the furnace just erected on the Com pany's premises. A new pot made from firebrick and New Zealand sandstone was used, and after about five hours' burning succumbed to the great heat it was subjected to. Hence, the trial was not so satisfactory as was wished for. It was, however, so far successful as to convince ' those present that the sand is all that can be desired for the purpose of manufacturing glass ; and several small specimens were made from that partially prepared. Considerable amusement was caused during the evening by one irate personage, the owner of some buildings adjacent to the glass house, who persisted in imagining, from the fact of the furnace chimney showing signs of fire, that

number of the townspeople, and making repeated endeavours to cut the stays of the chimney, the excited gentleman ultimately consoled himself by parading the streets till daylight. At ten minutes past five o'clock this morning a fire occurred in St Asaph street west, by which a five-roomed wooden cottage, No. 225, was completely destroyed, and the adjoining premises injured. The house that was burned belonged to a Mrs Reynolds, and was occupied by her and her son. The inmates were awakened by smoke and a crackling sound, and found the house was on fire, the great body of flame seeming to be around the chimney: Young Reynolds at once gave an alarm from the box at the corner of St Asaph and Colombo streets, and the City and Railway Brigades were quickly on the spot. A supply of water was obtained from the river, but the fire had made too much progress before it was discovered for it to be possible to save Mrs Reynolds' house, of which very little of the contents could be got out. The houses on either side, belonging to Messrs Dalton and Bugg, were, however, preserved, though not before they had sustained some damage. Mrs Reynolds' house was insured for „225 in the Union Insurance Company, and her furniture for .£l5O in the same office. Mr Sugg's premises, which sustained injury to the amount of about .£l2, were insured in the Norwich Union Company for .£l5O. Mr Dalton's house, so far as could be ascertained, was uninsured. The damage to it amounted to about £5. The cause of the fire is not known. A passenger by the s.s. Manapouri had a very narrow escape of being run over by the engine of the 4.30 train at Lyttelton yesterday afternoon. It has become a practice, and a most reprehensible one, for passengers proceeding by steamers to save themselves some trouble and a distance in walking by getting out on the off-side of the platform and crossing the rails, whereby they run great risk, as the engine has to be shunted, and comes back on the line of rails next to the carriage at a good speed. Yesterday afternoon a lady and gentleman thus got out. The lady cleared the 1 line, but the gentleman, who had a number of wraps to carry, was not able to do so before the engine came bearing down upon him. The driver saw the danger ahead, sounded his whistle, and put on the brake, and the engine was slowed down. The gentleman had also seen his danger, and dropping his traps scrambled up on to the carriage platform until the engine had passed. The lady nearly fainted from the fright, and it was with some difficulty she managed to walk down to the steamer. No blame can be attached to the engine-driver; indeed, he deserved the highest praise for averting an accident. It would be well for travellers to know the danger they incur by getting out on the wrong side of railway carriages. Owing to the irahility of the Lancaster Park Clnh to furnish a team to play the TJ.C.C. third eleven, a practice wicket wUI he supplied at Hagley Park for those not playing in the cup matches. The following will represent the Gladstone C.C. against the Sydenham Tonths' Second Eleven, to-morrow (Saturday), on the ground o£ the latter, at 2.30 sharp :— lrving (captain), Steel. Gates, Stnrges, Kent, Whiteing, Sneddon, Hayfield, Petrie, Forrester (two). The following will renresent the L.P.C. Juniors, second eleven ajainst the Cathedi.il Choir C.C, on Saturday next, at Lancaster Pnrlf:— A. Dohson, Hardy, Harlie, Tomhs, C. Dunlop (Captain), Smart, C. Dohson, Cooper, A. Dunlop, Bird, Mills; emergencies— G:rstin, Marshall, and Dyer. Play to commence at 2 o'clock sharp.