TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2567, 29 March 1869, Page 2

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Fire Brigade.—lt is said that Captain. Wilson, Chief Inspector of the Fire Brigade lias tendered bis resignation to the °Citv Council.

English Mail.—The letters by the Itangitoto were brought by Cobb and Co.'s coach on Saturday afternoon, from Ilokitika j the newspapers will be brought on by the steamer which is due at Lyttelton to-morrow. Tiis Dijkb of TiMNnuiujii,— From our Wellington telegrams, we learn that the Prince will arrive at Auckland from Sydney, on April 16, leaving there for the South on May 19. If this is correct, the Prince will not visit Canterbury until the end of May. Canterbury Rowing Cr.un. The usual weekly scratch matches did not come oil on Saturday, a large number of the members having availed themselves of the holidays to visit other portions of the province. The sculling match between the coxswains of the club was also postponed until Saturday next. Lyttelton Volunteer Artillery.—On Saturday afternoon, the members of the battery paradedat the Drill Shed, and, afterwards, proceeded with the gun to Battery Point, where some excellent practice with shot and shell took place. The cadets, in connection with this corps, are making progress with their drill. The Rifle Association. The annual prize meeting of this association will commence on the Heathcote rifle range this morning, and be continued to-morrow. The programme is not so extensive as in previous years, but there are still sufficient prizes offered to excite emulation, and numerous entries are expected. Colonial Prizes.—The firing for these prizes will commence in Otagoon Friday next, the Canterbury representatires leaving by :the liangitoto on Tuesday. A new range !has been specially prepared for the meeting, : and the local competitors will therefore be placed on an equality with their visiting comrades. The Canterbury team may be regarded as possessing the average skill in marksmanship, and it is expected that the province will come of£ with credit in the competition. Welsh Cloth Factory.—We are informed that the statement made by a contemporary, that a number of the workmen are passengers by the ship Dagmar, is totally without foundation. The letters that have been received by the agent do not convey any such idea. We understand that they will not leave Wales until the works and plant have been erected here, and are ready for commencing the work. It is expected that two of the shareholders will arrive in Melbourne by the Great Britain, and come on to make arrangements. In all probability it will be a considerable time before the works are ready,

Lyttelton Colonist Society. The members of this society have for some months past been endeavouring to raise funds to supply a great want, that of a chess room, where smoking would be allowed, and also a retiring room above it, and leading out from the large hall. £2O having been subscribed, a general meeting of the members was held last month, and a sub-committee formed, to invite tenders for the erection of the rooms. On Saturday evening, a special meeting of the committee was held to discuss the tenders which had been received. As the lowest tender was found to lie higher than was contemplated by the members at the general meeting, it was resolved that a special meeting of the members be held on Wednesday evening next.

Inquest. —An inquest on the body of Robert Deane, farmer, was held before J. W. S. Coward, Esq., Coroner, at the Britannia Hotel, Lincoln road, on Saturday morning. From the evidence it appeared that on the Saturday previous deceased went home and informed his wife that he had fallen from the dray on his head, but did not complain of anything accruing from it until Wednesday evening, He afterwards went to bed, but was found dead by his wife about 5 o'clock on the following morning. Mr Patrick, surgeon, was sent for, but on arrival, pronounced life extinct, and having since made a post-mortem examination, he stated that deceased had died from congestion of the brain, occasioned, no doubt, by the fall from the dray. A verdict was accordingly returned to that effect.

Febnside Suxdat School.—On Wednesday last the second anniversary of this Sunday School was commemorated. The children assembled at the school at 2.30 p.m., when, in the presence of the parents and others, they were examined in the Holy Scriptures by the Rev W. J. Habens, who expressed himself highly pleased with their answers. He then presented the children with neatly bound and useful books as prizes. At 5 p.m. about eighty children and ninety adults sat down to an excellent tea provided by the ladies of the district. Tea over, a magic laitern was exhibited, very much to the delight and instruction of the children, after which Mr Habens gave a short hut suitable address. The proceeds of the evening amounted to over £B, and will be devoted to the Sunday School and circulating library, which now numbers 340 volumes.

Mail Contract.—-It is rumoured, says the Otago Daily Times, that in all probability the tender of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company, for the conveyance of the English mails to and from New Zealand will be accepted.

Mining in Victoria.—The mining progress of Victoria is summarised in a recent issue of the Mining Heeord, as follows: Where, eighteen years ago, not a man worked, there are now 64,658 miners, and 1043 steam-engines, engaged on 884 miles of reefs, the total value of plant being estimated in round numbers at £2,150,432. Self reliance. The most prominent organ of the pelf-reliant policy, the Wellington Independent, makes a singular admission as to the danger involved in the policy:—"lf there is to be a general riling, it is not one or two regiments that will save the colony from ruin. Should that event happen—and we have too much faith in the good sense and enlightened self-interest of the native race to anticipate anything so terrible—the Nortli Island will either have to be re-conquered by an Imperial army, or abandoned." Bishop Jenner.—We (Otago Daily Times) understand that the following resolution has been passed by the Church of England Committee at Clyde:—" That a gritvous wrong lias been done both to Bishop Jenner and to the members of the Church of England within the Diocese of Dunedin, by the refusal of the Bishop of (!hristchurch to allow Bishop Jenner to officiate in his ministerial capacity, in consequence of which refusal the members of the Church have been deprived of an opportunity of fairly judging of Bishop Jeuner's fitness for the position of Bishop of this diocese."

Takeall in Wheat.—The take-all blight, whose ravages among the wheat crops both in Australia and New Zealand have of late attracted the serious attention of the agricultural community, is stated by the Melbourne Economist to be owing to the ruinous system, so largely followed in both colonies, of growing ceienl crops on the same land several years in succession, without allowing the ground to rest. The best means of averting ihe evil consequences of this practice is stated by the same journal to be by using mineral manures, lime especially being recommended. A Eojunce,—Aubrey John, now nineteenth U tron Somerville, who has recently succeeded to the title and estates, left Port Macquarie, N.S.W., last Saturday, on his way to England. It is rumoured that, in consequence of the death of his uncle, who was killed in November last whilst hunting, this gentleman comes into eight thousand ayear, It is rather a singular coincidence that one of Lord Somerville'a partners in a sugar plantation, Mr Gilliott, has also come in for a share of good luck, and has taken his departure for America for the purpose of entering upon property left him in the U«lt«d States.

The Rofe-tting Trick.—An AmeriT* paper saya Everybody lmow ß th?t c » rope-untying trick w aa the speciality nf t Davenport brothnrs; but ever-boiy I know that it was done infinitely b P n- n . not Indians of the Upper Mk ouri jJJ J 7 . 8 * either Jackson, Hnrtz, or ti le ' n'" ei '°re were born. A friend of ours, now r| aV .^P ot ' a Alton, who spent many years of hig'S-i ll as an Indian trader in the Yellow « Region, informs us that the Awnitai , t( ! ne were remarkably skilful at ii, is n . " e manifestation." He has frequently s £'ii, chief "medicine man "allow himstlfY i strippedand almostentirely tied at evor •• from tcsa to neck, with buffalo tlion« rolled in a blanket and tied again iu! ' l 1 ™ in a buffalo robe and tied the thii'i a r ! Cli he was apparently as helpless asaT'^ 1 this condition the "red-skinned rael' 1,1 was placed in a small lent surrounded vT ring of spectators, and an drum a V and a gourd of water laid by his side Wm three minutes the drum and flute'wnn' beard,and at the end of five, «Mr > n f, walked out untrammelled. And thp who tied him were whites, who had"!? 1 ? heayi'y against the performances of thpV ° Disasters in AMEum.-Anothemf * appalling disaster*, for which the ir-? S ? States are famous occurs! at i,i',i r n , December 5, on the Ohio river, near ' of Warsaw, in Indiana. Two W e J!,! tach carrying mails and passenwr ' into collision, through a miahke >, 1 n- me and the result was a terrihip i ? ' The steamer United States was Si the river, and the steamer Ami? cendln ß in* The United States at t Z2 a fSeendthe bows of the America; the Am Li Cto3B heri„tl, ( ,ia el( ,, t |,«;£«».t.;«k chasm was cut into her, while 0 \ p of the America were stove in ilfj ,° w , 8 steamers filled and sunk. The L. . ? th shallow, neither sunk bolowthe main g , this prevented a greater loss o Kt really occurred; but in the ease nf h tt • "J States some petroleum that was caught fire and in a few min,, es he J r was wrapped in flames f. O ,• ' * and communicated the fire to'tbe America' There was a panic on both vessels hut m the America it was quieted and hT ™ r ..t.f, 1 »u l ?, ll a .t. , s': i t r.s have been lost, while tb offi™,. ? t0 run the boat ashore before sheTuS n« the United States everyo!?l! inS wildest fright, and out of 75 passengers and « crew of 30 eighty were lost. The Tew ml a rush f°r one of the boats, upset it, throwing all in it into the water, and in j way m an y of drowned. The charred wreck of th ee two steamers now lie within 100 yards of each other on the Indiana shore. They were two of the finest vessels on the American rivers and were valued at over 200,000 dollars each' while the total loss, with their cargoes i> [ liOMjOOO dollars. The disfigured and h'alfr burnt corpses of the unfortunate people who . were lost are being thrown ashore by thp river for miles below the scene of the disas -r i Almost at the same time two trains "colliiM" ; on the Fitchburg Railroad, in Massachus- , ae " B - In one of them was a tank car filled with petroleum, which burst, and the netro- , leum. mover the guard. He had a lantern ; m his hand, which ignited the oil, and he was ' burnt to death in the most horrible manner