Lacal and General.

Boating Clubs' Bali,. — The ball under the auspices of the Boating Clubs took place at the Oddfellows' Hall last night, and was a great suocess. Mr Morton provided supper, and the musio was supplied by Mr Schwartz. There was a numerous company, and dancing was kept up until an advanced hour' of the morning. , Chbistchuech Amalgamated ' Clubs Ceew. — The oarsmen who are to represent Christchurch at the Interprovincial Regatta sailed by thVs.s. Taranaki yesterday evening. They comprise Messrs J. H. Herdson, O.R.C. ; A. Reese, A.R.C. ; Joseph Dawson, A.X.C. ; E; Wafforn, A.R.C. ; and J. W. Davis, H.R.C., who volunteered his services as fifth man. Previous to starting, Mr Herdson was elected captain by the crew, and approved by the Selection' Committee. 1 The boats taken by the men are the Sabrina, for the four-oar outrigger race ; the Lurline, for the four-oar inrigged race ; the Cam and Sylph, 1 for the pair-oar race ; andt^e Vision, for the sculjar'srace. ■: • ■ ■ ';■ ■■;•(.•' •■ ■ ' </ Deep Sea Fisheey.— The first public sale "of fish for the Deep Sea ' Fishery Company took place near the railway station yesterday morning. Mr R. Walton offidiatejd with the ; hammer, arid" there "waff'a" very' numerous attendance. About 15 cwt , of ; fish, was submitted, and the coinpetiticJn ' was- exceedingly brisk. As giving an idea of the 'size' 'of, a great many of the fish, it may be said that some of the moki weighed lOlbs, trumpeters 171bs, and habuka 901bsl Moki was' sold at prices varying from 3Jd to 4dper ; lb jtrumpe-tei-s, at from 3d to sfd per lb • baracouta, 3£ dto 4£d per lb j habuka, l£d to l£d per lb ; and crayfish at the rate of 12s per doz. Me Beogden's Immigeants.— -The Otago Daily Times of Feb. 22 has the following :— Messrs Brogden's immigrants, ex Charlotte Gladstone, signalised their arrival in town yesterday by conduct during the day which was sufficient to gain for them' an uneri : viable notoriety. A good many' of them became incapably drunk, a' 'laVgor number drunk and pugnacious, or'driink and frolicsome, and their capers werie.. of the coarsest description? There was a "crowd round the barracks during the day, "and two or three policemen had to be constantly on the spot to maintain order. Some' of them amused the crowd by cutting antics, and, on passing round ,y.he hat to gather small trifles in consideration of their efforts to amuse, they were informed "this is notacouiitry for cadging." Gnewasvery anxiouß to play skittles for a gallon of beer, but as there was much doubt as: to the challenger's ability to stand the treat in the very probable contingency of his losing the game, no one felt disposed to accept his offer, whereupon he volunteered his opinion that this was an adjective mean country. That they had a sufficiency of rations may be inferred from the fact that they pelted one another with bread, like school boys, only they used . the halves of 21b loaves instead oi crusts. Making every allowance for an exuberance of animal spirits on having some freedom after a long sea voyage, the scene presented in the barrack yard and the language used, was moat discreditable to any body of men. ' S^Dinnee. — Last night a farewell dinner was given at the White Hart Hotel to ; Mr J. Q" Ruddenklau, who is about to pay a ' visit to Germany. Between fifty and Bixty gentlemen assembled, and Mr J. O. Sheppard provided a repast which evidenced not only care in preparation, but skill and liberality. A. number of bouquets gratuitouslysupplied byMrW. Wilson added much to the otherwise attractive appearance of the tableß, and altogether the arrangements were of a first-olaas character. His Worship the Mayor presided, with the guest of the evening on his right, the vice-chairs being filled by Mr Sawtell, ex Mayor, Messrs W. Wilson and T. Preece. The company included members of the present and former city corporations, together with some of the moat influential business men of the city. Dinner being over, the toast list was proceeded with. The chairman proposed "The Queen and Royal Family/ "His Excellency the Governor," "The Army Navy, and Volunteers," which was responded to, on behalf of the volunteers, by Mr D Craig, and that of " His Honor the Superintendent." Mr W. Wilson then proposed " The General Assembly and the Provincial Council," to which Mr Sawtoll replied. Mr Ruddenklau next proposed " The City Coun cil " in eulogistic terms, and his Worship the Mayor responded. The chairman then submitted the toast of the evening — « The health of Mr Kuddenklau, and a pleasant voyage

hosi£." He referred to the 'M act fcbat Mr Eiaddenklau fcaet been 16 years in the* colony, aEdi Baid that honest' integrity, and.: straightforward conduct had characterised hinii in all transactions. He -was deservedly- esteemed Iby all who knew him, and carried their best; wishes -with him. He had prospered well in business, but whilst attending to it, he i had not neglected the general interest of the public, inasmuch as for several. years he was ;ono of tho most active members- of the Citj Council. The information he- would be able to give ihis countrymen respecting the social and scientific institutions of the province, its natural features and general progress, together with tho fact that no trouble is experienced from the Natives as in the JSTorth, would be of immense importance -in the '■--' future, and he would now ask them to drink to a safe and speedy voyage f<?r him mth an early mum to the "province. The toast was drunk with great enthusiasm. Mr Euddenklau, on rising to respond, said he was at a loss for : words, to acknowledge the manner in which the toast had been proposed and received. His intercourse with them during his sixteen years': residence in the' province had always been of a pleasant character, for he had invariably received the greatest kindness and consideration from all. He felt a great regard for Canterbury, and Christchurch in particular, for he had assisted at the nursing of it, and had been nursed commercially speaking by it in return. He had always felt confidence in the future of the province, and did not think he could now be content to permanently reside anywhere else. He referred to' his early struegles in the province, and said that he expected to be absent about eighteen months. Thanking them again for the manner in which his health had been drunk, he expressed a hope that if spared to meet them again the same friendly intercourse which had •marked their relations towards each other hitherto would be continued. On resuming his seat Mr Ruddenklau was loudly cheered. Mr Preeee, in a good speech, next proposed the health of "Mrs Euddenklau. and the ladies," which was responded to by. Mr Buddehklau and Mr John W. Oram. ' Mr A. Duncan proposed " The Agricultural and Pastoral Association," which was responded to by Mr Mitchell. "The Local Industries" was proposed by Mr Sawtell, and responded to by Mr Anderson. Mr D. Craig proposed " The Ex-Members of the City Council," and Mr Hart responded. ' Mr ; Anderson proposed "The Mining Interest," which Mr Hart acknowledged. " The Chairman," " The YieeChairman;" "The, PresßJ" and "The Host." were then Successively' drunk, and H the [', party broke tip. It shojuld be said 1 that >,'several'excellent songs were sung duniig fch'e^ evening. .... ' Depxttation.— A deDuyiion from thq 'City Council, consisting of his^prshipithe Mayor and Councillors Jones arid Ick had an < interview yesterday with the , Secretary in "reference to the stone-channelling, kerbing, and asphalting of the footpath in Madras street, from High street to the. South town belt. The Provincial Secretary and the deputation entered very fully into the subjeot, Mr Kennaway, while admitting the necessity for the work being done, said that 'the footpaths and crossings from Lichfield .street to St Asaph.street must be similarly treated, in order that, a continuous asphalte pavement may be had from the centre of the city to the railway terminus, to accommodate; the public in the manner the. Executive desired, and if the City CouncQ and owners of property contributed their fair share, of the ; expense, he had no doubt the Executive would see their way to obtain the sum of £150 from the Pro? vinqiial Council. . Tiie deputation Have every. reason to feel satisfied with the result of the interview, and it is to be hoped that the work will be put in hand with the least possible delay. I<"kencii MilitabyLa"Wß.— ln the new military bill passed by the French Assembly, the territory of the Republic is divided into 12 corps, formed so as to unite at a short notice four armies, which, only nominal in time of peace, will re-unite in time of war. Each corps will comprise three divisions of foot, one brigade of horse, four regiments of artillery, two of which are to be held in reserve. , Each army will, moreover, possess a regiment of engineers. The effective force, which may be called out in time of war, amounts to 1,100,000 of men. What the keep of such an army costs may be exactly, valued from the following notes, given by an Austrian officer of the staff, who had calculated the yearly cost price of a soldier in all the States of Europe. England spends every year for a soldier; 2500 f, Eussia 1202 f, France H72f, Belgium : 1047 f, G-ermany 975 f, Italy, 947 f, Spain 725 f, Austria 730 f. Lot us add that as to the whole amount of expenses the same laws are applied to the maintenance of their army arid nayy — i.e., Eussia 34 per cent., England 33, France 32, Germany 27, Belgium 21, Austria 19, Italy and Spain 16. The Waikato Di3tbict. — A gentlenica who has lately been on a visit to the Waikato, among other things writes: — "The whole country is looking splendid, and the crops are on the whole, as fine as anything ever seen here before. The Waikato land is like most of the land in tho Worth Island — very patchy. For thousands of acres you will ride across land that would grow almost anything while the next patch for a few miles will be bare and sterile. But there are immense tracts of land covered with nothing but fern, which, by the expenditure of a little money, could be turned to good account. Then there are swamps which only require draining to form splendid pasture land. In the vicinity of Te Awamutu the land is magnificent, while the climate is simply deliciouß. The views to be obtained from some of the mountains are lovely. Perhaps the most striking theme of interest in the whole of my Waikato experiences was the cemetry near Bangiriri, in which are taking their last sleep so many gallant Englishmen who lost their lives fighting in the" memorable battle of Eangariri, which proved so disastrous to the British arms. The cemetery is now kept in excellent order. I parted from it with a very Bad heart."

BEtKBB TO M» SIAHIKy ry ]Jf BW Yo^; For* MeraU Club gave a dinner afcßeknonico's. oo the 25th ult. in honour of Stanley. Among the goeats meb Mr John Livingstone, the brother ofi Dr Mfongstone, the Earl of Caithness In returning thanks for the toast of his health Mr Stanley referred to the mistrust which had been exhibited towards him by some of j the. English peters, and to the abuse bestowed ! upon him even in America.. " Bat," he added "whatever may be said, you will never be able to disguise the fact that a Serald correspondent discovered Dr Livingstone (great appKuse.) • I imay be called a forger, Wl would like to know if I couldforgo Dr Livingstone a cap ; " and here Mr Stanley suddenly drew, from his : pocket a dark blue military cap, with a Jarge gold band arouad It, raised on a still larger band of *e& velvet, aft^ action was received with loud cries of enthu.siasm, and : ihe cap was passed around' '\§& circle and tried upon- each head in the company. "That," said Mr Stanley, "is U4 veritable cap which Dr Livingstone took offi a£ ITjrji when the Nevj York Merald reporter said to him, with a bow,; ' Dr Livingstone; I presume. ' (Tremendous applause.) <■"■'•'*- Bay op Islands.— Ab Exchange sayst— We have alwaysi been given to • understanll that - the Bay of- Islands was a paradise; the hke 1 of. which had not been known eince the -b all. There is quite an aroma about the very name of the Bay of Islands. It brings up the idea of spice groves and coral shores, of a^use skies and watere so translucent and trans* everyfchingelsß that is lovely,- with its bottoms of golden sands, and sharks lookicg around for a Maori child for early breakfast^ and forest foliage of resplendent hues, and banks purple with native flora; and trhere mud was, never i seen ; ; but to connect such poeticpl' associations with mutton ohops, as our correspondent " Quidnunc" has done, is irritating. Dating from -the Bay of Islands, he writes as follows :— " Adversity brings us strange • bedfellows ;". but, throughout air experience of many.vioisaitudes, it haß never been my fortune to dwell in a more singular' community than this. I can compare the folks in this.part of the world to nothing but a sorb of human vegetable,. who having grown, like cabbages, always 1 in one spot, live in happy' ignorance of 'an outer worlcL Once having cast anchor in the Bay of Islands; civilisation is left far behind, and an existence) °\ purgatory is commenced, which to a man. of active mind must end in imbecility or self r ■ destruction. ' Intellectual conversation V i»* unknown ; and if language was given to communicate ideas, the faculty was super* fluous L he>e, where sp 'few have any ideas 'aifc aU,and| ; where ah accident to Mrs Grundy'i cow; or the arrival of ;a stranger in the village, 1 are' incidents sufficiently important to occupy, the mind. Here we live in a most primitive, condition, and, as an abhorrence^ p£ work forms a distinguishing characteristic 1 of the people, money is but rarely metrwith, 5 and cash payments are almost, superseded hy a. system' of barter. Thus, if our butcher gets : sick, the doctor takes his fee in mutton and chops, and the baker takes his bread bill put in pills. In fact, this iB as near aa^ possible " a life led according to nature ;"/ but although I endeavour, like Dr JbhnsQnV philosopher, "to co-operate with the general disposition and tendency of the present system of things," I must admit that I quitefail' to see the advantage of it. The Mimtabt System of Berlin anb Fhance. — In commenting on the Germrtn official account of the Franco-Prussian wai • (translated by Mr Clarke), lhe Times observe/s — " We are conscious that but a feeble idea ' can have been given of the magnitude of the' task imposed upon the' Chiefs of the GermanArmy, or of the quiet scientific manner in, which all difficulties were surmounted. The.' military student will find his trouble wellrepaid if he will study the book itself, as far as. it has gone, .with a map ' and a determiner tion to master the subject.' General readenT may perhaps have caught some mental impression of the difficulties attending the sudden mobilisation of aharmy'frem a peace to a war footing; they may see that it. is a different and far grander task than the : provision of food for 30,000 men at autumn manoeuvres, especially as several of the German corps, had. to .be transported many hundreds of .miles by railway, the whole work being crowded into a period of less than three weeks from the first thought of war, And' they may be inclined to question how England would achieve the task of mobilizing her^ regular army, reserves, militia, and volunteers, under similar circumstances. Heaven forbid that we should prophesy evil! We firmly ' believo that when the time comes we shall be ready, but only ready because before then the persistent warnings of every offioer who h 0 been present at or studied modern war in its details will have sunk into the hearts of their countrymen and brought forth some good ■ fruit in a general determination not to rest r satisfied with anything short of real readiness for war if it be ever forced upon us. At present our system approaches more nearly that of the French than of the Germans, fche chief difference being that as yet we have but few reserves to call up and have not even decided upon our transport system, much less provided means for regular supply. ■ We have the same system of centralisation as the French had in 1870. Our regiments are ■ not quartered; nor likely to. be, in the midst of those who are to fill up their ranks in case of war, and our militia, though. composed of ox- '• cellent materials, is deficient in training and in that surest bond of discipline, complete confi- • dence among the men, their officers will know, : not only how to die with them, but how to keep them alive and insure success to their arms. Above all, we have no such institution as the General Staff at Berlin, which includes officers, whose business it is to be intelligent, to know all the military progress which is passing around them, and to take care that their own country is behindhand in nothing conducive to the preservation of her safety, her honour, and the dignity befitting jx great nation."

Lady Gambiebs iur Viciobia.— ln' tide deploring the prevalence of gambling ; Victoria, the Age says :— -Nor is the besetag evil: confined to ' the male sex.- Ladies j bose toilettes prove that the complacency of lßbande Or fathers must be as large as their cans,. or that tradesmen are confiding to ah arming degree, are bitten with the mania of .mbling. The ,avidity with which they imtrtune friends to put in for sweepß overBps thebounda of womanly modesty ; the iep f elt interest in the drawing, and the lightened colour and excited eye, and the ulting smile of satisfaction, when a likely irsefalktotheir lot, go far to convince the iprejudiced spectators that the likelihood of coming the possessor of the money of others sfar more to do with their ill-repressed light than the fugitive and simple pleasure seeing a race lost and won. "Woman seems •unset herself ; and the greed of a harpy, B'Sn'owjaiigness of a tout, and the slang of b BfcSble, usurp the place of modesty, sim,ci%, and refinement. ANiIM^BOTED Sspbippeb.— The S. A. RerlSrhf '.21st' December states that at Rhyme yfa has ■been completed a new patent reap-;-?appajatfcvß," r <which it "is' considered has Tied'o'ut'-ijuife'a' aucceW. Theina'Ver has iri bulytwoot'tKree weeks ia fittiiig up for 1 A. Niciolls, and this is the' only machine phe sort : yet made in the colony. On TuesV evening {he concern was set to Work in a Jin paddock before a number ot spectators, |o ell seemed satisfied, and pronounced the bliance excellent. The improvement made Stated to be one that will enable a farmer [reap at any hour, even after rain had fallen ling the'night, as the damp will not, it is Iged, interfere with the working of the Bhine. "We are told that on Wednesday filing several hours before other stripping fthinea could work it was in full operation, I not a single ear could ba found that ; was Bthreshed, while' the grain was not the least ■red, and white heads were absent. Wo are firmed that several farmers in'tbetieighfthood'intend having their machines.'fitted' Hi the addition' ere next season, as -the Hnfc: arrangement can be easily affixed to niary reapers. ! , HNotEi. Point iif Constitutiokal Law. B 'curious ''case wai brought before the ■rt of Queen's Bench a shbrt\time ago. It Bars' that Canon .Selwvrr entertains strong Sibns ' with- respect to the disestablishment Be; Ohurch.>of &eland,'Mid,lie drew up a ftioii to'her Majesty, in which he entreated Ko'cobsidfer whether 1 not by her nt to thatf-ict, forfeited' her title to the Bpe; This petition lie sent to the Marquis as head of her Mdjesty's Privy Hicil^ to be presented to the Queen, but EBnoblsman refused to undertake the task. B Canon next applied to one of the officers Her 'Majesty's household, but was referred Hth'e Queen's constitutional advisers. Hd thus in all points, and bethinking himSpoprived .of -what is believed to be the SB of every Englishman, to see his Keign, he brought an action in the Court Queen's Bench, for an order to compel the MpUiß of Eipon to present his petition. Bsudges met in high, debate to consider, gßnovel ; poinfc in constitutional law, and B|cameito the unanimous conclusion that wmk was >no power to compel the Marquis of nk, or, any other officer of State, to present BBfcion against his will. :