CHRISTCHURCH DAY BY DAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8258, 26 December 1911, Page 2

CHRISTCHURCH DAY BY DAY.

At the Christchurch Telegraph Office Saturday was an extremely busy time from early morning till well into Sunday morning. The whole of the staff was engaged in keeping pace with the multitude of Christmas greetings handed in for transmission. "All clear" was signalled at six o'clock on Sunday morning, after the following work had been put through, the figures for the previous Christmas being given in parenthesis—Forwarded, 3,241 (3,158); received. 4,640 (4,778); transmits, 1.0,627 (9,366). On Saturday afternoon a meeting of delegates from the Canterbury, Methven, Ashburton, Hawarden, and Oxford Agricultural and Pastoral Associations, and the ' Lincoln Ploughing Match Association, was held at the Canterbury A. and P. Rooms, to consider the proposal to form a Champion Ploughing Match Association meeting near Christchurch. It was decided, if possible, to hold a match as stated within easy distance of the city, provided sufficient financial support is forthcoming. A sub-committee was appointed to consider ways and means for holding the match", and to bring up a programme to be submitted to the respective associations interested: Lately a new woe has come into the life of the local milkman (says the ''. Press "). He suffers ; much in certain districts at the hands of men mounted on cycles who steal'his.-cream while he is in serving at a house. The methods followed ai-e simple in the extreme; — once the cart is empty the thief jumps in, snatches the cream can, and makes off with all speed. It is seldom that there is any. pursuit for he is around a corner and out of sight before' the milkman discovers his loss. On Sunday morning those abroad fairly early in Bealey Avenue were privileged towatch a milkman driving with, loose rein and heavy whip in pursuit of two "pirates" who, despite the fact that each had a cream can hanging from his handlebar, appeared to be having the best of the race. Lancaster Park, resplendent with its improvements, including a new members' enclosure and a handsome scoring board, was officially opened on Saturday during the afternoon adjournment in the Canterbury-Otago cricket match, the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr J. J. Dougall) performing the ceremony from the steps of the old members' stand. Mr C. R. Clark, chairman of the Board of Control, expressed the Board's thanks to the City Council for having remitted rates on the park and for having permitted the Cricket Association to play the Otago match on Christmas Day.; Although the new ground was not perfect, he 1 said, he trusted that the public would realise- that the Board had done all that it could -in the time at its disposal! The park in its transformed state is a marvellous improvement on the' old ground.,- The oval has been completely enclosed with a neat picket fence, and is the regulation size cricket ground. The stand accommodation and general appointments of the ground are splendid, and when the terrace round the oval has been grassed, and other finishing touches made, the ground will.bo a credit' to the city. The American fourmasted barquentine Makaweli, a vessel of a type not often seen in New Zealand waters, arrived at .Lyttelton on Friday night, after a long passage of 80 days from Puget Sound. The Makaweli has brought a cargo of 1,000,000 feet of Oregon pine, and a very large portion of the timber is stacked on deck to a height of 12 or 13 feet. This huge deck load, which gives the vessel an extraordinary appearance, represents nearly half of the total cargo, and has a dead weight of about 400 tons. Some of the baulks of timber are 60 or 70 feet in length, and measure 24 inches square. The deck load is secured by stout chain lashings held together by heavy screws. Like most American vessels, the Makaweli is scrupulously clean, and she has come into port, after a long and stormy passage, in perfect order.