Invercargill.

Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 1012, 24 May 1878, Page 6

Invercargill.

(From our own correspondent.) May 16. The inauguration of the Southland Board of; Education took place on Monday last. The choice of chairman was unanimous in; favour of Mr T. M. Macdonald, and the Board, thereupon proceeded to as much business as was compatible with the novelty of the. position,; and ihe unavoidable want of : information as to resources. It appears, however, to be a matter of certainty that for the present at least strict economy must; be j the. order of the cbvyy and the action of the '. Board ha« been evidently -guided by ltl j acceptance of thiß view oif the position. There ! was some discussion on the question of ap- ; pointment of officers, there being an inclina-i tion to amalgamate the offices of. Secretary ; »nd'TrwinW'Wtt't^toftn»^efl*9r; Ultimately it was,decided to advertise, for applications for the Secretary and Treasurership conjointly, and separately ' iEor- that of Inspector. Dr Menzies was elected to represent the district as Educational Reserves Commissioner. In the chapter of fatalities '.for the week: I have to note that the wife of an old resident; in town has met her death by an overdose of: chlorodyne. - The deceased,, a Mrs, .Hall, wife of a stonemason in ( Invercargill, and known as a contractor, ha3.been subject for some; time past to neuralgic pains[ which have| made her restless and "excitable. On;, account of these : - she^ ; v ,ha3 apparently ; been in the habit of i^n^chlorodyne as a| remedy, and has. been warned by her medical .; man of the danger. Oh Monday morning last, Whether from accident in the Tise, or from the increased violence of pain inducing deceased to take a stronger dose than ordinary,] she seems' to have^taken about four heavy | doses or .eight ordinary doses. Frpni the; time of discovering deceased's conaition at I about seven o'clock in the" indf iiing until t#o| o'clock in the afternoon she received unremit-i "ting medical attendance, but uTyain" " A'ii:'in-! quest was heid on the f olio wing day, ;when a; verdict was returned of accidental death by; an overdose t of chlorodyne. j Great preparations are now being made in) town for an. art exhibition in Ramsay's jHSU,! on the Queen's Birthday and >wo^foUbwingj days, in aid of the l BeMVi^imt From the lar^e number of promises received,! it is confidently Expected that tie" collection' of paintings, engravings, worki of artj, and curiosities gehef aliy, will be" of a first classj character whicfi will be; well worthy of an inspection. • A fe attire of the exhibition will be the combinatio.h with it of aii auction sale of such'articles as the exhibitors may be dis« posed to part with, the differehce between the marked jprice. and that realised going to the! institutidnl To J inak"e"this a success, Vre shall! "hpteyefr need" Queen's wvtfftfrf "tse" p»«. week having been" a succession of storms alternating of hah^ rain, and snow, with ! ! vefy! brief intervals of sunshine> r | The' atHeiitidn ? of tlfe'-Bluff Harbo or" Board has been taken up in the investigation 6f : £ I charge itiadie i by' i Ciptain ; 'Thoms6nv the har j bour-masterj.-againfsVthe senior pilot -for in^ subordination?- The 'result of the lerigthenec investigation' accruing on' the'charge hasbeei *ha duMtingof the pilot, accoiiipanjpd by laches oT Ma own. <■ j ' An: attempt to. get up a meeting for last night in town,- on the subject of harbour de| < fences in view of possible or probable inva<- I sion, was so far successful as that, out of 9^> ] persons who signed a requisition to his Worr ship the Mayor for the calling of the meeting ' — a requisition, by tne way, which his Wor-- | ship designated as." one of the moat numerous I and influential he ever remembered "—there seemed to be no, one present willing to own to having anything to do with it. 1 The meeting was from time to time reinforced by strol,- ' lers in search of an evening's amusement, i and ultimately the assemblage reached the < very' respectable number of sixty persons or ; thereabouts, and it may be honestly assumed that if the meeting were to be taken as mdi- j cative of the public opinion here upon the j question, such opinion is that the public cares | very little about it. As usual, the opportiu- j nity served for a display of bottled eloquence [ set free for the occasion, but on the jwhole there was perhaps more of banter and buf- , foonery than befits the consideration of any ' really important question. | In view, either of the threatened invasion ' or of some other extraordiuary contingency j likely to affect human life beyond tha table's of mortality, no less than three agents of life assurance societies have been on the ground during the past week, and one can hardly move about without being button-holed by one or other of them with the question "Have you got your. life assured?" Business must be a leetle dull just now in the large centres when such fierce coinpetitiob exists for the scraps to be picked up in poor Southland. The travelling agent of the' Australian Mutual having been successful enough,to " take a few lives" — some score or' two, I'believe — the vultures from afar, having scented the quarry,- have struck down upon it. How true it it that a man cannot keep a good thing to himself !