NEWS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2492, 26 April 1871, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A slight shock of earthquake was felt in Timaru on Wednesday last. A contract has been entered into for making tbe borings to be taken in preparation for throwing a bridge across the Waitaki. The usual monthly inspection of the headquarters corps of volunteers by the officer commanding the district, which was postponed on account of the inclemency of the weather on Tuesday last, will take place this evening at the Drillshed at 7 p.m. The half-yearly conference in connection with the Canterbury Sunday School Union will take place to-morrow evening at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Lichfield street. The chair will be taken at half-past seven o'clock by the Rev. A F. Douglas, tbe subject for discussion being " The Teacher's Preparation Class, its advantages, and how to conduct it." The discussion will be opened by Mr Patten. A local contemporary informs us that a portion of human remains, supposed to be those of one of the men missing from the Ottawa's boat, was found on Saturday morning last, near the Washdyke Lagoon. They consisted of a right leg with a boot on the foot, and a part of the spine. The boot has been identified as similar to that worn by the man Webb, if reliance can be placed on what has been stated by some of the crew of the Ottawa. The official inquiry will be resumed at the Customs to-day. Our Timaru contemporaiy informs us that on Tuesday last Waimate was visited with a violent sou-wester, lasting all day. About mid-day it appeared to be at its worst. At Mr Brace's saw-mill the shaft of the chimney for the engine was blown down, the iron of the shed was torn off, and one of the sheets struck Mr Bruce on the head, and cut him severely, rendering him insensible. Dr Waitt, from Oamaru, was telegraphed for (as Dr Caro had left on Monday) to dress the wound, which was very severe, but not dangerous. Tbe bazaar in aid of the funds of the Total Abstinence Society will open this day, at the Music Hall, at noon, and will remain open till 7 p.m., and in the evening trial of " Sir John Barleycorn " will be performed. The bazaar will also be open to-morrow, and in the evening some musical selections -will be performed by several ladies and gentlemen. The hall has been transformed into a number of stalls, appropriately decorated ; and there is no doubt but that tbe fair stallkeepers will be able to add a considerable sum, by their exertions, to the fund of the society. A meeting of those gentlemen favourable to.the establishment of a gymnasium in Christchurch will take place to-morrow evening at White's Hotel, at eight o'clock. It has long been a matter of surprise that in Christchurch, where we have so many young men favourable to athletic sports and exercises, an institution of this character should not have been established. As it is necessary for the efficient working of the gymnasium that it should start on a fair basis, it is hoped that a good attendance will be secured on the occasion referred to. A building in every way suitable for the purpose is under offer, aud a complete set of apparatus can be also procured in Christchurcll for a moderate sum, so that the preliminary steps are in a fair way of completion, and it only needs those interested to come forward and put their names down as subscribers, so that the institution may start with a fair chance of success, and not in the spasmodic manner which has characterised former attempts in this direction. A very efficient working committee has,.we understand, been formed, and should the meeting of to-morrow evening be the success it is anticipated, we may hope to see the gymnasium in working order for the approaching winter season. A meeting of the.Akaroa and Wainui Road Board was held in the Survey office, Akaroa, on Saturday, 22nd April. Members present —G. H. Saxton (chairman), Inman, Johnson, Piper, and Hodgson. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Tbe following tenders were received for forming the remaining portion of the Little River road in Barry's Bay : — Edmondson and Davis, per chain, 275; A. Reid, 275; G. Breitmayer, 28s ; F. Hahns, 29s 6d ; J. Duxbury, 325; D. LeCompte, 38s; Burgh Brothers, 38s. The Board decided to accept the tender of Edmondson and Davis. A letter was received from the Secretary for Public Works, relative to the payment of 25 per cent. General Government Grant, £125; and 25 per cent. Provincial, £62 10s. The Engineer stated the latter amount was an error, that it ought to have been £125, and he had written to the Government to tbat effect. A letter was received from Messrs Aylmer and Berry, requesting permission to lay down a continuation of the jetty tramway as far as their store. The Engineer was instructed to inform Messrs Aylmer and Berry that tbe Board bad no objection to their laying down the tramway in question, provided it does not interfere with the public traffic. The Engineer was instructed to call for tenders for clearing bush on the new line of road to Pigeon Bay ; also, for metalling portions of the main road to the head of the bay, and removing slips on the Barry's Bay road. The Board then adjourned until Saturday, May 6th.

It will be recollected that owing to some bags of letters by the January San Francisco mail not. coming to hand, they were supposed to have been burnt in the fire which occurred on the Pacific Railway, by which several of the cars were destroyed. That this was not the case is proved by the following extract from the Wellington Independent of April 21, which says:—"We are informed by direction of the Postmaster-General, that the portion of the January mail which, not having arrived last month, was supposed to have been burnt, was received by the City of Melbourne. It reached San Francisco the day after the departure of the steamer with the mail received last month." An occurrence took place recently which mothers will do well to guard against. It appears that a child of Mr Munnings, of Oxford terrace, in playing with a green covered collar box chewed and swallowed a portion of the paper covering. Shortly afterwards the child exhibited all tbe symptoms of poisoning, retching frequently, aud also being very drowsy. An emetic was promptly administered, and after continued retehiug for some time, the child recovered. The paper has been analysed by Dr. Coward, aud is found to contain arsenic and copperas in quantity sufficient to cause death in a child of tender years, and there is very little doubt but that if an emetic had not been promptly given, fatal results would have occurred in the case referred to. As collar boxes of the kind spoken of arc very common in almost every family, it is necessary that extreme caution should be used in leaving them within the reach of children. The drama of •' The Time and tbe Hour " was repeated last evening at the Theatre Royal to a fair house. It is by one of the joint authors of *' Black Sheep," and bears a strong resemblance in some parts of the plot to that drama, although the situations are not nearly so strongly marked. The weight of the piece mainly rests on Mr Steele, who plays the character of Sir Philip Deverell, a baronet, who has committed a series of forgeries, and completes the list of his crimes by murdering the supposed possessor of them, which, by a train of circumstantial evidence, is diverted to another person throughout the whole piece. Mr Steele played the somewhat difficult part exceedingly well, and deserves credit for his truthful rendering of it. As Maria Beck, the woman who loves the crime-stained baronet, through all, Mrs Steele brought out the salient points of the character in a manner which showed she had a thorough conception of the author. The other characters were fairly filled. To-night " Jessie Brown " will be produced. A large and influential meeting of the ratepayers of the Avon Road Board district, resident in the immediate vicinity of St, Albans, Knightstown, and the surrounding neighborhood, was held at the St. Alban's Schoolroom last evening pursuant to advertisement ; C. R. Blakiston, Esq., in tbe chair. Mr Dixey, having spoken at some length as to the objects of the meeting, and having adverted to the bad state of the roads and drains in St. Albans, was followed by Dr Florance, who explained in detail the various reasons for calling the meeting, aud why tbe inhabitants of that portion of the district were dissatisfied with the management and proceedings of the present Board, aud after reading a letter received by him from tbe Board, urged that without the formation of a new Road Board, justice would not be done to those portions of the district more particularly referred to iv the advertisement con vening the meeting. Mr M. Hart having indicated the course to be adopted in order that a separate Road Board district should be constituted under The Roads Ordinance, 1860, it was unanimously resolved, on the motion of Mr Cooper, seconded by Mr Hinton—" That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable that a portion of the existing Avon Road Board district should be formed into a separate district, and that tbe boundaries of such new district should be fixed and ascertained at a future meeting of the ratepayers, to be held this day week." Mr Cooper then proposed, and Dr. Florance seconded—" That a committee of seven be formed to carry the foregoing resolution into effect, five to forma quorum, and that such committee consist of Messrs Blakiston, Florauce, Dickiuson, Price, Dixey, Hinton, aud the mover," which was carried unanimously. The committee having appointed Mr Hart as secretary, arranged to meet this evening at the Reading Room to take the requisite steps for carrying into effect the object mentioned in the first resolution, and the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman. The English peds were again at work yesterday afternoon at the U.C.C. ground, and attracted a goodly number of spectators, their splendid style and pace being universally admired. Bird, who it will be remembered has made a match against time to run twenty miles in two hours, took a spin of eight miles over the ground. He was in heavy training costume, and the time made must be considered very good, considering that he is not yet in form, and that this is only preliminary training. His time for the eight miles run yesterday, as stated, in heavy training costume, was a fraction over 6mins. 4secs. per mile. We understand that the backers of time are very confident of his inability • "to do the distance, so much so that they have offered to double the stake ; and on the other hand, Bird is equally confident of doing the distance in the time and having something to spare. With respect to the forthcoming athletic gathering to be got up under the auspices of the English pedestrians, a very attractive programme is in course of preparation, introducing events which have never yet been brought out in Canterbury, and as the champion runners will be handicapped by a local committee, we hope that our amateurs will not lose this opportunity of measuring their 1 powers against these really excellent runners. Mr Hewitt, the third member of the team, of whose style and pace report speaks highly, will arrive per s.s. Taranaki, from the North and it is expected that some very excellent running will be exhibited. \ The revenue of the Province of Nelson for the ensuing financial year is estimated at £80.000. The Daily Times of the 20th says—We have no telegrams to-day regarding, the ! doings of his Excellency the Governor. We note the fact with a feeling of relief. i A contemporary tells us that a gentleman I writes from a small town in the west of Scotland that a manufacturer there is nowerecting a large range of buildings, expressly : for working up New Zealand fiax into all ; manners of fabrics to which the fibre can be 'ttU-aecl.

The Timaru Herald informs us that a portion of the pneumatic apparatus for the Rangatata bridge has been landed and sent up to the site, and the remainder will arrive n a few days. By all means, says the Wanganui Chronicle, be a" troublesome person, and you are sure to be provided for. If you move quietly on, mi-iding your own business, nobody will care a straw for you. Not loug ago Topia, because he had been in arms against the Government, was made a Native Agent with a very good salary, considering that. he.had nothing to do. and indeed was not wanted to do anything. But the salary was not enough. He has got a house and an acre of ground, near the Hospital, presented to him. Topia comes to Wanganui occasionally, and the Government fancy be requires a town house, and of course he has got it. Let us point the moral by a contrast. Colonel M'Donnoll I spent the best years of his life in the colo- j vial service. He had his faults and failings, as we all have, but he was ever faithful to the Government. He cannot get the slightest recognition of his services, although solemn promises have been made to him agaiu and agaiu. " Look on that picture and on this." We (Argus) have received a copy of the Gazetta dA Italia of the 26th of February. It bestows the utmost prominence and its largest type upon a letter from its correspondent at Rome announcing that the Jesuits, foreseeing the suppression of their order, and its expulsion from Italy, have decided upon leaving it, and will take the Pope with them. His departure, it is said, would take place at Easter, aud the Island of Corsica had been fixed upon as his place of residence with tbe concurrence of M.M. Thiers and Arago. A French ship would be placed at the disposal of the Pontiff ; and the parti pretre in Italy is described as entertaining hopes of a foreign intervention and of a domestic insurrection on behalf of the voluntary exile. All the cardinals and bishops, together with a considerable portion of tbe Roman nobility, were expected to accompany the Pope to Corsica, "It cannot be denied," observes the correspondent of the Gazzetta, " that the departure of the Pontiff will be a serious embarrassment to Italy. If no foreign intervention should take place, aud the Pope should die abroad, his successor would be hostile to Italy, and the slave of the Jesuits. On the other hand, if the Government should oppose his departure, to which he is evidently driven by the iniquitous pressure of the Jesuits, it would confirm in the eyes of all Europe the pretended imprisonment of his Holiness in the Vatican by the Italian Government." Baron yon Arnim bad been recalled from Rome to Versailles, and it is believed he will be appointed German ambassador in Paris. Active progress was being made with the buildings destined for the sittings of the Italian Parliament in Rome. Iv an article ou the coming session of the Assembly, the Daily Times makes the following remarks : —The Lyttelton Times is very anxious about Mr Stafford, and it is evident tbat, politically, it would be very glad to see his back. It is annoyed seemingly at being unable to find fault with bis policy, because in it are embodied the leading ideas of the Government colonising scheme. Could MiStafford only be got rid of, there would be some chance of a coalition Ministry ; but so long as he remains in the Assembly, he will lead a strong party in favor of retrenchment, and opposed to political jobbery and corruption. It appears obvious that a reconstruction of the Cabinet will have to take place when Parliament meets. It is certain that the Government will nominate Mr Dillou Bell to the Speakership, and that no opposition will be offered to his nomination. Dr Featherston has already resigned, and the friends of the Premier make no concealment of the fact that he has given way, and that so far from being competent to continue as leader of the House, his retirement frOm political life altogether would be tbe cause of unmixed satisfaction to them. It is publicly reported that Ministers are desirous that the Hon. Mr Hall should join them, and we hear that steps were taken recently to ascertain whether he would be acceptable to their supporters. We are not aware whether overtures have yet been made to Mr Hall upon the subject, but should they be made, we have no hesitation in expressing our belief that Mr Hall will at once decline to consider the offer. It is improbable tbat Mr Hall will desert his former chief, as, in the event of a new administration being I formed with Mr Stafford at its head, he will | likely accept the Colonial Treasurership. In order to fill up the vacant places in the Cabinet, Ministers must recruit from the ranks of their own supporters, as they can scarcely expect that others will join a shaky Government. Tbe New Zealand Herald relates the following remarkable phenomenon: —The p.s. Duke of Edinburgh had a narrow escape from destruction on Friday night, when between Bream Tail aud Wangarei Heads. Captain Farquhar gave tbe following particulars of the affair to our reporter : —" The vessel was midway between Bream Tail and Wangarei Heads, and the night was dark as pitch, illuminated, however, at short intervals by vivid flashes of lightning. The vessel was in the midst of a heavy squall, when the attention of myself, the mate, and passengers, was directed to a meteoric display high in the air. It rapidly descended, increasing in size as it came down, leaving a brilliant tail behind it, illuminating the atmosphere all around it. As it approached tbe vessel, it had all the appearance ot a red-hot mass of iron, and seemed to be about the size of a large cask. If made a loud hissing noise, and threw out showers of sparks in all directions, while the air was filled with a strong sulphureous smell. When some hundred yards above tbe vessel we all "for tbe time felt unable to speak or more, fearing that it would fall upon our deck Had it done so so the vessel must havo been wrapped in a sheet of flame, and have sunk instantly. Fortunately, however, it descended into the water, about 150 yards on our beam, to the relief of all. In striking the water a loud hissing sound was emitted, and then all was wrapped in darkness as before." It will thus be seen that the vessel had a very narrow escape from the falling meteor, which, by Captain Farqtibar's account, must have weighed very many hundredweights."