NEWS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2409, 25 April 1873, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Lyttelton, we are pleased to learn, possesses at the present time a thorougly effi. cient fire brigade, and should its services be required (which we trust will not be the case) they will be ready to do their duty. Fire brigades have in years before been formed there, but they have after a time collapsed. The new brigade, formed on its present basis, will, ho-.vcver, we think, long exist. Mr Sawden, foreman to the Lyttelton Municipal Council, is foreman of the brigade, and they have been out practising during the past month. The Borough Council have wisely dune all they can to foster the movement, and nothing now remains but to form a properly constituted fire police.

We learn that thirteen miles of the forming of the Ashburton railway is completed, and it is expected by the contractor that the remaining five miles will not occupy his men many weeks. The leases of the coal sites at the Rangiora Railway station were offered for sale by public auction by Mr J. G. Hawkes, auctioneer, on Thursday last. Each site was 30 x 30ft, and the leases 'for short periodsThe tipset rental was 10s per foot frontage per annum. None of the Bites were disposed of.

A correspondent writes—The level crossing on the Northern Railway at Boy's direct road should be done away with and gates erected before any accident happens. Not long ago a mob of horses stood on the crossing till the train, which had slackened speed, was close to them before they left the line. Yesterday the morning train had to stop, as a bullock attempted to charge the engine. There "are frequently cattle browsing outside the fence near the line, which take fright and make for the crossing as the train comes up. But for the carefulness of the engine drivers a serious accident might happen to the train if a beast were caught on the line. Before it is decided to run a late train during the week the precaution referred to ought to be adopted.

An event took place at Wiruma te Uke's house on the Maori reserve, Kaiapoi, on Sunday afternoon last, which we have great pleasure in recording, namely, the baptism of his old father, Te Muru, who, according to Maori calculation, must be nearly 100 years old. The old man was once a famous warrior and wizard. Having expressed a wish to make a public profession of Christianity he was for some time under instruction and being too infirm to go to the Maori church at Saint Stephen's, was baptised in his own house by the Bey J. W. Stack and received the name of Ezra. There was a large gathering of Maories present, who appeared to take great interest in the event.

A Hokitika paper reports that " the late races seem to have created quite a little sporting furore in our usually quiet town> and matches of all kinds are discussed. It has been proposed, also, to have another one day's meeting on the 24th of May, in honor of her Majesty's birthday. If this is carried out, we venture to say that it will be well attended. Whether the club can muster funds or not remains for them to see, but we fancy there would be no difficulty in their gathering sufficient for one day's sport, and leave a profit to their exchequer besides." The same paper of an earlier date reports : — " Last night was the settling night for the races just over, the place being the Cafe de Paris, and we are glad to say that everything passed off most satisfactorily, there being no grumbling of any description, and the fortunate winners receiving their cash promptly. The usual quantity of champagne and chaff was indulged in, though no further business was done ; but the success of the late meeting has thoroughly established confidence In the club, and will aid greatly in producing similarly satisfactory consequences at all future gatherings of the kind. The following are the amounts received by owners, less the usual commission :—Mr D. Carroll, £170; Mr M'Gee, £90 ; Mr Walters, £39 10s ; Mr Cassidy, £30 ; Mr Skelton, £30; Mr Ecclesfield, £15 : Mr Rae, £10; Mr Garforth, £9 10s; Maori, £5. As will be seen Grcymouth car-, ries off the lion's share, but Mr M'Gee's pickings are not bad, and Turpin's career on the Coast will rejoice the hearts of his Wanganui friends, and at the same time encou - rage them to send other of their horses on future occasions. With reference to our remarks the other day on the necessity of the formation of a Parliamentary Committee to consider all railway and other public works proposals, the "Wellington Independent " says :—" As we said before, when this proposal was first mooted, we think the idea is a very useful one, anri worth the attention of the Government and the House. There might be a difficulty in the appointing of the membersbut we certainly do not agree with the I " Press" that its members should be balI loted for. The ballot docs not always secure fair representation upon committees, and we much prefer the usual course of proposing the names of members in the motion for the committee, as then there is ample opportunity for challenging any unfairness or making objections. A good committee of the kind proposed by our contemporary would assist the Government, save the House much unprofitable debate, aid check very materially scrambling and leg'irslUss,"

The following paragraph is extracted from the " Hawke's Bay Herald" of the 16th :— A meeting of repudiating natives, together with some of their European instigators, was held at Paki Paki yesterday, with the view, it is said, of taking steps for entering upon legal proceedings to dispute the greater proportion of the native titles in the province What transpired at the meeting, however, we have not been able to ascertain, as no Europeans except Mr Russell and his friends were admitted, and all natives even who were believed to be wanting in sympathy with the repudiators were excluded. In reference to the assertion that the meeting was a private one, which, we believe, was made by Sir Eussell to some of the Europeans who sought admittance, it is sufficient to remark that there were over 200 natives present at it. It «vns a meeting, we conceive, of a very objectionable character. If the European ringleaders at such meetings cannot be dealt with by the high hand of the law as they ought to be. it will be well, at any rate, that their European fellow-settlers should let them perceive unmistakeably that they regard them as dangerous public enemies. By Dr Pollen joining the Ministry another fat Government appointment is, says the " Post." rendered vacant. The offices held by L)r Pollen is legion, amongst them being the nice little post of Immigration Officer for Auckland. Would it not suit Mr Creighton admirably ?

We call the attention of our athletic readers to the fact that the first football match of the season takes place to-morrow in Cranmer square. We hope to see a large attendance of members and good play. We notice by advertisement in this day's issue that the pair-oar race for Mr W. C. Maxwell's cup is postponed indefinitely. It will be remembered by our readers that the total value of the prizes won by the Christchurch Representative Crew at Wellington Regatta was £170, which sum has been divided in the following manner :— In the first place £10 was paid to the Union Rowing Club for the use of the Sabrina, and £20 respectively to the Heathcote, Union, and Canterbury Rowing Clubs. In the second place £20 being the prize for the sculler's race, won by Mr Dawson, was handed over to him, thus leaving a balance of £80 for division amongst the members of the Sabrina's crew, and also for a memento to Messrs Glassford as coach, Mr Crosbie as custodian, and Mr Davis as emergency man. This sum of £80 was expended as follows :— Mr Herdson chose a very handsome tea and coffee service, old English pattern, engraved) with a beautiful tea tray to match, bearing the following inscription—" Interprovincial regatta, 1873 ; held at Wellington, New Zealand. Champion four-oared race, without coxswain; prize, £150. Won by Sabrina. A trophy presented to J. Hastings Herdson, stroke oar." Above the inscription is Mr Herdson's crest and motto. Mr Rieese chose a handsome silver watch, bearing the same inscription as Mr'Herdson's salver. We are not informed as to the manner in which Messrs Dawson and Wafforn intend to receive their share of the prize, but it will most probably assume the form of a trophy. Each of the winning crew waa presented with a medal, of colonial gold, in the form of a Maltese cross. Each of the wings of the cross has engraved upon one side the names of the crew :— J. H. Herdson, stroke; Dawson, No 2 ; A. Reese, No 3 ; Wafforn, bow ; with the monogram of each in the centre of the cross. On the obverse of the medal is an. embossed boat, on the water, with the accompanying inscription— " Interprovincial regatta, Wellington, 1873." The coach of the crew, Mr Glassford, was presented with, an embossed gold medal having a St. Andrew's cross running through it in bas relief upon either side. On the face of it is an embossed boat, and on the obverse aide a shield, upon which is Mr Glaasford's monogram in embossed letters. Around the shield is a band with a suitable inscription engraved upon it. As the custodian of the boats Mr R. P. Crosbie was presented with a smaller medal of the same design as the others presented to the crew. The following is the inscription upon it; —" Presented to R. P. Crosbie, Esq., custodian, by the winning crew," and on the reverse, " Interprovincial regatta, Wellington, New Zealand, 1873." The various articles were manufactured to order by Messrs Petersen and Co., and fully bear out the reputation already achieved in this line by the firm. The inscription on the salver presented to Mr Herdson was executed by Mr N. Wolfe, and is one of the best specimens of the engraver's art we have seen here.

The sensational drama of " Lost in London " was produced last night at the Theatre Royal. The piece was placed upon the stage in a very creditable manner, and some new and beautiful scenery was painted expressly for it by Mr Willis, which was loudly applauded, especially the representation of the coal-mine. The characters in the drama were throughout very well sustained, notably that of Nelly Armroyd, by Mrs Walter Hill. Mr (Jollier was very effective as Job Armroyd, playing with considerable power and pathos, his efforts being repeatedly acknowledged by loud plaudits from the audience. Mr Walter Hill in the character of Benjamin Blinker, a London tiger, created considerable merriment by his humorous acting, while Mr Clinton deserves praise for the excellent manner in which he played the part of Gilbert Featherstone. Mrs McGowan displayed considerable comic power in the role of Tiddy Wragglethorpe, and Miss Lizzie Bushe was natural and unaffected in the character of Florence. The performance concluded by a farce called "Up in the World," in which Mr M'Gowan, as a cockney greengrocer, kept the house in a fever of hilarious enjoyment from its commencement to its close, being ably seconded by Mrs M'Gowan. The same bill will be repeated this evening. We yesterday inspected at the studio of Mr A. B. Cambridge, a very creditable specimen of colonial art in the shape of an oil painting , of a resident'in Christchurch, in which Mr Cambridge has been most successful. The work has been executed to order aad will be on view for a few days. It is well worth inspection. Yesterday we noticed a long train of twenty-three trucks leaving the Kaiapoi Railway station, loaded with grain, which would, we are informed, amount to 1610 sacks. The large store at the station still contains about 2500 eacks. The following appointments in the Immi" gration department are gazetted :—A. A Smith, barrack-master ; Sarah Smith, matron; W. G. Brittan, jun. collector of bills and assistant immigration officer ; C. T. Maekew, clerk ; J. Plimmer, quarantine station keeper; Mrg Plimmer, matron,

The resignation of alajor Sir J. C. Wilson. C.8.. X.5.1., Canterbury Militia, and Volunteers has been gazetted.

In a speech to his constituents n short time ago, Mr Murray, M.H.R., eaid :—" By courtesy or good nature Mr Vogel wns allowed (during the month that Mr Stafford held office) to retain the Ministerial residence, and there he gave regular dinners to his friends, or those he wished to make his friends."' Mr Murray proceeded : —

" Those dinners. I believe, cost about £50 or £60 each, and generally thirteen or fourteen attended them. Totes had to be bought, and there were but too many ready to sell them. This was well known to be the case, and the Stafford Ministry were ousted only because they would not adopt dishonorable practices. Oα this ground the Governor should have granted a dissolution, but it was well known that he had a stroug leaning to Mr Vogel, and that might be accounted for by what was reported regarding that which touches the feelings of most men—the touching of the pocket. It was said that Mr Sewell had refused to pay certain bills which it had been customary for Mr Vngel to pay —he had refused to pay, not a washerwoman's bill, but a tailor's, or something of the kind. Mr Stafford advised a dissolution, but Governor Bowen was not like the Roman Governor when Paul appealed to Ctcsar — the latter said, 'To Caesar shalt thou go ; * but when Stafford appealed, from amidst the prostitution and corruption in which he was placed, to the people, the British Governor said, 'To the people thou shalt not go ?" Many of the members had no desire, in fact did not dare to go to their constituents. In the House there were some seven newspaper representatives, all Government supporters, and he might mention some £7200 was paid last year almost solely to Government organs. He believed he was correct in saying that at least one-third of the members were monetarily interested (in the existence of the Vogel Government), so that there was no wonder at Stafford, or any honest man, being unable to hold the reins of Government." The Canterbury Rifle Association's matches will be resumed at the Heathcote Valley Range to-morrow at 1 p.m., weather permitting. The captains of the international teams arc requested to have their men on the ground in good time.

The Lottie Magnet Troupe re-appeared last night at the Canterbury Music Hall, with undiminished success. The audience was a numerous one, and testified by their hearty plaudits their satisfaction at the return of the Troupe. Lottie, the principal star of the evening, appeared in two acts, the first a highly sensational and daring performance on the single trapeze, in which, by her inimitable grace and intrepidity, she brought down thunders of applause. Her second appearance was in conjunction with her brothers Frank and Victor in their extraordinary performance on the treble trapeze. In this act each performer went through a rapid succession of daring evolutions, each feat eclipsing the one which preceded it, and again the audience were lost in wonder at the fearlessness and grace of Lottie and her coadjutors. Messrs Buckley and Holly revived the ever popular " Golden Shoe Dance," which was enthusiastically applauded, and subsequently convulsed the audience by their grotesque acting and singing in a comic trio entitled " The Military Lunatics," in which their efforts were ably seconded by Mr R. Phillips. This gentleman was also very successful in a motto song, " While I live, I'll crow." Our old favorite, Mr Joseph Small) was applauded to the echo in several capital comic songs, the " Unfortunate Man " being of course vociferously called for and applauded proportionately. The performance concluded with a screaming nigger farce, entitled " Lee Miserables," in which Messrs Buckley, Holly, and Victor were exceedingly funny. A change of programme will be introduced this evening.