NEWS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 3223, 30 December 1875, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Cantbbbuby Deutscheb Vebein.—The

annual picnic of the Verein will be held at Mr Tish'e farm, North road, on New Year's day.

Stamp Fee Act, 1875.—The New Zealand Gazette of Dccc mber 24th contains rules, regulations, &c, issued under the Stamp Fee Act, 1875. --

Woodend iSpobts.—The programme of these sports appears in to-day's advertising columns. In addition to the athletic games on Monday, there are also six horse races.

; Ohoka Spobts.—ln the pony race, since the ponies were measured, the prize goes to Mr Middleton's Tommy, Mr Seaton's Dick Turpin second.

Revising Babristeb.—His Excellency the Governor has accepted the resignation of Mr -W. S. -Moorhonse as revising barrister under the Building and Land Societies' Act, 1866, and the Friendly Societies' Act, 1867.

Kaiapoi Borough Council.—On Tuesday evening the ordinary meeting was adjourned, as there was not a quorum, of members present. Those in attendance were the Mayor, Crs Farnham and Blackwell.

Telegraphic.—fhe Biogarooma is expected to leave Hokitika this day, at 8 p.m. Telegrams for the; Australian colonies or Europe,>ia Java cable, will be received at the telegraph'office for transmission to Hokitika up til! 7.30 p.m. this evening.

Obphan Asylum, Lyttelton. —It is notified'in the Neiv Zealand Gazette that the Orphan Asylum, Lyttelton, shall be, from and after the Ist of January, an I industrial school for the purposes set forth in the 73rd section of the Neglected and Criminal Children's Act, 1867.

New Zealand Statistics.—We have to acknowledge the receipt of Statistics of the colony of New Zealand for the year 1874, with abstract from the agricultural statistics of 1875, compiled from official records in the Registrar-General's office.

1.0.0.F, M.U.—A special meeting of the Loyal City of Christchurch Lodge, will be held this evening, to consider the desirability of holding the lodge meetings weekly, and to consider the appointment of medical officers. -

Theatbe Royal.—Tbe pantomime, preceded ly "The Handsome Husband," drew a crowded house last night, and the audience seemed thoroughly to enjoy both pieces. Today the pantomime will be played in the afternoon at 2.30 p.m., the doors being open at 2 p.m., thus affording those who cannot attend in the evening,, more especially the little folks, an opportunity of seeing it.

Grand Lodge of Good Templar&— At the meeting of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars held yesterday at Dunedin, the following officers were appointed—Chief, Bro Adams ; counsellor, Bro Mills ; vice, Bro Turn ball ; secretary, Bro Cameron ; treasurer, Bro Carr? Chaplin, Bro Christie ; marshal, Bro Price; member of Executive, Bro Andrews.

Representative Firing.—The firing for representatives at the Colonial Prize Firing, 1876, has been going on dnring the past few days, and would have been completed ypsterday had the weather been favorable. The Cavalry have yet to- fire, which will complete the Canterbury corps.

Accident at Ohoka —On Monday a serious accident l«appened to a child ten years of age, belonging to Mr Doyne, who is in the employ of Mr E. G. Wright on the Eyreton railway. He was. bringing in bis family on a trolly to the sports, when the trolly jumped over a stone which had been placed on the metals. The child was thrown off and pitched in the course of the trolly, so that the wheels ran over its arm. Mr Ovenden, surgeon, was quickly called in, and bound up the fracture. Wesleyan Chubch, Leeston. — The quarterly meeting of this circuit was held on the 28th. There was a fair attendance. The financial statement went to show tbat there is a balance in hand of between £3 and £4 over expenditure. In the evening the Bey W. Lee, of Lyttelton, delivered an interesting lectnre on " Courtship and Marriage. ,, At the conclnsiop, a cordial vote of thanks was tendered to Mr Lee, "for his hiTmoTfoae, important," arid practical suggestieae.", MrPeterWillßjOf prefiiijfect at the organ. .? r ,

Lincoln Spokts.—A. meeting of the committee was held at Sluis' Hotel, Lincoln, on Tuesday evening last Mr Jas. Satchelor occupied the chair. The subscription lints handed in show close on £10 collected, besides several lists not yet sent in. Last year's programme was then gone through, and with a few alterations, and the exclusion of the walking race, was adopted. The prize list was considerably increased in amount, and Messrs Batch el or and Blair were deputed to expend £5" in the purchase of toys for,the children. After some other routine business had been gone through, the meeting adjourned.

Lxttelton Eeoatta.—The Xarifa yacht, owned by Mr Fixmio, of Wellington, sailed from that port on the 24th. She was cot seen by the Tanpo on her passage down, but may be hourly expected with the present* wind. No doubt the thick weather has prevented her arrival to-day. Through the kindness of the contractors both the breakwaters have been placed at the disposal of the Lyttelton Regatta.Comfflittee for. New. Year's. Day, and they have determined to rail off a space at the end of each, from which a splendid view of the regatta can be obtained. A charge of Is per head, children half-price, will be made for admittance to the outer end of the Gladstone Pier, where seats will be provided, and 6d will be charged for the Naval Point breakwater. The money taken will go towards the regatta fund.

Debtobs and Creditors Act, A proclamation apprara in the Gazette constituting districts under the Debtors and and Creditors Act, 1875. The Canterbury district is bounded on the north by the Marlborough district, towards the southeast by the sea; towards the south-west by the south bank of the Ashburton river; and a right line due north-west to the summit of the main range of the Southern Alps; and towards the north-west by the Westland district; together with the adjacent islands. The Timaru and Oamara district lies 6outh of the Canterbury- district, and. includes the northern portion of the province of Otago. Another proclamation appoints certain newspapers gazettes under the Act. For the the Canterbury district the Press has been appointed; for the Timaru and Oamaru district the Timiru Herald.

Kaiapoi Spobts.—A meeting of the sports committee was held at the Borough Council Chamber, on Tuesday evening. Present —Messrs Messrs C. Dudley (pre--Bidenf),iMiddleton. Macfarlane, C. B. Dudley, Beharrell, Fraser, B. Moore, Monk, Parnham, Wood, DudeoD, and Sims. The chairman stated the object of the meeting was to decide whether the sports should be held on January Ist, or postponed to another day, as had been suggested. Mr Middleton considered there was not time to arrange a programme and give publicity to the sports if held on New Year's Day. In three weeks or a month hence a better day might be selected, and one or two horse races held in conjunction with them. It was understood that Mr F. Buseston would lend his paddocks for this purpose. It was, after some discussion, agreed that in consequence of the Lyttelton regatta on New Year's Day the sports be postponed, and a meeting be held on Tnesday week, to arrange for a, date and to settle preliminaries.

Lectubb.—The Bey P. P. Agnew delivered a lecture last evening, at the Music Hall, on "Truth stranger than fiction, or the early sufferers and martyrs of Botany Bay." His Worship occupied the chair, and the hall was crowded. The rev lecturer, who for over twenty years was Government chaplain in New South Wales, described the introduction of convictism into that colony with its attendant horrors, and the miserable provision made in the transport ships for the accommodation of the prisoners, and their subsequent transfer-to Cockatoo Island with similar discomfort. He also gave anecdotes of the peculiarities of noted prisoners, with the satisfactory results in some instances attained after their release. The indignation of one man who had been sentenced to be hanged and who had received a reprieve was also amusingly told. Throughout, the attention of his audience was maintained by the lecturer, who, while describing incidents truthfully, presented the light and shade of his experiences, creating and sustaining the interest of the audience during the recital of his anecdotes. The lecture was merely an introductory one to a description of more thrilling scenes in future lectures; and from the earnest attention given by the large number present, the succeeding lectures will no doubt be looked for with very great interest. The lecture was concluded by the rev gentleman reading a piece of poetry written by a prisoner on the eve of hie departure from Cockatoo Island. Before the audience separated, a hearty vote of thanks was passed to his Worship for presiding.

Accident. —The Guardian of the 27th says :—A mysterious aDd melancholy affair was discovered oil Saturday. While a party of pic-nickers were strolling on the beach in the neighbourhood of Tomahawk, they picked up two men's hats, apparently washed in by the tide, and about 300 yards farther on two shirts and two guns were picked up. This was about half-past 1, and under the impression that the owners were bathing in' the vicinity, the matter received but casual attention. However, when after 4 o'clock no one turned up to claim them, the search was renewed, and two sets of clothing were found on the ledge of some rocks a short distance on. There was nothing to lead to the identification of those who belonged to them, but in the trousers pocket of one was a silver dog collar with the engraving on it, "I am Harry Prince's dog," which, it is known that gentleman missed some time ago. The matter was reported to the police, by whom, with some civilians, a diligent search was made yesterday, bat without any satisfactory result. A settler in the district spoke to two young men, each about seventeen years of age, early on Saturday morning, and, after their asking where good rabbit-shooting was to be found, they proceeded in the direction of where the clothes were found. Their names have not yet been ascertained. It is conjectured that they had stripped to wade out to some rocks with only their hats on, and been drowned. This locality is exceedingly dangerous, both on account of treacherous currents and quicksands, a gentleman named Begg having been drowned there, and another with difficulty extricated himself from a quicksand. One of the guns, which was loaded, had a hole in the barrel as large as a pea.

B|The Titanic Company.—The New Zealand Times says : — Shareholders in the Titanic Steel and Iron Company may like to know how their property (which is regarded by some as a fanciful dream) is getting along. The works are sitnated in .Taranaki, about three-quarters of a mile from the centre of the town, which may be taken to beat the boathouse or landing place. In dimensions the works are huge, the principal feature being the smelting apparatus—a large circular brick building with doors leading into the furnace, which is fed with the iron sand from the top. Attached to this is the blasting machine, a most complicated arrangement, and being worked by an engine quite as complicated, it would be lather difficult to give a description of these works which might be guaranteed to convey a correct impression of their magnitude. The cost must hare been enormous, and there are not wanting shrewd men (who affect to "know you know ,, ) that look upon this heavy cost as something regarding which shareholders had need to be sorrowful— they think in fact that it will prove so much money wasted, as they donbt whether they will be able to work the sand into iron after all. Tests made in the old country of the very best iron sand procurable from Taranaki have not turned out so remarkably satisfactory. Others have high hopes of ultimate success, when the machinery is got fairly to work. To this end operations are now beiog pushed ahead, with a view of getting the works in order, bo as to commence operations next month. The furnace is finished, and has been fired for some time in order to dry it, and the apparatus for creating the blast is nearly finished —indeed, all tbe internal, arrangements are eompltte, and all that is wasted is, that it should be roofed in. A large number of

bricks have been made with which to commence operations, and brickmaking is still being continued. Iα case it should not be understood what the manufacture at bricks has to do with emelting iron sand, it May be mentioned that the sand is pat into the far* nace in the form of bricks for greater convenience and to facilitate operations, The sand which is carted from the beach into the yard is there mixed with a clayey anbBtance, formed into bricks, which are dried in sheds in the ustfal manner^and then baked in the kiln. These bricks are exceedingly heavy, and haye a very poliehed metallic appearance. It is intended; to mix with them some of the rough iroh ore obtained from the Miranda and elsewhere, when the first experiment is made with the big furnace. It is supposed that this iron ore will waist the process materially. The end of next month will see the works ready for a fair start.