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Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 215, 23 August 1878, Page 5

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Athen_eum Committee will be held at 8 o'clock on Monday evening. The annual meeting of the Matau Boad Board on Wednesday lapsed for want of a quorum. The adjourned meeting will be held at 4.30 p.m. on Monday. At a meeting of the Heriot School Committee, held on the 14th inst., the vote for member of the Education Board was given in favour of Mr M. J. S. Mackenzie; We understand Mr Brydone, manager for the N.Z. and A. Land Company, visited the site of the proposed new township at Four-mile Creek on Tuesday last, and gave instructiona as to the plan. "We believe the sections will be offered for sale so soon as the j>lan.s can be got ready. A man named Hicks, a labourer, has been missing from here since Tuesday last. It appears he had been drinking heavily. He stayed in the Crown Hotel on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday morning it was found he had gone, leaving his boots and stockings behind. He has not since been heard of, but it is said prints of naked feet were found leading in the direction of the river. The up coach from Balclutha to Clinton was somewhat delayed on Tuesday last, owing to' the king-bolt giving way. The driver (Alf Short), on observing the danger, immediately brought his horses, to a standstill (a feat, by the way, easily accomplished at present, the wonder being how he manages to get them along through the mud at all), and the damage was repaired as speedily as possible. It was lucky that he had just entered with his coach upon one of those few patches of metal that are occasionally found on this road, or the body of the coach would probably have sunk considerably in the mud, and have made it a difficult matter to effect a repair, j As it was, beyond a little delay, nothing serious resulted.

Our Otaria readers will observe by an advertisement that the Rev. C. Connor will conduct public worship there on Sabbath, Ist September, at 11 o'clock. Tuesday was the last day for receiving votes of School Committees for a member of the Education Board in room of Mr de Lautour. The result will be known at the meeting of the Board on the 29th, but the voting is reported to be as follows :— Mr Begg, 23 ;Mr Ramsay, 19 ;Mv Mackenzie, 4or 5 ; Mr John M'JSTeil and Professor Salmond, 1 each. The installation of officers of the Home of Love Lodge, 1.0.G-.T., Clinton, took place on Monday, the 12th inst., as follows : — Bro Samuel Stephens, WCT ; Bro F. Lange, WVT ; Bro Bateman, PWCT ; Bro James Todd, WS ; Bro H. G. Clifford, WT ; Bio Walter Bell, WFS . Bro Thomas Conway, WM ; Bro C. Connor, WC; Sister Lange, WRHS ; Sister Dunn, WLHS; Bro J. Maitland, WIG; Bro William Martin, WOG; Bio C. Lange, WAS; Sister Malcolm, WDM; Bro Templeton, W. Captain. Mr Wilson, butcher here, met with a nasty accident on Monday last. When engaged making sausages his right hand got entangled in tho machine, and the points of the second and third fingers were chopped clean off at .the first joint. He immediately went home, and Dr Smith being sent for, found it necessary to place his patient under chloroform in order to dress the wounds. The second bones of both fingers, we believe* had to be removed, and ifc will be some weeks before Mr Wilson can resume active work,

A party of pleasure-seekers had a narrow escape from drowning in the river here on Sunday last. vVhen pulling up stream at the most rapid part of the current beneath the bridge here one of the rowlocks of their small boat broke, and the boat struck smartly against one of the piers. Some held on to the pier ; the others paddled ashore with the boat, which was so damaged that it was about full of water when the bank was reached. The mishap was noticed, and a boat put off to rescue those left upon the pier. We learn that Mr W. J. Moore, of Kaihiku, has been appointed to the post of head teacher of the Kensington School. As this is a steadily increasing school and now numbers an attendance of close on 400 scholars, we have reason to congratulate Mr Moore on his appointment. We hope the Kaihiku Committee will be fortunate enough in securing as a successor a gentleman in every way as efficient as Mr Moore. It is a matter of regret that the scale of salaries fixed by the Education Board based on that of the average attendance is such as to cause good teachers in the country to give up the schools there and move towards the centres bf population, where they can depend upon a more regular attendance. The School Committee of Warepa met on the 19th inst. ; present— Messrs Milligan (in the chair), Cooper, Christie, and the clerk. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. Mr Christie (treasurer) reported that ho had made the payments authorised by former minutes, and that he had received a cheque for last quarter of L 5 5s from the Board for school purposes. The Committee uuanin.ou.sly elected Mr 1. C. Begg, Dunedin, to the vacant seat ou the Education Board. Two small gates on the garden fence we.*e ordered to be put up. It was agreed that the next readings take place on the evening of Friday, the 30th inst.

The annual meeting of the Crichton Road Board was held on Wednesday last. There were present Messrs Morrison (in the chair), Bryce, Clark, and Civrrie. Mr T. C. Bishop wrote, resigning his seat at the Board, which was accepted. Mr James Bishop was elected to fill the vacancy. The following appointments were then made :— Mr John Brvce to be Chairman and Treasurer ; Messrs Clark and Currie to be Inspectors of Works ; and Mr Anderson to be Auditor. It was then proposed to fix the rate at one shilling in the pound, as advertised. Mr Clark moved an amendment that it be ninepence in the pound, but on being put to the vote the amendment was lost, and the shilling rate confirmed. A numb.r of accounts were passed for payment, after which Mr Calder, M.C.C. for the riding, had a conference with the Board in reference to the wants of the district. This concluded the business, and the Board then adjourned. Our Waipahi correspondent ['writes on August 20 as follows :— The weather since the late fearful snowstorm has been fine with slight frosts. The snow has all disappeared where it did not drift, but some of the wreaths are still very deep. The farmers are all busy ploughing, which has been very much retarded by the unusually severe winter. The roads are so bad that the coach to Tapanui now leaves here at noon instead of 4. p.m., as heretofore, consequently the Dunedm mail takes two days to reach Tapanui. The afternoon train, for the same reason, does not now leave Clinton till 4.20, so as to give the Balclutha coach a chance to arrive there without greater cruelty to the poor horses than is absolutely necessary to drag the mails and passengers through the mud. The B,ev. C. Connor preached in the goods shed here on Sunday last, and baptised three infants. He proposed making collections for building a Presbyterian church. During the late snowstorm Proudfoot's, ballast engines did not run, and one only is at work, something being wrong with the fire-bars of the other. There is as yet no sign of work starting on the Tapanui lino. It h-vs now been definitely arranged that the line of railway from Dunedin to Christchurch will be formally opened on Monday, 9th Sept. Through the exertions of Mr Bastings and Mr J. C. Brown, a large number of members of Assembly have agreed to take part in the pro- i eeedings, and to enable them to do so the House j at its rising on Thursday, Sth September, will adjourn till Tuesday, the 10th. The arrangements are as follows :— Members will leave Wellington iv the Hinemoa on Friday evening, the 6th of September, remaining at Christchurch on Saturday and Sunday, leaving by special train on Monday morning for Dunedin. A stoppage to be made at Ashburton for half an hour, Timaru one hour, and at Oamaru for an hour and a half, the party to arrive in Dunedin about six o'clock the same evening. Tuesday to be spent at Dunedin. A special train to run to , Lawrence and back on Wednesday, to enable visitors to see the Bluespur, and members are to return variously at their convenience; but a special train to leave Dunedin early on Monday morning, so as to catch the Hinemoa at Lyttelton on Monday night, the 16th September. The Governor and suite have been invited to accompany members, as also the captain and'offieers of H.M.S. Nymphe, that vessel probably accompanying the Hinemoa* -"": .\- -'-■'

Mr G. A. Birch, accountant of the Colonial Bank at Christchurch, will succeed Mr Dalgleish as manager of the Invercargill branch. The meeting of the Waste Lands Board which was to take place on Wednesday lapsed, in consequence of the absence of Mr Bradshaw through ill health. Tne snow may be said to have disappeared in the Waiwera district, and if the weather continues for a few days as it has for the last week some of the land will be in a proper state to receive the seed. Our Clinton correspondent writes : — Winter does not seem inclined to part company with us. Since Wednesday morning it has been snowing continually, and is still continuing without any signs of abating. B,ailway works and farming operations are in consequence once more suspended. At the meeting of the Loyal Dalton Lodge, M.TJ.,1.C.0.F., held here on Tuesday evening, an application signed by twenty-four young men from Inch Clutha waa received requesting permission to open a Lodge on the Island. The request was agreed to conditionally upon the usnal forms being complied with. The man M'Leod, who was in such a dangerous state last week through severe wounds received about his head and body at Clinton, is gradually recovering under Dr. Agassiz's care. It has now been ascertained that the injuries were inflicted by another party, who left the district immediately after the occurrence. It is to be hoped the police will yet be able to bring him to justice.

A meeting of the Stirling Public Hall Committee was held in Mr Rae's Railway Hotel on Friday evening. There were present Messrs Anderson, (in the chair) Joseph Smith junior, Horn, and White. Several offers of ground for a site for the new hall were received and considered. That by Mr Wm. Reid of ground near to Messrs Horn and Roy's store was accepted. The Chairman and Messrs Horn and Smith were appointed a sub-committee to prepare the prospectus of the company, and to take all necessary steps for having the hall erected without delay. The' following challenge appears in the Australasian of August 10 :— " I, John Thomas, of Eaglehawk, Victoria, hearing that Robert Dagg and John Tyson, of New Zealand, call themselves the champion wrestlers of the Colonies in the Cumberland style, do hereby agree to wrestle either of them for one hundred pounds (£100) a-side., or any higher sum they may agree to. I will give twenty-five pounds (£25) if they come to Victoria, or will take twenty-five (£25) and go to New Zealand. An answer to this will be .attended to in New Zealand by applying to John Tiffen, Kaitangata. We have to acknowledge receipt of the Illustrated N. Z. Herald for August, which is perhaps the most interesting number of that excellent paper yet published. Besides a view of the Cave Rock, Sumner, Canterbury, it contains shetches of a number of incidents of the Native meeting at Kaipoi, with a portrait of Mr H. K. Taiaroa, M.L.A., a spirited sketch of an encounter between the Natives and settlers in New Caledonia, portraits of Miss Carmichael and Mr T. Pearce, the only survivors of the wreck of the Loch Ard, and a number of wood cuts of the spot where that ill-fated vessel was lost.

A house belonging to Mr John Macdonald, situated behind his store here, had a narrow escape from being burned down on Wednesday, about 5 p.m. The house was occupied by Mr James Low, saddler, and Mrs Low having occasion to go out for a little, and the children having commenced to amuse themselves burning paper, speedily got the house in a blaze. The fire had spread round ,the kitchen walls, but being noticed, aud there being early assistance and a good supply of water at hand, the fire was soon got under. The furniture, -which is uninsured, was very much damaged. Tho building is insured in the New Zealand Office. It will be observed that Messrs E. N. Legge and Co., of Tokomairiro, have purchased from Mr R. Doull the Balclutha flour and oatmeal mills. Mr Legge has long been engaged in the same trade in Tokomairiro. He has also secured for the mills here the services of a gentleman who has for years occupied the office of manager of one of the largest mills in Dunedin. There i*. thus every prospect that the want of a thoroughly good and efficiently managed flour and oatmeal mill in this quarter will now be removed. There can be no doubt that there has been an opening here for a first-class miller, and we believe Mr/Legge will make every arrange- ! ment and every effort to meet the wants of the community in' this respect. We heartily -wish the new firm' every success. The Undaunted Lodge, 1.0. G.T., No. 14, held their usual monthly harmony night in the ' Friendly Societies' Hall, Catlins River, on Friday night last. .After the business of the lodge had been gone thiough, the hall was opened to the public. The programme was commenced with a reading by Bro Falconer entitled ' Fool's Pence? In the course of the evening the following songs were sung :— *No Irish need apply? Bro Miller ; 'Oh dear ! O,' Bro Osborne i * Ben Bolt,' Bro Waite ; ' The Legacy,' Bro Falconer • 'My Spinning Wheel,' Bro Marshall, and to an encore he gave ' The boimie wee Window ;' I 'Auld Scoth Sangs,' Mr Mackie ; '-Tramp, tramp! the boys are marching,' Bro Miller • ' Paddy, come over the hills,' Bro Osborne ; ' The Soldier's •Tear,' Sister Reay; 'The Farmer's Boy,' Bro Marshall ; '0, memories dear? Mr Mackie ; ' Dear little Nellie,' Bro Lackey ; * Three cheers for the Temperance Cause,' Bro Miller. A very pleasant entertainment was brought to a close by the Company joining in singing the .National Anthem.

It would appear that the borough councillors of Balclutha are not the only " happy family " in connection with municipalities in this part of the Colony. The Dunedin City Council had a meeting on Monday evening to consider as to a fitting demonstration in honour of the distinguished visitors expected from Wellington at the opening of the railway to Christchurch. The following portion of the report of the meeting we extract fram the Daily Times :— Cr. Reeves was astounded that Cr. Fish should descend to such personal remarks as he had made. Speaking of brain power, he would never think of comparing himself to Cr. Pish. (Or. Fish : Hear, hear.) Neither would he attempt to compare his moral power with his. (Cr. Fish : Tou are quite right.) He thought Cr. Fish's remarks were greatly to be deprecated. If anyone ought to hide his diminished head when speaking of moral power, he thought it was Cr. Fish. The • Mayor : Order, gentlemen. Cr. Fish : give him rope enough, your Worship. Cr. Reeves : V ou'U I have enough of that yet, I should think.