CHRISTCHURCH. 8th July.

Evening Post, Volume XII, Issue 8, 9 July 1875, Page 2

CHRISTCHURCH. 8th July.

Evans Brown, M.H.R. for Ashley, met the electors last night, and delivered a speech in favor of the abolition of provinces. A vote of confidence in him was passed. At a meeting of the Board of Governors of the Canterbury College last night, there was a long discussion on the charges of a local |architect, Armson, for plans and specifications for the new public .library buildings. It appears that Armson was instructed to prepare plans for a building, to cost at most £6,000, but the lowest tender was £10,920, and the Board was unable to go on with the building. Armson then sent in a .bill for £275, being 2i per cent, on the lowest tender, asserting that it was in accordance with the ' scale of charges adopted by the Canterbury Association of Architects. All the members of the Board spoke strongly against the charge, and the general feeling is in favor of resisting it by law. 9th July. A perfect skeleton of a humpbacked whale from Akaroa, thirty-two feet long, was received at the museum yesterday. This addition to the museum is particularly valuable as hitherto of the selections of the humpbacked in Australian waters the earbone only is known to the scientific world. At a meeting of the Cathedral Guild last night it wa£ resolved to hold religious services inside the new cathedral walls on 16th December, that being the anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone, aud the anniversary of the province. The walls of the cathedral are not yet finished, and no portion of the roof will be on by the * date stated. It was also resolved to present the Bishop on the same occasion with a pastoral staff for "the nse of the See and a crozier to him personally as Primate. At a public meeting to consider the education question, the new education ordinance was universally condemned. One speaker said it was most oppressive to the working man, and rather than stand . it, he would be one of the first to take his knapsack and bayonet, and shed his blood rather than submit to it. Another unpleasant indication* -of the Government policy in education fmatters has beeu made public. In a letter sanctioning the appointment of certain teachers in the JSast Christchurch Main SchooL the Minister of Education said the appointments were made snbject to any alteration in the scale of payment which hereafter may very possibly be made. This is taken to mean that the Government intend to reduce the, salaries of teachers generally, and it is felt this would be a great blow to education in the province. At a meeting of the Philadelphia Exhibition Committee yesterday, it was re-

solved that the following quantities of exhibits be adopted as the maximum, and recommended to the General Government for universal adoption : — WooL GOlbs. ; grain, half bushel ; coal, 501bs. ; flax, 501bs. Articles not enumerated above, at discretion of sub-committee. That all exhibits be sent in before the Ist December ; that all intending exhibitors forward particulars of exhibits before the 30th October. It . was also decided to ask the Colonial Secretary to adopt the first resolution for general application throughout the colony.