FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 15, 18 January 1930, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FROM "THE POST"

;\(XII>ENT AT ST. PETER'S

.' ..l'^iClv years ago the then new St.Peter's Church had just been opened .anil its'peal of bells installed; and a ticiws ileni in the "veiling Post" of | Monday; 12i.h. January, ]SSO, reads; .'.'An'actident, occurred on Saturday., in .j the.lower of St. Peter's Church, "Willis j street,' which narrowly, escaped being attended with disastrous consequences. The - fine peal of bells imported, by the church has been placed in position, aud the -members- of the Bcllringers' Society hare recently been ' practising assiduously. On this occasion three of the ringers were in tho belfry, and one was exercising his skill on the large tonop boll, iwbich weighs 15cwt, when suddenly, one end of the wheel-shaft jumped out of the socket and the great bell came 'down by the run,' falling with an' alarming crash. Fortunately some strong beams had been placed beneath, the bell-franies, otherwise the falling bell certainly would have crashea; through the floor and descended right on the heads of the three: men standing: below. As it was, tho beam's "intercepted the heavy mass of metal, , and'tho only damage done.was the par-] tial smashing of the.■wheel by which it is swung. The boll itself apparently has. sustained no injury and was got back again.in its place in time, to-be chimed before service yesterday. ; The escape, however, was a very close one. It is said that the bell was hung in tho customary way,- but it is to bo hoped steps, will be taken to secure it with nomo additional fastenings, so> that there shall be no risk of any recurrence of .the mishap, which blight easily have tost,/several lives,, besides destroying the. bell and : seriously injuring the building. , As it was, a large splinter •from,the beam, which the bell struck in falling, whizzed just past the head of one :of the ringers with such force that it .penetrated soino distance into Hie floor. ■ Had it struck him, he must have been, killed instantaneously." . ' "THE rEATHERSTON GOLDFIELD." , In. thoso days there was no little excitement in Wellington' and the Wairarapa in'regard to . the reported discovery of a goldfield at Featherston, and the."Evening Post" of Thursday, lpth January, 1880, contains an account of a, visit paid by some Featherston settlers the previous Sunday to the quartz reefs near that township, where Messrs. Brandon and Co. were working a claim. The company had made a road out to their claim, in order to enable' them to take the necessary machinery out to it, and had put in a drive 60 feat in length. At tho end of this they had jmnk a 22ft shaft, cutting through' tfierreef they sought for, from; which they expected to get-good returns, as the quartz was of. very fine quality,and proved to contain gold. Mr. Purdy and a mate, it was added, had been, but for three months before prospecting/ on. behalf of the "Wellington Prospecting Association and gave iiriost enbeuraging account of the goldbearing .qualities of many: reefs they, had found.. • Mr. Purdy stated that he had. traced Brandon's reef nearly fivfe miles,' and:in niany cases had proved it.to contain gold. "He showed some very fine specimens, with gold thickly And-;plainly visible," but xiould not makß/'Dinch .progress, as he, had no .proper, tools for tho:work;' "The local people were very sanguine about the prospects of the goldfield, and it was reported that "Several influential gentlemen .of Wellington have signified their intention, of spending a sum, of money in giving the reef on Brandon's claim a fair trial." ■ ■ , PUBLIC WORKS FOR WELLINGTON. -"The Post" was able to announce in/itsi sub-leader of 16th January, 1880, the success of its agitation for the immediate putting in hand of important public works in Wellington, in order to 'provide work for the "unemployed. "It.will be gratifying to our readers/ it stated, "to learn that the claims of Wellington: to a fair share of public works are not ignored by the present Ministry. Mr. W. H; Levin, the senior member for the city, had an interview with Ministers yesterday on the subjoct, and:received most satisfactory assurances as to the intentions of the Government. Plans are now in preparation for a. Resident Magistrate's Court and police barracks, to bo erected of brick, on the Thorndon reclamation, immediately adjoining the Supreme Court House, now in course of erection. The cost of. these buildings will be somewhere about £14,000. Plans are also being prepared for some extensive additions to the Mount View lunatic asylum. ; It is understood that the IJaiiway Terminus will be gone on with at once . ... all the plans and specifications being, we hear, in a complete state of readiness. With regard to the new Postal and Telegraph Offices, we understand that both Mr. Turnbull and Captain Watts have produced convincing proofs that their designs could be carried out for the sum specified, or very little in excess of that amount." Mr. ROBERT PARKER. /Another "local" of the same date re.fersto the production—very successful rit proved— of Shakespeare's "Midsummer' Night's Dream" by the choir boys.of, St. Paul's Church, under the •direction of their choirmaster, Mr. Itpbert Parker, at the Church Boom, Tinakori ■ road. Mr. Eobert Parker, happily, is still with us, and still taking an. active part in the musical life of Wellington. "HOBSON STREET PADDOCK." ■The following news item, among the '< locals" of Wednesday, 14th January, ISBO, ' reads rather queerly to-day: "Tho Hon. the Native Minister has. gi-veir permission to tho employees of MrVE.W. Mills, iron merchant, to use the Crovernrno'it Paddock in Hobson street for a cricket match on Saturday next with the other ironmongers of the town.." Where is. that paddock now?

This other paragraph in the -same issue might well, however, have been written in 1930 instead of in 1880: "To-day is tlis fourth consecutive day of "almost'incessant rain, and the appearance of tho weather continues very threatening. It is to be hoped in the interests of the harvest that a speedy irrfproyement will tako place." OVERSEAS NEWS. In those days there was great distress in Ireland, due to famine and the many evictions; and the cablegrams recorded outbreaks of Fenianism in that distressful country and a visit by the' then Irish leader, Mr. Charles Stuart Parnell, to America to raise funds for' the distressed districts and for the fight for Home Rule! A distress fund was opened by the Lord Mayor of London, and similar funds were'opened in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In its issue of 14th January, 1880', the "Evening Post" opened such a fund and headed the sub-scription-list with a cheque for £25., A similar amount was given by Messrs. Thompson, Shannon and Co.; and the fund, reached, for those days, considerable iproportiotiß. Other cables referred to. the agitation for the release of tho "Tichbornc claimant," a very stout Australian butcher' who had posed as Arthur CJrfcbn, the heir to the great Tichborne •states at Home. The claimant had I at that' time served seven years of his ttrnreJf imprisonment for perjury.