The Arrow Observer, AND LAKES DISTRICT CHRONICLE. Arrowtown, Thursday, Sept. 19, 1878 Local and General News.

Lake County Press, Volume VII, Issue 384, 19 September 1878, Page 2

The Arrow Observer, AND LAKES DISTRICT CHRONICLE. Arrowtown, Thursday, Sept. 19, 1878 Local and General News.

Wo would remind our readers of the two meetings which are announced for Saturday one of the subscribers to the Athenteum, and the second of County ratepayers to consider the Kawarau Bridge site question.At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday J. Costello was- fined £3 and os 6d costs for a breach of the Licensing Ordinance, and W. Seoles £1 and 5s 6d costs for a siniihr offence. Edmund Elliot applied for a bagatelle license for Welcome Hotel, Macetown. —Adjoxirned to 23rd inst. We were informed at the last meeting of the Borough Council that the new by-laws were in force, and we fondly hoped that the thousand and one nuisances, to which we have so long been subjected, would be swept from our midst as if by magic. But the Council —doubtless anxious to i»ive offenders a chance of mending their ways —postponed consideration of the appointment of an Inspector of Nuisances till next meeting. All that will then be done is the fixing of salary for that functionary. Another fortnight will then elapse before applications can be received and an appointment made, unless a special meeting is held. Thus for a .month after the coming into force of the by-laws they are rendered useless for the abatement of nuisances. Meanwhile the owners of wandering cows and goats are "taking it out " of the gardens in the township, as if determined to hold " high carnival "while the Council "deliberates." . .... A " casual visitor •" remarks to us that it would be better if charitable lectures and other entertainments of a similar character in Arrowtown were held on any other evening than Saturday. Last Satur» day night's lecture in aid of St. Patrick's School fund was continued up to a very late hour, and the unfortunate publicans of the town, in their endeavours to accommodate the unusual influx of visitors, apparently overstepped the lawful bounds. • In consequence the Colonial Revenue as well as that of the School received aconsiderable addition from the pockets of the bonifaces on Tuesday last. It is unfortunate that any one should be compelled to suffer in the cause of charity, pub. or no pub., and we think, therefore, that our " casual visitor's " idea is worth the'consideration of those who in future may intend or desire to forward any charitable object by drawing a crowd to Arrowtown. It is rumoured that the " Reward for Prospecting " vote is to be ventilated this session; consequently there are several claimants for the honour of being the first discoverers of our famous Macetown reefs. We believe Mr Thomas Hall has sent his

Mm in to Government, and there is ' another Eichmond in the field," in the t >erson of Mr Daniel J. Moore—otherwise c 1 Oily Dan "; though what claim the latter r >rospector (?) can prefer, we are at a loss A o know. We have seen his list of testi- 1 nonials in a printed form, which looks, to j 13, very much like a gigantic " goak "—at iay rate, it is considerably pervaded by an ( tir of what Artemus Ward calls "sar- 5 casum." If Government really intend I apportioning the reward, it is to be hoped they will first carefully look into the matter; as, although Mr Hall has undoubtedly a right to a share, his mates at the time of the first discovery—and whose names appear upon the certificates in the Warden's Court, Arrow—should certainlybe entitled to equal consideration. " Oily Dan " we consider to be quite out of the i running; but it is probable the Government will appoint a Commission to enquire into the merits of the various claims—and this, we take it, will be the safest and, fairest course to pursue. A correspondent in the ' Western Star' writing from Longwood speaks thus: "We had a visit last week from a gentleman by the name of Mr Cope.. Wo believe he was appointed by some parties in Invercargill to report on the Longwood reefs; why, we cannot understand. Portly he is, in carriage somewhat grand,, and the tidal wave of fortuitous eircamstanees may have cast him into a semblance of authority and borne him into a position he w as. never in<* • tended to fill; but the same force receding may yet leave him, like Cardinal Wolsey, stripped of all his greatness, and a wreck upon the shoals and quicksands of the Macetown reefs. , Joking aside, the interests of this gentleman are all centred around Macetown,. and although he may ' possibly have meant honestly in, reporting on this reef, still we fear that those cir- ' eurastances might so bias him as to cause him to be somewhat economical of facts. It at least argues ill for the discrimination of our Invercargill friends in appointing Mr Cope as their reporter, when, without travelling so far, they might easily have found half a dozen gentlemen who could have " coped " with him in both ability and judgment." Mr Henry Almond, a settler at Kaihiku, escaped death last week almost by a miracle. He was returning- on Wednesday : evening from Balclutha, where he had had a case in Court, and was within a mile of home when his horse fell down an embankment nearly 18ft, He did not remember anything until about 3: a,m. the following day, when he recovered consciousness, and found himself lying on his back in a ditch, unable to move either hand or foot. The water was trickling into his ear and over part of his head. His horse was in the ditch a few feet above him, kicking violently at times ;it died abont noon. Almond remained in the ditch all that day (Thursday), the snow falling heavily at times. He shouted until he gave up all hopes of being found alive. At about 6 p.m. on Thursday he was discovered by Mr Glover in what—had he remained another night—would have been his deathbed. The ' Clutha Times,' to which we are indebted for the above particulars, says Mr Almond is progressing favourably. When the division was taken this (Thursday) morning-it was found that the hon. member for Wakatip.was fast asleep in his. place, and had not voted. He was ' awakened by the gentleman who sat next to him, and was called upon by the Speaker to vote, which he did amid some laughter. —' Star.' Mrs Hancock, the first white woman seen at the Thames, died a few days ago. She was seventy years of age, and has left behind her fifty children and grandchildren Last year, Mr Lansell, the wealthy quartz reefer, presented a cheque for £SOO to each of the charities of Sandhurst. The ' Bendigo Advertiser' says that Mr Lansell has made a similar gift this year to the same institutions. The following letter has been handed in to the Town Council of Alexandra:—(Copy) —Gentleman: —" Having read your advertisement in the * Dunstan Times' that your intention is to wilfully commit goaticide through hirelings, I beg to inform you that if any damage is done to my goats (registered) I shall make you responsible. In future, any cow or horse wandering about within the boundaries of the Municipality I shall impound. Will you oblige ratepayer by getting the pigsties, slaughteryards, and cow-yards removed from within ihe town. Summer is coming on, and the smell and foul air emanating therefrom may cause sickness and disease. —I have the honor, &c, Ratepates. The Borough Council of Lawrence declined to accept the thousand acres of endowmeut granted to them! by the Government, on the ground (says the ' Tbapeka Times ') that it was only one-half of what had been selected by the borough, and also that it was not worth 10s an acre. The Government expressed regret at the decision of the Council, and stated it was doubtful whether their refusal would not materially affect the interests of the borougli with regard to future endowments. The Council at its last meeting resolved : —" That the Clerk write to the Minister of Lands asking that the portion of the Council's letter refusing to accept the land allotted them be withdrawn, &c " The Under-Secretary of Crown Lands, in a letter to the Council, thus explains the Government's action with respect to Municipal endowments :—" It was found impossible to accede to the various applications from municipalities throughout the Colony, for the maximum endowment of 2000 acres- allowed by the law, and a general principle of reducing the applications had to be carried out. Preference of selection' was not, however, shown in favour of any particular borough, but all have been treated as nearly as possible upon the same terms.""

A man named Welsh, of Waikawa Station, Switzer's, is supposed to have mur» dered his wife on the 15th, she being found nearly dead, and he having disappeared. We are not in possession of particulars, but we hear this morning that Welsh has been arrested by Inspector Fox, Under the heading of " An Appalling Catastrophe," a Baltimore paper of July 20 reports that a Mrs M'Cormick, ot Salesville, Ohio, the day before gave birth to five healthy ohildren—four boys and a girl. We can well believe the additional information that the community was excited ; that the happy father became the hero of the country round about; and that his home was, an object of pilgrimage-for all the old women of the region. The latest Yankee notion is to utilise > the- shirt-collar for advertising purposes. An American contemporary informs us that colored men with very high shirtcollars, bearing the name of a house in. the soaj>- trade, walk up and down Broadway, and excite considerable attention.

By means of the aerophone, conversation may be carried on between ships widely separated at sea, and the Generals of hostile armies may hold their parleys outside the range of artillery fire. The island' of Pelago, about to be ceded to Britain, i& situated in the iEgean Sea, off the coast of Thessaly. It is about six miles long, and two broad, mountainous, healthy, and fertile. It has a safe anchorage at the north-west and, end a population of about 9,000, most of whom are Greeks.

The ' Asbburfcon Mail' gives particulars of a strange proceeding •which occurred in the Magistrate's Court.. Having given judgment for the defendant in a civil case, Al r Le Grand Campbell, R.M., ordered him to pay the full costs of the case ; afterwards, however; Mr Gompbell admitted from his place on the Bench that he had been too hasty in rejecting arguments of counsel, and said he would pay the costs himself. iEgles, in the ' Australasian,* says—A wandering friend, who kindly keeps his eye open on my behalf for anything new or out of the way, thus describes a gigantic London establishment: —" Whitely's is a shop, or rather a series of shops, in Westbourno grove, wherein you can buy almost anything to eat or wear you wish it, he will furnish your house from cellar to attic while you are lunching, and with like alacrity will bury you when dead. Of the marvellous cheapness for which he sells—for cash —I cannot enter into detail. In this gigantic establishment there are 3000 employees, of whom 1800 are young women. "You walk along what seems to be miles of counters, on one side of which are crowds of customers, and on the other an unbroken line of young saleswomen, all in black, and all much of a size. On July 4th, the German Lutheran Sun« day School of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, went a few miles on an excursion to Ross Grove, About the middle of the afternoon, and while the picnickers were in the height of their enjoyment, a terrific storm came on. The children immediately sought shelter in a large covered waggon, which "was- standing under a sugar-maple tree Suddenly the lightning struck this tree, split the trunk, hurled it to the ground, and fell across the waggon crushing it to the- earth. Fourteen of the party were killed; and thirty very seriously injured. "The victims were fearfully mangled: The storm was the severest which had occurred for years. The ' Nelson Mail' records the death on the Ist instant of a charitable lady named Mrs Crooke, under singular circumstancesShe retired to her bedroom to dress for church, and on her husband entering he found her dead on the floor.

A point of some importance to members of Friendly Societies has- been decided at Christchurch. The medical officer of Court Star of Canterbury, A.O:F., sought to recover certain amounts for services rendered by him to members whose names he alleged had not been duly furnished to him. Ho contended that he was not bound by the rules of the society, having been appointed'' medical officer subject to a special verbal agreement. In the case specially heard, a member of the court went to Dr Doyle, and medical services were rendered, the doctor being aware that the man was a , Forester; After a few days a remark was made by the doctor to the effect that the man was running up a bill. This idea was at once repudiated, the man stating that he was financially good on the books of the society, and that if his name was not on the doctor's list it was an omission on the part of the officers of the court. He then took steps to have the matter rectified. It was for the cost of a few days' attendance he was now sued, the officers of the court, who are the really responsible parties, taking action in defence. On their behalf it was contended that the legitimate course for the medical officer to have taken would have been to refuse attendance until the name appeared on his roH; also that he received the quarter's payment from the court for this particular member. The * Lyttelton Times' reports that judgment was given against the medical officer, the Magistrate holding that clause 70 of the bye-laws of the society was binding on the medical officer—that he was bound to attend upon all financial members, even if their names did not appear on his book at the commencement of the quarter. The ' Age' says upwards of £IOO worth "of wine disappeared at the Kailway Ban(quet, and only one knife. The visitors t were thirsty, but honest. The celebrated Siamese twins are sur-

passed by the St Beniot twins, which are

at present being exhibited at New York. They are of French descent, and were born at St Benoit, a village situated near Montreal, in Canada. They are perfect in that they have two heads, two chests, and two pairs of arms; but their bodies are joined at the thighs, and nature bestowed only a

single pair of legs. These girl babies ats, but a few months old, and are named Rose, and Marie. They are pretty children in features, and act independently to a certain extent. Rose appears to monopolise the right leg,, and, Marie the loft one, and sometimes one laughs while the other is sleeping. The parents are peasants, and appear fond' of their rising offspring-. Will " a farthing damages " carry costsf It is now settled, not without much trouble and three trials, that a farthing carries costs, unless the judges on the trial certify to the contrary. In Garnett v. Bradley tried at the Shrewsbury Assizes, Mr hu tice Amphlet declined to certify. The Taxing Master allowed full costs* Barom Pollock and Huddleston upheld his decision in the Court of Exchequer, whither the-de. fendant carried the case. The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of the Court of Exchequer; but Lords Hatherley O'H'agan, Blackburn-, and Gordon, in the House of Lords, reconfirmed the Master'i action, and so for the future equity and common law agree that a farthin|./carriei costs.

During a. discussion in the House of Representatives some observations were made that caused Mr Menders to shake his head in a deprecatory manner, whiclj elictedthis rebuff from Mr Barff: "Tin hon. member for the Lakes may shake hie head. I have seen him shake it before, but I never saw anything come out of it," At the recent German celebration j| Wellington, according to the • Post,' j, unfortunate Englishman, with a strong Teutonic beard and nose, found his waj into the meeting, and greatly to his bewi dement, was immediately, assailed' on ali sides by greetings and enquiries in tie " Vaterland." In vain did he protest thai he was totally ignorant of the tongueappearances were against him, and soil last he found himself constrained to adopt the tactics of Mrs Plornish, of Bleeding heart Yard celebrity, and began to repl; to his interlocutors in a very loud toneaa very broken English. So thoroughly k bued with the Teutonic spirit (or lager beer) did the gentleman in question be come, that it is said he continued tospeil with a strong German accent, even afte he returned to the bosom of his family. Some of the citizens of Dunedin hai been oomplaihihg that they were not ii vited to the Mayoral banquet. It is pre posed to invite between five hundred' ai six hundred of them in a few days to tl Resident Magistrate's Court, where ffi Honor Judge Bathgate will lead off tl list of toasts by requesting them to pij their arrears of rates. They have enjojti the guzzle from afar off* and now com reckoning day. So much for the blessing of citizenship.—' Age.' "Atticus" in the 'Leader' says:- " There are few people who are fortumt enough to read their own obituary notice Such a sensation, however, has been affords to the ex-Queen of Spain by the liberalil of a Melbourne morning paper. Af( weeks ago a column was given to a reca of her numerous vices under the mistatr notion that she was dead, while it noi appears that the deceased was Mercedt the young consort of King Alfonso. IB

terms in which Queen Isabella was spot of were the reverse of complimoutary. S was described as vulgar, salacious, 11 profligate ; the paternity of her cliildn was doubtful; and' she was a great m divided into two —a want of every virti that should have belonged toherself.c a want of every shilling-that belonged; other people. Now it is all very welli speak in.this way of the dead. Youts say what you like of a corpse fear of the consequences ; but constitel as Melbourne juries are, it is rather risa to do so of the living. It might ai) Her Majesty a pleasant and profit*! holiday trip if she came to our side ofi world to get her reputation whitewash in an action for defamation of charack Ifan-executive councillor would ask £1 for the damage done to his reputation, ex-queen might well ask for ten timesl amount."