Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 724, 15 October 1859, Page 5

Local Intelligence.

■AUK* PnS W6ek ! 13S bVOU"ht m some of the m°st clisagreeablel weather which this country has ever suffered. The mouth of October lias in every year earned to a greater ■or less extent an unenviable notoriety for ,t« North West winds;; in some years tftese winds have assumed the "character of violent ■• pies, and in other years have lasted for days •togetlier.^ It was reserved, however, for the October ot 18d9 to produce North West winds combining Violence with duration. : The wind had blown from .tlusquarter ibr.several days when, on Tuesday, it ..assumed a peculiarly fervent character. Those only' •who have experienced the wind can understand tho: neat and dust and violence which this expression implies. On Wednesday j the gale continued, at times, breaking out with increased- severity and again,relapsing • ihfco an almost complete calm, -^-^^raosplieric ' fits' as'they may be called,continued'by night as well as by day, and caused no httle disquietude to dwelled "in tfie slightly framed houses of which our towns are principally composed. On Thursday the gale.,readied its'climax, and on; this day the occasional squalls were literally terrific. ;llie 'Black Thursday ' of Port Philip began to be : tallced about, and every one was on the watch, not withcut reason as will bo seen, for the outburst of

■ fife in some quarter which should sweep the conn- ,' try harp against the unavailing efKirts of..the few "active.'men who might have! energy to attenpV a struggle. We dfluiot wish t|> over-colour the picture. No doubt the 'Black oThurschiy' was a day whose equal it would Be'impossible to meet at this , .season of' the .year in New Zealand.' "And no doubt,, also, tlie ' Brick-fielder' is a wind that thelVlairies would call ' the Patherof all Mor' Westers..' But; jtlie'faot'ofah arid wind blowing? violently over our 'pliiins and d : >wn our mountain slteeps is sdfßoiently 'frightful after, a long drought,tti> fill every . man's * mind- with, apprehension.'. - Non^ to .speak 'of the '•direct effects of tlie wind1 upon chimneys and other fragile or moveable. property; thh chauce of fatal • results from fire— tliafc implacable ; enemy of a. 'wooden town—is immeasurably increased.., The; smallest spark is fanned .'at once iivto a blaze—the \ blaze.spreads withfea.rful rapidity and clings; with ] 'frightful tenacity; to all inflammable articles.'* To| quench the fire it is necessary not oijly to put out i .the blaze but to destroy even the embers in whjch/ ' the smallest spark remains, i After the repeated 'prophecies which are delivered on the prospects of wooden, towns, it is "natural that the in-dwellers therein" should'on such special occasions as this. hst. past take peculiar, precautions against, the "destroying element , And the people" of Lyttelton and Cliristchurch were fairly on i\\eqm.vive night and day. .The smallest suspicion of n fire brought ; numbers out to assist in stifling the blaze; and we have to record more than one instance in which the readiness of all to assist was,/the means, under Providence, of stopping a possible general conflagration. ■ ■-. ;■ . . .;' ■■/":/': '. ; ' ."•' :". ■ " •,., Eirst we- may note the direct Effects of the wind. Iri Lyttelton, on Wednesday might, one of the tall ; chimney, shafts of the Universal Hotel was broken /off from the point of, emergence from the roof of the building and laid, prostrate upon the shingles. • This must have been done witli great neatness,, for fewof the bricks were displaced;! and the roof wasnot in any degree injured., On Thilirsda}', a boat which had been; drawn up on"the shorje opposite the Mitre Hotel was raised in the air &nd; dashed to pieces on the rocks at a little distanced Another boat was taken off Peacock's wharf by .f ,he wind, and carried thrflughthe rigging of the brjig Louis and Miriam, which was then lying aiongsjide, the wharf. Part ;of the jnaori huts, oh. the jbeaich was blown: to pieces. The/lead'rridge-capj/)irig,wasiVstarted and blown off the. j^ : oflhe;;lLuion Batik;; :and some other minor injune^;^reJii!flicted; no ■account"of-"casualties ,of fthis,; .description from Christchurch... "■.; : ....... i >.-< : .■■r^'^-r .•.'"'" '•:'.. .. "The&U and most iypop.-fcani fire:which we have to chronicle occurred at th-je new Wesleyan Chapel, in Chnstclmrch, now in Iprodess of erection, on Wednesday, about X o'clock p.m. It seems that a portion of the floor had b^en permanently laid, and •on'another portion thejoiists' were bare. The interstices ; were .of. course Mil of shavings and small ends of timber. . The architect*was present, designing on'the floor the/sketch of a portion of the building, when he. wast alarmed by a .workman calling ' fire,1 and, on loibking round, he saw flames, which, in but a mome:jnt, spread themselves to a length of about 20 feet/. Help was at once sought ;and readily supplied f/rom all quarters. ' Messrs. Packer and Son, whose/ premises are opposite, gave up all their stoi-k of 4vater, and when that failed ■even allowed the beer /which was in their vats to be drawn off to be throwili on the fliune3. All present ■ contributed their sei-jficea ;—among the most forward, the name of Mf.\ Hart, butcher, is mentioned; hutseveralothers actied with great daring and zeal. The best proof of thje.exertion lies in the fact that pnly;the floor boards and joists were burnt, while, except the charring/ of one of the pillars, no harm 'whatever was donei to the uprights. Had the flames spread so a's to cover the whole of this spauious /and lojfty building there can be Hitt h doubt, especially in such weather, that the fire • cmild not have beein stopped before it had consumed the best part of. t/hafc portion of the town. The • or.gin of the flames is not exactly known, but it is ; generally referred] to a pipe. Two iireti of a /less alarming character were discovered in other JDuildings in .Christchurch on the following day; bjut several took place in the grass on uncultivated jlands, some of which might have proved very serious. The bush at Hoon Hay was on fire for some') days, and a quantity of stacked firewood as well as a large vslue of sawn arid standing timber wei-e. seriously injured. The native bush at Kaiapot [has also been on fire, andonyesterday could-still %c seen in flames from these hills. The amount of jproperty-thus destroyed must also be very considetjable. A fire in the swamp to the north of Christc|hurch was also, raging on Thursday, and we lunderstand-that'on its assuming a peculiar character, and attacking the peaty soil of the swamp, thte Commissioner, of Police took a party of men o|it that evening, and succeeded in abating its ravajges. . ' We were present on the same night at agrass fire which was important not so much for its extent as: fin1 the speculate on of danger to the town. It was visible first at about half-past eight o'clock in. the evening, and afp once broke ouHntoa magnificent hut appalling ti'la^e. ;. On^proceeding towards the -direction in whiibh it appeared, we found that it had commenced at k point between the Eiccarton and Lincoln roads, about. half-a-mile,.,.distant from Christchurch, between, which point and the houses of the town theie was .nothing to check the flames. The wind was b)lowing fiercely from the N.W., but the fire had not tor some reason gone down straight before the wind, jwhen'it would have met with the road, which ■it Mi'ould probably not have crossed, but it was working in a diagonal line across the wind with great irapidity sideways. The ground it occupied was si marsh .in wet weather ; it was covered with deep! holes, in which water had been accustomed to Btaitd, but .where now long grafts and rushes were growing drily... Broom and flax were also a'bfundant in ythlctc .and compact bunches. When we first arrived there were about 30 men looking on, and as vi/o went round to inspect the ri«o and progress ol( the flumes, we found no one attempting to arrest V hem. The direction of the line of lire, with respect to the wind, was, however, favourable to>a near approach, and it could not be concealed that probably as ifc was, and on a shift of wind certainly, the army of fire would march right to tkfr-gorse fences which circumscribe the oulti-. vutions on this side the town, and thereupon must'

triumphantly overcome the housea in tlie streets The'blazing line Was now about a quarter of a mile long. ' As we looked, a man appeared by our side thrashing the,flames with a pitch-fork, imitating the opposition of Mrs. Partington to the tide, and with the like success. ,We could not> however, refrain from following the example, and cutting a good handful of long flax we fell in to the assistance of the gallaift fork-man. The flax had a wonderful effect; it beat the fork hollow, and together we hid no inconsiderable effect upon the flames before us. We were at the weather end of the line and as we triumphed over, one small section we passed down to the next. But two could have done no real service against such a mass of fire; our only advantage was in showing the bystanders .what might be done, and they took the hint; for by the time when we had mastered about a hundred yards of flames by ourselves, we were joined first by one and then by another, till finally, the field being reinforced as the bright, light summoned more help from Christchurch, not less than acouple of hundred arms were, thrashing together, with poles, pitchforks, flax, broom twigs, or aiiy other implement which came to hand. .The ti-treeis considered to.be the best fire-annihilator among grass, but there was,, no such serviceable plant to.be found. By this time also something like system had been organised. When a clump of flax was seized by the flame attack was found to be useless; the besiegers waited with .weapons raised till the fire spread through the grass at the outside of the clump. This was extinguished and the ashes scattered, so that through,this burnt patch no flame could again spread: The' many hands made light work'of ib, and in an hour or thereabouts, there was only here and there an intermittent flame visible, and it became a light duty to watch it so. that it should riot revive into the roaring furnace of fire which had been at first encountered. No little sparks were to be neglected, for all-this time the lior' wester continued to pour its arid gusty blast across, quickening eyery ember into fresh vigour.. When the work became a little ..easy, the true British jokes took place, among the crowd. One would say as he stood among a gang whipping at the blaze—" If any persons has any grain to thrash now,'let 'em put it down." Another — " Aye,.mate, arid it.,would be-all ready dry for grinding." A'third lamented that he would have to " go to Mr. Thcmpkins to-morrow for a new. pair of whiskers ;;'. and he was answered by a line of similar jests'as long as the fire, if not quite as bright. When we got;to the r end of the blazing column, we were close down to,;the road, and very near to a full-grown gorse hedge^whosij; ignition would have been the signal of sottivb qui'j>.eut to numerous houses .in; the ; neighbourhood.\ In a direct line we were within about 200 yards from the occupied portion of the town. The last comic utterance we beard was " Now lads, we've saved Christchurch!" and the assumption was. not altogether without foundation. The same speaker added " Let's go and get some beer." We don't think the strictest tee-totaller could have had the heart to deny so reasonable a request. , ; The unusually severe drought experienced in the province this spring hasadded much to the danger to be appreheridedfrom the inflammable nor'-wester. It is singular that in Otago, as we hear, a large supply of rain has been falling at the time when we' have been without any. It is sincerely to be wished for that our turn may soon come. In the church: in this town the appointed prayer for rain has been offered during the past fortnight. This, we believe, is very unusual. It will be observed that the Council has authorised the immediate, expenditure of a sum of money sufficient to sink at least three wells in Lyttelton; and we may mention that, steps are now being taken to carry this resolution.into practical effect. We may observe that extreme care should now be taken to avoid risk of fire. The man who is inattentive with pipe or candle during weather of this kind is more than ordinarily careless; and we are satisfied that..in case of. accident from fire no jury would acquit such a man- of crime. ,

We have to record this wedc the death of James Greig, a well known old colonist, first of Nelson, and afterwards of this province from its foundation. He died suddenly on Tuesday morning at his house at Riccarton; An inquest was as usual held on Thursday, but'was adjourned to obtain medical evidence as to the cause of death. Mr. James Greig was a singular specimen of a colonist; shrewd, industrious, comical, and extremely independent. When in company with this intelligent though by no means educated man, one could appreciate fully the character of the rough Scotchman, of the Christopher North School. In an audience composed of men of this stamp the professor of classics who, delights in toddy would be thoroughly at home; and from the raw material which Scotland possesses in abundance in men like James Greig, there has doubtless been little difficulty in producing by a refining process those great men whose names are eminent in literature over the whole civilized world.

To turn from melancholy subjects to those of the most gratifying character in.a. new country, we proceed to record that. Messrs. Bishop and Jackson, well known as proprietors of a brickmaking establishment near Papanui, have commenced pottery works in a piece of ground on the town reserves of Christchurch adjoining the Lyttelton road, where they have fallen in with a seam of excellent clay. Theyl are erecting buildings at present for immediate use. for the coarser sort of work, and in a little more time have every expectation of producing" even the finest specimens of ware. We may mention that Mr. Jackson, on a late visit to Lyttelfon, picked up one.from the heap of stones which have been laid rip for metalling tlie streets, and pronouncecl.it a superior fire clay. He took a larger quantity home with him, and found his expectations answered. It is a real' fire clay, but partially burnt (in a few spots too much so) ;-though actually in the condition of stone.it needs only pulverizing and steeping in water to become a clay quite fit for use. Perhaps in other instances we have good things beneath our feet of which we do not know the true uses;

What has brought cut a verdant crop of poetry ? Our table has been, covered with'green buds of rhyme which indicate the arrival of spring among the poets of Canterbury. We really in the Council times have neither space nor patience for even the best stanzas, and it is therefore utterly impossible that we should give every young aspirant a hoist into immortality. The worst of our friends is that silent rejection will not satisfy them. There is one among them, for instance, who has been evidently contemned by us at some previous period, but has not taken the lesson at alias intended. He has now sent us a paper containing copies of verses on several subjects, which indicate a most unfortu-. nate state of hope in spite of recent defeat. The following, for example, are the two first stanzas :—

THE ABUS'D POET.

- With delight I composd, to gladdeji a heart 1 A. few line's like Poetry the feeling's impart That heart did acknowledge, the lines was sublime . But t'\Vere exposed to man, who's unkind . ; Who eagerly grasp'd at the lines I had made But did not understand the feeling conveyed

Self esteem was,fearful that mind wassurpassd

Try'd to incite presumption to kick me, poor ass. This.gentleman has also the modesty inherent in a true genius. In an introduction to his complete works,.with which he has favored us, he says :— Perhaps tis my vanity, I hope not, that tempts me to do it But if I believe what folks say, I believe I'rtie a ; Pooett '''.'■ ■ ;■■•'■■•

This modest introduction is signed ' Kaddings';

but whether Raddings is a real name, or, if so, whether a Christian name or a surname, we are' unable to conjecture. We therefore cannot beblamed,, for exposing Raddings io the notoriety; wliich in sure to attach .to his genius, any rnorei than for concealing his .(poetic fire in''the editor's ' Balaam box.', If we mightadvise Raddings, ), ow . ever, we would recommend him to stick to "bullockpunching, or whatever, may find him daily bread, for in .a colony his poetry will neither feed nor clothe him. If he. requires society let hinvseek it rationally, but refrain from writing about it as he does in his stanzas entitled—r

CONVERSATION. ': - Sweet is the converse when mind,to mind Love's to impart the sacred truth i It expands the heart to things sublime And is in, magnet to soul ; Raddings

Chamber of Commerce.—-Afc a special meeting of the Chamber held yesterday, at-Miv-A! port's rooms, Mr. Cookson in the chair, live iiew members were ballotted for and elected in due form. No other business Of importance was transacted,:but at the committee meeting1; which ensued we understand that some ,subjects, were under consideration which may shortly be brought prominently before the public. :•..-•-.- ■ , ■■: - ■ ' r