The Lyttelton Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1869.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2595, 30 April 1869, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1869.

Rulwat Rowing Club. —The adjourned spacial and annual general meetings will be held at White’s Hotel this evening.

Lyttelton Parish Gathering. —lt has been decided to further postpone this annua 1 meeting until Monday evening next. Vacation. —The long vacation terminates this day, and on and after Saturday the Supreme Court offices will be open from 10 ajn. to 4 p.m. Children’s Treat at Lyttelton. —The inclemency of the weather having rendered it impossible for the children to meet in the open air, it has been decided that the treat take shall place in each of the schools.

Legal. —The case of Beswick v. The Mayor, Councillors, and Burgesses of the Borough of Eaiapoi will be argued in banco on Tuesday next. Mr Travers appears in support of the rule, and Mr Garrick to shew cause why the verdict should not be set aside. Rangiora and Masdeville Road Board. —Mr. M. Dixon called a meeting '’of ratepayers and electors of the district, at the Kaikanui Hotel concert-room, Kaiapoi, on Wednesday. Owing to the bad weather during the day, but few, and those from the immediate neighbourhood attended.

Amusement and Entertainment Association. —A meeting of members will be held at seven o’clock this evening, for the purpose of settling matters in connection with thepublic festival, and deciding, upon the 90ur.se to be adopted for the amusement and entertainment of the public during the winter months.

Horticultural Society. A special general meeting will be held at the Town Hall side-room this evening, for the purpose of electing a member of committee, and discussing the question as to the advisability of holding a show on the grounds of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and on other general business.

The Provincial Council. —We hive received a draft copy of a Bill which, we presume, will be brought before the Provincial Council during the ensuing session. The Bill proposes to remodel the Provincial Council districts, reducing their number to 13 and making ’ them identical with the General Assembly electoral districts. It alsq pro : •poses to reduce the number of member) from 39 to 25. i

Presbyterian Church. following is the reply from Prince Alfred to the address presented by the Presbyterian Church: —“ Gentlemen, —Among the characteristics of our parent land, and of this impiortant colony, is the perfect freedom of feligious creeds. I recognise in your position the assertion of this right, associated with the doctrines of that Church which haq long guided the people of Scotland. I thank you for your addresses, and for your -prayers, offered on behalf of the Queen, my mother, and myself.— Alfred.” The Weather. — On Monday last, the delightful autumn Weather which had prevailed during the previous week, Was succeeded by rain, which has continued with' occasional intermission up to the present time. The southern rivers have risen considerably, the Rakaia has risen so high as to delay the mail from the South, and ai heavy fresh is reported in the Waimakaririi There is also a slight rise perceptible in the iAvon. At Lyttelton it has been raining in torrents, a stiff south-wester blowing. No damage is reported to the shipping, but a heavy swell was rolling in the burifow 1 yesterday, and the business of the Pert was suspended. J Church of England.— The following reply to the address presented by to Prince Alfred has bqen received :—‘jGentldmeo,—l thank you from tny jhewt for this address, presented by your on jbehalf of the Diocese of Christchurch. It Is most agreeable to my feelings (o receive such proofs of welcome to myself and,of Loyalty to the Queen from members, qf a CWch to which it is tpy happiness,, to belong. J shall never cease to rejkiice .that I nave been enabled, to visit this distant portion (?1| tfie empire, and to become acquainted with a people of which I shall carry back with me the most pleasing recollections. I, trust that oh your gart the prqyefß of which you the will offered up iq the IJ«S.T-AiFbKb.”‘ ,; '

CiArra/kup'GßoteiNo Opn; Qorn'er de Sardegna gW&Morne details reipcctmg; Girl.tte.iealwayAcalm,. klrtd, andl affeet, tiomte. ,Het*id,rtwiitiy‘td>M«|wr. “ I do n t suffer 10 ibntil, but 1 feel I *« growing <>id. I am a weather-beaten ball, which bae

made many voyages. A plank is at one time Venting, at another a nail—always something ; but an earnest will supplies all deflciences; and when the country may have need of the last timber of the old barque, I shall willingly make the sacrifice.” New York.— The Philadelphia PMic Ledger says ‘lt is estimated that no less than 200,000 persons are now residing ,in New York city who have no work, no -real homes, and no means which ensure them a livelihood. Some of them beg or steal outright ; but a large number eke out a miserable existence by running in debt for lodging and board, or by borrowing from week to week of whomsoever will lend them, or by quartering themselves on relatives or friends. The result it reported to be an aggregate of want, squalor, misery, and degradation fearful to contemplate. “ A Damper foe Monitors.” —Under this heading the Post prints the following letter signed “ Non Nautlcus—“ While the great naval Powers are squandering millions !■> constructing armour-plated vessels impenetrable to the heaviest missiles, it may be worth considering whether there is not au easy and cheap expedient for silencing i and mastering those formidable floating batteries. If we should unfortunately be again involved in war, let our ships be provided with powerful engines to discharge a deluge of cold' sea water into the muzsle of every gun,;into every, port-hole and turret, into the chimney to extinguish the fire and drive the stokers from the furnace-hold by a scalding and suffocating vapour, and down the funnel to stop the machinery by condensing the steam which sets it in motion. Then let our intrepid tars board the helpless log, take it in tow, and drag it Without bloodshed into one of our harbours. This would soon pnt an end to maritime warfare.” Chignons Doomed I— The Spt t, a Pans iournal, announces that the great ladies of the French capital have determined to abolish chignons. “The character of a boa J-dress,” it says, “ is to undergo an important reform ; the command has gone fortli that false 1 hair and wigs most be repudiated.” And not only so, but ladies are always to appear, as if they dressed their own heir, for, “ when the work of a professional is manifest on their heads, prestige ceases. In the day time the hair is to be simply plaited, and confined; in a net —in other words, instead of assuming a pyramidical form, it is to have a tendency to fall like that of Niobe. In the evening, it will only be necessary to put on the head a crown, or a wreath of roses, of ivy, or of some creeping plant.” The Sport adds;— “ All is over with false hair, decked with gilded or metal articles. Henceforth false hair at best can only be tolerated as a detail, as a modest auxiliary—it can no longer be the principal or the only ornament of the head.” The Niagara Falls.— The San Francisco News Letter says:—A speedy and nighty, change in the character of the great Niagara Falls is looked for. It has long been known that beneath the hard limestone shelf over which the vast body of water passes there is a soft stratum of shale. The slow wearjgog away of the limestone gave a long lease of existence to the. falls, but the lease is, now threatened with a sudden termination by the certain indications in the currents about 800 yards above thfe Canadian falls, which! show that the water has got at the sublying shale, and is rapidly eating it away. It has even been ascertained that a subterranean stream of water is now pouring into the gulf below the falls, and everything goes to prove that the great limestone she'f known as the “ Horseshoe” will soon be. completely undermined and destroyed. Two effects ■ are anticipated from this—a conversion of the f&lta into a rapid, thereby rendering the “shooting 6f Niagara” practicable; and, secondly, the diverting of the. entire body of water to the Canadian side, the United States being thus robbed of their share of the mighty cataract by the Britishers. A Singular Phenomenon. —The Nevada Territorial Enterprise of November 28 >ssys : —“A most singular phenomenon was witnessed from that city the preceding morning, at 4 O’clock by miners and others who were astir at that early hour. The phenomenon Was of a celestial character, and * was connected with the risipg of tbp morning stqr. Some hundreds of persons saw the wonder, and looked on in astonishment daring its duration ■ The . sky was ; perfectly clear hi every direction, and the pßstem horjzon w^s 1 peculiarly blue and bright, notthe : slightest sign of mist about' the ridges Of the distant eastern ranges, yet the morning star rose of a blood-red colour, and with'a bright white haloj apparently five or six feet in diameter, surrounding it. From the lower part ofthi; halo there extended downward a. tail apparently some eighf feet long and two feet in width at the .ppper part. The tail, was slightly curved, of a sabre shape, bluntly rounded at the lower end, and both it and the halo appeared to be filled with thousands of, small and exceedingly brilliant stars. This strange light lasted some fifteen or twenty minutes.”

A Durable Covering fob Staircases. — The wear of staircases is often a very serious matter. Whether of wood or stone, with much usage, they soon go. If of stoae. the roUndhess of the edge shod wears away* and people miscalculate and stumble. If of wood, they are much sooner worn dawn. _To save them, we resort to many devices. Wd Cover them with lead, which soon wearing into holes leaves ragged edges, which oateh ladies’ ’ dresses and make similar ragged edge). Or we put a thick bar; of brass along!them, which sometimes catches the heel of ajman’s boot and sends him headlong, downstairs. The facts being so, a really lasting serviceable protection to- staircases is a desideratum: Such a covering, lit Gazeausays be has found in thin plates of aluminium bronze. For some time, it seems, the ascent of the column in the Place Vendomo has been interdicted to the public because of the wearing away of the stairs. It is for 'these that filCjwequ proposes bis covering, and if what he says is true, that the experiment baa been made id a factory (it must have beena (very-busy one) where plafes of'common bvonae on the stairs half an Inch think were woro out inhx wjekf, • White plates Of alumfiiiuatebnmse one-leighth inch thick remain just' the vaois oswhln new after Ole Wan month* of service, ttli an|infran<tion which must command notice. Aluminium bronze Jftjpot too expensive if lit will bear this amount of usage; and we recommend the authorities iof> th» Metropolitan Railway to give it a trial in place of the objectioriable <aat ‘hf broil, to whieh wje have alluded. Our readers will remember that aluminium bronzO is merely copper with from eight tO-ten per cent. of aluminium. ' The Isthmus op Suez Canal.— Tlje Chevalier de Stoeaer-Bavarian Consul ia;Liverpool, who has recently paid a visit to the Suez'-Cahal, delivered an address upon the subject in Liverpool, before a large audience,' Odraposed of ihe leading coutme'rdal men ,p{ ; the town, the resident chhiujh, ffiempers of the town council, &c, Mf S. R. Gfavea M.P;, was also present. Mf StOCss stated that the estimated cost ef-the undertaking wal eight millions sterling, that 20,000 of thejshareholders were PfMMh ; that the matten hd'be excavated amounted,to 95 million* gfl Cubic metres ; apd that, independently hRUheMaritime Caiial, the compepy origtnniM<by M. de Lesseps had to a; sweet water canal (fed’from the Nile) f)r the supply of its-numerous stations, and to litate the transport of material. The works' werecammenoedin'lMO; the cotoihun datlqh 1 between Pttrt Said and Maes waa« Ir&idy established, hslf by the sea cilial Snd half by’ the' fresh Water oahah, alio Wing of ■S tnm*port j df g(Jdda to thfe exteoroE 1000 - tods a day.andiu less than twelve i lontha the Maritlm e Canal' wooldbe' 'Openth rough*: out. 1 Port-SahfWaa now a town; kn i pnrt, ■ with TO,ooodahabittats, and’lh* :ptip dation of ti e isthmus had increased from 10, 500 in 1865, to 34,25(Lia 1868. The total force of men now employed on the works wa i 40Q0, ( and U),ooaheci«ipowers A»r a total power of 150,«00 men. The route by the Miritime Cart Si Would shomtflHe'distartCe to 'll rßmt bjjidMO kagueanffom iCMStantlwopl >,13800; from Marseilles, 2800 from Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, and St Petersburi :,WM drmnfNsW £rleena,«nd 2400 from Ne» ¥arkjj Mr Stoess estimated that the annual traffic by thahsrtftfw&Mhesilrmillion tons yield■tag; *rtsty , ? il,ion< °* '™ c *- The sweet water canal hid been sold to tbs Kgyptiata Government for tea million tt‘ flMOk

Remarkable Movement among the Jews, —The Israelite , published in Cincinnati, hM a series of articles upon the Sf bbath, which; take the ground that «. ohamm of the day.is'Uwful end expedient. '■• The dllfcngesqf the last half oentury the writer, * gentleman living In New Orleena, declares to have rendered It imposeible to observe properly the seventh day of the week as Che' Sabbath. ,It might be proper in farmer times*, bat so were other observances which the Israelites have found it necessary to modify. The commandment to keep the Shabbat, or Sabbath, holv, the writer declares does not instance the particular day of the week. Nor would It he possible (he remarks), in all parts of the gfcbbe, with the hofrtibf, sunset fnd sunrise changing with every degree of longitude, to indicate by them any precise time which would be always the same holy period. The Christain world, outnumbering largely the Jews, have adopted another day, and it is "ery inconvenient to vary from their usage. The writer also administers a_ gentle reproof to his co-religlonists for their former implacable bitterness and persecutions. Jesus, he declares, was a reformer of the Jewish religion, whom they caused to be executed; and afterwards they compelled his disciples to alienate themselves from the Jewish Church. They were themselves to blame that Christianity ia now a faith outside of Judaism.

Unhealthy Mouses. —lt is scarcely possible to estimate the amount of misery, remorse, and crime produced by unhealthy houses. Apart, however, from the avoidance of extreme evils—sickness and death—a home should be a piece of repose, cheerfulness, and comfort, where the worker may gain fresh strength and energy for the daily struggle. Dulness, gloom, apathy, ill-temper, will not produce this. We all know what trifling matters will change a career, and that the misery of a life may be born of a chance observation. The connection of these remarks with our subject will be seen at once. Amidst bad domestic influences the spirit flogs, the temper changes. Breathing bad air, suffering from the effect of damp, the world looks dark, the heart is heavy ; cheerful effort is out of the question ; kindly com.panionship is withered ; and jangle and snarl take the place of mutual encouragement and beat thy converse, which developes the affections slid powers. The occupants of such houses as we are contemplating do not live—they only pass their time, and a very bad , time it not seldom is. Life, which should be a blessing, is often made a curse by an unhealthy house and its consequence—an illordered home. Besides remedies of evils -referred to, we want also more oolonr in our houses, pictures, flowers, and a garden ; the effect of these on the spirits, and so on the Health, the thoughts; 1 and the habits, is greater than some 1 imagine; and the same argument will apply in calling for the wellordering and proper adornment of towns.

■'j Reminiscences ok 1 Wbdunoton. - Although Wellington Was ever foremost in the fray, be was never wounded except upon one occasion, and that was at Orthez, where he received a severe contusion upon his hip from a spent ball. This prevented him directing -in person, the last movements of the army on that day, but be did opt quit the field until Soult had began to retreat. In this engagement my elder brother, the late Duke of Richmond was most dangerously wounded while leading his company to the attack. The wound was pronounced to be mortal. Upon the following morning Wellington was enabled to get about upon crutches, and >his first walk was across the street to the bouse in which his former side-de- oamp lay. 'He hobbled into the room where the patient was still in a most precarious state. The sufgeon, Dr Hair, late of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues), who exhausted with fatigue; was resting upon a mattress, started up at the entrance of the duke, and made a sign that the wounded man was sleeping. For a second Wellington leant against the mantel piece, suffering from the most poignant grief. Suddenly my brother awoke, and recognising his chief, expressed a hope , that he bad been successful on the previous day. “ I’ve given them a ■ good licking,” replied the great man, j“ and I shall follow it up.”' The'exhausted jyouth turned to doze again, and as the duke quitted the room he appeared broken-hearted at the thought that he bad taken a last farewell of the son of one of his oldest and dearest friends. Another instance of Wellington’s tender feeling may be mentioned. Or Hume, the duke’s staff-surgeon, who had attended Sir Alexander Gordon, one of his grace’s aides-de-camp on the field of Waterloo, was anxious to report the death of that gallant officer as early as possible. With this view Uurae tapped at the duke’s door at about half-past 3 o’clock on the morning after the battle, and was told to come In. He found his grace sitting up In his bed, covered with the dust and sweat of the previous day.i The kind-hearted surgeon told him of Gordon’s death and other casualties. Wellington was deeply affected, his tears dropped fast upon his friend’s hand, which he held in his, and were chasing one' another in furrows over his dusty cheeks. Brushing them suddenly a way with his left hand, the duke said, in a voice tremulous with emotion, “ Well, thank God, I don’t know what it is to lose a battle, but certainly nothing can be more painful than to gain one with the loss of so many of one’s friends.”

Emigration to the Colonies. —The Times comes to the conclusion that as the only unfailing demand of a new country is for those competent to reclaim new land, ouremigrants must represent, If not trained agriculturists, at any rate men qualified to become Such—that is, men with strong arms, laborious habits, and a little capital. But these are precisely the characters most desirable at home, exactly the men we should wish to keqp, and who might be pretty safely 'relied upon for keeping themselves. What, good would it do us to drain the country of such people ? The answer is that such emigration would at any rate, diminish the numbers to be maintained at home! If a good workman goes away, he leaves his place to be flUed by a workman not quite so good, who, it may be hoped, would become all the better fpr the chance. That is what has actually occurred itt Ireland. If we cannot drain East London into a colony, we can create, vacancies in other parts o£ the kingdom ‘to which the population of East London may be diverted in its turn, and we must not grudge the selection i which our colpnies may reasonably require. Let the reader think for a moment of what actually occurs in America. Who and what ate the men who bring'new districts Into cultivation, and add territory after territory to the, dominion of the. .United States ? They art so to speajc, professional colonists. They ate men whose Ilvet have been passed in battling with nature, hndwhose instincts lead them to perpetuate the conflict. Men of this class would be welcome any where, and as they increase and multiply they would open a demand for other clasipwjyhjcjt would speedily become known. It would probably, however, suggest itself to any reader, after a study of eipigratlon statistics, (hat such' movdrtumta have neVer been so successful as wheh voluntarily Originated and conducted. ThC emigrants most sure tb ! thrive are thole whofortoj their own plans, count their own means, anq raise their own •f»pqey,'i' There is a large) class, certainly, which pannot be relied f undn for ahy sUch self-help, but this |ls the Very 1 ’ glass', qpt Vjlnted abroad. | The ‘Standard holds/ thit' in any . scheme of colonial emigration' it must not lie lorgot ten that the colonies are by no means a ixions for mere immigrants; , It is certain that the very mention uf the word “pauperi” will arouse atttbetr national susceptibilities, and tbatthey will protest..scarcely - leaf violently against this invasion >tbao the;, did agamst the project to revive, jthe transportation of criminal*.' Thrquestion is, are we prepared t|w rcppqusibility of grappling with it—nf Imposing the Imperial will U.pen the 'isolodlesf It is preposterous to maintain that because we have planted a fringe bf set41ertsOts round 1 the southern !and eastern shores of Australasia, therefore we abdicated Car tight to interfere i meat! of tbe> entire! continent. It Cannot be said that either legally on morally wp have abandoned our claim to tlie waste tthoji people of the kingdom. We hpve an toihem/and, of course, a CIfhCOtCCCMBC*.

JagAvTakwb Howpfl.—A.t the conclusion of.his recent epeewet Nottingham, after distributing th* prizes awarded at the Oxford local examninations, the speaker, Mr Denison, said:—" There still remains the question, what is to be done to make education effecttire throughout the country? Something may be done by Government, and something by Universities, but these will be of small meet, unless the care of home and of tlie fireside be added; unless parents will take an interest in the progress of their children, or will stimulate them to exertion. In Scotland—* What place in the school to-day?’ is the first question asked, when a boy comes home. ‘ Who is Dux ?’ Gould not you get ¥ be Dux by takings little more pains?’ he keen interest of the parents throws new life into the spirit of the boy. It is difficult to say what effects may not follow a word of anxious and affectionate interest of a parent. I will give an instance which occurred in a noblefamily in the case of one who passed a large part of his life in this country, and with whom I was intimately acquainted. Lord Althorp, known to us all as Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons, was not an industrious boy at school, was fond of field sports, of shooting, and bunting, and when he went to Cambridge took his hunters with him, and thought more of the sport he should have with his hounds than algebra and mathematics. When he came home for the first vacation, his mother said to him one day, * Jack, we shall expect' you to take honours.’ Jack, or, not to seem too familiar, may I add the (epithet which in after life accompanied the word, Honest Jack, was struck all of a heap by this maternal expectation ; but he pondered upon it. He sold his hunters, be set himself diligently to the study of mathematics, he took honours in the examination of bis college, and doubtless it was to the strengthening and healthy influence of those studies, for he was never gifted with the powers of -oratory, that Lord Althorp was enabled to play such a distinguished part in life, and it is as little doubtful that this came from the few words dropped from the | lips of his mother.”

A Greek Wedding.—The Liverpool Mercury contains the following description of a Greek wedding in that city ;—The usually quiet and aristocratic neighbourhood of Prince’s Park was a scene of unwonted commotion on Saturday morning. This stir was consequent on the marriage of the daughter of one of our well-known merchants residing in that locality. The fair bride was Miss Marigo Paspatti, daughter of Mr N. Paspatii, of the eminent Greek firm of Ralli Brothers, merchants, of this town ; and the bfidfgroom was Mr Aristides Cornelius, merchant, who resides}™ Edge lane. About 10 o’clock the bridal party left the residence of Mr M. Paspatti, Helas-house, Devonshire road, Prince’s Park, and proceeded to Mornington Terrace, where worship according to the doctrine of the Greek Church is now .temporarily conducted in one of the houses, pending the completion of the magnificent new church which is being built for in Prince’s Park road. The room where the marriage took place was filled by the friends of the bride and bridegroom, including many elegantly attired ladies and members of several of the leading families resident in the district. The. sponsor was Mrs Demetrius Ralli, and Mr Paico was the bridegroom’s “best man.” The marriage ceremony was solemnised by the archimandrite of the Orthodox Eastern Greek Church, Constantine Stratnli, D.D., assisted by his brother, Gabriel SStratuli. The ceremony of marriage, as solemnised according to the formula of the Greek Church, is exceedingly beautiful, and, as it is but little known in this country,, a brief description of it may be interesting. When the bride and bridegroom took their places at the church table, at which the officiating priests were standing, the latter attired in their priestly vestments, read certain prayers in Greek. These being concluded, the archimandrite placed chaplets of orange blossoms on the heads of the bride and bridegroom. He then presented them with a goblet of wine, of which they tasted three times! alternately. The chaplets were then removed, hud tttte senior priest, taking them in. bis; bauds, made with them the sign of the cross and laid them on the Gospels, the bride and bridegroom holding each other’s hands, and followed by their sponsor and'bridesmaids, walking three times round the church table, the venerable archimandrite reading' in solemn tones prayers .as the pro>cession proceeded. When they had walked round the table in this way they again took up their places before the priests. The archimandrite placed a ring on the finger of the bride, another prayer was offered up, both priests blessed the young couple, and so far as the rites of the Greek Church were concerned the marriage was completed. But there were some matter of fact legal requirements to be complied with. The bride and bridegroom.had to make the declaration that they “ knew of no legal impediment” in the way of their marriage; and this prosaic proceeding having taken place they were pronounced by the chief priests to be one, not only according to the forms of their ancient faith, but also by the laws of the country of their adoption. The newly-married pair then received the congratulations of their friends, and the party left the church for the residence of Paspatti, where a sumptuous wedding breakfast was served to a numerous company.