TOWN & COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 5302, 16 February 1878, Page 2

TOWN & COUNTRY.

St. Valentine's Day.— The total number of letters received at and despatched from th Christchurch Post Office on St. ..Valentine’s Day was 13,430, of which 4045 were sent away to various places, while the number received amounted to 9385. Commercial.—We hear that the business of Messrs Bussell, Ritchie and Co, of Dunedin and Timaru, will shortly be taken over by the National Mortgage and Agency Company, which has already absorbed that of the Loan and Agency Company of New Zealand. ' The increase of business from these two sources to this not long established institution must be very considerable. Applications pob Licenses. —The follow ing applications for new licenses are to be made at the session of the Licensing Court to be held in Christchurch on Tuesday, March s:—Hotel licenses: J. Hi Andrews, Ferry road 5 J. M. Fitsgerald, Harper street, Newtown : John ‘ Hughes, Victoria road, north-east felt; Win Letford, Selwyn street, Addington; John Mumford, Madras street and south belt; C. Klingenstein, Cashel street; P. S. Pryde, Lincoln road; Henry Qualmer, > north-east felt; Henry Stace, Springston; Wm Savage, Stanmore road. Wine and beer license: John Somers, Colombo and Bussell streets; Thomas Bussell, Colombo road south.

jD Kpndem Deobebs.— r-Tlie enipor-tor-’tli« e degrees closed afc,the Qovemmeut Buiw-' ina yostewMl whlfcArthey were received by Mi Maskeli|& ilt ujß|.bo some months below thi resultaare ,K A. iraATRH'SovAE.— Elscwherog.is published tlb preliminary advertisement'/df a Variety , ColiShy calling themselves “ The! Beaumont Imupe,” who will commence a season of sue .niThtsat the. Theatre Royal on Tuesday. op Gnim A^Wpoi^Tho following alterations in tho railway jaritt have lifon gazetted, according to a tclegtamwlucli ve publish elsewhere : Grair earned from Timaru and Wnshdyko stations to Lyttelton, 14s per ton; wool, same distance, 6s 6d per balo of 4 owt* < ; r, . v Malvern Tho weather of late has been rerv backward for harvesting, drizzling ram and dull days . pwTenting„;work m this direction. Some of the crops are yet very green and making little progress towards rinenflßS. There is no scarcity of tyers this TOa r. There arc eight binders and reapers at work in, 1 the district, and giving every satisfaction.; ‘ ■ __ The Cixii Council as a Local Board or tt« t T.rii.—At yesterday’s mooting of the Local Board] of Health a report was brought up recommending that the powers of the Board, so far as the City was concerned, : should be re-transferred to the City Council. After some conversation the report was adopted, it being understood that the Council would bear the expense of carrying out the Act, and that the Board of Health would render any a ssistance in their power, • , Accident. —As Mr A. Prothero s threshing machiug was at work on. a farm in the vicinity of Rangiora, on Wednesday afternoon, _ a piece of timber fell from a high part of the straw elevator on,to the head of a man named Broun, working by the side of it, aim inflicted, a severe wound on the side of the head, about four inches in length. The sufferer was at ‘once conveyed to his home at Rangiora, where Dr Downes attended him, and,, he is progressing a,s favourably as possible under the circumstances. Tatdoe’s Garden. —We are sorry to learn that this favourite place of resort, which is such a popular rendezvous for. pic-nicers, is soon to become a thing of the past. Already a poriion of it has been cut up and disposed of for building purposes—a couple of houses being nearly completed on it—while the rest will in all probability follow in due course. It could hardly be expected that so valuable a piece, of . ground so near the city could for a much longer'period be kept for the purposes of • a pleasure garden, but at the same time its destruction is to be regretted. ContasiocsDiseasesAct;— Atyesterday’s sitting of the Board of Health no .less than 30 cases of infectious disease were reported. The medical officer stated* that he aid not f.hinV this was an unusually large number for the time of year, though ho had no doubt the cases had been' more uniformly reported than on any previous occasion. , Dr Powell attributed much of the disease-that existed to the adulteration of milk, particularly in the case of children, and-suggested that some steps should be taken to, haveaclause, inserted in the Public Health : r :Ant " toj, coihpel a strict supervision of all dairies'from which milk was supplied to the public. Me Claeke’s Visit.—The long-delayed visit of Mr Clarke, the consulting engineer, who is expected over from Australia to report upon a system of drainage for Christchurch, would appear to,bie as far distant : 'as ever. Nothing has been heard -of - his movements by the Drainage Board sihee his telegram of Feb. 2, read at a former meeting of the Board. In the meantime everything in connection with the main drainage, of the city is at a standstill. In the course of Some conversation which took place yesterday on the subject, Mr Duncan said that on Mr Clarke making* his report/-he should feel it his' duty either to insist on the work being gone on with,.;as provided by the scheme,- or he should on the Board." : For the sake of the city generally, it is to be hoped Mr; Clarke. will' soon make bis h. :GB8lH0VM)fl. —-Yesterday, -Mr J. G. Hawkes offered for. sale by auction, several greyhounds/TOC" property of i Mr Walker, a gentleman who is well and favourably known as the possessor of- some first-class animals. Although/ there was a fair attendance, no buyers appeared to be present,, and the few bids made were so. disproportionate to' thei merits of the animals offered, that the whple of the'; dogS;, were withdrawn, the auctioneer intimating-that he would, bg , prepared |b, sell - any of them by private 'Some, fine; setter pups, from imported dogs, : were also; offered, but.no bid ,was elicited, later in the day, Mr Walker disposed of, privately/apair pf bis greyhounds, for nine guineas, viz., Strathmore, by Blue Cap—Ouida, aged nearly five months, and Balmoral, by , Blue Cap—: Bubina, aged three months. . j. Tot Telephones. —The telephone on a small scale is now on salcat Christchurch, and yesterday there was quite a run on these; little instruments .at the tobacco shop of Mr S. P. Petherick, in Colombo street. They are the handiwork of Mr Noding, and are represented’by a couple of small tin cylinders, one end of them being tightly fitted with parchment. A packthread runs from one of these to the other, and any person speaking even in a whisper into. one. at the drums may be heard by a listener at the other, even at a distance of fifty or sixty yards. Mr Noding: saysTi it ’ might be as advantageously employed as the means of communication were the thread 1 several hundred yards long; These infant telephones are only half-a-crown, and will no 'doupt afford a very great deal of interest and amusement, although in their present form they may not be of much practical value. 1 Thk Spaeeow Question.— Mr Mann, the butcher, yesterday had bn view in' his shop in Colombo street a sheaf of oats which, although it showed an immense number of husks, contained very little grain. Mr Mann states that the oats wore grown in a nine-acre paddock at

St Albans, and that they came up so well and so thickly that he confidently expected to Have a very large crop—indeed not less than 60 bushels to the acre. But shortly before being cut whole flocks of sparrows pounced down upon it and rifled at least dne-third of the husks of the grain within—the result being that instead of a veiy large the crop was a very small one. Certainly it is seldom that such damage has been done to any crops: in such proportion j and Mr Mann says he only wishes that the friends of these insectivorous little birds who introduced them into the Province would make good his losses, which he estimates to beat least 28 bushels to the acre.

Catholic Church.—lmportant additions are shortly to be made to the Catholic church, Barbadoes street, which for a considerable time past has afforded very insufficient accommodation. The ground plan of the present building presents a cruciform structure, the length of the lower limb of the cross being 61 feet. This portion is to be extended to a width of 60 feet on either side, and in the design which has been prepared by the architect, Mr Jacobsen, considerable attention has been paid to the ultimate appearance which the completed building will present. Each of the new walls has five gables, those at either end being somewhat larger than the three central ones. One of the gabled divisions is to be occupied by a prettily designed porch, and the others by square outlined Gothic, windows, with rose windows above them. The somewhat plain verge boards will be supported by scrolled brackets, and the gables will be terminated by suitable finial ornaments. Between the windows are massive buttresses, and in a few of the details scrolled .work will be introduced to give an appearance of greater finish. Hie proposed enlargements will permit of the erection of a considerable number of extra seats, and so far as can be judged by the present attendance at the church, they will be immediately filled. Gun Club.—Yesterday the members of the Canterbury Gun Club mustered at Papanui in good force for a day’s pigeon shooting. The sport was exceedingly good, although the number of birds killed within bounds was not so large as on former occasions. This was due to the high wind and the strong glare from the hot sun, as well as to the fact that the birds were on the whole very wild.J As a further large supply of birds is anticipated during next week, it is proposed to have another match in about a fortnight. The following are the results of yesterday’s shooting f— First sweep, £3 10s—Messrs Coombes and Warner tied, and agreed Jo divide the stakes. Second sweep, £3 10s.—Mr Coombes took the first prize, the second being divided between Messrs Cookson and Kirkwood. Third sweep, £3 10s.—Messrs Warner and Kirkwood shored the first prize, and Messrs Trent, Coombes, and Cookson the second. In these contests the competitors were allowed five birds each. Mr Cookson was exceedingly unfortunate, many of his birds falling out of bounds. A final sweep of £3.TOs, one bird each, was arranged. Messrs Trent, Cookson, and Jackson, tied, and the latter elected to retire. Messrs Trent and Cookson tied again, and as there were no more birds, they had to divide the stakes,.

-Odwii Baom.—At *' meeting Held in the Hall On Wednesday evenmg last, it was” decided that the programme for :-the nestt races be the same as that of last year. 0.F.. M.U.—A summoned meeting ot the Loyal Leithfield Lodge, 1.0.0. F., Mill., held at the Masonic Hall, Leithfield, for -•the purpose of electing N.G. and warden Bro D. Shaw, P.Y., was didy elected as N».,. and Bro C. Sago as warden, after wlueu the lodge closed. „ . , Tlb Soldene Comic Opeea Company.— As might have been expected from the popularity of Miss Soldene.the Theatre was crowded in every,.papt last evening, on the occasion ot her benefit. The piece of the evening was Lecocq’s opera boulfe S“|Gir<»fl6-Girofla. The opera went throughout with great animation, and the encores and recalls to the front; were frequent. At the close , 0f... the performance there was. a very* unanimous call for Miss Soldcno, who was saluted with quite a shower of bouquets. To-night “Genevieve de Brabant’ 1 and “Trial by Jury” will bo reproduced, and the season will close on Monday with “ Chilperic.” Death by Deownino. —A sad accident occurred on Thursday, by which a little girl aged ton years, named Sophia ScbrOdor, of Tai Tapu, lost her life by drowning in the river HalsweU. It appears that deceased was sent by her mother, at noon, to take some dinner to several men who were working in a paddock on the other side of the river. The stream at the place where she had to cross was nine feet deep* and was bridged by a couple of planks each four inches wide, ! certainly a most precarious crossing for a grown-up person, to say nothing of a child. ‘ Deceased seems to have made the passage over in safety, because she delivered the dinner to the men in the field. ’ As, however, she had not returned at two o’clock, her mother became alarmed, and a search was made, which resulted in the body of the little girl being found about three o’clock, a couple of chains below the planks, from which she had evidently slipped and fallen into the water. Dr Durham, of Prebbleton, was soon in attendance, and at once pronounced life to be extinct. An inquest will be held upon the body at the Tai Tapu Hotel at 3 o’clock this afternoon. g ' Inquest.—An inquest took place at the hospital yesterday afternoon,: before Dr I Coward (coroner), upon the" body of Jacob Grimsher, who, was found hanging by the neck on Ins own premises' in High' street bn the previous day, as reported in our issue of yesterday. The evidence given by the witnesses called .corroborated, the fkets as narrated by ns. Mr Taylor, a grocer ; living near deceased, deposed that Gnmsher was in the habit of going over to. his house to have his breakfast, and? that on the morning in question, not making his appearance at the usual time, he sent over the boy to call him. The lad, however, returned, stating that he could make no one hear. Taylor himself then went over, and as he could not succeed in getting an answer to his fcwck, he threw.a number of pebbles at: the window, hut ■ without avail. With the assistance of a constable an entrance was effected, when they found. Grimsher banging by the neck as already, described.! Another witness named Pye, ,a gas-fitter, also Bring in High street; deposed that he knew deceased, who of late had beeri very despondent in his mind. On the previous evening he had told him (witness) that he was in pecuniary difficulties, as- he had a bill of £35 td meet m a few days, and had added that he should hot be at ail sorry if he were to die that very night. As, however, on previous occasions he had made the same remark, no notice was taken Of him. When fOund Grimsher had evidently been dead for several hours.' After a brief deliberation, the Jury returned a verdict “ That deceased had been found hanging dead from a rope on his own premises.” Ceicket. —Some information about the team, telegraphed by btir Dunedin correspondent, will be found,fin another column.—The M.C.C.C. will play two matches to-dayon the Association and | Hagley Qakleaf. Grounds. The sides have i already - been published. Both ’matches will ! commence at 2 o’clock punotuaUy.—The. Association match to-day is the continuation of the England v. Colonies game.—The match : between the Press Standard and Sunuyside Clubs will be continued oh the ground of the latter to-day. The -following will represent the P.S.;—Ashby,, Andrews, . . Costly, Marr, Fishef,’ JohM'oh, : 'SeolJ/ Washer, Withers. Emergency Maurice. — A match was played last Saturday between' teaSs ichbsbn by • thfe UQSeasurer and Secretary of the M.C.C.C. The former went in .first and made 161, playing two , men. short; The chief scorers-Twerc Beeves 41, Eowe 48, Palairet 28 hot out, and Fairhurst 14.'' The Seorethay’i side made 47 for the loss of three wickets, Atack 10 and Ashbolt 16 not out, being the only contributors of note. —A match was played on Thursday between elevens from the establishments of Miles, Hassal and Co. and R. Wilkin and Co. The former won by 20, runs. The principal scorers were—on the winning side, Glen 12 not out, and 19; Hartland, 32 and 6 ; and Miles, 10 and 1., Qf the other team, Wilkin 29 and 13 was the only one who got into double figures.—The return- match between the Sangiora and-'Christchurch Bakers’ Clubs came- off on Thursday, and after an exciting game resulted in a second victory for the country players by foui’ runs and three 1 ; wickets,,. The E.C.C. made 122 and 75 for seven wickets, and tho Bakers 98 and-95; For the former, Boyle 12 ahd 3, Hurse 14 and 5, Good II and 32 nOt out, Robilliard 22 and 0, andM‘lntosh 11 and 17 not out, were the -leading scores; for the latter, Alpe 10 and 13, Donoghue 35 and 3, Thompson 8 and 30, Whitenield 7 and 19, Ritchie not out 14 and 9, Simpson 0 and not out 11. , ' ■■■' ■ Kaiapoi Regatta.—A meeting of persons interested in getting up the annual Kaiapoi regatta was held in the Borough Council Chamber on. Thursday evening. last. There was a large attendance, several Christchurch boating men being present amongst.others, and Dr Dudley was voted to the chair; Mr Burnip proposed and Mr J. L, Wilson seconded, “ That the annual Kaiapoi regatta be held on Monday, March 18 (St Patrick’s Day). Carried unanimously. Mr J. L. Wilson proposed that Dr Dudley be Commodore, and in doing so said that it was a well-known fact, that whenever the “ old doctor” was at the head of their sports everything passed off well and plesantly, and was a decided success. Mr F. Pearce seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr C. Whitefoord.was appointed judge, and Mr John Sims, after a deal of persuasion, and at the unanimous request of the meeting, consented to act as starter. Mr J. L. Wilson was appointed secretary, and treasurer. A letter was read from Mr R. Macfarlane, regretting Ids inability to attend, but stating that he should be happy to help the committee as far as possible, After some discussion, it was resolved that the committee consist of eighteen members exclusive of the officers. The following committee was then elected, viz—Messrs R. Macfarlane, W. Burnip, F. Bossustow, J, Dawson, M. C. Moran, C. Smith, W. H. Ovenden, R. Moore, W. Barnard, J. O. Jones, T. Grierson, J. H. Schmidt, E. A. Balch, J. Beharrcll, W. Fraser, W. May, W. Eckersley, J. Jff. Ellen, andF. Pearce. Resolved, on the motion of Mr J. 0. Jones, —“ That it be a suggestion to the Committee to offer a prize, for .iour-oared crews who have never won at a regatta in Canterbury.” Resolved, “ That a cordial vote of thanks be given to the Christchurch men for their attendance at the meeting." After passing a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meeting adjourned. The Committee agreed to meet on Friday, Feb. 22, at 7.30. A subscription list was started,and £ls collected in the room. A meeting of members of the< Loyal City of Christchurch Lodge 1.0.0. P., M.U., will he held on Monday evening, at 7.30 p.m. The steam launch Lyttelton is advertised to run to Governor's Bay at short intervals on Monday next, the day fixed for the tailors’ pio-nic. A meeting of the Tai Tapu Jockey Club will be held at the Ellesmere Arms Hotel, this evening.

The Hon W. J. M. Labnach at Oamaru. —On Thursday the Minister of Public Works informed a deputation that the Government were using every endeavour to supply tho want of trucks experienced on tho railways, at the same time expressing his opinion that tho dearth of trucks was not in -any way to be laid to the charge of the present Executive. He promised that tho railway employes at Oamaru should receive pav for overtime; also, tliat the terminal charge on grain of Is 3d, a charge not levied on wool, should bo remitted. He remarked that “it was . not well” (we quote from the report in the Oautaru Mail, “ to act on any iron rule in the working of railways. Tho Government would have to consider tho necessities of the different districts.” Mr Larnach contradicted a report which was going about to the effect that the. various portions of the Oamaru and Dunedin lino would not be opened for traffic till the whole was completed. A very important piece of information which Mr Lernaoh gave tho deputation is the following. He said,

“that, without in secrete of the »“*“i ~ f the appointment of who tod venune& oould «ee>tow W to carrying out the «ug&ion,Boafia i wo«he appointed m the BhSStownW totfc* r ##f en , tat f e , B . fro ” such places as Oamartt, cAtsed of shippers arid mewslianij and the*|l6oards would be empowepd to railway managers on th» management If the pronosaTVere carried out, ho felt sure it would have if beneficial result, as the Boards would he able to guard the interests of the public and the railways;”