TOWN & COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6533, 3 February 1882, Page 4

TOWN & COUNTRY.

WBiiiis&iON Backs.—The annual Summer Meeting at Wellington began yesterday. Hilda won the Cup, with Salvage (the favourite) second, and The Foet third.

Dbainage Boabd Emotion.—The objection lodged by Messrs J. B. Parker, J. Struthers Williams, and Professor Cook against the return of Dr Prins to represent the North Bast City Ward on the Ohristohuroh District Drainage Board, will be held at the Besident Magistrate's Court, at 2 p.m. on Thursday next.

Phdkstbiakish.—Mr Hallifaz of Dunedin has made arrangements for the appearance in this Colony Qf some noted Australian pedestrians who are now on their way to Dunedin. They are O'Brien, Connor, and Freeman, all of whom have obtained fine " records" in this part of the world, and are desirous of matching their strength against the " peds " of the Old Country, The New Zealand tour is undertaken e» route to America, whence they go to England. The performances of the men summarised are contained in the following:—"O'Brien has an unbeaten record of twenty-seven races at one mils, bis last win being accomplished in within one second of the fastest time in the world. He is anxious to try oonolusions with the great mile runners of England, notably Cummins and Duddle—his friends being confident of him even in suoh distinguished company. The others are the ohampions at their respective distances, O'Connor having performed the extraordinary feat of walking eight miles, fair heel-and-toe, within the hour. Freeman is ohampion of Yiotoria at distances up to 440 yards, his record being fifty-eight wins of handicaps and first-class matohes." Mr Hallifax is negotiating for the use of Lancaster Park, and we have no doubt that with the assistance of our local heroes of the running traok, he will be able to arrange a day's sport satisfactory both to himself and the public.

Thbatbs Boyai.—"The Snowball" and "The Ohinese Question" were again played last night. They will be produced for the lait time this evening, u " Eureka " jj billed forpresentation to-morrow. Hotbl Ohahoxs.—The friend* of Mr "W. J. Warner will be glad to learn that he has returned hii old position ai host of the Commercial Hotel, sir M'Kendrick, the present licensee, is about to take charge of the Zetland Arms.

Thh Nbw Boabd of Education,—lt hag been decided that the result of the nominations by the School Committees of members to be the new Board of Education for the District of North Canterbury, shall be declared on Thursday, March 2. Abtillhbt Bakd.—Last evening th» members of this band gave another of their popular open air promenade concerts in the grounds attached to the Drill Shed. A considerable number of persons were' present, and the performance passed off very satisfactorily, the various selections being rendered in admirable style. Thh Samubisok Bhapeb.—A puttie trial of one of the new Samuelson reapers and binders was held yesterday on Mr Greenaway's farm, Wakanui. The work done was considered quite satisfactory and of sufficient excellence to give the machine a high place in farmers' esteem. English makers are gradually cutting under the reputation of their American rivals, and are accordingly steadily rising in favour. Bbsidbmt Magistbatb's Coitbt.—During last winter it was evident from the large patches of moisture appearing on the inside of the western wall of the Magistrate's I Courthouse, that this portion of the building was not proof against the sou'-west weather. I With the view of effecting a remedy several ! coats of paint are now being put on the exterior of this wall; and it is hoped that \ next winter will not witness a repetition of a nuisanoe that was fraught with danger to the health of necessarily regular attendants at I the Court.

iK^xrHflT. —An inquest wu held on Wednesday at Woodbury into the death of Kenneth M'LeUan, one of Mr Tripp's shepherds, who was drowned in a creek on Monday last. The evidence of two other shepherds—Donald M'Kay and Murdoch M'X.eod—showed that deceased went into a deep pool to bathe, the day being very hot He dived in, and then began struggling in the water and sank. His mates tried to get him out, bub failed for some time, and when they succeeded he was dead. A verdict of " Accidental Death" was returned. Boabd o? Education.—The North Canterbury Board of Education held an ordinary meeting yesterday afternoon. Before the proceedings closed, the Board, on the motion of Mr H. B. Webb, voted £lO, to pay for a bay and othsr expenses connected with the " Special Class" in the International Exhibition. This special clau is for boys and girls under 17 years of age, who may exhibit their bond fide work—the girls, needlework of all kinds; the boys, cabinet work, models, mechanical contrivance*, and both sexes, wood earring, fretwork, collection of birds (mounted), collection of shells. The Board s grant is only for space, &c, for the exhibits of children attending the public schools. Akatbub Thhatbicals.—On Wednesday evening the Ashburton Amateur Dramatic Club gave a performance for-} the benefit of their scene painter, Mr C. Bourk, who was burnt out by a recent fire, which consumed the greater portion of his effects. The attendance at the performance in the Town TfrU was very fair indeed, though it would doubtless have been larger had the weather been less threatening. The pieces chosen for representation were the farces " Doing my Uncle" and "The Dead Shot," and they were got through with great spirit and without any hitch at all. The audience were in excellent humour throughout, and applause and laughter rewarded every fresh s illy. New Bbedsb.—A meeting of residents of Salisbury street west and the vicinity was held in the Oddfellows' Hall, Montreal street north, last evening, to consider the question of the erection of a bridge over the Avon in a line with Salisbury street, so as to afford additional communication with the park. Mr S. P. Andrews occupied the chair. A motion was carried affirming the desirability of erecting the bridge; also that the necessary funds should be raised by voluntary subscription, and that the bridge should be built with the consent of the Domain Board and City Council. It was decided to appoint a deputation to wait on the above bodies in order to ascertain their views on the matter, to report to a future meeting. Fbtitioks fboh Dotibston.—A Tery numerously signed petition will shortly be presented by the residents in the township of Doyleston to the Premier, as member for the district, to have the name of the railway station altered to EOesmere. The reason assigned for the alteration is that the present station called EUesmere is not in the Ellesmere district, while Doyleston is in about the centre of the district. —Another petition signed by the residents has been forwarded to the Board of Education, praying that the school, which is at present only a side school, be made into a main school. The petitioners represent that there are 90 children in Doyleston who attend school, and that half thaj number have to walk to the Leeston sohool, as the lower standard* only are taught in the side school.

Thh Exhibition.—A telegram was received yesterday morning from Melbourne by Mr Twopeny, to the effect that a number of paintings were expected to arrive there from England for the art gallery in tie Ohristchuroh International Exhibition; and that Mr Fletcher, who occupied the post of Superintendent of the British Art Gallery at the Melbourne Exhibition will hold a similar position in the Ohristchurch Exhibition. It may be mentioned, for the information of intending exhibitors, that the promoters, while willing to receive entries up to March, cannot guarantee full space to those persons applying alter Feb, 20. In allotting the positions of the various exhibitors, preference will be given to those whose applications were the earliest made. The contractor for the erection of the building is making very fair progress with his work, and it is expected that the greater portion of the framework will be up this week. The formation of the carriage drives has been completed, and the metalling is being actively proceeded with. AcotDHiCTS.—When the cabmen's picnic procession had reached 8t Andrew's Church yesterday morning one of the horses in a "four-wheeler" became restive and unmanageable, and ultimately the horses dashed with the vehicle out of the procession and rapidly disappeared up the Lincoln road.— An accident, which was fortunately not attended with serious oonsequenoes, ocourred i» Victoria street yesterday morning. A lad named William Lisle, in the employ of Mr John King, grocer, was driving a dray loaded nitb a number of boxes, on one of which he was sitting. When turning the comer of Vic* tori* and Durham streets the box he was Bitting on suddenly shifted, throwing the lad under the cart; and one of the wheels passed over his arm at the elbow. The lad, who appeared to be suffering great pain, was taken by Constable M'Davitt to the Hospital where it was found that no injury other than a severe bruise had been sustained. Cokobbt at Hasmoba.—-The concert in aid of the Good Templar Lodge building fund was a great suocesa on Wednesday evening, the Hall being well filled, and the performance a very superior one T- s chair was occupied by the Mayor (Bro J'- Johnston), who briefly introduced th-> performers, comprising Mrs and Miss An..'*, Mrs Gray, the Misses Kent, Ness, and ihomp* son and Mr Kerr; and, in addition to these, local talent was also oalled into service. Mr Bamberger's solos on the violin were the most enjoyable feature of the programme being encored on each ocoasion. Mr D° rn sang two songs, and Mr E. Hammond gave ft comet solo. The Bangiora Brass Band pl»J ed some selections before the ooncert commenced and during the interval. An address was delivered by the Bev B. T. Dudley, oj Auckland, in whioh he advocated the claim* of the Order, and at the conclusion Bro aBoyd gave some informattot respecting tn finanoial position of the Good Intent iws of Bangiora. A vote of thanks, propose aw Bro B. M. Bell, to the performers, conchy the proceedings. The bazaar in aid or *« same object realised about £4O.

Xbb Ashbubtoh Abduotioic Oasb. —• Yesterday the man Fowler was again before tho Ashburton Court, this time, however, to produce evidenoe of the marriage he had con* tr*eted, before the Begistrar the day previous, with the damsel over whom all the trouble ha! arisen- The Beneb.-having been satisfied that everything was now right, discharged fowler, who had only been previously remanded formally for eight day* to allow of the marriage taking place. Spobtims.—Mr Nosworthy has had to destroy Mermaid, the dam of Lnrline, Le jjoup, Malice, Wafirwitoh, Castaway, Lure, and La Mode. The old mare has been ailing lioee the birth of her hut foal, a chestnut oolt by Korari, and seeing that there was no chance of her recovery, Mr Nosworthy was compelled to shoot her. Mermaid was foaled in 1860, and was by JSSng Tom out of Water, witch, by The Flying Dutchman.—Sweet Cicely, one of Mr Stead's recent importations, has foaled a filly to Wild o*ts.—Privately we learn that Billingsgate has been handicapped at Bst 101 b for the Newmarket Handicap, at Bydney. Piokic—One of the most effective displays in connection with the annual trade picnics, which are now quite ft feature in this city, wis witnessed in town yesterday. The livery itable keepers and cabmen assembled in Cathedral square, to proceed to Mr Boag's paddock at Fendaltown for their yearly outing. About 50 vehicles, including six four-in-hand teams, formed in procession, and drove through the city, headed by the Artillery band, and preceded by outriders in grotesque costume*. After traversing the principal streets, the excursionists left for the chosen trystiog place. A liberal programme of races and other sports had been arranged, and a very enjoyable day was spent. The holiday-! makers returned to town at half-past 7in the ] eTening. DBTKBMIBED ATTB3CMS AT INCKHDIABIBM. —Two very determined attempts have been made during the past three weeks to sot fire to the residence of Mr J. H. Stringer, at the junction of Gloucester street east and the jftanmore road. The first of these took place os Jan. IS last, shortly after 8 o'clock in the evening. On the date mentioned some additions to the front of the house were in progress, and entrance to the unfinished portion was easily obtainable. Mr Pusohell, of Avonside, was driving past in his buggy, and noticed a fire in one of the front rooms. Ue at once alarmed the inmates, and the fire, which was lighted in a heap of shavings on the floor, was extinguished by means of a few bucket* of water. At about the same time on Wednesday evening, one of Mr StriDger*s children discovered that the house was on fire for the second time. The bow window of the front room had evidently been opened, and a light applied to some sacking, which had been nailed over the dado to protect it from injury while the plasterers were at work in the house. Fortunately the flames had not obtained much hold, and some water having been procured from some fire tanks on Mr Cooke's premises adjoining, it was quickly extinguished.. The matter has been placed in the hands of the police, but so far, no clue to the perpetrators has been obtained. The usual monthly meeting of the Canterbury Agricultural «sd Pectoral Association will be held at two o'clock this afternoon.

The Begistrar o£ the University of New Zealand notifies in an advertisement that persons desirous of obtaining ad mndsm degrees must send is applications to that effect on or before Saturday, Feb.

How Fetboixox is Foemsd.—ln the course of hit lecture at Dnnedin on " The World Before life," Professor Denton said, '-'With respect to the oleaginous deposits under the earth's surface, there have been many theories to account for the presence of these; but in actual fact petroleum—that most valuable product of our mother earth —was the secretion of coral polypes in the Deronian ages.. It is not in any way necessarily connected with coal, care as it may hare been forced by pressure nearer the surface. The actual source lies in these vast coral reefs, far below the coal beds. i.hiß subject is important and valuable to all people in every country, but specially here in New Zealand, which is itßelf in all probability an oil-bearing country."

QUAKAITTIKBD PASSSHGBBB IHVIOTOBIA. —A Melbourne correspondent gives an amusing account of the difficulties that; have arisen over the quarantining of the Garonne's passengers :—" For some time past," he nays, "205 of the passengers of the Garonne hare been quarantined at Portsea, and a nice row they hare made. They hare for the time played the rdle of Sterne's starling—' I can't get oat.' The quarantine ground at Portsea is about the dullest locality on the face of the earth, so the' quarantined' hare indulged in thoroughly Englishfemusements. They held indignation meetings every day, at which resolutions were passed affirming they were ill-used and urging their liberation. Of course they were not satisfied. What Englishman erer is ? At first things went all wrong. It was discovered that no one need stop aft the quarantine ground unless he liked, the fences being dilapidated. Then a fight arose between the ' quarantined' and the newspapers. The Melbourne papers insisted upon the detained persons beiDg kept at Portsea until the regulations were complied with. Hereupon the detained ones organised! a Vigilance Committee to prevent the Press ' getting information, and several innocent persons were pelted with diiris because the indignants thought they were reporters. The last act in this humourous intermezzio was the discovery by Dr Buhner, that a letter reflecting upon him which had been sent to the Times, and which purported to have been signed by the Chairman of a full meeting of the passengers, was to an extent a forgery, and not authorised by the passengers as a whole. He thereupon had other meetings held to vindicate himself' before the citizens of Melbourne,' and wrote a letter to the Government accusing the Argus of having instigated the whole affair. The Government very properly took no notice of the affair. The farce was to some extent ended by the release of the saloon passengers to-day. One death only has occurred. The Garonne's passengers were released just as the mail steamer Mirzapore arrived with another cargo of derelicts. So you see the smallpox gives us plenty to talk about in the dull times "

Thb EtrssiAH Sqttadbok.—The "Vagv bond," who is once moro in Australia, is trying to get up a scare about the Bussinn Squadron. Writing to the AuclJand Star he jays:—"From Yladirostock, Nagasaki, Vancouver's Island, San Francisco, and Hawaii, I have followed the Bunsian men-of-war into Fort Jackson. What do these vessels, whioh belong to the China squadron, do in the South Pacific, so far from their station? And how is it that a certain individual, who has been travelling around the Colonies some time as a pretended scientist, should take his patsage home to his native Bassia in the Admiral's ship? It looks very much &i if they had come here to meet him and receive his report. I am writing out a long: description of this mouchard, which I expect will astonish the people he has {gulled. I visited the Afrika, the flagship, last week, one is very heavily armed, rot only with big guns, but with torpedoes, mitrailleuses, and' arms of precision.' But the courteous commander would not show us muoh. He frankly admitted that they did not care about having newspaper men on board. The information he supplied, if official, waa not J* w ay« accurate. But one could see that Hie Afrika was kept in splendid condition, a credit to any service in the world. » „' ( *l 8 . 1 , 6TideDt ' t 0 0» that her men were well drilled, and physically, man for man, equal, if not superior, to British tars, whom wme of them strangely resembled. To «Mh other the officers alway speak «encn, but orders are given to the men in Russian. Many of them speak English perwcuy and without any accent at all. What Pleased me most on board was Mishka, the oear, procured at Vancouver's Island. With this v Uyor collar on « fch " Gambles about sit! n -?\ tho P et o£ the whole «•». and «w on its haunches in the ward-room, eating ™*w» like a Christian. To those of th! aenL beautyo * Sydney who always haunt Sri.? ?! and maU "*«««». whom I «uuten 'bumooat girls,'the arrival of the SKJS* m a **•«*. » doesn't lch mattß ' to me, a. I eta always take

refuge under the American flag, but I think Sydney is all the safer for the arrival of the Nelson."

Too-toov—A gentleman sends a London paper an interesting note on what is commonly looked upon as merely a oant-word of the present time. He says :" In Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, page 881 (edition 1860), I read 'Too-Too—-excessive; excessively t exceedingly.' iootop, * used absolutely for very well or good. 1 (Bays' English words, 1674, p. 49). It is often nothing more in sense than a strengthening of the word too t but too-too was regarded by our early writers as a single word.

TH« Tbaxbit 0» YBNUB.—The New Zee feat* 2V«e* says:—"The expedition for the observation of the transit of Yenus in New Zealand, which is to be sent out from Home, is expected to arrive at Auokland some time in July, ao that there will be ample time for making the necessary preparations. The names of the gentlemen composing it are not yet known here. Dr Hector has recommended the Government to erect the observatory at Napier in preference to Auckland, the reason being that there is a greater chance of obtaining a clearer horison at the former place, where the sun rises over the •ea. At the transit occurs at an early hour of the day this is a great desideratum." A paragraph in a Mauritius letter to a Sydney paper states that "the British Government has already chosen two astronomical observers to make observations in those latitudes. Both are Soman OathoKo clergymen, the Bev Messrs Ferry and Sidgreaves. It is reported that they will fix their observatories at Tama, tive, Madagascar ? but in the first place, they will make a short stay in the Mauritius $ and it is said that they will bring with them as many as 600 packages, the whole of whioh, however, it can hardly be supposed will contain scientific instruments."

T&ftJDI with Toxga.—Beferring to the prospect for the new year in Tonga, a correspondent writing to an Auokland paper says: —" This will be a very good year for Tonga, | as, owing to the absence of hurricanes, the eoooanut trees are bearing abundantly. Why is it that only one New Zealand vessel, the Myrtle, is at present running down ? In late years, during bad times, we had three or four Auckland vessels and two Sydney vessels running through our group. Now we have only got Falser in Sydney, and M'Arthur in Auokland, who take any notioe of us. There has been a load of wool waiting shipment to Auokland for two months, and they tell us we will not have any Auokland vessel down before April. A vessel leaving Auokland with provisions, &0., early in February, would do well, and could ohoose a return freight of either copra or wool. The Sydney vessel is not expected till, the end of February, and there ought to be plenty of Auckland schooners glad of an engagement at this dull time of the year. If this sort of thing continues the traders down here will buy a small vessel of their own, and run their own goods in their own vessel. It is a thing that only wants a little trouble at starting, and the Friendly Islanders are averse to trouble of any kind."