TOWN & COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 7987, 11 October 1886, Page 4

TOWN & COUNTRY.

Sib Eobebt Stout arrived from "Wellington in the s.s. Hawea on Saturday morning. He caoie through to Christchurch by train, and proceeded to Coker's Hotel. Nautical Enquiry.—The enquiry into the wreck of the Kaiapoi craft at Cape Campbell, has resulted in the suspension of Captain Berg's certificate for three months. A telegram appears in our shipping column. The Addington Wobkshopb Bbasb Band of 30 performers, has been engaged to play at the opening of the boating season next Saturday week. Members of the Bowing Clubs who wish to take part in the procession are requested to give in their names to the various captains at once, in order that the crews of the boats may be allotted. The entries for the races, which are to take place after the procession, will close on Saturday evening next. MbE. GABD'NEaarrivedintown on Friday night by the express, after a rapid voyage from England in the Kaikoura. He had intended to goonat once to Wellington,but on Saturday morning received a telegram from Mr Alan Scott, stating that the latter gentleman would see him in Christchurch to-morrow. Mr Gard'ner expects to immediately receive telegraphic information from head-quarters in London, as news of the arrival of the Kaikoura must have reached Home before this time. Police Casks.—At the Police Court on Saturday morning, Gustavus Clements, a boy fifteen years of age, who on Thursday last pleaded guilty to stealing 10s 5d in money and 6s worth of cigars and cigarettes, was brought up to receive sentence. Mr Beetham had thought that this was a' case which might be dealt with under the First Offenders Probation Act, but the enquiries made revealed the fact that the boy had been twice previously convicted. He was now sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment. A Nabbow Escape.—-A labouring man residing in Madras street took a dose of chlorodyne on Saturday evening for severe toothache. It was at about 7.30 when he drank the medicine, and at 6.30 p.m. on Sunday, just twenty-three hours afterwards, he was still asleep. Twenty-four hours after, when awakened, he believed it to be Saturday night, and that he had only been asleep a few minutes. He said, when questioned, that the period was like a void to him, having no recollection of anything having occurred either in dream or reality. He says he took 60 drops of the chlorodyne, and must have fallen asleep on the box soon afterwards, as the pain he was suffering was excruciating. He felt very depressed after being waked, and suffered from headache and nausea.

Dr W. J. Andkbson, the newly-ap-pointed Inspector of Schools, arrived from Timaru on Friday night, and takes up his work to-day. Sheffield.—About 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, a heavy fall of hail occurred, accompanied by a few flashes of lightning. On the hail ceasing, it commenced to rain. Dknial.—Messrs L. C. Hayward and B. J. Stratton write to us, in reference to thd recent foot race between them, emphatically denying " that the race was run for any stake whatever." Hobticultube.—The October meeting of the Christchurch Horticultural Society will be held in the Congregational Schoolroom this evening. The special feature of the meeting will be the exhibition of pansies. Sunnysede Asylum.—The resident medical superintendent of Sunnyside Lunatic Asylum desires to return his thanks to the ladies and gentlemen who kindly gave a dramatic entertainment to the patients on a recent occasion. The entertainment passed off very successfully, and was highly appreciated by the audience. The Programme of the entertainment to be given in connection with the Canterbury Engineer Volunteers, in the Theatre Eoyal to-morrow evening, appears in our advertising columns. It will at once be seen that the affair promises to be thoroughly enjoyable; and we have no doubt the popularity of the Engineers will be evidenced by the large attendance. Eailway Fibe Bbigadb.—On Saturday afternoon a highly successful trial of the railway steam fire engine was made in the presence of Mr J. Shand, of Shand, Mason and Co., the" well-known makers of fire engines. The engine was placed at the tank on the railway station premises. Three lengths of suction hose were used, and steam was got up in very creditable time. A Small Bubglaby.—Some thieves, who were probably boys, paid a visit to the shop of Mr W. J. Neate, grocer, Colombo street north, on Friday night, and took about two shillings worth of small change, mostly coppers, from the till. They evidently got in by a back window, one of the panes of which had been gone for some time, and a table in the yard furnished a convenient means of reaching the aperture. The police have the matter in hand. Pibcatobial.—The weather for the past few days has been very favourable for fishermen. At Temuka Mr Fitzgerald and party, on Friday evening last, caught eight fish weighing a trifle over 281 b, the largest being about 71b. Mr K. F. Gray, on the Ist, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th, caught eleven fish weighing z7ilb. The above were all caught in the Temuka and Opihi rivers. Some nice fish have also been taken at Winchester, but they are scarcely in as good condition as the fish in the larger streams. The Timaru Baths.—These baths have had a thorough cleaning out, and the fence and dressing-rooms have been painted and put in order, in preparation for the forthcoming bathing Beason. A right-of-way running from Le Cren's terrace to the railway cutting has been purchased, and a footbridge thrown across the railway, and a path cut in the side of the hill from thence to the baths. This is to enable those who live in the northern part of the town, and who wish to enjoy the pleasure of seabathing, to have easy access to the baths. As soon as funds permit, it is intended to either asphalt or concrete the floor of these baths. The pathway from the Moody wharf to the baths has also been greatly improved. Justices of the Peace will, in future, occupy the Bench at the Police Court under a new regime. The old rota has been superseded, and, henceforth, Justices need not attend except on receiving notice from the Clerk to the Court. By the amended Justices of the Peace Act, they have not the opportunity of deciding amongst themselves who shall sit with whom, but the names will be taken in alphabetical order. On one day all the Messr3 "A" will preside, on another the Messrs " B," and so on. Mr Walker will send notice in ample time to all these " men of letters" as their turn comes round. The Police Court will sit as before, viz., on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Provincial Council Chamber, and on Saturdays at the E.M. Courthouse.

Obituary.—There died at Lyttelton, early on Sunday morning, Captain John Palmer Collins, an old and respected resident of Lyttelton. Captain Collins came out to Adelaide in 1839 as third mate of an emigrant ship, and at an early age was master of a vessel trading to Australia. He afterwards embarked in the Colonial trade, principally between Tasmania and Auckland, in which he continued till 1867, when, after two years' trading to the Friendly Islands and New Zealand, he settled at Lyttelton. It may be mentioned that his vessel took some of the piles to Auckland for the Queen street wharf. His health failed him in 1867, and he settled ashore, since which he has been a great sufferer. He leaves a widow and two sons. Supreme Court. —The cximinal sittings of the Supreme Court will be resumed today, at 11 a.m., when the trial of Thomas Hall and Margaret Graham Houston, charged with attempting to poison the wife of the former, will begin before His Honor Mr Justice Johnßton, and a special jury. The Attorney-General, Sir B. Stout, with whom will be Mr White, Crown Prosecutor at Timaru, and Mr J. C. Martin, Crown Prosecutor at Christchurch, will appear for the Crown. Hall will be defended by Mr Joynt, and Houston by Mr Hay. The large number of witnesses, and the technical nature of some of the evidence, render it extremely probable that the trial will occupy the time of the Court during the whole of the week. Public Meeting at Oxford.—A publio meeting was held in the Town Hall, East Oxford, on Friday evening, to consider the new railway and postal arrangements. There was a very large attendance from all parts of the district. Mr A. P. Prichard occupied the chair. Mr E. H. Parish moved the following resolution:—"That although this meeting considers the Bailway Department is justified in making reasonable reductions in the running of the trains to and from Oxford, still they are of opinion the present time table deals unfairly, insomuch that it doeß not provide for a morning train up to the most populous portions of the district, thereby preventing passengers from arriving at Oxford and returning to Christchurch the same day; that a deputation, consisting of Messrs Prichard, Ingram, and the mover, be appointed to lay this resolution before the Traffic Manager, with a view of obtaining a more satisfactory time table." The resolution was duly seconded, and carried unanimously. There being no other business, a vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. The Moodt Wharf. —The decking of the Moody Wharf, at the Timaru Breakwater, is proceeding in a most satisfactory manner, the contractors for the work (Messrs Delaney Bros.) having a number of men employed, and the decking should be finished in a week or ten days, after which the necessary rails will be laid down by the Railway Department. The rails that are now going to be laid down will join the present line at a point opposite the Landing Service shed; but it is intended that in course of time the Moody Wharf will be connected with the railway line from a point at the head of the Breakwater, and this will necessitate the removal of the Landing Service shed, and the filling in of a certain portion of the harbour. Of course it is not intended to carry oat this idea for some years, as the Landing Service shed is of great use to the Harbour Board for storing their cement, and saves them J6IOOO per annum, which they would have to pay for storage if they did not possess this shed for the purpose of storage. It is also proposed in future years to move the railway goods shed further seaward, so as to allow more room for shunting and other purposes.

A Sad Fatality at Lyttelton is reported elsewhere, viz., the drowning of Captain Budd and George Ockenden, A. 8., of the ship Bangitiki, on Saturday afternoon, through the capsizing of one of the ship's boats. The New Zealand Poultby Cltjb, which was started some four weeks ago, is making progress, and increasing its membership. The weekly meeting, held on Friday evening at the Pioneer Bicycle Club's room, was largely attended.

A Pbovidential Escape. street on Saturday evening a drunken man, when crossing the road, was knocked down by a hansom, the wheels of the vehicle passing over his body as he lay face downwards. He rose apparently uninjured. An Unlucky Fall.—A woman, carrying a parcel of crockeryware, met with a nasty accident on Saturday night. She was returning home along Colombo street, and when about level with the scene of the late fire, slipped upon something, presumably a piece of orange peel. She fell on the road upon her crockeryware, which broke and cut several gashes on her face. She was assisted to a chemist, who dressed her wound. Ecclesiastical.—At the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Barbadoes street, yesterday, his Lordship the Eight Rev Dr Eedwood administered confirmation to about 250 candidates, among whom was an unusually large proportion of adults. In the evening his Lordship preached.—The induction of the Itev Hugh Irwin to the charge of the Ferry road Preabvterian Church takes place at 7.30 this evening. A social gathering will be held on Thursday next.

The members of the Cathedral Union will resume the discussion on the proposed new rules at 7.30 this evening. Mr S. Hurst Seager, A.8.1.8.A., will give the fourth of the popular lectures in connection with the Philosophical Institute, in the young Men's Christian Association Hall, at 8 o'clock this evening. The subject is—" What is Art, and who are Artists P" Entries for the sh«ep, cattle, and pig classes in connection with the Timaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association's show, to be held on Oct. 26 and 27, close on Saturday, at 6. The other entries will be received up till the following Tuesday. The annual general meeting of the Christchurch Gold-Mining Company's shareholders will be held in Warner's rooms at 7.3<> on Monday next. A public meeting, for Ibe purpose of considering the ways and means with reference to obtaining the services of a medical practitioner in Glentunnel, will be held in the local schoolroom at 7.30 on Oct. 18. The members of the District Grand Lodge of Canterbury are notified by advertisement that, in consequence of the Caledoiran Soc'ety holding their annual concert on Thursday, the quarterly summoned meeting is postponed till Thursday, Oct. 28, at 7.30 p m. In the feeling of oppression and tightness across the lungs, the annoying iufluenz&, the touch of asthma, procure a bottle of Bonnington's Carrageen or Irish Mobs, for immediate relief [Adyt.] M. Gbevy and his Coffee.—They are discussing the great coffee question in Paris as well as in London, with the result of fathering a good story on the President of the Eepublic, whom the satirists of the Opposition Press have hitherto refused to credit with the possession of even a modicum of humour.. M. Gre"vy and a friend were out shooting one day, and, feeling tired, entered a village inn to refresh themselves. " Madame," said M. Grevy to the landlady, " have you any chicory in the house ? " " Certainly, sir." " Please bring me all that you have." Five or six packets of chicory were brought and put at the customer's disposal. " You haven't any more, I suppose ?" asked the gentleman. "Oh, madame," cried the servant, "there is a little in the packet which we opened the other day." " Very well, give it to monsieur," said the landlady. The partly used packet having been handed to M. Grevy, he asked the hotelidre if she was sure that that was all she had in the house, and was assured that there wasn't another grain of chicory anywhere. " Good!" f.aid M. Grevy; " and now, if you plea3f;, make us two cups of coffee !"

Whistling His Wat Kottnd the World.—A little Frenchman with a black bottle, and a wandering Italian minstrel I with an harp, stopped in front of French's Hotel the other day (says the New York Morning Journal). The Italian played the harp in the regulation iron steamboat style, but although ho banged it as if it were a banjo, you could scarcely hear it for the melodious strains of an unmistakeable piccolo. The Frenchman, however, had no piccolo. He was whistling. The " Marseillaise," a bit of the " Barber of Seville," and other tunes issued from his pliant lips, and then he stood on his head on the bottle and whistled the " Star-Bpangled Banner." Pennies and buttons and matches rattled into his cap because he had whistled so well. The Frenchman said that he learned to whistle as the birds learn to sing. He was born in Eouen, and had whistled all over the world for 25 years. He had been in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France and England. He was able to whistle fifty different pieces, including several whole operas, but of all tunes he liked best to whistl3 the "Marseillaise." He believed that he had whistled it fully forty thousand times. A New Bug—the Hessian Fly.—The English farmer's cup of trouble and anxiety is full enough, in all conscience, without the of the Hessian fly. That highly obnoxious little beast has been discovered in wheat and barley crops near Hertford, and Miss Ormerod (for the consulting entomologist of the Royal Agricultural Society is a woman) has positively identified it. Worse even than the dreaded Colorado beetle or "'tater bug," for it attacks the most precious of all crops, the Hessian fly should become instantly the object of every farmer's most careful search. It has done terrible damage in Germany, the United States and Canada for a long time, and only the greatest care can save us now it haß at last appeared amongst us. The fly may easily be recognised, and all who have wheat or barley crops showing any signs of root falling should immediately examine the plants, and particularly their leaves or blades near the second joints from the ground. If they find small pupae chestnut-coloured, like small flax seeds, about one-tenth of an inch in length, it is the Hessian fly. As to remedial measures, beyond cutting the crops above the second joint and burning the stubble or ploughing it deeply in, they may be learned from Miss Ormerod, Dunster Lodge, Isleworth, or from Mr Charles Whitehead, Chairman of the Seeds and Plant Diseases Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society, Barming House, Maidstone. Thb " Chimnet-pot Hat " Question. — A London paper says:—Among the crop of grievances which it is usual to ventilate at this season of the year is that of the "chimney-pot hat." But shafts of sarcasm fly harmless off the funereal exterior of our national headgear. Here is someone who ventures to enter a protest, not only against the " villainous boxer," but also against the black coat as an article of summer wear. His experience in the way of reform is certainly not calculated to obtain a large following. One day he "left heme in a brown alpaca coat and a light holland hat, only to be stared at in cabs, smiled at in omnibuses, and laughed at on the pavement, and to be stopped no less than three times during the day, twice in the City, and once in Lincoln's Inn, by gentlemen who were absolute strangers, but who said ' they could not forbear taking the liberty of congratulating me on my pluck.'" This, however, was in the City, where gentlemen are fond of indulging in badinage. But at the West End it is no unusual sight to see gentlemen in pith hats and white linen Buits, a much stranger garb to a Londoner's eye than a straw hat and brown alpaca coat. Why, we have even seen gentlemen parading Pall Mall in boating flannels, and Lord EUenborough (we think it was he) appeared in the Peers' Gallery in a complete suit of yellow linen. Who knows that these stray exceptions to the general rule may not be the forerunners of a great sumptuary revolution?

The Caep op Fohtainebleatt.—There is a terrible mortality just now among probably the oldest inhabitants of Europe. The carp of TTontainebleau are dying by dozens. Many of them are certainly a hundred years old ; some of them may be a hundred and fifty, some few even more. Thackeray conjectured that those he saw at Sans Souci were the identical fishes that Frederick the Great used to throw morsels of bread to and watch fighting for them. They had great humps of blue mould on their old backs, and were monstrously ugly and unwholesome-look-ing. The authenticity of the Fontainebleau carp is, however, beyond conjecture, as the keepers of the palace have means of knowing the dates by marks on the nose and mouth of each fish. But, even in the case of the veterans, the deaths are not attributable to simple old age. It seems there is an epidemic in the fish ponds of Fontainebleau. Young and old are falling victims to it, and it is a problem how to arrest the course of it. The epidemic is now known to be a kind of typhoid fever, from which—at all events, in popular belief—all the lower creatures were considered to have immunity. It is clear that the fish cannot be treated individually, as if they were human patients. It would be interesting to know what is the general state of health of the town. An Abtibt on Tour.—A Mr Nisbett is at present touring the Colonies for the purpose of taking sketohes for a work to be hereafter issued by Messrs Cassell, of London. A Home paper contains the following notice respecting Mr Nisbett:— "Writing about poets brings to mind a remarkable Scottish genius, who is now visiting, if not discovering, the unfamiliar scenes in the Antipodes for the illustrations of the great work ' Australasia,' being brought out by the Mebsrs Cassell. Mr Hume Nisbett is a Scottish artist of acknowledged celebrity. He led the revolt against the Academy, and obtained the wide spread sympathy, if not the support, his cause merited. He is a prince of Bohemians, and many years ago bivouacked with and was almost adopted by the Maoris. His many friends will be pleased to hear of his welfare, and as he is a poet of no mean order, as well as painter, they may expect a greater epic than that which followed his famous work * Hypatia/ He writes :—' I have gone over Victoria (glorious country), and am now in New South Wales, working my way up to Queensland. From thence I proceed to New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji Islands, Tasmania, South and Western Australia. Hope to see you in a year's time at latest, with a store of information respecting this great country, which I revisit with delight.' We are always becoming more and more convinced of the truth of the poet who wrote : Had Tain been a Scot Heaven would have altered his doom; Not forced him to wander, But confined him at home." Pebiloub Advbntube on a Welsh Mountain.—Great excitement has been created at Towyn, on the Welsh coast, by the startling adventures of a minister and his family. It appears that the Kev W. E. Heningson, M.A., of Coventry, who, with the members of his family and a friend was staying at that watering place, made an ascent of Cader Idris, and after spending the day upon the mountain they made an attempt at four o'clock to descend the peak by Fox's Path, a precipitous stone-strewn slope leading to Lake Llynygader. Instead of striking the path, however, the party went beyond and got separated, ultimately finding themselves in positions of Buch danger that they had to seek shelter for the night amid the rocks. At nightfall the minister and his wife found themselves at the edge of a precipice so deep that a fall over it would have resulted in their being dashed to pieces. Three other members of the party, who were hidden from sight by a huge piece of rock, also got into a situation where they could move neither backwards nor forwards. They cried aloud for help, but without avail, and were compelled to remain in their perilous locations throughout the night. During many hours of the night the mountain was enveloped in a dense mist, and the mother cried out at intervals to her children for fear they would fall asleep and roll over into the abyss. Mr Heningson at length dragged himself from his place and clambered up the cliffs. After a long and weary journey he succeeded in getting a band of men, who hurried to the spot with ropes to rescue the affrighted family from their hazardous position. With great difficulty the party were drawn up the rocks by the ropes, and were subsequently lodged in a cottage at the foot of the mountain. After partaking of refreshment and lying down to rest, the ladies seemed but little the worse for the extraordinary adventure, but Mr Heningson suffered severely; he had lost his voice by continually shouting for help, and became utterly prostrated by his exertions.