TOWN & COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 7990, 14 October 1886, Page 4

TOWN & COUNTRY.

Correspondence. —la our correspondence column will be found the letters and telegrams that have passed between the New Zealand Government and the Cable Company; also a letter from Captain Cotton on the possibility of a mutton trade from New Zealand to Sydney. The Christchurch Rifle Club. —Sir Julius Vogel has consented to become patron of the Christchurch Rifle Club. Opawa Fancy Fate. —The fancy fair in aid of the funds of the Opawa pariah Sunday school was continued yesterday, when satisfactory business was done. Lecture. —ln connection with the St Stephen’s Library Fund, Ashburton, Mr T. A. Gates delivered a lecture on Tuesday evening last in the schoolroom to a fair audience.

Christchurch Fire Brigade. The members of the Christchurch Fire Brigade have decided to give long-service certificates to all members who have served in the brigade for three years. Sydenham Poultry Society, The Sydenham Poultry Society has decided to hold a show-on the grounds of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association on the last two days of the forthcoming Metropolitan Show.

Oub Volunteers. —Last night the E Battery of Artillery and the Canterbury Engineers were inspected at the drillshed by Major Newall. The former corps mustered 47, under Lieutenant Pratt, and the latter 43, under Captain Webster. Caledonian Society’s Concert. —The fourth annual Scotch concert takes place to-night in the Oddfellows’ Hall. The programme (published yesterday) is an exceptionally good one, and a very large audience may be looked for.

The New Brighton Tramway.—A couple of miles of the formation for the New Brighton Tramway have been completed. Work will shortly be commenced from New Brighton, so as to meet the portion now being carried towards the sea from the terminus of the Linwood line. A large proportion of the sleepers required for the line are on the ground, and every effort is being made to have the trainway ready for traffic during the next month. The Charitable Aid Board met yesterday afternoon, the business transacted being mostly of a routine nature. The account for the quarter’s maintenance of children in the Industrial School amounted to .£365 IGs 6d. The Finance Committee reported re outstanding contributions that they were large. The credit balance at the Bank amounted to £1507. It was decided to increase the salary of the Secretary (Mr Norris) by £SO a year. Supreme Court. —The Timaru poisoning case occupied the Supreme Court from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. yesterday, with the exception of a three-quarters of an hour interval, but the evidence of only two witnesses, Drs MTntyre and Drew, was all was taken. The trial will be resumed at 10 a.m. to-day.—At Auckland, J. T. Clarke, for arson, was acquitted, the jury thinking the evidence not strong enough. The judge summed up dead against him. In discharging prisoner, he said it was fortunate for him the jury had taken a lenient view of the case. Physic fob the Larrikins. —The owner of some house property happening to walk last evening past a couple of cottages to which he contemplated doing some repairs, observed a larrikin, one of a group, deliberately throw in succession two stones at the windows, breaking two of them, and then run away. On the instant he took the law into his own hands, followed the .boy, and thrashed him within an inch of his life. Under the circumstances, the landlord’s action appeared justifiable, and if all house-owners took a similar evening stroll, and a nice little cane, no doubt our streets would not be disfigured by so many dilapidated-looking empty bouses.

Trout Fishing. —Mr S. C. Parr has already received upwards of a dozen applications for licenses to fish for trout. The season opens on Saturday next, but as yet the Government have not announced their decision on the suggestion made ■ by the Acclimatisation Society that the conditions for fishing should be made under the Fisheries Conservation Act of 1884, as well as under the Salmon and Trout Act of 1867. Regulations under the latter Act have frequently been found 1 to be ultra vires when tested in Court. It ia' to be hoped that the Government will state what they intend to do in time for the licenses to be issued before Saturday.

Drunkenness. —At the Magistrate’s Court at Ashburton, yesterday, an old offender was fined 40s, and a first offender 20s. The latter was a Volunteer, whose military enthusiasm, though great, was not of the sort that could guard him from taking one glass too many. Oechksteaii Society. At a recent meeting of the Orchestral Society Mr R. T. Searell was re-elected conductor; Mr Button was appointed Librarian, Mr Bennington Treasurer, and Mr F. C. Bishop Secretary. The officers, with Messrs Par sons and Skelton, were appointed as a Committee of Management. A Good Catch. —On Tuesday evening the veteran fisherman, Mr N. C. Nicholas, who distinguished himself amongst anglers last season, caught, in the Opihi, 11 fish weighing over 501 b. This is the largest take fallen to a single rod this season. The previous evening Mr Fitzgerald and party took 14 fish, the three largest weighing 151 b each, and the lot turning the scale at 48Jlb. Sydenham Borough Council. —At a special meeting of the Sydenham Borough Council last evening, a general rate of three farthings in the pound, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1886, was struck, such rate to be payable on Oct. 14. Mr W. M. £>udd was appointed to collect the rate. This was all the business before the Council. The Australian Eleven. —The Canterbury Cricket Association has decided to play twenty-two men against the Australian Eleven when they visit Christchurch in December next. A condensed report of the meeting at which this decision was arrived at appears in our cricket column.

Akaroa School. —Mrs Dick has commenced her duties at the Akaroa Borough school. Miss Guise, who had charge of the younger classes, returns to the Normal school. She was formerly a pnpil teacher at the East Christchurch school, where, as well as at Akaroa, she gained high opinions for her diligence and ability. Fruit-growers’ Association. —A wellattended meeting' of the Canterbury Fruit-growers’ Association was held last night, when Mr F. Wilding delivered an address, of a practical character, on the manufacture of cider. A conversation took place on the various methods of packing fruit for export. Ashburton School. —At the usual monthly meeting of the Ashburton School Committee, the business transacted was mostly routine. Amongst that which was not so was a resolution to give good attendance certificates, first class documents to bear the photographs of the recipients, and second class to bear an illuminated border. Frozen Mutton. —Our Timaru correspondent wired last night :—The South Canterbury Eefrigerating Works are forwarding to Lyttelton by special trains, tonight and to-morrow night, 8959 carcases of frozen mutton, to be shipped on board Shaw, Savill and Co.’s steamer Tainui. This mutton is in first-class order, and will well sustain the favourable reputation the South Canterbury mutton has in the English market. “ Monet.” —The forthcoming performance of Lord Lytton's fine comedy, “ Money,” which is advertised to be given by the Lyttelton Times Dramatic Society on Friday and Saturday next week, should more than sustain the reputation previously gained by the members, as they are sparing no pains in the matter of rehearsal. The tickets, we understand, are selling very fast.

Valedictory. —Our Timaru correspondent wires; —Mr and Mrs J. H. Baine, who have been living in South Canterbury for many years, went northwards by the express train yesterday en route for England. A number of their friends assembled on the railway platform to see them off and wish them hon voyage. The monthly meeting of the Christchurch Horticultural Society will be held to-day in the Congregational schoolroom, Manchester street. At 8 o’clock in the evening the Hon E. C. J. Stevens will read a paper entitled “Hybrid Perpetual Boses." The Bangiora Friendly Societies will hold their annual fate to-day. Portable Eefbigbeators. —ln New York pipes filled with liquified ammonia are now sold for refrigerating purposes. They are 3 Jin in diameter and 2ft long. The ammonia pipe is connnected to a coil of pipe surrounding a cylinder lOin high, made of wood and lined with felt or hair. This coil of pipe leads to a vessel of water, and when the communication is opened the ammonia is absorbed by water, causing great coldness by the expansion of the liquid ammonia. In fact, a bottle placed in the coil box is brought to a temperature of 60deg Fahrenheit in a few minutes by the change. One o’ the Bale Gold Sort. —Eecently Lord Enniskillen came forward to defend the Orangemen, on the ground that he and his father had been their Grand Master. What an Orange Grand Master deemed the proper mode in which a magistrate should treat Irishmen may be gathered from an anecdote which is told by Lady Bloomfield in her " Memoirs of the late Lord Enniskillen” : —" He was a great Foxhunter, and used to hear cases in the morning when dressed ready for hunting. After hearing the plaintiff, he got up and horsewhipped the defendant, asking kirn how he could behave in such a blackguard manner. The poor man then opened his case, and after hearing that. Lord Enniskillen attacked the plaintiff and horsewhipped him; after which both parties left his presence perfectly satisfied, each saying that his opponent had been horsewhipped by his honor.” Agricultural Depression in Ireland. —ln England, the "agricultural depression” is recognised by the land-owning classes, in Ireland it is not. In England we have landlords voluntarily offering reductions of 25, 30, 40 and even 50 per cent, and glad enough to get their land taken even on those terms. In Ireland the judicial reductions have been 19'6 per cent in 1881-82, 18 4 per cent in 1883, and 16-7 per cent in 1884. The Irish landlords (speaking generally) do not make voluntary reductions. They know that their tenants must (unlike the English farmer, who, as soon as his farm does not pay, throws it up) either farm at a loss and spmi-starve, or cease to farm and starve outright. They are now, under Lord Salisbury’s " resolute Government,” going for their full pound of flesh, trusting for the rent, since it can’t come off the land, to the peasants’ miserable little savings in the bank, to "American remittances,” " children’s earnings,” “ English charity ” —to anything, in fact. To my belief, and, I may add, my hope, is that they won’t get it, after all. Prosecution against Justices. A prosecution against a Justice of the Peace has been commenced by Messrs Gibbs, Bright and Co., of Melbourne. The Melbourne Telegraph says that the sum involved, it is stated, amounts to some thousands. The accused is aMrW. H. Vagg, J.P., storekeeper, of Tungamah, who was entrusted by Messrs Gibbs, Bright and Co. to buy grain for them and store it on their account. It is alleged against him that he had sold great quantities of the grain and appropriated the money to his own use. The charge in the warrant which has been issued and forwarded to Tungamah, in the Tarrawonga district, for execution, is one of stealing 1000 bags of wheat, worth about 20s per bag. In a later issue the same journal states With reference to the extensive frauds, some particulars of which we published, it transpires that the-amount involved is much greater than appeared at first sight. It is stated to be .£10,329. W. H, Vagg, J.P., was brought before a bench of justices at Tungamah on a warrant for stealing 3000 bags of wheat. The accused was remanded, bail being allowed, the accused in and two sureties (his father and father-in-law) of £250 each.

A Parson with Resources. The minister of a place of worship in the East End of London adopted a curious and quaint way of advertising himself and the wants of his church. He boldly sandwiched himself, and, waving handbills in one hand and offertory box in the other, started on a pilgrimage through the streets of London. The peripatetic boards informed every passer-by that their bearer was a minister, and that he aimed at collecting .£I2OO. " Who will give a sovereign, a shilling, or apenny P" was the pathetic, anxious question of this walking advertisement. Warned off London Bridge station, he “plodded” across the river and in the direction of Fleet street, but the city police were too vigilant, and he was turned back. Crossing London bridge he received his first contribution—a sixpence. A gorgeous official who turned him out of Green Park damped the minister’s ardour, for he was content to return home by train after passing through Belgravia. He collected 2s 6d, which (says a Home paper) is just 30 pence more than he deserved to get for making his calling ridiculous.

Pigeons as Marine Messengers. —Mr E. S, Starr, in the Century, says that the use of pigeons by Mr C. T. Arnoux as message-bearers in the yacht races of last September, proves conclusively the value the birds might have as messengers from off the water. The purpose was the thought of the last moment, and when almost too late to make the necessary preparations. The arrangements were hasty and the material homed at several centres, some of them miles away from the centre of use. Still, with all drawbacks, insufficiencies, and mistakes, it was evident to the most prejudiced that with birds trained for the work, and with the atmospheric conditions at all favourable, the birds would six times out of seven prove to be of the greatest value; and, failing the seventh, we would be only where we are without them. The messages were each not less than 10 pages of manifold note, and were carried upon the middle feathers of the tail, to which they were fastened by fine copper wire, wound about and pressed flat, to hold the message close to the feather. The editor of a newspaper served by these pigeons said, “It gives me a peculiar sensation to receive copy from the hand of one I know to be out of reach upon the water, and to feel that he may talk to me, but I cannot answer back. It is a wonder to me after this experience that the officers of any vessel, excursion steamer, yacht, sail or tug boat, should be willing to leave the shore without this means of communication with it.” Very many of the merchant marine, especially in European waters, have pigeons on board for use in communicating with the vessels from the small boats away from it from shore. These birds, it is said, never mistake another vessel for their own when at dock or in the harbour. It has been remarked of several flights that the birds in exercising when far out of sight of land, will go away for hours at a time, and upon their return will have dried mud on their feet and legs, showing them to have been upon shore. Mr A. P. Baldwin experimented with pigeons for sea service twice in 1885, and to his satisfaction. One bird liberated by Officer Groom, of the Waesland at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, when 315 miles from Sandy Hook, was in the loft in the evening. Another let go from the Circassia at 9 in the morning, when 255 miles out, brought a message before evening.