TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11901, 26 May 1899, Page 5

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

A summary of tie weather observations at the principal New Zealand and Australian stations is published in the shipping fcolumn in this issue. A meeting was held, at the Colonists’ Hall, Lyttelton, on Wednesday evening in form a hockey club. There was a good attendance, and a club was formed. A num- , -her of lady members were enrolled, and it ris proposed to play the opening game next Thursday. In honour of the Queen’s Birthday, a number of poor residents, of Lyttelton were, i on Tuesday last, provided with blankets from the Trust Fund which the late Mr Harry Allwright bequeathed for that purpose to the vicar and churchwardens of Holy Trinity Church. ; The secession from the League of Wheelmen of the Pioneer Bicycle Club is a topic Of general discussion in cycling circles. The meeting of the cllub at which this step was decided upon is very fully reported in the Current number of the “New Zealand Cyclist,” which also has some interesting criticisms on the subject. 'The 5 Albury Collie Dog Club’s second annual trial commenced near, Albury on Wednesday. The entries are so numerous that it is expected to take four days to complete the competitions. Only one class, the Huntaway, was got through the first lay, twenty-six dogs out of thirty-nine entered competing. Mr W. 0. Rutherford, of Amuri, is judge. Meteorological records taken at the Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, during the week ended May 24, show that rain fell on four days, the total fall being .61 inph on the surface of the ground, the wind blew from the north-east on four flays, and the south-west on one day, the Dther two days being still. The highest barometric reading was 29.858 on Sunday, Mid the maximum temperature was 65.4 on Saturday. i ■ At the conversazione for the completion of the Cathedral, held at the Art Gallery last night, Bishop Julius read an unpublished letter from, the late Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield to the mother of Sister Francis. The letter ran as follows:—“I am still beat on New Zealand, and think I sfiadl surely go. Tell Charles (Torlesse) that we have reason to hope that a Bishop will.be appointed. We project, therefore, not a wooden church merely, but a cathedral of stpllC‘fitted as the chief religious edifice'of'the Polynesian Archipelago. He may smile, but I am. iii"earnest.” To-day, Shaw, Robinson and Co. issue a circular giving particulars of a® extraordinary purchase of drapeiy, amounting to some hundreds of pounds, which is of great interest to the whole community. Special mention are Navy Blue and Black Serges, 55s 6d and 3s lid, for Is lid,/and Fancy Black Dress Goods, all now and perfect, from the looms of Sir Titus Salt, ranging in price from 2s lid to 4s lid, to be sold at is lid per, yard. Also, 210 pairs of Blankets, Jackets, Mantles, and a host of other lines, not one of which is of our regular stock. The whole circular contains' nothing but extra special lines, every one of which is to he sold cheap. Shaw, Robinson and Co., 213, Cashel Street, opposite “ Press ” Office. —(Advt.) Yom wise investment in bicycle pleasure for 1899'demands that you read the beautiful Wcvcriey catalogue, now Yon will alsu find, on inspection, that these are ; the higbest-grade wheels that money can obtain. The latest stock of sundries kept on hand. Waverley Cycle Depot, 217, Colombo Street, Christchurch. 2396 Special Notice.—Crown Brand Tea prize competitions will be continued all this year round, and will close on the last days of April, June, August, October, and December in each year. Prizes of ladies’ silver and other watches, albums, workboxes, etc Hubbard. Hall and Co. 3284 Evenden’s Patent Roofing and Fencing Hails, neatest and best; perfectly watertight. . Recommended by architects, and can. be obtained from all ironmongers. . X24!4 Cyclists who require their machines well and carefully repaired should send them to the “ Premiers ”of the cycling trade. Boyd and Son, Gloucester Street. Telephone 658. , 2374 Muddy roads, clean cyclists, by using the automatic rubber mud-guards j fit any faxcycle, 8s 6d pair, and clastic anklets, perfect fitting, 2s 6d pair, posted to any address. Oates, Lowry and (Jo., Christchurch ,and Ashburton. 62

'.During the present year the local Inspector has registered 901 buildings under the Factory Act. Detective Cassells arrested a man yesterday on a charge of having, on May 4, at Greymouth, stolen a bicycl.s valued at £l6. The Victorian delegates, Messrs Best and Trenwith, will join tbe Westralia at Auckland, and proceed by that vessel to Sydney. At five o’clock yesterday afternoon a chimney in Dr Parson’s house at Kaiapoi was seen to be on fire, and was extinguished by a few buckets of water. The Hon W. C. Walker, with Mr A. E. Smith, private secretary, returned from Cheviot last evening, and proceeded to Wellington by the Rotomahana. A team of twelve members of the Timaru Golf Club visited Waimate on Wednesday to meet a team of the Oamaru Club. The visitors were badlyybeaten, the scores being Oamaru 103, Timaru 68. A crowd. was attracted in GUoucester Street yesterday afternoon, when a horse attached to a double brake laid down, and was dragged by the other horse. The horse repeated the performance an hour later. While at Cheviot, the Hon W. C. Walker, Minister of Education, and Mr J. Rennie, Chairman of the North Canterbury Board of Education, took the opportunity of visiting the schools on the settlement, and the children were granted a holiday at their request. At the Prohibition Convention held at TimH.rii on Wednesday, it was decided to form a South Canterbury Prohibition League, to embrace the three electorates of Waitaki, Timaru and Geraldine. The Rev J. N. Buttle was elected president and the Rev W. Woodward secretary. The Timaru Primitive Methodist congregation had a large gathering at a meeting on Wednesday evening to formally welcome their new pastor, the Rev W. C. Woodward. The Presbyterian, Wesleyan and Congregational ministers were present. Mr R. Fairlie Hobson, a gentleman well known in Australia, also in Auckland and Wellington, has arrived in town, and is stayin" at Coker’s Hotel. He has been appointed manager for the Canterbury district for the Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation, Limited. He will shortly open a head office for the district in Christchurch. On board the Westralia is a gold-dredging plant manufactured by Messrs Burt, of Dunedin. The machinery was purchased in, Dunedin by two Russian gentlemen, is destined for St Petersburg, via Hamburg, and will be used in dredging the Siberian rivers. The total weight is about ninety tons, of which the screen alone weighs four tons. Complaints have been received at this office of the muddy state of the Colombo— Cashel Street road crossing during the last few days. The want of a street lamp at the comer of the roads behind the West Christchurch School has also been forciblly represented, and it is probable that a deputation will interview the City Council on the subject. There was only one prisoner at the Police Court yesterday —a deaf man, named William Smith, who pleaded guilty to charges of having been drunk and resisting .and assaulting the police. Constable Cotter stated that the accused had’resisted arrest very violently, and had drawn a knife and brandished it about. Messrs E. Curry and J. M. Douglass, the Justices, decided to convict the accused on the first charge, and to sentence him to one month’s imprisonment on each of the other charges, the sentences to run concurrently. Mr Jeal, overseer to the Waimakariri River Board, with the Mayor of St Albans amid Messrs 0. F. Money (chairman of St Albans Works Committee) and Morley (Borough Surveyor), paid a visit to the site of the proposed protective works along the bank of the River Avon, at the Carlton Mill Road. The object of the visit was to obtain Mi- deal’s opinion as to the best means of 'widening , the road and protecting it from the encroachments of the river. Mr Jeal will submit a report to the St Albans Borough Council at an early date. The current number of the “New Zealand Cyclist” is noticeable for the great variety of subjects which receive attention. The racing cyclist, the tourist, the ladyrider are all catered for, as well as the wheelknan who uses the cycle solely as a necessity, and seldom has the opportunity to make lengthy journeys. .The secession from the League of the Pioneer Club receives considerable attention, and the racing cyclist will also read with interest a quantity of American jottings. The columns contributed by “Capt’n Cuttle” and “Altiora” give advice of an eminently practical nature. Both as a pastime and as a sport, cycling in all parts of the world is fully reported. Illustrations, as usual, form a welcome feature of the “Cyclist.” A special meeting of the Christchurch City Council was held at noon yester-’ day, for the purpose of striking rates for the ensuing year. There were present—The Mayor and Councillors Smith, Prudhoe, Kincaid, Andrews and Sandstein. As there was not a quorum present, the meeting was adjourned till 7 p.m., when there were present—The Mayor, and Councillors Gray, Samuels, Sandstein, Appleby, Hamilton, Morris, Kincaid, Payling and Smith. The Town Clerk stated that no objection had been made to the rate roll. The formal resolutions to make and levy the general rate, hospital and charitable aid rate's',, River Board and Drainage Board rates, of all of whidh due notice had been given, were passed. Councillors Gray and Smith were authorised to sign the rate books, with the Mayor. A rumour was in circulation, in town yesterday to the effect that a deputation from the National Association had waited on Mr G. J. Smith, M.H.R., and had requested him to allow himself to be nominated as one of the candidates of the Association at the next general election. The reply of Mr Smith was reported to have been that he would vote to keep Mr Seddon straight, hut would not vote to put Captain Russell in <-ffije. A representative of the “ Lyttelton 'rimes,” therefore, waited on Mr Smith, with a view to ascertaining the truth of the report and was authorised to give it an unqualified denial. Mr Smith stated that he had not been approached in any war c:i rite subject. The rumour probably originated tn the reticence of the National Association on the subject of its selection of candidates for the coming election. BEER DUTY STAMPS. The proprietors of the Gladstone Hotel, Blairlogie Hotel and Prince of Wales Hotel were each fined £5 for failing to cancel duty stamps on beer casks. A PORTRAIT OF SIR GEORGE GREY. * At the end of last year, Mr J. M. Nairn was commissioned by the Government to paint a portrait of the late Sir George Grey, to be hung in the General Assembly Library. The painter’s task was burdened with ini: tial difficulties, in that he was instructed to give the presentment of the Pro-Consul as he appeared between the 1875-85 period, and, strange as it may seem, it appears that there is no photograph of Sir George of that period in existence. To add to the difficulty, Mr Nairn had never the statesman. ' However, the artist,’ ’..the “Post” says, has got over all ins troubles wonderfully well, and the completed portrait will appeal to the friends and admirers of Sir George Grey. The canvas

measures 40in by 34in, and shows Sir George sitting at a table, the edge of which he grasps, and the features are shown in the familiar days before he grew a heard. The likeness is a good one, and the whole scheme,, with its dark red background, an with relieving curtain in blue, goes to ma e a striking picture, as well as portrait- llie painting will be a valuable addition national memorials. CONSCIENTIOUS SCRUPLES. The Syrians in Wellington have conscientious scruples regarding interest on money. Two of them who have accounts in Office Savings Bank refused the other nay, says the “ Post,” to accept the sum of £5 bs IQd which was due to them « »terert ou their deposits, and, acting on tl e tion of a Postal official, they allowed the amount to be donated to the Hospital funds. NEW ZEALAND IRON. Mr Joseph Taylor, of Collingwood, addressed a large audience on New Zealand a Iron Hope,” at Wellington on Monday. Mr S Brown, president of the Industrial Association, presided. The lecturer, who received a most attentive hearing, based his remarks on an emphatic statement that the hematite deposits at Parapara, m the Nelson district, would, if properly worked, produce iron and steel equal to the best drawn from the Cumberland mines, “ nd cheap rate that a saving of £9,500,000 would be made to the importers in within ten vears, on a very low computation. He went into figures, showing the probaffie cost of production, and said that if the State took the matter in hand a great colonial industry would be built up, profitable alike to local manufacturers and the colony as a whole. He emphasised the necessity of the State taking up the industry and dealing with the Parapara ore. with first-class machinery, because many a legitimate industry had been brought into discredit by the use of improper plant. Tliis question must not be allowed to slumber again. He himself Would never rest until his ideal had been brought into practical effect. Mr Taylor asserted that not only would thp colony be able to manufacture enough iron and steel for its own use at Parapara, but that it would be able to push profitably into the outside markets as well. He said that a vote of £IOO,OOO should be made at once by Parliament for developing the iron industry, and he appealed to the public of Wellington to back up his efforts in that direction. INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONES. ~ Negotiations between the French and German Governments for the establishment of telephonic connection between Berlin and Paris are progressing satisfactorily, and it is expected, a London contemporary says, that in a short time the assent of the French Government will be communicated to Berlin. All the preliminary arrangements have been completed. Communication between the two cities will be direct. At the same time arrangements will be perfected for connecting Berlin with Brussels and Antwerp, and Frankfort with Paris. Berlin is already connected with Buda-PestK and Vienna, and favourable results have attended the attempts to communicate with Trieste. The cost of ordinary conversation with Brussels will be three marks, with Paris four. The laying down of communication with London is also engaging the attention of telephone experts, but the attempts to utilise the submarine cable for telephonic communication have not been successful. EXECUTIONS IN FIJI. This is the summary way in which the “Fiji Times” of May 10 disposes of five executions for murder :—“Those unfortunates who were sentenced to death at the last criminal sessions of the Supreme Court are now beyond the miseries of this world. We are informed that two- were executed on Thursday morning, two on the following day, and the fifth on Saturday. The executions went off ■without a hitch.” Most of these criminals were Indian imported labourers, working on Fiji sugar plantations. Murder and assault are very common amongst these coolies.