LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXVII, Issue 109, 11 May 1891, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

. * Inspection Parade. — The City Rifles will hold an inspection parade to-morrow evening at half past seven o'clock ; drill order. Acclimatisation.— The annual meeting of the Marlborough Acclimatisation Society will be held on Saturday next. Nelson Coach. — We are informed by the Chief Postmaster that the Nelson Coach will not get through to-night, being stuck up on the Nelson side of the Graham River, which is m flood. Tbansit of Mercury. — Though not forgotten, the transit of Mercury across the sun's face could not be seen yesterday, because the sun itself was not visible. First Day of the Week.— On Sunday evening next the Yen. Archdeacon Grace is to preach a special sermon, evidently to refute the teachings of the Seventh Day Adyentists, dealing with the teachings of scripture as to the keeping of the first day of 4he week. ? "Bowling Green.— On Saturday afternoon the Sub-committee appointed to see to the improvement of the bowling green visited it, and after consulting Mr Gillespie, decided to have the whole green dug up, properly levelled, and resown with lawn grass seed. HavELOCK Timber Exports. — The timber shipped from the Blackball sawmill from 6th April to the 30th inclusive was : — Falcon 112,000 feet to Lyttleton (2 voyages), Clematis 45,000 feet to Timaru, Alert 35,000 feet to Lyttleton ; total 192,000 feet. Volley-firing by Volunteers.- — The pro rata distribution of the sum voted by Parliament to Volunteers for the volley-firing will be decided this year by the score made by those firing for each company being added up and divided by the actual enrolled strength of the corps on that date, exclusive of officers, sergeants, and buglers. Each company will fire ten volleys, and should any corps tie five rounds per man will be fired to decide.

Institute Meeting. - Owing to the flooded state of the streets, and the fact that Mr Snodgrass is at Haveloek, it has been decided to postpone the monthly meeting of the Institute Committee till next week. Due notice of the date will be given.

Flood m the Pelobus. — Our Havelock correspondent telegraphs at noon : — It has been raining the greater part of Sunday, all Sunday night and to-day. There is the highest flood m the Peloruß that has been knownfor years. Sheep and timber arc being washed down. It is still raining at 12 o'clock noon.

Presentation. — The Palmerston North correspondent of the New Zealand Times statas that it is intended to present Herr Norberg, the well known musician, who is about to take up his residence m Wellington, with an illuminated address and a purse of sovereigns, m recognition of his services to charitable, philanthropic, and other objects duriDg a six years' residence there.

Shipping. — Owing to heavy rains, the Penguin cannot leave Wellington till tomorrow, and passengers for Nelson will leave Picton to-morrow night. Arrangements have been made for the Taieri to call m at Picton on the 20th of this month, to take m cargo for Sydney direct. An advertisement on the matter appears elsewhere.

Gift Sale. — The clergymen and vestries of the Churches of the Nativity, Blenheim, and St. Luke's, Marlboroughtown, desire to express their thanks to all those who so liberally contributed to and patronised the Gift Auction on Saturday, and very especially also to Mr Green the auctioneer for his gratuitous services. We understand that a sum of £60 was netted,

Inspector Thomson.— The new chief of police m the Marlborough district arrived here on Saturday, and inspected the men, and their quarters. He is favorably impressed with the appearance of Blenheim and its surroundings, and speaks well of the condition m which the police station is kept.

Duplication op Names. — Alluding to the trquble that is caused m New Zealand by the duplication of names, a contemporary asks : — Ia it not time that this duplicating of names was done away with ? The name of Lord Palmerston is celebrated m the North Island, and the South Island also commemorates this statesman m the same way. There is Greytown m the North, and Greytown m the South ; Kaikora m Hawke's Bay, and Kaikoura m Marlborough ; Havelock m Otago and Havelock m Marlborough, and many other similar duplications cause a great deal of confusion, and are altogether unnecessary.

Bishop Julius on Prohibition. — The Bishop of Christchurch is not a believer m hasty prohibitionist tactics m respect to the liquor trade. In his sermon to trades unionists on Sunday he even went a little out of his way to make his opinion known. He said he had no faith m the good results which might arise from any act of injustice. He did not believe m confiscation, and he could not support the Prohibitionists on that account. (A movement amongst the audience of approbation by some, and others groaned.) They might groan but he would say that m the past we had given licenses to men to work hotels, to go there and sell beer or drug liquor, and get as much as they liked out of the men, but as long as they kept an orderly house — whatever that might mean — we gave them their license. But when we became wiser and saw that these houses were curses, then we must slowly do away with them. Not by storming a man out, bat by withdrawing the licenses m the course of time, and thus allowing him to go about some other busi. ness. He had no faith m closing houses so hurriedly without compensation of some sort, nor m developing a better state of things by confiscation.

Mb Stead on the Ibish Catholic Church. — Mr Stead (who is a Nonconformist), m the Paternoster Pveview, speaks thus of the Catholic clergy of Ireland :— " I defy any man to go to Ireland and look at the rural districts, even through prejudiced spectacles, without coming to the conclusion that today, m that distracted land, the Catholic priest is an absolutely indispensable element of society. . . The Catholic Church alone remains erect m the midst of the Irish chaos. Its bishops m council are the nearest approaoh to an Irish Senate that is to be found m Ireland ; its priesthood constitute a more intelligent, respectable, and public-spirited body than the retinue of nominees who were decorated with the affix M.P. at the good pleasure of MrParnell. In the midst of insular parochialism, the clergy — many of whom have been educated m France, m Belgium, and m Borne— alone possess some trace of cosmopolitan culture. They are poor, but respected ; celibate, but free from breath of scandal ; ' myrmidons of Rome,' but passionately patriotic They represent m their parishes culture, discipline, and Christianity. Of course there are exceptions, but the Catholic priest is m most cases the tribune of the people, the ■universal friend, the trustee and trustworthy representative of the rights of the poor, the oppressed, and those who have no helpar. . . . Take them all m all, they are among the best men m Ireland."

Unfit Commanders.— Barely has an English commander-in-chief made a more remarkable statement than Lord Wolseley's confession that it had happened to him <o refuse to allow battalions "to go into action because he knew their commanding officers were unfit to lead them. Thus he has been compelled, when m the field and sorely wanting men, to leave behind battalions composed of fine soldiers because they were led by incompetent colonels. For he had retained vividly m his memory a passage m a work written by General Sir Charles Napier which he had read m his youth — a passage which he now tells us " ought to be written up m every officers' mess room, m every room of the War Office, and where the. Cabinet Council assemble from time to time to select men to commaud armies m the field. " The passage referred to is : "An ignorant general is a murderer. All brave men confide m the knowledge he pretends to possess, and when the death trial comes, their generous blood flows m vain. Merciful God ! How can an ignorant man charge himself with so much blood? I have studied war, long, earnestly, and deeply, yet tremble at my own deficiency. "

Pjrohibition at Oamaed. — The Mail writes as follows : — We are m a position to state that high legal authority has given the opinion that the Licensing Committee is not possessed of the power to close the whole of the hotels m Oamaru. This opinion is, we believe, based upon the ground that, as a license can only be withheld because a house is badly conducted or that it is not required, it will be impossible to show a sufficient reason for refusing all licenses. He holds that the fact that a majority of ratepayers have pronounced against the issuing of any licenses is not sufficient evidence that there is no necessity for a licensed house m the town ; for upon that point the minority, whose opinions must receive respect, have an indisputable right to be heard. But outside of all consideration of the wishes of the residents of the town, there is another class whose rights the law will compel the Committee to respect. These are the travelling public, whose comfort, convenience and accommodation the Licensing Act specially recognises. The legal authority to whom we have referred, and who is, we may add, himself a teetotaller, not only does not dispute the right of the Licensing Committee to refuse licenses, but upholds that power to a very great extent ; all he says being that that power cannot be exercised m such a manner as to virtually altogether set aside • the Licensing Act, which permits the existence of publiohouses, and that while they may close a number of the houses on the ground that they are not required, they cannot close the whole, because such a course would be destructive of the rights of a large body of people ; and, were the Committee to refuse all licenses, an application to the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus directing them to issue licenses would be successful. The opinion which we have given above is borne out by a recent judgment of the Judical Lords of the House of Lords on an appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeal. It is unnecessary that we should discuss this question at present, beoause the time for discussion has not yet arrived, and we have referred to the matter now merely for the purpose of directing attention to what may be expected to happen when the Committee proceed to give effect to their pledge to refuse all licenses.

Pebsons of Delicate Constitution, who are obliged to abstain from ordinary Coffee, should try Creases. Tabaxaoum or Dandelion Coffee, which is recommended by medioal authorities as a very valuable beverage for persons who suffer from weak digestion, flatulenoy, and nervousness. Sold, m lib and £lb tics, Is and 2s,