CHRISTCHURCH. January 5.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2083, 6 January 1879, Page 2

CHRISTCHURCH. January 5.

The Lyttelton Times, this morning, announce* its enlargement to eight pages, though the sheet contains only seven instead of eight columns, as formerly — being its old size before it enlarged a year ago. The Star, to-night, comes out in an enlarged form of eight columns per page, full size. At the inquest upon the man Reynolds, who was found dead in his bed, it was shown that he had partaken of a very heavy supper just before going to bed. The post mortem examination by Dr. Frankish showed that he had died of apoplexy, and a verdict to that effect was returned. It is intended to relay a great portion of the rails from Christchurn to Dunetlin with 521b steel rails, equal to 641b iron. This has been found necessary in consequence of the wear" and tear caused to tho light rails by the heavy traffic. The change will begin at Selwyn on Monday. It has been raining heavily since five o'clock, and there seems every likelihood of its lasting. The improvements now going on at the Waimakariri, with a view to preventing the floods doing damage to the railways ' in the future, are estimated to cost L 12.000. Very elaborate plans have been drawn up in the Public Works Office here for a new men's wing to the Sunnyside Lunatic Asylum. The sum of LlO,OOO was placed on the Estimates for carrying out the same. The tenders are now in an 1 have been forwarded to the Public Works Office, Dunedin, although the amounts have not been made public. It is understood that the lowest tender is L 30,000, consequently only a portion of the work can be gone on with for the present, or else less elaborate plans will have to be prepared. It is understood that the repairs are now completed on the Rangitata bridge till the next floods again carry it partially away. Mr Lowe, Resident Engineer, who has been in charge of it during the week, returned to-night from completing his work. This will be a great relief to the sheds and stores along the line, many of which are choked up with wool and goods of various descriptions. Special goods trains will be run to relieve this. Two men named William Izon and Joseph Hall, charged with stealing a dog, were discharged this morning without the slightest imputation on their characters. Thirty extra waggons have been placed on the railway during the past few days, and were absorbed into the general traffic.