SOUTHERN ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9990, 29 November 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

SOUTHERN ITEMS.

A Women's Club is shortly to bo started ab Wellington, which is to bo strictly nonpolitical. A 2000-candle power lamp to light the approach to the Queen's Wharf, Wellington, is now being erected. t The cargo, ex ship Pleione, which encountered uuch severe weather on the voyage from Liverpool to Wellington, is turning out in excellent condition. > Owing to the rise in the price of dressed flax, all the mills between Palmerston North and Foxton are making preparations for turning out a largo quantity. The hearing of the abortion charge con> eluded ab Wellington on Saturday, the lGtli of November, Mr. and Mrs. Brown being committed for trial, Bail was allowed in two sureties of £100 each. At the competition of the Potone Rifle Club, on Nov. 23, W. H. Ballinger, the present champion, made a record score for Now Zealand at 200, 500, and GOO yards, of 100 out of-a possible 105. The totals wera 33, 33, and 34. Ho used Whitney's colonial ammunition of 1895. At the annual meeting of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory Company, the chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, which recommended a dividend of 4 pop cent, for the half-year, making 8 per cent, for tho year, said tho balance-sheets wore becoming of a stereotyped character. The overdraft had been reduced by £13,906. The Grey Valloy Coal Company's busi ness has recently been purchased by a wealthy English company. Tho property is reputed to be ono of the largest and moßtj valuable mines in the colony. It consists of nearly 6000 acres, and it has been estimated that the company could turn oufa 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum if a market was available.

The receipts of the recent Christchurcb Industrial Exhibition, inclusive of the Government grant of £500, amounted to £4153 7s 3d. The expenditure was £2069 16s lOd, the balance in hand thus being £20&3 10s sd. A sub-committee has been

appointed to draw up a recommendation to be presented, together with the balancesheet, to a meeting of the general commit' tee.

The annual meeting of the National Insurance Company was held at) Dunedin on Thursday, the 14th of Nov. The report) shows a surplus, after* paying an interim dividend of £7352, of £7505, and a further dividend of 91 per share, making a total for the year of la Gd per share, is recommended. Messrs. J. M. Ritchie and Keith Ramsay wera re-elected unopposed to the directorate, and it was decided to reduce the directorate to tight. Mr. Fake, of Palmeuton North, claims to have invented a schema under which it is impossible for any number of torpedoes ta sink a warship. He adds, "My schema will also allow of much greater speed without any increase of steam power. Also, out ironclads may be built with lighter armour, and be perfectly safe from destruction by torpedoes. The principal part of my scheme is that an ironclad may be struck with 50 torpedoes and nob destroyed not put out of action. This scheme I have forwarded to the Admiralty as being of ther greatest importance to our nation ab the. present moment." At the Wellington Woollen Company's, Works on Thursday, the 14th of November, a piece of cloth was manufactured, and' made into a suit of clothc3, which was exhibited at next day's show. Three half-bred merino sheep, shorn at 6.30 am., gave fleeces weighing 181b. These fleeces were then passed through the process of dyeing in two colours, teasing, carding, spinning, steaming, warping, weaving, scouring, milling, tentering, and dyeing, tho last-named being finished by 10.52 a.m., and ab 10.55, or in four hours and 25 minutes from the time whon the shears first touched the sheep, a completed fabric was sent into Wellington, and made into a suit of clothes, which left the tailor's hand ab 3.40 p.m. in the afternoon.

' At a meeting of the Chrwtchuroh Cycling Club, on Nov. 2G, a letter was read from C. R. Wilson, now in Melbourne, stating that Zimmerman, the champion cyclist of the world, and Parsons, ths champion of Australia, were willing to come to New Zealand, provided terms could be arranged. A letter was also read from Clarkson, at present in Sydney, stating that in all probability A. VV. Harris, the Bnglish champion, would come to New Zealand and meet Zimmerman at the club's next race meeting. It was arranged that the race meeting should, if possible, take place on February 6 and 8; also, to cable to the manager of the Nimrod Bicycle Company, inquiring when Zimmerman was likely to be in Christchurch, and what his terms would be; and, to make an effort to secure the presence of representatives from the various cycling leagues of the other colonies at tho meeting at which Zimmerman takes part. The case of tho Southland frozen Meat Company r. Nelson Bros., claim £30,000 damages, was concluded at Dunedin on the 22nd November. The jury, after an hour and a-half's retirement, returned answers to the issues as follows What damages are plaintiffs entitled to recovor in respect to the breach of contract by the defendants entering into the output arrangements with Mr. Ward? Answer, £3500. What damages are tho plaintiffs entitled to recover in respect to the agreement of May, 1895, to the purchase of the Ocean Beach Freezing Works ? Answer, £3500. Costs fixed as per scale with allowances for second counsel aid extra days. Disbursements, witnesses' expenses, and interlocutory costs to bo settled in chamber; execution to be stayed until the termination of the Court of Appeal. By consent Mr. Bell moved for a nonsuit and a new trial on the ground of misdirection and nondirection, and to reduce damages, the motion by consent to bo proved to the Court of Appeal.