SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11253, 25 October 1898, Page 2

SOCIAL AND GENERAL.

PERSONAL. A cablegram from. Melbourne announces the death of the Rev. T. B. Murray, which occurred at St. Vincent de Paul's Orphanage, South Melbourne. The deceased was formerly superior 'of the Christian Brothers, in Duncdin. In 1891 he was transferred to South Melbourne to become the manager of the institution in which he peacefully breathed his last yesterday; afternoon. The Nelson College Governors have chosen as second master of the Boys' College, to succeed Mr Littlejohn, who was made principal,-Mr T. Harper Wing, M.A., Cambridge, at present classical master at Goelong College. In 1871 the Anglican Church of New Zealand started a board to provide • for the efficient education of the clergy. It bears the name of the Board of Theological-Studies.' The prescribed course consists of four grades, in which there are three classes. The highest grade is the fourth; the highest class is the first. In the second.and third grades there are two scholarships awarded to the first two in the first class.. The -course is an excellent one. Anyone who has taken a first class in all the grades holds a position of which he and his church may bo justly- proud. . Such successes are few out of the hundreds who have been examined. A more phenomenal suceeSß is to secure the first place in the first class in each of the four grades. Since the institution of the board only four candidates, have done this—viz., the Revs. H. P. Cowx, IJ. do Galwey, and.H. D. Major,..and now the Rev. H. S. Leach. Each of these had this extraordinary distinction; each also winning the scholarships in grades two and three. The Rev. H. 8. Leach, curate of St. Matthew's, Dunedin, is the last to win this distinction, and he is to' be congratulated.on his success. Mr Leach .studied .at Selwyn College for grades one, and two, but received no assistance thence for grade four, which he has just passed, entitling him to the hood (black poplin edged with -purple silk) conferred by the Church of New Zealand on those who so distinguish themselves, as to pass the fourth grade. Taking the averages of the marks obtained by the four distinguished candidates above-named in their respective years, .it would be impossible to say that one is higher than the other. This may well bo-satisfac-. Tory to each of these gentlemen, as it ia to their friends and'colleges. Other successes at the last examination obtained by Dunedin students are the Rev. H. Brooke, curate of St. Paul's, who took second place in the .first class of - grade three, winning thereby a scholarship; Mr Rawnsley, second place in second class- in grade two; Mr Aston, fourth place in second class in grade two. These "three gentlemen owe their success to the tuition received- at Selwyn College,■ of'whichCanon Richards is warden. 'The death is announced this "month of Mrs Jamqs Bain, another of the early settlers. The deceased lady was born near Edinburgh in 1820/ and arrived in the colony with her hus.band and family with the ship Larkins, in 1849.; For. some, years past she has resided-at Maori Hill. She leaves a family ,pf five sons and three daughters. !Dr'W. E. Haeon, died suddenly from apoplexy, on the 20 th. He came to New Zealand in 1879, and was appointed to the post of medical superintendent at Sunnyside Lunatic .Asylum, but resigned in 1887, and entered into • private, practice in Christohurch. He was ;47 years of age.. .: ' The'silver jubilee of the "Very Rev. Father ! O'Leary; of Lawrence; was celebrated at that' | place on 28th ult. Amongst the large number . oi visitors who lyid assembled; to congratulate ; the reverend father were Archbishop Redj vopdi' Bishop Verdon, the clergy of Dunedin ! wid suburbs, and a great many of the clergy ! l-broughout the diocese. ■ . The death was announced on the 29th. of Mr Cornelius Bunbury, an old resident of Duuedin,. at the age of 83 years. In his younger days Mr Bunbury followed the sea, and was for 6ome years the captain of 6hips trading betweeh Liverpool and New'"York. He arrived in. Dtmedin some time in the early 60's, and was for many years owner and landlord of the Grange Hotel. For the last 10 years or so he'has lived in retirement. The deceased was much respected by all who knew him. . . . A. child named Hodgson, aged two years, was burned to death at Ruatanga, Auckland, on the 27th. While playing near a fire its clothes became ignited. The Rev., James Preston, Anglican minister at Geraldine, died suddenly at Rangitata Mouth whilst out on a fishing excursion^ ":-.'■ CASUALTIES. 1 At . the . inquest of a labourer named George Wilkie, aged 22 years, found dead in bed at Parnell, a verdict was returned of death from the effects of excessive drinking; ■ ■■'■'.. :■ ; . . -:' A skeleton has been found in the bush at- Ahiaruhi, near Gladstone, Wairarapa. It is supposed to be that of Mrs Murray, who disappeared on .-February 23, 1896. She was a very old woman, and a storm ■came on soon after she was missed. Prolonged search was made at the time, without avail. The remains were found at the foot of a tree only half a mile from where Mrs Murray's sons still live. They were discovered by men felling bush, and identified from what was left of the clothing. '. As the Wellington-Masterton train was drawing up to the Woodside railway station, near Greytown on 12th, a young girl named Florence Owen, a second class passenger, attempted to .alight from a carriage. One wheel passed-over her body high up, and she was crushed to death instantly. She had a j St.wing machine in her hands, which probably retarded her in attempting to alight. She was sister of Mr John Owen, postmaster I at Kuinara. . '. : ; The infant child of James Guttersen died on the 12th in a Christchurcli tramcar. It had been taken to Sumner by its mother, and the death occurred without warning on the return journey. , Thomas Whittaker, of Sydney, aged 32 years, was killed on the 21st by falling off train near Islington station. He intended to go to Lyttelton, but got into the southern 'express and went as far as Rakaia. He returned by the first train from that station. \\hen near Islington he went from one carriage to another and fell off the platform. He came over in the Marafoa.

I Walter King, who died at the Napier Hospital on Friday from, injuries received while working at a "sawmill. He was caught by the belt and dashed against the bench. Mr, J. M. Plato, late of the Priory, Glenorchy, head of Lake Wakatipu, was found dead on the 27th on the Gorge road, near Queenstown, shot through the head. It is supposed he went out rabbit-shooting, and . came by his death accidentally. Mr Plato was to have been married during the day. Intimation was on the 6th received by Mr John White, managing director of the Round Hill Mining Company, from the secretary as follows :—" Robert Stewart was drowned in No. 2 paddock at 1 a.m. His body was found blocking the mouth of tue elevator, one arm being torn off by the jet. His mate did not go to work with him this morning." Further particulars which are to hand show that whem the deceased went on duty at midnight on the sth inst., relieving another employee named James Young, the latter desired.to remain with him until Stewart's mate on the shift should turn up, it being against the company's rules for one man to work on any shift, but it was arranged that Young should go for his supper and wait until Stewart came to tell him if his mate had turned up. As Stewart did not appear, Young surmised that the extra man must have gone to work. At 8 a.m. on the 6th, however, when the day hands put in an appearance they found no men about, while there was about 4ft.of water in the paddock. On the elevator being " boiled" back and the valve shut down, Stewart's body, which had blocked: the mouth, came, "to the surface with the left hand torn off. It is assumed that the deceased had gone to take some obstruction out of the mouth of the elevator, and been caught either by the foot or hand, and having no assistant to shut down the valves, was held there and drowned. He was about 61 years of age, and leaves a wife and grown up family of two sons and two daughters. I'he deceased was insured in the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company, which will pay under its policy £124 16s to his family. Our Waipori correspondent writes: — "On Wednesday Patrick Reidy, a miner, and one of our oldest residents, was found dead in his hut. From the condition, of the body it is probable that he had been dead about ten days. He had been complaining about some affection of the heart for some time back, and the coroner's jury brought in a verdict of death from natural causes. Deceased was a native of County Clai-e, and is understood to hay some distant relatives living in Roslyn." Joseph Barrett, an old man and a bache-_ ior, resident at Koiterangi, W.C., committed suicide _ on the 4th by blowing his head to nieces with a dynamite cartridge, which he had apparently placed in his mouth. ;■ : John Hart, chief steward of the Rose Casey, at Auckland, slipped and fell between the breastwork and the steamer, striking his head. He was rendered unconscious, and died from the effects of the injury.. He' was a married man, 45 . years of age. At the inquest a. verdict was returned of accidental death, no blame being attachable to anyone. William Wittle, middle-aged, was engaged bush-felling at Ngapaeruru, when a dry tree fell on him, breaking his hip and causing internal injuries, from which he died. A mailman named James Cosgrove, 70 years of age, was drowned; while crossing the Waikaia River on the 7th inst. ■ He was carrying the mails from Waikaia to Glenary, and in crossing the river his horse, trap, and mails were swept down the river. His body has. not yet been lecovered. James A. Campbell, miner, Glenorchy, is missing from his home, and it is feared that he has been drowned at Precipice Creek. The police are making a search. Chow Kie, a market gardener at Wai-, wetu (Hi;tt Valley), committed suicide by hanging himself. . A man named Edmund Rose Harvey, a cripple, aged 24. years, was found dead on the 14th, at Linwood, Canterbury, with a corJ about his neck, one end of which was tied to a nail. Death appeared to have resulted from strangulation, as the nail was not strong enough to support the body. David Dickson, a farmer, aged 48 years, was killed, at Otautau on the 14th inst. He was mounting a horse, when it bolted, with the result that he was thrown heavily on to his head. Deceased was a native, of the North Island and leaves a large family. ' John Mapp, a farmer, fell off his horse in Walter street, Blenheim, on the 15th inst, fracturing his skull, and he died before reaching the .hospital. . , ■ Russell Beecham, a well-known commission agent, was found dead in his office at Napier, his throat cut from ear to ear. He was last seen on Sunday morning when he complained, of not feeling well. At the inquest no cause was assigned for committing suicide. The evidence showed thatdeceased had been subject to epileptic, fits from boyhood, and of late had been very melancholy. A verdict was returned of suicide, whilst temporarily insane. James Thompson committed suicide at his house in Christchurch on the 17th by shooting himself through the body with a Martini-Henry rifle. He had been in low spirits owing to the fact that he had been told that some of the hands in the establishment where he was employed were to be dispensed with. He had made arrangements to be married on Thursday, but on Saturday night he told his fiancee that he could not do so owing to money matters. Deceased was ; about 35 years of age. ■ _ : MISCELLANEOUS. At the Warehousemen and Commercial Travellers' Club rooms on the 11th a very handsome service of plate was presented to Mr S. Solomon in the presence of a large number of friends on the occasion of his marriage. Tho presentation was made by Mr A. Thomson, president of the association, in a happy speech, in which he referred to the esteem in which Mr Solomon was held. Mr Solomon suitably renlied, and the health of Mr and Mrs Solomon was then drunk in bumpers of, champagne. ... Before Mr Justice Pennefatker, sitting in Chambers at Invereargill, an application was made for probate of. the. will of the late. George Printz, of Riverton. It was mentioned that Mrs Printz had filed a caveat. The estate was worth about £75,000. The widow had boon left only £100 a year, and that was dependent upon her conducting herself with propriety. His Honor thought that in the interests of all parties the best plan was to get the will proved in solemn form first, and ho made > an order that probate be granted, the executors to take steps without delay to have tho will proved in solemn form, Mrs Printz's caveat being treated as a citation. Some shocking disclosures as to the state of tho morality among the youth of Christchurch were made in the Magistrate's Court (says the Lyttelton Times) during tho hearing of an affiliation case. Both parties were little better than children, the plaintiff being a girl of 17 and the defendant a lad not much older, and the statements made by these and a number of youthful witnesses, male and female, who were called, revealed a terrible state of affaire. Mr Boetham, commenting on the case, said there was a'terrific state .of depravity shown by the evidence from both sides, while the language which passed between another young girl (a witness) and the.', defendant was of a very iavproper description. It was useless for him to moralise on the subject, for it seomed that the evil would go on f6r all time. It seemed to him that tho fault lay not so much with the children as with the mothers. Tho mother in "this case had said a great deal about being disgraced, but she had allowed her daughter to go where she liked, when she liked, and how she liked, without restraint; and ho would like to know who was to blame. In making an order for the payment by the defendant of 7s a week, with the production of sureties amounting to £100 for the fulfilment of the order, .his Worship inquired as to the circumstances of the defendant's parents. Mr Joynt said that the boy's mother was a widow, in poor circumstances, and he had, before coming to tho court, advised her not to lodge the securities, as it would be a thousand time 3 more disastrous that she should be made to suffer for her son's misbehaviour than that ho himself should be punished. Mr Beetham said that the sooner these young people were brought to look at the serious and disastrous consequences of their actions the better it would be. In default of his finding the necessary sureties, tho defendant would be sent to prison for six months. As already stated, the Harbour Board are taking active steps to deepen the berthage at the George street pier, Port Chalmers. The big dredge is at present at work in the vicinity of the pier, and at Thursday's meeting of the Harbour Board the chairman suggested that she should be kept there for about three weeks, working time and a half. By that time he expected the work of deepening the berthage .would be completed. He was authorised by the board to act in regard to his suggestion. The directors of the Kaiapoi 'Woollen Manufacturing Company recommend a dividend for the. half-year at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum, and to carry £2500 to the reserve. The output of coal from the mines of the Westport Coal Company (Limited) for the month of. September was 20,719 tons lawt.

During the month 'of September 9cwt of butter was shipped from Diuiedia out of r total for th_e colony of 212cwt. Dunedin exported 491cwt cheese, and Invereargill 248cwt, out of a total for the colony of 20300wt. New Plymouth's contribution was 135cwt butter and 84icwt cheese. Tho total export of beef was 13,091cwt, to which "Waitara contributed 5881cwt, Gisborno 2888owt, Napier IMScwt, Waiganui 1488cwt, and Wellington 14660wt. There wore exported from tho colony 205,314 caroases mutton and 14,860 carcases lamb, of which 459 cracases mutton and 154 carcases lamb went from Oama.ru, 15,321 carcases mutton and 817 carcases lamb from Duuedin, 10,020 carcases mutton and 4835 carcases lamb from Invereargill. Lyttelton heads the list with 56,215 carcases mutton and 4436 carcases lamb, Wellington coming next with 43,538 carcases mutton and 53 carcases lamb, while Tinuiru is third with 32,120 carcases mutton and 1608 carcases lamb, Napier being close up with 30 032 carcases mutton and 308 carcases lamb. During the past six months 14,271cwt butter wero exported, as against 26,193 for the corresponding period, of lost year. The chee.se totalled 24,545c.7t, against 32,<173cwt; beef, 50,156cwt, as ■ against 32,655cwt; mutton, 867,061 carcases, as against 833,352 carcases; lamb, 623,815 carcases, as against 718,805 carThe directors of the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company have decided to declare a dividend of 4^ per, cent for the half year, .which will make the year's dividend 8 per cent. The reserve fund has been increased by £2720, and the plant aud property have been written down by £4000. There are nearly 1800 Christian Endeavour Societies in Australasia, with a total membership of about 54,000. Victoria heads tho "ifit with 556 societies, and 17,899 members, New South Wales coming next with 381 societies and 11,209 members. Then follow South Australia, 371 societies, 10,700 members; New Zealand, 250 societies, 7425 members ; Queensland, 101 societies, 3352 members ; Tasmania, 98 societies, 2771 members; West Australia, 25 societies, 722 members. Of the denominations, the Wesleyans are first with 535 societies, and the Baptists second with 150. _ A mounted constable with a guide visited Piha Bay, Auckland, to inspect the find of 24 skulls at the cave recently discovered. The bones are believed to be those of Maoris, and were revealed by a landslip at a dip over the cave. The mouth of,the cave is blocked up by the heavy landslip. It is believed that there are more skulls in the cave. The Maoris conjecture they may be the bones of some of the chiefs who fell in a great battle at Big Muddy Creek, between Kaipara and other tribes about 1830, for the possession of the Auckland isthmus. Captain Button exhibited at the meeting of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute a' small bone, supposed to be the rib of a kumi, or what was known by the Maoris as a Ngarara, an extinct lizard. He gave the story of the bone as follows!—In 1874 the Otago Museum authorities had cleared out a cave in Central Oirago, and among the bones was the jawbone of a- lizard, evidently not that of tho tuatara. It had completely different dental conditions, was smaller than the tuatara .law, and the teeth were fixed inside the jaw, and were a good deal stronger than tho teeth of the inagua. In 1892 the Christchurch Museum received a number of bones and ' debris from this cavo, where the bones of the extinct lizard were found. Amongst _ these bones ho had come across the small rib-like looking bone, which was quite different to anything he had seen before. He~ could not locate it on to any animal, and presumed it anight belong to 'the same lizard jas the jawbone found in tho Eame place, and hence he had called it'the kumi. The bono itself was not at all like- a lizard's bono. _ It was a left rib; much stouter and flatter, in, shape more like the rib of a mammal, but', be did not think it was that either. It was quite different from anything he had ever known. A striking unanimity was manifested at the meeting of the City Council on the sth as to tho desirability of securing the tramway service for the city if the property coukl be acquired at a reasonable" figure. Some time ago the Tramway Company offered to submit a proposal to the council whereby the corporation would be eifabled to secure the trams, and consideration bf j,he mattor v/as deferred until last evening's meeting. Those who took part, in the discussion which tho reopening of the subject-excited dwelt upon tho fact that tho present was a favourable time to enter into negotiations with .Rho company, and_ a proposition from Cr ;Miller that inquiries should bo set afoot witlj.a view to finding the lowest possible price ats'phich. the tramways could be purchased foiytho city n»t with an approving chorus of .'.'Hear, hears,"'a resolution to that effect bein)g subsequently carried. During the dobate oh'j councillor was understood to state that an lnsijtution which held a number of shares iyjjthe..concern was ready to forgo its interest';-jn the event of the corporation purcbasing f .the property. The new Presbyterian;church at Queenstowrv was opened',:ijji. Sunday, Ist, when tho Itov. 'W. Howitscn-'^preaohed in tho morning and evening. On'jMonda.y a tea alid publi-; meeting was held^when brief addresses were given by the RefefW. A. Garni (Wesleyan), A. D. Mitchell .(siglican), and Mr Howitsou. Mr Gcisow, in Me course of a speech, said there was £159-|>B in hand towards the new church, so thatsfit was opened practically, if not actually, fr^e' of debt. A number of selections were'^ven by the choir under, the conductorship.'&f Mr A. Boyne, while Miss Reid presided.'^ ths organ, and solos and concerted pieces'.^ere nicely ■ rendered by other members. VJ<"