CANTERBURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 253, 4 October 1856, Page 3

CANTERBURY.

The Weather. — During the last seven days a 1 great quantity of rain has fallen ; a fact more worI thy of remark now than usually, since the season ' had been previously so fine and well suited to , farming operations. We are informed that a con1 siderable loss has now occurred among the young • wheat in several districts around Christchurch. | The superabundance of moisture has injured the | appearance of the crop in many places, and we rei gret to learn from others the total destruction of considerable portions. If fine dry weather con- ■ tinues after this period, we may expect the yield' of the remaining portion, where it has not suffered serious injury, to be not less abundant than usual. — Lyttelton Times, Sept. 17.

The prospectus has been issued of Bernard's Patent Machine Boot and Shoe Company, with a capital of £120,000 in £10 shares. Many previous attempts have been made from time to time to perfect a series of machines to supersede manual labour in this branch of manufacture, but they have been only partially successful, i It is now believed that the object has been ! fully attained, and a factory already exists, ready for use, sufficient for making 200 pair a-day. The company propose to set aside £80,000, for the purchase of the machinery and patent rights, and Mr Bernard, the inventor, is to be entitled to a I moiety of surplus profits, after payment of I dividend of 15 per cent, to the shareholders. The expenditure of the population of the united kingdom on boots and shoes is estimated at £15,000,000 per annum, and, looking to a gradual extension of their powers of production, the company contemplate an ultimate increase of their capital to £500,000. Sir Robert Carden is to be chairman, and the board of directors is respectably constituted. — Times, June 21. Submarine Discoveries in Sabastopol Harbour. — Mr. Deane, the diver, has brought to light some strange relics of the horrors of the war. Close by the ruins of" Fort Paul, whence the bridge started to the north side, he discovered, at the bottom of the harbour, a battery of field-artillery, horses, men, and all entangled in the harness, and with their skeletons just hanging together in the network of leather. He has fished up five field pieces and two howitzers. They are filled with mud, but they can soon be made fit for Woolwich. The wood of the carriages has been utterly destroyed by the teredo navalis, or whatever it is which lives on such, hard fare or in such hard quarters as the best old oak affords. On the skeleton of one of the horses there were the bones of a driver held together by the rags of his uniform, and with his foot still in the stirrup ! — English Paper, ; : -v -