News of the Week.

Otago Witness, Issue 1449, 30 August 1879, Page 16

News of the Week.

The members of the Waste Lands Board on Wednesday had a conversation over a proposal by the Chairman to the effect that in future reserves aloDg the banks of rivers and streams should be declared. He thought these would in after years greatly simplify the question of riparian rights, and that they would.be found useful in affording free access to the public along such banks for fishing and other purposes. Mr Green was inclined to think a difficulty might arise with purchasers, owing to the additional fencing which would thus be rendered necessary, but other members seemed to think the reserves might meantime be fencad in, so long as it was understood the public had aright of path. It was agreed that the Chairman should frame a resolution on the subject for next meeting. The Government are not taking any steps to push forward the opening of the first section of the Tapanui railway (says the Courier). Bails for the whole of the contract are lying at Waipahi, and the requisite sleepers are at Invercargill pending instructions from the Government to commence the work. The formation on the first section of the line is now completed, and all the men, with the exception of five who are engaged side-drain-ing, have been discharged. We understand the cause of delay is the fact that the Government will not make a progress payment to hurry on the completion of the first section of the line, whioh could by this means be finished months before contract time, and the railway in working order by the ensuing wool season. Mr Bethune's newly-erected saw-mill at the North-East Valleyis now in fall operation. The works are favourably situated within two miles of Dunedin, and afford unusual facilities for carrying on a milling business. The land, 200 acres in extent, is heavily timbered 'with red und white pine, and it is estimated the forest will afford work for five years. Although the Owhio creek runs through the property the owner has not utilised the water as a motive power, but has erected a powerful steamengine. The mill works are supplied with three circular saws and planing-machine, together with complete rolling gear, and are capable of producing 20,000 feet of timber per week. Little difficulty is experienced in getting timber to the mill, which is situated at the foot of the gorge. Adjacent to (.the works are several cottages which have been erected for the workmen. The creek which intersects the property abounds in English trout, many of which are four and five poundsin weight, and is a favourite resort for sport. Mr Bethune has also erected an abattoir and boiling-down establishment, as also stockyards. He contemplates holding weekly sales when tramway communication I with the Valley is established. Henry Welle, a railway guard, while shunting on Wednesday, had his right foot crushed by I one of the waggon-wheels. He was taken to the Hospital, and his foot was dressed there, i but afterwards, at his own request, he was removed to hia home. A fall of stone and earth took place at the i Maclaggan street Quarry yesterday morning, and injured a man named William Jacobs, who was working on the face of the quarry. Some fragments of the] rock struck the man, and hurt hi* legs and his back. He was at once removed to the Hoßpital. Wo bones were fractured. Dr Stuart delivered an interesting lecture on Tuesday night, in the Forbury Presbyterian Churoh, on ."England's "First Colony." The Rev. Mr Boyd occupied the chair. On the I motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr Reid, a cordial vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer. The last lecture of the course is to be delivered by Professor Salmond. The first social meeting connected with Mr Chisholm's senior class at Knox Church was \ heldjon Wednesday. The classroom was crowded to the door. . Mr Chisholm occupied the chair, and was supported by several of the friends of the congregation. A very encouraging report was read and adopted. After tea, practical addresse3 were given by the Chairmao, the R«v. Dr Stuart, and Messrs Ferguion, D. Wright, Wm, Wright, Harlow, and Reith. Excellent pieces of music were given by Miases Flanagan, Crabb, and Irvine, and Messrs Corliss, Brown, and Rose. Several members of the class took part, in a very creditable manner. The anniversary ball of the Pioneer Lodge, 1.0.0. F., took place at the Odd-Fellows' Hal), Rattray street, on the 21st. About 75 couples were present, and indulged in dancing for several hours, Brother Lang acting as M.C. During the evening a presentation, consisting of a collar, jewel, and illuminated testimonial, was < made to Brother Jacobs, treasurer. The testimonial, which was presented by the mem- \ bers of the Lodge through Brother Morrison, and was lithographed by Mr Thomas George in the finished style which characterises works executed by him, spoke of the worthy manner in which Brother Jacobs had fulfilled the duties of treasurer during the past five years, and the value of his services in that capacity. The address having been read by P.G. Brother Naphtali, Brother Jacobs acknowledged the testimonial in a few humorous remarks. The Manawatu Times remarks that some leaden pills for Te Whiti are in readiness, if it is found ho needs them. The little scare caused by the antics of Te Whiti has certainly been the means of arousing the martial ardour of the residents from one end of the coast to the other. Sergeant-major Bezar has, in the district under hia charge as inspector, no lesa than 17 distinct companies, comprising 1081 Volunteers, and that number does not embrace the newly-formed corps at Feilding. The rebellious prophet scarcely calculated upoa such a result. In our report of Professor Black's science lecture, published in our last week's issue, by a typographical error we made it appear that the Professor stated that seawater contained 27 per cent, of salt, instead of 2 7 per cent. The exhibitors who are sending goods to the Sydney Exhibition, agreed on the 21at, to send Mr G. Grant as special agent in custody of the exhibits, and to forward the interests of the exhibitors at Sydney. It is expected the cost thus entailed will be about L3OO, and a public subscription will be asked with the view of raising the amount. At a largely - attended meeting of mill employes at the Glasgow Pie - house on Saturday evening —Mr John Downie in the chair — it was resolved to forward the following petition to the master miller s of Dunedin and the suburbs: — "We, the undersigned, beg most respectfully to call I your attention to the length of time your employes are kept at work, and the onerous and unhealthy nature of our employment, as weUfS ■ the great disadvantage we labour under by not having time to make purchases and provide f >jr our houses. We would request your favour- ■ able co&sideration of the earno by granting to us Saturday afternoon as a halfk>liday."

At Falmouth, recently (says the Daily Telegraph), Sir Julius Vogel, the- Agent- general of New Zealand in London, and Mr O. C. Ellis, addressed the Conservative electors, and received an enthusiastic reception. Sir Julius* Vogel said that if he was returned by the conBtituency when the next election took place he should go to Parliament as a strong Conserva- , tive and a supporter and admirer of Lord Bea'-i constield. As to the present position of political parties, whilst on the one hand the ' Conservatives were a united party, on 1 tho other the Liberals were utterly disunited, excepting in their desire to get office. Referring to the Eastern Question, ho applauded the action of Lords Beauonsfield and Salisbury at the Conference and their bringing back " Peace with honour" to the nation, and adding that at no time had it bee a more powerful or on more friendly terms with all other Powers. Referring to the distresi throughout the country, he said it was caused by thera being more people than, work could be found for. As Agentgeneral for New Zealand he had as many as 1000 applications (which meant about 3000 person*) for passages to New Zealand in a single day. He dwelt on the advantage of adopting Ifalim.uth a3 a port v for embarking passengtw, and by so doing saving them from the horrors of a p*»sage down the Channel. Mr C. C. Ellis followed. Vote* of confidence in Sir Julius V.)gtl and Mr Ellis were unanimously passed, the meeting pledging itself ' , to support their candidature whenever an election occurs. Ij California it has been enacted that nothing but th» English language shall be taught iv the primary, grammar, and common schools, ; and also that no public money shall be granted to sectarian schools. The Dunefan Times says :— "The following telegram from Mr Blair, the resident engineer for tho Middle Inland, to Vincent Pyke, Esq., M.H.R for the Dujasfcan district, has been kindly placed at our disposal : — ' I have made arrangements for resuming ohe railway survey next month, and purpose to pay a visit to the I district shortly.' This is to be understood as being a continuation of the survey of the Strath-Taieri line from Clyde upwards to Lake Wanaka, and will, doubtless, prove a most welcome piece of iutelligence to every resident of the large area of country Ihs line is to pass through. We believe the intention is that • immediately the survey is complete to call for tenders for the furthest section of the line, bo that the timber required along the line can be supplied from the Wanaka and #awea forests. Cheap timber in the Dunstan distict, more especially in the Valley of the Manuherika, means the employment of labour, and that necessarily means prosperity. It is well known there are deep leads that require > only timber at a cheap rate to Btart them into. , | life, and with the railway from the Wanaka this will be obtained. Though a few— three or four — years will yet have to pass before this desirable state of things is to come about, yet it will come, and with it will return the happy days of old." The Eoyal Arch Chapter of Ofc«go, No. 844, E.C., held a -meeting on Monday for the purpose of installing tha principals and efficers of > the Chapter for the ensuing; year. The in- - stalling officers, ex-Companions Myers and Nathan, performed the ceremony of installs- . tion. The following were installed :■— ExCompanion Asher, M.8.Z. ; ex-Companion Peake, H. ; ex-Companion Eldridge,- treasurer j Companion do Leon, first sojourner; Companion Braid, scribe E. ; Companion Titchener, scribe N. Ex-Companion Marsden, being" absent, will be installed to the office of third principal at a future meeting:. The Companions of the Chapter, after the meeting, sat down to a banquet in celebration of the occasion. Mr A. T. Dunning received a telegram from the manager of the Keep-it-Dark Quartzmining Company, Reefton, on Saturday, stating that the last crushing of 200 tons of quartz had given a yield of 229 ozs of amalgam. , A The residents of South Dauedin have petitioned the Dunedin City Council to extend the , gaa supply to a portion of that borough, and •' in all probability the request will bs granted if satisfactory terms can be come to with the Borough Council relative to the erection of street lamps. The work of fixing the plates with the names of streets en them, which are now being placad at the strest corners of the city, afforded another instance of the different ways in which tenderers estimate their prices. The offer accepted by the City Council was that of Mr G. M'Kenzie, at the rate of 4s per dozen on wooden and 9s per dozen on brick houses. For the same work Messrs Smith and Smith tendered at 243 per dozen in the one case, and 48s per dozen in the other. The balloting out of one of the councillors for Bell Ward far retirement took place at the City Council meeting.on Wednesday, and|Councillor Carroll proved the unfortunate man. The decision was arrived at by a " shake-in-the-hat," carried out under the superintendence of the Mayor, jn his Worship's " belltopper." . t Eighty of what are known as White's patent itnti dip valves are to be prooured, at a cost of ' L2OO, for the Corporation Gasworks. The use of these valves will, it is expected, permit of Grey River coal being exclusively used, and the Gas Engineer explains that this mean* spending some L 13,000 in New Zealand next year, instead of sending the money out of the Colony. At themeeting of CityCouncilon Wednesday, Mr R. A. Lawson forwarded the following tenders for fixing, electric bell and telephonic com- , munioation in the new municipal buildings, and was instructed to accept the lowest :—-A. and T. Burt, L 125 10s ; S. M'Carthy, L 16 5; Schlaadt Bros., LISS 11s 6d ; James Ross, L 195. For the York place sewer, the follow- ! ing were referred to the Works Committee with power to accept the lowest : — J. Hindis, L 772; Matheson Bros., L 648 15a; J. Spiers, L 672 6s 2d. Our Glenkenich correspondent writes : — " Work has again been suspended oa the railway, and with the exception of five all the men have been paid off. This is attributed to the facd that the Government will not advance money on the completion of the first section of the line. There has been a great hubbub about this line ever since it was put on the estimates, and it seems that we are not going to have the line opened by contract time. In the interests of the district it is to be hoped the Government will bring every pressure on the contractors, so as to have the line finished in time." A very common error is made regarding the I honorarium. It is supposed by many that 1 when a member goes up for only a few days of the session he can pocket the whole amount. Itjis bad enough as it is, but not quite so bad as that They can do arithmetic in Wellington as far as rule of three, and they make a rule-of three sura of it, as thus:— As the amount of the honorarium (200 guineas) is to thennmberof days in the session, so are the number of days of actual attendance by members to their respective shares. If the session, for instance, was 30 days long, and a member OHly attended three days, he would only $$t

one-tenth of the amount, and so on. It is as well we should not paint hungry members blacker than they deserve, which is black enough in all conscience.

The anniversary soiree in connection with the Mornington Wealeyan Church was held on ths 26th. At the meeting after tea, the Rev. J. J. Lewis occupied the chair, and there was averygood attendanca. Humorousaddresses were delivered by the Revs. J. IT. Davis and J. Crump, and Mr J. E. Denniston.

A manifesto by the Bible in Schools Association to the Electors of New Zealand will be found in this issue.

At a mesting of St. Ma Young Men^s Association, held on the 21st, the Vice-Fran-dent in the chair, there was a large attendance. The buainsss consisted of a debate on the question, "Is Chinese Immigration desirable ?" The affirmative side was led by Mr G. Smith, the negative by Mr F. M'Cartny. There was a good discussion, at the conclusion of which the following motion was carried :— "That this meeting is of opinion that the Chinese are not desirable as colonists ; but as long as Chinese Ports remain open to British commerce, it is only just that the same privilege should be accorded the Chinese.