News of the Week.

Otago Witness, Issue 1500, 14 August 1880, Page 18

News of the Week.

In the General Assembly on Tuesday night, during the discussion in Committee of Supply on the vote for railways, the Minister of Public Works stated that the Auditor- general had discovered very serious discrepancies in the stores account, one amounting to nearly LIOO.OCO since the initiation of the Public Works policy. He added that no charge of misappropriation was made against any public officer, [and that the matter was being inquired into. The following resolutions additional to those published by us last week, were passed at the meeting of the Agricultural and Pastoral Associa ■ tion held on Wednesday: — "That the entrancemoney in the classes for cattle and horses be reduced 25 per cent." "That one lady's ticket for each day be issued to members with their membership ticket." Mr Justice Williams gave judgment on the sth upon the appeal case Aitcheson v. The Waitaki County Council, dismissing the appeal, with costs. The decision is one that relieves county councils of what would have been a burden much greater than they could bear, had the view urged on behalf of the ap pellant been sustained, for it was no less than that county councils should be required at any cost whatever to prevent natural watercourses from overflowing their banks in time of flood. Messrs W, L. Simpson and A. C. Strode have been appointed by the Government to inquire into the management of the Look-out Point Industrial School. The section of the Tapanui railway now completed, and likely to be opened shortly, is from the Waipahi junction to the Conical Hills station, near the Pomahaka River. Its length is 4f miles. The works are comparatively light, the principal ones bejng a tunnel of about four chains within a mile and aquarter of the station named ; and the bridge across the Waipahi stream, at 16 chains from tbe main line junction, and close to the Waipahi township. The bridge comprises three spans of 40 feet each. There are also one or two floodopenings in the township. The present Waipahi station is intended .to be removed to the point of junction of tho two lines, where the station buildings will be erected in the angle, as at Olarksville. Work on the remainder of the line is being pushed forward rapidly. The rail* are now laid up to a mile past Tapanui station (which is 12| miles from Waipahi), and beyond that towardd Kslso the rock cnttiDgs at Pomahaka Gorge ara well advanced. These are expected to be completed and ready to receive tbe permanent way within 10 weeks. Kelso, the terminus, is 15^ miles from Waipahi, It is expected that tbe Conical Hills section will be opened immediately, and that the section onwards to Tajpanni will be roady for opening in less than two months. We last week had the pleasure of seeing a curious piece of work executed by Mr Melvin, coach-painter at Messrs Chaplin and Cos. It is perhaps generally known tbat painters as a rule keep a piece of wood beside their pots to try their different painta on before they proceed to work, and it is with the pitce of wood used at Messrs Chaplin and Cos. that Mr Melvin has made a very interesting draught- board. It must be explained that the paint in drying shrivels up into lumps, Mr Melvin has cut these down and polished the surfaca of them, so that they bear the resemblance of little knots of wood of different colours fitted together. Tbe niece of work is nicely ornamented and framed, aud is now in the possession of Mr Thompson, of the Criterion Hotel, who intends sending it to the Melbourne Exhibition. On Fiiday last (pays the Leader) Mr Deans, of tbo Acclimatisation Society, placsd iv tbe CluUia River, close by the railway station, 18 trout, varyiug in size from a foot to two feet lon^r. Wiien placed in the river tho larger ones looked a little dull and languid, but the smaller put out into tho stream at once. We examined one, iv the possession of a gentleman of Balclutha, which had died on the way from Dunedin ; it measured some two feet in length, and weighed nine and. a-half pounds.

Our Hindon correspondent writes :— " Thursday last was pay-day at Mount Allan. It passed off more quietly than usual. The work on the line is progressing rapidly. Except a couple of small tunnels and bridges, the formation will be almost finished as far as the 20mile peg in about six months." At the present time a beautiful group of solar spots may be Been upon the sun's disc. A large, well-defined spot, surrounded with bright streaks of faculse, and two other groups detaohed, and showing a beautiful umbra. A good binocular, provided with a dark glass screen, will show the group well. It now appears (says the Southland Times) that the man Turner, who was received into the Hospital from Waimea Plains Station on Sunday last, suffering, it was thought, from inhaling the fumes. of phosphorus, was, as a matter of faci, severely touched by rheumatism, hence the supposition that his continued work among3t the poisoned grain brought about his precarious condition. We have pleasure in making this explanation, because the report, as published, was calculated to create a good deal of alarm amongst those engaged in. the important work of ridding our runs of the rabbit pest, and was calculated, moreover, to injure, without cause, the sale of phosphorus by bur chemists and others. Regarding our new Governor, we extract the following from " Men of the Time :— "Gordon, the Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton, G.C.M.G., youngest son of George, fourth Earl of Aberdeen, sometime Prime Minister of England, by his second wife Harriet, daughter of the late Hon. John Douglas, wae born November 26 th, 1829. In 1854 he was elected in the Liberal interest for Beverley, having defeated Mr G. W. Hastings, and he retained tbe seat until the general election of 1857, when he unsuccessfully contested Liskeard against Mr Ralph Grey, who was afterwards appointed a Commissioner of Customs. Sir Arthur Gordon was assistant private secretary to his father when Foreign Secretary and also when Prime Minister; and he was specially attached to Mr Glad, stone's mission to the lonian Islands in ISSB. He was appointed Governor of New Brunswick in 1861; Governor of Trinidad in 1866; and Governor of Mauritius in October, 1870. In 1871 he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of SS. Michael and George. When the Fiji Islands were erected into a separate colony, called the ' Colony of Fiji,' Sir Arthur Gordon was appointed its first Governor and Commander-in-Chief, February 4tb, 1875 ; also ConsulGaneral and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, 1877. He was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of SS. Michael and George in August, 1878. Sir Arthur married, in 1865, Rachel Emily, eldest daughter of Sir J. G. Shaw-Lefevre, the Clerk of the Parliaments." The 'question of retrenchment in the departmental expenses of the Dunedm Corporation is to be taken up at the next ordinary meeting of the City Council. An interim report, BUggesting|a scale of reductions of salaries, was laid before the Council on Tuesday, but was not discussed. In a recent rifle match in Victoria, Corporal Tillotson, of the V. Engineers, made, in very bad weather for shooting, an actual score of 100 out of a possible 105, at 400, 500, and 600 yards. This extraordinary score is the subject of general admiration, it being the highest on record. At a sitting in Bankruptcy on Monday, his Honor remarked that morally there was no difference between ordering goods upon credit, knowing that they could not be paid for, and going to a shop and taking them. Mr Denniston replied that there was no doubt a great many acts of petty larceny of the kind referred to were committed, but that the circumstances of the particular case under discussion were peculiar. The debtor had hoped to be able to pay for the goods, but being pressed by her creditors was compelled to file a declaration of insolvency. We have to record the death of Mr John Briggs, one of the oldest printers in Otago, and perhaps in New Zealand, at the ripe age of 74 years. He entered the office of Messrs Neil and Co., of Edinburgh, in 1817, and was afterwards in the employment of Messrs Greig and Son, of the Bame city. He emigrated with his family to Otago in 1860, and was first employed by , Mr Lambert, of the Colonist. In 1862, when the Colonist became defunct, Mr Briggs worked for Mr Joseph Mackay, and afterwards entered the service of Mr John Mackay. He was a good and conscientious workman, and his death will be regretted in a great many printing-offices in New Zealand. Another meeting of the unemployed was held on Tuesday morning, in the Octagon. There over 150 persons present. Mr Bird presided. Mr Ritson addressed those present at some length on the evils of immigration, and the necessity of retrenchment in the Civil Service. He proposed the following petition to the General Assembly for adoption by the meeting :— "To the Honourable the Legislative Assembly of New Zealand, in Council assembled : Tne petition of the unemployed residents of the city of Dunedin humbly showeth that your petitioners view with deep regret and alarm the existing state of affairs in this country at the present time, hundreds of the above-mentioned class being,' and for a considerable length of time back having beeD, out of employment, and are no longer able to keep the wolf from the door. That at a mass meeting held in this city on the 9th August speeches were delivered and resolutions unanimously carried, amongst which was one— 'That the meeting were strongly of opinion that it should be laid before your honourable body that the state of the country at the present time is Buch that the general public, and especially your petitioners, are in every way warranted in loudly demanding the immediate stoppage of free immigration ,to this Colony, and that all emigration agents at present in the Home Country should at once be recalled.' Respectfully requesting that the prayer of your memorialists may be granted, your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c." AMr Rock made a counter-speech, and moved as an amendment — " That no petition be sent," but he found no support, and tbe petition was unanimously adopted. A committee was also appointed to carry on the agitation. An entirely novel electrical apparatus, that cannot fail to prove of great utiliby in connection with banking, mercantile, and similar institutions (says the Posl), has just been originated by Mr J. E. Hayes, plumber, &c, of Lambton quay. Occupants of offices who do not desire to bo disturbed by intruders can, by means of this apparatus, intimate the fact, to persons outside tho office without the laai-t inconvenience. All that is required to bo done is to press a small plate aifixeJ fco tho table, and tbe word "Engaged" instantly appears in a small frame on the outer Hide of the door. When disengaged the plate is pressed a different way, and the blank space now pre. seated indicates that any visitor who may chance to be awaiting an interview is ab liberty to outer the office. The change of indicator is accompanied by a slight click. A model of I the apparatus will be forwarded to the Melbourne Exhibition by the s,s. Rotomahana. ,

During the month of May the estates of 13 ; deceased persons were placed under the charge : of the Public Trustee for management. The . value of the estates ranged from L 5 to LISOO. A young man named William Henry Felton waa brought up at the City Police Court on the 11th on two charges of stealing— at Milton 1 on the 2nd of August, the sum of L9O in .bank notes, the property of William Wenlook : and i at Dunedin, on the 28th July, a bank cheque for the payment of LIOO, belongirig to George Worsdell. Mr Denniston represented the mii formants, and Mr Stout appeared for the defence. _The > prisoner was remanded till Satur1 day, bail being allowed in a surety of his own > recognisance for L2OO, and two others of LIOO each, i m U<r a^ an gata correspondent reports:— . w The Btrenuous efforts that have been to get the Bteamer Ino off have so far proved success- : ful. She is pretty well up the spit now. Some persons are of opinion that she will be got off by the end of the week. The coal-mines are very brisk just now, the work in some instances having to be stopped in consequence of the scarcity of trucks. Mr Nicolson, who recently arrived from Home, .has been appointed to the position of head master of the Kaitan. gata School." At a public meeting in the Athenseum Hall last evening a resolution in favour of- the con. struction of the Otago Central railway to Sutton was carried unanimously.' An'amendment, which recommended that beyond the point mentioned in the motion the railway should not be extended, but that a metalled road to tbe interior should be formed,' did not obtain a single vote. ' • ' A remarkable coincidence (aaya the Tuapeka Times) haa' been reported to ua as having ' occurred at Wetherstones on the evening of Monday last week, It will be remembered that on that night a brilliant meteor was reported as having been witnessed at various parts of the province, here and elsewhere. • A young lad named Samuel Gare, residing at Wetherstones, was going a message between 7 and 8 o'clock, when he was suddenly surrounded by a dazzling blaze of fire, which severely scorched one side of his face. The details of the circumstanceß as related to us are bo extraordinary ' that we withhold them for the present, but the fact remains that the lad was burnt, and -bore a black mark on the side of his face for some dayß afterwards. • - , The remarks made by Mr Levin in the House that Sir William Fox, though now a strong opponent of horse- racing, has in his time not only kept racehorses but donned the 1 silk, has raised a question as to its absolute cor- . rectness. Mr Levin, however (remarks , the New Zealand Times), spoke strictly by , the card, ag will be seen from the following particulars furnished us by a correspondent :— The last time Sir William Fox performed as a ; jockey, on ißurnham Water Racecourse, was on the 14th February, 1850, when a bye-day's racing was got up by the Wellington Jockey Club in compliment to Captain Stokes,,, of H.M.S, Acheron, who was then visiting this port with ' two racehorses on board. Mr Fox rode a horse calledj The Saddler, belonging, we believe, to the late Mr Armstrong. Mr Bromley, now of JbL.M. Customs, rode: a mare called "Lady Eleanor, belonging to Captain Stokes, in" the : same race,' which waß over hurdles. The race was won by Mr.Sb. Hill's Harribogene, ridden by Lieut. Gordon, of the 65th Regiment, then" quartered in Wellington, ' The two live bullocks brought into Dunedln by Messrs Shand and Worth for Bhow on Saturday were weighed on the railway weighbridge. Their , colours were roan and' strawberry. The roan one raised the beam at 18 cwt 1 qr. (or 20441b)^ whilst the strawberry was only 561b behind. Deducting 3o per cent., the allowanoe on animals ranging from 16 cwt to 20 cwt for extra .weight when alive, this would give the carcase weight of the one as 14301b, and the other 13901b. Both bullocks are three-year olds, so that it will be recognised that they are of the leviathan order. Mr Donald Rosa Hunter, barrister of the' Supreme Court of Judicature of England, was on Monday admitted and enrolled as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand by his Honor Mr Jußtice Williams. Our Wellington correspondent states that? there is much grumbling at the extraordinary disparity in population of the different electoral districts proposed by the new Representation Bill, ranging between 3200 and 7500 without any apparent _ reason. Our readers will have noticed this disparity in the telegraphic return as published elsewhere. There seems little) probability of the bill being proceeded with this session. A dividend for the half-year ending 31st of March1880, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, has been declared by the directors of the National Bank of New Zealand CLimited), and will be paid to the shareholders (whose names appear at this date on the register kept in the Colony) on and after the ICth instant. The transfer books will be closed from this date until the 16th instant. The dividend of 8 per cent, per annum for the halfyear ended 30th June, declared at the meeting of proprietors of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand, held on the 28th ult., is now payable at the head offices and branches Dr Densham has been appointed Medical Officer to the Loyal Outram Lodge M.U.1.0.0.F. The annual meeting of the Portobello Road Board will be held at Portobello on Wednesday, the 18th inst^J Mr J. B. Callan, hon. secretary of the Irish Famine^^ Fund, acknowledges the receipt of the sum of £30 16s 2d, being the balance of the Lake County subscriptions. Rural land in the Tauranga and Whakatano counties will be opened for sale at the Survey Office, Tauranga, on the 27th inst. Messrs Reid and Gray have applied for a patent for ' making sand moulds for iron, brass, and other castings. Mr J. M. Fieurgant, of Dunedin, has applied for a ■ patent for a new gold and sand extractor. An auction sale of sections in the townships of Clyde and Alexandra will bo held at the Courthouse, , Clyde, on "Wednesday, the Bth of September next;, and on Friday, September 10th, there will be a sale of.' sections in the townships of Cromwell and Bannock- - burn. The Secretary of the Dunedin Hospital begs, ten acknowledge the receipt of the sum of £9 4s, collf iteil by Mr A. Fraser from the workmen at Hindcj), o.m account of Alexander Keid, who was severely ir.jjur.ed! by an explosion at the Hindon section of uihwiy works some time ago.