LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1966, 29 October 1891, Page 17

LOCAL & GENERAL.

The men who were selected for work on the •Otago Central left on the 22nd by rail for the place of employment. Of those who left 'for the work, 137 are from Dunedin, 16 from Momington, 6 from Caversham, 2 from Wingatua, 5 from Aobotsford, and 3 from Burkes. The firßt meeting of the creditors of Peter <Dow, farmer, of Oufctan, was to be held in the < official assignee's office on the 22ad, bat lapsed. There was no attendance on the part of the debtor, who had been adjudicated bankrupt on a creditor's petition, and the creditors were not represented. The meeting stands adjourned until to-day, and -will probably be adjourned sine die, it being left to the creditors to file their claims, and to the "assignee to search for assets. The Bank of New '^Zealand is the petitioning creditor, and the -amount of indebtedness to the bank — probably the largest creditor— is the sum of £80. The members of the Dunedin Fire Brigade •have been supplied with new firemen's axes that have been made in the colony. These hatchets, \thich are capitally finished, showing excellent workmanship, have been manufactured by Mrß. Edwards, of OueTreePoin^ whose dißplay of colonial cutlery ia the exhibition showed that local industry has made a great deal of progress, and is apparently successfully established. Oar Arrowtown correspondent telegraphed on the 22ad that Mr Bordeau's store at Skippers Point was burnt to the ground in the morning. Very little of the stock was saved, and the buildings were completely destroyed. He .could ascertain nothing as to the insurances. The following cablegram has been sent by the Hen. P. A. Buckley, president of the Welling* ton Branch of the Irish National Federation, to Mr John Dillon .— " Deeply regret the death of Mr Paraell. New Zealand expects union over his grave. Staunch to you." While the steamship Massilia was in the Gulf of Aden, on the way from Bombay to London, a Lascar seaman fell overboard. The engines were -at once stopped but before boats could be got into the water, a cry of honor arose from the pasaen{era who crowded the rail, anxiously watching the Lascar as he breasted the waves, swimming •vigorously. The ominous back fins of three ' sharks were seen making in his direction, almost ■•simultaneously with the order given to lower ;the boats. Mr Cooper, an American, the fourth ■officer of the MasilHa, was directing the lowering <of the port cutter, and at this juncture snatched *a sheath knife from one of the crew, and sprang 'overboard. He was a splendid swimmer, and, 'heading off the sharks from the Lascar, dived tnnder the foremost and ripped a hole in the nnan-eatar's side. The other two sharks immediately attacked the wounded monster, while Cooper and the Lascar, who had become almost jjaralyoed with fright, were picked up. The Humane Society has awarded Cooper its highest honour, the Stanbops gold medal. Englishmen, when they light a cigar, do not — at l«ast, if they are sober— put the lighted end into the month ; but even this strange practice may be said to be on the way hither, Colonel Koellys has taken a first lesson from the Himberley Kaffirs, and has given in "Blackwood " an account of the experiment which is •eminently calculated to exoite the curiosity of 'those who run after new fashions. These interesting South Africans are extremely fond •of cigars, but their habit is to smoke them in the manner described. When this peculiarity -was first mentioned to Colonel Knollys he supposed that his informant was cracking a joke; but to his amazement he saw numerous

instances. The native, it is stated, first lighted his cigar by the ordinary method, then turning i"/ ronnd.be deftly arranged the hotly glowing end in his mouth, and tucking away his tongue in his cheek, proceeded to inspire and expire the fumes, very gradually consuming the whole of the cigar. The smokers assured their visitor that the process wag warm, comforting, delicious, and far superior to the usual mode. On subsequent trial Colonel Knollys found, he says, that tb.4 knack in less difficult to acquire than might be supposed. j At Waikaia, on on the 20th, Mr Bevell, R.M., fined R. Rowan, manager of the Glenaray estate, £19, and costs, for making a false return of the number of sheep on the estate on the ' 30th April last;. Defendant, who pleaded guilty, explained that as the station was being disposed ! of, be thought most of the sheep would have ! been sold before the return was made out. As some misconception exists with reference to the competitions which are being arranged by the Burns Club, we give the following particulars. Entries will be received for the two prizes given by Dr Stenhouse for singing, the conditions for which are that competitors (of either sex) must be under 20 years, and to sing two of Burns' songs and one of any other Scottish author. The club's two prizes are for recitations from Burns' poems, competitors to be under 15 years, the entries to be confined to the families of members of the club ; the competition to be decided before tbe 25 th of next January, when the prizes will be presented at tbe birthday celebration. Inquiry is made in Lloyd's Weekly for the following :— Jane Gaacomb seeke uews of her brother, George, of Barn wood, Glos. (supposed | to be in New Zealand), or James, supposed to be in Liverpool. Father is dead. — George Maloney', stoker, saikd from England in the Virago in May 1869, and was last heard of in New Zealand. Sister Eliza,— Louisa Mary Forman (Wharram), went to Lyttelton, New Zealand, about 1871, and was last heard of in 1884. Brother Edward.— Charles Atygo (James) was at Wanganui, Wellington, New Zealand, in 1680. His widowed mother wishes to hear of him. — Thomas Crowley in 1868 was managing a baker'B business for Mrs Symes at Panama, New Zealand. Sister Caroline —Herbert Edward Cox in April 1890, arrived from New Zealand in the Waipa. again sailing for Ceylon in the Knight of St. George the following month. His friends ask. — Mrs Henry Dyke (Eliza) left Northfleet, Kent, on 29th July 1864, and settled at Wanganui, Wellington, New Zealand. Sister Mary Ann. The following are appointed inspecting assessors under the Land and Income Assessment Act of list session: — T. Calcutt, Ofcago and Southland; W. C. Walker, Canterbury, C. D. Kennedy, Hawke's Bay • E. A. Campbell, West Cosst of the North Island. No assessor has yet been appointed for Auckland. It is not compulsory to make these appointments by act, | but it is thought that a better assessment will be secured by having men with local knowledge to confer with. It ia not intended to appoint assessors for boroughs. j The monthly meeting of the Dunedin Burns I Club was held in the Stuart street Oddfellows' Hall on the 21st, when there was a good attendance. The president (Mr A. Burns) was in the chair, and in briefly addressing the meeting said he would remind them that at present no entries had been received for the Barns competition of songs and poems, which is to come off about the 25th of January next. The competition is being looked forward to with interest by the club. Dr Stenhonse has given a prize for the J best Burns song, to be competed for by boys and girls under 20. The club itself is also giving a prize for the best Burns poem, to be competed.

for by boys and girls of any age, Of coarse if there were no entries tbe prizes would be lost. He would also remind them that the choir concert took place on Friday. Both the committee and the choir had worked hard, and, judging by the programme, a treat was in store for those who delighted in Scotch music. A long and varied programme of songs, recitations, and addresses was then gone through. Mr J. B. Thomson received a hearty vote of thanks from the president for his address on " The Cronies of Barns." Sir Thornton received an encore for his spirited rendering of *« Scots wha hae," and replied with " Green grow.a the rashes, O" ; and Dr Stenhouse was applauded for his song " When the kye comes name." Votes of thanks were accorded to the president and those who I had so generously given their services to make the meeting a success. Proceedings were brought to a close by the singing of " Auld laog syne." The Rev. Sydney Hawthorne, in hia farewell sermon at Gore, gave some advice to the Anglicans there Be took for his text, " This is my commandment : that ye love one another as I have loved you"— the keynote of all Christ's teachings. He had not laboured amongst them without meeting faithful souls who were real workers in the church — people who were at their posts good weather and bad, though their streets were not asphalted but rather muddy and dirty roads. He had to thank those for their encouragement. On the other hand, he had seen such a want of unity and so great an absence of Christian love that his heart failed" within him. One man's ideas were not carried out ; another wanted some special consideration ; a third Was not accorded the respect due to him; a fourth cavilled at his co-workers; and he could state a hundred similar reasons given for not giving or, having given, withdrawing their support from the church ; and this from those who could and ought to work, and who were really called on to work in Christ's vineyard. What were the reasons for this? What bat that they ' failed in their love to their fellow men, to God, and to their church ? And they would pardon him for speaking plainly if he told them, too, that he thought they erred in haviag too much self love. Every reason he had given had its great foundation in the love of self. Oh ! that they could put that aside and get the love of God ! How different a community would they then be ! Had they had the quality he spoke of that loving and faithful clergyman who had preceded him might still have been there. Bub God had found a great work for him elsewhere. Had they that love how they would grow in grace, how the clergyman would be cheered and encouraged, how the children would be brought up, and how the Sunday school would be officered ! In a word, how would their buadred failures be turned into triumphant and glorious successes, for the glory of God and the good of their fellow men. . . . What safety would there be on board a ship if each of the crew wished to be captain ? or what would they think of the sick.maa who in addition to tbe doctor's medicines took all those his friends advised as 'well ? He hoped they would yield a loving loyalty to his successor. Let him beg of them to give the loyalty and loving help he (the speaker) had failed to win Some sensation has been caused in America (says a contemporary) by a confession of a notorious burglar, just sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment in Milwaukee, to the effect that he belonged to a syndicate started in New York with a view of furnishing capital to burglars and swindlers. The founder of the enterprise was a gentleman who had prospered greatly on the confidence trick, and who put 5000dol into the concern. Other adventurous persons with similar loose ideas of commercial morality joined

him, and the firm organised a band of 25 felons, ranging from "sneak thieves" to safe robbers and forgers, whom they despatched in convenient detachments to various parts of tbe country, wi'h instructions to secure all the plunder they could. This is a somewhat singular extension of the trusts and syndicates movement. A correspondent of the Spectator writes:— " When in Switzerland two years ago I made the acquaintance of some JJzirda llv'mg in the en: vices of one of the sunny walls of oar garden As I had somewhere heard that lizards have a good ear for music, I resolved to prove the fact; so one afternoon armed with a small musical box, I wended my way to their tomato covered home. Before I had finished the first tune a considerable audience bad collected— an audience it was a pleasure to play to, for the lizards were far more attentive than most human beings. Out peered head after head, a little on one fide, in a listening attitude. I gave my little friends a musical entertainment, (varied by whistliDg) nearly every day, and before long they- got much bolder, and would venture right ontof their holes and lie motionless on the broad ledge of tbe wall, their bright black eyes half closed as a rule, bat opening now and then to give me a lazy wink of enjoyment." A medical man in the south informs us that the influenza, which is at present prevalent in Invercargill, is of a more severe type than the grippe which prostrated many people last year, and that it shows a special affinity to persons who suffered at the former visitation. Tbe report of the Marine department shows that New Zealand maintains 27 lighthouses. The first cost of these was about £158,000, and the working expenses last year were neatly £11,300 -£8278 for salaries, £1450 for oil, and £1553 for stores and repairs. Light dues collected from shipping amounted to £15,974. ■•( Mr G. W. Ligbtband, one of Nelson's oldest settlers, died oa Thursday evening after a long illness. Deceased took an active interest in establishing the leather industry, and was the first person to manufacture parchment in New Zealand. He also assisted to establish Methodism in Nelson. Offers to make the assessment in the Otago district under the Land and- Income Tax Assessment Act by the following gentlemen have" been approved:— Andrew Thompson, Oamaru ; Wm. James Bolt, Purakanui ; William Craig, Shag Valley; John M'Carbney, Portobello; Adam Nichol, Anderson's Bay ; Wm. C. M'Nee, John Davie, Thomas S. Graham, John Bryce Thomson, Dunedin; Andrew Hogg, Leith Valley; Thos. Short, North-East Valley ; Thomas Riddall Dodds, South Dunedin ; David Lee, Port Chalmers; Martin Pearce, Caversham; Thomas Patterson, Balolatha; William Dallas, Balclutha; Robert Findlay, Mosgiel; Moses M'Olay, Glenomaru ; John Johnston Ramsay, Springfield, Hyde ; David Larnach, Ravensbourne ; John.. Carse Arbuckle, Lawrence; Robert M. Brookes and • John M'Farlane, Milton ; George Pram, Mosgiel ; Arthur Calder, Lovell'B Flat ; Robert Grigor, Balclatha ; James John Gibson, Lawrence; William Quin, Tapanui. Alfred Hogarth Gill, VVaikouaiti; Robert Stewart, Vincent. The Auckland Herald says : —" The Charitable Aid Board could give General Booth a wrinkle or two as to how to deal with the so-called destititote, applicants for charitable aid, and others of that style, as the following narrative will show : The other morning, Mr Strataearn, the inspector under the board, was rather surprised to fiad at the office door a digger with hia swag, who mildly requested to be put into the Oostley Home and that right away. Acoording to his story he had been a gold digger on various fields

in Otago for over 25 yeate, and bad done well, having several hundred pouuds. It occurred to him that it would be the correct thing to make the grand tour to "Ould Ireland." So he went Home, where he had a good time, but he thinks his friends possibly had the beat of the festivities. His money being spent, with the exception of £50, he returned to Otago, where he pot np at an hotel and enjoyed the friendly acquaintance of a southern mayor with a light heart and a lighter pocket. He headed northwards, stopping at various places, and landed in Auckland, via thp E%Bt Coast, presenting himself with hh swig as above (after being a few days about town) in order to be placed in the Costley Home and save any further anxiety about his future The Charitable Aid Board sent him to the Reciving Depot, Princes street. This being a • distrtsßiog case, r they felt *it was a mean thing to sneak a uoble digger' from another province in this time of exodus, and iv tbe most! handsome manner paid his passage south, oa Thursday, to Duoedin, the office clerk seeing him on hoard on Thursday morning Before he started he called io at the office of the board to get a little pocket money to spend on tha road down. To hear was to. obey, and he got bis pocket money and went off rejoicing. It will ba interesting to know how he gets on with tbe Dunedin Institutions." A telegram from Hawera states that the Maoris at Normanby.on being told by the police that if any more ploughing were done they would be locked up, at ouce gaid they would nofe return to their work The following instructions have been forwarded to the police throughout the colony regarding the compulsory clauses of the Education Act : — " The police will cautiously ascertain if on their beat?, patrols, or sections there are any children over seven or under 13 years of age not attending school, in contravention of the law ; and, if so, they will make a note of the facts, taking tbe names of the parents or guarjians.afc the same time (where necessary)explainiogtothem the law lelative to school attendance. In cases where the law is being so contravened, reports thereof are to be made so thab the school committee or clerk thereto may issue notioes as provided by the act, third schedule. If after the service of these notices the contravention still continue, reports are again to be made, so that the school committee or clerk may institute proceedings. The police will serve both notices and summonses, attend court to prove cases, and rentier buch assistance as they can to the education committee in enforcing the compulsory clauses of the act." The first vessel of the auxiliary squadron for the defence of the Australasian colonies arrived at Port Chalmers early on Saturday morning, when H.M.S. Ringarooma (a name familiar to all Otago people) anchored in Deborah Bay, The Ringarooma is a very prettily modelled vessel, built entirely of mild steel at Glasgow in 1889. Her dimensions are: Length between the perpendioulars, 265 ft; breadth of beam, 41ft; and draught of water, 15ft sin. Her registered tonnage, according to Lloyd's list, is 2575 tons. _ She carries two small masts for fore and aft sails, in order to enable her to lay to (if necessary) in heavy weather. The armament of the Ringarooma is a very powerful one. She literally bristles with guns and would evidently be a very ugly customer to deal with in case of' war, especially a a , on a forced draught, she can maintain a speed of 19 knots. This is indubitable, as on her passage from England, without using forced draught, she made as her best day's rnn a bpeed of folly 165 knot 3 , and mamtained throughout the passage a very good rate of steaming, her average acrosß the Red Sea being over 13 knots,

She carries in her bunkers some 300 tons of coal, while over the machinery or engine room is an armour plating 2in and I'm thiok. The decks before and abaft the engine room are also plated with fin and lin plates. The Rrogarooma carries eight 47in quick-firing guns, each, of whioh with their mounting weighs fully five tons. Next she has eight quick-firing threepounder guns, a muzzle-loading rifled gun for boat and field service, four sin-barrel Nordenfeldts, besides 12 Whitehead torpedoes, and electrical and submarine mining stores She also carries 12 14in White's tor pedoes and four discharging tubes. One of these is placed in the bows, and the other right astern of the sshitp t The seven-pounder or Nordenfeldt gun can be landed and brought into use as a field piece-a light 'gun-carriage, suitable either for boat or field work, being always kept in readiness for its transhipment. Every part of this fine vessel is lit by elec tncity, and three search lights, each of 7000candle power, are always available. There was a fair attendance at St. Martin's Church, North-East Valley, on Sunday morning, vhen the Rev. Bryan M. King gave a resume of the work of the church during the past six years, that being the term of his incumbency up to the present time. In concluding his discourse he stated that there was a possibility that the relations^ between pastor and congregation, which had existed for six years, might be severed, but as the bishop fully appreciated the desirability of continuing the present relations, and he had told him that he wished to remain in charge of St. Martins, the congregation might hope that some "way would present itself of ensuring his continuance amongst them. On Thursday night the Lumsden Masonic Hall was the 6cene of aJ^argely attended social, held as a compliment td the Rev; T.L. Stanley, vho is removing to Gore after a six months' charge of Lumsden district. During the evening,. Mr Selby, the, chairman, presented Mr Stanley with a- dressing case, on behalf of the large number of friends with whom the rev. gentleman has become associated. Mr Stanley thanked the donors for the handsome present, and made a powerfnl appeal to all parents present to, by all means in their power' promote a system of religious education. A most curious complexity arising out of the similarity in the names, professions, and banking arrangements of two persona was developed in a civil case in the ■ Wellington Magistrate's Court. Both parties (says the Post) rejoiced in the cognomen of William Adams, the plaintiff being a carpenter living at, Shannon,,\and the defendant a builder residing it Polhill's Gully. The plaintiff sued his namesake for the purpose of recovering a sum of £18 4s. It appears that both parties had accounts at the Union Bank, and that somehow or other the money depoaited by plaintiff's agent was placed to the- wrong account. Plaintiff became acquainted of the mistake through the bank dishonouring one of his cheques, and on waiting upon the bank manager he learned that the other Adams had got the money. Plaintiff thereupon called upon the defendant, and together they saw the manager of the bank, when thejdefendant offered to give the, bank a bill for the amount at three months; alleging that he had drawn the money without noticing the mistake and required time to pay it. The manager, however, refused to accept the bill unless it was endorsed, and defendant afterwards refused to account in any ■way te the plaintiff, stating that his dealing was with the bank. For the defence it was con-, tended that the relation between the bank and a customer was that of debtor and creditor; that the property and money had passed from the plaintiff to the bank, and therefore if anyone had a right to sue the defendant it was the bank; and that the plaintiff's right of action was against the bank as his debtor. Mr Robinson, R.M., upheld this view, and nonsuited the plaintiff without costs. Fiji newspapers to hand publish an official return which gives in a comparative form the population of the colony of Fiji, as ascertained at the census of 1881, and at the recent census of sth April 1891. It is compiled from returns prepared by the Acting Registrargenera], Assistant Native Commissioner, and Acting Resident Commissioner of Rotumab. The returns show that the total population of Fiji is 121,180, including 2036 Europeans, 7468 Indians, and 105,800 native Fijians. The increase and decrease since 1881 have been — Increase: Half-caste*, 305; Indians, 0880; others, 1580;— total, 7343. Decrease: Europeans, 635; Polynesians, 3833; Fijians, 8948; Rotumans, 233 ;-total, 3649. Net decrease, OoW. in the decade a decrease has occurred among the Europeans, Polynesians, Fijians, and Kotuman elements of the population amounting m the aggregate to 13,649. The decrease of Polynesians is accounted for by the fact that on sugar-cane plantations Polynesian labour has been displaced by that of the Indian immigrants, "who have been found more suitable for the work. Tie following intimations are from Lloyd's Weekly of August 30 and September 6 :-Cnas Atyec (James) was at Wanganui, Wellington! New Zealand, in 1880; his widowed mother wishes to hear of him. Thomas Cowley in 1868 was managing a baker's business for Mrs Symes' at Panama, New Zealand; sister Caroline. Herbert Edward Cox in April 1890 arrived from New Zealand in the Waipa, again sailing for Ceylon in the Knight of St. George the following month; his friends ask. George Maloney, stoker, sailed from England in the Virago in May 1869, and was last heard of in New Zealand ; sister Eliza. Jane Gosw>me seeks news of her brothers, George, of Barnwood ; Glos (supposed to be in New Zealand) or James, supposed to be in Liverpool. ( A F&t J, er 'i deadl) Alfred James D »rt>v, was in Auckland about 26 years ago ; sister seeks him. Mrfl o H „tn r? ,Dyke, Dyke (Eliza) left Nortbfleet, Kent, on 29th July 1864, and settled at Wanganni Wellington, New Zealand; sister Mary Ann Louisa Mary Forman (Wharram) went to Lyttelton, New Zealand, about 1871, and was last heard of m 1883; brother Edward. Alexander Milne, of Aberdeenshire, in 1880, desired his letters addressed to Timaru post office, Dunedin. New Zealand ; sister Elsie. The results of the landslip at the Westport Coal Company's incline have been repaired, and coal lowering operations were re umed on Monday afternoon. The company hive instituted a new system of working their coal mines. Contracts now take the place of day labour and pieoework. Pillar coal is let for 2s 4d per ton, the price hitherto paid being 2s lOd. Truokm? B ,:?° I to be lei by contract. One shift only will in future be worked. Other proposals for reducing the expense are under consideration. M I have just seen," writes our Melbourne correspondent, "a copy of 'Burkes Colonial Gentry/ and it may interest your readers to know the names of some of those whose pedigree and lineage are set out in its aristocratic pages. The Dunedin residents nr« Sir Robert Stout (of Bankton), the Hon. W. H. Reynolds (of Monteoillo). and the Hon. Richard Olirer (of Corio) ; whilst Otago supplies the following additional names -.—The Hon. Mathew Holmes, Mr John Reid (Blderslie), Mr A. A. M'Master (Oamaru), Mr A. B. Kitchener (Dunback), Mr

Frederick Wayne (Milton), Mr F. 8. Pillans (Inch Clatha), Mr Robert Tapper (Invercargill), the late W. H. Teschemaker, and the late J. T. Thomson. Amongst other well-known I New Zealanders (omitting a number of North Island residents) are Sir John Hall, Sir Edward ( Stafford, Mr John Grigg, Mr John. Btadholme, Judge Ward, Captain Baldwin. Messrs Francis Fulton, Lancelot Walker, J. B. Acland, W. M. Moore (Geraldiae), G. H. Moore (Glenmark), • Arthur Hope, Lowther Broad, C. C. Hawdon (Aehburton), W. D. Wood, Marmaduke Dixon, O. J. Tripp, H. J. Washbourn, and R. C. Reid (Hokitika). It appears (says the North Otago Times) that the differential railway tariff between Dunedin and Oamaru is not going to turn out so satisfactorily for the commissioners as they might at one time have supposed. It is true that there are no special steamers calling here for Dunedin ; but once a fortnight, and sometimes oftencr, a steamer from Lytteltoa calls in, and Christohurch wholesale merchants have been able to make such arrangements regarding cargo freights that they have induced a number of the local storekeepers to do business with them. Much is heard just now of Western Australia, and an idea is current (says the Post) that anybody who goes thither is quite safe to drop into a good " billet," or at all events to find wellpaid employment awaiting him to be had for asking, or indeed to be pressed upon his acceptance. To our knowledge some journeymen in a certain skilled trade were seriously considering only a day or two ago the wisdom of emigrating to Perth (W.A.). under the firm impression that they would make £2 or £3 a day there working at their trade. Now a letter was received yesterday from a former resident in thiscity who went to Western Australia, and that letter we have been permitted to quote. It is dated from Perth on the 29th ult., and runs as follows :— " An I said before, my luck is ' dead out.' Western Australia will be all right for those who can afford to 'watch and wait,' but in the meantime, to men of my limited means and ability, it is a fraud. There is more real poverty here than I have ever seen in the colonies. Families who left New Zealand, Victoria, aud New South Wales, encouraged by the glowing reports contained in the telegrams from this colony, have been awfully deceived. As a matter of fact there is no employment for man woman, or child. The labour market is completely overdone. The street corners here would lemind you of Dunedin during the strike. I am sick of it anyway, and shall return to Victoria, even if I have to •do a perish.' " • Statutory notice is given elsewhere by tho Property Tax Commissioner of the incidence of the property tax for the current year commencing. April 1. Duty at one penny, when it amounts to less than £15, is payable in one sum, and when it exceeds that sum in two instalments. The first is- payable on the date mentioned, and the second on February 4, 1892. The duty on insurance policies is payable on March 5 next. Payment may be made at any money order office. The Rev. W. Rowese, who was for many years a Maori missionary, states that the condition of the Natives in the Wairarapa at the present time is deplorable, and they have less respect for Christianity than they ever had before the Maori war. I The inspector ot police has received advice that a barn and stable, with their contents, were destroyed by&re at Chatton on Sunday night. The value of the property destroyed was estimated by the owner, Mr John Hoffmann, at £110, and the buildiDgs were insured with the Scottish and New Zealand Investment Company for £90. The sitting of the Presbyterian Synod was resumed on Tuesday in the First Church, and was largely attended by ministers and elders. The whole of the forenoon sederunt, after devotional^ exercises, was consumed with the consideration of a report upon the state of religion. The discussion was first directed mainly to the matter of lapsing of members, but j the attention of the synod beiDg drawn to the praotice of dairy factories working on Sundays, the tide of the debate was turned to the subject of Sabbath breaking, in the course of which there was a great deal said both in criticism and justification of the action of farmers who sent their milk to the factories on Sunday mornings, it being urged by the critics that jf the milk were not co treated it could be utilised profitably in some other way. One or two speakers imported a fresh phase into the discussion by pointing out that work was done in the. rabbit factories on Sundays, and another, who complained that he had recently, while going to church, passed three anglers on the road, advocated that Sunday should be set apart as a close day for fishing. Finally, the discussion was turned upon the gambling evil by one rev. gentleman who apparently reads the sporting news in the Otago Witness, for he cited this paper as an authority regarding the amount invested in the totalisator last year. In the evening the report on church extension was soon disposed of, several matters were referred to committees, and at 9 o'clock the members found themselves with the agenda list exhausted. The remaining reports of committees being yet in the hands of the printers, the synod had perforce to adjourn, not. however, before one rev. gentleman protested that it was a pity that the valuable time that was at their disposal should not be utilised The Lyttelton Times states that while the Kahu was at the Chatham Islands She? usual round, Captain Romeril took a pirtvof natives off to a rock called Motnharaf or the knocked dowl Uxiti&kSg each Sri oS an average weighing 171b. or a lump total of 31* tons. They were nearly all young birds R«i! were measured, and the average from L £?* of wings was from 10ft to 10?t *& "oft i?^ carried there by P 0Q c A^ftßj'ffi Christchurch advices state th»t «,«> kt SMOH

the dioceses of Australia, but with the result that half of their number became Catholics, while the other body returned to secular parsuite. If their friends succeeded in establishing j the proposed sisterhoods, he believed that many or those who joined would soon find themselves coanng over to Rome, while the others, though doubtless m no way less earnest in their desire to do good by works of charity and benevolence, would probably, return to secular life^ The religious life to be sustained, said the Cardinal, must be real. There were two kinds of soldiers, the teal and the theatrioal-the one walked the stage with paper armour and pasteboard helmet, and to him a battle was a passing amusement; the actual warrior, on the other hand, was trained and tried by service ; his arms were deadly, and war was to him a Btem reality. This was muoh the same with sisterhoods. Our Auckland correspondent telegraphs that he understands Pastor Birch has received an invitation to Christchurch to give ministerial supply to the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church temporarily, and has accepted the invitation. Mr R. Poster, until recently chief sheep and cattle inspector for Canterbury, has severed hia connection with the Stock department. The recent changes in the department resulted in Mr Foster being offered an appointment at a lo jyer salary, and involving an enormous amount of hard work, which he has decided to decline. The Christchnrch Press, referring to the matter, says :— " Mr Poster's services to the district are well known and highly appreciated. His career, extending over a long period, has proved that he was the right man in the right place. As chief inspector for this district he did ati enormous amount of work, and brought to the discharge of. his duties a wide knowledge and ripe experience. All this is lost to the district through the blundering incapacity of the Minister at the bead of the department." A determination of the movements of the star Aroturushas bees made by Dr Elkin, the astronomer of Yale College, and formerly of the Cape of Good Hope. From his long series of observations on its parallax, he has arrived at the conclusion that the star moves with the inconceivable Bpeed of 381 miles in a second, which is 21 times faster than the motion of the earth in its orbit round the sun. The star is so far away from us that its light, which travels at the rate of 190,000 miles in a second, takes 181 years to reach the earth. The perseverance of such observers as Dr Elkin is thus gradually compelling the heavens to reveal their secrets, and to make a knowledge of them familiar to everyone. An ingenious patent, by which water for domestic use can be boiled in 45 seconds, has been developed in Auckland, and has been taken up by a strong syndicate.