LOCAL AND GENERAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 55

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Thursday's Daily Times ' says : —We have received from Me J. F. M. Fraser, Bolici'or tor Djnagh>'s Hope and .Twine C.m(Limke^), a letter complaining of (he inee.-tiou of tao following paragraph in the poli ticil Lews n cur Tutbdaj'a issue:— " Oue of tho matters that will be brought under the notice of the Banking Committee will bo tha c anectkn between tbe bank and the different liore companies which amalgamated some time ago for the purpose of keeping up tbe p-ice of ■ binder twine, &c. The companies mentioned are the Southland Company, M. Dotughy aud Co., and tbe Auckland fibre LVnpai,y." Mr Frts^r alleges that (he paragrajh »-ff<;cts the credit of tie ompany he represents enl will seriously sffvcb the operations of the company, and describe} the paragraph as containing " an absolutely false and malicious ttaremetit" made with ill* obvious object of injuring his client?. Mr Fras-rs assertion that tbw paragraph is malic' ous and " made with the obvious object <f injuiiug his c'iejts" is totilly devoid of foundaiion. -We bear Mr Fraser's clients not the- si (gates'; malic?, nor have we any reason whatever for wUhng to injure them. The pusgeajh was telegraphed to us by. our Wellington correspondent in tho trdiaary course and.as pjition of a batch, cf newj aud gossip. We cannot see tbat ib is calculated to damage the business of Me Eraser's clients, but as they evidently suppose that will bs tho offt ct of its publication, and as we hava , net the - slightest wi<-h that atyaob of ours should hwa such on effect, we hava no hesitation iv regrstticg the appearance of the paragraph and aff.wding Mr Fraser'B clients this, opportunity of deoyiog its truth. At last week's meeting of the Benevolent Institution Trustees, the secretary reported that Thoroa6 Carr, aged 71, aud Robert Urimmond, aged 71, died in the institution during the week. ; Between 30 aud 40 applications for relief were dealt with The correspondent of the Lyttelton Times reports the fotm\tion of a middle paity from the rinks of those who until-recently supported the Government. The now organisation will probably call itßelf the Radical party, and will aim in the meantime ab securing the balance of power in the House, and also of placing a programme before the country, so that iv the evenb of the defeat of the present Ministry at the polls there is another alternative than a Conservative or coalition Government. The Radical party will net include Sir Robert Stout; and its formation will probably lead to the detachment of Mr EarnEhaw, and possibly Mr 6. J. Smith, from tho influence of the senior member for Wellington. A unanimous call, has been given by theSb. Paul's Presbyterian Churoh, Ornnaru, to the llev. James Milne, of Sydney. The Ray. C. 6. Bowden, M.A,, has been Offered and bas accepted the position of examining chaplain to tbe Bishop* of Dunedjn. • We have received 5s in aid of the Brunner fund, per A. E. Farquhar, Stirling. ■ • • An article in The Times of May 2 give an interesting description of a process for the manufacture of silk by forcing' wood pulp through a series of glass tubes, eaoh ending in » minute hole, the filaments which issue from these being spun together, de-nitrified, and woven into artificial " silk " stuffs, richer, more brilliant, and more susceptible to the dyer's arb thaa Batumi silk itself. It is asserted that

only .^ra«xpeib- can tell the artificial from the natural products, and thai even the shopkeepers, who are already selling them in London and Pari?, have not realised the change that has bsen brought about. A factory, to cosb £30,000, is to be built near Manchester, and six weaving firms have already arranged to take its total output. The patents control the manufacture in Great Britain, and, therefore, the imporbabion of the new fabric will not be possible, and its manufacture will thus be a British industry. Over £17,000,000 worth of manufactured and raw silk was imported in,bo Great Britain lasb year.

At the Supreme Court on Thursday his Honor Mr Justice Williams couQrmed the decision of Mr Carew, S.M., in the eve in which T. Oliver was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for stealing gas from the corporation by means of an illegal connection.

Ab a sitting of the Supreme Court in Chambe:s yesterday, Mr Donald Reid, of Miltor, appeared in support of a petition by the administratrix of the estate oi James Johuston, butcher, late of Milton, who died intesbtte, for an order giving leave to mortgage certain lands. An order waß granted accordingly.

The report of" the Ble!aoeßi'an Mission for 1895 is a mos'. instructive p.imptli t, and cills for more than a passing notice, since few people have any idea of 1b.9 dimensions of the mission and tha importance of the work done. To begin with, a shorb rdsume of the staff will be appropmte. Bishop Wilson, of course, heads tha list, their Archdeacon Palmer ; after him no less thin nine European priests, two native priest.", tight deacon*, three European laymen, 433 Melanesiau Uyworkere, and 140 schools. Last, bub not least, appear the names of five European ladies. ' Thecapifci! a cc6unfc" stands, as oa June 30, 1595, at £35,933 14s 3J, and rents and interest received for the year am junt to £1759 8* lid. It rmy be interesting to nofe that New Zealand contribu'ed no less than £2638 10* lOd, of which £199 143 5d cama from Danedin ; Chiistchurch heading the lisi; with £522 17a lid/ and Wellington a good second wibli £51ffl8j. ; Wo learn Ir.m tie local manager of the A.M P. Sock ty that the total bonus additions to the polices of all members of the society for tie year will repreßent abjut £860,000 additioual assurance in the event of death or maturity, and this is the reversion \ry f equivalent of the £432,522 cash surplus decided t » be distributed, being the result of oae year's operations. With reference to the paragraph which we recently published in connection with the , withdrawal frc m the public M'hool on Wednesday aftfrnooa of the Roman Oitbo'ic cYildrfn ut St. Leonard?, we are now informed that the withdrawal is only for. a special and temporary purpose. The incident therefore lias no suggrslive value in relation' t) the religious education of public school children. . We learn that the novel " Adrift in Antarctic Seas," by Mrs Suisted, of We»tport, and published in Tillotson's series last year, has been translated in Sweden and Norway, *and is no. v published ia both countries. The translation for the Gothenburg prefs ,was made by Herr Thnrild Wulff, and for the Cbmti&nta' prejss by RlifsParr.- This i 3 a decided compliment to & lady whose writings are well known in this oolony. . , The Greyrnoubb Argus states thab Mr Jay has . brought bark fi\m Africa orders for about three million feet of tirobar, nob of au indiscriminate character, bub cut exactly to measure, otherwise ib will not be accepted. Tire Cape miners, like those .of Bivkea Hill, wan": ti'mbri/ of special sizes, and w.a-jt ib cub with the nicest accuracy. * Hitheito the Cape has been relying main'y upon Oregqn and Baltic timber, but the samples of New Zealand timber landed there Bitisfy them provided ib is cuo as, is required. Ab there should be no d inculty in carrying out . that pwb of the contract, a very Urge trade ought- 13 be developed with tfie Cape. The Otago reunion in Wellington, which may now be regard' d as the annual fixture, promises to be a great success this yew. A meeting of the committee was he'd on the 23rd, the Hon. Mr Bolt in tbe chair. Rtfeivnce wa^ m»do to the loss sustained by the committee owing to tbe death of Mr B. T. Gillou. Ib was resolved to corfi c tho sale of tickets to bona fide, exresidents of Ots/yo and Southland and their f&milus, and members of Parliamenb whose names have been forwarded through any member of tli6 commitbeo and approved of. The names of the members of the committee appear in the advertisement." A subcommittee consisting of Dr Finrlliy, Dr Chappie, Messrs A. Sirap6oo, A. Oorrigan, T. Lsvi, A. E. Gibbs, J. B. Mack, and the chairman, hou treasurer, and the hon. secretary was appointed to approve of ' Ihe names snbmi'tfd, and make all other necessary arrungem&ts for the reunion. Listsof names . cf heads of families were submitted, and 152 wers approved. Circulars intimating this were ordered to be senb to them. Tixe committee anticipate? this year's reunion will be even more . successful than its predecessor, especially as it is intended to make several alterations in tho arrangements which, will add to the enjoyment of fcho guetts. • '' ' ' '-' A Ben?aiional bolt, which caused considerable commotion in tome of the principal streets of the city, cccurred between 5 and 6 o'clock on the afternoon of the 24-th. A horssand express helouging to Mr James Hastic had been left in Cumberland, etceeb between Hanover and St. Andrew streets — the horee with a nosebag on and the chain being on the wheel — while the owner went inside bis house to have his tea. For no ascertained reason the horse became startled and bolted along Cumberland street to St. Andrew street, up which it turned into George otreet. Tho animal turned south until the Octagon was reached, when ib swerved round at the Douglas Hotel corner and travelled np Stuart street to bhe Trinity Churoh corner, where it turned down Moray place and galloped at a furious pace into Princes street. A tramcar proceeding north was fortunately pulled up in time to escape collision with the runaway, which swept across the street on to the pavement on the City Hotel side, carrying away the verandah post outside Mr Hopkins's shop in it 3 course. Careering along the pavement the runaway caused considerable damage, breaking off an incandescent gas lamp and a verandah post ab Messrs Lorie and Co.'s warehouse and carry id g away two verandah posts outside Mr Lethaby's shop, and finally snapping in two an iron gas lamppost at the corner of Princes and Dowling itreets. The cover of tho express was left as an appendage to Messrs Lorie and Co.'s verandah, and the impact with tee lamppost caused the separation of the horse from the express, the shafts being broken. The horse fell down on the opposite side of Dowling street, bub on being examined ■was found to have no signs cf injury. The exSress was, however, considerably damaged, arid be havoc caused in the one shorb block in Princes street was very great. Fortunately do person was injured, the footpath being cleared aa the runaway approached. Prompt steps were taken by Messrs Lorie sad Co. to have a jury-post put up in older to sustain tbe •»ggi»g

verandah at the end where tbe thtea supports were carried away, and this work wes complete 1 in about an hour from tho time of the collision 1 , the verandah having then already Bunk about a foot.

The following land was disposed of this week afc the Crown Lands Office ab Dunedin :—Section 10, block IV, Tauluku, 21a Or 16p, to Thomas Mackenzie, as a village homestead allotment on lease in perpetuity, at 9£& per acre per annum ; 50 acres in the Lower Hawea district, to Peter Muir, on occupation lease under "The Mining Districts Laud Occupation Acb 1894," at 6d per acre per annum ; sectku 1, blcck XII, Oacnaru, part of the TeacerAki estate, 5a Oi: 2p, to James Timblick, on lea«e in perpetuity, afc 19h 2d per acre per annum ; section 33, block XI, Maniofcoto, lla 2r 50, to Robert Duncan, as a village homestead allotment on leasa in perpetuity, at Is per aero per annum.

The District Presidents of the various districts interested in the question of establishing a Druids' Di trict Grand Lodge for Otago. and Southland have received instructions from the Grand Secretary, Bro. J. J. Breaan, to direct the secretaries of the lodges to proceed forthwith to Iske a plebiscite iv accordance with the agreement made with Representatives Morrison, Mc-nzics, and Shelton in Melbourne. The Grajid Secretary would have issuei the instructions before had be nol; bean under the jmpres.eioa tbat the written agreement contained Euffi.iently dfrfiuite instructions.

About 20 members' of the" city lodges, 1.0. G.T., who nifcde a visit to Oatrnm on Thursday evening to inaugurate a now lodge, wtra treated to a dinner. The following Grand Lod({e officers were among the visitors :— Sis. D. C. Cameron, G.V.T. ; Bro. D. C. Cameron, G. 8 .; Bro. O. J. Thorn. At a quarter to 8 a public meeting was held in the Societies' Hall, at which Bro. J. W. Parkinson, D.C3.T., presided, and gave some admirable, remarks on tho working of the order. Bro. J. B. Merretfc spoke on the " Influence of Templary," Bro. J. Hatton on the " Work of Temperance," Bro. O. J. Thorn en " Iho Fraternal Relationa of Good Templars " ; and Brol D. C. Camerou ou " Tha Progress of- Good Templary." Tbe Misses Johußton and Sss'.er Payno gava musical selections at intervals. Ac the close of the meeting 20 candidates were initiated. The ballot for the Elstborpo estate, PaJangata Couuly, Hawke's Bay, recently acquired by thi Government for Battlement purposes, tcok place on Friday at Napier, the old Provincial Council Chambers beiug crowded. M&uy were unable to get into town owing ijp thu interruption in -the railway traffic through the floods. The commissioner explained that he saw no' alternative to going ua with the ballot, but in respect to the payicg of the depo< it-money considerat'on would ba given to thote v\ho w.ere blocked up in the country. Altogether 604- applications were received for the 9461 acres S ; x )a*ge sections, however, representing 2850 se es, weie t.ofc applif d for.