LOCAL & GENERAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2244, 4 March 1897, Page 18

LOCAL & GENERAL

The weekly meeting of the Benevolent Insti- ' fcution Trustees,' held on the 23rd, was attended ' by Messrs A. Solomon (chairman), C. Allan, R. Wilsop, R. Watson, and H. Gourley. Accounts amounting to £143 17s were passed for payment. The trustees decided to make an appeal to the public for left- off clothing. The Chair- ■ man stated that it cost a considerable amount i for clothing, and the trustees would be very j glad if those persons who had cast-off apparel would kindly intimate so to the trustees, and they would send for the clothing. The Chair- ; man also said that the financial position had • improved to such an extent that they were in a i position to pay off their overdraft. ! Mr Ben Tillett and a party of nine, including the Hon. W. M. Bolt, Messrs R. Slater, W. Belcher, and others, drove out to the Taieri \ Plain on the 23rd. The party weDt to Mosgiel ! in the morning, and after partaking of dinner ! at O'Kane's Hotel proceeded as far as Wyllie's Crossing. They then started on their homeward journey, stopping on the way at Green Island in order to have tea with Mr Lee Smith at his residence. The city was subsequently | reached between 8 and 9 in the evening, after a very enjoyable day's outing. . "There are different stages of drunkenness," ■: Bald a witness, speaking with au air of < authority, in a case in the Supreme Court the ; other day, which tamed to some extent upon the point of whether the licensee of a hotel had broken the terms of his lease by- being constantly in an intoxicated state. The same witness declared that the licensee was not " beastly drunk, bub was aoaked with drink." The cross-examining counsel asked the witness if he ! did cot know that there are publicans who ■ drink large quantities every day and night and 1 never get drunk, yet show that they driok; and (he witness replied that he knew that there were such publicans, and added, " they _do not become thoroughly ! Incapable of action ; they can move, but they ! are wooden." The witness had at his com- \ fciand a choice variety of expressions to suggest ' the exact degree of the licensee's intoxication. The man was, for instance, described as having been "silly drunk," as having been "in a ! lemi-oomatoee state from the effects of drink." ! In the face of this it was somewhai strange that the licensee should himself protest in his evidence that he was always "perfectly sober." Being a landlord, he said, he " had to drink like other landlords, but he never became unfit to j carry on the business." Mr Justice Williams ! inquired if it was not open to hotelkeepera, j when drinking with customer!, to drink sarsaparilla or something of that kind, but the suggestion wss scouted by those present in court, and his Honor thereupon remarked that be supposed the class of customers who frequented that particular hotel would resent the landlord taking anything but alcohol. In the Gazette of 18th February the state- < ment of the affairs of 73 mining companies in > the Auckland district are given. The nominal capital of the companies totals £1,079,750. The value of the gold raised during the pre- | ceding year was £23,995 17s 9d. The dividends ' paid were nil. An Auckland telegram states that for the ' best design for » building for the Auckland Stock Exobange, Mr Burnaide, of Dunedin, was awarded first prize, of £175; Tripo and Goldsboro, of Auckland, second, of £75. A few years ago Mr Burnside, it will be remem- ! bered, gained first prize for the Colonial Mutual j Company's building at the corner of Princes and High stteet. We have received for the Indian famine relief fund, per Mr T. Arnold, £1 Is, subscribed by the Church of Christ, North-Bast Valley, and 5s 6d, subscribed by the Sunday School children of the same church. The four scientists delegated by the Royal Dublin Society to visit the scene of the bog slide near Killamey have come to (he conclusion that the disaster was attributable to a burst of water and boggy fluid from the mountain, and that it cannot in any way be connected with , earthquake shocks. The appearance of the mountain has entirely changed. Instead of a grassy slope, it is now a large basin sloping ap to the top for about a mile and"f ally half a mile •cross. The mountain is 101 lof gaping fissures, rough, jagged, and uneven, as if the surface had been forcibly torn open. From the top the course of the vast boggy swamp can be clearly traced. At first it did not follow the valley of the mountain stream, but swerved away to the west, destroying Donelly's household in its course, and bat for a projecting rise of ground would have kept on and swept; away another farmer's house adjacent to the quarry whioh lay in its path. This hillock deviated it from its coarse, and the bog, formiDg a stream fully balf a mile wide, followed the course of the stream, crosied the public road, and flooded the quarry. The bog then swept down the valley towards the River Ownaoree, a tributary of the Plesk. The Hull magistrates were trying a man the other day on a charge of manslaughter. His daughter was called, when the following questions and answers ensued : — She gave her age as 12, and said that she could not read. She had been "off school" a good while. Mr Shackles questioned her as to her knowledge of the Bible, with a view of putting her on oath. Sir Ferens: "Do you know anything of the Bible— a book called the Bible ? " The witness : "No, sir ; I have never seen the Bible." At the Lands Office on Thursday 30 pastoral licenses were submitted to auction, comprising sui area of about 375,900 acres in various parts of Otago. In only two instances was the opset price exceeded, and eight runs, of an area of about 84,000 acres in all, were passed in. Xhe yearly rental of the area leased is £1077 18b 6d. The Clotha Presbytery held a special meeting on Thursday at Balclutha to consider a hearty ■nd unanimous call from the Lovell's Flat and fiillend congregation to Mr P. B. Eraser, M. A., at present labouring at Dunback. It was agreed that the presbytery meet at Lovell's Flat on Friday, the 12th Match, at 3.30 p.m., for Mr Fraser's ordination and induction. Two men -Darned Thomas M'Duff and Thomas Ritchie were —charged before Messrs Snow and Shand, J.P.s, at the Mosgiel Magistrate's Court on Thursday, with having, on Saturday night .last, assaulted W. E. Power, the clerk in charge of the Mosgiel railway station. The accused were each fined £1 and costs (10s). At the Port Chg lmers Police Court on Thursday forenoon, Before Mr W. Reid, J.P., Elizabeth Taylor was fined Is, without costs, for allowing ono cow to wander on the Portobello road ; ,and George Dalton, for a similar Dffence, was fined 2s, without costs. The latest idea of General Booth for raising the needful for Salvation Army purposes is a plan whioh he calls " The Lord's Corner." He explains it as follows : — " 1. A friend says of a particular tree (or trees) in his gardeia, ' That leee shall be the Lord's. Whatever fruit it

bears shall be given to the Lord's exchequer.' 2. A farmer might say, ' That field shall be the Lord's, and whatever profits there may be on its produce shell go into His treasury.' 3. A cottager might say, 'That hen shall be consecrated. Her eggs and chickens shall be usod for the Kingdom '; or a farmer might say, I •Those duoki, geese, turkeys, or such aud such | a portion of them, shall go to the support of the Salvation War.' " A beekeeper would ] select one hive, a shopkeeper the profits on the I sale of some particular article, the artisan or labouring man a portioa of his time, the proceeds from all of which would go to the Army. The General even thinks that "a corner of a gold mine might be set apart in this fashion, or a gold mine altogether, ao far as that goes." j But the General always has been a man of groat I ideas. Bra. Thomas Clement, Grand President of the Grand Lodge of Druids of Victoria, arrived in Dunedin from Melbourne by the Mararoa on the 24th nit. for the purpose of installing the officers of the District Grand Lodga about to be formed for Otago. The Grand Secretary (Bro. J. J. Brenan) arrived last night by the south express, and was welcomed at the station by the brethren of tho local lodges. The installation ceremony takes place this afternoon in the Rit tray street Hall, and other necessary business will also be transacted. A party of dine (two buggy loads) from Invercargill and .Otautau, including Mr Gilfedder, M.H.R. for Wallace, and three of the Wallace and Fiords County Councillors, drove from Otautau on the 2 1st ulfc., to the western bank of the Excelsior Creek, whioh is about a mile from where the Mararoa joins the Waiau. Here, by tpeoial arrangement, Mr Dove had the q.s. Titiroa awaiting the party to take them to Mr Murrell't accommodation house ah tho footof Lake Manapouri. Tho party left Otautau at 7 a.m. and arrived at> the east bank of the Mararoa at 6.30 p.m., having stayed two hours on the road for refreshments. The steamer took one hour and 25 minutes steaming up the Waiau against the stream, but on the return journey on Monday morning the same distance was covered in leß> than three-quarters of an hoar. Sunday was spent on the lake j visitiug the West Arm, Safe Cove, Stockyard i Cove, and other places of remarkable beauty, and a pleasant day's rest was eDJoyed on the steamer. An early start was made for home ou Monday morning, and without doing anything desperate in the way of exertion or distressing the horses, Otautau was reached at 7 p.m. So little indeed were any of the party distressed that one gentleman got on his bicycle ! at onco and rode on into Invercargill. A'l ex- i pressed themselves astonished that the obeUcles to making this route the reaogniced high road to the generally admitted most beautiful of the lakes were so few, and the most sanguine hopes wore entertained that the road would be made easily available for tourists by next summer. Mr Dove, the owner of the steamer, greatly favours this route, and says he would gladly do bis best, by boat or coach, to facilitate visitors i to Manapouri. j Major Sommerville in an interview at Auckland said the late meeting of the New Zealand Rifle Association had been vary successful, which, he thought, was due to the favourable weather, the good quality of the ammunition, and last that the men were getting more into the " hang" of the Martini-Heury rifle. Summing the men up as a whole he thought they ranked about the Same as for some years past in point of marksmanship, the average of good | teen being about the same. The major has no i doubt whatever but that a New Zealand picked team would hold its own at .Bisley. The volunteer movement he considers is languish- j ing owiDg to the poor encouragement offered by j I the Government. s ' I The Spectator's stories about the sagacity of domtstic animals have gained a world-wide j reputation, and this has elicited from a Queenslaud squatter (Mr R. Maitland, of Westwood, Maryborough) a remarkable narrative of a battle he once witnessed between two old men kangaroos. "On the ocoaiion to whioh I refer," writes Mr Maitland, "I was riding along one evening near sundown, when the black boy who accompanied me, and who | happened to be a few yards ahead of me at the time, suddenly pulled up his horse . just as he topped the crest of the ridge we were rising, held up his hands in warning, and then beckoned me to join him. When I had crept quietly up alongside him, and could look down into the gully below, I stared in amazement at the scene .before me, for there, grouped iv a circle of about a hundred yards or so across, stood some 50 or 60 forest kangaroos, every one of them erect, and looking on with evident interest at the spectacle of two immense ' old men,' who, in the middle, of the ring, were engaged in deadly combat! Clasping in fierce embrace with their short, muscular arms, they swayed to and fro in their efforts to force eaoh other to the ground, every now and again deal- j ing ferocious kicks at eaoh other's stomachs i with the long knife-like toe of their hind feet, j kicks whioh they avoided with, wonderful agility ' by a sort of backward jump, without, however, releasing their grip of eaoh other's bodies for a moment. The whole scene, the two com- ' batacts with their upright figures gripping and ! swaying in the centre exactly as two wrestlers might have done, with the ring of erect, greybodied onlookers, was singularly interesting, j and for some 10 minutes or more we stood and watched them, until a snort from one of our horses gave them the alarm, and they were off in all directions in a moment. On riding up to exanrne the spot we found tufts of fur and blood marks upou the grass in several places, and the state of the ground for some yards round about showed very plainly that the struggle had been a fierce oce. Neither of the combatants, however, had been disabled, for they bounded away amongst the others, and we saw them no more." Few newspapers in Great Britain can boast i so long and honourable a record as that of the Aberdeen JonrnaJ, which has just entered on the 150 th year of its existence. Oar contemporary has beon congratulating its readers and itself upon the fact, and not without reason. From an interesting historic survey which appeared in its columns recently, we learn, among other things, that it was founded by a fellow apprentice of Benjamin Franklin ; that its conductors bore an exciting part in the romantifrebellion of '45 ; that it chronicled the visit of Dr Johnson and Bos well to Aberdeen and the North ; and that its office was visited by Robert Burns when he too went on tour. The Journal has had several notable editors, including the late Mr William Forsyth, a writer and poet of no mean distinction. Its destinies are now under the able guidance of Mr David Pressly, -and it looks as if our contemporary, Tory though it be, will live to celebrate its three hundredth birthday at least. At the inquest at Oamarn .touching the death of James Baker, a Victorian shearer, killed on the 22nd ult., by falling off the express train from the north, evidence was given that deceased was slightly the worse for drink, and his companion also stated that the carriage was J full or deceased would not have been outside. 1 This was contradicted by the railway officials.

The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental T death," and added the following rider :—: — " That it be a respeotful recommendation to the railway authorities to take into consideration j the advisability or otherwise— first, of arranging j for some mean 3of communication between the passengers and the driver when the train is in motion for urgent use ; and, second, of having erected a hinged bar connecting the upright iron rod at the extreme corner of each carriage with the body of the carriage itself, with the view of reducing the risk incurred by passengers riding on the platform." The Women's Franchise League held their first annual picnic «t the Quarantine Island on Cup Day. Over 1000 school children, and adults laft Felichet Bay station by train at 920 a.m. on Friday for Waikouaibi, arriving at the Beach street station at 11.30. The weather on the whole proved fine, aud a very enjoyable time was passed by all.' A special train brought a large number of school children, their parents, and friends from Owaka on Friday morning, the party numbering something like 500; while the Waitati school children journeyed by train to Paketeraki, where tu«y held a picnic. Tho liquidators of the Colonial Bank applied to the Supreme Court on Friday for permission to examine Mr Heury . Mackenzie, and their request wa« granted without opposition. The examination, which is at the request of Mr < Mackenzie, will probably be a public one, aud was fixed to take plaoe on Monday, the Bth March. Colonial Bank matters agnin engaged the attention ot Mr Justice Williams in Chambers on Friday, when several compromises as between the bank and debtors were functioned. We hetir that the liquidators will shortly aak the : court, to sanction an agreement entered iuto by , them with Mr John Bafcger, of Inveroargill, for j the sale and purotfaso of certain debts due by j the Hon. J. G. Ward — a similar matter to that ! which was before the court some time ago, when ' an offer for the debts was made by Messrs A, ' Lee Smith and J. B. Reid. The evidence in the pending summons will bet virtually the same as , was brought beforu the coust on that occasion, j The Shareholders' Committee, we understand, i wish to have an' opportunity of being represented on the hearing of the motion, and have instructed Mr W. C. MacGregoc to attend to their iuterests in the matter. i Fiom n Press Anaociat'on telegram received • from Wellington it appears that a paragraph w»s i published in Friday's Post confirmatory of infor- , mation which had been telegraphed to the Daily Times on the previous evening that the gener&V managership of ths Bank of New Znaland had been offered to MrMichie, manager at Dunedin, and declined, then offered to Mr Bmbling, who is not unwilling to accept it, and is approved by the directors, bat the president vetoed tha appointment. Tho Minister for Railways told a deputation | of Wellington carriers, who wanted a signalman j stationed at a dangerous crossing in town, that ; the Te Aro extension barely paid for coal, and j that they might almost as well shut it up altogether, especially if farther expense had to be incurred. Lord Glasgow has sent a letter to the New Zealand Times expressing his deep appreciation of the cordial leavs-takuig given him by the people of Wclliugton. Ha describes th« soeua witnessed from the deck of the Talune as most impressive, and one whioh he and Lady Glasgow will never forget, nor will th?y erer forget New Zealand and its warm-hearted people. The executive of tho Women's Franchise League, *b their last meeting, elected Mrs Hatton, the president, to represant the league at the meeting of the Women's National Council of New Zealand, which is to be held in Wellington at Easter. Of five runs in the Mackenzie country offered by auction at T>m*m on Thursday, only one was told. — Mr Preston, at agent for Mr J. E. B. Cameran, purchasing for the upset (£200) the Sease of Bon Ohau can of 54,000 acres. Mr H. D. Fish received the following cable message from the Premier on Thursday night : .•' Returned to Melbourne to-day. Just seen your father. He is getting on splendidly, and has been up a little to-d*y. I am leaving for Beadigo to-morcow, but will be back on Monday, when I will cable you again. No need now for anxiety." The poll for the election of two members of the Post and Telgraph Appeal Board resulted in the return of Mr J. H. Stevens, postmaster at Feilding, by the postal branch, aud Mr W. M'Nickle, telegraphist at Dunedm, by the telegraph branch. The latter was" re-eleoted, and Mr Stevens replace* Mr Waters. The number of votes polled was : Postal branch — Stevens 274, Jessup 163, Waters 129 ; telegraph branch— M'Nickle 252, Yates 141, Young 96. The council of the Ghristohuroh brauoh of the National Association passed the following resolution :—": — " That in the opinion of this council our associations throughout New Zealand should impress upon members of the House that it is necessary that the finances of the colony should be thoroughly investigated before Snpply be voted." The Oiutha Free Press understands that a requisition for signature is in circulation in that district for the purpose of inducing the Govern- | ment to take over the Otanomomo estate for settlement purposes. This estate comprises somewhere about 5000 acre*, and owing to the rich quality of the land a comparatively large number of people could be settled upon it and earn a comfortable livelihood. -'VThe Hon. T. W. Hislop was presonted with a hot water ket'de by his supporters in the Wellington Suburbs Electorate. He made a speech justifying his action in regard to the Mnlvaney letter which reaulted in Mr Wilford being unseated. - V, An enterprising Frenchman named Pesce proposes to undertake a journey to the North Pole in a submarine boat, and he bases his belief that this is the simplest means of getting there on the observations of the explorers Nansen and Frithjof . M. Pesce points out that submarine boats can ba navigated and manosuvred at a certain depth under water, and that they are habitable for periods of time proportionate to their size. In the opinion ofthe explorer Nansen, the Arctic seas are not entirely covered with ice throughout their whole extent, but that the ice surface presents large openings, through which M. Pesce and his submarine boat could from time to time emerge to take in a fresh stock of air. In fact, the boat would mostly follow the system of diving under icebergs or awkward tracts of ice, while at times, with the aid of dynamite, it conld pierce air holes in the ice covering above it. M. Pasce also suggests a system of small balloons for conveying news of his whereabouts to the Continent. The facilities afforded by the Railway department for excursion trips into the country are being largely availed of. no less than four

parties leaving town on Satnrday. A special ! t train conveyed the scholars of the K&ikor&i Sshool to the number of 900 to Puketeraki. j The scholars attending the All Saints' Sunday | School, together with their friends, numbering in all 350, proceeded to Duke's road (Taieri) ; while in the same train about 150 of the factory hands of Messrs Morris and Seelye journeyed to Outrana. Some 150 of the Ravensbourne Congregational Sunday School scholars held a picnic at Sawyers' Bay. The weather was delightfully mild and plaasant, and the members of the various pleasure-seeking parties doubtless returned to town well pleased with their day's outing. "^-According to Mr Wilfrid B%dger there are 54b barristers and colioitors registered in New Znaland. They are distributed a« follows : — Wellington 130, Auckland 116, Canterbury 101, ' Otago 76. Hawke's Bay 31, Southland 29, ! Taranaki 25, Westland 20, Nelson 11, Marlborough 6. At » meeting of the Ben Tillett Reception Committee, on Saturday night, it was ascertained that the state of Me Tillett's health would nob permit of his giving any public addresses while in New Zealand. The committee carried a resolution expressing its deep regret at hearing that the lecture by Mr Tillett in Dunedin and other central would have to be abandoned, both on account of Mr Tillet'- himself and ftlno on account of the disappointment j to a large number of people who wore looking forward to the pleasure of hearing him. We believe it is vary liksly that Mr Tillett will be entertained at a social prior to his leaving Dunedin for good. If his health will permit the social will be held about the 11th inst. Mr James Adam has received the following 1 further sums in aid of the Armenian relief , fund :— Rev. R. Waddell, 10i ; Island Cliff : Sabbath Sahool, £1 6s 3d; Rev. Mr Kelly, j £4 ss. ! The vital statistics of the Danedin district ■ for the month of February are as follow :—: — Births, 80; deaths, 30; marriages, 25. The 1 statistics for the corresponding month last year wore — Births, 90 ; deaths, 34 ; mari ri&ges, 33. ; The vital statistics of the colony for the past j ! yoar show that there were 150 death* from J cancer. The number of deaths from this j disease in Wellington was 54. The report of the Westport- Cardiff Coal | j Company on last rear's operations states that, J after deducting £1579 12i 7d for depreciation on property aud p!aur, thero was a credit . 1 balance of £1008 6s Bd, whicu, with £360 2a lOd brought forward from list year, made a total of £1368 9s 6d. The directors recommended that £1000 be appropriated for permanent work*, &c, to provide for extended output. Mr T. Buloh, in his general report on the recent band content at Duntdiu, writes: — "In > my opinion, we could not get 12 bauds in the whole of the colonies to compare with those that played at Dunedin. There are certainly faults to be fouud in them, as indeed with any band in the world almost, and one of the worst of these is in intonation, particularly in slow ' movements. A movement of semi breves and ' minims takes playing — although very few bandsmen think so. There is also room for improvement in collective performances. The individual playing was very good. Ou the whole, I find bandmasters' too apt to exaggerate all expression marks ; in piano passages time and tone must be studied, and several of the bands suffered in intonation through trying to play these passages too pianissimo. Another fault was in the fortes, which in most | cases were overdone, the result being that the band got a very coarse tone. These an; fault* j that Ho mainly with the bandmaster, who •hould remedy them. Undoubtedly the O&maru Garrison, Wellington Garrison, Kcikorai, and Invorcargill Garrison Band* are » credit to New Zealand — fin a last-named band being the finest I have had the pleasure of listening to on the march H»d the coutect been held w the open air there can be no doubt ! that they mint have scored much better ; aud I might say that I think the association, if they . can see thtir way clear,- should hold their future | contests in the open air. It is a better test for the bands, and more satisfactory to the judge, as be can then detect every weakness in the j Plying." j --\'Tbe Southland News reports that a survey" J party have discovered a pass frem the south- ; west arm of Lake Manapouri to the head of I Smith's Sound, along which they have blazed a i track. The distance does cot exceed 13 miles. ! On the Spey and Seaforth line, over Mao- : kenzie's Fats, €hey have blazed the roufte a few , miles beyond the divide between the two rivers, • and ar« now engaged cutting their way through ' Seaforth Valley, in the direction of Wet Jacktt j Sound. The Christchurch Press understands that the statement that the position of general manager of the Bank of New Zealand has been offered to Mr Bmbling is not correct. The Southland Time* reports the death there from caucar of the Rev. John Ayling, minister to a congregation at Pitt Town, near Sydney. He was on a visit for the benefit of his health to his brother. Mr Ayling and his wife had celebrated their golden wedding before he left New South Wales. At a largely-attended meeting at Roxburgh it was decided to petition the Government to take over the Dismal Swamp dam, and, by raising the data wall, increase the water supply for the district, while conserving the present water rights. It was htated by Mr Rawlins that owing to the prolonged drought there were at present 71 men out of work, involving a present loss to the district of £150 weekly. Mr Freyberg has patented a process for I reducing the bulk of New Zealand barks, and j thus enabling them to bo exported for tanniDg purposes. The process is also applicable to wattle bark. Our Wellington correspondent telegraphs that the Premier is not expected to return to the colony for some eight or nine days vet. At Monday's meeting of the University Council it was decided to appoint Mr F. B. Stephens, who is at present in the Transvaal, as metallurgical lecturer and assayer at the Otago School of Mines. The quarterly criminal sittings of the Supreme Court were commenced on Monday morning. The Grand Jary returned true bills in all the cases that were submitted to them. Two men named James Gray and Robert Brown, with bad records, who pleaded guilty to the larceny of wool from the Conical Hills station, were sentenced to 12 months' and two years' imprisonment respectively. A young j man named Thomas Snell pleaded guilty to the i theft of a bicycle, but after some discussion the ! case stood over until next morning, when the ] accused, whose counsel asked that, though not ! eligible under the First Offenders' Probation Act, he should not be sent to gaol, was again brought up. Two persons who had not fulfilled the conditions upon which they had i previously been released on probation were each

given another chance, and the only other case that was dealt with was one in whioh John Fitzgerald was charged with a violent assault on his son at Tuapeka Flat. In this case the accused was found guilty on the second and third counts of the indictment, and wasremanded for sentence. After the grand jury had returned a true bill in the Supreme Court on Monday against John Ryley for a misdemeanour under tbe Bankruptcy Act, it was arranged that the first trial of the accused should be commenced on Thursday. The Crown Prosecutor said that Mr Sim, who appeared for the accused, and himself thought that the case would be easily concluded in two days, as all that would have taken a long time to piove was admitted between them. The last quarterly sitting of the Danedin Licensing Committee elected in March 1894 took place on Monday, when two unopposed transfers were granted nem dis. All the ' members of the Licensing Bench were presentnamely : Messrs B. H. Carew, S.M. (chairman), and Messrs I. Selby, J. Jolly,' W. Wardrop, W. Warren, A. Walker, *H. Spears, and W. Dickson. The transfers granted were as follow : — Terminus Hotel from Charles Goldsmith to J. C. Short, and Harp of Erin Hotel from Joseph Wareham to Charles B. M. Branson. Before the formal sitting of the court Mr Wardrop, addressing Mr Carew, said that as they were about to open their final sitting of the present licensing committee the other members of the committee had desired him to express their hearty thanks to the chairman for the kind and considerate treatment they had all received at his hands. The elected members of the committee had been '< appointed with very pronounced views on licensing matters, and the chairman had ( aken in the situation at onca and bad assisted them in carrying out their views to the best of their ability. Mr Carew, iv reply, said that he was : rather surprised to receive the thanks of the committee. His views entirely differed from 1 ttyose held by the elected members, but as the committee had bten elected to carry out certain views he had felt it his duty to assist them to carry out their rather unpleasant duties. Tho drought is causing serious inconvenience in tie goldfields districts, and in Lawrence, the reservoir fiyiving been completely exhausted, people are borrowing water from their neighbours. Mr Montgomery, a hotel keeper, however, is the fortunate possessor of a fine spriug of water on his promises, and this supply yrorcß of inestimable value at the present juncture. Tbe usual monthly meeting of the Otago Central Railway League, held in Messrs B*rr, Leary, aud Co 's office on Monday, was attended by Mesers A. Bathgate (in the chair), J. Carroll. G. L. Denniston, A. Sligo, J. Jolly, Jan., and 8. C. Leary. An apology for nou-xttendanee was received from Mr A. C. Stronach. A con- | siderable amount of routine business was ; disposed of. Meura W. Burrou and James Gore were elected mumbers of the Executive Committee. A well-known oitizen (Mr G. M. Thomson) i had a narrow escape from serious injury on Saturday afternoon. He had oomn in from Audirraon'n Bay on top ot a 'bus, and on reach- | iug the terminus, near the corner of Princes I and Stafford Htreels, was preparing to descend, when something he had Ukeu hold of to steady himself gave way »nd he was immediately precipitated over the railings of the 'bu*, falling on his head and shoulders on the kerbing. It ! wai thought by those who witnessed the accident that serious results were inevitable, bnt Mr Thomson fortunately got off with some severe cuts on his head and a bruised shoulder. He was taken into Mr Loasby's chemist's shop, where Dr Hockeu, who happily was a passenger in the 'bus, Attended to his injuries. Mr Thorn! son was sufficiently recovered to attend to his duties on Monday. A ten-days' mission was commenced by the > Rev. D. O'Donnoll (coimrxiounl evangelist, ' from V>ctoria) in Trinity Wesleyan Church lon Sunday. Both in the mnrniug and evening ' the congieg&ticn wax very large, and on the j latter occasion over 100 presented themselves | for reconseeration. Ou Monday night the church I was again well filled, and the Rev. Mr O'Donnell, taking for bis text " Examine Yourself," preached an admirably-conceived discourse, wbirh was liotened to with the ' u^mort attention. Admiral Bridge, interviewed at Auckland, said he thought it was to be regretted that the Government had not provided in Auckland „ suitable accommodation for the admiral comj manding tbe stutiou, as he considered Auckland j was very suitable for a naval station for i recruiting the health of the crews and refitting. Tbe Auckland papers suggest that Mr Nathan's property, Waterloo Quadrant, should be pur chased Mr C. A. Cooper, editor of tho ScotsmaD, reaohed Sydney by the Waihora from Auckland. Interviewed by a Telegraph reporter in reference to New -Zealand, he said he was entertained by the New Zealand Journalists' lnstitute, j and generally treated with the utmost possible kindness. The colony surprised him in every way. He had no idea it Represented such a magnificent country. As to the scenery, he declares with enthusiasm that he has never seen anything in his lite equal to the Otira Gorge, which at the time of his visit was bathed in the full glory of therata bloom. The scenery in the North Island is characterised as superior even to that of the Highlands. Two apprentices at Pctone Railway .Workshops have this year been successful in passing the senior Civil Service examination. They are brothers, sons of Mr J. A. Henderson, of the Railway department, Wellington, a gentleman well known iv poultry circles, who has been their^oacn for this event except in one subject. Mr Henderson is well known in Danedin and Milton. It is generally taken as a good sign when reapers and binders are paid for promptly. Therefore, the Mataura district, at any rate, may be said to be in a flourishing state when more than half the binders sold there this year have been for cash on delivery. — Southern Cross. As an evidence of the unreliability of the grain statistics for this year, we may mention that a farmer in the Oamaru district who in November expected to have a 70-bushel crop o£ wheat, snd gave the constable collecting the statistics 60 bushels as the estimated yield, only succeeded in threshing out 47 bushels. We have only heard of one man who threshed above his expectations. — North Otago Times. Messrs Stone, ' Son, and Co. have made a new departure in connection with " Stoves' Ota^o and Southland ABO Guide and Diary " With each copy is issued an accidental death insurance coupon for £100 The money will bo paid to the legal representative of any person killed by accident who has upon 'his or her person a signed coupoD. For yearly subscribers it is not necessary that the coupon should be carried. As the price of each number is only Id, purchasers fat yara value for their "browa."