CHRISTCHURCH. FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

Saturday Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 124, 24 November 1877, Page 15

CHRISTCHURCH. FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

November 18. Last Sunday’s fire was more serious than I anticipated when I wrote you last. The ■Criterion Hotel was completely destroyed, while the Lyttelton Times office had a very marrow escape. Mr John Baillee lost £2OOO .by the fire, and everyone deeply sympathises. with him. Although he-had sold out, and :the new landlord was in'poßsession, ;there;had been no absolute transfer, the papers not having been signed. I have no doubt, however, that the gentlemen will come to an amicable .settlement, so that the loss will be borne by them jointly. That would be the fairest way of deciding the matter. In the meantime the ashes of the fire remain, and a booth, called the “ Criterion,” and apparently-pre-sided -over by Sir ~B t ailie§, has 'been ‘erected; hearthe theatre for ‘the 'carrying oh‘ of the business. The new municipality of Sydenham—a district adjoining fChristchurch, and larger by 100 acres than our city—held their first meeting last Tuesday evening, and as new brooms sweep clean, so did this new Council pay great attention; to business, for they sat from seven o’clock in the evening until halfpast two o’clock the following morning. This was a sitting with a vengeance ; but evening sittings are always protracted. I believe more than one of our City councillors .already regret having voted for the evening meetings. J . The election of Mayor comes off in a few days. There are at present only two candi- . dates— Mr James Grapes, the present Mayor, and Mr Henry Thomson, one of the councillors. I don't hear of any others who are likely to come forward. Councillor Ick (please do try and spell this gentleman’s name correctly this time—l-c-k, not J-c-k), who was a candidate last year, having decided not to contest the election this. I hear that -the gentlemen of Athe bettingring ‘ have had some slippery customers through their fingers this time, and that a good many of these have paid their debts of honour with the foretopsail, and taken their departure for other fields and pastures new. Although “ settling” day is so long over,'more than one of the talent is to be seen daily at the Railway Station, and other places of resort, eagerly scanning the faces of those about with a view of finding the missing links. If they don’t come up to the scratch better next year, and shell out their losses like men, the bookmakers declare that they will give Christchurch a wide berth, and that our fine old Cathedral City shall know them no more. Dear! dear! that would be sad indeed. A man named Petley was yesterday committed for trial for trying to knock his wife’s brains out. It was proved by the evidence that for more than a week past he had expressed his intention to do for her, and that he had been carrying a weapon concealed about him. On the day of the assault lie met her (they were not living together), and struck her four times on the head with a tomahawk that he had concealed about him. The woman fell senseless, but, although -severely wounded, she is now quite out of danger. The line of evidence for the defence was unfaithfulness on the-part of the wife, which she, however, strenuously denied. There have been several changes in the police here which have created a good deal of dissatisfaction. In the first place, Mr Inspector Feast, of the detective force, was removed from Christchurch to Kaiapoi, a •small county village about twelve miles away. He had no sooner got comfortably settled down than he was ordered to hold himself ready to take charge of a district on the West Coast. At the same time Inspector Buckley, in charge of the Christchurch district, was removed to Kaiapoi (what promotion !) while an inspector is coming from the West Coast to take his place, all of which plainly proves that the late police changes have not been of a beneficial character, and that they are of a cruel and harassing character so far as some of the police officers are concerned. If the Government that was the cause of these changes could be shipped away to some cool corner of the moon,’ and the old state of things brought back again, the police force of the colony would have reason to be grateful. . , ~, A long and elaborate inquiry has been held before the Secretary to the Board of Education into the alleged case of flogging a Cathbliccbqy-:for refusing.:to read tbedßible at the public school atLoburn. The evidence is now in the hands of the Board of. Education, who will pronounce their decision next Thursday. The importation of 50,000 salmon ova from America has so far been a great success. The young fish are hatching out splendidly, and the loss on the whole will not, I should think, be fifteen per cent. The Indian Famine Fund list has now finally closed. The total amount collected was £s,olß—truly, a noble offering from the people of Canterbury to their starving brethren in India. More loans, Mr Editor. This time our Harbour Board is going in for a small sum to meet their present requirements. Twenty-, five thousand is all they ask, and of course they will get it without difficulty. But if we wanted twenty-five shillings—well, perhaps we would get it too, by an appeal to “Uncle” Sam or the Mont de PietS.

Our poor road roller! it is in greater trouble than 'eveE weeks' ago, in answer to an application from a,Road Board, bur City Council resolved^ to let the roller out for the-use of the district in question-for two guineas a -day;-* - But • the Road Board, being of a money-making turn of mind, thought they would 1 improve the Occasion and make ijay while the sun . shone; SOv: they; let it out: to private' individuals at twelve shillings an hour. But, alas! it got' into bad hands,, and now its “ biler is busted.” Fortunately the fireman was not injured, as lie. leapt off the machine just in time to save his skin. It strikes me very forcibly that this very expensive toy, wliicb cost something like a thousand pounds, will become a white elephant toi the city oE Christchurch yet.' I shouldn’t wonder if we make you an offer of .it- —cheap. The butchers and bakers Had tbeir annual Cricket Match on Thursday last, when the men of dough licked the men of meat by 34 points. And in the evening, when they fed together at Cookson’s Garrick Hotel, they voted themselves the finest players in the universe, and (at a late hour) had almost made up tbeir minds to challenge an English Eleven. But this might have been partly due to the strength of host Cookson’s refreshments. '/.' M "/■ Neither of the theatres have been doing a big stroke during the week—though the Gaiety has had decidedly the best of it. At the Royal, they have been playing to almost empty benches, notwithstanding the fact that Mr Hydes was producing some “ startling novelties,” having been engaged expressly for that purpose. That gentleman took a benefit on Friday, which, I regret to say, was very poorly altended. On the same night Mrs Hall had a benefit at the Gaiety, when she had a large and appreciative audience. Mr Graham has severed his connection with Mr Hoskins, and has accepted an engagement with Mr Hall. This is one of the changes I liinted at last week. Mr Hoskins loses a good man—and, I think, makes a great mistake in allowing Mr Graham to go—but, of course, he knows his own business best. Mr Walton opened last night at the Royal, with “ The Two Roses. There was a large audience, and the piece was a big hit. It was well played all round, and is likely to run for some nights. I shouldn’t like to pronounce any opinion on Mi* Walton, only having seen him in the one part —in which, I must confess, lie did not make a very striking impression upon me. Still it would be unfair to judge from one p«J#formance, and no doubt if he lias a stock of new and good pieces with him, his engagement will be a success. The next production is the “ Shaughraun,” which is sure to make a hit.