NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2912, 26 July 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

J. M. Shepherd is on his way down the coast to Timaru.

The Frisco mail should arrive here by Express to-morrow. The Woodstock rush appears, according to the " West Coast Times,” to be doing remarkably well, A mania for emigration seems to have set in in Edinburgh, The emigrants are mostly working men.

J. L. Hall has met with an enthusiastic reception in Wellington, in the new comedy of“ The Guv’nor.”

Telegraphic communication between Hong Kong and Shanghai is restored, and that to Amoy will shortly be also restored. Mr Denton’s lectures provoked an im mense lot of criticism in Auckland. They drew immense audiences though.

In the divorce Court Wellington, yesterday in the case of Levoi v. Levoi, a rule nisi was granted against the wife. Severe shocks of earthquake, have been felt during the last three days in various parts of the North Island. Mr W. Seed, Inspector of Machinery retires on pension, having been appointed Manager of the Wellington Trust Loan and Investment Society.

The Exhibition buildings have been sold in parts. for £2628, being £IOOO less than was offered and refused for the whole on Monday.

Greymouth and Brunner will be in telephonic communication in a fortnight’s time ; the material for a telephone service having arrived. The wife of Boardman, a seamen of the b.b. Oreti, was found in her house the other day, comatose from drink. She is not expected to recover. Only one case presented itself at the R.M. Court, Waimate, yesterday. One man charged with drunkenness was fined five shillings or in default' 24 hours. J. Manchester, Esq, was on the Bench. An outbreak of convicts is reported from Noumea (New Caledonia). Seven were shot by the soldiers, and the outbreak quelled. The authorities did not allow the matter to be noticed by the local newspapers.

It is reported that some mischievous person ‘ spiked ’ the garrison gun at Patiti Point yesterday. If ever there arose a probability of having to use this weapon in earnest it would be necessary to place sentries over it.

The poll held yesterday on the water supply in Christchurch created great excitement. At the close the numbers were —Against, 1386 ; for, 900. The votes in favor, however, were much in excess of those at last polling Shares in the Keep it dark Mining Company, Reef ton, advanced five shillings within an hour, owing to intelligence of good stone having been struck. The Imperial has also struck good stone.

Constable Hillard has arrived in Dunedin from Victoria to endeavour to clear up the mystery about one Forbes, said to have been murdered at Stawell, but who is known to have worked on the Tuapeka diggings. The Waimate Agricultural and Pastoral Association held a meeting on the 22nd inst. in the Club Hotel, Mr Michael Studholme (President) in the chair. It was decided to endeavor to form a dairy factory, and other industries in connection with agriculture. This enterprise promises to be successful; and, if so, it will materially augment the prosperity of the* district. There was a well-attended meeting on Monday evening last, in the Wesleyan Church, Pareora, Mr Thomas Jefcoate presiding. The object of the meeting was to take steps to provide a harmonium for church use. It appeared that the various denominations had been co-operating in the spread of the Gospel in the district. It was determined to give a concert at Pareora at an early date in aid of the harmonium fund.

Reuter’s agent in Wellington has addressed a circular to the various newspapers in the colony, explaining the error in grain quotations, pointed out some time ago by the Farmer’s Co-operative Association. It appears the Sydney agent quoted New South Wales m heat instead of Now Zealand, The error is now rectified, and the quotations are said to be strictly correct.

Bishop Selwyn, of Melanesia, has been offered and has refused, the Bishopric of ' delfdde, on the ground that knowing his own fitness for the more ardous labors of his present position, he feels as though it would be a base desertion of duty on his part to go elsewhere. Something like a bishop I

I The Hon. John Eals’ stables at Maitland, N.S.W., were destroyed by fire yesterday. The racehorses Roberto and Sunshine, and another, perished in the flames. The tender of W. Carlton has been accepted for High School buildings in Dunedin. The amount of the tender is £14,819. Secondary education in New Zealand is a oostly affair. Mr Thomas Buchanan of Wellington, formerly manager of the Bank of Australia and National Bank branches in that city, and lately of the Wellington Trust and Loan Company, has been appointed manager of the London Chartered Bank in Melbourne.

A public meeting is to be called for Monday evening next, to consider the case of the persecuted Jews in Southern Russia, The members of the Jewish persuasion in this district are convening the meeting,

Yesterday afternoon in Dunedin, a mass of bricks fell at a new building, and buried a man named Wells and a lad named Gow. Both have sustained fracture of the skull. It having been stated that the building was run up in bad style, an inquiry will be held, iEgles in the Australasian says A month ago there were three sets of building premises to let in Lombard street, in consequence of the banks which occupied them having gone into liquidation—one of its own free will, and two upon compulsion. This is rather a curious phase of British banking, and we shall probably find the editor of a local banking journal inviting comparison with Australian banking in this respect. The Colonial Sugar Defining Company requested the Auckland Harbor Board to reclaim the foreshore in front of their property at North Shore, If hot granted this concession, they declared they would have to go elsewhere in the colony. The application was referred to the Works Committee.

A servant girl at the Masonic Hotel, Cambridge (near Auckland), was a short time ago thought to be pregnant. She denied it, however ; but yesterday the cry of a child was heard, and on the arrival of the police she was found to have given birth to a child, and to have buried it behind a pigatye. She has been arrested for infanticide.

jEgles says :—ln Christchurch they have an idea that they are art lovers. They have imagined that they had a burning thirst for the good pictures. But it is easily quenched. I understand that an art collection of merit, taken there at the time of the Christchurch Exhibition, has been open, but the walls are not stripped yet. The other day one of the passionate artlovers inquired the price of a fine picture by a well-known French artist. The proprietor informed him that the price was £190.. He looked at the owner incredulously and said “Do you mean it?” “Certainly,” was the reply. And then with the loftiest scorn, the enthusiast slowly said, “ Well I you must think me a (not mentionable) fool!” In our issue of last evening l there was a telegraphic epitome of the report of the commission on the Benevolent Asylum. The text of the commissioners’ concluding remarks was as followsWe cannot conclude this re. port without expressing our high sense of the present excellent management and state of efficiency of the Asylum. The interior management reflects the highest credit on Mrs Quinn, and the excellence of the general arrangements is abundantly attested by the general comfort and contentment of the inmates, and the almost unanimous chorus of negations with which our invitation to make complaints was made.”