NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3139, 25 April 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr J. Bathgate has received a vote of thanks and confidence from bis constituents at Roslyn,

Toe Grey River is now lower then it has ever bean known to be.

'.rly every township in the Waikato district has a cheese f ’etory.

Anbther diamond pr -nectinn; party has left Auckland to espV.’.o the interior. Mr Steward, M.H.li. is to address his constituents at Waimato on Monday evening next. Twenty eight ions were offered for sale in Dunedin yesterday, but only seven were sold, and of eight deferred payment sections only two were disposed of.

There will be a chess tournament in Dunedin, on the Queen’s Birthday—the pieces to he living persons, The affair is to be in aid of the funds of a suburban church.

One of Mr A. W. Kerr’s troUing boress. and one belonging to Mr Granville, had a trotting match at Nelson yesterday, the distance being six miles. Mr Kerr’s horse won by 50 yards. The stakes were £SO, and the time was 18 minutes,

A good deal of attention has been excited among the Wellingtonians, by the damage done to the breastwork of Waterloo Quay, by the worm known as Lyonnoria. The engineer reports that the condition of the planking is altogether dangerously rotten.

The Thistle Inn, Bridge street, Nelson, was completely gutted by fire early yesterday morning. The only occupants were the owner, George Adams and bis sister, who had barely time to escape. The building was insured in the Colonial office for £250, and the ."took and furniture for £2OO in the Liverpool and London.

The Ol ago School Commissioners have resolved to dispose of one third of a block of 20,000 acres at Waihola on the perpetual leasing system. They also minuted the fact that they took this step against their own convictions under Government pressure, Mr H. Scott has started a local industry in Timaru that ought to be well supported, that of providing kindling wood. We are quite satisfied that once this comes to be generally known, it will succeed admirably, for the chopping up of wood is one of the ills that householders are heir to, and everybody will welcome a bundle of sticks Mr Scott’s advertisement appears in another column.

Richard Bowen, the driver of a steam engine working a threshing machine, was caught in the fly wheel of the r ngine at Tai Tapu yesterday morning His left arm was torn off and his right arm so much injured that amputation is necessary, and he sustained a compound fracture of the left pelvis also. In spite of all he is doing fairly well, and there is a slight probability of saving his lire.

The first auction of pastoral Crown lands in Canterbury under the deferred payment system was held in the Provincial Council Chambers yesterday. There was a large attendance. Mr J. H. Baker, Chief Surveyor, conducted the sale; 30,224 acres 2 roods, sold for £57,802 2s ; average price* £1 18s 3d per acre. The highest price, £3 7s per acre, was obtained for a block of 2014 acres in the Black Hills, Waikari district. The land submitted was in the Hororata, Kowai, Teviotdale and Waikari districts.

With regard to the somewhat sensational account of the bursting of the New Plymouth reservoir, recently telegraphed, Mr Barr, C,E„ supplies the following facts in correction ;—“ Instead of the reservoir being fifteen feet from the cliff it is 304 feet, while the cliff itself, instead of being 300 feet high, is in reality only 128 feet. The crack extends over only a small segment of the reservoir, and does not come within 200 feet of the edge of the cliff.” Mr Barr is of opinion that there must be a bed of sand at the bottom of the reservoir, and a subsidence of this has caused the crack.

A settler at Murdering Beach, near Otago Heads, a place which takes its unpleasant name from the murder by the Maoris located there many years ago of a whaling boat’s crew, has unearthed, in ploughing, the greenstone figure of the Maori god named Tiki. It is about five inches in height, and is a grotesque looking object, the god being represented in a squatting position with his legs joined together, his arms akimbo, and with big staling eyes. In the top of the head aho e has been drilled for the purpose of putting a string through, so as to suspend the figure. An Ohinemutu correspondent of an Auckland journal says;—An event affording considerable amusement and consternation occurred here on Saturday, The statue of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, lately presented to the Arawas, was being placed in position at Tauatakupa when a cart arrived with an escort of police, who took possession of the illustrious figure and carried it off to the look-up to keep company with the Maori diety Matuatonga, whose term of imprisonment has not yet expired. No reason was given for the proceeding.

A Dunedin report of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Dr Luck, contains the following:—Bishop Luck has no claim to be considered an elocutionist. He did not attempt to deal in theological subtleties, nor did he summon to his aid the least particle of passionate force. If the right reverened gentleman possesses any of that majesty of imagination and spiritual fire which are so effective in electrifying an audience, he managed to beep them religiously in the background on Sunday evening. But on the other hand his manner was entirely free from that fretful pruriency of style which distinguishes so many of our pulpit orators. In listening to Bishop Luck, the knowledge that the preacher was a high dignitary of the Church did not strike the hearer with the same force as did the fact that the speaker was evidently a Christian gentlemen.