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South Canterbury Times, Issue 5013, 22 May 1889, Page 3

Mr D. Owers is having an electric light installation put into his main road store. The water main was tapped to-day for a two-inch pipe to supply a 3 h.p. motor, located in the cellar. This will drive a very neat little 2 h.p. dynamo of 18 c.p. nominal, by Statter and Co., supplied by Mr Postlethwaite, who undertakes the fixing of the plant. The concrete bed for the motor is built, the wires are being fixed to day, and Mr Owers expects to bo able to light up on Saturday night. The motor will be made use of for other purposes, grinding coffee and spices pto. Mr Owers is Ip be complimented on his enterprise. Fruit of all kinds has been unusually plentiful in the neighborhood of Auckland this season, but the growers have made very little out of it. One orchardist shipped between 400 and 500 cases of apples and netted only 7d per bo?f. Another sent 12cwt of pears to Auckland, and was 2a 6d out of pocket iffter paying charges. It is said a “ring " exists in the city to prevent sales of more than a certain quantity. The proper pourgo for the growers is ob.vioua —preserve.

The Spauieh Government has asked the Governments of Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Franco and other nations which have treaties of commerce with Spain to consent to modifications in the existing tariff duties on foreign alcohols.

It was rumored in town to-day that Mr Birrel hadjbecn seen in Sydney, but the police have not been made aware of the fact, if it is a fact.

The Borough Council workmen have now made a good progress at reducing George street to tho adopted level. With such fine weather as is ruling just now the job should be very quickly got out of hand. “Delicious weather”—“the pleasantest season of tho year ” say many people nowadays, and with reason. Such beautiful clear days, calm and bright, could not he improved upon.

There appears to be a greater demand for-property in Oamaru than there has been for years. Tho other day a property changed hands at £3OOO for which no offer could be got some time ago.

Typo states that Mr E. B. Peacock, well known in Timaru end Napier, has gone into business in Melbourne, having in conjunction with his brother started the City Printing Office, in Bourko Street. Mr Peacock was for several years in the jobbing room of the Timaru Herald.

Mr E. Gray, of Buapebu, states that the steam from the hot lake on the top of that mountain, which has been continually emitted for several years past, has during the last month been gradually lessening in volume, and lately has entirely ceased. There is some talk of erecting a new opera house in Dunedin, Mr Jules Joubert, a man of some experience in such matters, warns the citizens not to have it, unless it can be so placed as to bo entirely detached from other buildings, so that plenty of ways of escape 1 from fire can be provided. The Bight Eev. Dr Grimes, who is to open the new Catholic Church at Pleasant Point, will arrive in Temuka on Saturday next by the express train, and will be the guest of Father Fauvel. His Lordship will be accompanied by the Bev. Father Aubrey, a distinguished Spriest who has recently arrived from Home, and who will chant mass at the opening of the new church. In parts of Norway and Sweden, where during the summer there is almost continuous daylight, barley crops are grown with only from six to eight weeks intervening from seed-time to harvest. Now, we see how slow plants are to change 'their habits, from the example of the deciduous trees of high latitudes, which continue to shed their leaves when transferred to warm climates in preparation for a winter that never comes. How long would this quick-growing Norwegian barley retain its habit of hurry if cullivated in New Zealand ? It would be worth experimenting upon, for if it would retain this habit for a good many years and grow well it 1 should be a valuable grain. At the sitting of the Board of Reviewers for Eden County, Mr J. B. Russell, who appeared in support of an objection of his own, somewhat revolutionised the proceedings of the Court. Hitherto the valuer has simply had to appear, and the objector had to support his own valuation. Mr Bussell contended that the valuer should be placed in the position of plaintiff and be compelled to prove his claim, and that the objector as defendant should have the right to crossexamine him as to the basis of his valuation. The Board admitted the justice of this course, and Mr Seaman, the valuer, was submitted to a very severe course of cross-examination by Mr Bussell.

A somewhat curious blunder has created a good deal of amusement at Wellington, The Colonial Secretary, or his secretary, forwarded to the local benevolent institution a pamphlet entitled “ Christianity, The Poor Man’s Friend.” It appears, however, that the chairman of the trustees of the institution is the Jewish Babbi, Hext evening there was a strong protest made against the Colonial Secretary disseminating literature of this kind “ under the Government frank.”

A nice sort of father turns up at Auckland. A pretty little girl, eight years of age, was found by the police living with her mother (who had left her husband) in a house of ill fame, and was taken out and charged under the Industrial Schools Act. The father stepped forward in Court and offered to take charge of the child. He would have taken her before, but he was afraid to go near his wife ! and ho hoped the police would help him to keep the .child. An Auckland paper, jealous of the good fame of the city, says;—After the prominence which the Wellington papers gave to the accounts of misconduct by the Auckland volunteers at the Easter encampment, it would be interesting to know whether they devoted the same space and used the same big black headings when writing about the Wellington “ Hoodlum " Brigade, and their “ disgraceful proceedings." The old adage that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones has been fully illustrated in this instance, for although the Auckland volunteers were badly enough behaved, as everyone admits, the Wellingtonians should bo the last people in the world to make a song about it. Speaking to a deputation at Hamilton (Auckland) the other day, Mr McKerrow, Chief Commissioner of Bailways, said that he had for nearly thirty years done his best to induce people to settle on thejlands of the colony, and that ho would still devote his ■attention to this matter, as he thought it of the utmost importance to the future well being of Now Zealand to raise an agricultural population. Ho also said that after having travelled all over the colony he was particularly struck with the immense amount of road-making that had been done everywhere, and he fe't convinced that in no country in the world of the same age as New Zealand could such a’rccord in this line be shown. The quality of the roads and bridges as a whole was excellent, and nearly all the work in this lino had been done within less than thirty years. The noted quality of the Colfee made in the Cafes of Turkey, France, and America is chiefly due to the fact that only Fresh Boasted Coffee is used ; so that none of the volatile oil and other essentials are lost. Ask your grocer for Anderson’s Coffee, and you will have a beverage alike refreshing and stimulating, as it is fresh roasted and ground at the factory, Timavn. —FAuyt.]