NEWS OF THE DAY

South Canterbury Times, Issue 6246, 19 June 1890, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Harbour Board staff were busy yesterday getting the slip ready for the reception of Mr John Jackson’s schooner Spray. The Spray will be floated on as scon as she is clear of cargo, and will be thoroughly overhauled and painted. The Olayo Daily Times says : —The executive of the Farmers’ Union are inviting expressions of opion from the various farmers’ clubs in Otago on the advisability of New Zealand federating with Australia if intercolonial free trade is granted, and also as to the support which farmers will give a farmers’ co-operative company.

We learn that Mr P. Morrison is to be entertained at a smoke concert on Friday evening at the Club Hotel. Mr Morrison has with him the championship medals ho won in Sydney. They are large circular gold medals, with a broad floral border and convex centre piece, on which the inscriptions are engraved. Though they are fine pieces of work they are hardly as neat as the Hew Zealand championship medals, and are rather spoilt through the letters “ A.A.A.” being put on in blue. The Wanganui Herald, of the 13th inst., states that the Maori, Uranga Kaiwhare, charged with the murder of his wife at Piraunui, some 60 miles up the Waitolara river, was brought into Wanganui on the previous evening, and on being brought before a J.P. was remanded for eight days. The police are without evidence save that of Natives, and their stories differ very much. One version is to the effect that accused kicked his wife, three times, breaking her back on the last occasion. Another story is to the effect that Kaiwhare knocked in the woman’s skull. It is also stated that the brother of Raita, the deceased, says that the woman died from natural causes, and on the other hand we are told that this same Native has under the law of TJtu claimed compensation from the accused for the death of his sister.

We extract the following from the Oamaru Mail ; —Mr 0. Jessep has just returned from a visit to the Geraldine district, where he has been in search of land on which to settle with his family. He says that South Canterbury is greatly ahead of North Otago in point of settlement, and that he could not, after seeing the difference between these two parts of the colony, feel contented to make a new home here. He says that this district reminds him of an opossum rug with a fringe of rabbit skins—the large estates, with a number of beggarly settlers around them eking out an existence. The reverse is the case in Geraldine, and other parts of South Canterbury, where there is a large number of small and thriving settlers. In his opinion, Oamaru is a very beautiful town, possessing many natural advantages, but Timaru has the still greater advantage of being the entrepot of a populous back country. Mr Jessep would gladly have remained in this district, which has been his home for so many years, and in which his children were born, but he is being driven out of it by the impossibility of getting land at anything like a price that would enable him to make a living. He had hoped to get a piece of the Station Peak property, but so small a portion of that property is to be disposed of at present, and it is being administered in such a way that there is no hope that he would be successful in carrying bis wish into effect. The already too numerous army of persons who intend to compete against each other for one of the few areas being doled out by the government with a niggardly liand, will therefore be relieved of one competitor. Mr Jessep is very sore about the advantages which capitalists will have in connection with the disposal of the land that will be open for competition on the 24th of this month. He points out that the runholders in the vicinity can purchase these .lands without any obligation to settle upon them, and that they may be purchased by speculators with a view to making a profit out of their investments. There is, he adds, nothing in the absence of settlement and improvement conditions to prevent these people from mopping up the whole lot by the use of dummies, and thus shutting out the legitimate settler, who would have to wait for a still further period for the consummation of his desire to get a plot of land to save him from the necessity of either starving or leaving the country. I

The Wellington 'Evening Post says: —“ The Defence Department is understood to bo engaged in the preparation of an elaborate scheme of re-organisation of the defences of the colony, based on the suggestions contained in the report of Major-General Edwards. One of the main feature of the new programme is, wo hear, the creation of several new highlypaid military oflioers, for which, no doubt, the occupants are already duly designated. The scheme is one of very large proportions, and will involve a corresponding increase in the defence vote. The Volunteers are hereafter to take quite a subordinate position amongst the defenders of the country, and a partially-paid force is to form the prominent feature in the defence of the future 5 that is, if Parliament approves of the scheme, which, wo venture to think, is exceedingly problematical ; although we believe that the Defence Minister and his subordinates are confident of its being accepted. Time will show what grounds exist for such confidence."

Vice-admiral George Tryon is endeavouring to convince his countrymen (writes the London correspondent of the Auckland Herald) that it is imperative that the State should insure vessels and cargoes against war risks, and he advances arguments well deserving attention. Lord Wolseley ridicules " the starvation theory ” which drives pessimists to advocate instantaneous submission if England experienced a defeat in a great naval war. Admiral Tryon on the contrary admits that the national food supply might fall short, and significantly suggests that “ starving men will not reason or wait.” He points out that although the Forth bridge used up 51,000 tons of steel, that weight is 200 times less than that of the food wo import annually, or considerably less than that imported on an average every two days. Admiral Tryon contends that if the State boro the cost when a vessel and cargo were captured or destroyed the conditions of ordinary insurance would bo but little affected. The State would not feel the sacrifice, and would derive advantages which would be of immense benefit.

ADELINA PATTI. MDMB. ADELINA PATTI writes:—"l have found it matchless for the hands and complexion.” (Signed) Adelina Patti, Pears’ Soap, for the Toilet and Nursery. Prevents redness, roughness, and chapping. Sold everywhere. (Advt.) Certainly the best medicine known is Sander and Sons’ Eucalypti Extract. Test ts eminently powerful effects in coughs, icolds, influenza ; the relief is instantaneous In serious cases, and accidents of all kinds, be they wounds, burns, scaldings, bruises, sprains, it is the safest remedy—no. swelling —no inflammation. Like surprising effects, produced in croup, diphtheria, bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs, swellings, etc.; diarrhoea, dysentery,'diseases of the kidneys, and urinary organs. In use at hospitals and medical clinics all over the globe ; patronised by His Majesty the King of Italy ; crowned with medal and diploma at International Exhibition, Amsterdam. Trust in this approved article end reiect all others, f Advt.]