General News

Southern Cross, Volume 4, Issue 1, 4 April 1896, Page 9

General News

With this issue the Southern Cross enters upon its fourth year of publication.

A report has got into circulation to the -effect that the miners killed in the Brunner mine were insured with the Accident Insur ance Co. As a consequence local canvassers for subscriptions were met in a number of cases with a refusal to contribute on that account. Mr Young (hon. sec. of the Relief Committee) accordingly telegraphed to the Mayor of Brunnerton on the subject, and on Thursday received the following reply from the Mayor, Mr John Ward : —“Regret to learn of incorrect report. Miners belong to local accident fund, and receive twenty pounds only at death, which will be used up by funeral expenses. What will keep widows and orphans from care unless we all assist? I can assure you that they are in poor circumstances.”

The Colonial Treasurer has returned to Wellington.

A team representing the Dunedin Football Club plays against the I.F.C. on the Union Grounds to-day.

Steps were taken to requisition the Hon. .J. G. Ward to stand for Invercargill, but the movement was abandoned owing to his determination to seek re-election at the hands •of the Awarua electors.

An inquest was held on Monday evening touching the death of a girl named Elizabeth Htenton, who died on 19th March. The jury found that death was due to peritonitis brought on by inflammation resulting from abortion, but that there was no evidence to show when, by whom, or in what manner :abortion had been Drought about.

The heads of Jthree families in a township in New South Wales went’to a dance, leaving five children in bed, with a lamp burning on the table. The room caught fire, and the five children were suffocated.

Messrs Rodgers Bros recently submitted to our inspection two copies of a new illustrated in the shape of “ The Army and Navy.” It is issued in monthly parts, and will form an exceedingly attractive and interesting volume of picture ’ and letter-press. Portaits of noted men in the army and navy ? with sketches of men-of-war and representa. Hves of various regiments are among the contents.

Meetings for the election of school committees will be held on the evening of 27th April. Particulars of procedure to be followed are advertised by the Education Board. A Chinaman named AhYow, a local retailer of vegetables, has been{sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for grossly indecent behaviour at George street, North Invercargill, on the 17th ult. Mr Poynton remarked that the nature of the offence •would not justify any leniency. Station skins (says a Vic. paper) are, in most instances, dried in the sun and left exposed to the weather till the pelts are useless for tanning purposes, the absence of a •sound basil taking at least a penny per pound off their value.

The First Presbyterian Church was crowded on Wednesday last with an eager and atten live audience, the occasion being the wedding of Mr D. Blue and Miss Ada Geddes, both well-known musically in town. The bride looked charming in white satin with tulle veil and sprays of orange blossoms, while the bridesmaids (Misses Ethel Geddes and Blue) were also tastefully dressed. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Gibson Smith, assisted by the Rev. W. White, of Wallace, town Mr D. Blue had Messrs J. Blua and J. McDougall as best men, while Mr Geddes gave away his talented daughter. Appropriate hymns were sung by the choir, led by Mr 0. Gray, who also played the wedding march as the party left the church. Ip the afternoon a goodly number sat down to a bountiful spread, and with toasts and speeches and many well-wishes a pleasant hour was spent. The happy couple left in the afternoon for Gore, en route to Dunedin In the evening the Temperance hall was well filled with the young and the agile, and with dancing and singing and right royal feasting, the hours fled all too quickly. Before the close, Mr McKellar, who had acted as M.C., proposed three hearty cheers for Mr and Mrs Geddes, which were given again and again. The wedding presents were numerous and costly. May the duet matrimonial be as happy as the many friends of Mr and Mrs . Blue expect it to prove.

The third series . of London wool sales is fixed W open bn 28th April, xvith a limit of 325,000 bales, and the fourth series on 30th June with a limit of 375,000 bales.

The banks will not be re-opened for business till Wednesday, Tuesday being a special bank holiday.

'The Melbourne Stock and Station Journal of 18th March reported that there was a good demand for all descriptions at the folllowing prices : —New Zealand cocksfoot, 4Jd to sd; Victorian cocksfoot, 4d to 44d ; New Zealand rj e-grass at 4s 3d to 4s6dper bushel; Tasmanian rye-grass at 3s 6d per bushel.

The bodies of all the victims of the Brunner mine accident (67 in number) have been recovered. Relief measures have been instituted throughout the colony.

The Invercargill Burns Club has 272 members andacredit balance of £25 15s,

Mr R. McNab, M.H.R., addressed a meeting of the Mafcaura electors at Woodlands on Tuesday, and received a vote of thanks and confidence.

An aerolite of considerable size passed over Invercaigill shortly before 5 p.m. on Briday, 27th March. It was seen by people in several widely separated parts of the district, but very few of our citizens appear to have noticed it, although a good many, about the time mentioned, heard a noise which they put down to a peal of thunder. One local observer compared the aerolite to a rocket. From the Home papers we learn that an aerolite passed over Madrid on the evening of Monday, 10th Feb. The phenomenon was accompanied by a vivid glare of blinding light, followed by a loud report, All the buildings in the city were shaken, and many windows were smashed. Madrid Observatory states that the explosion occurred at a height of twenty miles above the earth’s surface, A later telegram says The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly at the time of the explosion, all that visible in the heavens being a white cloud bordered with red, which was travelling eastward with great speed, leaving behind it a train of fine light dust. Panic was general throughout the city. Many persons fainted, and the superstitious populace believed that the occurrence was significant of Divine wrath. At the tobacco manufactory there was a stampede amongst the work-women, who imagined, that an earthquake had occurred. They all rushed pell-mell down a staircase, which gave way beneath the exceptional weight. Seventeen of them were injured. Other accidents are reported from various quarters in the city. Many shopkeepers closed their doors. Not only were the buildings shaken, but one house collapsed. Several small pieces of greyish stone still warm were picked up in-Madrid. Train arrangements and fares for Easter Monday are advertised. A requisition asking Captain Russell, leader of the Opposition, to address a meeting in Invercargill, has been in course of circulation during the last few days. The Southland Volunteers left for the Dunedin encampment on Thursday even ■ ing. At the last meeting of the Shamrock, Rose, and Thistle Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M.U., Bro. A. C. Mitchell was presented with a P.G.’s emtlem. The presentation was felicitiously made by P.P.G.M. Bro. F. G. Stone, and happily acknowledged by Bro. Mitchell. During the past two years £7OOO has been spent in relief works in Wellington. Advice has been received that the following members of the Invercargill Shorthand Writers’ Association have obtained certificates from Sir Isaac Pitman as the result Of the examination held in December last :—- 180 words a minute, Mr A. W. Southland School of Shorthand; 100 words a minute, G. Shand, N.Z. Loan Co. ; 80 words a minute, Miss Nicol and Messrs J. A. Preshaw, W. J. Worthington, and A. R. Macdonald. Proficiency certificates were gained by Miss Hunter (Winton), and Messrs Denehy and Purdue. The results, in view of the fact that the Association was only started last year, are highly satisfactory. Mr Nicol is, we believe, the holder ef the highest speed certificate yet obtained in New Zealand, and well deserves the distinction, for ? which he has worked like a Trojan.

' tie annual fair under the auspices dl the Southland Metropolitan A. and P. Association will be held at Wallacetown Crossing on Thursday, 9th inst.

Mr W. Hutchison, M.H.R., has addressed his constituents in Dunedin. He condemned the banking legislation and declared it to be a blunder, politically and financially. While criticising the Government, and particularly their present attitude on the unemployed question, he gave them general support as he considered the present Ministry the best there had ever been in the colony. A voce of thanks and confidence in the member and also in the Ministry was carried.

The inquiry held by Judge Ward into the management of the Ashburn Hall Lunatic Asylum and the treatment of the late Mr Macalister, chemist, was concluded on Thursday. His Honour said it was bis duty to forward the report to the Governor, without expressing an opinion just then.

“ Rolf Bolderwood,” the pen name of the author of “ Robbery Under Arm and other Australian stories, will likely visit Invercargill ere long. Particulars of the drowning of two Wairoa (Hawkes Bay) sheep farmers on Thursday show that Clunie and Orr were fording s ome bullocks, and both men waded in to force them over. Suddenly they slipped over the edge of a rock and immediately got into difficulties, there being a slight fresh at the time. Clunie’s son, aged about 15, shouted from the river bank for them to strike out, as a few strokes would have brought them to safety, but Orr suddenly went down, shouting to the boy “ Look to your father.’’ Th boy put off in a boat, but his father sank when he was within a couple,,of yards of him. Both bodies were recovered. Clunie leaves a wife and seven children and a brother in Auckland. Orr was unmarried and has relatives at Napier. He had only recently taken up a run and was stocking it.