The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1880.

Southland Times, Issue 3779, 2 August 1880, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1880.

" The Kellys." — This drama was repeated at Sloan's Theatre on Saturday before a moderate audience. Vital Stati.-tics. — The vital statistics of Invercargill district for the past month are as follows: — Births, 57 ; deaths, 15 ; marriages, 7. Divine Service. — The Rev. Father Kehoe intimate* that he will offer tbe most holy racrifice of the Mass at Dipton, on Sunday next. Bth mat. Sloan's Theatre. — Mr Ernest Price's beneiit conceit takes place «t this house tonight. The programme appears in our other columns. The Municipal Loan. — It will be observed from an advertisement in our other columns that the poll of the ratepayers on the question of the £20,000 loan is to be taken on Monday next. Date Altered. — We have to call attention to an alteration in the date of Mr Osborue's sale of stock at McDonald aud Noble's farm. In consequence of the Champion Ploughing Match taking place on Friday next, for which day the sale was fii^t advertised, it has been altered to Thursday, the sth inst. Southland Champion Ploughing Match. —The meeting of committee called for consideration of rules and prize list was held in Galbraith's Hotel on Saturday. Last year's rules, with some slight modifications, were adopted, and the altocatiou of the prizes, which, from their number, occupied a considerable tiuae, will be seen from the list in our advertising columns. Theatre Koyal. — A large audience assembled at this place of entertainment ou Saturday night, when the burlesque of •' Brown among the Brahmins" was again performed, but it proved to be a very mdifferent represen cation, principally owing to the presence of some by no means talented amateurs in the cast. There wis a very liberal gift distribution at the close of the entertainment. Town Property.— At Mr G. F. Martin's sale on Saturday a section in the upper portion of Dee street, adjoining Mr Pinkiert's establishment, and uumbered on the map 16, block LXXII., fetched a good price. The allotment had been subdivided, aud the onehalf (on which stands the house of Mr Fraser, monumental sculptor) brought £1050, the purchaser being Mr R. Blackham ; the other subdivision was knocked down to Mr Richards at £950. Football. — The match, Civil Service v Town, came off on Saturday in the Western Reserve, and was witnessed by a good number of spectators. The play throughout was very good, tiie most conspicuous being that of Morgan, who succeeded in making an excellent "run through. The Town team proved inti.-li stronger than their oppouents throughout lhe match, securing two trys. The ma: h iheiefore resulted iv favor of the Town ream. Campbell rowN. — Our Campbelltown corlespoudeiit writes :—'• The Rev Father Hii,'pins, when on a visit to the members of his denomination at the Bluff last week, applied for tbe use of the school after school hours for the purpose of instructing the children of his flock. It would be well, I think, if ministers of all denominations could be brought to see their duty iv this matter iv thus '"providing for the want in the present Education Act. The rev. gentleman named above certainly merits praise for thus meetiug thelifficultv.'' Poisoned — A man named Turner was received into the Hospiial yesterday from the A' ; .i,ne-t -Pi'ion. It seems he has been era-jd-.ye-l for s..me time past in mixing phosphor is with grain, aud the other day inhaled more of the former than his constitution could stand. The probability is that the unfortuuate fellow fyad the phosphorus in the room in which he slept, and through closing the dooi was affected by the fumes, though on this point we have no definite information. Turner, who is iv a very weak condition, was brought into town by a special train that came in from Waimea during yesterday. Public i MfKKT.'.ixMENTri Prouibitjoh Bill: — fhe ■•• eiiingu-n t'osi states that :he. Piibiic. Enteri.-.iniueuLs Prohibition Bin, introduced by Mr Die : <, and read a first inne, provides thar whenever the Colonial Se -re'.arv shall be of opinion that any proposed pubiic entertainment is iv violation of good manners o decora tn, or has an immoral tendency, or is likely, from the nature of the perforinauce. to be dangerous to the life or limbs of the performer, or cause him or auy other or others actual bodily harm, or has a tendency to cause or lead to a disturbance of the public nonce, he may, by writing under his hand, prohibit the piesentiug, holding or giving of any such entertainment. Every person who holds any pubiicentertainmentso prohibited ■i- w 1 permits or causes the same to be rtMnted, or who takes pirt therein, contrary o s.,eii prohibition, shall oe linble t<> a penal for eveiy such offence not exceeding £50. If the pace of entertainment iv which su. h an offence shall have beeu committed is opened or used under any Act or Ordinance f» :he time being in force, such license or i authority shall become absolutely void.

Rather Vague. — Recently a man at Oxford, in Canterbury, telegraphed to the police at Rangiora as follows: — " Please stop grey horse and take no proceedings against man who is riding it." This was nearly as definite as the famous address, " No. 1, London." Strange if True.— The Hnwke's Ray Herald is responsible for the following: — " A rather curious incident occurred in Hastings street the other day. A gentleman was walking somewhat briskly, and in turning a corner he bumped up againßt a well-known draper. He was about to apologise for hi? clumsiness, when the draper interrupted him with the exclamation, ' You have saved my lifel' and in explanation stated that he had suddenly become lock-jawed, and was on his way to the doctor, in great pain, when the collision effected a speedy and unexpected cure." Explanatory. — In reference to the girl who excited such astonishment at Christchurch recently, by declaring before a court of justice that she knew nothing of religion, the following statement appears in a letter to a Christchurch paper: — "The girl in question bas been a scholar both at tbe Templeton and Yaldhurst schools, at both of which she obtained first prizes of the classes she was in, which have beeu shown to me. I am informed tbat during the time she was a pupil at these schools she regularly attended church. During the interval which elapsed between the time of her leaving the former and going to the latter school she lived with hei mother on Craigie Burn Station, and I am able to say that during that period she had lessons several times a week, the Bible being one of the books from which she read. The girl is of a peculiarly shy disposition, so much so that) she can scarcely be induced to answer strangers intelligibly when they address her. When this is considered, together with the circumstances of her being without her mother in a crowded Court and in a strange place, &c, some, though perhaps not a sufficient, excuse may be found for her manner of answering." A Peep into an Augean Stable.— Under this suggestive heading the Australasian comments forcibly ou the salient features of the Civil Service Commissioners' report, and gives us not a very flattering portait of ourselves as others see us. Oar contemporary makes application of the report to the circumstances of Victoria.and says : — "lf this be the case in New Zealand, what must it have been in Victoria with the hero of the tar-brush at the head of our railways, with Mr Thomas Higiubolham cashiered from motives of 'revenge,' and with hordes of ravenous 'Liberals' to be • lacated by appointments or enriched by jubs 1 A similar inquiry must be undertaken ere long iv this colony, where we shall have to choose between an increase of our already heavy burdens of taxation and a just and necessary revision and retrenchment of our public expenditure. When we bave left off declaiming about the 'power of the purse,' perhaps we shall find time to apply ourselves, like practical people, to the far more important business of protecting it against pillage and prolusion." Spiders as Large as Birds. — The Altn California is responsible for the following. — A short distance from Buena Vista is a cave inhabited by spiders, which differ from other spiders in their enormous size, and are quite useful to the needy people of that region. The cave was discovered last December by a party of sight-seers, aud the spiders and their work were witnessed. On entering the crive, one is hist struck by funny looking webs. They are worked like other webs of spiders, but every fibre is ten times as large as the oues woven by ordinary spiders. Ou passing further into the cave the spiders arc encountered. They are about the size of small birds and make a strong sound while weaving their web. Their webs are so tough and the fibre so large that it is almost an impossibility to break down a web. Some weeks ago, while looking at the cave, a miner got to examiniug the webs. Their strauds were about the size of a No. 12 thread, and he thought they could be used for thread. Having a needle in his possession, he broke off one of the strands and found that it fitted the needle. Sewing on a loose button to test the efficacy, he found itas strong as silk thread, and it answered his every purpose. Since then tbe people have flocked in and carried away hosts of tbe webs,but the spiders do not appear to object in the least. There is some talk among capitalists of starting a thread factory there, and using the webs for thread.