The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 26th DECEMBER, 1889.

Southland Times, Issue 11341, 26 December 1889, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 26th DECEMBER, 1889.

Cable News. — A fire in Sydney has destroyed the U.S. >S. Co. 's stores and three shiploads of New Zealand produce. The insurances are not known, but the National and South British offices are believed to hold the more important risks. "Very full information is cabled re the prize fignt between Slavin and Smith, an exhibition that is likely to e,o a long way towards stopping such events. The London police are taking steps I to suppress what are known as glove fights. A Frenchman with bullet holes in his body has been found in Queensland. He tells his own tale, but is believed to be one of our undesirable neighbours from New Caledonia. The Rev. G. Spurgeon is again seriously ill. Dissensions are springing up among the London labourers. A meeting of Irish agriculturists has formulated their views of how prosperity is to be restored in the Green Isle. The reported death of Fonesca, the Brazilian revolutionary leader, is denied. G Battery. — A general meeting of this corps is called for Friday evening to consider whether detachments can be sent to Dunedin for the gun competition there. The Speculative Mania. — The O.D. Times learns on reliable authority that the late MrG. H. Ashcroft's defalcations amount to fully L6OOO. The railway account suffers to the extent of considerably over LIOOO, St. Paul's Church fund about LI3QO, and the balance is made up t>i trust funds and dishQttoured cheques,

1 Telephonic Communication.— rThe work of extending the telephone system to Wai-. , aniwa is now being carried out by a party of men under Mr H. S. Hunter, and the first station on the line, Waikiwi, will soon be connected with the central exchange. The next station will ?be Wallacetown Junction where doubtless the means of communication with town will be a great convenience, especially on sale days. Propebty Sales.— The South New Zealand Finance Co have disposed of three town properties recently at satisfactory prices. They comprise a comfortable six-roomea 1 house and section in Eye street, formerly owned by Mr Rooney ; a large eigbt-roomea house and acre of land in Avenal And a coJP tage and quarter-acre in Elles road. In each case the property is for an owner who intends to personally occupy it. Local Industry. — Mr YeV c Almao invites residents and visitors alike to inspect his stock of hats and caps. In anticipation of the holiday trade he has been " making up " extensively of late and besides having a great variety and unexceptional quality in his various lines, has kept himself abreast of the times in the matter of style. In addition to ready-made head gear of all masculine sorts, he is always prepared to book an order for a specialty, and will undertake to" turn out the article perfect in every respect on the shortest notice. Hard to Kill. — A curious illustration of the strength and bitterness of the antiSemitic feeling in Germany has been afforded by an incident which has just occurred at Leipsic. Mendelssohn's long connection with that place suggested to the churchwardens of St. Thomas that it would be a graceful thing to erect a stained glass window in the church as a memorial of the great composer. But Mendelssohn was a Jew, and so great an outcry was raised against the " desecration " of a Christian temple by such a memorial, that the project had to be abandoned. A Luckless Traveller, —Mr Walter Prince, electrical engineer, had a narrow escape, from a serious accident last Saturday afternoon. He was a passenger by the express from Christchurch and near Puketeraki he was seated on the platform of a carriage reading a newspaper, when in some unexplained way he fell off. He was found an hour afterwards in an uoconseioiis condition, and was taken to Che Seacliff Hotel, where it was found that beyond a severe shaking he had si^tained no injury. Mr Prince sustained serious injury to his head a few years ago through a fall from a horse in the Lake district, and for a long time his recovery was despaired of. Picnic at Limehiixs. — The annual school sports and picnic were held at Limehills on the 20th inst. in a paddock lent by Mr Swale for the occasion. The weather being excellent a large number of visitors were present, who, thanks to Mr Fuller (the teacher) spent a most enjoyable afternoon. The prizes presented were really handsome, and reflected great credit on the collectors, Misses Jane Cowie and Nora Deegan, while those present were also much indebted to the ladies who catered for the picnic. In the evening the young people assembled in the hall where dancing was kept up till morning. The Gazette. — The Gazette of the 19th inst. notifies the appointment of the chairman of the Wairio Licensing Committee to be the officer to grant licenses under section 15 of the Licensing Act, 1882, within the district contiguous to Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri up to the saddle of McKinnon's Pass, — Mr T. Denniston has been re-ap-pointed a member of the Southland Land Board, and Dr Copland made a public vaccinator for Gore under the Public Health Act. — Letters of naturalisation have been issued to John Naies, wool-sorter, of Georgetown, Invercargill. — Robert Cockerell, of Invercargill, has applied for a patent for a flexible directing disc cog for working on chain belts for dredging, pumping, &c. Following Parnell.— lt seems that Sir Thomas Esmonde,' M.P., has been evicting his tenants on his County Wexford estate. The Daily Express remarks; "The Nationalist papers, with characteristic honesty, have been silent on the subject, and the country is kept in the dark as to the difference between theory and practice in the administration of his property by the popular Home Rule member for South Dublin. The time is opportune for asserting the rights of property while he is in Australia on an eleemosynary expedition to collect funds to replenish the exhausted exchequer of the League. His tenants who may be turned out of their holdings in the meantime will, perhaps, be taken special care of in consideration of his services. " A Madman Lover.— A shocking case of murder and suicide occurred last week at Upton's Hotel, Willowtree, near Quirindi, N.S. W. A man named Montgomery had been for some months paying attentions to a domestic servant at the hotel named Rosetta Bush. He had offered to marry her, but was refused repeatedly. At 5 o'clock on Sunday morning he arrived at the hotel, but nobody noticed anything peculiar in his manner. Early in the afternoon he drew a revolver and shot the girl through the back, the weapon being so close to her that the powder scorched her dress. He fired again, the second shot passing through her head and causing instantaneous death. Immediately afterwards he shot himself through the head, death ensuing in about two hours. The revolver used was fully loaded, and some cartridges were found loose in Montgomery's pocket. Everything pointed to the fact that the man had a murderous intention towards the girl's other admirers, but fortunately they were absent. A letter was found on Montgomery indicating that he would murder them, and. also giving his motives for the deed. He had also told Miss Bush that if she did not marry him he would prevent her from marrying anyone else. Montgomery was a rousabout on a station, and was a steady and industrious man, Mataura. — The promoters of the annual New Years' Day picnic, encouraged by the liberality of the subscriptions this year, feel justified in carrying out arrangements- on a larger scale than on any previous occasion, so that those who attend this, the event of the season in this district, have every prospect of a pleasant outing. The picnic will be held at Mr Gourley's, Maori Bush. — A few of our townsmen have left for the Exhibition, but the general complaint is still that the Railway Commissioners do not or will not understand the wants of the ; people. The excursions advertised do not suit country people at all. To use the language of one of our settlers — " The Christmas Day trip is a fool of a trip : why not a 10s or a 7s 6d excursion to extend over four days instead of two. ITor a man to travel to .Dunedin, visit the Exhibition, return home, and only pull his stockings off once is too bad." — Sheep-shearing is now the order of the day, and good returns are anticipated all round. J Feed for cattle and sheep is abundant this season, and as showing the richness of the pastures the Dairy Factory has jumped up to 1350 gallons as its daily receipts. There are tokens of an abundant harvest ; let us hope the croakers who are predicting low prices will be mistaken. — Own correspondent. Worth Six Months Schooling.— A telegram from Dunedin states that the Railway Commissioners intend making substantial reductions in railway fares in favor of schools, presumably to give pupils facilities for visiting the Exhibition, although the message does not say so. On this subject the Otago Daily Times remarks — " Another class of persons who ought to benefit largely by visiting the Exhibition are children attending the public schools. The children of any school visiting the Exhibition in a body under the charge of a responsible teacher ought to be carried free on the railways irrespective of distance. One of the weak spots in our system of education nowadays is that the children are made to acquire knowledge in too abstract a fashion. They often learn things when they can hardly be said to know them. It may perhaps be said that a walk through the Exhibition, where there are so many things to see and know, can hardly in the case of children result in any great addition of knowledge. But we are "sure that under the care of an intelligent teacher who would direct the observation of the children they would be able to lay up a store of impressions that would be of lasting service to them. Not only would they see many raw stuffs and products which hitherto have been mere names to them, but they would see a number of interesting processes which would verj bene> fiejally stimulate tliSU 1 Curiosity,

[ Melbourne Steamer. — The s.s. Te Anau \ will leave the Bluff for Melbourne on Saturday — not on Friday, the usual day. Passengers go down by the 2.30 p.m. train. A Gbfat Criminal.— An elephant which had previously broken into a co-operative store at Accrington, in Lancashire, and feasted on jam and biscuits, was recently discovered engaged in another burglary at Chorley. While the circus paraphernalia were. being packed up he slipped away in the darkness, and forced open a grocer's shop, where he demolished a- cheese, two boxes of biscuits, and other goods. Accident at Mossburn.— A young man named William Scobie, of Eastern Bush, had his left leg accidentally broken at Mossburn on Monday. While getting into the cart he uses in his business as a hawker his foot slipped and he fell when one Jof the wheels passed over the leg. He lay on the spot where the accident happened from nine o'clock at night till four the next morning, when he was found by Mr Dore, conveyed to Lumaden, and thence to the Invercargill hospital. The fracture is a simple one and the patient is doing well. A Deluded Prelate. — A bishop was homeward bound from the States, travelling luxuriously in a double cabin with Mrs Bishop. It was a very hot night, thunder in the air, and aa the Atlantic liner slipped through the water, doing her eighteen or nineteen knots an hour, the cabin would be lit up with the lightning flashes. _ Mrs Bishop could not sleep for the heat, bishop appealed to, lumbered out of his berth, and opened a port-hole. Suddenly there lobbed in through the port-hole a wooden ball at- j tached to a string. Bishop was perplexed, j but he tied it up, coiling the string by a nail J in the wall, and then retired to rest. The ball was an apple of discord in that peaceful j cabin, for it hit against the side of the yes- j sel as she lurched, and Mrs Bishop grew querulous and disturbed. Up started tbe poor bishop again, and, to end matters, lie uncoiled the cord, and put the ball safe and sound under hisj pillow. There was a heavy thunderstorm, but the bishop slept soundly that night. Next morning at breakfast, the captain presiding, he told a tale with a good deal of episcopal solemnity and detail. The captain laughed consumedly. The bishop laughed too, thinking his story a good one. Then the captain told him thab the ball was the end of the lightning conductor. The bishop that night looked under his pillow before going to bed, and slept with a closed port-hole. Christmas.— The streets of Invercargill presented a lively appearance on Christmas Eve, and the places of business, especially those wherein could be obtained presents suitable to the season, were thronged till a comparatively late hour. Throughout the stir and bustle, however, order and goodhumour prevailed, even the small boys with the inevitable crackers confining their frolics within reasonable bounds. A party from the Primitive Methodist Church choir, under the leadership of Mr E. B. Jones, made a tour of the town singing Christmas carols, J their fine music being highly appreciated. Yesterday there was a large attendance at the Woodlands sports, nearly 200 persons j proceeded by the special train, and a large i number enjoyed the trip to the New River j Heads in the s.s. Kakanui. Appropri- j ■ ate services were given in the churches. For J to-day several means of amusement, already enumerated in these columns, will offer their attractions to the public, A special train will run in connection with the Riverton Regatta and one to convey sportsmen to the Southland Racing Club's inaugural meeting on the Myross Bush course. The Horticultural Society's Summer Shdw, which has hitherto been held in the New Year week, opens to-day in the Theatre Royal. There is therefore besides a change of date a change of venue, both of which should have a salutary effect upon the Society's treasury. The season has been so fine that a superexcellent exhibition of flowers and early fruits is a certainty, and no pleasanter way of spending the evening abroad is provided than the Society's show. High-olasb Photography.— Visitors to tho town, who purpose having their photos, taken, should visit the Studio of C. Campbell, Photo. Artist, Tay street, whose work is universally admired, and admitted to be unexcelled anywhere. O. Campbell is the only Photographer in Southland who has received First Class Honours at any of the various Colonial Exhibi ions. Popnlar prices for the holiday season.