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Southland Times, Issue 15152, 24 January 1902, Page 2

Tkli;i:f.ai'l!li- Failuri:. — The gale reported l)y (Jhristchurch anil Wellington appears to liave laid tho telegraph wires low last, night. A press message which left tho capital at 7.30 p.m. readied iriVercargil! al '2.. 50 a.m., i ho cricket caVile came to hand m 'A 20 and, finally, we had to go to press without sotno of the oversea intelligence. Tub Theatre. — Tho Newbuiy -Sp.-ula-Corrick company gave their closing entertainment in the theatre last night to a medium liouso. The patronage accorded them throughout their season hero (no doubt caused by wet weather) has been rather disappointing, which is to be regretted, for it may be long ere we again get a chance to hear vocalists of such quality as Madame t^pada and Mr Newbury, who added to their reputations by their numbers last night, and we hope the company will receive the hearty reception they deserve during the remainder of their tour. This evening they appear at the Bluff. Stewart Island. — With a view to making Stewart Island moro accessible in the holiday season the Bluff Harbour Board initiated a bi-weekly service in December, since when tho Theresa Ward has been running to Half Moon Bay on Wednesdays and Saturdays* instead of on Wednesdays only as formerly. The trial has so thoroughly justified the expectations of the Board that it has been decided to prolong the excursion arrangements beyond the date on which they were intended to terminate. It is notified by advertisement that until 12th Febru ary the tug will continue to run on Wednesdays and Saturdays at reduced fares, and it may be anticipated that the concession will be largely availed of by business men who have not' been able to get away either in December or in January. It will bo of interest to note that in this connection Mr 1. W. Raymond, the chairman of the BlulT Harbour Board, has given notice to move at the next meeting of tho Chamber of Commerce as follows ;—" That this Chamber urges upon the (iovernnient the desirable tiess of ptoclaiming such portions of Stewail Island as may be deemed advisable, and which are still in possession of the Crown, a public park ; that the Chamber considers this step is most imperative and should be taken without delay il the beautiful iloia and fauna of this increasingly popular resort are to be preserved ; that the support of the Southland members be enlisted in the above direction. 1 '

Wool Sales. — Henderson and Batger have received advice from their London agpnts, Messrs Weddell and Co., that the January Hales have opened with merino and fine crossbred up 5 per cent. Medium and coarse crosshreda have advanced fully 10 per cent. Slipes are irregular at par to 5 per cent advance. — The N.Z. L. and M.A. (jo. are in receipt of t he following cable from their London office :— The sales opened on an average advance of f> per cent on last sale's closing rates for merino and fine crossbred, nml at an average iidvance of about 7 A por cent on coarsn crossbred. Competition ; by both Home and foreign buyers is active. Tixnvii -,\[. —I ruder this title, a scries of tui-hiiical manuals is being published, dealing with such subjects as iirickla y' n ff> Kcatiolding, Tools,- Woods of the World, Concrete, Slating and Tiling, Paintnig and Varnishing. Joints and Framing, Artificial Stones, etc. These manuals are written in the plainest language, describing in the simplest way the everyday work of the trade or industry treated of, illustrated with useful diagrams and figures, and aim In he at once " plain, practical and popular." They are issued by the publishers of the Carpenter and anil Builder, London. The {i;i:e is !I<l each. I lie tirsr six volumes now to hand.— Lillick.-w & Co, Esk street. Rivkutos Racim; Cum. — The annual meeting of this club was held on the 21st. The balance sheet showed that £'2l>o was at the club's credit and that the new course, vturid, saddling paddock, and buildings (costing some OX)', had been paid for. The election of officers resulted as follows : — Mr J. Lyle, president ; Mr H. McCallum and l)r Trotter, vice presidents ; Messrs F. C. Mills, (.. McAlpine, A. E. Willett, M. I,) on, J. Wohlers, T. Gilmour, B. Richardson, J. Miller, arid J. McKay, committee ; Mr V. K. Hack worth, treasurer. There was eoiT.c comment on the action of the coin-miU-'t; <>t I li« Axemen's Carnival in selecting IviMer Mdiulay for their sports, as that day has been for many years allotted to the Kiverton Racing Club. The clashing of the lwo events cannot tend to the benefit of either, whereas a respect for a prior right always tend* to goodwill among sportsmen. The club's programme will be out in a few days and abiding by the old lines — lots of jumping and no trots— most folks will be satisfied, particularly when the alterations in [he steeplechase course, now under consideration, have been effected. —Own correspondent. Pj..\y (iv Names. —A glance at the list of names of those forming the new Australian contingent, reveals quite a number of curious conjunctions. Scriptural names are represented by Paul, Eve, Jude, Absoiom and Samson ; poetry by Scott, Lamb, Lovelace, Campbell and Peter Pindar; medicine is remembered by the famous name of • lenner: history by Bruce, O'Connell and Pitt; there is a King and a Tinker, also a Tidyman, who, it niav be hoped, will win a special medal for the best kept kit. ■ Astronomy has Herschell for its representative ; engineering, a Stephenson : the church, a See and a Butler ; trade, a Smith, a Mason, a Cooper, a Butcher and several Carters. There arc a Hawker and a Harper to represent street life : animal life finds a Fox, a Cock »nd a Parrott ; there is one Toy and one Tubli. It is also satisfactory to know that one of the contingent will be Cay, and doubly so to find another will be (-ayer. ( >nu man comes from Walhalla, another from Paradise (alas ! he is a Coleman !) Fortunately, there is no one from the other place, although Charon was continually making it his chief port of call, according to the ancients ; but the Charon in the contingent is no relative of the famous old sculler.— Age. Victims of Indi'strv.— The Detroit correspondent of the Ban Francisco Daily Chronicle telegraphed on llo'th November, an account of the disaster there. Twentyseven men were dead, six of them being terribly burned and blackened, while 27 men were in hospitals suffering from burns and other injuries, resulting from the explosion of one of the boilers in the Penberthy Injector Company's works. The rear building, iv which was the boiler, was three storeys in height. There were at least 85 men at work in the building when the explosion occurred. Tho crash, those who were in the front building said, seemed like 'he concussion of immense cannon. The lloors and roof of the building bulged upwards, and then crashed down with their heavy load* of machinery and foundry apparatus. Walls ami roof dropped into a shapeless masa of debris. Those who were only partly buried frantically struggled out, and then as energetically turned to digging for their comrades who were buried deeper. Flames broke out almost immediately, and the horror of fire was added to the sufferings of the imprisoned men While part of the firemen directed their efforts ngainst the fire, tho greater number seized axes and crowbars and began prising out the victims who could be seen, or whose cries were audible. The floors and roof had fallen at an angle, and formed a sort of huge cover, under which the fire burned fiercely. \ T ot until the firemen had chopped through this did the streams of water have auy apparent effect on the flames. Ihe sufferings of those who were buried beneath the debris wero later testified to by their charred and blackened bodies. Gradually the rescuers worked their way downwards through the pile. By this time there wero no cries or groans to aid them, for the flames had destroyed those unfortunates who were not killed by the explosion or the fall. Pity She Div Not Use A Whip. — In Christchurch the other day ungallant Justices fined Rebecca Drumm for haying assaulted Harold Yorke. This was a case in which the defendant was a barmaid and the prosecutor a cabman. She had sent a letter to the prosecutor asking him to come to the hotel where she was a barmaid. Ho had not gone to 6ee her, and subseqnently she had come round to see the prosecutor and assaulted him in the hotel where ho was staying. She hit him with her umbrella several times and called him some names. He complained that he was unable to get a word in edgeways. In the letter she asked him to return the links she had lent him belonging to another person. He had been keeping company with the accused for some time, and she had lent him some money which she wanted back since he had left off keeping company with her. Yorke had not paid it back. This, together with tho alleged statements by prosecutor as to his having spent a lot of money on her, appeared to have been the cause of the visit of the defendant, and tho subsequent use of the umbrella. The accused, a slightly built girl, gave evidence as to the conversation between them, stating that when tho prosecutor was going away she had only lightly touched him with her umbrella to call him back. She denied most emphatically using any expletives towards tho prosecutor, except that she called him a cad. No injury whatever was done to the umbrella. One of the witnesses for the defence said : " We were disappointed that there was not more in it. We thought it was a lovers' quarrel, and we wero disappointed that it didn't go further for the pure love of a row." Or k Newest Loan. — The latest New Zealand loan, though available for trustee investments, was ii'it (says the Dunedin Star's correspondent) 1 under stand, exactly " rushed for '' by the general public, and 'tis said the underwriters will have to take up fully one half thereof. No official pronouncement as to the proportion applied for by the public has been or apparently will be made, and at 13 Victoria street, where the Hon. W. I. Reeves doth dwell during office hours, there is no eagerness to give information on this point. So, taking current gossip as being somewhere near the truth, I must confess that the result of the issue is somewhat disappointing. New Zealand, of course, gets all the money she asked for, and it does not matter very much to the colony whether j tho one and a-half million comes out of the underwriters' pockets or the coffers of the general public. She has to pay tho underwriters their percentage in any event. But the fact that the loan was so coldly received by the investing public is not a good advertisement for the colony, and I am sure Mr Reeves would have been better pleased if he had been able to tell the world at large that New Zealand wanted to borrow a million and a half and the British investor threw three or four millions at her. Personally, 1 do not think that the loan was issued at an opportune period, and it may be that the recent activity of the New Zealand Midland Railway bondholders had an adverse effect. It is certainly a fact that in spite of the legal decision given in connection with that longdrawn out dispute and the "graceful concession " recently made by tho Government to the N.Z.M.R. folk, the general run of public opinion as reflected in our Press is " agin the (Government." Some quidnuncs gird at Mr Reeves for having the cheek to price his colony's credit up to the New South Wales limit of £i>4 por £100, but I am one of those who believe that it is better to rate yourself high than low, and the chances are that at 93 ihe loan would have fared no better at the British public's hands, and as the underwriters would have wanted tho same percentage, the lower figure would have meant the loss of £15,000 to the colony.

The Church Mission.— Sisters Miriam and Winnie conducted another successful meeting in St. Paul's Presbyterian Church last evening. After devotional exercises Sister Winnie conducted a Bible reading entitled " Being filled with the Spirit." Sister Miriam deli«ered an earnest and effective address on the text " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of tho world," and was listened to with rapt attention. During the evening the duets " Peace, be still," and " There were ninety and nine " were beautifully sung by the sisters. The congregation was large considering the boisterous uight. The mission will be continued to-ni^ht. Permissible in Britain Only. — On a Sunday in November, at Bethnal Green Chapel, Mr \V. T. Stead poured forth a torrent of virulent abuse upon the nation. Ho told his audience that everyone of them had tho brand of Cain on his brow, and that their hands worn dripping with their brothers' blood. The action of Herod, who slaughtered the innocents of Bethlehem in Judea, was saint-like in comparison with Britain's conduct of the war. He recalled a terrible cartoon he had seen in a Munich juurnal. The gates of Hell were flung open, and the flames leapt high. At the entry Stood Herod welcoming Mr Chamberlain, who was approaching to go in. "Hail ! welcome colleague !" tlerod was crying to the Colonial Secretary. But Mr Chamberlain's answer was: "Miserable bungler! How dare you call me a colleague ?" And, the speaker added, the epithet was right, for Herod's victims among the innocents could oidy be numbered by hundreds, as against the five or six thousand of Mr Chamberlain.