Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 79, 14 August 1868, Page 2

Local and General.

rSVV.UHMK TO IllHltOi' IlAlllUill,— A 111001---1 Ing of churchwardens nnd vestrymen was hold at, St, Michael's schoolroom at half-past seven o'clock last evening, to consider what steps should he taken lo afford a fitting reception to bin Lordship the Bishop of Christchurch, who Is expected to arrive from Knglund by tho next .Panama steamer. Mr Fleleher occupied tho chair. Various mtggcstlons were made, hut nothing definite was dooldod upon, and tho mooting adjourned shortly af tor nine until Monday next, at tho Bauio placo at 7.30 p.m.

CuiMiNAi, Camsnjmii.— -Up to tho present timo ten persons havo been committed for trial at tho Hoptombor sittings of the Supremo Court, which commence on the Ist Sept. Civn. Sittings.— Tho Civil Sittings of the Supremo Court, for common jury cases, have boon ilxcd for Tuesday, tho Bth September, Hankhuj'Tcy Sittinoh,— -The next sittings under the Bankruptcy Act, 1807, will tnko placo at the Old Town Hall on Tuesday, tho ICth September, in tho month following, his Honor will sit on Thursday tho Bth, and not on Tuesday the Bth, appointed In error yesterday, llouTioiJr.'rmiAr. Sooictv.—A mooting of tho coininlttoo of this society will bo held In tho Town Hall oldc-room at half-past scycu o'clock this evening, to make arrangements for holding- tho first show oe tho season. Wo regret to havo to record tho death of Mr Frederick Jcnncr, officer of 11, M. Customs, This gentleman was connected for many years with the Canterbury atafl!, and had many friends, 110 has boon sulToriug for some timo from the bursting of a blood voshol, and died ou board thu Gotlionbnrg, on hor passage from this port to Nelson, Tin. Smw M.Air„— Tho Otago, with the New Zealand portion of; tho Suez mall, reached the Uluif at 8..10 yesterday morning, and a notico at tho Telegraph olllco Informs us that she. arrived at Port Chalmers nt 8.1*5 this morning. This is very loslnrcly work, to say tho ycry least, The Taranaki will most probably bring our portion of the mall, land It! who leaven Port Chalmers at noon to-day, which alio ought to do, sho may be looked for ln Lyttelton about ten to-morrow morning, Pol'tJl.Alt Fnti-utainmunts ix Lyttei.ton,—Tho Committco of tho Winter Headings havo good reasons to bo woll satisfied with thoir undertaking. Tho Colonists' Hall last; night was crammed to suD'oeation, very many being iinablo to obtain admission, No doubt the special attractions offered had somewhat to do with thin, the committco having engaged the iiorvluos of tho Misses Taylor for this occasion. Thoro was no crowding, owing to the judicious management of (tolling tickets at various places In tho town, hut there were nearly 400 persons present. Dr Donald delivered a short opening address, and introduced Mr T. Morson, who delivered,- with groat humour, a selection from tho " Pickwick Papers," A song by Miss Hunker followed, which wiw very nicely sung, and was well applauded. Mr Woledgo read a selection f rom tlio "Old Curiosity Shop," and recoived woll merited applause. Next followed a song by Miss Aila Taylor. This young lady possesses a sweot soprano voico, and showed that she Is a thorough musician, Her Hinging of "Come back to KrJn," brought down tho house, and she was vary rapturously encored, when hho sang, with still better cil'cot, "Homilo Prince Charlie," Mr Thomson's reading of! "Miss Kllmaiisogg" met with great applause-, and wo hopo to hoar this gentleman again. Mr Carder followed with a song, and was encored. Mr Jones read " Tho Ifixeoutlon," from Ingoldsby, and read it well, Miss L, Taylor followed, and played a solo on the TCngllsh Concertina, showing a thorough mastery over lho instrument. It is needless to any that hlio was tuiiiultuotisly encored. Mr Woledgo followed with Hood's " University Fond," which was much applauded, Mr 1., A, Hargreaves proposed a vote of thanks to lho ladles 'and gentlemen who had assslslod, and paid a high tribute to thb ofllcors of tho institution for providing nuch ontortalnmcntfl, Tho performance concluded hy singing the National Anthem, Tun :)JIO Ci.Atiftn, — A mcotlng of merchants, tradesmen, ami others Interested in tho repeal of the 74th clause of tho Resident Magistrate's Court Act, was hold afc White's Hotel, at four o'clock yestorday afternoon, Flfloon attended, On tho motion of Mr Ilobbs, Mr 10, M, lllshop took the chair. The chairman explained what had been done by tho committco appointed ab tho meeting In .Juno. A petition was drawn up and sent round tho city for signature, It was then forwarded to the hon, Mr Hall for presentation lo the I Touso of Representatives. Shortly afterwards a reply was received from Mr Hall, stating that, as ho aviis a member of tho Oovornmont, ho could not bind himself lo tho adoption of any course in respect to lho petition, but ho would aecedo to lho request of tho committco and lay tho document beforo tho Legislature, At tho samo timo ho must acquaint the committco that lit! could not entirely concur In the prayer of tho petition. Some time afterwards a loiter was received from Mr Craeroft Wilson, tho Chairman of tho Public Petitions Committee, intimating that tho petition could not bo received In consequence of Its having been Informally signed— numoly--In Heme 'Instances by proxy. Tho Chairman road Mr Hall's and Mr Wilson's letters, and also tho debate which preceded the rejection of tho petition, Tho committee decided lo abandon the matter on finding that the petition had boon rejected on tho ground of informality, and thoy replied to this effect to Mr Wilson, who, in his letter, rccommcntlod tho committee cither to erase the informal signatures In tho original petition, or to draw up a fresh one, and havo it signed, Mr Wilson wrote back urging tho committee nol to abandon tho mailer i anil with n view of. deciding what should ho done a meeting was culled for Tuesday last, which, however, lapsed through scantiness In attendance, Mr Sheppard then Intimated that ho would lake no further stops. It was for tho present mooting to decide upon what course should bo pursued. U was resolved, on lho motion of Mr Ross, "That a committee, consisting of Messrs lllshop, Farr, and Ilobbs bo appointed to draw up a fresh petition in the original words, havo it sent round for signature, and aftorwards transmitted to Wellington for presentation to lho House of KcpreHcntatlvcH," Those present contributed one, shilling each lo defray any exponno that might bo iucurred, The mooting then terminated.

Foot-dam* — A match— Collegians past and present oemus CJub— will be played on Latimer square to-morrow, at tho usual hour — woalbor permitting. LtTicnART Institute.— A meeting of the committee of tho Litcrory Institute was held yesterday evening. Present— Rev. C. Fraser, Vice-President in the chair ; Messrs I*3. 11. lltshop, Alport, W. Jone*, Powell, and Denham, secretary. Accounts for new lwoks, newspapers, aud needful expenses, amounting to X. 1 ). 1 ) Ms Cd wero ordered to be pahi. The clerk reported the following donations *.-— A complete aeries of Parliamentary papers from the General Government for 1867-8 ; tive books from Mr Hughes, bookseller, and six volumes from Mr Header, It was resolved that the Musical society bo allowed the uso, free of charge, of tbe lecture room, for the purposes of rehearsal preparatory to a concert to bo given shortly, A lengthy conversation ensued upon tho s'atc of the Institute generally, and it was agreed that at tho next committee meeting, each member should bo prepared to mako suggestions with tiic view of rendering the Institute moro nttmctivo and popular than it has hitherto been, VOM/NTK/SK Gii.VKKAI, CoMMtTTHK. — An extraordinary meeting of this committee was hold at tho Criterion hotel, bust night. Present t Captain Lean (chairman), Captain Hawkcs, Captain Moore, Lieutenant Packer, Lieutenant Allison, Cornet Klee, Sergeant Hawley, Sergeant Stodmnn, Sapper Locke, Private Gulliver, and MrTippeUn (hon. sec). The minutes of last mootlong woro road nnd confirmed. The secretary said that according to instructions, ho had written to the Artillery, and N0, 2 Company Rltles, asking whether they wore prepared to continue their subscriptions to the fund of the committee, nnd to the Lyttelton Artillery, thanking them for their entertainment of the Christchurch Volunteers, Ho then read letters from Captain Harntan, expressing the willingness of No, 2 Company to pay thoir contribution on being informed of the amount, and from tho secretary of the Artillery, declining to contribute more than one shilling per man, in consequence of the position of their funds, The chairman explained that he had considered it necessary to call an extraordinary meeting as it had become a patent fact that tho committee was deteriorating very rapidly, and that It was beginning to ho looked upon as au ornamental appendage to the volunteer force, which could be vory easily dispensed with. His own opinion with reference to tho usefulness of tho committco wns, that although in times past it might havo acted in such a manner as to ruiac many of the existing objections to It, yet the volunteers could not tio without a managing body of some kind, If for nothing olso bnt to look after the range. This was an absolute necessity to enable them to qualify themselves os volunteer corps, and It might really . bo considered the most important function of tho committco. Notico had boon given to Mr Duncan tho owner of the rillo range, and if the committco ceased to exist thero would not bo an available place for firing after the Ist of October, It was said that-, even had this not boon dono, the range would bo closed by reason of Messrs Holmes and Co/s Intention of building upon it, but this was all the greater reason why the committee should cx.st In order to select another ono. The committee might very fairly bo modified and lho expenses cut down, but it would not do to entrust tho mutters hitherto under their control to tho Killo Association, or any body outsldo tho force, lt wns equally objectionable to leave theni to tho commanding ollicer er permanent stall. None but the volunteers themselves could manage such matters, but a point of equal importance to payment of subscriptions was tho attendance of delegates at the meetings which liad lately been very bad, He would suggest Unit tho present liabilities should bo ascertained, proportionally dlvidcdatnoiig.-ttthcsuvcn.! companies aud future contributions levied only according to bare requirements, After a short discussion, tho lirst part of this suggestion was adopted, aud consideration of tho continuance of tho committee deferred till a later period of tho evening. Tho chairman said tho Mayor of Christchurch had selected the cup ho had given for competition, ami had oflcrod to give another for his second year of 011100, but he (tho chairman) did not accept it thinking that tho ownership of the two cups on hand had better be first decided, The days for firing I'or the cups now iv abeyance wero next discussed, ami It was decided that Mr liishop's should be competed for on the lirst Suturduy, and the Mayor's (Mr Wilson's) on the third Saturday in .September, each company to provide a marker, A number of accounts were passed and ordered to be paid. This couel titled the ordinary business, nnd tho future constitution of the committee was considered, Captain Hawkcs suggested tho appointment of a Hoard of Ofllcors, in lieu of the Committee, and tho imposition of linos for non-uttonduiiee, say, ios for a captain, Os for a lieutenant, anil 2s Oil for an ensign each mooting. Sergeant Stedmnn thought nothing would be gnincd by such a proceeding. The record of attendance for tho past yoar would mliow that the officers had boon less regular In thoir attendance than tho private*). The chairman considered that privates should not for many reasons be excluded. Officers could not bo considered as always representing the fooling of their respeotivo companies. It was ultimately resolved, on the motion of Captain Moore, that the committco should continue to exist as at present, the contribution to Ik* Is per volunteer from each corps, amongat whom tho additional expense of a rillo range should bo equally divided. Tlio term of office of tho four of which the committee was originally elected having 'expired, the secretary was next requested to communicate with the various corps asking them to elect new representatives to tho committee, Votes of thanks to the chairman and secretary for tho past year wcro proved In eulogistic terms, and duly responded to, after which the meeting adjourned.