Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 109, 18 September 1868, Page 2

Local and General.

Magisterial. — There were no cases for hearing at the Magistrate's Court this morning. Agricultural and Pastoral Association. —The committee will meet at Messrs Wilson and Alport's at 2.15 p.m., on Monday next. Lyttelton Horticultural Exhibition. — A meeting of all interested in this matter will be held in the Colonists' Hall to-morrow afternoon, at 4 o'clock. The Burgess Roll. — What would a disqualified ratepayer say if the Clerk had omitted his own name from the Roll : — " Although he wrote the Roll he couldn't write the m«_T-in."— [Poor fellow I]

Accident at Eaiafoi. — Yesterday an accident occurred to ahorse and trap belonging to the Rev J. B. Richardson of Kaiapoi. It appears that the animal bolted with the empty vehicle, from Mr Matthew Hall's residence, and made for the bridge; being turned there by a person who tried to stop him, he continued his career along Raven street following the bank of the river and Blind creek, till he encountered a temporary fence across an unused road, through land in the occupation of Mr Sims. Here he turned towards the river into which, although he seems to have shied from it, he was precipitated over the steep bank, and drowned before any assistance could be rendered. The trap and harness have since been extricated, and are not much damaged. Literary Institute. — A meeting of the committee was held last evening. Those present were the Rev. Charles Fraser (Chairman), Messrs Hawkes, Preston, Alport. E. B. Bishop, and Denham. An offer from the Musical Society to give a concert, in lieu of rent due to the institute, was considered and accepted, and a committee appointed to carry out the arrangements. An application from Mr Stansell, to rent the lecture room on each Monday evening, for the practices of a singing class, was considered and agreed to. A discussion took place upon the present position of the institute, -with a view to suggesting means of improving the same. The Chairman recommended the appointment of a committee to consider the various questions relating to the above object. Other members of committee read papers of suggestions upon the same topic. The following committee was appointed to consider and report upon the best means of rendering the Literary Institute more popular and useful : — The Rev. C. Fraser, C. C. Bowen, Wm Montgomery, J. Ollivier, G. Gould, J. C. St. Quentin, 11. H. Prins, J. G. Hawkes, B. B. Bishop, Alport, and Denham ; committee to report at next monthly meeting. Tue Bish'l* of Lichfield and New Zealand. — At a meeting of gentlemen from all the provinces of New Zealand, held at the Supreme Court House, Wellington, on August 8, it was resolved to present a valedictory address to Bishop Selwyn, and subcommittees were appointed in each province to obtain signatures. The Canterbury committee consists of the Honourable Mr Hall, the Honourable Mr G. L. Lee, his Honor the Superintendent, his Honor Mr Justice Gresson, and Messrs H. J. Tancred and C. C. Bowen. To these have since been added Major Scott. The following is the text of the address to Bishop Selwyn : — The colonists of New Zealand, of all classes and creeds, whose names will be found in lists accompanying the present address ; desire, on the eve of your departure from these shores, to express to you their most hearty wishes for your future welfare, and their sincere admiration and appreciation of those high and noble qualities displayed during your long and anxious labours in these islands, which have already earned for you a world-wide reputation. They feel that an attempt to recount your exertions in the interests of humanity, or to acknowledge, in becoming terms, the unflinching fortitude, the selfdenying devotion, and the large-hearted and open-handed generosity which have distinguished your past career, while unnecessary on their part, would be distasteful to yourself. Believing that your name will be for ever associated with the early history of I the colony, they feel confident that however important may be the destined career of their adopted country, that name will always be prominent among the noblest of its ornaments, and your career will be held up to their posterity as a worthy exemplar of devotion to duty. That the Almighty may be pleased to spare you for many years to discharge the honourable and responsible functions of the high office to which you have been called by your Sovereign, and to grant to you and your family an abundant measure of his choicest blessings, is the cordial wish of those who now join in offering to you this sincere " Farewell" tribute. The address lies for signature at the various banks in Christchurch, at Messrs Miles and Co., Matheson's Agency, Cook and Ross, Sheppard aud Co, and at the offices of the Lyttelton Times and Press. Persons signing the address may, if they desire, contribute towards the expense, and may order a copy of the photograph of the address with a vignette portrait of the Bishop. The address is to be emblazoned on parchment, mounted with appropriate artistic illustrations, and framed in New Zealand wood. Wild Pigs — Wild pigs Appear to flourish in some parts of ._ us*. .alia as well as they do in New Z.aland. The Ararat Advertiser s_y» : — '- v the nei^h .-■■irhoud of Mount Aripil.s thu nub of wild pigs are increasing very ast, and tome o' the boars are becoming fierce a. well as bold 'I he sport of running these animals down and killing them appears to offer quite a* exciting amusement as their chase does in other coun ries. At one place where wihl pigs tire not uncommon, a private hunt whs arranged about, a week back, which g-ive quite as much excitement as is said to be enj-jyed at these hunts in Germany. An old hour was treed or * stu.k up/ and about half-a-dozen large kangaroo dogs and a mastiff gathered round th. game. By the time two of the horsemen rode up one of the kangaroo dogs were bleeding from terrible wounds. 'J he dogs would not repeat the struggle at -lose quarters ; and although a couple of shots from a revolver were fired, they seemed to have no eftV ct One of tbe men decided upon the very dangerous plan o f dismounting _n 1 a.ti-cking the animal in the rear, under cover of the tree, which was a large one ; luckily for himself he got fair aim at the ear, which so disabled or bewildered the boar that it became an easy matter to plant a couple of halls behind the shoulder. Some adventurous -.pints are talking of passing a day or two at Mount William, and trying a chase with some that are known to infect that place."

Valuable Knowledge. — A medical gen-* tleman was engaged by the New South Wales Government a short time ago, to travel through the United Kingdom, the Continent of Europe, and the United States, for the purpose of visiting the various Lunatic Asylums, and collectinjg information with regard to the treatment of insanity. He returned to Sydney the other day, bringing with him the results of his search for information, which will be presented to Parliament next session in the shape of a report. Tasmania. — Vigorous ettbrts are being made by the Tasmaniana to extricate them selves from the slough. Among the latest, is the formation of an Association for the accomplishment of the following purposes : — 1. The construction of public railways in Tasmania, and to expedite the formation of a main line between Hobart Town and Launceston. 2. To encourage all public measures having for their object the improvement of agriculture in Tasmania. 3. To stimulate and foster the establishment of Tasmanian manufactures. 4. To support all projects tending to develop the mineral resources of the colony. SC Prerogative — The Wellington Independent of Sept. 1 says : — There is likeiy to spring up a Parliamentary dispute between the Speaker of the House and Mr Carletou with respect to a question of prerogative. The Speaker during the recess appointed a young gentleman to the situation of clerk in the Private Bills Office. As there are seldom private bills brought in, the office is almost a sinecure, and in this respect the patronage may be said to be worth having. Mr Carleton in his capacity of Chairman of Commttees has charge of Private Bills and strictly the clerk in the Private Bills Office would be his clerk. He therefore cc-ntends that the right of appointment should be with him. A somewhat testy correspondence has been laid on the table by the Speaker, in which the courtesies though very dignified are yet very scant indeed. New Zealand Flax. — New Zealand flax has been extensively cultivated in France for some years past — not so much for commercial purposes, but for the decoration of houses and flower gardens. The Saturday Review of the 20th June last, in a notice of a work entitled " Gleanings from French Gardens," makes the following allusion to the subject : — But the plant of which our author would have us borrow for out-door use from the French is the phormium tcnax or New Zealand flax. " They grow it by thousands for the decoration of rooms," and in the great nursery of the city of Paris, at Passy, there are ten thousand plants of it, chiefly used for the embellishment of the Hotel de Ville." It does well out of doors in the southern and western districts, and looks best plunged in the grass, or for the centre of a bed. But all these need a greenhouse, more or less. Mr Robinson has made his notes of comparison among the herbaceous plants at the Jardin des Plantes, and at our Botanical Gardens, to meet the needs of those who have not this luxury. — Our readers will be surprised to hear that the phormium tcnax has become popular in France. The next thing we may expect to hear about it is, that the market for the raw material a_ well a3 the manufactured article is forestalled by French agriculturists, while New Zealand settlers are puzzling their intellects as to what they should do with their native plant. The Preservation of Leather. — A contributor to the Shoe and Leather Reporter (an American paper) gives some valuable information in relation to the preservation of leather. The extreme heat to which most men and women expose boots and shoes during winter deprives leather of its vitality, rendering it liable to break and crack. Patent h ather particularly is often destroyed in this manner. When leather becomes so warm as to give off the smell of leather, it ia singed. Next to the singeing caused by lire heat, is the heat and dampness caused by the covering of rubber. Close rubber shoes destroy the life of leather. All varniahe., and all blacking containing the properties of varnish, should be avoided. Ignorant and indolent ostlers are apt to use such substances on their harness hs will give the moat immediate effect, and these, as a general thing, are most destructive to the leather. Shoe leather is generally abused. Persons know nothing or care less about the kind of material use.i th .n they do about the polish produced. Vitriol blacking is used until every particle of the oil in the leather is destroyed. To remedy thi- abuse, the leather should be washed once a month with warm water, and when abum half dry a coat of oil and tallow should be applied, and the boots set anide for a duy or two. This will renew the elasticity and life in the leather, and when thus u§ed upper leather will seldom crack or break. Steam Agency — Some of the squattersin this district," says the Ararat Ativurttier are beginning to understand the valut; and economy of stefim agency, and to show a very practical appreciation by the purchase of portable engines, which can be mod a to do an amount of work that is really surprising. One which we saw erected and at work, a couple of days since, was within the sp_ce .f two hours employed in sawing wood into lengths for the various fires in the establishment, boring posts for fencing purposes, crushing corn, cutting chaff, and churning, all of which operations it performed in a most satisfactory way. The proprietor informed us that the value and efficiency of the engine and appliances had repaid the cost some time since ; thus posts, wbich cost by manual labour 3_d to bore, were now bored at a cost of Jd each, and in this way the number of bands which with the services of the engine he was able to do without, make a very considerable difference in the yearly expenditure. There is no operation which the engine performs more completely than that of churning ; the churn is placed in the engine-house, and if the day be cold tbe doors are closed, to assist the formation of the butter, the churn-staff being raised and depressed with an energy and constancy which human arms would imitate in vain;

Obituart. — The Wellington Evening Post of Sept. l, says : — We have received a telegram from Nelson, stating that Mr John Poynter, for many years Resident Magistrate of that city, died on Sunday afternoon. Mr Poynter had been ailing for some time, suffering from the effects of a violent cold. Last Tuesday he was seized with a paralytic stroke which terminated fatally. Mr Poynter had lef. the Government service some months ago, and had resumed practice as a solicitor, &c, in partnership with Mr Combe. During a period of many years, in which he had identified himself thoroughly with the interests of the province of Nelson, the deceased gentleman had numerous friends who will all regret his departure. Petroleom in Southland. — A correspondent of the Southland Times, writing from Bluff Harbour, under date August 21, says : — It affords me great pleasure to inform you of an accidental discovery made in this neighbourhood. One of our much respected townsmen, while making a hole for a post, perceived a certain unctuous liquor oozing up. It has a strong oleflaut odour, somewhat appertaining to kerosene oil. From this discovery, and previous indications, there appears good reason for supposing that an abundant supply of petroleum exists at the foot of the hill in the vicinity of Campbelltown. Some of our spirited townfolks, who have sesn the small oilpit that has been sunk, seem very confident, and it is their stated intention to have experimental boring commenced as soon as possible. Importation of Sheep.— The Otago D ally Times of a recent date says : — The Salamander haß brought a number a number of Spanish merino rams, transhipped in London ex steamer Sado, from Lisbon, with most surprising good fortune— not having lost one on the voyage, which has been extremely rough. From the Cape downwards she encountered a succession of heavy gales, accompanied by snow showers, and a terrible sea. This will prove that the pure Spanish merino breed, as he is on the high bleak hills of Old Castile, is not such a delicate animal as is generally supposed, for these sheep have been travelling since the 12th of March. We believe this is the first importation af Spanish merino sheep direct from Spain into any of the Australian Colonies. Mr Thomas Reynolds, their owner, has accompanied them in all their wanderings through Spain and Portngal to our shores, and has spared neither expense nor trouble to effect his object of introducing pure Spanish merino blood into New Zealand. Mistaken Identity. — The Argus of Aug. 27 says : — An extraordinary case of mistaken identity has come to our knowledge. About two months ago a man was found dead or dying in the verandah of a house in Hotham. At the inqueai subsequently held upon the body, a number of persons testified to its being that of a nan named Collard, some of the witnesses stating that they had known the deceased for a considerable period. A verdict of death from sanguineous apoplexy was returned, and the friends of the deceased in England were written to informing them of the event. The day before yesterday, the man Collard appeared in Hotham alive, and in his usual health, after some months' sojourn in the country. The terror of the female members of the household where he presented himself was extreme, until he had satisfied them he was real flesh and blood, and not a ghost. This seems to have been one of those curious instances of personal resemblance that are sometimes read about in novels or seen upon the stage, but which are generally regarded as existing only in the imagination of fertile story-writers, or ingenious dramatists. The case was reported to the police > esterday, as it is of some importance for the genuine Collard to establish his identity, inasmucli as he has been iv the receipt of an annuity, which of course will have been discontinued on the news »f his supposed death. Timaru Local Government League.— The Timaru Herald of Sept. 12 says : — A. meeting of the League was held at the Royal Assembly Room., Timaru, on Thursday last. Ther_ were present the Chairman (Mr Hall), Messrs Luxmoore, Turnbull, Horton, Perry, Belfield, Steri.ker, Beswick, Cardale, &c. Mr Hall explained at some length his mission to Wellington, and the prospect of getting a county. He had interviews with some of the members of the Ministry, and others. There was an objection amongst a few of the Government supporters against special legislation, but the members for the district would endeavour to obtain fifty per cent, of the territorial revenue, if nothing more could be obtained. After hearing Mr Hull's statement, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to him by the League for the trouble he had taken ia the matter. A long discussion then ensue 1 upon the advisability of attempting to obtain complete separation, with control over the whole of the revenues of the dis- : riot, and of reminding our members of the desires of the people, as expressed in the petition forwarded to the House of Representatives. In answer to a question by Mr Cardale, Mr Hall stated that Mr Cox had given every assistance, but he was scarcely so enthusiastic in the matter as Mr Jollie, the latter gentleman having expressed his j willingness to introduce a special measure into the House of Hepresentatives. Mr [ Turnbull and Mr Belfield thought there was a little lukewar >nness on the part of Mr Cox, but there coul I he no reason now for not iittempt'ng to obtain complete severance, if I there were difficulties in the way before, as the authority required from the British fari liament had been granted. After some further discuss! m, it web proposed by Mr Belfield, and seconded by Mr Perry, '* That this meeting desires to bring to tbe notice of the representatives of the Timaru and Gladstone districts in the House of Hepresentatives, that the interests'of the districts would he furthered by complete separation from the province of Canterbury, in accordance with the prayer of the petition lately forwarded fron the inhabitants of the districts to tha House of Representatives." The motion was carried unanimously.

Sheep Washing. — The Otago Daily Times of September 8, says :— We congratulate Mr Alveß on the highly satisfactory result of the trial of the battery for sheep washing designed by him. The battery was erected at the Bone Mill, Water of Leith, a supply of water being obtained from the mill flume, under which the battery was set up. The pressure ought to have been ten feet in the boxes ; but on account of tbe quantity of grass and leaves which were being brought down by the fresh in the stream, it was found, when strainers were put across the race, that they got so choked up that little more than two-thirds of the requisite quantity of water could be obtained. This occasioned a loss of pressure, the boxes being filled only to a depth of seven feet. There was another drawback to a fair trial. Some of the grass and chips got into the jets of the battery, so that, instead of their being opened l-l 4th or l-16th of an inch, they were kept open about one-eighth, to permit the rubbish to get through. Mr W. A . Low, Galloway Station, and Mr W. Mackenzie, Manager for Mr. Dillon Bell, Shag Valley Station, superintended the washing of the sheep. Some of the sheep were soaked 2, 2_, 3, 3£, and 4 minutes respectively in a solution of soft soap and aoda, the water being at 110 deg. Fahr. They were variously treated in the battery, some sheep having been tried at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 seconds respectively. It was found that three minutes in soak and 20 seconds in the "battery made a first-rate job. The water in the battery was 44deg. Fahr., or only 12 degabove freezing point. With our cold water in New Zealand, it seemed generally to be acknowledged that a speedy process like the Taattery was more highly demanded here than in Victoria. In half a minute, water at 50deg. Fahr. would probably curdle and set the grease, &c, in the wool, so that it would never look so bright ac it should do. Whichever battery may be used by our flockowners. they seem generally to agree in opinion that it will be necessary to use a. battery in washing sheep in Otago. In 20 seconds the dirty stained fleeces were turned out, on Saturday, almost snow white. With proper soaking .anks the battery could be kept supplied, so that three sheep a minute could be passed through. This is equal to washing 1560 ■heep in a day of about eight hours, a number we should fancy sufficient for most runs in the Province. We do not know the cost of erecting the wash, but understand Mr Alves has, since the trial yesterday, determined on some modifications in his plans, and in the weights and material employed iv the construction of the dip and battery, which will reduce the cost very considerably, on his original estimates.