Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 117, 28 September 1868, Page 2

Local and General.

Bankruptcy.-— Alexander Charles Mills, of the Main South Road, Tioiarji, boot and shoemaker, has filed a declaration under the Bankruptcy Act, 1867, that he is unable to meet his engagements with his creditors. Mr J. W. White is solicitor for the bankrupt. !<; Public Squares. — A very censurable practice has, for some time, been indulged in by persons having gar Jens in the city, and it would be well if the Borough Council were to take summary measures for punishing offenders and preventing its continuance. We refer to the removal of turf from at least one of the public squares, many complaints of which have reached us. If the Council are unable to improve these places for the purposes of recreation they should still protect them from damage, more especially as the depth of good soil is anything but great. Gazette. — The New Zealand Gazette of Sept. 24 contains a notification by the Registrar of Joint btock Companies tliat he has registered a memorandum of Association, with Articles of Association, esiablishing a Company, with limited liability of the shareholders therein, intituled " The Manchester Unity Hall Company, Limited." The objects for which the Company is established are, the erection of a building in Christchurch for the use of public meetings, and the doing of all such other things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above object. And that in pursuance of " The Joint Stock Companies Act, 1860," a certificate of Incorporation of the said Company had been issued bearing date Sept. 14, 1868. l( The River Avon. — The hard labour gang nave completed the alterations to the river below the Victoria bridge, and the stream now has a gradual sweep instead of the abrupt curve it formerly possessed. The northern bank has been turfed, and immediately below the bridge protected at the base with stonework. A number of willow-cuttings have also been planted a short distance from the water's edge, and altogether the change is a most pleasing one. Whether removal of the projecting bank will have the injurious effects on Victoria bridge, predicted when the work was first commenced, remains to be seen, but in appearance a most decided improvement has certainly been effected to that part of the riVjjrTT There is only one trivial matter to which we may call attention, and that is a slight projection of the southern bank on the right hand side of the part leading to the watering place. As seen from the bridge this breaks the evenness of the curve, and it would add considerably to the effect if removed. Match Fiking. — The first of a series of matches arranged between Nos. 2 and 6 companies C. R. V., was fired at Hillsborough, on Saturday afternoon. The day was very favourable, and left nothing to be desired for ascertaining the steadiness and accuracy of those competing. The conditions of the match were one representative of each grade and a recruit, with five shots each, at '00, 200, and 300 yards, Hythe position and targets. The more immediate object of the competitions is to bring new members forward, and by holding forth the chance of representing their company to induce them to practise shooting. The remaining matches of the series will be respectively increased to two and three representatives of each grade,and some similar plan is worthy of adoption amongst theothercorps. The following are thescores: — No 2 Company — Papprill 41, Brown 38, Nelson 32, Hobson 47, Williams (recruit) 21 — 179. No. 6 Company— Wolfe 47, Paton 41, Gulliver 50, Jackson 45, Gunderson (recruit) 38 — 221. During the match, a party of Engineers were practising at No. 2 target, and the score of Lieut. Pavitt at the same ranges under similar conditions is worthy of notice, being the best we have ever heard of in the province. -»lr Pavitt scored all bull's eyes at the firat range, four bull's eyes and one centre at the second, and three bull's eyes and two centres at the third, making the brilliant total of 57 points, or within three points of the highest number it is possible to obtain. Avon Road Board. — 'he ordinary fortnightly meeting was held at the Board office, Papanui road, this morning. PresentsMessrs Peacock (chairman), Norman, Lame, and Joyce. 'he minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. The clerk stated the balance at the bank to be £160 9s Od, and reported that he was carrying out the instructions of last meeting for the improvement of Springfield road, aud had deepened the drain in St Alban's road, completely removing the nuisance so frequently complained of. He also said that the contractors had commenced work on the North Avon road. He had condemned the first portion of metal used as not being properly screened but this had since been remedied, aud proper metal is now being spread. Seventy-two yards of gravel had been used on the North Road, between the seven mile peg and the sandhills, and the bridge over the Horseshoe Lake drain will be convicted to-morrow. The report was approved. The Chairman informed the Board that his attention had been drawn to the frequent trespassing of cattle on public roads in the district, and expression had been given to the necessity of preventive measures being adopted. After some consideration the clerk was requested to issue a notice cautioniug owners that in future all cattle found trespassing on public highways in the district will be donlt with in accordance with clause 7of the Road Ordinance, 1866. The state of gorse bodges in the district was next alluded to, and the clerk wns directed to give notice to owners of land fronting on public roads to cut the hedges and remove the debris. Accounts amounting to £37 8s were passed and ordered to be paid, and the Board then adjourned.

| College Anntjai. Sports.— These sports will be held to-morrow. The first part, which consists of races and throwing the cricket ball, will take place on the r United Canterbury Cricket ground, beginning at 10 a.m. This part includes fourteen events in all, amongst which we notice a race of one mile, open to boys under 16, for a challenge cup presented by the ladies. At three o'clock, the fives matches come off at the College, and are followed by the jumping. The prizes will be given afterwards in the large school-room, about 6 o'clock. LtTTLE River Road Board. — A meeting of the ratepayers of the Little River district was held at Mr G. Shepherd's, the Beach Arms Hotel, Lake Ellesmere, on Tuesday, the 22nd inst., at twelve o'clock at noon, for I the purpose of electing a member of the Road Board in the room of Mr John Gebbie resigned. Very few ratepayers were in attendance. Mr William Cook, the chairman of the Board, was in the chair. Mr J. Nudford proposed, and Mr. E. Buckingham seconded, "That Mr William Birdiing be elected a member of the Board in the room of Mr John Gebbie. There being no opposition, the chairman declared Mr William Birdiing duly elected. After the usual vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting- broke up. The chairman paid a very high compliment to the retiring member for the manner in which he had carried out the duties, as treasurer during his term of office. Kaiapoi Institute. — The quarterly meeting of the members of this Institute was held on Friday evening, Dr Dudley in the chair. The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. The committee reported that they had carried out the resolutions passed at last general meeting. Among others, that 200 catalogues of the library had been procured at a cost of £5 6s— 4o of these had been sold to members at Is each. The hall had been let twice during the quarter at a rental of a guinea exclusive of lighting, and that rent had not been complained of as too high. The committee had duly returned thanks to Messrs E. W. Seager, J". Ollivier, and Dr Morris, for their kindness in giving entertainments for the benefit of the Institute. Verg great iaiprovements had been effected in the management of the library during the past quarter, but more bookcase accommodation was most urgently required. The reading room had been much more frequented of late owing to a better supply of papers. The Australasian, Star, and Evening Mail had been , taken in during the quarter. The committee ! reported a balance to the credit of the institution at the bank of £9 5s lid, butagainst that j are a few small outstanding liabilities. It was resolved, " That the quarterly report be adopted." The secretary informed the meeting that he had collected as many yearly and half-yearly subscriptions during the half-year, as had been collected during the whole of the previous year. There being a vacancy for three members on the-committee, Messrs Eckersly, J. Beswick, and A. Weston were elected. A discussion ensued regarding the suggestions made by the committee, respecting the enlargement of the bookcases, when it was decided to give an entertainment of some description to raise funds for the purpose. It was resolved that the Hall should be let at one guinea per night without lights, and should it be necessary to close the reading-room, that the secretary should confer with five commiteemen on the subject. The secretary was directed to ascertain the cost per month of all periodicals supplied to the institute by next meeting. Railway Rowing Cluij. — A special general meeting was held at Coker's Hotel on Saturday evening, when there was a large attendance of members, and Mr R. P. Crosbie was voted^to the chair. The election of president and vice-president was the immediate business on hand, but a letter was read from Mr J. O. Gilchrist, expressing his inability to act in the capacity of commodore, to which office he had been elected at the annual meeting, and it was therefore necessary to nominate a gentleman for that office also. Mr G. Holmes was unanimously appointed president, aud Mr C. M. Ollivier then moved that rule 3 should be altered in such a manner as to permit of having three vice-presidents instead of two. After considerable discussion, the motion was agreed to, and Messrs E. Richardson, J. O. Gilchrist, and J. Ollivier were elected. A number of gentlemen were next nominated as members, ajß|vbhjj following were unanimously admitteoi— -Active members — F. H. Valpy, John Davis, P. Lockyear, Robert Allen, and Thomas Cole. Honorary members — W. Laurence, A. C. Fyfe, L. G. Cole, a. J. Jameson, T. S. Duncan, J. W. Morton, W. D. Barnard, F. Hobbs, T. Cox, B. Parkerson, W. Robinson, T. M. Hassal, J. Hughes, V 7. Montgomery, F. J. Smith, G. Gould, C. Haines, Captain Thompson, and Shaw Croslaff3i The chairman called attention to tbe 'advisability of revising the rules of the club, and it was resolved that the committee should be requested to do so, and report at the next general meeting of members.. The election of a commodore was postponed. The cliairman called attention to the desirability of obtaining a new four-oar racing boat, and a very animated discussion ensued upon the financial position of the club. The result was to shew that on payment of the annual subscriptions, and liquidation of all liabilities, a surplus of £65 to ±'70 would remain in hand ; and a resolution was carried empowering the committee to take such steps as they deemed most advisable- for procuring the boat. Mr Packard next referred at some length to the scratch match won by the Lurline on the opening day of the season, and protested against the prizes being accepted by the club, as the superiority of the boat had been too great, consistent with fairness, in a scratch match. The acceptance or otherwise of the prizes was ultimately lef i to the discretion of the c:ew, as the prizes were offered to it, and not to the club ; the meeting at the same time expressing an opinion that the crew was fairly entitled to them

Lecture. — On Friday evening the Rev. A. Reid delivered a lecture on Genesis and Geology, in the Colonists' Hall, Lyttelton, and was favoured with a large and appreciative audience. Mr Thomson occupied the chair, and the lecturer first explained that his intention was to try and harmonise tte statement in the first chapter of Genesis with the newly discovered teachings of geological science. He referred to the formerly popular notion of the world having heen created in six days, and the shells and fossils discovered inland, being attributed to Noah's flood, but pointed out the gradual decline of that opinion as science progre ted, and the feeling of a new interpretation being required of the account of the six days to make it coincide with Revelations, aud the new discoveries. Theologians were astounded at the claims put forth on the strength of the latter, and attempts were made to brand geologists as infidels, but their confliction with the interpretation of the Bible was not opposed to the book itself when intelligently understood, and Dr Chalmers was the first to strike the right chord. This the lecturer advanced to be that the formation of the earth had been going on by volcanic agency for millions of ages, and, in support, described the various stratas of which, the earth's crust is composed, also instanced the presence of fossils of reptiles, coal, and the remains of huge mammalia, as proofs of repeated submerging and upheaval. This gradually filling up of strata above strata he took to be periods, and the last was the drift period by which the rocks were covered with the clay and gravel so necessary for the existence of man. It was questioned whether the six days referred to in Genesis were intended to mean ordinary day3, or so many periods involving millions of ages. Geologists agree that it might be the former, and that at the end of the drift period, God began to re-create and furnish the world as a proper place for man. Thus then were the Bible and the science of geology harmonised. After some further remarks, the lecturer concluded amidst a round of applause, and a vote of thanks proposed by the Rev. F. Knowles, terminated the proceedings. Resident Magistrates Act, 1867. — The following is the report of the Petitions Committee of the House of Representatives on the Petition of Merchants and Tradesmen of Christchurch: — This petition is in order, and is signed by 222 persons, styling themselves Merchants and Tradesmen carrying on business in the City of Christchurch. The Petitioners complain that the wording of clause 74 of " The Resident Magistrates Act, 1867 " — " No person shall be imprisoned on account of any judgment debt of not less than ten pounds in amount " — tends to encourage fraud, and deprives creditors of all chance of recovering their, just claims from those who are able to pay, but who are wanting in integrity ; and they pray that the words " forty shillings " may be substituted for the words "ten pounds." lam directed by the committee to make the following remarks : This is the fourth petition upon the same subject presented to the House during the present session, two being from the City of Christchurch, one from the Dunstnn in the Province of Otago, and one from the town of New Plymouth in the Province of Taranaki. These concurrent complaints coming from different parts of the colony tend to create an impression that clause 74 of " The Resident Magistrates Act, 1867." is injuriously affecting the just tfaims of the mercantile and trading community. It is difficult to conceive on what sound argument any money limit to imprisonment for debt can be fixed. Let us imagine that there are two debtors, A. and 8., against whom there are judgments for £9 19s lljd and for £10 severally. Under the law as it now stands, B. may be imprisoned while A. goes free — the difference in the amount of their indebtedness being one farthing. Can anything be more absurd than the above ? But let us add another element. Let us imagine that the creditor of B. is a large wholesale merchant whose only deHor to so small a sum as £10, in a business involving annually perhaps from .£IO,OOO to £20,000, is the aforesaid B. ; aud let us imagine that the creditor of A. is a retail dealer, who has one hundred debtors of less amount than the sum due by A., and then we may conceive the cruel wrong done to the creditor of A. by the clause in question. The creditor of A. may be ruined, while the creditor of B. suffers not at all. It is easy to conceive^ ~in the reaction of the present generation against the cruel treatment which some debtors at the commencement of the century received, at the hands of their creditors, that many persons will be found who will maintain that all imprisonment for debt is a mistake, and some specious arguments cau be adduced in support of this view, but no sound argument for fixing a money limit is possible. The abolition of arrest for debt is in fact the abolition of credit ; and the abolition of credit is the severest blow which could be struck at the peace and happiness of that portion of the community whose income is the most uncertain. For instance, a man with a family dependent on his daily labour is by Eotne unforeseen circumstance thrown out of employ : his credit must sustain that family uutil the head of it again obtains employment ; and if all credit is to be abolished, it necessarily follows that, in the case adduced, abolition of credit means starvation. In the original draft of the Resident Magistrates Act, as passed by the House of Representatives,there were certain clauses, Nos. 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, and 79. These 'clauses were apparently taken from the County. Courts Act now in force in the mother country, and had those clauses been allowed by the other branch of the Legislature to become law, these complaints of the injurious effect of clause 74, as now constituted, would never haye , been preferred. The committee' areof ! opinio"n that the Resident Magistrates Act of 1867, should be amended, and that the clauses originally numbered 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, and 79 should again be introduced in the amended Act.J

Northern Battalion Parade. — The general parade of this battalion for adjutant's inspection, will take place at Rangiora tomorrow. A very full attendance of all the northern companies is anticipated. Public Meeting. — The Mayor of Christchurch, in accordance with a requisition presented to him by ratepayers, has convened a meeting for Wednesday evening, at the Town Hall, to take into consideration the division of the shilling rate into two payments, and the objections to the recent election of Councillors. The chair will be taken at 7 o'clock. Wood'Nd Pop lac Entertainments. — A concert to conclude the series of winter entertainment?, which have taken place weekly during the season, in the church school-room, Woodend, will take place this evening, under the management of Mr Charles Merton. The programme comprises selections of instrumental and vocal music, ijjgth sacred and secular. I^TAcquatics. — A challenge has been rc"ceived by the Railway Rowing Club from the Captain of the Ariel, Kaiapoi, for a three mile race, but, it being stipulated that the Railway Rowing Club should use no other "boat but the Express, has been declined. The members of the club are desirous of this being understood, as, had the boat to be \ised been left an open question, they would gladly have accepted the proposal. The Express has long been discarded for racing purposes, and, against the Ariel, it would not possess the remotest chance of winning.