Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 244, 23 February 1869, Page 2

Local and General.

T^a'tre Royal.— "Under the Gaslight" to via good house last eveningi' To-night's programme is the same. ' Catholic Oephasage.— A soiree and concert wiUtake ; pla;ee at tbe^Ferty/Saaß schbblipom, this evening, in aid of the funds of the proposed Catholic Orphanage. The General Assemblt.— A General GoTernment.^&#i&?(j dated -Monday,' February 15, contains a proclamation further proroguing Parliament, until -Wednesday, the 14th of April next. The North.— By the I 'arrival of the Lord Ashley.thig morning, we have :received;bur usual flies from the North. They contain no news of particular-interest- ibeyond what •will be found elsewhere. Lytteltouj tt A requisition ij to ". Mr T. Mersou to come forward as a candidate to represent Xytteltonin dihe-;ProVinciar. Council, is now. in.icirculfttipnj in> that/ town/ and has receivedinumeteus signatures/ .:••-'» ■■• *^ ConobegatjonAi, ; GHOHcaUr-The fifth anniversary of this church will be celebrated /by a tea-meeting in the- Town Hall, at six to-morrow evening. The meeting ' will hfi addressed by the Revs R. Bavin," M Baxter, G. Grant, W. J. Habens, and L. Moore, and- Messrs Macphersoh; Twentyman, and others. t/Rivzß CoNgERVATOHs.-r-A meeting biE the GBoard was held yesterday, when the danger to be apprehended from the . Waimakariri ■was discussed at some length. It was consdered that jf a rate is levied for protection against this stream,' it -will not exceed twopence in the pound, as borrowing money for a term of years is generally advocated. The Board v made -arrangements for visiting the river on Thursday 'or Friday next. The Revenue.— The receipts ; during the last quarter of last year from the Consolidated, Land, Special, and Trust • Funds amounted to £492,008, and the expenditure to £547,807. The total receipts by the Consolidated Fund for the quarter was £257,258, of which Wellington contributed £26,851. The sum of £54,109 was paid to the provinces , out of the Consolidated Revenue for the Quarter ending December last "Wellington's . share vras £7884 16s id. ' V Tanneries.— We are glad • to , learn that a Clannery on a very extensive scale is about to "be started In the vicinity of Wilson's bridge. The promoters have recently come from Wellington, and have purchased; five, acres of land on which to erect the necessary works. The firm will operate under ' the title of Hirst, and Ck>.,. and the importance of the undertaking "mayb e judged from the fact that at a rough estimate, we import upwards of £12,000 'woTth 1 - 1 of tanned leather per annum'; : A Christcburch firm has also purChased.an.acre of land on the Ferry Road for a similar purpose. Acclimatization.' — The whitebait forwarded to Hbbart Town,, in charge of Capt. Thompson, of -the Southern Cross, have; we are informed, reached their destination in a lively and healthy condition, and with a loss of only three fish out of about 150. The apr- paratus employed for their transit was similar I to that used four years ago by Mr Johnson, in the attempted' introduction to this province of ! like>almonan;d trout from England. It consisted" of a wooden tank fitted with a perforated slate division^ and a false bottom of the same material. Both were sq" contrived that as to caase by every motion of the vessel a continued circulation of jeration of the water, whilst the outlet, beingfrom the bottom, provided for the easy removal of deleterious deposits. The credit of this successful exportation is, however, due in a great measure to the care taken ia the experiment by Cap.. Thompson;

BANKRUPTcf^Henry Bachelor;?6f Mount Grey Downs, fattner, has filfidsAdeclaration that he is imaftle^to meet .• ;i his -: engagements wli&'fiijß creaifors. Gabivir?William Lawi^^ t ,ih.rmeT,^j£^t\ie r ;Bstae. district, has also fifed: a^eclar&tion tojrfche same effect. Mr -.Gpiwlishaw is aSUcitorjEor. the bankrupts. \J JpICETfaKBT.-^j#ce_the" > 'late dnter^pr ovineis!" contest, which terminated so unsatisfactorily, little has been done in the cricketing world ; but we are now informed that several matches are being arranged. First, the return match-will . shortly be : played -between gthe United Canterbury and :Albipn. Clubs, »atod they will, as at present known, be pretty evenly matched. The former, it is true, will lose the valuable services of A. OHivier, but the latter will equally suffer in the absence of Odell, so that neither will liave gained an advantage since the first match. We are" also informed that the secretary of the Albion Club has arranged to select a town eleven to contend again with a ■country sixteen,, the match to take place in Hagley Park during next month. Mr Lovell is likewise negotiating' with the Victoria, (Head of the Bay) and Kaiapoi Clubs fot one contest each. We shall thus have several events yet to record before the close of the season.' ' '"'".' ''.'.' ' . ".'.'". ' ' '.""' ,]'. The Weather and the Chops in Wellington. — The Independent oi Feb. 18 says : The weather has beenanything but favourable to the crops in. the Hutt Valley— the early potatoes were' to all intents and purposes a failure on account of the excessive wet; only in a few instances were they an average crop, in manyc&sea being an unprecedentedly small onei not paying the labour of putting in the seed. The hay, however, was very successfully got in, and in excellent condition ; the wheat too promises remarkably well, some crops vying with the luxuriance of the days of : the early settlement,. but the long continued wet threatens: to interfere very materially with the harvesting operations. Another fact which the season has shown, and which becomes more and more evident is that if farming is to be profitable wages must-' Tae much lowered. Produce realises very much less than it was-wont, and men's wages must be proportionate to this reduced price, or labour .can only be employed at a loss. Te Kooti. — The Hawke's Bay Times of the 15th inst. says: I—So1 — So far as it is known, Te Kootiis still at large, it may be /with a small but still desperate band of followers; — .there are the Uriwera whose sympathies are fwith any and every party of rebels, and who persistently reject «very pacific advance on the part of the ,pakehar4-only awaiting a good prospectpf t success to show themselves enemies, and break' out into open rebellion. Fjirther north a similar state of r things,exist among the Waikato t/ribes/anda-junefcibn of several distinct parties of the disaffected in ariyiifaproteeteil. district' Trill be fraught with serious resyilfc, to ,tb,e settlers, ..T.he, , Thames Advertiser '■ 6i the 1 6th instl '• says r— A 1 report state&.that Te: Kooti, with a number , of , his fqllqwers, and a few Opotiki natives; was at ttie head, of .the ..Whakatane river. It was said that the Murewai and other friendly natives/ pprompterd r by the offer 1 •of -£500 reward (some say £1000- for the head of Te Kboti, and: s^s (,for r eaqh of the; Chatham" Island prisoner6)y!were about to start for the place indicated, to icaptore him if possible. '.. „