Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 295, 24 April 1869, Page 2

Local and General.

)vPigeon Match. — His Royal Highness left town for Riccarton at 2 o'clock this afternoon, to attend the pigeon match held in Mrs Deans' paddock. Departure of Prince Alfred. — It is probable that His Royal Highness will leave Christchurch by special train at ten o'clock to-morrow. Licensed Victuallers' Association. — A performance in aid of the benevolent fund of this association will take place at the Theatre Royal this evening. The Duke of Edinburgh has promised his patronage, and will probably be present. The North. — At Kaiapoi, four triumphal arches have been erected, and preparations made for a school treat. Preparations of a similar nature have also been made at Rangiora. Other engagements will prevent the Duke of Edinburgh from paying his intended visit to the northern part of the province. Accident on Board H.M.S. Galatea. — We are sorry to record an accident which happened last night to a man named Clark, one of the after-guard on board the ship. He was on the cross-jack yard, stowing the sail, when he missed his hold and fell on to the hammock nettings, his head striking against one of the quarter boats. He was at once .taken down to the sick bay. AThe Children's Treat. — We are requested to state that the Dean of Christchurch was unavoidably prevented from being present at the Drill-Shed, on the occasion of the presentation of the Bible to his Royal Highness. The excessive crowd on board the Galatea, and the inability of the small steamer Halcyon, to leave the ship's side for a long time, owing to the wind and tide driving her full on, caused him, together with many others, to miss the train from Lyttelton. Mr Alfred — In noticing the departure of Mr Alfred Cox from the Geraldine district, the Timaru Herald of April 21, says: — Many of our readers will learn with regret that this gentleman and his family have left the Geraldine district. Mr Cox first came to reside at Raukapuka in the year 1858, and since then has permanently lived there. Not only will Mr Cox be missed from the district, but his family will also be equally missed, as both he and they have made themselves, not only respected, but beloved for many acts of kindness done for their poorer neighbours. Mr Cox left Raukapuka on Monday last for Christchurch, where he intends at present to reside. H.M.S. Galatea.— This fine man-of-war was, by the kind permission of His Royal Highness, thrown open to the public yesterday, and attracted an immense number of visitors. Special trains were advertised to run every hour, and from the earliest train until late in the afternoon, train after train arrived in port crowded with visitors. The steamers were crowded to excess, and they must have conveyed at least 3000 visitors during the day. The greatest courtesy and attention was shown by the officers and seamen of the ship, who gave the visitors every information. The state cabins were not thrown open foT inspection, which disappointed many of the fair sex, who were anxious for a peep at this part of the ship. During the afternoon the visitors were entertained with some excellent music by the band on board. The ship was again open for inspection to-day, and was visited by quite as many people. The Display in the City. — AH the flags and decorations in the city were displayed yesterday, and the strong breeze enabled the former to be seen to much greater advantage than on Thursday. In the evening the principal illuminations were continued, and we noticed the addition of a large star flanked by : V.R., in small jets of gas, under the portico: of the main entrance to the Bank of New Zealand. They were to have been lit on Thursday evening, but were not finished in time. Of the arches, that in High street, was the only one illuminated. The streets were busy up to ten o'clock, but nothing approaching the throng of the previous evening. The Iron Trade.— The members of tbe iron trade who took part in the procession under that head, on Thursday, partook of an: excellent dinner at the Prince of Wales Hotel last night. Mr W. 11. Barnes presided, with Mr David Duncan as vice-chairman, and after the cloth had been removed, full honour was done to the loyal and other toasts proposed. Some capital singing interspersed the speeches and altogether a very pleasant and convivial evening was spent. During the proceediugs it was decided, at the suggestion of the chairman to establish an accident-fund for the relit-f of members of the trade becoming incapacitated by accident from, working. The regulations are, that each member of the fund shall pay a small annual subscription, and engage to subscribe £1 each to relieve the sufferers.

Hawke's Bay. — The state of this province may be judged from the following extract from the Herald ot April 16 :— Five members of the Herald staff are on the Tutere expedition. It is not, therefore, without difficulty that the paper is issued this morning in time for the mail. An Exodus of population will probably soon Bet in. The abrupt with dra wai of men of- all classes from their daily occupations, the consequent deprivation of all comfort, cessation of business, and alarm to their families, is more than most people can stand ; and already many look out for what they cannot obtain here — a place of rest. The Great Southern Railway Again.— The evidence of mismanagement, carelessness, and disregard for the property entrusted to the railway accumulates. The following letter appears in the Canterbury Times of this morning : — " Sir, — A good deal has been said from time to time about the management on the above railway. On Thursday last (Ajftil 15), I was standing near the railway gates, at Weeden, and saw a train going down the line with two truck loads of grain, having no cloth or covering whatever over them. You^'will remember that last Thursday afternoon was frightfully wet. and at the very time I saw these trucks going down, it was raining hard enough to wet the grain through and through. When it got to Christchurch, the buyer, as a matter of course, would not take it, and the poor farmer would have to suffer. Couldn't the railway officials buy a few cloths in Christchurch ? — Your obedient servant, S. G." The Pacific Railttat. — The Melbourne Herald of April 5 says:— " The opening of the Pacific Railway, which is announced to take place on the 4th of July, and which will connect New York with San Francisco, will give Australia the means of a more speedy communication with Europe than even by the Isthmus of Suez. From Melbourne to Fiji is 2231 miles, and from Fiji to San Francisco 4719, so that the whole distauce could be traversed by full-power ocean steamers, sailing at the rate of twelve knots per h >ur, in 24 days. The journey across the continent of America would occupy five days, while from New York to Liverpool is frequently performed in nine, making the time occupi .1 between Melbourne and Liverpool 38 days, while from Sydney it would be two days less. In practice, however, the passage would probably occupy a somewhat longer time, as the mail steamers might go a few hundred miles out of their way in order to tom.h at Honolulu. We understand that this route has recently been brought under the notice of the Colonial Office, and that ttiere is some probability of the- question of accepting the protectorate of Fiji being reconsidered, as it is not considered desirable that all the coaling stations in the Pacific should be under the control of foreign powers." This may be taken as the solution of the question, why was his Royal Highness Prince Alfred instructed to curtail his stay in ifew Zealand, and visit the Fijis. Funeral of a Member op the Odd-FELLO\vs.-T-The Timaxu Herald of .April 21, bus the following: — -On Sunday last there wended through the streets of Timaru to the southern cemetery the largest funeral pro cession ever seen in i imaru. On that day James Burrows, who died in the hospital on Friday afternoon from the result of the accident on the 2nd April, was buried. At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon the Oddfellows and Foresters, numbering in all over one hundred men, with a few friends of the deceased, assembled at the hospital, and the coffin being placed on a carriage drawn by two horses, the procession was formed as follows : — In front a part}' of the Timaru Artillery Corps (of which deceased was a member), then the hearse, next the Oddfellows (of which body daceasedrwas also a member), then the Foresters, and lastly the friends of deceased, in this order the mournful cortege proceeded to St. Mary's Church. Atthe entrance into the church ground the procession halted, and the coffin was lifted off the carriage and carried by Messrs Simpson, Dixie, Chapman, Argyle, Cameron, and Morgan into the sacred building. The church was crowded to excess, and many persons were unable to obain admittance. After the impressive burial service of the Ohurch of England had been read by the Rev; G. Foster, the procession in the same order as before, was formed outside, but greatly augmented by being joined by many persons at the' church door. Including the Oddfellows and Foresters there could not have been less than 250 people following the hearse, and as they marched two and two the ground covered by the procession was very considerable. The funeral party left the church at about 3 o'clock, and arrived at the cemetery a little before i. Here, as far as the ground permitted, a large number of pesons assembled round the ground to witness the l«st rites, and, when all had taken their places,' the Rev G. Foster read the portion of the burial service required by the Church. After which, by permission of Mr Foster,. Mr Anderson, E.S. of the Oddfellows, read the burial service of the Order. Before leaving the ground each Oddfellow stepped up to the grave to take a last look at what contained the mortar remains of his comrade, and before . retiring dropped ou the coffin a sprig of thyme. After this the grave was closed in, and the funeral party returned .to town. and New Zealand.— -Mr C, W. Dilke thus discourses, in " Greater Britain," on the appearance of the holidaymakers he saw at the. Randwick racecourse, Sydney: — The ladies in the grand stand were scarcely to be distinguished from Englishwomen in dress or countenance, but the crowd pn sented several curious types; The fitness of the term -Af corn-stalks " : applied .to the Australian boys, was made evident by a glance at their height and. slender build ; they have plenty of activity and' health, but are wanting iii 'power amd- 'weight. The girls; too, are slight amd thin; delicate, with out being -sickly. Grown men, who have emigrated as lads, and lived ten or fifteen I years in New Zealand, eating much maat,

spending their days in the open-air, constantly in the saddle, are burly,bearded,Btrappingfellows, physically the perfection of the English race, but wanting in refinement and grace of mind, and this apparently by constitution ; not through the accident of occupation or position. In Australia there is a promise of a more intellectual nation. The youug Australians ride as well, shoot as well, as the New Zealanders, are a3 little given to booklearning, but there is shrewder intelligence, more wit and quickness, in the sons of the large continent. The Australians boast that they possess the Grecian climate, and every young face in the Sydney crowd showed me that their sky is not more like that of the Peloponnesus than they are like the old Athenians, The eager burning democracy that is springing up in the Australian great towns, is as widely different from the republicanism of the older States of the American Union as it is from the good-natured conservatism of New Zealand ; and their high capacity for personal enjoyment would of itself suffice to distinguish the Australians from both Americans and Brilisß/"' Dr Featherston on the Aspect op Affairs. — Dr Featherston thus expressed himself in his prorogation speech — " It would have boen gratifying to me before closing the present s""sion if I hud been able to announce that some progress had been made in quelling the rebellion, and in re-establishing those friendly relations between the two races upon which mainly depends the future of this island ; but in spite of the official despatches which are from time to time published, proclaiming victories, and predicting the speedy annihilation of thoae in arms against her Majesty, we have yet to learn that a single decisive blow has been struck either on tbe Kast or West Coast. Te Kooti on the former and Titoko Waru on the latter, far from being conquered are to all intents and purposes, masters of the position. They are being constantly surrounded but never are surrounded. We are constantly told that they are so completely jammed in that their escape is impossible, and yet they ever do escape without serious loss. They suspend and resume active operations just as they please. And in order to hold our own we are compelled to rely not on our own purely Colonial Forces but almost exclusively upon the friendly natives, whose allegiance to the Crown has for some time past been gradually sapped and undermined, and is still being daily alienated by the action of the Government That we are dependent upon the friendly na r tives is sufficiently proved by the constant transport of them from the West to the East Coast and then from the East to the West Coast. I repeat what I said in my opening address that this is a most dau.erous game to play when the stake at issue is the lives of our fellow-settlers in the outlying districts. Feeling so strongly as I do on this subject, it has been a source of great relief and gratification to me . that you have so thoroughly endorsed my views by your rejection of the rcslution submitted to you in opposition to them. Backed as I believe your opinion will be by the General Assembly, there is every reason to hope that the Imperial Government will not much longer Calmly and unconcernedly look on the massacre of Her Majesty's subjects, but that they will by public opinion and feeling at home be forced to afford such assistance as will speedily put an end to a war which is fast becoming one of extermination, and which, if much longer continued, will render peaceful relations between the two races well nigh impossible." New Zealand Flax.— The following is from a letter in the Auckland Herald of April 10 : — l. I have found that the least water that is used the better the fibre, that is to say steeping or washing, except a shower of rain, which improves it a little while bleaching. 2. By Cox's patent the flax was steeped five or six days in cold water, then passed between heavy rollers and when ready for market the fibre was nearly rotten. 3. Another friend of mine made a machine for steaming and rolling. They made very good flax but not so good as the dry process, and, as they could not produce the quantity to make it pay, had to give it up. Some time ago a Mr Griffin made a very wonderful discovery, got a good many testimonials in favour of his theory, the principal cost in this operation being the cutters of the green flax. This great idea was rotting, and only lived a few days. 5. For some time I used a small jet of water running on the leaf while passing through Frazer's machine, and then washed it, and for eighteen montha the labour cost more than I rectived for the flax, it having to pass through so many hands. I noticed the Maori dressing it, and found he made the best flax, and that he used no water whatever in its preparation. • I altered Frazer and Tinne's machine with the object of dressing the flax and keeping the fibre in its natural colour (white). To do this I abandoned the use of water entirely, and the result has proved quite satisfactory. I may just give you a few figures wuich speak for themselves. The first three months we dressed 1 \ cwt of flax, at a cost of .£147 7s Bd. The next five months we dressed 59 cwt, at a cost of .£206 3s lOd. The next 10 m nths, we dressed 18 tons 8 cwt, at a cost of £^52 6s lld. Since then we dress with our feed, 25 cwt of green flax, per day, yielding about 5 ewt. of fibre, or average one ton per week, at a cost of ab ut £15 per ton. As the flax is to be the staple commodity of New Zealand, our aim as manufacturers should be to get as uniform a quality as possible. There has been so many kinds of machines made, of various inventions, and so many theories about cleaning the flax, thai it is really difficult to decide which is the beßt process, except by comparing nett profits. May I suggest that a conference of flax dressers be held in Auckland, at some future time, ample notice to be given, so that all who wish may attend, and discuss the subject. I find there are within .10 miles of this "place, 11 flax-mills of various kinds, employing about 120 hands, and using about

100 tons of green flax per week. Then there are a large number of mills at Waiuka, Waikato Heads, Kaipara, Mongonui, in fact over the country. In the meantime if " Manukau," puts his theory into practice, he would be able to attend such conference, and get a little information respecting New Zealand flax, how it is cleaned, what it costs, what it realised, and what it is used for by the existing machinery of the Colonial and British ropemakers, upholsterers, mattrassmakers and pap-r manufacturers. A Sketch. — The following, account of the Lands Titles Office in Syduey is from the Morning Herald. Tlie orator is Mr Dignam, a member of the Legislative Assembly, which he is supposed to be addressing :—" I don't know," said the honourable gentleman, " wh ther hon. members have ever been in the shop in Elizabeth street. If they hav'nt, they ought to. My word! It'll stun 'em. There they are, as comfortable as you like, in a fine large room, as large as this chambersitting in state and as big as bull beef —with their assistants round 'em reading parchments and papers to em', and they taking it easy in their big arm-chairs a listening/to it all. There they go with ' This indenture witnesseth, ' and whereas ' ' and moreover,' and * executors and administrators,' and so forth and so on. And then every now and then, when they're amostknooked up with listening, they pull up, and a9k their chaps to pass over the sherry. And when they've had their no. bier, on they go again with the reading ' all that piece or parcel of land,' and ' the aforesaid' and ' nevertheless' and so en. Why it's just fun to 'cm — them chaps a reading is as good as a novel to 'em. Why all the examine 's got to do is to sit in his chair, listen to the cove reading, and take objections — and precious clever they are at that too. I never r such but and outers at it. Talk of Torrens' Act making things easy, why them examiners make em harder than they was before, t never knew anything more difficult in my life than to get titles through their claws. Why, they are always wanting to know why some son wasu't alive, or why some daughter wasn't married, or why some wife wa»n't dead, or why somebody, who nobody neve . heard of, had done something or other, or why he hadn't done it. Why that very office kills off a dozen lawyers a year — breaks their hearts — finding ob. jections they can't answer. There's my friend here, the member for East Macquarie —he ain't the same man since he had some business of mine to do with these coy . These precious examiners nearly drove him to despair, and he was getting quite thin on it, thinking of the precious lot of foolscap it took up answering their objections. He regular begun to jib on it and he comes to me one day, and says he ■' Dignam, I must give up this job, it's wearing me to a shadow.' Well, what did I do. I tells him, says I, just do as I tell you, ' Take no notice of on^liaif, and answer the other.' He took my advice, and only the other day he meets me and he says, 'Dignam, 1 did as you said, and I've Bettledthat precious business at last."'