Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 344, 21 June 1869, Page 2

Local and General.

The Land Sales to-day amounted to 28 acres, in the Lincoln district. Odd Fellows. — The Seventeenth Anniversary of the City of Norwich Lodge will be celebrated by a dinner at the Queen's Hotel, Lyttelton, to-morrow evening, Pigeon Shooting Club. — The adjourned meeting for the formation of a Pigeon Shooting Club will be held this evening at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Colombo street, at eight o'clock. Beet-root Sugar. — The provisional committee met again at the White Hart Hotel, at noon, on Saturday, Mr Shand presiding. A letter was read from Mr Robert Wilkin, begging to be excused for not attending, on the ground that he had pressing business to transact, and enclosing an interesting article on the subject of beetroot growing. Mr Bust tendered his resignation as honorary secretary, on the ground that he would not have time to discharge the duties of the office. Mr Bust was requested to continue to act until after the receipt of his letters of in--quiry from Melbourne. The meeting tfcjen adjourned until Saturday next. \. Football. — The alphabetical match, A to L against M to Z was resumed in Latimer Square on Saturday afternoon. There was a good muster of both sides, and although the ground was not in good form, some capital play resulted. The M to Z team had again a slight advantage in strength over their opponents, but were most strenuously opposed, and an hour and a-half elapsed before they scored a goal. Even then some question arose • as to whether the ball had passed on the proper side of the pole, but the captain of the A to L players accepted it as a defeat, and this being the second one, the match was decided in favour of Mto Z. It was almost five o'clock when the goal was kicked, and shortly afterwards play Avas discontinued for the day. S^Thk City Hotel. — The well-known proprietor of this hotel, Mr Ruddenklau, is about to relinquish business and pay a visit to Europe. The house has been taken by Mr John William Oram, of the Criterion Hotel, Gloucester street, who wilL take possession on the Ist of August nextj Mr Oram contemplates the carryingoufc of very great alterations, with a view to making the City a really first-class hotel. . His past management of the Criterion is a sufficient guarantee that no effort will be wanting on his part to effect this end, and we hope that in his neAr place of business he wiil be as successful as he haa hitherto been at the Criterion, where hia newsroom, replete with newspapers and periodicals from almost every part of the world, is far beyond anything of the kind attached to any hotel in the colony.

Theatre Royal. — The Gourlays re-ap-peared at the theatre on Saturday night, and were greeted by a large audience. The programme comprised Mrs McGregor's Levee, aud the audience was most hilarious in its applause of the various oddities pourtrayed by Mr Gourlay. Another entertainment will be given this evening, when a fresh programme will be presented. Leithfield Working Men's Clud. — After a tea meeting which took place last week at Leithfield, in aid of the funds for repairing the church, the Rev C. Turrell mooted a scheme for providing rational amusement and relaxation, by the formation of a club, where a working man might at a bright fire and a cheerful light, peruse the daily and weeklypapers, &c.,and enjoy a quiet chat at a trifling expense. He would ask them to attend a meeting on the following day to endeavour to form such a society ; he had obtained from the Resident Magistrate (Mr G. L. Mellish) permission for the club to use the Court-house, when not otherwise engaged, for their meetings. In accordance with Mr Turrell's remarks at a largely attended meeting held next day, the following resolutions were passed: — Ist. That a club be formed at Leithfield. 2nd. That the subscription be £1 per annum, paid quarterly in advance. 3rd. That the Rev C. Turrell be appointed hon. sec. and treasurer to the club. Mr Maskell proposed a cordial vote of thanks to the rev. chairman, which was carried by acclamation, and the meeting adjourned till the 23rd inst. Rifle Shooting. — A subscription match was to have been fired at the Heathcote range on Saturday afternoon, but only a small proportion of those who had entered putting in an appearance a series of sweepstakes was substituted. The first was at 100, 200, and 300 yards, three shots afc each, with Hythe position and targets. The weather was very unfavourable to rifle practice — a boisterous sou-wester prevailing throughout the afternoon — but some very fair shooting was made. The scores recorded were : — Lieut. Pavitt, 27; Sergeant Frew, 27; Sapper Barnes, 27; Private Chapman, 27; Private Jackson, 25; Gunner Whale, 25 ; and Private Fox, 23. The ties were fired off at the 300 yards range, when Private Chapman won first prize, by scoring a bull's eye; Lieut. Pavitt and Sapper Barnes making centres, and Sergeant Frew an outer. In shooting off for the second prize, Lieut. Pavitt Avas successful; Sapper Barnes thus taking the third. The next event was five shots each by the same competitors, at 4i)o yards, with Hythe targets, and any position. Sergeant Frew scored 15, and was declared the winner. A sweep, under tbe same conditions, at 500 yards, followed, and was Avon by Sapper Barnes, with 14 points. It may be noticed as an instance of steady shooting that, after the 400 yards sweep, Sergt. Frew made 4 bull's eyes in succession. JxThe Goorkhas. — The expediency- of employing some of the native troops of India for the suppression of the Maori rebellion in New Zealand continues to be discussed by the Indian papers. The Goorkhas are strongly recommended for the purpose*/ It is said they become "greatly attacEed to their officers, and in no regiment in Her Majesty's service, British or native, does a better and kindlier feeling exist between officers and men tban in Goorkha regiments. They are gay, cheery, light-hearted little men, full of fun and laughter, fond of music, readily picking up English airs, which you may hear them constantly whistling, and possessed with a keen sense of the humourous, and with more of the characteristics of British soldiers about them than any other natives. They enter heartily into all the games and sports of their English officers, such as cricket, foot-ball, rounders, &c. ; they are keen sportsmen, and are never more happy than when accompanying their officers on shooting or fishing expeditions; they like smoking, too, taking to either pipes or cheroots, and are fond of their " tot," and yet not drunkards. It is a refreshing sight to see Goorkha soldiers and British soldiers on service laughing and joking with each other, examining each other's arms, or exchanging whiffs' of a pipe, and sometimes not above taking a sip from each other's canteens, if there is anything in them stronger than water 1 Marriage Extraordinary. — The mystery surrounding a marriage announced, some weeks ago, by notification posted up at the Mairie of t' e Rue d'Anjou, Paris, has been cleared up. The marriage banns proclaimed the approaching union of the Count Paul , of Paris, with Nelissa, daughter of lladjik, of the tribe of Bedouins belonging to the province of Mostaganem. Now, not more than fifteen years ago, this same Count Paul was the glass of fashion of the most aristocratic and exclusive circles of Parisian society. Count Paul was young, was handsome, was daring, and very rich — the only son of one of the most wealthy and most noble of the landed proprietors in the Lyonnais, consequently, the hunt being open, every mother in Paris took to horse, shouldered her firelock, and set off in hot pursuit of this most noble quarry. But in the midst of the attention of which he hud become the object, Count Paul suddenly disappeared. A gambling transaction in which he had been mixed up (unjustly so, it is firmly believed; had so displeased his father that, while paying the debt to the uttermost farthing to save his son's honour, he had advised him to leave the country in such very strong terms that the young man, full of wrath and ire, had taken the advice to the very letter, and had enlisted in an African regiment, resolved to communicate with his father no more until he had wiped away the stain he had brought upon his name. Amongst the enfans perdus with whom he had taken service he was not slow in procuring advancement. He was then just twentyfive, and when visiting Algiers en conge became as much the roqueluche amongst the ladies there as in Paris. But the heart which had resisted all the scientific attack of the j most experienced veterans in love, fell a prey

to the.moßt innocent, most guileless and unsuspecting of human beings, an Arab maiden of fourteen ! The girl was living with her father in the adjoining house to that occupied by the young officer. He could behold her from his window pursuing her domestic avocations the whole day long. And it was not long ere her attention was attracted to him likewise, and the love became mutual. Tha young officer, who had served bis apprenticeship to the tender passion in Paria, had become somewhat hardened, it would seem, and persuaded to leave her home and follow him on his return to his regiment. This was no difficult task. Her life was of the rudest in her father's house, and her love for the young Frenchman most impassioned. She was borne off to the out-station where he was quartered, and remained concealed for some time, until at length it was hoped that she had been iorgotten. But it was not so. Some members of the tribe discovered her retreat, and one day when tha Count returned from an excursion into the desert, he found his tent ravaged and his treasure gone. His despair was great, for the Arabs pround him declared that it was probable the girl had fallen a victim to the notions of honour of the tribe, and dissuaded him from any endeavour to recapture her. He returned brokenhearted to Algiers to find that the girl's father had died, and that nothing whatever had been heard of her. Meanwhile, he had inherited his fortune from his own father, and had come back to France to take possession of his estates. More than ever was he sought after, as you may imagine -, for, worn, thin, and broken-hearted as he waa, he was yet the possessor of great wealth, and the cbase, although not perhaps quite co gallant or so gay as formerly, was renewed with as much vigour as ever. But the Count heeded none of the attentions of which he became the object ; he lived in his old hotel in the Uue d'Aguesseau, studious and solitary, perfectly indifferent to aU the agitation around him. He collected books and pictures, he read a great deal, and devised improvements for his lands. This sort of life continued for more than a dozen years, when, one fine day at the end of January, we learn that he has left Paris for Algiers, on receipt of a telegram, and so suddenly that no time was allowed for taking farewell of his friends. And the next information, of more importance still— — for it closed the hunt without the curee which French mothers love so well, and sent them bredouille to make nets and set traps for smaller game— was that of the posting up of the Count's marriage in the terms we have mentioned above.