Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 417, 15 September 1869, Page 2

Local and General.

.». Magisterial. — There were no criminal cases at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court this morning. Holiday. — To-day being one of the principal holidays observed by the Jews, their places of business in the city were closed. "Whale. — This morning intelligence was brought into port that the whale seen in harbour a few days ago was in Little Akaloa. The s.s. Halcyon left, with a large party and apparatus, to catch the monster. Gold Prospecting Company. — A meeting of shareholders, convened by ten who are dissatisfied with certain matters connected with the working of the company, was held at the City Hotel last night. Mr R. Clark was voted to the chair, and, after the business had been freely discussed, a sub-committee was appointed to consider what action should be taken at the meeting convened by the directors. Crops in the North. — Considering the excessive amount of dry weather which has been experienced this winter, the crops in the Northern District look as a whole very well. But if wet weather does not soon set in, this will not long be the case. There must be a larger breadth sown this year than in any previous season, as scarcely a day's work has been lost on account of bad weather. Therefore, if we have a moderately moist spring and summer, we may expect to have thelargest amount of cereals the province has yet produced. Crown Grants. — We have been requested to call attention to the fact that there are now some 2000 Crown Grants lying ready for delivery to the respective grantees, at the Land Office, Christchurch. On the majority of them heavy fines are now due and accumulating, the grantees having failed to make application within the prescribed time. It should be borne in mind also, that the Commissioner is required by law to recover these fines by legal process so soon as they amount to £ I per grant, and this will be the case with nearly one half of the above number in six months from this date. St. Albans. — Last night, an entertainment was given in the St Albans schoolroom which has recently been enlarged and relined throughout. It is a very commodious building, capable of holding from 300 to 400 persons, and is in full keeping with the handsome chapel of this thriving locality. The chair was taken by Mr C. W. Turner, and an audience of fully two hundred assembled dnring the evening. Mr Garrick prefaced the entertainment proper by reading the first Psalm, after which Mr Smith's Tonic-sol-fa class, numbering about fifteen voices sung the part song " Singing makes us glad " in a very creditable manner. Mrs Beechey followed with a pretty piece of vocal music, which was given with her customary effect; and Mr Brougbton read a highly amusing Irish sketch of procrastination entitled " We'll see about it," eliciting, by a good assumption of the brogue, conj tinued laughter. Mr T. W. Jones sung " Who will care for mother now?" with appreciable taste; and Miss Little, a young lady only twelve years of age, contributed "Airy Fairy Lillian " in a charming manner, the audience persisting for some time in demanding a forbidden encore. Mr Hewlitt successfully read a mirthful account of " A Dutchman's Visit to England;" and Mrs Peacock and Mrs Beechey sung the duett " The Last Rose of Summer " with much skill and effect. Mr W. T. Smith gave the " Flower of Dunblane " in good style. Mr Garrick read "Brutus and Cassius" with decided elocutionary merit. Miss Darby sung " Under the Willows" in reallj' good voice. The class contributed the part song, "Flying Home." Mr Turner read the moral interpretation of " Little Red Riding Hood." Mrs Peacock sung "The Violet" with tasteful correctness. Mr J. T. Smith gave " The Village Blacksmith" very well. Mr Turner read an impressive piece entitled "My Mother's Picture." Mr Garrick sung a song to a self-accompaniment with considerable claims to excellence, and the National Anthem terminated the proceedings. All the pieces were loudly applauded, and the chairman announced that in a fortnight from that date the Rev T. Buddie would deliver his promised lecture on " Courtship and Marriage."

The Foresters' Performance. — We observe tbat the Foresters will repeat their performance in aid of the Widow and Orphans' fund of the order this evening, and it is also probable that two others will take place during the week. The margin of profit on Monday's appeal is, we understand, somewhat limited, and, seeing the meritorious object of the performances, it is to be hoped that that of to-night will prove more lucrative to the fund. Museum. — A new and interesting addition has been made to the collections. Mr Fuller returned yesterday from Mr Buchanan's whaling station on the Peninsula, where he secured the skeleton of a New Zealand right whale {Caprerea anlipodarum). The skeleton is that of a young male, and is 40 feet long. A skull of the same species, which had belonged to a much larger animal, and also a skull of the hump-backed whale {Balaena gibbosa) were obtained at the same place by Mr Fuller. The Subscription for Mr George Hudson. — An unfounded report has been in circulation to the effect that the British residents had subscribed £6000 in aid of the exRailway King. The object his friends had in view was to realise a fund of £4000, which would purchase for him an annuity of £500 per annum for life. The whole sum at present realised is £4400. An annuity for Mr Hudson could be purchased in the North British office at the rate of £12 16s per cent, and £4000 invested upon these terms would produce £512 per annum. It was accordingly agreed that the subscription be invested in the purchase of an annuity for Mr Hudson's life, and be so settled that there be no power of anticipation or of assigning the same, or of the amount becoming liable for the demands of other persons. /Cure Boating Club. — The adjourned annual meeting of this club took place last night and was well attended, Mr Q. Sims, commodore of the club, in the chair. The minutes of last meeting were read aud confirmed. Mr H. Feldwick reported, on behalf of the sub-committee appointed to see to the painting of the boats, what had been done The work had been performed by Mr G. Wearing in a very superior manner, in fact he had done more than was specified in his contract. It was decided to defer the election of a president and vice-presidents till next meeting. William Burnip was unanimously elected captain of the club for the ensuing year, and Mr H. Feldwick was also re-elected hon. sec. and treasurer. The following gentlemen were elected as committee: — Messrs C. Oram, C. Sims, J. Feldwick, A. C. Bell, and A. ClarKj A vote of thanks was carried unanimously to Mr Christopher Sims, the retiring commodore, for the manner in which he had discharged his duties during the past year. After making arrangements to open the season on Saturday next, at two p.m., by a procession of boats on the river, the business of the meeting terminated. Popular Entertainment. — The popular entertainment committee gave an extra concert in aid of the Rural Sports', Fund, at the Townr-Hall-lasfc- evening, aridT the house was crowded. The chair was occupied by Mr J. Ollivier, who stated that this was the last entertainment of the season. The committee was exceedingly glad to notify that from the commencement the entertainments had been well patronised. On the occasion of the last entertainment, Mr Wynn Williams announced that the committee was indebted to the extent of tenpence, but he (Mr Ollivier) was now happy to inform them that the result of the previous entertainment was ten shillings to their credit. He very much regretted that in consequence of a difference of opinion, the committee had not received the support of some of their old friends, who considered that the entertainments should partake more of an intellectual character. In his opinion, intellectual entertainments should be confined to the Literary Institute. There, the experiment had been tried, and they all knew that it had resulted in failure. The Popular Entertainments' Committee had endeavoured to provide something for the amusement of those who accorded them their patronage, and he considered that the attendance on each occasion was a sufficient proof that they had provided that which was most acceptable to the people. Encouraged by past success, it was the intention of the committee to renew the entertainments next year, and he trusted that their exertions would be crowned with equal success. (Applause.) The entertainment was opened by an overture by the Cavalry Band— " Shells of the Ocean." This was followed by a reading by Mr Marshman, entitled "In a Gentleman's Family." Miss Taylor's concertina solos were loudly applauded. Mesdames Bird and Crowley's fantasia from "The Prison of Edinburgh," was applauded. Mr Zeesler's song " All ye Bright Stars," was highly appreciated; as was also the instrumental quartette " Hail, Smiling Morn ! " by the Messrs Tankard and Crooks. Mr J. C. Wilson's flute solo (accompaniment by Miss Marshman) was encored, and so also was Mr Fitzgerald Allen's " Maid of Athens," Mr Poore's tin whistle solo was re-demanded in the most demonstrative manner ; and Mr Howell, who was not in good voice, received an encore for " Thou art so near, and yet so far," to which he responded with " When other Lips." The instrumental quartette (Tancredi) by Messrs Biinz, Mitchell, Spensley, and Rowley ; and " The JEolian Lyre," by the Cavalry Band, was loudly applauded. The performance of Messrs Biinz and Triphook — a duett arranged for two clarionettes — was redemanded, but not responded to. -Mr Thompson's flute solo was well received, and Mr Ollivier's reading of " Paddy Flynn " kept the audience in a continual roar of laughter. Before the singing of the National Anthem, a vote of thanks was passed to the committee, oh the motion of Mr Bradwell. This well-merited compliment was acknowledged by Mr Ollivier. The proceeds of the entertainment amounted to £21 17s 6d.

y^TovELTiEs in Velocipedes. — We hear from France and Geneva of two startling novelties. A Frenchman, Monsieur Bluin, has adapted to his velocipede a pair of sails, and in a fair wind skims along like a terrestrial nautilus, at a rate exceeding the greatest speed hitherto attained with the ordinary vehicle propelled by the feet; while at Geneva, an ingenious musical box maker has actually constructed a " velocipede a musique." We may expect soon to see an organ-grinder riding on his own instrument, which will singularly complicate the duties of the unfortunate policeman whom Mr Babbage may commission to arrest the recalcitrant musician. Kaiapoi Winter Entertainment C .m---mittee.—A meeting of this committee took place on Monday last. Preseut: Dr Dudley (president), Messrs Hewlings, Funston, Newnham, Bell, Ellis, and Feldwick. The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. A letter was received from Mr Craig, resigning the post of honorary secretary. Mr Craig's resignation was accepted, with a vote of thanks for past services. The proceeds of the last entertainment was stated to be £3 95., and, after paying accounts, the committee have a balance of £15 lis 6d in hand. Mr H. Feldwick was appointed hon. secretary and treasurer. It was decided that there shall be one more sixpenny entertainment, and that the series shall be concluded by one of a superior character, at double charges. A programme for Tuesday next having been arranged, the meeting adjourned. }CMR. S. M. Saxby. — A contemporary remarks in reference to this gentleman's prediction of extraordinary inundations in New Zealand and elsewhere : — " It is a dangerous thing to set up as a prophet. Mr S. M. Saxby finds ii necessary to explain that, although he foretells destructive inundations on or about October 6 next, he does not mean that the world is to be destroyed by a flood ; he only means that extraordinary high tides may occur by such inundations as may pospibly in some localities be the result of excessive rains or storms. We are very glad Mr Saxby has been thus explicit, for it appears from his letter that some people in Hokitika, New Zealand, last March, had made preparations for removing to the hills for safety, under an erroneous impression that he had predicted that on the 17th of that month a huge tidal wave would submerge all the Middle Island of New Zealand to within twelve feet of the highest peak of Mount Cookj As the huge wave never came, of course this mistake put Mr Saxby in a false and ridiculous position. We therefore think he has done well for our sake and his own to carefully explain his October prophecy 1" Wire Tramways. — "A railway without cuttings, embankments, tunnels, viaducts, or bridges, no matter how hilly the country to be traversed " — such is the definition given by Herapath's Journal of an invention now in use in Leicestershire, and a working model of which may be seen in Gresham street, E.C. The wire tramway provides a simple and cheap substitute for a line of rails, and is of great service where, from the scarcity or intermittent character of the traffic, or the engineering difficulties of the ground to be got over, it is either not expedient, or impossible to go through the expensive process of ! forming a local railway. For the wire 3pans over and evades obstacles in place of burrowing under or levelling them, and will perform its task as easily along a rugged tract of country as on the smoothest road. The experiment being now prosecuted with complete success between gome Leicestershire stone quarries and a railway station three miles distant, consists of an endless wire rope, supported on a series of pulleys, carried by substantial posts, which are ordinarily about 1 50 feet apart, but the interval between which may be greatly extended, as is shown in one case where the span from post to post is 600 feet. One of the ends of this rope passes, round a Fowler's clip-drum, worked by a portable steam engine, and this drives the rope at a speed of six miles an hour. Boxes are hung on the rope at the loading end near the quarries by a pendant, which is ingeniously arranged to preserve a perfect equilibrium, and at the same time to pass without hindrance over the supports. Each of these boxes carries one hundredweight of stone, and the delivery is at the rate of 200 boxes, or 10 tons per hour for the three-mile distance. Already wire tramways on the Leicestershire model are in course of erection in France, Italy, and Spain. Negotiations are on foot, too, between the Turkish Government and the engineers here, and it is not improbable that this generation may see goods carried by wire as commonly as messages. The tramway is, indeed, not unlike an exceedingly stout electric telegraph ; and there is something almost droll in the sight of a regiment of well laden trucks or boxes passing gravely along it at stated intervals, and at a regular pace, much as if they were at aerial drill. The most important point in Mr Hodgson's invention is his method of passing the points of support, which consists in so curving the frame of the truck or box as to make the centre of gravity come under the rope. So admirably is this managed that some of our leading engineers have been discussing quite recently the possibility of constructing a stout wire tramway between Dover and Calais, which should be supported from a line of pillars sunk in mid-ocean, and and along which passengers could be conveyed. The cost would be comparatively small, and suspensory trains could, it is argued, be despatched across the Channel without difficulty or danger. It should be stated that where heavy loads must necessarily be carried, a pair of stationary supporting ropes, with an endless running rope for the motive power, are employed, and that by these means as many as a thousand tons per day can be easily convened. The cost of erecting these tramways in England, and of supplying motive power and rolling-stock, is from £250 a mile for carrying 50 tons a day, in boxes holding half a hundredweight each

to £1500 a mile for one of the double rope lines, to carry 1000 tons a day, in boxes or trucks holding six hundredweight each. For all districts where there is traffic, but where it would not pay to construct a railway, the wire tramway is particularly applicable, and, as will be readily understood, wherever there is standing-room for posts, there a line can be erected. A recent application from traders ia copper for putting one up for them, which should run through an African jungle down to the coast, illustrates the varied circumstances under which the new system of transport may be applied.