Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 529, 29 January 1870, Page 2

Local and General.

_«. Maoist ekial. — There was no business transacted at the Christchurch Magistrate's Court this morning. Postal,. — The Post-offlce authorities request us to state that mails for Northern and Southern provinces will close this evening, at 7 o'clock. A. OF. — The quarterly meeting in connection with the Widow and Orphan fund is advertised to take place on Monday evening next, Jan. 3 1 , at the Foresters' Hall, commencing at 7.30. Cattle Lishase. — The remainder of the cattle on the Native reserve at Woodend — eleven in number, the property of Mr Harrison — were slaughtered and removed from the run on Wednesday. Street Improvements. — The City Council have commenced placing the new bridges across side channels at the street crossings. They are a decided improvement on the old ones, and it is to be hoped they will be laid down in all parts of the city. Theatre Rotal. — There was again a large attendance at the theatre last evening, more especially in the dress circle. Amongst the latter were a large number of the old patrons ©f the drama in Christchurch. Thursday evening's programme was repeated with equal success. There will be a change in to-night's bill, the curtain rising to the drama, in two acts, entitled " Presumptive Evidence," which will be followed by the burlesque extravaganza of "The Invisible Prince." YF Hailstorm. — A very severe hailstorm, which was preceded and followed by thunder aud lightning, broke orer Christchurch and neighbourhood at about seventeen minutes to one o'clock to-day. The storm lasted for about five or six minutes, and the ground was in many places covered with hail, some of which was as large as ordinary-sized rifle bullets. A gentleman living near Christchurch informs us that his barometer fell yesterday nearly an inch and one-tenth, the fall continuing up to nine o'clock in the evening, when it began to rise slowly but steadily^At the hour named the glass was at 28.80; at seven o'clock this morning it was steady at 29.30. The storm will no doubt have done considerable damage in the gardens, and if it j was experienced in the country districts, we shall probably hear of serious loss in crops. Many of the verandahs, in Cashel street and High street especially, have been more or less damaged At the inter-sectioii bf Colombo aud Lichfield street, Stoddart's corner, there was a drift of hail quite 2J inches in depth. The storm was succedci by heavy rain.

Testimonial. — The parents of the children attending the High School, Lyttelton, have presented the master, Mr John Ross, with a highly flattering testimonial, expressive of their confidence in the way in which he has conducted the school.

J& azaar. — The bazaar at the Town Hall was fary fairly attended again yesterday and today,ahdagratifying amount of business done, offered for sale we omitted to notice a

In our Friday's description of the articles small cutter rigged yacht, which was presented to the committee by Captain Babot of the Hydaspes. It is what is known as a builder's model, and is of beautiful and most perfect build. Its sailing: capabilities are Tery highly spoken of, and the price demanded is £20. The receipts yesterday amounted to £143.

The Late Fire.— Active measures are in progress for the erection of new buildings on the site of the recent fire in dshel street. Messrs Scrimgeour and Duncan have already put up two large corrugated iron structures; whilst men are busy repairing the shop of Messrs R. and D. Sutherland. This would appear, however, to be a somewhat questionable proceeding, for the building it will be remembered, was all but destroyed, aud was certainly worthy of a new erection altogether. The partially destroyed shop of Mr A. Duncan has wisely been removed, and we understand that a two-storey brick building is to take its place. Messrs Beath and Co are also to have a brick building, but we have not yet learnt what is to be done in Mr Pratt's case.

Kaiapoi Institute. — The usual monthly meeting was held on Thursday evening, Dr Dudley, president in the chair. The members present were: — Messrs Ellis, Mathews, Bean, Hassal, Craig (Hon. Treasurer), and J. Lowthian Wilson (Hon. Sec). The Treasurer reported a balance of £5 7s lld to the credit of the institute. There being a larger amount of payments to be made than the balance would meet, it was decided that all subscriptions in arrear be at once collected. The Secretary stated that he had received the journals of the House of Representatives for 1869. The Librarian reported that the reading room had been open during tho day for the last two months. After the transaction of other routine business the meeting adjourned.

The New Pacific Service. — The Argus of a recent date, after warmly advocating the gr mt of the subsidy asked from Victoria, says : — Looking at the geographical position of New Zealand, and at the important bearing which the opening of the Union Pacific Railroad will necessarily have upon the future course of traffic between England and the " Great Britain of the South," we cannot feel surprise at the alacrity with which the latter has adopted the new line of communication opened up by American enterprise. It i 3 the shortest and most direct route from New Zealand to Europe; and it must tend to facilitate and multiply the commercial relations of the whole of the Australian colonies with tne United States. And the more numerous the great highways across the globe, and the more exp?ditious, agreeable, and economic the means of travel, the greater will be the inducements to emigrate, not merely on the part of the labouring men and women of the mother country, hut on that of the " uneasy classes " just above them. " Familiarity breeds contempt" of distance, as well as of other things; and when it becomes the fashion, aa it soon will, for people in affluent circumstances at home to " run across the world" to Australia and New Zealand, the journey will be divested of its dangers and difficulties in the eyes of the less instructed and less adventurous, and our fellow countrymen will begin to measure the interval which separates them from these portions of the empire by days instead of weeks, and to look upon New York, Omaha, Ogden, San Francisco, and Honolulu as so many interesting resting places in what will eventually resolve itself into a voyage of pleasure.

Served Them Right. — We find the following in a late number of the Auckland Leader -. — , < Very large consignments have been made to this market for the last five or six months from Melbourne and Sydney of all descriptions of goods (dry and liquid), and they have been sold at aucti m at any prices to cover drafts at sight or short dates made against these shipments for two-thirds of the invoice va'ue It is needless to remark that these continual sales have led every one to believe that the market was glutted. Such is not the case; it is comparatively bare of most descriptions of goods, with very few exceptions. The mystery of how all this has happened has recently oozed out. Mr Lipstein lias called a meeting of his creditors, with liabilities supposed to cover £ 10,000, but not an Auckland man will be a sufferer. This gentleman, it appears, has had a sort of mesmeric influence over Melbourne and Sydney merchants, who accredited him to the serious prejudice of the trade of this province, and their own well-deserved loss. It is almost impossible to believe that the Melbourne and Sydney people were ignorant of the destination of the goods they were selling, and if they were not so, we tell them plainly that they were perpetrating an injustice to the clients they were supplying in this market. It has come under our notice that one Melbourne firm positively refused to supply £1500 worth of goods, because they considered such a sale would interfere with their legitimate trade. The moral of the lesson will be doubtless the exercise of a better judgment and the limiting of the execution of or'ers to bona fide transactions, such as they do with their own up-country trade." TiiE Victoria Sugar Company. — Referring to the late cases of alleged poisoning ,in New Zealand, the Argus of Jan. 18 gives the following : — ln the year 1856, some gentlemen connected with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, which had been in successful operation in Sydney since 18 J2, conceived the idea of starting a Bimilar company here, and being rather energetic men, of good business habits, tbey. -carried out their, idea so

rapidly that a fine sugar-house was in actual operation in this colony early in 1859. Since then this company bas carried on its manufacturing process almost uninterruptedly, turning out from 150 to 200 tons of sugar and treacle per week, and its operations have unquestionably proved beneficial to the colony. As it is a private company, and under no legal obligation to publish its accounts, we do not know what return has been obtained from the £90,000 which was expended in the first place on buildings and machinery, or from the amount subsequently expended in carrying on the company's operations, but we are informed that tho shareholders have reason to be fairly satisfied, and if this be so, the company has been of great public usefulness, since it has constantly employed about a hundred hands at fair wages, while supplying the sugar consumer with an excellent article at a regular price. While some of our manufacturing companies are living on differential duties, and others are hankering after premiums and bonuses, it is pleasant to come upon a manufactory that neither enjoys nor seeks protection in any shape, and yet manages to be successful. And the Victoria Sugar Company's factory is a good thing to have in the colony for this other reason, that it is a standing illustration of how much can be eifected by perfect system and management, by the use of the most improved machinery and appliances, and by strict economy of time and space, of labour and of material.

The Weather in New South Wales.— " Thursday last (Jan. 13), says the Sydneu Morning Herald, " will long be remembered as a day of great heat, greater than has been experienced for several years past. From an early hour it was evident to all who then felt the temperature that at noontide it was likely to be unbearable. Almost as soon as daylight a hot wind blew from the westward, and served to make matters worse, it being folly to attempt to escape from its inroad in contrast to the sun, whose beams commercial men and others were able to exclude, in a great measure, by expansive Naga6akis. The labouring portion of the community, whose avocation kept them in the open air, were at their wits' end for means whereby they might procure a temporary relief from the insufferable glare and heat of the day. Some of the workmen employed at the new cathedral at St Mary's sought to protect themselves by means of a wet handkerchief placed between the hat and the head. Frequent visits were paid to water-taps for afresh supply of the cooling element to be employed when the handkerchief became dry. The same experiment was tried elsewhere where water could be procured, but some who were employed at other out-of-door occupations preferred to lose their wages sooner than stand in the sun, and departed for home. Foot passengers bore a jaded and worn-out appearance, and sought the shadiest, though still very hot, side of the streets, their expressed feelings of discomfort meeting with ample commiseration from their equally uncomfortable fellow-travellers, who were seen painfully trudging along with hats at so great a degree of inclination that they threatened every moment to fall from their heads. Horses left standing in unshaded thoroughfares, feeling as wretched as their drivers, made attempts to bolt, and would have done so had they not been restrained. In the apartments of houses covered by galvanised iron the heat was something fearful, and on veranda roofs of the same material culinary duties might almost have been performed, and the use of kitchen fires dispensed with. Throughout the evening of Thursday and the morning of the following day the temperature continued very high, and many must have been unable to find rest in their customary sleeping-apartments. A correspondent residing at St. Leonard's says that Thursday was the hottest day registered in the colony for five years past, and that a strict meteorological journal has been kept by him for that time, taken and tabulated every two hours."