Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 626, 26 May 1870, Page 2

Local and General.

• ■ ■ — ..■♦•. — ! — -. St. Andrew's Chubch. — We are requested to state that the meeting intimated to be held this evening in St. Andrew's church is unavoidably postponed. Winter Headings. — The second of the series will take place in the Colonists' Hall on Friday evening next. An excellent programme has been arranged. - VoiiONTKERS."— In -the New Zealand Gazette of May 17 it is notified that the Governor has accepted the resignation of the commission held by Captain R. K. Parkerson of the Temuka Volunteers. Letters Patent. — In the New Zealand Gazette of May 17 it is notified that letters patent have been granted to Mr E. M. Johnson, of Christchurch, for an invention of " divers improvements in machinery for gold-saving purposes." Evening Classes.— The French Class, in connection with the Colonists' Hall, will meet in the Committee Room to-morrow evening. We understand that it is contemplated to commence a singing class on the Tonic Sol-fa system during the winter months. Theatre Royal. — Owing doubtless to the counter attraction at the Town Hall, the performances at the Theatre Royal last evening were very poorly patronised. The season will terminate on Tuesday next, on which occasion Miss Matthews will take a farewell benefit under the patronage of his Honor the Superintendent. Etreton. — Mr Dixon met the electors in the Eyreton School-room, on Saturday last, Mr Chilton in the chair. There was but a scanty attendance owing to the very unsettled state of the weather. Mr Dixon reviewed at some length his past conduct in the Provincial Council, and stated his opinions on the various questions of the day, and also the action he would take in the future, if he were elected. Mr J. Moffnt moved, Mr Cox seconded, and it was carried, "That this meeting thanks Mr Dixon for his attendance and the exposition of his views ; that Mr Dixon is a fit and proper person to represent the Mandeville district in the Provincial Council, and that the electors present will use their utmost endeavours to efEect his return." ' After the usual vote of thanks to the chair, the meeting termiaated;. '■ The Canterbury Chamber of Commerce held' an adjourned quarterly meeting of members at 2 p.m. yesterday, for the special purpose of completing the discussion on the report of the sub-committee on bankruptcy. The previous meeting passed the committee's recommendations as far as clause 7. Clauses 8 to 16 were now passed, with a few verbal alterations, and the following was added:— l 7. " That it be the duty , of the trustee, official or trade, upon the debtors applying for his discharge to report to the, Court upon the conduct of the debtor in relation to his affairs." Part IT, as to liquidation out of bankruptcy; the clauses were all passed with some slight alterations. The. report as amended having been, adopted, the meeting terminated after a cordial, rote of /thanks to Dr Foster for his able services in preparing the report. The members present' were, Messrs Curtis, Foster, Hennah, Richardson, : Palmer, Graham, Nathan, Beauford, Twentyman, Gould, and Hassal. Mr John Inglis presided. Oxford. — The Hon. G. L. Lee met the electors of the Oxford district, on Monday evening, at, the Drill Shed, Oxford. : Mr Wilson Fisher was moved to the chair, who shortly introduced Mr Lee to the meeting. Mr Lee explained at some length the course he had with Reference to the different matters of public importance that had come under the consideration of the Provincial Council during the last three years that he had represented the district. He then stated his views on the subject of emigration, public works, and education, and after answering a variety of questions put^by several Electors, apparently to the satisfaction of the - meeting,, it wa9 moved by Mr Morris," That this meeting having heard the Hon. G, L. Lee's address, confirms the confidence placed in him" by the electors' as their district representative in the Provincial Council, and pledges itself to use all fair and' honourable means to' secure his re-election." This being seconded by Mr .Walker, was put by the chairman,' when Mr David Fisher moved as an amendment, " That in the opinion of this meeting the Hon. G. Leslie Lee has not represented the interests of < 'xford as he should have done in the latt Provincial Council, and that therefore he is not a fit and proper person to elect as member for Oxford." This was seconded by Mr Lamb,

and on the resolution and amendment being put to the meeting, the former wasdeclared by the chairman to be carried almost unanimously, there being only two hands held up for the amendment, viz., those of its proposer and seconder. After a rote of thanks to the chairman, moved by the Hon. G. L. Lee, and seconded by Mr Higgins, the meeting separated. Chkibty Minstrels. — There was again a large audience at the Town Halt, last night, but by no means more than is commensurate with the merits of this really talented troupe. It would be impossible - within reasonable limits to give a detailed notice of the programme, but we may say that music (vocal and instrumental), dancing, and negro comicalities, are well balanced, whilst buffoonery so often a prominent characteristic of negro delineators, is entirely absent. In short, the, most fastidious could not find anything to cavil at. In the vocal portion of the programme Messrs Rainford and J. R. Howell are the most conspicuous contributors. The former has a rich bass voice which is very effective in such compositions as "The old church bell," "Ring the bell watchman," and descriptive songs like " The desert." These were ■ rendered last night, more especially the two last, with splendid effect, and well merited the liberal applause bestowed. Of Mr Howell, it is unnecessary to say much, for he is already well known in the city. There is a perceptible improvement in his voice and style of delivery, and he sung "Meet me at the gate," and "Thou art so near," the latter being the gem of the evening. The corner men of the troupe, Messrs Bent and Carroll, have, a rich fund of jocund comicalities, but the former is to be more especially noticed, not merely as " bones " but in two comic scenas in the second part he displayed such inimitable skill in negro oddities, that he promoted merriment to such an extent, as to verge closely upon the painful. The dancing principally falls to the lot of Mr Carroll, who is a most skilful adept in the art. His " Morocco Shoe Dance "is simply wonderful, and invariably carries the house with it. Mr Northcott's cornet solos also form no slight attractions to the merits of the entertainment. A new programme will be submitted every evening. ABHLET Road Boabd.— The monthly meeting was held on May 21. Present— Mr Cunningham (chairman), Messrs Barker, Banks, Cone, and Free. The minutes of former meeting were read and confirmed. Correspondence with the Kowai Road Board was read. The chairman reported that ah agreement had been entered into with Mr Percy to cart timber from Rangiora to Free's for lOd per 100 feet. The following tenders for Carr's bridge were opened: — E. and G. Fisher, £19 17s 6d ; D. Pattrick, £11; E. Rossiter, £9 17s 6d (accepted). With reference to the letter from the Kowai Road Board, it was resolved that the chairman be appointed to act on behalf of this Board along with the chairman of the Kowai Road Board, and if possible to effect a settlement of the claims made by the Board, on which, if they cannot agree, then the whole question to be submitted to an umpire selected by both parties. It was resolved that Mr Cone get certain work done on Dixon's Road. It was also resolved that Messrs Barker and Cone inspect and certify on all work done by the Board east of Makerikeri, except bridges and culverts; that Mr Banks inspect and! certify on all bridges and culverts; that Messrs Cunningham and Free inspect and certify on all work done westward; that tenders be invited for forming Brady's Road, £ chain wide, 18in. crown, with one 6-plank culvert, near McHugh's; for forming a & chain road, 18in. crown, from Fawcett's Road to Cone's corner, with one 8-plank culvert, and to lower the rise near Croft's by a 3 feet cutting as marked; for forming a half-chain road from Cone's to the Ashley; for forming a half-chain road, 18in. crown, in continuation to Howard's Creek, with one culvert as marked out; for making cutting near O'Connor's section where marked, to a gradient of 1 in 7, 15 feet top, 12 feet bottom. The above to be completed within a month of signing contracts. Accounts were ordered to be paid amounting to £14 13s, and the Board adjourned. , The Very Latest Yankee Notion. — An extraordinary project is now before the American public, namely, one for performing the distance between San Francisco and New York, by rail, in sixty hours.7(The following extract is from the Pottsvilte (Pennsylvania) Miners' 1 Journal:—* We were shown, yesterday, the model of a new railroad and machinery, invented by R. A. Wilder, for which he has made application for a patent, by which the trip can be made from New York to San Francisco in 60 hours, including moderate stoppages at the principal points/with much more safety than on the pres^Sr road. There will be four railslaid down instead of two; for a single track, and will be laid in such a manner that the road can be used in various ways. We are not at liberty at present^ to give the full particulars, but this much we can say, that the passenger and freight cars can be built 17 feet wide — that they can be run at the rate of 60 mile's an hour, with double, if not treble, the safety of running over the present road at 40 miles an hour. That a double engine of- 60 tons will takelOOO passengers in a single train, with less wear and tear to the roadway than is now-caused by a 35-ton engine. The expenses of building such a road willie about. 8000 dollars a mile more than building Qnepf the present, single-track roads, which, for 3000 miles, from New York to San Francisco, would involve, an extra expense amounting to only 24,000,000 dollars. A single passenger, merchandise, or baggage rar, capable of carrying double the number of passengers, and double the quantity of merchandise, will weigh at least five tons less than any two of the cars now in use. The capacity of the road, single track, will be nearly, if not quite, three timer as great as that of the present Eingie lines. There will be no oscillating movement in the cars when running at a high rate of speed, and it

is almost impossible for a car to be overturned in case of an accident. On such a road, with passenger cars 17 feet wide, they can be fitted up with staterooms, &c, and with nearly all the comforts that can be obtained in a first-class hotel Should the project also be carried out of extending a railroad from New York to the most remote point in Newfoundland, and establish a line of steamers to ctosb the ocean in three days from that point, which can be done, as the distance is only 1200 miles, the distance from Liverpool to New York can be made iv six days j and adding two and a half -more days to San Francisco, the whole route can be travelled in about nine days; a distarice of upwards of 6000 miles. Is not this a wonderful age ? , j . . , „ '.Tire FiJis.—By intelligence received front Levuka to March 26, we learn that a manifesto in favour of establishing an independency in the Fijis has been addressed to the white residents, and signed by thirty of the principal settlers. They say the safety of their lives, families, and property are involved in this question ; and they ask, whether relying upon themselves and trusting to the support they could mutually accord each other, they might not strengthen their position by forming an independency, whose members- should renounce their reliance on the protection ,of any other power, and would swear, allegiance to the com> munity proposed to be formed. This is the principal object of the circular, ani of the meeting, which they propose to convene in order to discuss the Bubject. They say :— Many, offers have been made to the British Empire, soliciting it to add these fertile islands to its possessions. These had all been scouted. They further say:— lt appears to us who have tried to obtain the best information on the * subject, that the policy of the British Govern* ment is to get rid of such of its dependencies as entail a cost to the Crown, and yet are able to dispose of the produce of such depen- . dencies in any market that colonists-may-think fit. It holds that whether countries are cultivated under their flag or not, they will equally come to the English market, if such markets will pay best to the importers of produce. The American Government holds views very similar to the British Government,and though anxious to protect trade and enterprise of every legitimate kind, is unwilling to weaken itself by having to protect positions so far removed from the centre of its Government The French have obtained possession of some of the most fertile islands in the South Seas, whose commercial and military positions are unrivalled, whose harbours cannot* be surpassed for the use of warlike fleets, or ports for merchant shipping. Thus it is not likely that their Government will incur farther expense by their taking possession of these islands ; nor is it certain that it would be desirable that the strong and, perhaps, arbitrary measures adopted towards the natives and aboriginal holders cf the soil in New Caledonia, would be such as would be most beneficial to a white population settling in Fiji. It must thus appear that we are in an: excessively unprotected state, far from our native home, having brought with us our families and fortunes, and although we have made more room for those we have left behind, we not only receive no thanks, but we also receive no assistance in the somewhat perilous career which most of us have undertaken. The Consuls have their hands tied by their Governments, and are thus unable to afford us any practical protection. The promise that they will see into any affair which may arise between ill-disposed savages and ourselves when a man-of-war arrives, is but poor consolation to the man whose wife has been assaulted, whose children have been injured, whose property has been destroyed, and who, after several years of labour in a tropical climate for the good, not only ' of 'himself and family, but of Europeans in general, finds himself injured, wounded, and penniless, and to add to the sum of his evils, slighted by the - Consul, and offered a passage home as a destitute subject. On this head it is only necessary to add that the respect hitherto partially shown by natives towards white men, is daily decreasing. The time has come when it her hoves all of us to consider well our precarious position, and to take such steps as will enable us to offer a better security to all commercial people in the colonies, and to secure for oarselves permanently the advantages and profits which must accrue from cultivating,' under proper auspices, those lands which we have rightfully acquired.