Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1641, 29 May 1873, Page 2

Local and General.

— . __^__ The Accident on the Sumneb Road. — It is gratifying to learn that Mr Dearden, who i had one leg broken by the late accident on Sumner road, and who subsequently underwent amputation, is progressing favourably. City Council Debentubes. — At the meeting of the City Council on Monday evening, tenders were accepted for half the amount of debentures advertised for, viz., £6000, the largest portion of which realised over p-r. The Council require £3000 more to meet the expenditure on drainage for this year, Cashel Stbeet Bbidge. — The contractors for forming the approaches to this bridge have- commenced operations, and have now four teams at work. Some idea of the quantity of earth that will be used may be gathered from the fact that nearly four months will be occupied in carting with the number of teams now employed. The Nobthebn Railway. — An evil of a very serious character exists in the passenger traffic arrangements at the Kaiapoi station, and a. remedy should be found without delay. A train, on arrival, is not taken direct te the platform where passengers alight, but. is stopped some distance from it, and the engine isjdetached for tbe purpose of obtaining water, or shunting trucks, the passengers jbeing in the meantime unable to get out of the carnages. From three to four minutes are wasted in t jis manner, and even to persons who do not intend to return that day this may, and no doubt is, frequently of a serious character ; but to a passenger who wishes to return to Ohristchurch by the next train, the delay is annoying in the extreme. ' Opinion has frequently been expressed with warmth upon the subject, and as it iB ea?y to make arrangements which will avoid such delay, it is to be hoped the Government will give the matter aenoua consideration. Accidents.— A very serious accident occurred to Mr Samuel Lee on the North ro-d yesterday. He was riding on the coach driven by Mr Cook, which runß between Cbristchurch and the Papanui railway station • when near Mr Peacock's residence the thoro ughbrace broke, and fearing the coach would capsize he jumped to the ground. In doing so he fell with his left leg between the wheels, and. one hind wheel passed over it, causing severe injuries. He was at once conveyed to Dr Prins' establishment in Christchurch, and on examination it was found that a compound comminuted fracture with severe liberation of the skin had been sustained. The bones were protruding in two or three places, and it was a question whether immediate amputation should be performed or an attempt made to save the limb. Dr Prins decided to give Mr Lee a chance of retaining his leg, and proceeded to set the bones. The case will be one of four or six months' duration, and should it not progress favourably, the leg can be amputated. Yesterday a boy in the employ of Mr Deakin, at Collins's hotel Btables, was found in ia state of insensibility, with his nose kicked in, and severe outs about the face, evidently inflicted by a horse. Dr Prins was called in, and is now in attendance upon the boy.:

Nelson Cbown Lands RBVENxik^-The amount of Crown lands revenue accruing to the province of Nelson, for the year ended 31st March, 1872, was as follows :— (roods and perches and shillings and pence being omitted) —Sale of lands, 1075 acres, £929 ; rents of runs, 275,84.7 acres, £885 ; rents,. Sec, under Leasing Acts, 1865 and 1867, 37:2,552 acres, £3164 ; rents, Sec., under Leasing Act, 1871, 1353 acres, £118 ; mineral leases, 787 JJacres, £118 ; prospecting licenses, 6246 acres, £26 ; timber license, 10 acres, £2. Totals, 657,889 acres, £5245. Besides the amount paid in cash for sales of land, £33 12s was paid in scrip. Joubnalistic. — The Sotithern Cross newspaper has been purchased by a Limited Company. The terms', so far as known, are £8000 for the plant, goodwill, and book debts; half in cash, and half in paid-up shares. The Bhares are £10 each, and the capital of the company, £10,000. The company was got up quickly, and the shareholders are few and influential, and it is generally thought, we_*e quite as much influenced by a desire to have an organ for collateral purposes as attracted by the probable profits or the speculation. Mr Yogel retains four-tenths of the shares, and the staff of the office have gone into the company to a greater or less extent, according to their means. Mr Luckie is a shareholder, and will continue to be editor. The office, of the paper will, it is said, be removed to one of tbe large stores in Lower Queen street, just below that occupied by the National Bank. Hereford Steeet Bridge. — On Friday a public meeting of persons interested in the matter of a new bridge across the Avon in a line with Hereford street will be held at Mr J. G. Hawkes' office for the purpose of discussing the subject. The chief ground taken up by the promoters is that the mill bridge at present in existence is quite inadequate to the traffic, which is undoubtedly the fact, and that it is also a dangerous thoroughfare. Not only is the bridge of very limited width, but it is frequently blocked up with drays loading or unloading at the mill, and to footpassengers it is certainly not safe. The right to erect the mill on tho island was granted to Mr D. Inwood in 1858, with BO years' tenancy, and it has therefore 15 years longer to run. Fortunately there is ample space on the south side of the present bridge to erect one in {a line with the street, and there are few who will not wish the project success. Hereford street is one of tho most important thoroughfares in the city, not only as containing four banks, and the offices of a large proportion of the leading business men in the city, but as being the principal route to the Drillshed, the Literary Institute, and the Domain Gardens. Anew bridge is therefore an imperative necessity, and it is to be hoped the meeting will be largely attended. St. Albans Mutual Improvement Association. — At the last meeting of this association — Mr Fitchett, president, in the chair — an interesting discussion took place on the Bubject of — " Tho Permissive Bill ; should it become law or not .?" Mr J. L. Wilson, who opened the subject, spoke in the affirmative. Those who argued in the negative objected to the majority coercing a minority ; they also contended that the Bill would tend to increase sly grog selling ; that it was impossible to make men sober by act of parliament j and that there was a necessity for moral suasion, as being more reasonable, and likely to bring about a reform of the drinking system than the Permissive Bill. Mr Wilson said there was no force in the argument aB to sly grog selling,: because the Permissive Bill would not prevent persons using grog in a private way — at their homes, for instance. With regard to acts of parliament, he asserted that men were made drunkards by act of -parliament through the increased facilities for drinking which the the present licensing system affords ; and as to moral suasion, a great amount of that had been employed in the cause of temperance for the last three hundred years with comparatively littlo effect. * Finally,' he said the grand argument in favour of the Permissive Bill was, that it asks the people what they wish, and matters are; guided by their answer. The President, in a very able summing up, expressed his hearty concurrence with the views advanced by Mr Wilson, and on being put to the vote, tbe question disousscd was decided in the affirmative. Db Patbiok Mubbay. — Little is known, so far as we (Sydney Empire) can ascertain, respecting Murray's early life or antecedents, before he emerged into notoriety in connection with the Carl case. He iB by birth an Irishman, but has been many years in Australia, for the most part engaged in the practice of his profession on the Victorian and New Zealand goldfields. His father, as we are informed, was a respectable storekeeper in one of the West Coast mining towns. Murray, after his return frpm Fiji, and before he was called upon to give evidence in Sydney against his former friends and associates, occupied the position of medical officer to the Sanitarium establishment at Sandhurst, on the breaking out of the smallpox in Victoria. In his professional capacity in that position he is said to have acted with energy and judgment. When in Sydney he led a quiet and retired life, and was, although said to be of Catholio parentage, a regular attendant at a well-known and popular Protestant place of worship, expressing the deepest penitence for his crimes, and professing to feel tho assurance in his own mind that Heaven had accepted his prayer for forgiveness, and that he was a pardoned sinner. All that we have been able to learn about what has become of him is contained in the following memo. : — " Dr Murray was last seen in Sydney on the 20th of January last, and now cannot be found. It is generally believed that he has gono to England. He has a wife and two children in Victoria, having been married there to a lady who formerly resided at St. Kilda." So ends • the colonial history of a man whose name will go down to posterity as one of the most vile offenders that (pver Jisgraoed the annal^ any country;:

■:'• Thb Nelson Supbbintbndbncy. — AM borough paper says :— We hear that areq sition is in course of signature in Nelson, a ing Mr Moorhoine to come forward for i Superintehdency. A Late Accident. — Mr Joseph Shie] who was severely kicked by one of his team horses, near Messent's Hotel, Moeraki Dow a few days ago, is in a very precarious st. owing to inflammation having set in. New Ballot Box. — The American S Lock Company, through Messrs Mordan s Co., have just brought out a new ballot b The box is of japanned metal, having a di lid, and a high internal shoulder rising:* within the lid, bo as to prevent voting pap from being introduced or withdrawn in an regular manner. In front, the lid present sloping surface,, in which a brass frame c taining three Bliding plates for " seals "b is serted. The central plate, when drawn do. opens the slit through which voting pap are to be passed into the box, and the late plates, when they are both drawn down, all the lid of the box tp be raised. When seal no voting paper can be passed through the i without first breaking the central seal ; a the lid of the box cannot be raised withe breaking both the lateral seals.. These s.e are of glass, so lettered and numbered tl they can bo identified, and bo made that wl broken they cannot be replaced. Hence st a ballot box, if its lateral plates are sea] when the voting is over, seems to afford co plete security against any kind of unauthori. tampering with it 8 contents. " Bob. Lowe." — The following is from t London Spectator of a recent date : — We w_ a stronger, steadier hand at the Home admin tration, and a more manageable, communical intelligible, mind at the national finance, caly one of these changeß, however, iB thi any real chance. The personal importai attaching to Mr Lowe among his colleague, singularly great. He is not a man anyboi likes to offend. Hiß keen and brilliant und standing i_> even over-appreciated by thi who are habitally holding intercourse w: him, and as everybody knows, he is about have the satisfaction of disposing of a la: surplus. That is not the situation in whi any one would like to have to propose to fc to change offices with another and less impc ant Minister, and wo may feel pretty cert that no such suggestion will be made. Nev theless Mr Lowe is quite the most remarka specimen, not so much of a square man i round hole, as of a man of an altogether . precedented number of very sharp edges,sorfc of icosahedron of a man, in a hole m. for a man of ordinary shape. The true pi for Mr Lowe — who is, no doubt, extrem useful in the Ministry, with his pithy, br awakening remarks — is a hole which has t shape its owner gives it — the Duohy of I caster, for example, whero there cannot said to be any hole at aU, except what Minister makes for himself. There Mr L< would be able to play hiß true part ii Cabinet — that of Advocatus Diaboli — sh and sarcastic critic of everything proposed everybody else, a most valuable land of di without involving any danger such as he curs at present, of upsetting the balance reason in the city by refusing to suspend Bank act (an Act expressly made to be . pended) at a crisis, and without embarass the Ministry by indulging in clever intellect retorts on deputations which don't underst them, but do understand they are made li of. Mr Lowe is a sharp tool that should kept for fine work — that of chiselling a the incoherences of his equals. At the chequer he has never yet made a good doit of his proposals, though he has made g proposals ; he has no command of the ar financial exposition, hae lowered the pres of his office, and brought an extraordir amount bf needless odium on the Governm He should be in the Duchy of Lancaster nowhere—unless, indeed, he were put ten rarily at the War Office, just to atir up cv thing and bring everything to light, a which a more ordinary genius might a itself of the revelations he would be sur. have made. Mr Cardwell is the tine man Mr Lowe's. place. He has the regular Pei oesthetic feeling for finance, the sense of corus joy in figures which makes finance ag able ; ne is always plausible, and almost alv prudent ; he would deplore a monetary o in the style most soothing to the jarred ne of the city, wbich has never got over shock caused by Mr Lowe's saying that Government had nothing to do with the of discount; and Mr Cardwell would susj the Act at the very moment when Lorn' street thought it right. Now a Ohancelh the Exchequer ought to be thus intelligib men of business. Mr Lowe is not so. riddle, and a detonating dangerous sor riddle— half-riddle, half-squib— at the Ex quer cannot be anything but a source of w ne3S to the Government.