Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4755, 27 July 1883, Page 3

Local & General.

Ah auction sale of a large consi'gnmeat of fruit trees, flowering shrubs, and roses, is announced by Messrs Ayers and Co. for noon on Moiday. The quarterly meeting of the Ohristohnrch branch of the North Canterbury Educational Institute will be held at the Normal tfohool to-morrow, at 1.30 p.m. On Thursday, August 9, there ii to be a conference of the local bodies interested re finding funds for the completion of necessary works at the new cemetery. The conference is to be held at the City Council Chambers. At the request of the Lin wood Town Board, the Poat-Ofllce authorities hare placed a pillar Mler-box at the janotion of Worcester street East and the Stanmore road. Ho doubt this additional convenience will be appreciated by the residents of the locality. Cable advices reoeived state that the Shaw, Bavill and Albion Company will run direot steamers to New Zealand. The first will sail in September, from London, and will be followed by two others, They will also increase to eight tbe number of their sailing ships, fitted to any frozen meat cargoes. She b.s. Wairarapa, yesterday, took northwards the Wfll-known trotting horse Badioal for Wellington, and a couplo of draught stallions for Auckland. Messrs W. H. Browne and "Co. are also making a small but valuable shipment of pedigree horses to Sydney, some of whioh are prizetakers. They are by no maaiiß animals to be ashamed of, and are expected to fetch high prioes. A Band of Hope Temperanco Society was -started in ooaneotion with the Bangiora Wesleyan Bunday school on Tuesday evening last The meeting was held in the churoh, and in Bpite of the bad weather, a large number of children and gome adults attended and took the pledge. Another horse«breaking professor has j arrived in our midst in the shape of Mr H. Sample, who hails from America. He intends to deliver a free lecture in the Tuana street hall on Baturday night, to whioh the publio are invited. Professor Sample has been in the North Island for some time, and hia powers received very flattering recognition both from the Press and the publio. A leoture on "John Wesley." was delivered by the Bey W. Morley (Christohuroh), in the Ashburton Wesleyan Church, on Wednesday evening. There was a fair attendance. The objeot for whioh the lecture was given, was to help the loan fund of the Wesleyan Ohuroh for the benefit of burdened circuits and churoh extension. From Ashburton alone £160 has been guaranteed towards the fund. The GhrißtchurohPoultry,Pigeon, and Canary Society have been very unfortunate in the weather that has prevailed since the opening of their annual exhibition intheOddfellows'.Hall. Notwithstanding this drawback, however, -there was a moderate attendance during the daytime yesterday, while in the evening the hall was crowdod. The Committee are to be congratulated upon the faot that not a single hitoh has occurred in connection with the exhibition thiß year, a fact whioh speaks well for the ability and energy of thdse upon whom the work of management devolved. It may be mentioned that the fanoiers' prize of £5 ss, for the best Spanish cook in the show, to be gained twioe, has this year been awarded for the second time to Mr E. Bowland. Last night, at the Theatre Hoyal, " Baby and Betsy" was repeated by the Ohristchuroh Dramatic Society, and the dialogue and aotion were given with the easy aoouraoy and attention to detail which frequent repetitions alone can seoure. The little oompany have been particularly unfortunate in respect to the weather during their short season, but do not appear to allow this to affect their perform* ance. To-night the comedy, followed by a farce, will be given for the benefit of the Christohuroh Benevolent Association, and the patronage has been scoured of the President of the .Association, Mr George Gould, the Tioe-Presidents, His Worship the Mayor, and Ur 0. T. Ick and other members. For so -commendable an objeot it is to be hoped that the publio will attend in large numbers, despite the inclemenoy of the weather. A special choral service wbb held at Holy Trinty Ohuroh, Avonside, last evening, on the occasion of the opening of the new organ, a detailed account of whioh has already appeared in these -columns. The servioe was extremely well attended, despite the inclement state of the weather. The Bey W. F. Knowles officiated, assisted by the Beys Bowen, Knowles, sen, Gilbert, and Canon Stanford. After the shortened form of Evening Prayer had been read, the Bey Canon Stanford delivered an impressive address. Mr Milner officiated at the OTfAu, during the service, after which Mr B. T. Bearell gave a reoital on the instru ment. The pieoes selected displayed to its Utmost the powers of the organ, and were executed with both taste and skill. Perhaps the best of the four numbers was Bink's Elufce Concerto, the performance of whioh proved Mr Searell to be in the foremost ranks of his profession in this oity. At the conolu* eion of the servioe the members of the choir, with the Organist, and other friends, ad. journed to the schoolroom, where as excellent sapper was prepared. The Bey W. F. Snowies addressed those present in congratulatory terms, informing them that the new organ was a great credit to the parishioners, and more especially to the builder, Mr Jenkins. The flenediotion having been pro* _jw>unoed, tbe meeting dispersed. j

The Natives at Takapu are obstructing Messrs Wilding and Ball, owners of sawmill* there, and hare felled a number of large trees across their tramway line. Colonel Lean inspected the Ohristohuroh Bifle Volunteers at the Drillshed last evening. There was a good mutter of the oorpi under the command of Captain Fergusson, and they acquitted themselves very oreditably. A Thames telegram of yesterday's date says: —All the batteries of- this district were brought to a standstill to-day by the breakage of the County main raoe, and will continue idle for some days. The new Prince Imperial Company oleaaed up to-day the result of exactly three weeks' operations, and obtained a splendid yield of 144o» of retortsd gold from 432 loads of quirt z and 9} owt of specimens. The lad William Visor, who was admitted into the Hospitalabouttendaysago suffering from a bullet wound, aooidentally inflicted in kis arm, is now in a hopeful condition. The difficulty which presented itself in his case was with reference to the extraction , of the bullet, which had entered the upper part of the arm j but on Wednesday last this was successfully extracted, and the boy is now on a fair way towards reoovery. An inquest was held at Southbridge, yesterday, on the body of Mary Haughey, a child four months old, which died suddenly on Wednesday night, before Mr W. D. Lawrence, and a jury of twelve, of whom Mr Harbottlo was chosen foreman. Dr Chapman, who had made a post mortem examination of the body, stated deoeased had died from inflammation of the lungs, and a verdict was returned accordingly. Some of the Dunedin football men were in town yesterday, the steamer having failed to oatoh the express. They state that the ground on whioh the Wellington matoh was played was worse than Lancaster Park. The soil was not so soft, but was mostly stiff yellow clay, whioh stuok to ih» men and dogged their movements. They claim to have really had the best of the match, the try that was obtained being solely due to the state of the ball, which prevented the full back getting hold of it. The Dunedin papers are very glum over the defeat of their team, making no oommenb on it, and not even patting an extra head* line to the reports of the matoh. The Ohristchuroh hounds met at South* bridge on Wednesday last, and had two good gallops — one of 85, and the other of 21 minutes without a check, eaoh terminating with a kill. Yesterday they met at Irwell, and had 27 minutes in the river bed, followed by a fine run of 50 minutes, whioh worked them right to Burnham. lhere so many hares were found that they were obliged to stop the honnds. We regret that during thia run Mr M. Bowron had the misfortune to kill his horse, whioh broke its neck over a wire fence. After having another good run of 20 minutes the hounds were stopped in order to catoh the train. Messrs M'Qregor and Baxter provided an exoellent lunch for all comers. Great enthusiasm provails in the Leeston district over these meets. Our cable news of yesterday contained intelligence of the death of two — in their way — very noted persons ; and later messages oonfirm the intelligence. Captain Webb, the famous swimmer, whose feat of orossiag the Straits of Dover orsated suoh a Btir a few years ago, has lost his life while attempting a much more perilous, and we take leave to say, muoh more foolhardy performance. For a bet or stake of some kind he undertook to swim across tho Niagara below the Falls, where the river is nothing but a seething mass of foam and whirlpools. He was drowned. The other celebrity whose death we have to ohroniole is Oetewayo, the unfortunate Zulu King. In the last fight between him and his turbulent subjects he was defeated with enormous loss, and is said himself to have been killed. The poor fellow had done much better to remain oontect in the castle at Capetown instead of plaguing the Government till they reinstated him on a throne entirely shorn of its dignity and power. At a meeting of the Directors of the Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy Produoe Export Company, held on Wednesday last, the tender of Mr W. B. Scott was acoepted for additions and alterations to the Company's works at Belfast, at a oost of £2528. The addition! consist of an enlargement of the engine room to aooommodir'-.e the new maohinej a new store which, when completed, will enable 12,000 sheep to be stored at the works ; and a new cooling room capable of hanging 750 sheep. A few necessary alterations will be made in order to facilitate operations when the enlargements are completed. By the last Ban Franoisco mail advioe was received stating that the new refrigerator was in a forward state and would probably be shipped by tho British King or the following steamer of the Direot Line. The Directors have decided that, wheik: the contemplated additions ara completed, and aa soon as a sufficient supply of tonnage is available, they will recommend to the shareholders that any further extension of the Company's operations shall be in the construction of branch works at limaru. With the view of providing capital for suoh extension, it will be proposed to offer the remaining 1000 shares in that dißtriofc. It may be mentioned that an enterprising stockowner of Canterbury has chartered a sailing vessel to load with frozen meat towards the end of the year. The prospeotus of "The New Zealand Land Mortgage Company" is to be seen in our advertising columns in this issue. From that document we learn that the capital has been fixed at £2,000,000, of whioh half a million is to be raised by a first issue of shares, to be made presently in London, applications to be received in the Colony and arranged for on behalf of Colonial subscribers. It is the intention of the promoters that the Company shall alao raise money in London on debentures for Colonial investment, the issue of debentures to be limited to the amount of unoalled capital, and that it shall likewise reoeive money in Great Britain for investment in New Zealand on commission. As the prospectus very truly observes, there is a great demand for money in. the Colony. We wish the venture every suooets, a result for which the influential names at the head of the prospectus may be regarded as a hopeful guarantee. As the Company will be essentially " New Zealand," its operations will be free from those disturbing influences whioh fluctuations in other Colonies unavoidably impose upon the business of those financial institutions whose field is wider. The prospect of this approaching influx of capital will, we make no doubt, be hailed with pleasure throughout the Colony. An earthquake took place a Bhort time ago at Tabreez, in Persia. Many houses and bazaars were destroyed, aEd there was considerable losb of life. A large number of people are now living in tents.