Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4862, 29 November 1883, Page 3

Local & General.

♦ A brief warning to dilatory ratepayers is •drertised by the St Alban's Borough Counefl. The following items appear on our fourth page:— Tale (oonoluded), " Oaptain Ogilvio's Flirtation," Aahburton County Oounoil, Cable Sews, Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, What an Aotreas thinks of Mashers. During the fortnight ending Nov. 24, 23 S&ients were received into tha Ohriitohuroh I oapital and 80 discharged, leaving 73 in the j institution. There were three deaths during ! the fortnight. At the correaponding time last year the number of patients was 69. At the meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board yesterday it was resolved that the members of the Hospital medical staff, and the medioal offioer . of the Charitable Aid Department, should be ap- . pointed for three yeara instead of annually. At a meeting cf the Trades. Bowing Club held last; evening, the following .gentlemen were unanimously eleoted honorary members of the Olub : — Meaars B. •Steele, A. Ayers, B. Sutherland, 0. P. Hulbert. After pioking crews for the rarious regattas the meeting adjourned. There are at present (remarks a contemporary) 120 newapapors in the United States, of wbioh the publishers, editors, and chief contributors are negroes. The oldest of Ihem is the Elevator of Ban Franoisoo, which has already attained its eighteenth yoar. Almost all these papers oooupy themselres with politics, and few of them are devoted to religious objeots. The politioal journals, with few exceptions, support the Bepublioan party, grateful for its identification with the work of negro emancipation. The average -circulation of eaoh of the 120 papers is only 1000 subaoribera ; very few of them are issued at a profit. The Baptist weekly organ of the Philadelphian negroes publishes 10,000 oopies. , The administration of " oharitablo aid " to those whoee necessities compel them to have recourse to suoh relief is, no doubt, a very excellent thing, and one whioh the publio probably do not grudge their money to sup* jK>rt. It is to be feared, however, that this admirable institution is sometimes taken advantage of by periooß who flnd therein an easier way of supplying themselves with necessaries, and even luxuries, than by the humdrum method of bard- work- One or two little incidents have come undor our notioe whioh certainly show that this sort of thicg has been done or attempted by some individuals who should have known better. One case waa that of a woman, who put io an application for charitable aid, but whoae family were at the time in the receipt of wages amounting to £3 10s weekly. A still more impudent case was that of anothtr woman who dealt regularly with a brewer for beer, and told the collector to send in his aooonnt on a oertain date, because then her charitable aid allowanoe was due. As our readers are aware, the New .Zealand reoord for 100 miles within the day (24 honrs) has npon several occasions been accomplished by a few of onr Ohristohuroh bicyclists, but never on a trioyole until last Tuesday, when Mr A. E. Preeoe, of the Pioneer 8.C., suooeeded in oovering that distance on an *" Excelsior " trioyole. Starting from Weston's, Papanui road, at 4 a.m., he made his way in the direotion of Bangiora, via Woodend, whioh plaoe he passed at 7 80. The Oust was sighted at 9.25, and Oxford at 11.20. Thenoe Mr Preece roturned, passing Cost, Bangiora, Woodend, Kaiapoi, «nd Papanui. Having a few more miles te oover before tbe stipulated distance would be complete, Mr Preece wended his way through Ohristohuroh, alone the Ferry road, and reaohed Sumner at 10.25 p.m. Botraoing his tracks, his long day's ride was brought to a olose by again arri' ng at Weston's at 11.60, whioh would be rat er more than 100 miles. Hha distanoe was t is accomplished in 19hrs SOmin, including » I stoppages. The paoe might have been qu 'kor, but the journey was not intepded for a last time reoord. Mr Moy Thomas 1 writing in Notet and Queries, says: — "There is a curious village, oomposed entirely of tea gardens and houses conneoted with them, on a hill between Soeaux and Pleeaia, in the beautiful southern environs of Paris. This favourite resort ol Parisian holiday makers will give a better idea of what Frenchmen mean by a ' Bobinson' than any desoription oould well oonvey. Jn most uf the gardens there are swings and other village fair entertainments j but the essential feature is rude, rustio, bnt picturesque oontrivanoe* for the accommodation of visitors seeking refreshment and repoae. Primitive tables aud seats high up in the branohes of trees, with oords and pulleys for raising baskets containing the dishes and wines or tho oakes and milk served to the little parties, are indispensable. The oonneotion of these ideas with Defoe's hero (whom it is the Frenoh eastom to refer to by his Christian name alone), and his rnde and homely modes of sheltering and providing for himself, is sufficiently obvious. Tbe suggested association between a garden file and a * Bobinson' .umbrella is more like to ocour to an EngJish tban a Frenoh holiday maker. This .pleasure vUlage was certainly an old-esta-lilUhed institution 4Q ye»H ainea, and m»y, Aw aught I know, be the prototype of all " Bobineons,' not excluding those of Marie Antoinette in the gardens of the Trianon and Bt Oloud." Anothor correspondent, writing on the aame subjeot, says — " The origin of the title ** Bobinson,' as applied to a garden party, is simply this. Some 20 or 25 years ago an .enterprising restaurateur in Paris hit upon the idea of taking an island in the Seine .somewhere, I think, near St Olond.) On •this island grew a tree of such gigantic .dimensions that a table, with seats for five or Aix persons, oould be plaoed among the branohes. Thia novel dining-room beoame a great attraotion to the boating population of the Seine, whioh flocked in crowds te the new restaurant. To tbis retreat the pro* prietor gave the name of ' L'ile de Bobinson ' (Crusoe), and the word '.Bobinson • is now applied to any open-air entertainment of a *usple ud inexpensive kind."

The new Bowling Olub, whioh made such an auspioious beginning on Saturday last, appears to be likely to beoome a strong and flourishing institution at an early period. Already somo 50 members have been enrolled, and further accessions to the membership are anticipated. Considerable interest is felt among lovers of the game just now over the approaohing visits of teams from Otago and Victoria. The danoe held at the Kaiapoi Oddfellowß* Hall last evening, after the performance of "Patienoe," wbb attended by about 70 coupler, and was suooessful in every respeot. The Kaiapoi String Band Bupplied excellent musio, and danoing was indulged in until daylight. The enthusiastic reoeption accorded the talented oompany of amateurs has induoed them to repeat " Patienoe" on Bat* urday, at reduoed prices. An advertiiement relative to the entertainment appears elsewhere. * A meeting of the Committee for the Sheffield races was held on Tuesday evening. The date was fixed for April 8. The Beoretary submitted the programme prepared by the Committee .appointed at last meeting, whioh waa ultimately adopted. Nominations were ' fixed for Maroh 18, and acceptances for Maroh £8. In reply to a communication from the Seoretary, Mr Griffiths very generously offered lub services to the Committee as handieapper, and Mr Flanagan also agreed to allow the uso of ground for the purposes of the Committee. A speoial meeting of the Canterbury Chess Olub was held last night in the Sootoh Stores, Mr H. J. Tanored, Preaident of the Olub, oooupying the ohair. It was resolred to abolish the entrance fer, and to reduce the annual subscription to lOs, payable in advanoo. Xhe neoessary alteration in the Olub rules waß made. This was all the business for the speoial meeting. At a Com* mittee meeting held subsequently, Mr William Aeland Adams of Nelson, and Mr G. D. Bobs were eleoted members, lt is intended that the Olub shall next month return to its old quarters in the Publio Library. A meeting of the Committee of the Young Men's Club was held yesterday evening; present — His Worship the Mayor (Mr J. G. Buddenklau), Messrs Packer, Chilton, Hogben, and Griffiths (Secretary). Apologies were received from the Bey T. Flavell and Messrs Weston.. And Malcolm. The following subscriptions were reoeived:— £l ls from his Worship the Mayor towards the pionio of the Olub ; lOs from Mr Weston towards repairing tbe bagatelle koird ; and lOs from Mr Packer for the pionio. Mr Paoker resigned the position of Treasurer in oonßequence of hia approaohing departure from Ohristohuroh. It was resolved j to request Mr J. B. Maroh to aot in his stead, j and a vote of thanks was passed to Mr Paoker for his services. > Accounts for the entertainment wore then presented, showing a deficit of £5 8s 6d. The Committee then adjourned. Mr Ai A. Corbett, father of the young man oonvioted of the reoent large robbery from the Oommeroial Bank, Melbourne, deolined to accept, ana accordingly returned to the Bank, the awards, amounting in all to £400, made to himself and his two daughters for giving important information regarding the robbery. Mr Corbett stated that he made the olaim for himself and his daughters with the full intention of refunding whatever amount might be awarded to them, and to prevent that amount falling into the hands of otherß less entitled to it. The Direotors, while aooording Mr Corbett oredit for his motives, considered that the retention of any part of the award would be open to misconstruction, and therefore returned the £400 to him. A gentleman who was acquainted with General M'lvor, whose name has been so freely used in oonneotion with an expedition to New Guinea, gives an Auokiand contemporary some information about him. M'lvor is a "soldier of fortune." He has fought in many campaigns, and on as many different sides as his countryman, Dugald Dalgetty, but he has about him a chivalrous and adventurous spirit whioh was wholly wanting to the champion who had learned war under Gustavus Adolphus. General M'lvor is a tall, strong, determined-looking man, getting on now towards fifty years of age, and he has participated in almost every campaign of reoent times. He first fought with Garibaldi in 1858, and after Italy was fried he went out to Amerioa, oasting his lot in with the Confederates. He was in moat of the great battles of that contest, and when the Confederate oauae finally collapsed by the surrender of General Lee, General M'lvor returned to Bngland. After a brief Bpell, he plunged iato the Franco-Prussian war, again on the losing side. He liked, however, to help what he considered the weaker party. The surrender of Paria finished that business, and the next work in hand for General M'lvor was the Bueso-Turkish war, when he aided the Sultan against the Colossus of the North. The following will play for the St Albans C.C. against the Working lien's C.C. on Saturday next and following Saturday on the ground of the former; play to commence at 2.30 sharps— Q. Smith, W. Healey, "W. Hathaway, W. Fee, U. Dickinson, W. Moore, Gr. Lucas, C. Colville, J. Bennetts, J. Harrison, J. Mann.