Local & General

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4991, 2 May 1884, Page 3

Local & General

The Ashburton vital statistics for April are — Births, 36 • deaths, 6 j and marriages, 3. The Hon E. Richardson will speak at Kaiapoi on Thursday, and at Rangiora on the Tuesday following. The Tongariro is, we are informed, taking • a fine half-bred sheep, as a present to the Ziord Mayor of London, from the Bishop of Uelson Messrs Albert Parsons and John Stevenson, thej-etiring members of the Mande--ville andjjßangiora Road Board, were yesterday re-elected without opposition. The following persons were nominated for the two vacancies on the Ellesmere Boad Board — Messrs J. R. Campbell and M. Jones, and as they were the only nominations, they were declared duly elected. The case of Fuchs v. the Union Steamship Company was not concluded yesterday at a few minutes before 6 o'clock in the evening, when the Court adjourned till 2 p.m. to-day. The question of wharfage dues was discussed by the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday, and it was decided, by a -majority of two, not to impose the fees for^ wharfage on grain or other goods, "which are taken to the wharves but not placed on ship-board. A woman, who gave tho namo of Margaret Folles, was found at the corner of Armagh and Madras streets last night lay Constable Costin. She was bleeding profusely from a wound on the temples, And the constable took her to the Hospital, where her hurt was attended to. The ■woman was evidently suffering from the •effects of liquor when she was discovered. Yesterday afternoon a youngster playing ia a paddock near the South Belt was hadly kicked by a horse. The boy was -amusing himself flicking the animal with a •whip, when it suddenly lashed out, breaking the chHd's jaw, injuring one of the -eyes, and cutting the face "about considerably. Despite h*3 injuries, the boy •managed to walk off home, where medical Attendance waa of course at, once procured. An interesting report •on the Lyt--"fcolton Sailors' 2£ome -will be found in the account of the Harbour Board meeting in another .column. It appears that the working of the institution has, since its establishment, been saticrfactory, and that there is a good probability of its paying its way and becoming, in fact, selfsupporting. During tho four months ending March 31, 179 sailors have availed ihemselves of the advantages offered by the Home. Masters of vessels who wish to engage seamen have also found the Home •useful to them, and in several instance-? .seamen have been engaged from there. J

] The Harbour Board, at their meeting yesterday, accepted the tender of Messrs Scott : Bros, for the steam engines for the electric • lighting of the wharves. The contract j price is .£920. This is a gratifying enj couragement to local industry. The following are the returns, for the • month, of the Ashburton Hospital : — Numj ber of patients in the hospital on April 1, 7 ; J admitted during the month, 6 j discharged, 14 ; deaths, 0 j remaining on April 30, 9 ; ; treated, 13. A distressing tragedy occurred near Temuka yesterday. J. W. Garland, licensee of the Arowhenua Hotel, and late of the Railway Hotel, Christchurch, early in the morning shot his wife dead, and then destroyed himself, by means :of a double barrelled gun. Particulars of | the tragedy, which was briefly reported in : yesterday's Second Edition, will be found j elsewhere. j Mr E. W. Seager entertained the members I of the Working Men's Club last eveningwith i an exhibition of his powers as a wizard and i prestidigitateur which he has so often : exercised for the amusement of others. j The various tricks which Mr Seager per- | formed wero loudly applauded by his i audience, and the entertainment concluded • with the aerial balancing triek — one of the • crowning wonders of Mr Seager's reper\toire. j Yesterday, a most successful sale : of work was held in tile rooms of the j Girls' Friendly Society, in aid of the 1 funds of that admirable institution. I The stalls were furnished with a large i assortment of goods, of the mixture i of useful and ornamental generally found . at sales of this description, and the ladies ■ in charge of them had no occasion to comj plain of lack of business. The sale was opened in the afternoon, and was patronised iby a large number of persons. In the j evening, a number of pieces of music were I contributed by friends of the Society, and j the room was crowded with visitors. Alto- \ gether, the results of the sale must have • been eminently satisfactory to all coni corned. j At a meeting of the Provisional j Directors of the Moa Creek Goldmining and Quartz-crushing Company, Limited, held at Roberts' Junction Hotel, Rangiora, yesterday afternoon, Captain Parsons presiding, arrangements were | made to take over the Moa Creek Prosj pecting Company's lease. It is proposed j to float the Company with a capital of .£24,000 in 48,000 shares of 10s each, 24,000 of which are to be offered to the '. public, and the remaining 24,000, with 4s paid up, will be retained by the shareI holders in the prospecting Company. A ! very strong Provisional Directorate has i been formed, comprising some of the lead- | ing men of the Northern district ; and i after tho meeting 5000 shares were sub- { scribed for in the room, j It is currently rumoured in Dunedin j that three members of the Upper House ! are tired of its serene atmosphere, and | long for the turmoil and bustle of the | other Chamber. These " Lords " are the i Hons .George M'Lean, Reynolds, and ! Oliver. * The first-named had definitely i resolved to resign, and offer himself I for election in Dunedin, but, uni fortunately, again fell ill, and feels himself ; unequal to the task. The Hon Mr Reynolds ! is trying to gain the ear of the public, and, if j his chances of election seem good, he will , ! resign ; of course not until after the session. *". The Hon Mr Oliver will, it it said, quit l the Upper Chamber, and woo some southern [ constituency <if his health will allow him. •Mr Fish's popularity is unabated, but Mr ~i Bracken's ia waning, and so is that of Mr " Green — the one with a conscience. Mr j-Downie Stuart will contest Dunedin. It is I jjaid that Mr Stout will not be a candidate I at the general election. — N.Z. Times. I ' . A Southern contemporary is respons- ! ible for the following - anecdote : — A burly sergeant of police observed a naughty j little boy coming out of a certain i licensed house, carrying a Maori kit, I containing the usual Sunday contents. | The boy was challenged and then taken ! back for an interview with the proprietor. While the interview was proceeding some one was rapping as hard as he possibly could at the Sunday entrance. " Another breaker of the law," was no doubt the t thought which flashed through the mind of | the sergeant, so out he marches to catch the j culprit, and, horror of horrors ! who should i be standing there but a member of the I local Licensing Committee, with Maori kit jin hand. " You here !" said the sergeant. j "Yes, sir," replies the representative of the people, "I am here on business." I " Business !" says the Bergeant. " Yes, I i have come to buy some cabbages." The : scene closes, but we cannot help remarking [ on the novelty of publicans going into the j greengrocery line. " Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon !" Until the shock last month, related in our cable news recently, there hadbeen no earthquake of a disastrous nature since April, 1580, when part of St Paul's and the Temple churches in -London were destroyed by a violent shock.- Previous to that, j there had been a series of earthquakes, all j of more destructive character than any j which have been recorded since. In 1089 ! one was felt severely in almost all parts of England, and the next in sequence was a severe shock felt chiefly in Lincoln- \ Bhire, in 1142. In 1274 again the whole of England was disturbed, and the town of Glastonbury wab completely destroyed, and !in 1318 a still greater shock was felt. It i 3 ! estimated that the total number of earthj quakes recorded in Great Britain has been '■ about 255, but nearly all have been very j slight, and unaccompanied by serious loss of life. The last shake recorded was in I March, 1871, when two slight shocks were [ successively felt in Yorkshire and the I i North-west of England generally, but no | noteworthy damage resulted. In October, ! 1868, a slight shock was also felt in the I We3t of England and southern portion of I Wales, and in 1750 London • experienced a j very mild one. j "It is understood," says a corresponj dent of an English paper "that as a result of I communications which have passed within i the last few days between the English, ', French, and Austrian Governments a proI visional arrangement has been made with the object of frustrating the designs of I dynamitards. So far Germany has given her adhesion to the plan, but negotiations are proceeding, and it is probable that j before another week has elapsed what will ; be tantamount to a European concert will | have been established, which may produce the most important results in connection j with the growth of revolutionary niovej ments on the Continent of Europe. Herej tofore the interchange of information •j in such matters between the Powers ( has been conducted through the usual. ! diplomatic channels, necessitating much J delay and useless formality. By the • new plan the- chiefs of police will keep ] each other informed direct as to the move.•ments of susnected^vindividuals, and it is ■ hoped th'at l by,'the;a£d of a perfected sysj tern of . '-internal : tespionSg'e', which these : officials are now* engaged in completing, i effective precautions can be taken against | the perpetration of political outrages. | Some idea may be gained of the compre- -. hensiveness of the new arrangement from i the fact, for the accuracy of which I can i vouch, that upwards of seventy carefully i selected detectives from London and the j surrounding districts have been brought : into Scotland Yard for special instruction 1 in connection with it." | The oldest town in Texas, and, it I is believed, in the United States, is Ysleta, i situate on the Rio Grande, and near El I Paso, the chief town in the county of that j name. It has a population of 2500 souls. The place is one of peculiar interest, alike from its age, its people, its architecture, its agriculture, and its general products. It is a well-established, historical fact that a Spanish military explorer, named Corando, visited the town in 1540, and found it .then a popular .and prosperous civilised Indian community. He was immediately followed by the Franciscan friare, who erected a church and established schools. Ysleta is believed to have been a considerable centre of population centuries before the visit of Corando. It is not a little curious, considering the advance of civilisation from Europe, that the same race of people exist in the town to-day as existed 350 years ago, and that they are engaged in the | same agricultural and mechanical pursuits as their forefathers at that period and for ages preceding.

The House Steward of the Christchurch Hospital begs to acknowledge, with thanks, tho receipt of a box of apples from a lady and some periodicals from Mrs Inwood and Messrs Wood and Co. The local authorities of the Bank of New South Wales here have received information by telegram that at the animal meeting of the proprietors, held yesterday at Sydney, the usual dividend and bonus of 17 J per cent were declared ; .£20,000 was added to the reserve fund, which now amounts to .£550,000; and ,£BOOO carried forward to the new account for the current half-year. The Wairarapa Standard is responsible for the following statement: — About 30 years ago a 'Canterbury farmer, while making his way home, disappeared in a very mysterious manner, and nothing was ever heard of him until a few days ago, when an old man named Hubbard, over 80 years of age, while lying upon his death-bed, confessed that he and two other men murdered him, buried the murdered man, and agreed that the man who survived the other two men should confess the crime. A bazaar in aid of the building fund of the Presbyterian manse, Papanui, was opened in the Papanui Town Hall, yesterday. At 10 a.m. the Rev J. Elmslie engaged in prayer, and Mr John Anderson formally declared the bazaar open. The hall was very tastefully decorated, and on either side were ranged stalls of useful and fancy articles. An excellent display of cut and pot flowers was made at the end of the hall, in front of the stage. Samples of all sorts of fruit and produce were exhibited, and a refreshment stall contributed, in no small degree, to the enjoyment of a large proportion of those present. The ladies who presided over the various stalls were most zealous in their efforts to lighten the pockets of visitors, and, if they did not command success, they certainly deserved it. After the opening, Mr John Anderson was presented with a collection of ferns as a memento of the occasion. The attendance during the day and evening was fair. The bazaar will be re-opened to-day and to-morrow, and on Monday a concert will be given, also in aid of the Manse Building fund. An ordinary meeting of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute was held at 8 p.m. yesterday. The President, Mr R. W. Pereday, occupied the chair, and there was a fairly numerous attendance of members. The President reported the resignation of Dr Lendenfeld as a member of the Council, and Professor von Haast was elected to the vacant seat. Messrs Ringwood and E. M'Connell were elected members of the Institute. The following donations were laid on the table : — " Report of Progress of Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, 1880-81-82, with maps," from the. Director j " Report of Auckland Institute and Museum for 1883-84," from the Auckland Institute. Mr Ringwood then read a paper on " Red sunsets," maintaining that the " after glow" seen after sunset during the past few months was due to the presence in the atmosphere of volcanic particles ejected by the eruption of Krakatoa, with, perhaps, a small proportion of similar matter from the volcanoes of Alaska. An animated discussion followed the reading of the paper, Professor Hutton contending that the phenomena were due to meteoric, and not volcanic, dust.