Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5025, 11 June 1884, Page 3

Local & General.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the ) Ashburton Borough Council was held on j Monday, but the business done was almost wholly formal. At yesterday's meeting of the Avon Licensing Committee, three applications for hotel licenses in the hitherto uncontaminated district of Richmond were refused. Twenty-six thousand shares have been applied for in the Moa Creek Gold-Mining Company, Limited. The first issue consisted of 24,000, at 10s each. The brokers are Messrs Acland, Barns and Co. At the Supreme Court, Timaru, yesterday, the Grand Jury threw out the bill against Joseph Mackay for embezzlement of the funds of the Government Insurance Department. Sir Julius Vogcl delivers his address to the Colony through the medium of the Ashburton electorate on Friday night. On the following evening Mr Wason, the rival candidate, also addresses the electors at Ashburton. A petition to the House of Representatives, praying that no alteration may be made in the secular and compulsory clauses of the Education Act, is being circulated i for signature in Chri3tchurch, and a very • considerable number of signatures have [ already been obtained to it. The petition i emanates from Dunedin. | A Service of Song, entitled " Alone | in London," was rendered in the Syden- j ham Baptist Church last evening, by j the choir. The connected readings were j given by the Rev J. D. Gilmour. j Mr Hepworth conducted the choir, and j Miss Stevens presided at the harmonium, ! The service was very successful, and there j was a goodly attendance of members of the } congregation and others. i The Rev C. Worboys lectured in St ! Asaph street Church last evening on "A Man's a Man for a' that." The lecturer dealt with some of the mistaken notions about manhood, set forth that goodness was the chief trait, exposed the evil of injuring or degrading men, &c. The hall was filled by an attentive and appreciative audience. Mr Clark sang the song, and the choir, led by Mr Corrick, gave several glees. The lecture at the Working Men's Club to-merrow will be by no means the least interesting and instructive of the series being delivered there. It will bo given by Mr J. B. Stansell, who takes for his subject, "The progress of the secular vocal music of ; England." The lecture will be illustrated with vocal selections by Mesdames Thompson and Long, and Messrs Long, Fox, and Stansell. Mr Darcy Hyland's exhibition of horse taming again attracted a good audience at the Theatre Royal last evening. Mr Hyland, as usual, gave indubitable evidence of his powers over intractable equines, a nervous, vicious brute, who would not allow anyone to come near him when he first came in, being brought to comparative quiet and submission in the space of half-an-hour. Mr Hyland will give another exhibition this evening. The E Battery of Artillery was inspected by Lieut.-Colonel Lean at the Drillshed last evening. The Colonel was accompanied by Captain and Adjutant Newall. There was a good muster, 34 of all ranks being present, Captain Martin in command. Lieutenant Douglas took the men in company drill, and Captain Martin put them through bayonet exercise. Two detachments then wei;t through heavy gun drill, including dismounting drill and shifting wheels. The Colonel made a careful inspection of the guns and stores, and expressed his satisfaction with tho condition of everything. The examination of candidates for Government scholarships classes D and E, began at the Normal School yesterday morning. Three candidates presented themselves in Class D and two in Class E. The examiners are Professor Cook and Mr J. Colborne-Veel, M.A., assisted by the Rev C. Turrell (French) and Professor Bickerton (Science). The subjects examined in yesterday were arithmetic and history. To-day, English will be taken, with geography for D and algebra for E ; to-morrow, Latin and science ; and on Friday, euclid, mathematics, and French, with which the examination will close. The last rumour about tho English Premier (Mr Gladstone) was that he was out of his mind. Strange to say there was really some excuse, though, of course, no foundation for this gossip. Reporters have been hanging about Coombe Warren like touts in the neighbourhood of a racecourse, and they heard Mr Gladstone carolling the songs of his youth like a skylark in the shrubberies. Of course this seemed a little eccentric, but it is explained by the fact that his physician had directed him to exercise his vocal powers in the open air. Even at the height of his power the late M. Rouher never went into society, preferring his own home to the festivities of the Imperial court, and working from 5 o'clock in the morning until dark.

I Tho Committee of the Ashburton Racing Club mot on Monday evening, when there was a good attendance. Mr Purnell was elected Chairman of Committees for tho year. It was resolved to let the racecourse to the Hunt Club for a steeplechase on August 7, at the usual charge of £25, but that a donation of £10 10s should be given to the Hunt Club's funds. It was decided to ask Mr P. Campbell to act as starter for bhe Club. Subcommittees were appointed as under : — Improvement — Messrs M. Friedlander, Cr&p, Drs Eoss and Loaliy ; Finance — Messrs Thomas, H. Friedlander, and Dr Eoss. The other business was routine. The following is the result of the Handicap Chess Tourney, which began in January and closed last night : — P. F. Jacobsen (first class), with 33 points, 1 ; A. Smith (fourth class), with 29 points, 2 ; H. Hookham (first class), with 23 points, 3 ; J. G. Scott (fourth class), with 19 points, 4 ; Messrs A. H. Todd (second class) and F. Horwood (first class) each gained 14 points. Six competitors did not play the full number of games, and in consequence no fewer than 36 games were cancelled. This, of course, might have materially altered the results. The entries for the Championship Tourney close next Tuesday. The handicaps for the new Handicap Tourney will then be published. Many of our readers will be glad to hear that Mr Charles Ensor, of Mount Grey, has so far recovered his health as to be enabled to return home. Some time ago Mr Ensor was brought down to Christchurch to be under the immediate attention of Dr Prius. By the advice of the latter he was removed to tho residence of Mr Parkes, iv order that he might be subjected to systematic galvanic treatment. The wisdom of this course was evidenced by a remarkably rapid improvement. Moi-e recently Mr Ensor ha 3 been recruiting at Messrs Maxwell and Mathias' Eacocourse HUI Estate. Since the beginning of his illness in December last Mr Ensor has only been able to attend twice as Chairman of the Directors of the New Zealand Farmers' Association, but though desiring to be relieved of his duties, his co-Directors declined to receive his resignation, and appointed an acting Chairman, in the hope that on his restoration to health he would again take his accustomed seat. The quarterly meeting of teachers of Church of England Sunday schools and other members of the Diocesan Church Work Society was held in Christ's College Library last night. The attendance was unusually numerous. The Very Eev the Dean presided, and the Eev J O'Brien Hoare gave an address on the subject of the "Model Teacher." He dwelt on the necessity for teachers to be thorough in their work, and to prepare tho lessons they have to give carefully during tho week. He was understood to be rather disparaging in his remarks as to the usefulness of the Church catechism, and this provoked a rather warm defence of the excellence of the Catechism, when intelligently taught, by Mr Brittan. Several others present took part in the discussion, and agreed that Mr Hoare had given an admirable and practical address. After a brief reply from the Rev J. OB. Hoare, who explained that he had no intention to discourage teachers from using the Catechism, the meeting was closed with the customary service. A fire occurred in Queen street, East Oxford, yesterday morning under suspicious circumstances. The house destroyed was a four-roomed one, somewhat roughly built, and was occupied by a man named Thomas Osborne, junr. The fire took place at half-past three in the morning. Half an hour previous to this one of the neighbours heard someone in the house, and another neighbour heard footsteps coming from it about the same time. Shortly after the footsteps were heard the fire was noticed by another neighbour, who gave the alarm at once and burst the door in, as ho could get no one to hear. When he gained entrance he found no one in the house, and the floor all in a blaze. It was then too late to stop the progress of the fire. It is reported that some boys who were at the fire saw some clothes boxes, which were apparently taken out before the fire took place. The house was insured for £o0 in the New Zealand office. Yesterday the debate on the Address in Reply to the Speech began in the House of Representatives. It was moved by Dr Newman and seconded by Mr M. W. Green. Mr Steward moved an amendment, seconded by Mr Levestam, traversing the policy of the Government. This action it is understood the member for Waimate took on behalf of the section of the Opposition who follow the lead of Mr Montgomery. Sir G. Grey in the afternoon also tabled notice of a want of confidence motion for Friday, whereupon he was eagerly hailed leader of the Opposition by the Premier, who, at the same time, professed to treat Mr Steward's proceedings with disdain. The object of the Government is, of course, transparent enough. Our correspondent states that late last night the middle section of the Opposition resolved to support Mr Montgomery, who now lias a good chance of defeating the Government.