Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5493, 15 December 1885, Page 3

Local & General.

A meeting of the promoters of the Sumner Railway Company was held yesterday afternoon, but the proceedings were private. The annual meetiog of the Canterbury branch of the British and Foreign Bible Societyfwas held last evening. Mr W. D. Humphries and Mr G. M. Adams have been nominated to tte vacant seaton the Kaiapoi Borough Council. The election will be held on Monday next. At St John's Schoolroom last night Mr G. R. Fleming had a full rehearsal, for vocalists as well as orchestra, of his original «pera "Angelica." All present seemed to enter into the spirit of the opera in such a way as gives ample promise of a. highly satisfactory first performance tomorrow night.

i ' The City Council last night confirmed their former decision not to proclaim • Thursday the legal half-holiday. The ordinary meeting of the Sydenham Borough Council was held last evening. j A report of the proceedings appears in I another column. i Among the items reported at last night's ; City Council meeting was 14s 6d paid to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards, ' as the contribution of the City of Chrißt- • church. ! The defendants in the case of Stewart v. Roydhouse and another (Wellington Evening Press) yesterday afternoon took out their order for a change of venue to Dunedin. The date for the trial remains to be fixed by His Honor Mr Justice Williams. 1 At the City Council meeting last night, the Fire Brigade Committee reported in j favour of the abolition of the Lichfield Street station. The Council adopted the report, and referred its execution to the j Works and Finance Committees. j On Saturday the two-year-old child of ■ Mr Edward Collison strayed near to a horse-power at work on its father's farm at Seafield, and falling among the gear was crushed to death. An inquest is to be held at Seafield. I | Some of our readers may be glad to hear ! that there will be a celebration of the Holy ' Communion at the Cathedral to-morrow morning at half-past seven. Notice was given at the Cathedral on Sunday that the special service which is being held on Wednesday, as well as Friday, evenings during Advent, will be omitted to-morrow evening. It was thought that it would be seriously interfered with by the torchlight procession. I Thomas Hillier Green, mentioned in the Auckland telegrams yesterday as the winner of the Gillies' Auckland University i College scholarship, is a pupil of the Boyß* • High School, Christchurch. He is 16 : years of age, and has been at the school four and a half years. The scholarship is i a valuable one, being £100 a year for three j years, and is given for excellence in chemistry and physics. This is the first time that it has been awarded in New Zealand. j Yesterday Messrs Crooks, C. Samuels, j and Gray made the tour of .the City for the j purpose of purchasing hats, caps, dresses, : flannels, boots and shoes and other useful articles for the children's events at the Popular Sports. They, were also very I successful in their canvass for gifts of ; Bimilar things, bo that the little oneß should have every prospect of their sports being anything but unproductive. It may i be well to state that the above-named gentlemen will be very happy to receive further contributions. | Yesterday afternoon the Christ's i College Cadets were inspected by Lieut.-Colonel Lean on the quadrangle lin front of the school buildings. The ! masters of the school and a number of visitors, including several ladies, were present. The corps mustered 49 strong, under Captain U. V. Richards. After the ; inspection the lads were put through an ; hour's smart drill by their officers, and went through Company drill, the manual, firing and bayonet exercises, in mostcreditj able style. At the conclusion of the drill I Colonel Lean briefly addressed the corps, ; complimenting the boys on the manner in which their work had been performed. An adjourned meeting of the Committee of the Musical Society was held yesterday afternoon, when it was decided to alter the date of the concert i from Tuesday, Dec 22, to the Wednesday ; following, in consequence of the ball to his Worship the Mayor being fixed for the evening of the former day. The concert was originally fixed for Dec. 22, and duly made public, but in deference to the wishes of many leading citizens, the Committee decided on this alteration. His Excellency the Governor has expressed his intention to be present, and the Committee have reduced the price of admission to half -a-crown. Miss Spensley, Mrs Townend, and Messrs Appleby, Izard and (xard'ner will sing the solos of the work, and Mr Wells and Mr Corrick will fill, as usual, the respective position of conductor and leader. i The report with respect to quaran- ! tining all vessels arriving at Queensland j ports through the outbreak of cholera will | no doubt have a damaging effect upon ! vessels trading thither, and it was anticiI pated that the Union Company would not i risk sending the Wakatipu to Brisbane ! under the circumstances ; but with true j loyalty to their constituents, they have j decided to send the steamer on, with the J-. cargo engaged, and she will leave Lyttel- : ton, as advertised, on Friday next. The j Wakatipu will take a large cargo of pro- ; duce and abont 85 horses, and though the j quarantine regulations may 'cause delay in | the steamer's subsequent movements, it is j but a secondary consideration to the Com- | pany, who are anxious to establish the i trade which commercial men in the ; southern ports have so much at heart, and which in time may turn out to be a profit- ' able one to the Company. A meeting of the Committee «f the Merivsle Horticultural Society took, place on Saturday evening last, Mr H. R. j Webb (President) occupying the chair. ! The Secretary reported that the entries for the best -kept gardens were not so satisfactory as last year, and the Committee decided to extend the time for entering such to Saturday next. It was resolved to request Messrs Norman, Armstrong, and Cullen to act as judges for pot plants and cut flowers at the Bummer show next month, and that Messrs Allen, Donald, Davidson, and Crooks be requested to set in a similar capacity in the classes for fruit and vegetables. After some business relating to the appointment of stewards, &c, had been disposed of, a discussion took place relative to encouraging a larger number of bend fide cottagers to exhibit at the Society's shows, Mr Anstey intimating that it was his intention, with a view to furthering such object, to exhibit in the open class for the future. It was thought that very little could be done in the matter till the general meeting, when the subject would be brought forward again. A vote of thanks to the chair concluded the proceedings. The Penguin, with the Southern portion of the San Francisco mail, crossed Manukau bar at four o'clock yesterday morning, and was expected to reach Wellington about 7 o'clock this morning. The Hinemoa is bringing on the mail. The London mails were two days late in reaching San Francisco. The Zealandia left at 2 p.m. on Nov. 23, and the Alameda, with the mails, two hours later. The latter reached Honolulu at 7 a.m. on Nov. 30, and the Zealandia at 11 p.m. The old steamer left Honolulu for Auckland at midnight, and the Alameda at 9 o'clock the following morning (Dec. 1). The Alameda took the pilot on board at Auckland at 12.60 p.m. on Sunday. The Zealandia arrived at 6 yesterday morning. The Alameda' s passage to Honolulu was 18 hours shorter than the Zealandia's, and on the voyage from Honolulu to Auckland she beat her rival by about 24 hours. The Alameda sailed for Sydney at 4 a.m., and the Zealandia at 10 a.m. yesterday. Some young New Zealanders have been distinguishing themselves in the football arena in Germany. A gentleman in Christchurch has received a letter from Gottingen, in which a description is given of a match between fifteen of the English Colony there and the German " Fussball Verein," which developed into an exciting and spirited game. It was played on Oct. 17, and the Englishmen included three former scholars of the Boys' High School here, who, it will be seen, evidently did their full share of the work. The Germans set the ball in motion shortly after three o'clock, in the presence of about 500 spectators. After a little give-and-take play, they grounded the leather over the enemy's line, but the try was not improved upon. Shortly before half-time the Germans gained another try, which was again unproductive. After half-time tb* English had it all their own way, and some fine play was shown by J. C. Miller and A. H. Postlethwaite (both of these names will be familiar to High School boys), and twice the ball wan planted behind the German line. Play then became very fast and rough, but the English team were not * to be denied, and a third try was gained, r which Clark, by a splendid kick, converted I into a goal. Time was shortly afterwards i called, and the English team was left victori»na by one goal and two tries to two tries.

| The well-known sailing boat Waterlily, • which left Lyttelton for Akaroa, where | she was to take part in the regatta, came to grief on Sunday in Le Bon's Bay. _ Her crew took her in there, as the wind was right ahead and they 1 needed rest. They anchored with 25 fathoms of cable and left her, but while ashore the boat either dragged her anchor or parted the cable, and drove among the j rocks, where she immediately broke up. j Her crew walked to Purau, and returned to Lyttelton in the launch.