Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5550, 23 February 1886, Page 3

Local & General.

A special cable message this morning conveys intelligence of a disquieting rumour that again a Russian force is marching towards Herat. The City Council has accepted the tender of Mr Gregg for the erection of the additions to the Fire Brigade Station at Chester street, a description of which appeared in our columns a short time ago. The price is .£BSO. The new Drillshed recently completed for the use of the Lyttelton Volunteer corps will be opened on Friday evening next by an inspection of the Naval Brigade and the N Battery of Artillery, before Colonel Lean and Major Newall. The 6in well in Gloucester street has been completed at a total cost of £126. The depth of the well is 140 ft. The 4in well in St Asaph street has been abandoned, the attempt to sink it having proved impracticable. A 6in well is to be sunk instead. J It will be seen fiom our cable messages that another mass meeting of the uneni ployed and discontented in London has been held in Hyde Park. So far no serious outbreak has occurred, but things wear an ominous appearance. j The Canterbury College Board', of Governors held an ordinary meeting yetr- j terday afternoon, when the estimates of receipts and expenditure were considered' in Committee. Dr Coward having resigned his seat at the Board, the election of his successor by the graduates was appointed j to take place on Saturday, April 3. .-,. Last evening Miss Georgie Smithson gave a lecture on the West Coast Bailway to an audience of over 2000 persons in the Tuam street Hall. His Worship the Mayor presided, and at the conclusion of the lecture, which was frequently applauded, Miss Smithson was accorded an enthusiastic vote of thanks. A special meeting of the Christchurch Musical Society is to be held in the practice-room on Tuesday next, March 2, for the purpose of reconsidering the rules of the Society. Mr Towsey has accepted the position of conductor, and he holds his first practice this evening. Herr Bunz now assumes the position of leader of the orchestra. It has been decided to hold the first of the races under the auspices of the Canterbury Yacht Club on Saturday next. The event will be a scratch race for the cup presented by Mr W. Savage, all the boats entering to start from the same mark. This Btep is necessary to enable some estimate to be made of the speed of the boats which are likely to enter in the future handicap races. The race will be once round a course to be laid down by the Committee. The race will start, weather permitting, at 2 p.m. Everybody knows that during the siege of Paris advertisement columns from the Times were photographed and carried into the beleaguered city by pigeons. These advertisement columns were full of business notices and family communications to besieged Parisians ; and other news of more public importance was sent in the same way. The tiny photographs thus obtained were enclosed in quill tubes and tied to the pigeons' tails. When they arrived in Paris, the photopellicules were enlarged, copied, and distributed. It was stated recently by a public lecturer that the total number of messages sent into Paris during the investment was no^esa than 115,000 ; that they only weighed two grammes, and that one pigeon could have carried them all ! If the number of copies which 'were made of these messages be taken into consideration, they givo a total of 2,500,000 photographs taken during two of the worst months of the year. Allow me (writes a correspondent of the South Australian Register) to suggest a simple means of getting rid of rats. In the year 1855 I was in command of a vessel lying alongside the wharf at Melbourne, embarking Chinese passengers for Hongkong. The wharves were so infested with rats that it was impossible to prevent their getting on board, and my vessel was well stocked •with them. After being at sea a few dayß I mustered the passengers — with their effects — on deck, to give them an airing, and for the purpose of giving the passenger-deck a good cleaning, and sprinkling some chloride of lime with water. I had also a couple of buckets of the same mixture poured down the pumps. This I continued weekly, when to my surprise the rats made a raid on the cabin (poop) on deck, and became so troublesome that neither myself nor my officers cared about turning in at night. A happy thought struck me — that the chloride of lime had driven them from below deck ; so I had everything cleared out of the cabin and storerooms, and freely used the mixture. This had the desired effect, the rats taking shelter in every available place outside. This gave us some good sport, especially on a moonlight night, when all hands engaged in hunting rats and driving them overboard ; so by the time we arrived in Hongkong not one was left on board. On my return to England I took a house and furnished it. After being in it a short time, I found that it was infested with rats. They would get through every part on the ground floor. On examination I discovered that a drain ran under the house, emptying into the harbour. I here again used the chloride of lime freely, and in less than a week every rat had taken its departure. I have recommended this remedy to many shipmasters and friends on shore, and in all cases it has proved a success. I have occupied my present residence for five years, I and we have neither rat nor mouse on the premises. I attribute this to the free use of the above mixture, which is also effective as a deodoriser and disinfectant.

Mr Garrick will address the electors of St Albanß at the Merivale schoolroom at 8 o'clock on Friday. At the meeting of the United Charitable Aid Board yesterday afternoon, two letters were received, asking the Board to re-consider their decision in dismissing the present master and mistress. One of these was signed by several influential residents of Christchurch, including the Mayor and the Chairman of the old Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and the other by a number of Lyttelton residents. MrNalder, the Chairman of the Orphanage Committee, stated that the master had been so insubordinate that it was impossible for the Committee to work with him. After considerable discussion, it was decided to send the master a statement of the reasons for his dismissal, with an understanding that these should be made public, and also that Mr Ritchey should have an opportunity _of replying. A meeting of the Board is to be held on Thursday afternoon, for the purpose of receiving the report of the Orphanage Committee on the applications for the positions of master and matron, and it is expected that both the reasons of the Committee and Mr Ritchey's reply will be then made public. The estimated quantity of water that passes over the Palls of Niagara is 100,000,000 tons per hour. This represents a force amounting to 16,800,000 horse-power. It has been calculated that all the coal raised in the world would barely suffice to proiluce the amount of power that annually runs to waste at this I wonderful fall.