Latest Locals.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5554, 27 February 1886, Page 3

Latest Locals.

Mr R. M. Taylor, it is stated, will contest the representation of Sydenham in Parliament, either in case of the resignation of Mr W. White or of a dissolution. Mr F. D. Fergusson, who for three years haa held the position of assistant master iit the Boys' High School, has been appointed master of the Greenpark District School. A property! eituatod at the corner of Harper street and Hazeldean road, described in an advertisement, will be submitted at auction by Mr H. J. Roaa, at 1 o'clock on Monday. Tho return of births, deaths, and mai-i-iages in *the District of Christchurch for the month ending Feb. 28, shows births 1.0, marriages 32, deaths (53. Last year, for the corresponding period, the numbers were 131, 35, and 89 respectively. A correspondent suggests that in connection with Mr Burnett's temperanco mission a special farewell meeting and addresa should be arranged, cay for Tuesday evening, and that tho uso of one of tho larger churches should be obtained for the occasion. The Roy A. C. Wright, who is leaving tor iSolson, will conduct services for the last time in St John's Church to-morrow. The offertories at both services will be presented to the reverend gentleman in place of the usual Easter offerings. A farewell gathering will be held in St John's schoolroom on Wednesday next, when tho amount of tlio offertories, togother with any other subscriptions tliat come in, will bo handed to Mr Wright as a parting gift. Lynch law still seems to flourish in certain parts of the United States, and the latest instance of thiß Bort of'mobjiiatice has taken tho form of cremating the victim without waiting for his death first. A negro who, it is stated, had munlereda girl in Alabama, was pursued and captured, tied to a tree, and burnt alive, his body being entirely consumed. That this horrible exhibition was popular waa evinced by the fact that the scene waa viewed by over 500 persons, who did not dlspci'ao until the negro waa reduced to A.hos.

The employees of the Kaiapoi Woollen Factory held their annual picnic at Sumner to-day, and passed the time pleasantly with tho usual diversions at the seaside, besides engaging in various sports. | I The annual picnio of the employees in the boot factories of Christchurch took . place at Lansdowne to-day. The pic- ; nickers mustered in Latimer square at * half-past eight o'clock this morning, and were conveyed to the scene of tbeir outing i in vehicles of various descriptions. Lieut. Greely believes that thore is an j ocean 1500 miles iv diameter, round about the pole, that never freezes, and conjee- 1 tures that the pole itself ia the centro of an ' ico-capped land, covered with ice from 1000 , to 4000 ft thick. These conclusions are j rejected by prominent Arctic authorities in j Eu gland. The members of St Paul's Churoh (Papanui) Choir held their annual picnic I yesterday. They left Papanni, to tho j number of seventy, in a special tram at 8.30, and proceeded to Governor's Bay by train and steamer, where a very pleasant day was spent. The party returned to town by tho t.20 train, and wound up the day with a dance. Mr Wallack says that atthe recent opening of the "3ohool for Scandal" at his theatre, in New York, a man walked up to the box-office window and asked, "What play ia this "School for Scandal,' anyway ? " "It is considered one of the first comedies in th© English language," was the reply. "Is it new ? " " No. It scarcely can be called new." " Oh, then, I guess I don't want to see it," remarked the stranger ; and he went away, making some remark about not having "any wormy chestnuts worked off on him, if he knew it." The number of electoral placards which ornamented the walte of Paris during the three days preceding the re-election M. Grevy must have been enormous, for it took no less than two thousand seven hundred men to post them up against the walls. In the Eve de Eivoli alone fifty-two workmen were counted, busy with adorning the arcades. Curiously enough, the destruction of the grand electoral toilette costs the French Government almost as much as the making and putting onj the sum of 25,000 f. for taking down tho placards a day atter tho election by means of washing the wall was paid. Tho anti-Grevyists look at the expense — after the.'elections, with little favour.