Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5611, 6 May 1886, Page 3

Local & General.

»■ During April forty-four patients were admitted into the Christchurch hospital, and thirty-four were discharged, leaving seventy-one inmates. Five patients died during the month. The whole of the hands employed at the Crown Boot Factory, Madras and Tuam streets, have received notice to leave next Friday, in consequence of the business being wound up. When in full operation, about eighty hands were employed in this factory by the proprietors, the late firm of Heymanson, Low and Co., whose headquarters >vere at Dunedin. How the report originated that the National Insurance Company's General Manager was about to settle the affairs iof the London branch of the Company's business, and then sever his connection with the Company, it is impossible to imagine. The real fact is, we are assured, that Mr Jack takes the opportunity of visiting London, which the business of the branch there affords him, to take a w<>ll--earned year's holiday. Mr E. M. Taylor addressed the electors in the Selwyn street schoolroom last evening, the chair being taken qy his Worship the Mayor, Mr J. Forrester. There was a good attendance, the room being comfortably filled. The candidate's political opinions, both local and general, were loudly applauded, and after several questions had be»>n asked and satisfactorily answered, a vote of thanks wa3 moved by Mr J. W. Smith, and seconded by Mr H. O'Neil, to Mr Taylor for his very able address, which was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks having been tendered to his Worship for presiding, the meeting separated.

\ Mr Joseph Grimmond, of Ross, has de- ' finitely decided to contest the Hokitika j seat in opposition to Mr Bevan, M.H E. ! The unpleasant weather of last night interfered somewhat with the attendance at the Theatre Eoyal, but not with the success of the performance. Messrs Raynor, Mr Rickards, and the other members of the company performed their parts in a style which secured and deserved hearty applause. The company will perform again this evening. : The Hospital Board, at its meeting yester- , day, decided to. build a Fever Hospital, to ■ contain eight beds, according to the plans ;of Mr Seager. Towards the cost of this the Government has granted J6IOOO, and any expenditure above this amount is to be taken from the Maxwell bequest. Of eleven tenders received for building the : operating theatre that of Mr Stocks (w6620) has been accepted. j The monthly meeting of the Eangiora Lite- , rary Institute Committee was held on Tueß- ; day night, Mr G. Buckham presiding. The Chairman reported a credit balance of £9 ;7s lOd. Mr T. Boyd gave notice of motion I for the annual meeting in June — " That I the reading-room be opened on Sunday j afternoons." The Chairman waß cmi powered to make accommodation for the : new books shortly to be added to the ; library. Mr Boyd gave notice of his inten- | tion to move at the general meeting — j " That the reference books be placed n the i reading-room for public use." It was re- : solved to hold the annual sale of old papers I and magazines at the close of the general I meeting. The meeting then terminated. i A meeting of the Committee of the ' Ashburton Eacing Club was held at j the Club's room on Tuesday evening ' last ; present — Messrs H. Friedlander : (in the chair), Harrison, Fooks, Den- | shire, Thomas, Crisp, M. Friedlander, j Drs Leahy and Ross. Correspondence waa ; read from the Canterbury Jockey Club with I regard to the new racing rules, and it was | resolved to call a special general meeting of the Club on May 29 to discuss the same. j A sub-Committee waa appointed to engage I a totalisator for the forthcoming meeting, i and the Secretary waß directed to arrange a number of details. Mr Alfred Harrison was instructed to sell the usual privileges in connection with the meeting. A large amount of routine business having been disposed of, the Committee adjourned. Suitors in the R.M. Court will be interested to know that Mr Beetham holds that there can be no such thing as the plaintiff in a civil action withdrawing a case after a summons has been taken out. The case must remain, and be called upon the day for which it is set down, when, if the plaintiff doeß not wish to go on, he need not appear. The reason is, that if plaintiffs are allowed to withdraw cases when they like, the defendants might lose the costs they had incurred in defending what were, possibly, frivolous actions. There was a very large attendance of performing members at the practice on Tuesday night last, when all the music for the forthcoming concert was fully rehearsed, and very satisfactorily bo. The "Stabat Mater" went capitally throughout, and, as two more practices will be obtained, the Society should score a great success with its performance. The miscellaneous part of the programme should prove very pleasing, as the orchestra supply one overture and Mendelssohn's First Concerto (Mrs H. H. Loughnan piano), and there will be some madrigals by the full strength of the Society. The Incumbent of Avonside, the Rev W. A. Pascoe, has addressed the following circular to his parishioners. The response, it is to be hoped, will be a liberal one : — " The ' Avonside Society for the relief of the Sick and Needy* has, under the provisions of the Charitable Institutions Act, been obliged to transfer its operations to the North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board. The Society's income was derived from subscriptions collected from members of all denominations, supplemented by the Government subsidy ; and it granted relief in all deserving cases, irrespective of religious creed. All cases of distress are now relieved by the Charitable Aid Board. But as the Board provides only for the bare necessities of life, it has been urged that the various religious bodies ought, in caseß of sickness, to supplement the relief granted by the Board. As pastor of this parish, I gladly accept this responsibility, and ask your aid to enable me to make due provision for the sick poor of the Church. The ladies who for years undertook to collect for the * Sick and Needy Society,' have kindly promised to continue their labours in behalf of the ' Sick Fund' of the Church. They will collect only from Church people, and the fund will be administered for the benefit of Church people. For thepresent it is hoped that a quarterly collection will provide a sum sufficient to meet all demands, and the collectors will therefore call quarterly instead of monthly. If all will give a small sum, the burden will not be felt by any, and the Church will be able to fulfil her Lord's injunction to care for the poor." On Tuesday evening last the Ashburton Wesleyan Church choir, assisted by a few friends, gave Roofs sacred cantata, " Belshazzar's Feast," in the Oddfellows' Hall, to a good audience. The choir, augmented as it was by friends, formed an excellent chorus, and the solo parts were undertaken as under: — Belshazzar, King, Mr H. Atkinson ; Nitocris, Queen, Miss Kidd j Daniel, Rev D. M'Nicoll; Hananiah, Mr C. Ray j Jewish maidens, Meadames Alison and Gamble, Misses Potter, Alcorn, and Ray. The bolo work was remarkably well done, and the choruses were rendered with due care, giving evidence in every phrase of elope rehearsal on the part of the members of the choir, and great attention bestowed on every detail by the conductor, Mr James Gamble. A very efficient orchestra gave yeomanly aid to the choir, the instrumentalists being : — Firat violins, Mr H. A. Gates (leader) and Miss Savage ; second violins, Mrs J. M'Lean Dunn and Mr J. Simmonds ; flute, Mr G. Jameson j cornet, Mr G. W. Savage; contra bass, Mr TJ. Hosken; organist, Mies Murray. The necessary readings to connect the music were given by the Eev T. Newbold. Root, the composer of the music, is one of the new school of " bards of the people," by whose efforts church choirs have been supplied with music more within their powers than the creations of the great masters, and yet of a more ambitious cast than the short scraps of anthem masic that have been their lot hitherto to work with. The cantata jb the story in music of Belshazzar's fall, and the story is very well told indeed. A London correspondent who was in the House of Commons recently, tells ub that everyone present could not refrain from laughter when a grave and dignified M.P. entered solemnly, and walked to his seat very 'orderly, bearing on the top of his head a large white card. The look of utter astonishment and bewilderment with which he heard the outburst of merriment he unconsciously provoked was simply delicious. The card had evidently been placed in his hat. The case of the Bradford people who were recently bitten by mad doRS, and who have sought refuge with M. Pasteur, formß the subject of an article in the Daily Neios. It contends that " there is no new principle involved in Pasteur's experiment on hydrophobia. It was seen in practice when Lady Mary Wortley Montague wrote many years ago of inocnlation and small-pox. It was witnessed when Pasteur himself discovered that by sowing modified germs of 3plenic fever iv the blood of cattle and sheep, he eor,ld protect them from the ravages of thai discaso in its intensity. The idea of all *uob treatment is founded on the fact tlwt a law of 'life exists whereby a weakly < v modified inoculation of a disease gives t < Cue body a mild att.-i-k of that affection, and thuß protects it, wholly and for ever, <r it may be for a longer or shorter pe.-w] only, 1 from the onset of the ailment in its full ! force." Now that the young ladies of the Moscow Girls' School have undertaken the business ; of collecting subscriptions on behalf of the '• persecuted " Nihilists, the Government : of the Czar will have to invent now systems i , of repression. j < 'J'hos.i who walk fastest in going to ; . dinner often walk slowest in going ba>;k to ' work. i