Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5701, 19 August 1886, Page 3

Local & General.

Mr Tendall's organ recital for this evening has been postponed, owing to the inclemency of the weather. The Directors of the Southern Cross 3"etroleum Company are in receipt of advices from their works up to Friday last, at which date the depth of tho bore was 1349£t, with the rock standing firmly. .. ... The E Battery of Artillery and the Canterbury Engineers were inspected by Major Newall at the Drillshed last night. Notwithstanding the very bad weather, both corps turned out well. The Artillery mustered 43 of all ranks, under Captain Martin, and the Engineers 40; under Captain Webster. During the past week a resident of Tai Tapu has killed and forwarded to Ohristchurch twelve pigs, each weighing on an average 1411 b, some even turning the scales at 1801 b. They were littered in February and March, and have j clothed themselves to the amount of 6£lb j per week since their birth. They were pure-bred Berkshires. A concert is announced to be given in' the Harwell schoolroom on Friday evening, to assist the fund now being .raised for repairing Halswell Church. Considering the object for which this entertainment is arranged and the dearth of amasezoent in this district, there should be a large audience. For the convenience of town friends, a coach will leave Hobday's for Halswell at *7 o'clock on Friday evening, and return after the concert. Our Ash burton correspondent informs us that several bad cases of sheepworrying have been reported this week. Two or three farmers on the Wakanui j Beach road have suffered considerably, j and one especially has had the greater portion of his flock destroyed. The j dogs coxae at night, and, though a watch has been kept on several evenings, the \ •watohers have never been fortunate enough, to be about when the strange dog 3 paid | 1 their visits. It would be a wise thing for town residents who own dogs to make a point of chaining up their animals at night, and thus be sure that they are not committing depredations on the farmers' flocks. Asueeessf ul gathering of the parishioners of Addington took place in St Mary's schoolroom last Thursday. The room had been furnished and tastefully arranged for the occasion, and was filled by the large number of people assembled. The evening was very pleasantly spent in conversation and music, and the consideration of sundry < objects of interest. The ladies of the j parish provided an ample store of choice refreshments, which were handed about the room during the evening. This social gathering — the first of the kind in St j Mtary's parish — gave great satisfaction to ' all concerned, and will probably become an | annual institution. On the following evening a children's gathering was arranged for, and some 230 children of the parish sat down to tea. j Our Springston correspondent writes :— • There is a difference of opinion here, ] oae section trying to create a new Boad Eoard. This is claimed to have special benefits. They will be clear of the heavy outlay on drainage, on which there haß been a large sum necessarily expended ; but, aa to the practicability of this, i there seem to be different views, and, if j not successful, it will be a disappointment and a loss of time to the mover in the matter. There ia a chance of parts of the ; aew district changing their mind, and , wishing now to keep with their old mother, ! who has not wished them to leave her The division of the district into wards would remedy all the grievances, and put each part on a better footing than the proposed arrangement, and save a considerable sum to the ratepayers in the carrying out of expenditure, and would, in the end, be found more beneficial to both. ThR London correspondent of a Provincial paper writes : — A curious piece of information with regard to the re> cent difficulty between Germany and Spain about the Carolines has, I learn from a letter received here, leaked out in Manila. It appears that the Germans had planned, in case war became inevitable, the seizure of the important island of Mindanas, the most southern of the Philippines, and then designed proceeding to Manila, which was badly defended, and attacking it. Had they succeeded in obtaining hold of the most important Spanish city outside Spain, they would have been in a position to dictate terms to the- whole Spanish East Indies. With the considerable German naval force in the South Seas and in China, there appears no reason why a sudden movement of this nature should not have been successful. The Spanish position in parts of the Philippines is toD precarious to stand a blow such as this would havebpen, and the loss of prestige would probably have been followed by native ontbreaks all over the archipelago. The old, old grievancoof the crawling cabs has cropped up in London again. FortyBix poor cabmen have had to pay out of their slender earnings " fines varying from " Is to 5s for " loitering and obstructing " the roads in the vicinity of the Exhibition. To loiter, in cabman's English, means to ply for hire, for he must look for his customer or starve. Under ordinary circumstances a " rank " meets the emergency, but what is one "rank" among so many? The selfish householders of the Cromwell and Exhibition roads say : — " No, no; we won't have another. These horrible cabmen have one rank, and with that they must be contented, or be off elsewhere." The Commissioners of Police had arranged to meet the enormous increase of traffic by establishing this much wanted rank, but 150 of the "nobility and gentry " objected, hence this prosecution, which may be legal, but ia certainly very hard on the poor cabby, who . is always fighting the hard battle of the streets with his mortal foe the policeman. As it is with the cabbies, so it was with the long line of hawkers who last year were able to earn a few extra pence by selling their poor merchandise. They were wiped off by these same "nobility and gentry." The Prince of Wales, who is said to have directed all the arrangements of the Exhibition, might also with advantage turn his attention to the traffic which it brings. The Jews' Free School of London has a roll of 33C0 pupils— 2ooo boys and 1300 girls. Working hours per week, 33-J. This large army of children is drilled by one head master, one head mistress, one vicemaster, forty .certificated teachers, fourteen assistant teachers, twenty -five pupil teachers, sixteen candidate teachers, and three teachers of needlework.