Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5804, 18 December 1886, Page 3

Local & General.

Colonel Loan, on behalf of the Volunteers, desires to thank Mr John Sims, of Kaiapoi, for the use of his paddle steamer, the Diamond, on the occasion of the military demonstration at Kaiapoi, on Dec. J6.

On Friday, Temuka was visited by an exceptionally heavy nor'-west gale. Tht dust was flying in clouds, and at about 11 o'clock, in the northern end of the town, a distinct whirlwind occurred. The eddy of the wind was traceable about 300 yards before it dispersed. Ita direction was almost due west and east.

The members of the Stanmore Band in* tended to have given an alfresco concert last evening in the Latimer square Rotunda, and a large number of citizens had assembled to listen to their strains when a heavy thunder shower dispelled all hope of any music, and rapidly dispersed the assemblage.

The friends of Miss Gwynne Htrrick will be glad to know that she has been engaged by Mr Marshall, of Wellington, to play with the Mallaby Dramatic Company while they are in the Empire City. Mr Marshall, it is understood, has arranged to take up Mr Mallaby's dates in the various theatres throughout the North Island.

A vacancy having occurred in the Lyttelton Borough Council on account of Mr H. Allwright, M.H.R., being elected Mayor for the Borough, nominations of gentlemen to fill the vacant eeat will be received at the Council's office up till Dec. 28. The day of the election has been fixed for Jan. G.

The foundation stone of a new hall for the Blue Ribbon Gospel Temperance Mission was laid last evening by the President, Mr J. G. Harvey. The building will be in Worcester street east, aluost opposite the present hall. It will be built of brick, with an iron roof, and its style of architecture will be extremely unpretentious. Its dimensions are 55ft by 24ft, with an additional room, 12ft by 10ft, at the rear. It will have four square windows on the east side, which fronts on a right-of-way, and on either Bide of the entrance from Worcester street will be a window with a circular head. The seating accommodation is estimated at 250 to 300, and its cost will be £250. It will probably ba opened about the end of next month. The ceremony yesterday, which was of a simple character, was preceded by the singing of several hymns, the reading of "the Holy Scripture, and short addresses delivered by the Revs Barnett and Dutton. Several of those present having engaged in prayer, Mr Harvey la^ the stone, which bore the initials 8.R.G.T.M., and the date 1886. After another hymn had been sung, the proceedings closed. Intelligence from Japan states that Prince and Princess Komatsu will shortly start on a tour to Europe, during which they will vwit the Court of Vienna" SubcSd e to^r ceandprinces3-u^-

j " How to lire upon nothing a day "is the ; great problem of our epoch, and all eyes J will be fixed with, eagerness upon the two Italian pioneers of progress who hare set

themselves to solve it. The gross necessity ] of nutrition is simply the primal curse i from which spring all our woes. Once get :

rid of that and the golden age is here with

a rush. The workman will rejoice, for he will be able, with an easy conscience, to

spend all his earnings on drink.

capitalist will profit, for he will be enabled to cut down wages to the vanishing point. The poet will exult, for he will no longer be subject to the humiliating necessity of seeing his mistress eat — that rock on which, as some people assure us, the domestic felicity of Lord and Lady Byron went to pieces. The philosopher will cheer up. for there will be no more dyspepsia. Think of the beneficent change it would have made in the domesticities of Cheyne row had the Succi-Merlatti gospel been promulgated fifty years ago! Dr Tanner was a pioneer who did not know the true value of his own discovery, and since his time a still hungrier age is more fully alive to the advantage of being able to live on hunger. Success, then, to Succi ! May his shadow never grow less and his appetite never grow greater ! , i I i