Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7062, 14 January 1891, Page 3

Local & General.

A Banquet is to be given to Mr W. C Smith, M.H.R., at Danevirke, on Tuesda next. Mr Ballance has accepted an in?ita tion to be present. The African Midgets.— The afternooi and evening exhibitions of the natives c " Darkest Africa " proved an attractioi for a number of people yesterday, whi thoroughly appreciated the ample descrip tions given of their habits and style o life. The exhibition will be open to-da; at the usual hours. Personal.— Captain Moore, R.N., wh( represented the Admiralty in the Confer ence with the Commandants of the Colo nial Forces as to the defence of King George's Sound and Thursday Island, was a passenger by the steamer Manapouri from Wellington, yesterday. He pro ceeded direct to Christchurch. Concert.— A very successful concert id id of the Akaroa Library funds was held Monday night, in the Oddfellows' Hall. » - c was a fair attendance. The prolb«i ie, which comprised a number of Ftaaaik. d instrumental items, was capitally 'ocal i »k and those present passed a very recuteo, -ning. "T^IIL ™° N *«*»-™« first Prize We*. „ by Australasian writers, iftypme^ . Q of the Whol w n the Federaftk, - and on Bale afc c °™ .re now publisfam urne , and all b k . look Arcade, Melk> mg the write n are alien, price- 2&, An. Iliats, five echool! en clergymen, n»e-]o«tv wo doct/O t lasters, two legislators, \ , otber vol u me iwyers, and two ladies. Ak ,i, rtr fi w f the essays will be publish v ™"* d Bible Christian Churcbi— • 'k . c of^f fMr Lewhwaite, for the eracfcfok . \, oan tible Christian Church, Kaiapai.lls* £Vi ccepted, the amount being £188* I'Bb- . j 'hole of the outlay, including cost orTa«v ' ill be nearly .£3OO. The congregation 1 3* resent meeting in the Orange Hall is- in' reaaing in number, and it is expected* lat the building of the new church will give' ; a further impetus. Mr Roebuck, of [arshland, and the Rev J. G. W. Ellis, of !imberley, are the preachers for next unday. Greatly Exaggerated. — Last evening message was received at the Police tation that a man had been murdered in house on the Windmill road. Immeiately after receipt of these tidings a arty of police set out post haste for the lace, but on arrival found that it was a cry trivial matter indeed which had een the means of bringing them thither. b appears that the man and a woman ■ith whom he lived had had an altercaon, which was ended by the woman ;riking the man on the head with a teaot, but a few slight scratches were the nly injury occasioned. Another woman ho was in the house at the time sent the larming message which was received by ie police. "Nobblers" at Work. — The Napier vening News haa the following : — The obbling process has begun. A few weeks ?o it was reported that Mr Smith, M.H.R. , t Taranaki, had declared himself, and irthwith the Government show a ughty interest in the alleged coal teasures at Urenui, in his electoral disict. A real live Minister, he who has ained the title, "Against Lands," has een despatched to do the " nobbling," ad he is to be helped by that wellEperienced " rat" Mr Samuel, of New ly mouth. If Mr Smith is wise he will lake big terms for his vote. The Governlent are in such a perilous state that ren one vote is of immense importance to lein. Who knows, perhaps Mr Smith light be able to get the Harbour Board -an taken over as a national obligation. [r Smith ought, in the interests of pojr ttle Taranaki, to make the "nobbier.*" iy a high price. Unveiling a Monument. — On Friday rening the monument erected to the emory of Mrs Mary Ann 11 urfitt in the hurch of England Cemetery, Woodend, a3 unveiled in the" presence of a large amber of the residents of the district, he Eev C. H. Gos=>et, after referring to ie life of Mrs Murfitt and the good deeds Dne by her, uncovered the memorial ;one and read an address to the husband id family of the deceased, expressing the iteem felt for the lady by the hundred ad fifty-two subscribers to the monument, ad appreciation of her many kind deeds uring her thirty years' residence in the lace. The Hon H. B. Gresson also said few words. Mr W. Murtitt then, on ehalf of hia father and the family, lanked those who had contributed to the rection of the monument and for the onour shown to the memory of his mother. A Good Physician. — After a long and linful illness, Professor von Nussbauin, ie specialist for nervous diseases, ha 3 ied at Munich at the age of sixty-one, esides being the first authority in his ranch of science on the Continent, he as, sayß a correspondent of an English scbange, one of the noblest of men. He as himself a great sufferer from nerves, ad for the last ten years of his life could ot move about except in a chair, and btended the numerous patients who ime to him at his celebrated establent by using a lift. Though his ealthy patients paid him handsomely, c did not amiss the smallest fortune, but aye away with one hand what he took ith the other. Two floors of his spacious ouse were reserved for paying patients, hile the upper storeys belonged to the oor, many hundreds of whom he kept for lonths until he could dismiss them cured F their painful diseases. Mind in him ad so far attained the mastery over latter that, however ill he might be, sufsring seemed to cease when he prepared >r an operation, and his hands were then s steady as those of the healthiest man in lavaria. More State Interference.— The Aua« rian Government have at last resolved to ut rigorously into force the decree of 885 directing the observance of a uniform lusical pitch. The pitch selected is ractically identical with the French '.iapason normal, and it is henceforceward to ie used by all military and municipal bands ,nd in all subsidised opera houses and heatres. Some day, perhaps, something /ill be done to obviate the confusion of (itch now existing in this country; the 'hilharmonic and various orchestral ocieties still retaining the high pitch, ,nd Mr Sims Reeves and other artists inging to the low one, while at the opera here is a sort of compromise pitch which if ten sorely perplexes the vocalists. Australian Pianos.— Pianoa in Ausralia appear to have a rather hard time >f it. Mr Algernon Rose, who accom>anied Sir Charles and Lady Halle on ibeir professional tour on behalf of Messrs 3roadwood and Co., was shown a large lumber of instruments in Queensland that lad been wrecked by the floode. As a ■ule Australian pianos are described as rery pretentious in appearance, very cheap n price to the trado. and uncommonly shoddy in quality. Hundreds are carted ibout in the bush from station to station, rad sold by persuasive canvassers on time payment. In Queensland the pianos sometimes get, it is said, bo infepted with silver fish, cockroaches, white ants and sther vermin as to become useless. At IWoomba Mr Rose saw an upright piano ivhich had had a bucket of boiling water poured down it in order to kill the cockroaches. In another place a local tuner had ingeniously brightened the tone of a piano by annointing the hammer-felts with i mixture of whiting and clue. Th» Eight Hours Movsmknt.— The Belgian miners are reported to be more khan ever in favour of the eight hours principle, and prepared to make every effort to obtain it. In some pits a nine bours, and in one an eight hours rule iB already in operation; but it is said that the men have no expectation that the mine owners of Belgium as a body will meet their views unless compelled bo to do. A national conference on thiß subject jb to be held at La Louviere on the first of next month, preliminary to the international conference which will be held in Paris in March next. Since the National Congress, held at Juniefc Goyseart in February last, the organisation of the Belgian miners h , reported to have gone on extending week j by week. Of the 107,000 miners employed j in the country, it is calculated that nearly , one-half now belong to the Unions. J