Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7431, 28 November 1892, Page 3

Local & General.

» Board op Governors.— An ordinary meeting of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College was held at 3 p.m. to-day. The Mayoral Election. — A public meeting, convened by his Worship the Mayor in response to a requisition, will be held in the Oddfellows' Hall at 8 p.m. j to-day, to hear addresses from the candidates for the office of mayor of the city. Trinity College Examination. — Owing to an oversight in the distribution of the papers, the Board of Examiners has decided that the candidates at the recent examination are to be again presented at the examination in June next. The Labour Bureau. — Mr Shanaghan despatched six applicants for land under the Special Settlements Act to Stratford last week. The settlers are former residents of Canterbury, and were forwarded by steamer to New Plymouth direot. Fourteen labourers were despatched by steamer to Wellington and thence by rail to Stratford, where they have work to do in road-making. The Half-holiday.— By the keeping open of nearly all the retail shops in the city on Saturday afternoon, the observance of the Thursday half-holiday is practically established. Owing to the" change, however, some of the business people talk of keeping open on both days. The Farmers' Cp-operative Association has decided to give half its employees a half-holiday on Thursdays and half on Saturdays, but the establishment will be closed at 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Reopening of the German Church. — The German church in Worcester street, which has not been used for the purpose of worship for many years, was reopened yesterday by the Rev T. A. Meyer, who preached an impressive sermon, and congratulated his congregation on the fact that Germans would be able once more to hear service in their native tongue. The church waa very prettily decorated, and was filled with listeners, many of whom were members of other congregations. Mr Vince supplied the music. Services will in future be held fortnightly. Saltwater Creek.— A concert in aid of the public school prize fund was held in the school, Saltwater Creek, on Friday evening. There was a good attendance, J and Mr Banks, Chairman of the School Committee, presided. The room was tastefully decorated with flowers and evergreenß. The following ladies and gentlemen contributed to the programme:— Mieses M'Callum, Thompson, Peach and Martin, Mrs Ayers, Messrs Mossman, Thomas and Phipps, songs ; Misses Thompson, duets; Messrs H. Whatman, Tomlinson, Voss and W. Whatman, refutations. Mr Hopkins played the accompaniments. Orangeism.'— The first ordinary meeting of No. 7 Ladies' Loyal Orange Lodge was held on Friday evening. All the officers and members were present, the chair being occupied by the President (Sister Gourley). A special vote of thanks was passed to No. 4 . District for a donation of £5 to the funds, and also one to Bro Cooper, for a present of two malletß, and for his courtesy in. allowing the preliminary meetings td' be held in his house. Three certificates were received from No. 1, and four candidates were proposed for initiation. The Might of meeting was -arranged for the third Thursday in each month. A visitor from No. 1 was thanked for her attendance, and in reply congratulated the Lodge upon its establishment. Dunbandel Sports. — A meeting of the General Committee was held in the Public Library on Friday evening ; preßent— Messrs J. Henry, George Burgess, J. M. Furze, D. Cameron, D. Cornelius (Treasurer), J. A. Cunningham and Fred. Lill (Hon. Secretary). I Q the absence of Mr P. Westenra, Mr John Henry was voted to the chair. Messrs George Lill, F. Wright, H. Brown and S. Sherrard were appointed Children's Sports Committee; Mr W. F. M. Buckley was elected starter, and Mr John Graham time-keeper. The Secretary was instructed to have one hundred programmes printed at the LytteltonTiritii Office, and to advise Mr Batstone, of Kir wee, that his offer had been accepted for the refreshment booth. It was resolved that the sum of £2 should be voted to the Ground Committee, if required, to put the

a track in order. After transacting some i- buaineßs of a routine nature the Committee c adjourned until Friday, Dec. 9. , b j A Tough Traction Enginjb.— On Friday c evening the traction engine which waa supposed to have been wrecked near the ill-fated Elginshire, by falling over a bridge, steamed into Christchurch evidently none the worse for the mißhap. The cause of the accident is a mystery, as the r steering gear seemed to be all right, a I j broken bolt apparently being an effect and r not the cause of the accident. Mr M'Laren i went down with one of his men, and with 9 a little local assistance had the engine out 1 £l*k fl P^ce in a day, and steamed up to 1 Christchurch in two days, leaving Timaru on Thursday morning. There must be good material and workmanship in an E engine that will Btand such hard usage i without damage. j Meat Freezing Charges. — The Otago Daily Times says:— "We are informed that the statement as to the charges of the t New Zealand Refrigerating Company is [ incorrect. The cost of freezing mutton in . Christchurch, Oamaru and Dunedin during ; the summer months is identical — viz., $3 5 per lb. During the winter months the , Christchurch companies reduce to }A per I lb, which they can afford to do on account of the large numbers they put through , during summer. If the Otago shippers , would support their company as the Can- [ terbury people do the Belfast works, no [ douDt they would recaive the same conce3- , sion. The Id extra for harbour dues is, . unfortunately, the result of the impeounL ioua state of the Oamaru and Otago Boards. , Considering the large amount which has to be paid by the company, it does not seem unreasonable to ask the shipper to bear a proportion." Phenomenal Rain. — A Wellington contemporary reports: — There was a phenomenal rain shower at Palmerston on Wednesday — in fact, a genuine tropical downpour. There was not a breath of wind, but all over the town and its neighbourhood there hung a thick, heavy, unbroken mass of impenetrably dark cloud. From this the rain literally poured for about half an hour. The streets of the town became flooded with water to a depth of several inches. No one could venture out on foot, and those who, in order to reach the railway station, engaged cabs, found that the horses could hardly be made to move through the rain, on account of it falling so heavily and literally in sheets of water. Thunder and lightning lent their accompaniments to this remarkable rain-storm, which, having lasted its half-hour, was succeeded by sunshine that made all the place shine again. The Story op a Cake. — Among the things offered and raffled for at a recent church bazaar (says the Rangitikei Advocate) was what appeared to be a threedecker cake. It was the gift of some young lady jokers, and was beautifully got up and iced, but only the upper storey was cake, the other two being merely disguised wood. In the drawing it fell to another young lady, a friend of the others, but not in the secret of the cake's construction, She was extremely pleased with her good fortune, and, commiserating the cakelessnesß of the conspirators who made it, generously gave them there and then the top storey, taking home the iced wood herBelf. When the knife was applied to her share, however, she discovered its character. She was much chagrined, and determined to have revenge. She therefore invited the cake-makers to tea. They came. They Bealed themselves at the festive board, but it waa. bare of edibles Then the wooden cake was placed on the table, and an axe put beside it, and they were heartily requested to help themselves. There was nothing else for them, and so they departed tea-leas and embarrassed. Valedictory.— 'On Wednesday evening the Right Rev the Bishop of Christchurch held Divine service at the West Eyreton schoolroom. The congregation was a large one. At the conclusion of the meeting advantage was taken of the presence of the Rev F. P. Fendall to present that gentleman, on behalf of the choir at West Eyreton, with a slight token of the respect in which he was held. The gift was presented by Mrs Addinell, and the recipient suitably responded. — On Friday evening a "social" was held in the Episcopalian schoolroom, Cuet, and the opportunity was taken to bid good-bye to the Rev F. P. Feudal!, who, on the following day, would leave for Rangiora. The attendance was large and representative. Short addresses were given by Messrs Cooper, Horrell and the Rev D. D. Rodger, in which reference was made to the departure of Mr Fendall. A feeling reply was made in which the parishioners were heartily thanked for the invariable kindness shown. During the evening musical selections were given by Mesdames Williams, Palmer, Chapman, A. Chapman and Tipping, Mr Lingard and the Rev F. P. Fendall. The whole number of males in the United Stateß in 1890 was 32,067,880, and the whole number of females 30,554,370. For the United States as a whole, therefore, there are for every 100,000 males 95,280 females. Ten years before tbere were 98,554 females to every 100,000 males, while in 1870 there were 97,801 females to every 100,000 maleß. The females exceeded the males in 1890, to a greater extent than 5 per cent in the district of Columbia, Massachusetts and Rhode [eland.