LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6660, 5 December 1899, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A sharp shock of earthquake was experi-< I enced at Hawera at 7.30 p.m. yesterday. , The Talune, from Melbourne and Etobariy • arrived at the Bluff at 5 a.m. to-day. • Her ! mails should reach Christcburch to-morrow| ; evening. ; At a meeting of the committee of th»' Pioneer Amateur Bicycle and Athletic Club, '< held on Saturday, the programme forj the annual interprovincial meeting, to be ; held on Boxing Day and {Dec. 27, wasj adopted. It was decided to include the 1 ! One-mile Amateur Championship of Can-j. terbury in the programme. Prizes, amount- j ing in value to £120, were allotted, ex-J elusive" of a number of challenge cups and'; shields. !

With" reference to tile troiubie experienced \ at tihe Cliristchurch. Railway Station on Sunday, the railway authorities explain" that the late arrival of the volunteers, at the station was the chief cause of the inconvenience. A large portion of the train had been reserved for these volunteers, and as • they came ; late, the public were in the meantime/ kept out of the carriages, thereby over-; crowding the platform, and the second train • bad a>iso to be kept back until the first. had; left.

On Saturday evening Mr W. W. Collins presented the certificates and prizes won bythe pupils attending Miss Hawkins's Short- . hand School. The successful students,; to whom the Pitman certificates were awarded, were Misses Agnes M'Gill, Emily" Friedman, EditJi Williams, and Frank Co-; ther. Prizes for attention to work were awarded to Misses Lizzie Welsford, Agnes M Gill, Gladys Lumsden and Fanny Steeds. . Miss Hawkins was tihe recipient of a gold, brooch presented by the pupils. The Chairman of the Conciliation Board ] has a due regard for the dignity of his Court. . Yesterday afternoon, when the Board was; addressed in an apparently slighting manner, Mr Turnbull said that the Board would; stand no impudence, nor would it have any . reflection cast on its methods of conducting business. The Board would, however, listen; carefully to any evidence which was brought before it in a courteous manner. A dia-; claimer of any intentional discourtesy was; at once forthcoming.

"An Election Contest a Hundred Yea-re | Ago" is the subject of a large-size presenta- j tion plate that will be included in this; week's issue of the " Canterbury Times," and 1 will form a special general election addition to the ordinary pictorial pages. The reproduction has been made from a fine old engraving in the possession of Mr W. A-; Cowper, of Christchurch, and has been, printed on a separate sheet of art paper, so : as to be available for careful preservation.,; The subject is a very fine one of its kind, and has been spiritedly treated by the ar-! list, who has presented a scene in the verjr thick of an election fight, wherein bludgeons' and other lethal weapons played a prominent part.

A poll iras taken yesterday tlircraglioutf the Timaru HaTbour Waiting District in con- : sneotion with the Board's proposal to borrow a third loan of £100,000 for an extension. . of the harbour works. There was no . ex- , citement in Timaru, and the poll, up to a late hour in the afternoon, had not been, heavy. It was generally anticipated that the loam would be sanctioned, though it was known that some parts of the country were strongly against it. Arrangements were made to have as many as possible of the rei ; turns telegraphed to Timaru last night. \ At Rangiora on Saturday Mr H. W. ; Bishop, S. M. , granted four old age pensions in full, and adjourned four other applications for evidence as to age and residence, in the colony. An application from a re-; centry naturalised subject who petitioned : Parliament was still further held over, Mr . Bishop regretting that no provision was made by the House during the session to meet a case of the kind . The applicant had been in the colony since 1864, and between, that time and 1860 made two applications, for letters of naturalisation, which, through' neglect of tihe Government officials were not issued, although two fees of a guinea each were taken. J?irst Prize Bacon Reduced to 6d, Ist Prize Hams 7d per lb, at Kincaid's G.I.C---2547 Mason's Wine Essences.— -A 9d bottlef makes a gallon of uelicious wine ; twentyfour flavours. Mason's Crystals for Lemon* ade.— An 8d packet makes two gallons ; no yeast or boiling. Twenty-nine gold medals., J 1899 Eight Gal. Herbal Beer for 7d. made from 1 Bottle Fletcher's Herb Beer Extract^ Fletcher Bros., High Street. 2786 Corks Is per gross, 9*a by the bale; Jaop Is 3d, ginger Is. Fletcher Bros., Bagfe Street, i We are now selling our new season fruits/ New Valencia 6*d per lb, new sultanate i TM^ new currants sd. Kincaid'a G.I.C. 2547

- Christmas Hams 7d per lb, at KihcaM'a i G.I.C.T-(Adv't,) ■ { "Twelve bees, released at a distance ol . three miles from the 'hives, were found to , travel faster than .twelve pigeoud^wlwiwfc* At \ha swhw *iaw» !

The police want .an owner for. a Dale bicycle, which was left in a ChrfctckuTch. hotel about three weeks ago. For the third -week in succession, there /was no business at' the Rangiora Magistrate's Court to-day. Messrs Tonks, Norton and Co. will sell, in their rooms, to-morrow, at eleven o'clock, three magnificent pianos ex Gothic and iWakanui. In the Box on Wheels competition at the Floral Fete, Harry Kirchex was the winner of the second prize, not R. Borland, as jWas announced in the prize list. Mr Michie, the manager of the Bank of iNew Zealand at Dunedin, and Messrs A. Fairbairn and J. J. Dbugall, were among the passengers who left for the south this morning. . Evidently Mrs Malaprop's family has not quite died out. At the- Court of Arbitration this morning a witness, when asked whether he had served his time as an apprentice, replied that he had Worked for an employer ■when he was a boy," but he had not held any deTrentures. Executors, administrators and others who have trust moneys to invest, ex those who wish to invest their savings cannot do better than take up some of the Ashbiu.ton Borough Council's debentures. Undoubted security is offered. Tenders close on Monday, and prospectuses, with forms of application, can be obtained at the office of this paper. There whs issued this morning from the committee room of .the Conservative candidates a paper bearing tUiereon the photographs of the three self-styled champions of pure administration. The leaflet was got ,ttp in first-class style, but a opy, thereof itutforiunately fell into the hands of a certain prohibition wag, who, with the aid of a pair of scissors and some paste, promptly effected- the following lightning changes. Over the head of the leading . Opposition candidate he gummed the 'head of a boar, over that of tihe second candidate the head of a Kaffir and put m. equally suitable finish on the third chosen one. The document, when altered, was well worth seeing, and has already enjoyed a 1 wide circulation. The, Rev C. A. Hoggins, preaching at.-Stj Saviour's Ohurch, Lyttelton, on Sunday last, referred .to the subject- of religious education, and said that there were schools in the North Canterbury district in which the masters regularly gave instruction in religion. It was not provided for in the timetable, but was done in connection witih the reading and history lessons. There was, however, one "school in the district in which religious instruction was on the time-table. In another, the master, at two o'clock every .Wednesday, divided the children into two sections, one of which received religious instruction from the vicar and the other from the master himself. Tfie inspectors, the preacher stated, were aware of these practices. I During the course of the evidence at tha tlourt of Arbitration this morning, reference was made to the country blacksmith who •was called on to perform various jobs, and who the masters contended came into competition with them. His Honor remarked that conntry parsons sometimes drew up wills, but it -was not contended because of that that solicitors' fees should be reduced. As a matter of fact, such wills were generally more profitable to the solicitors, who made more money out of the subsequent Segal proceedings/ The witness, who was teing examined at the time, said that his experience did not lead him to suppose that the country blacksmith was a very 'dangerous competitor to the trade, as it ;was usually necessary for someone to' follow up his work. The witness described the disaster that had followed the attempt of a country blacksmith to put in a hot' water service, and said that the range had been almost blown away, and the occupants had been driven out of the house in alarm, and ■were afraid to go tack for two or three ihour3.