LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6668, 14 December 1899, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

♦ There was no business at the Police Court this morning. The Rev A. D. Beaven was a passenger for the south by this morning's express. Messrs Tonks, Norton and Co. will hold a sale of furniture and effects in their rooms to-morrow. Mrs. Edwards and Miss Edwards have arrived from Wellington, and have joined Mr Justice Edwards in Christchurch. His Honor Mr Justice Edwards announced at the Arbitration Court to-day that the ; case of the tinsmiths would not be taken before Tuesday. The Lorraine Benefit Fund has now been closed, the total amount received being £334 0s 6d. A meeting of the committee •will be held in a few days to wind up matters. : A. master baker at the Arbitration Court this morning, who' had deposed to having bad more than half a century of experience, was asked when he had hist dons actual work in the bakehouse. " Nearly one hour and three-quarters ago," • was the grave reply, and the accuracy of the answer was unquestioned. In reference to the "stabbing" of Mr T. E Taylor, when speaking from the steps of the railway bridge at Lyttelton, last night, it is stated that the weapon used was a pin, and the perpetrator of the act one of a number of young larrikins who had gathered on the steps, and who did not confine their mischief to sticking a pin into Mr Taylor's leg. At least one other person was a recipient of A similar unwelcome attention from them. A special meeting of the City Council wilT be held at 7.30 p.m. to-day, to strike the rate in connection with the recently authorised loan. The Education Board of the North Canterbury district has considered and adopted regulations for the use and custody by the school children of model rifles. A. R. Barker, a cyclist training at Lancaster Park yesterday morning, had the misfortune to lose £27. He laid the purse containing the money on a stretcher in the Park dressing-rooms, and inadvertently covered it Up, with the result that he forgot to give it, as he had intended, into the care of a friend. After finishing training he found that the purse was gone. The matter was promptly placed in the hands of the police. Miason's Wine Essences.— A 9d bottle makes a gallon of uelicious wine ; twentyfour flavours. Mason's Crystals for Lemonade. — An 8d packet n*akes two gallons : no yeast or boiling. Twenty -nine gold medals. 1899 Eight Gal. Herbal Beer for 7d, made from 1 Bottle Fletcher's Herb Beer Extract, Fletcher Bros., High Street. 2786 Corks la per gross, y^u oy the bale ; nop Is 3d, ginger Is. Fletcher Bros., High Btreet 2786 First Prize Bacon Reduced to 6d, Ist Prize Hams 7d per lb, at Kincaid's G. 1.0. 2547 Christmas Hams 7d per lb, at Kincaid's G.l.C.— (Advt.) We are now selling our new season fruits. New Valencia 6£d per lb, new sultanas 7£d, new currants sd. Kincaid's G.I.C. 2547 It is believeU by oil experts that West Virginia, in America, is underlaid by a real sea of petroleum. The output of one kind of oil last year amounted to over 18,000,000 barrels. v

A good story was told at a certain meeting held in the city yesterday, which showed the advisability of reference books being confined to the room in which they are kept. In the early days of Christchurch, when the law" library was but small, two lawyers were fighting a cause in Court. It . was well known among the learned brethren that a case which governed the point in dispute was contained in a certain volume, which could nowhere be found. At the dose of the proceedings the book was observed to be upon the seat of the chair belonging to the victorious counsel. Tiwai. Piahana, a Maori chief, died at Opotiki last week. He must have been a great age. He was at one time a sailor. la May, 1865, he saved the Rev Mr Grace and another missionary, conveying them secretly down .the river and putting them on board Levi's schooner. This was at the time Mr Volkner, a missionary, was murdered by the Hau'haus. Piahana's evidence at the trial in Napier was mainly instrumental in convicting Kereopfc of Volkner's murder. He acted, as a scout to the colonial forces at Opotiki from 1865 to 1869, and for his services received several valuable grants of land and a pension. Complaints are made that the arrangements of the Railway Department in connection with the holiday on Anniversary Day will interfere with the working of vessels at Lyttelton. Anniversary Day this year falls on Saturday, but will be observed on Monday. No work will be done on the wharves on Monday, and the Railway Department insists on overtime rates being paid for work done on Saturday. As a general half-holiday will be observed at Lyttelton on Friday, owing to the Parliamentary election taking place that day, itis urged that the difficulty with regard to the loading and discharge of steamers will be serious. A committee of the Board of Education is at present working with a view to reducing all unnecessary expenditure. Several mistresses have received notice of removal, as the attendance does not entitle the schools to their services under the present scale. The members of the Board feel that though retrenchment is imperative, no unnecessary reductions should be made in teachers' salaries, and that over-staffing is the first matter which requires attention. Under the present regulations, a minimum attendance of thirty-sbc is required to sustain the salary of a mistress, and the Board has now ' decided to revert to the old minimum of forty-one. In the meantime, when the average exceeds thirty-six, in order to relieve the masters, monitors will be appointed to take temporary charge of the infant classes during certain hour?. This plan has been adopted successfully in Otago, where, however, the minimum is fifty.