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Star (Christchurch), Issue 10105, 17 March 1911, Page 3

All the Canterbury trout streams were reported clear tliis morning. A woman was arrested to-day by Detective Osbornej charged with the theft of a gold ring. At a meeting of delegates of Friendly {Societies held on Thursday evening in the Forresters' Hall, it was decided that a card tournament should be held among Friendly Societies during the winter months. The Chief Justice, sitting at Wellington'yesterday, granted a motion to appoint Albert Arthur Sandford a trustee in the estate of Ebenezer Sandford, deCeased, on the application of Messrs iWynn-Williains and Brown. At the annual meeting of the Merchants' Association of New Zealand in Wellington the principle of Mr Sidey s Daylight Saving Bill was strongly approved, and it was decided to urgo on the Government the desirability of passing legislation next session dealing with tie subject.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that John Aloysius Campbell, teller at the Bank of Australasia, who was arrested yesterday in connection with alleged defalcations at Dunedin, was before the Court today, and was remanded till March 20. Bail was fixed at £4OO, and also two sureties of £2OO each.

Judgment was given by the Chief Justice in Wellington to-day in the case of Pateena Kerehi and others v. Taituma Karangatana and others, concerning the subdivision of an 82.760acre block in the Taupo district. The Court was asked to order a rehearing of the investigation made in 1887. The application was refused on the ground that the chief Judge of the Native land Court had no jurisdiction. Leave to appeal was given.

The inadequacy of the loading bank >t the Sockburn Railway Station, >witvg to rapidly increasing business, Was recently brought under the notice pf the Minister of Railways by Mr ■*. Witty, M.P., who a few days agoi received a communication from the Hon J. A. Millar, in which he stated that It had been decided to make additions I which will meet with the requirements lof the district. The additions to the loading bank will extend over forty feet, and will be so built as to enable draya to be backed up to the bank, so that produce can be loaded on to vehicles much more easily than 'has been "the case hitherto.

} The officers of the Young Mens Christian. Association in Melbourne have received word of a highly suctessful financial campaign which has hist closed in Philadelphia. U.S.A., in Md of a new building for work in that bity. Within fourteen days a sum or £200.000 (1,000,000 dollars) was subBcribed, Mr C. S. Ward, of the international office, being in charge of the organisation. At noon on the closing day of the campaign there was still a Bum of £12,500 needed, which one man asked the privilege of personally subscribing. This amount was, however, secured during the day, the prospective donor refusing to contribute to the scheme because the committee would not accept the amount he offered in full.

A great deal of surprise was caused in Christchurch to-day by a cable message, published this morning, stating that the medical officer of health at London reported that from 27 to ob per cent of three consignments of ox fivers from Brisbane and Lyttelton were diseased and unfit for food. Inquiries made in Christchurch this morning failed to find any information in regard to ox livers having been exported from Lyttelton within the past few months, at any rate. Neither the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company nor the Christchurch Meat Company export* the article, and the Collector of Customs states that it does not appear in ihis lists of exoorts for the quarter which will end on. March 31 next. The 'Agricultural Department evidently shares in the surprise caused by the statement. Early this morning it sent a telegram to Mr A. A. Johnston, Government veterinary surgeon m Christchurch, instructing him to inquire into the statement. He is doing so, and will report to headquarters to-day. it Is believed that a mistake has been made in the health officer's report or the cable message in associating the consignments with Lyttelton.

The club-rooms of the Marist Brothers Old Boys' Association in St Asaph Street were formally opened on Monday evening, in the presence of about seventy members. The Rev Brother Calictus, in an address, congratulated the Associaticm on possessing spacious, convenient and well furnished rooms, l,nd warmly congratulated the executive •committee in having everything ready for the opening of the season. Messrs ,W. Rodgers and L. O. Corbett, vicepresidents, sent the balls across the bil-liard-table for the first match. xhe rooms are well lighted. In the mam as-fiembly-room, handsomely finished card • tables and seating accommodation were made by members of the executive committee. In the same room there are enlarged photographs of last season's football teams, and' the club banner is displayed in a conspicuous position. _ It was made by the Sisters of the Missions, and is a beautiful and artistic piece or ■vv'brk. A large table in the committeeroom was also made by members. The furnishing has been very well done throughout, and the large attendance every evening shows that the rooms have already become a popular resort. ' For some time Mr George Witty, M.P., has been in communication with the Minister of Lands, with a view or reserving and planting an area around Lake Sarah, at Grassmere, near th« Cass, as a pleasure resort, and especially for the use of picnic parties lroai the city and elsewhere. Mr Witty describes the lake as a beautiful littl'J Bxpanse of wator in an ideal setting, but some planting would be a great improvement. The member for Riccarton has just received the following ietter from the Acting-Minister u jands, the Hon D. Buddo:—" Referring again, to your letter of January 23 regarding planting trees around Lake Sarah, the Commissioner of Lands reports that the lake lies wholly within the Canterbury College Reserve No. 1557, but there is a two-chain rt~ derve around part of the lake, and this area is excluded from the title. It is considered that it would bo an excellent thing from a scenic point of view to plant suitable trees around the lakt, iund the Superintending Nurseryman for the South Island has been instructed to visit the lake, and arrange for the planting of suitable trees on the .two-chain reservation. The only dit'ficulty appears to be that we will have to go to the expense of fencing in the reservation, as otherwise the trees would soon be destroyed by cattle and iheep." The popular notion that the countryman —the man from out-back, as the writer of bush jingle calls him—is as play in the hands of the city potter, is being rapidly dispelled, says the Sydney "Herald," and, in the language of the sporting man, he is slowly but none the less surely " coming back to his own." The most recent admiror of the virtues of the bush-dweller is the Rev R. H. Campbell, who at a Methodlet Home Mission meeting sang 'his praises. "You city folk think the countryman is soft, that he is green; but I want to tell you that he can hold bis own with the best of you every time. Ir he lacks the smart appearance of the city clerk he has the qualities which some of the Sydueyites lack grit, pluck, and a dogged determination in all that he undertakes. He is hospitable to a faul, generous, and kind, and the pioneering work he unflertakes single-handed tells of the stuff pf which he is made. You laugh at ' way-back' when he comes to town—fcnd ' way-back' laughs at you when foil go to the country. (Laughter.) Xou ladies know how to get into the |rsms despite the hobble skirts, but if While trying to wear a similar garment Kl attempted to mount a horse out re . The speaker was interrupted a cyclonic outburst of merriUttnt, and the vindication of the bush !*M eomplettt.

At a Naturalists' Club meeting in Sydney, Mr W. Froggatt, _F.L.S.. showed a bottle of water from his ba-k yard containing about 1000 mosquiuo larvro. . He said he had bred several of the larva;, and obtained several fine examples of both sexes of the household nest. He advised members to watch for the egg boats of the mosquito in any pools or vessels of water about the house. It had boon found in Central America that yellow fever was disseminated by mosquitoes bred in houses. He also displayed a specimen of the tree grasshopper, a huge creature of remarkable beautv, with leaf-like green ■outer wings. This specimen just fitted into a box about ten inches square. Another member showed some resurrection flowers. These were of the pig-face family, and the closed flower looked like a dried prickly near. On being immersed in water for a minute the flower opened and revealed a very pretty anemone-like arrangement of petals. Another exhibit was apricot stones, which had been gnawed open by rats for tlie kernels. The power required for this process must have been tremendous.