CHRISTCHURCH.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1162, 15 July 1885, Page 5

CHRISTCHURCH.

, (Ifrom our own Correspondent.) Since my , last communication, the weather has changed from summer to winter. Last Saturday night rain commenced to fall, and up till to-day it has continued' doing so. At times the rain has been accompanied with cold sou'westerly 1 winds. Most of the low-lying country outside Christchurch has been flooded, particularly Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Seftdri, Oust, and several other places. The railway line to some of the places has also been washed away, thereby stopping the traffic by rail. The northern branch of the Waimakariri River has over flooded its banks and committed a lot of damage. Reports from all quarters state that rain has fallen and floods have occurred in several places. But, fortunately, nothing has as yet been reported of any serious damage being done. An old adage says that "After a storm comes a calm," and we", therefore, live in hope, after the heavy rain, of having some more fine weather.

The election of a member in the room of Mr Grigg, as M.H.R. for Wakanui, took place on Tuesday last. . Tho weather was very miserable, and therefore there was not much excitement during the day. There were two candidates — viz., Mr Ives3 and Mr Wright. The former had the Catholic vote, and got in by a majority of 75. The polling was as follows:— Ivess, 594 ; Wright, 519. Mr Ivess thanked the electors for the honorable position they had placed him in, and said that although calumny after calumny, abuse after abuse, and misrepresentation alter misrepresentation had been heaped upon. ham v , hie had come off victorious. He would go to Parliamentfully resolved to. fulfil to the uttermost all his election pledges. Mr Wright thanked all those who had' supported him, and a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer closed the proceedings. The eighth annual meeting of the Union Fire and Marine Insurance Company was held in' Christchurch on Tuesday last. There was a, large attendance of shareholders,' the^ Hon. J. T. Peacock presiding. In, moving the adoption of the report arid ' balance-sheet, the Chairman read an address, from which the following is extracted :— He had the pleasure of addressing, them under more satisfactory circumstances than last year . The extent of .business j had been curtailed, from the fact that several places of business had been discontinued as heavy losses occurred, but the magnitude of losses had decreased from the elimination of such business. In other words, our revenue has decreased by £14,000 in round nambers, and our losses by £28,000, leaving on our insurance business, *a's a whole, a net profit of £7050.. This shows not quite 6 per cent. on premiums received, which, although a fair profit cannot be considered an extravagant one. Our fire business left a debit balance of £— on the year, and it also gave' a loss of £3279 on previous year, and in neither year had we any large or exceptional claims. Hon. J. T. Peacock; , Hon. W. Reeves, and Mr G. G. Stead were elected Directors of the Company, and the ineetirig adjourned. The footballers here are having all the practice possible so as to fit them for the coming tussle with the Wellington team. I fancy Wellington has her work cut out for her, aa thereare some " rum 'uns " amongst the Christchurch players. Thinking it may prove (interesting, I have attached the, names of the Wellington team, who leave for Lyttelton on Sunday week :—: — Backs— Fairbrothe, Thompson, Pearce, Leckie, Perry, Roberts. ForwardsWebb, Cooper, King, Gibbs, Holmes, Brown, Berry, Shaw and Aatill. The New Zealand Waterloo meeting was commenced on Wednesday last, there being three days' coursing. There were a ! large number of dogs entered for the Afferent events. Unfortunately, the weather during the three days was most unpleasant, thereby keeping a number of 'would-tiave-beeri spectators at home ; but •the attendance was pretty fair in spite of the rain. The courses were run at .Plumpton Park — a place a short distance out of Christchurch. The. event of the < meeting was the Waterloo Cup, the prize amounting to about £200. The entrance fee for this was £12 10a. The two dogs (Waitangi and Obstacle) which ran' a dead heat and divided the stakes last year were eriterci. ;The former waa the, favorite !f rom thebeginning of the ineeting; Waijtangi managed .to beat all his opponents juntil there^ere only Ringwood, BeresIford, .Salamander, and himself left'; but 'Obstacle .was disposed, off in the earlier part of the, meeting. -In the run off of these four idogs, Waitangi ([the favorite) was beaten by Ringwood, and Beresford by Salamander, thereby ' leaving only the two dogs." A' most exciting course ensued in; the _, final between these, Riugwood only'wirining by one point. In the run pff, the winner was the favorite, with 3 to 'l laid on him. The other events were won by Erica (Waterloo Plate) and Market Day (Waterloo Purse.) A number of cases were brought up at the .^M.^Oourt' -on Thursday. The char|esj?s:e againstfthe Kaiapoi Woollen Factqfy^Cwmpiiny; for allowing a large number Zof girls to^wprk -during .their luf cWoV4^ftf tb' tm /J p:m/ ' It was stated, in defence, .that it was at the girls' own ..request^ thai- they , .were allowed to stay; infthe Irorjk-room to have their lunch, and; the/ Company wquld not turn, the girls but into' the streets' to 'have their lunch. What girls were' working when the constable came, in were working for themselves. ■- >The Magistrate ruledjthab it was, no, matter, who they .were 'working for : it was. '.clearly ,a breacjju,bf the Act to allow i lemaiW to : remain c in* t&e^ ' rp t qm where others were working during dinner'-iibur. He fined the Company £1. Robert Brander, clothier, was also charged with neglefcting'fto, send notice* to the police" of the women and young persons employed on. -bis premises, but the case was dismissed, as the notice had been sent in on day the summons was served. A. J. Wh{tey$ d£ employing three'yofmg females. m lik; upholstery factory after 2 p.m. on

Saturday, was fined £1. R. Muff and E. Toomer were fined £1 each for neglecting to post in their workroom, where females and boys under eighteen were employed, a notice specifying the hours of labor. The Bench pointed out that the notice should be posted up whether the number employed was great or small, and if there was more than one workroom a notice should be posted up in each. This should act as a warning to others. Ijnotics that all the alterations in the tariff have been abandoned by the Government, excepting the duty on wines and spirits. This. is better, and, I think, will save all the objections which havo .been raised against putting duty on coal, &c. I think it is quite right to put a tax on wines and spirits, but the taxing of such commodities as coal, &c, is ridiculous. This will be a severe knock for the coal owners, who have been charging extra for coal, and will be a great relief to those who have been paying the extra' charge. It was fully thought here that the Ministry would resign, but it turns out that we thought wrong. Poor old Sir George did not succeed in carrying his no-confidence motion, and it was the general opinion here that the result would be such. The Reeves Opera Company opened here last Tuesday, but the weather has not been very favorable, and the attendance, therefore, only fair. Better weather will very likely produce better houses. July 10th, 1885.