CHARLESTON.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 544, 19 August 1869, Page 2

CHARLESTON.

(FROM OUR OWN" CORRESPONDENT.) August 18. The Kesident Magistrate, Mr Broad, gave his decision on the late case of Holmes, captain of the Mary Jane, v. Craddock, coxwain of the Surf-Boat Company,on Nonday List, the plaintiff being nonsuited. A meeting was held in St Mark's Church, last evening, for the purpose of electing church-wardens and vestrymen, and also a gentleman to represent the congregation at the synod in Nelson. After engaging in prayer the Rev. Mr Elavell, stated that the meeting was in response to a petition to the Bishop, and to which many of the! congregation had affixed their signatures—praying to be constituted into a parish—but the Bishop for certain reasons could not give his sanction]

to that measure, but would sanction the creation of a Parochial district, to extend from the Totara Eiver north to the Pour-Mile Eiver south; that it was to further that object they had met together, and to elect the necessary persons to carry out the duties of such district. The rev. gentleman then read to the meeting the duties of churchwardens and vestrymen, after which Mr Hardy was requested to read the statement of the Building Pund, which showed a debt of £36 on the church. The election of two church-wardens was then proceeded with, Messrs Hardy and Jones being unanimously elected. The nomination for vestrymen next took place, the successful candidates being Messrs Mitchell, Moore, M'Coy, Bain, A. Greenwood, and "Whiteside. Mr H. D. Jackson of Nelson, was then unanimously elected, to represent the district at the Synod. It was then intimated to the meeting that the Bishop had been pleased to accept the services of Messrs Mitchell and A. Greenwood, as Lay-readers. The meeting then terminated, after singing the Doxology.

Balloon Voyage acboss the Atlantic. —A New York paper, of the Ist of March, contains the following announcement: —" Monsieur A. Chevalier, the Swiss aeronaut, who proposes to make a Balloon voyage across the Atlantic, has recently arrived in the country, and is now making preparations for his perilous voyage. He is only thirty years of age, but has spent a large fortune in experiments in navigating the air, and is the inventor of a flying-machine which wa3 constructed after the model of a bird, but which persistently refused to ascend, By the common mode of ballooning Chevalier has made hundreds of ascents in every country in Europe, and also in Australia. Once he sailed in his balloon from Paris beyond the boundaries of Bussia. On another occasion he crossed the St. George's Channel from Dublin to England. In one of his trips he made the extraordinary flight of 200 miles in four hours ; and in another ascent, made just before coming to this country he was driven forty-five miles in an "hour." The M. A. Chevalier referred to, was for some time a resident in Melbourne, and is brother to M. N. Chevalier, the wellknown artist. The aeronaut has broken both his legs in ballooning, but nothing seems capable of mitigating the ardour of his passion for this pursuit.