The Western Star. (PUBLISHED WEEKLY.) SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1878.

Western Star, Issue 279, 11 January 1879, Page 4

The Western Star. (PUBLISHED WEEKLY.) SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1878.

Dr Hodgkinson addressed his constituents at Riverton in the Oddfellows’ Hall on Wednesday evening. The address took three hours and a half in delivery. The attendance was exceedingly meagre, there being not more than between thirty and forty present at the commencement, and by the time the address was finished not more-than a dozen remained. The space at our disposal would not permit of a verbatim report, but in as concise a manner as possible we have endeavoured to give the leading points of his deliverance. We will have some remarks to make upon the address in our next issue. ' The destitute condition of the wife and family (seven) of the late Captain Hughes of the Oreti has excited great sympathy. At a meeting held in the Dunedin City Council Chambers a committee was appointed to raise subscriptions in their behalf. Subscription lists have been forwarded to the local agents of the Oreti, Messrs Whittingham Bros, and Instone, also to the office of this journal, where subscriptions will be received.

The Ophir (Otago) School Committee appeals to the public in the following rather forcible manner :—The School Committee for the last Ten months have begged, played, threatened, bounced and swore over this Twenty odd pounds, but the E. B. say that they have no money for it, and they stick to that. We’ll, y’e canna tak the breeks off a Hielandraan, so the Committee have, driven by necessity, resolved to make one more appeal to the Public, and this time by a Gift Auction, which means that they will thankfully receive from any body and every body gifts of anything of any value, use, or ornament, and that they will sell the same by Public Auction to the highest bidder at the time and place above stated, and any surplus, overpaying the debt will be either presented to the impecunious E. 8., or to the Dunstan Hospital as the Committee may think fit.

Our Orepuki correspondent, writing on the 7th instant says:—The New Year was necessarily rather quiet here, as the day was wet, and many were absent (not about Mr P.D.) but towards the end of the afternoon the weather cleared, and Messrs M'Pherson and Hirst, two of the stewards for what should have been the “ Sports” proceeded to the Island Bush with pockets full of silver to distribute among the younsters of the district. For two or three hours the children were in high glee at the silver harvest, for as prizes were first, second, and third, with consolation stakes, few among them I fancy went home empty handed. They certainly competed wilh desirable eagerness, in the running, walking, wrestling, &c., and even the girls had their full share in the racing, entering into the contests with great spirit. In the evening a ball was given at the sohoolhouse by the school committee which was attended with unusual success, over seventy were present. The dancing was to the music of Messrs Neil and Frank M'Lean on the violin and piano, and Mr Harry Ferguson on the concertina, and I need hardly say with such assistance the hours passed swiftly and pleasantly away. The school Committee have selected a Mr Anderson of Miller’s Flat,' Queenstown, for the teacher to supply the place of Mr W. Sereombe. A meeting of the shareholders in the "Wallace' Prospecting and Quartz Mining Co. was held at the Oddfellows’ Hall, on Monday evening last. About twenty shareholders were present, representing about two-thirds total number of shares in the company. The President Mr H. H. Port, presided. The prospects of the company were canvassed, and confidence expressed in its future character. Before proceeding to develop the claim lately taken up at Specimen Gully, shares to the number of twenty, on which calls had not been paid, were declared forfeited. A number of the forfeited shares were applied for by shareholders present, and it was resolved that the balance should remain under offer for a fortnight to shareholders at par price ; if not taken up by shareholders by that time, to he offered to the public. A call of 8s per share was authorised. The system of employing men at a weekly wage was condemned, and it was decided to call for tenders for specified work in the claim. A motion was also passed authorising the Sccetary to have the company registered. Mr Green was present and advised as to the working of the claim. A party with Mr C. A. Port as cicerone was organised to visit the grounds and decide upon the work for which tenders are to be called. A meeting was he’d at the Oddfellows Hall on Monday evening for the purpose of establishing a Mutual Improvement or other similar society. The only notification of the meeting was by (be Rev. Mr Cameron from the pulpit the previous day, and in consequence only about a dozen gentlemen were present. Several other meetings were held the same evening and this fact also probably militated against the attendance. Those present, however, were unanimous in the opinion that a society of the nature proposed would be a success, and supply a felt want. Mr Webb, as convener jof the meeting, was voted to the chair. A com ersational discussion arose as to the basis of the society. Ultimately as it was considered that sufficient notice had not been given of the meeting, it was resolved on the motion of Mr S. G. Instone, Seconded by Mr James Reid that the meeting be adjourned till Tuesday next at 8 p.m. By this means it was hoped a better attendance wouid be secured in order to decide what form the Society should take, Mr Webb was instructed to give notification of the meeting in the local journal, and it was agreed that these present should endeavor as much as possible to make the meeting public and incite interest in the movement as Appropos of tills subject a correspondent writes: —If education is a companion which no misfortune can alienate, qo sorrow suppress, at home a friend brightening the domestic hearth, where we can command at will the best society in the loneliest hour, or mind flash on mind in social intercourse, cheering and invigorating alike the mental spiritual and bodily faculties of man, and causing us to realise the best companions and he pleasing company; abroad an introduction to the best circles in every sphere of intelligence, and in all the marts of industry, the knowledge that an association is in course of formation in Riverton to help to promote so desirable an end needs only to be known to gather to its standard the minds that think and the hearts that feel. Wo therefore gladly announce a Mutual Improvement Association will shortly be added to our local institutions, and a better could not exist for the culture of the mind of our rising community. All should attend the adjourned meeting on Tuesday evening, at 8 p.m., at the Oddfellows’ Hall.

On Tuesday last a fatal accident occurred at Waianiwa. It would seem that Mr McKinley was passing along the road during the evening, when he perceived a man lying in the middle of the roau. He at once made an examination, and found that the man was dead, and from appearances presented, concluded, from the fact of deceased being a bullock driver, that the dray had parsed over the right side of his face. The wounds were of a serious nature, and death must have been instantaneous. About 200 yards distant the unfortunate man’s team of horses was standing. The man, whose name is Edward Bed Jen, was in the employ of Mr Jack, sawmiller, Winton. An inquest was held at Wal lacetown on Thursday before Dr Monckton. After evidence had been adduced, the jury came to the conclusion that the deceased met his death by a bullock dray passing over his head on Tuesday, the 7th January, ■■ - A draft plan of the new school was received by Mr James Eeid, Chairman of the School Committee, during tue week. The building provides class Bccommodation for 300 scholars, also cloak rooms, lavatory, shelter shed, &c. Tenders will shortly be called for its erection.

‘ Mr Printz has taken a very practical and effec tive mode of testing the Longwood claim, lat< the prjperty of Hayes Bros. He has accepted ; lender from Mr Charlton to drive a tunnel fron one end of tne claim to the other, a distance oi 400 feet. The drive will he pub in towards tin southern boundary, and will cut across the strata. The size of the tunnel in the clear will be of XOin in height, 2fb lOin in width at top and 3f lOin at bottom, The work is in good hands, a Mr Charlton is a thorough practical under ground miner. He estimates it will take threi months to complete the contract. The Raphael Family performed on Thursday and Friday evenings this week to capital houses, and the entertainments were on each occasion a decided success. The Volunteer Band was in attendance, and contributed the requisite music. Mr Warden Wood delivered judgment in the case Ford v. Haves oh Thursday. -lodgment was given in favour of defendants, with costs - From an announcement made elsewhere it willbe observed that Riverton is promised a visit on Monday, 20th inst., from Burton’s Circus, the largest equestrian establishment over organised in the Southern hemisphere. We hear that a race of 200 yards will take piaee on Tuesday evening, at 7 o’clock, on the Caledonian Ground, between M. Lyon and J. Macquarrie, stakes £5 a-sklo ; Lyon being bucked by the town and Macquarrie by the country. Mills, Dick, and Co.’s Otago Provincial Almanac and Directory for 1879 is to hand. No merchant’s office—or indeed private settler either should be without a copy of this compendium of useful knowledge. Mr J. W. Chapman is the local agent for the sale of the almanacs. One of the “ larrikins ” whose eccentricities on Now Year’s morning were commented upon last week sends us the following. It will easily be discovered that our correspondent has not yet quite recovered from a “ consideration of Christmas time ” : —“ Sib, —I have seen remarks made in “ Southland Times,” of Monday, 6th January, and am ashamed to think that yon should have made so much of nothing. Take into consideration Christmas time, and ‘dry up.’—N.B.—The correspondent was waiting for his beer, and didn’t get it.” The Western Monarch, from Plymouth, sailed on 30th October, 1878, and is due in Bluff Harbour the end of January. She has on board 51 married men, 143 single men, 60 single women, 28 hoys, 24 girls, and 12 infants, 369 souls, equal to 331 statute adults.

A correspondent, who had been a resident in the Western District for the last four or lire years, sends the following notes of a trip to Christchurch: —All along the railway lines the country is being rapidly settled. From Palmerston north the country is very dry and burnt up. I have seen no country that looks so fresh and healthy as the Western District, nor have I been so well in health since I left. Christchurch is about the size'of Dunedin. It has grown wonderfully the last ten years, and has some fine buildings scattered about. Of course it is flat, and in the summer hot. On Christmas Eve the thermometer was up to 80 at 10 p.m. Invercargill is growing wonderfully, and will, 1 think, by-and-bye be a bigger and busier city than Christchurch. By the way, the Christchurch cathedral is vising up slowly, a:;d will not, I think, be finer though a trifle larger than Knox Church, Dunedin. They have had no rain here worth mentioning for the last three months. The country looks like Australia under foot; sheep and cattle are going down fast, and many crops are not worth reaping. Between the Rakaia and the Rnngitata many cockatoos will go to the wall this year. There has been a -paviect furore for land up here—both town and country. Men that I knew years ago, very small fry, have become independent through their land specs. They owe all to Vogel. Rents at present are higher in Christchurch than Dunedin, but things arc on the turn, and rents will, in consequence, come down after harvest.”