NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 43, 25 October 1900, Page 18

NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

The New Zealand Shipping Company's new steamer Rimutaka has been launched at Dumbarton. F*~ The Right Hon. the Premier pays it is difficult to convince the public that it is wrong to take advantage of the Tax Department or the Custom-house. It is said that if all the tenants take advantage of the Crown Tenants' Rebate of Rent Act the loss to the revenue will be about £17,000 per annum. Within a few weeks quite a number of motor-driven vehicles will be running in the vicinity of Christchurch. The Prei* states that Mr N. Oates is bringing from England two motor vehicles — one a voiturette to carry three persons, the other a 'quad ' to carry two. It is stated (.says the Lytielton Tt »irx~) that Messrs. D. and A. Macfarlane have offered another block of the Lyndon estate for sale to the Government. The property, which consists of 16,000 acres, is about tax miles from th ; Waiau township, and adjoins the Leslie Hills estate. The block is nearly all ploughable, being practically level, is substantially fenced, has a plentiful water supply, and is well adapted for close settlement. The Lyndon property already acquired by the Government is well under survey, and will shortly be open for selection. Mrs. Makt Scanlan, a highly respected resident of Milton, died suddenly on Saturday evening. The deceased was returning 1 from a visit to her sister (Mrs Walsh, Helensbrook Flour Mills) when she was taken ill, and before medical ast tance arrived she had passed away. The deceased, who was relict of the late Mr. Thomas Scanlan, was a native of County Waterford, Ireland, and had been in the Colony about 20 years. She was about 45 years of age, and leaves a family of two boys to mourn their loss. — R.I.P. A very enjoyable emoke concert and supper were held at Ryan's Hotel Kokonga. recently, for the purpose of bidding Messrs. Gilliea and J. Ryan farewell prior to their departure from the district. About 40 persons were present, and Mr. R. Logan presided, Mr. B. Scott being vice-chairman. The Chairman proposed the toast of the evening, ' Our Guests,' and Messrs. Gillies and Ryan both returned thanks. Several other toasts were proposed and responded to during the evening. Songs were contributed by Messra. J. Mathewson, Mann, Monk, Reakes, Amies, Harris, Riley, Robertson, and Logan, and recitations by Messrs. Scott and Wilson. A TAIN! dlly Budden death occurred in Dunedin on Friday evening, when Mr John Hislop, joweller. Princes street, passed away. Mr Hislop had been ill for some time, but had sufficiently recovered to come to business on Friday. Whilst speaking to a customer about five o'clock he was taken ill, and expired in half an hour afterwards Mr Hi^lop wan v ttraightforward business man, a good citizen, and well liked. Us was <SL» years of age, and had been in business in Dunedin for 3S year*. He was a native of Scotland, and spent some years on the Bendigo goldfield, in Victoria, before coming to Dunedin. Mr Ilislop was married twice, and leaves a wife and a large family, who have our sincerest sympathy in their bereavement. WRITING with re ference to the operation of female suffrage in this Colony the New Zealand correspondent of the Brisbane Courier, in a letter dated September 20th, t-ays : — I cannot point to one single good result which I can attribute to the extension of our franchise to women. Soji;»l questions are, it is true, rather more frequently and prominently before the public and the Partiament, but I cannot find that they arc any more thoughtfully dealt with, nor can I find any trace of a raiding of the moral tone of the community. Politics are no better than they were, nor is the general level of the House of Representatives in character or ability any higher. I should be sorry to say it is lower, but if there is any difference, it will be fouud to tend in that direction. Mr. BiLinviN (head-master of the Pydenham State school; examined the Convent schools. Lyttelton. We extract the following from his report . — ' The Bchool has passed a very satisfactory examination in most of the pass subjects. The writing, spelling, and drawing throughout the school are good. The following were the results • Standard VI.. 7 presented, and all passed ; Standard V., 10 presented, 1) passed ; Stuudard IV., 12 presented, 10 passed ; Standard 111., 9 presented, 8 passed ; Standard 11., 7 presented, 7 passed; Standard 1., i presented, I pas-ted. The four failures are due to irregular attendance. Mrs Baldwin reports the needlework as very good. I was much pleased with the behaviour of the children, showing that the discipline of the school is satisfactory. Of 70 children on the roll 41) were examined. All the pupila presented from the High School passed.' The borough of Greymouth took over the local gasworks on October 2 from the company which had run them successfully for about l}() yearp. At the gathering which took ploce in connection with the formal transfer Mr. Sheedy. who presided, delivered a lengthy speech, in the course of which he eulogised the services of Mr. Kennedy, the manager, who had been in the employment of the company for over 1 1 years. He said that the company had been very well satisfied with his work. He had been instrumental in saving the company large sums annually as a result of his careful

supervision and management, having suggested alterations and improvement, which when carried out proved great financial successes and secured increased dividends to the company. Moreover, Mr. Kennedy had popularised himself with the company, and by his untiring energy and perseverance had induced a large number of people who were formerly using kerosene to give gas a trial, with the result that they did so and continued to do so as they found it more economical. We are pleased to learn that Mr. Kennedy's services as manager have been retained by the Borough Council. Ouu Timaru correspondent writes :— The members of the Aloysian Society have closed their session, and are making preliminary niiaiv,uuciits for their annual picnic on !S T ove*r>h«r o This year the members of the Hibernian Club are joining in the ouiiug, wUioli will ia be much larger than u«uil —The Very Rev. Father Le Menant des Chesnai.s, S.M., arrived here on Tuesday laet to conduct a retreat for the pupils of the Convent of the Sacred Heart about to receive their First Communion. The older pupils of the parochial Hchools also participated in the retreat. —Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament now takes place in the Sacred Heart Church on the first Sunday of every month, and the Rev Father Tubman is much pleased with the attendance of the faithful.— The Ladies of the Sacred Heart are making preparations for a suitable celebration of the centenary of the institution of their Order by its founder on November 21 next. A special preacher is to be invited, and many old pupils of the Convent will be present on the occasion.— Hea\y rain has fallen during the week, causing many rivers to be in high flood. The weather is still unsettled and threatening. The undulating country around Timaru looks a perfect picture. Mr. Maughan Barnett, of Wellington, gave an organ recital in St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth, on Monday evening, October 8, when there was a very large number preHent. All were delighted with his performance (says the Argus), and it was a treat long to be remembered in Greymouth. The new organ presents a tasteful, even massive appearance, the front pipes being artistically decorated. The organ has been pronounced by competent judges to be in every respect a first-class instrument, the pedal organ especially being constructed on the latest pneumatic exhaust system and is the finest of the kind in the Colony. The instrument received full justice at the hands of such a master aa Mr. Barnett, the tolling effectH of the varied and different stops being suffioient to disarm the most captious critic. During the evening Mr. Guthrie gave the line solo. ' When night is darkest,' in his usual finished style, and the. • I.ont Chord ' was splendidly sung by Miss Guthrie. Mr. Guthrie. at the close of the recital, returned thanks on behalf of Key. Father Malone, and the choir. On the following evening Mr. Baniett gave another recital which was listened to with considerable pleasure by the large audience. Vocal items wen: again contribute 1 by Miss Guthrie and Mr. Guthrie. At the mmliw.m Mr. liarne* th< aitily congratulated Mr. Hobday, the builder, mi the . \c> llent nii.il. t i. *Jf the organ, and said it had a trial winch t< -n d v to the utuio-t. At the last meeting of the Ashburton Cat: otic Lite-ry .Soutty (says the Mud) there was a large attend. nice v\ h-n a lceiure v. a* by Mr. .) . Moison, descriptive of h<- trip to France, and also of his visit to the Tans Exhibition. The lecturer describe 1 his trip Home in a racy manner, and told nvmy amusing anecdotes about his sea voyage. He trave a biu-f de«cripti jii of Sydney, m which city he lummutid for five days, describing us principal building*, etc . and ranked it next to London or l'aris from a business standpoirt. After leaving Sydney hi^ next call was Colombo, and hi-< remarks on rhatoity were very interesting. Ik was wav h taken up with the beautiful appearance of Marseille-, which he fully described. The lecturer gave a detailel description of Xnnes, v. hich he considered the pre Must city he had seen in his travels, and tie then took his audience through Pans and Brittany. Mr. Mowm then gave his hearer* a description of the great French Exposition, which he stated, covered an area of some 2!') acres. On leaving Paris Mr. Moison journeyed tj London, where he >-tayt d f° r c ose on a fortnight, during which tune he \i«ited the most important pi rices there, and v des-nption of hn voyage from London to New /r.i'and terminated the lecture. Mr. Moison delivered hid lectuie in a very telling muni-er, and answeieJ \auous questions put to him at the conclusion of same. A heaity vote o: thanks wa< accorded Mr. Moison tor the trouble he had gone to in preparing the lecture. Had the attendance at H< rr Zunint rnmmi's reception concert, given in the Garrison Hall, Jhineuin. on Wednesday evening of last week, bern tqual to the merus of the peitormance the building would not havu betn large enough lor the audience. It was the best given ;n Dui.ehn lor some Huh. and it was extremely unx'ortunateth.it the numerable weather interfered with the presence of many who would otherwise ha\e attended, llerr ZimiiH-rmann has already established himself an a pninu favorite with the musioloving people of this city, and it is needless to observe that his contributions to the programme were mark-d by that artistic style for which he is noted. ll is reception was flattering, and as was naturally to be expected his items were redem-uided. Mrs. Blandlord and llerr Zimmermann contributed the ' Kreutzer Sonato,' two movements of which were played. Tiie item was performed with the highK-tt skill and taste, and met with the keenest apprctiaLion. Both artists werp recalled. Fesc-i's 'Barcarolle' was admirably played by Mrs. Blandtonl, Herr Zimmermann. and Master Black. Miss Rose Blaney achieved a distinct success in her biogiug of Garcia V ' Salve Maria,' the obbligato to which was played by llerr Zuntneriuaun. An encore was demanded, but the vocalist simply bowed her acknowledgments. Mrs. Wakefield Holmes contributed ' The lost chord ' and ' Songs of my childhood ' with her accustomed ability. Mrs. Neave gave a very expressive rendering of ' Home by the nea.' The gentlemen vocalists were Messrs. Maitland Gardner, J. Jago, and G. NeiU, and needless to say. considering their reputation, they were highly successful. Miss Whitson, made her debut as a pianoforte player, and was honored with a redemand. Th<3 accompaniments were played by Mrs. Blandford and Mr. D. Cooke.