CLYDE FRIDAY. DEC. 26, 1884

Dunstan Times, Issue 1191, 26 December 1884, Page 2

CLYDE FRIDAY. DEC. 26, 1884

ANOTHER LIGHTNING VISIT. On Wednesday morning last, a little after 8 .am, the peace of our usually quiet township was disturbed by the arrival from the direction of Cromwell of a coach and four at double quick time, and pulling up at Mrs George’s Dunstan Hotel. Those who were about were on the alert to know who the illustrious company could be that were so early afoot. Little time, however, was given to gather much information, because as soon as horses could be changed the company were off again, their horses headmg for Naseby. To our shame we admit wo were amongst those who, if not quietly sleeping the sleep of the just at 8 a.m, were partaking our mafinal coffee and consequently from our knowledge we are nnable to say anything of our visitors. From the “ Man in the Street” however, we learn that our early visitors were: the Hon. Mr Buck, ley, Colonial Secretary ; the Hon. Mr Tole Minister of Justice; Mr G. S. Cooper’ Coder Secretary ; and Mr Mitchell, of the Hansard staff; and that the object of their visit was the inspection of the police and other buildings, also the hospital; and from the same reliable source we also learned that inspection was duly made of these institutions, and that that in about an hour from the time the party entered the town, they were off again with the intention of reachmg Naseby the same evening. Such are the unvarnished facts anent the memorable visit of the hon. gentlemen, and we will ask are they not worthy of being printed in letters of gold ? Whether or not, we affirm this utter neglect of the goldfield districts, and the scant courtesy extended them by all branches of the Government, whether Ministers or even so low down the scale as M ining Inspectors, should be borne in mind by our members, and from their seats in Parliament an explanation demanded. It may be thought we are emulating Don Quixote and tilting at a shadow ; but when it is borne in mind that during the past month four different grades of Commissions have passed through the district,and no one of them has devoted more than a few minutes to either Cromwell, Alexandra, Blacks, or Clyde, it will, we think be admitted that just and valid grounds have we for expiessm ' indienation. „■ =

The first court day in the year ISBS. will be held at Alexandra on the 12th' January.

By an advertisement in another column it will be seen that Woodyear’s Electro Circus will open at Alexandra on the night of Monday, the 29th inst, for one night only. Prom the very glowing accounts in the Press wherever Mr Woodyear has erected his tent of the excellence of the entertainment, we may guess that a great treat is in store for the residents of Alexandra.

We are informed that in many parts of the district there are persons who are in the habit of scouring about the runs removing dead rabbits from traps set by other parties and picking up* dead rabbits, presumably for the skins. It should be remembered that doing the above is tantamount to a felony, and the punishment attached to the offence is of a very severe nature. Moreover, that strict watch is being kept in many places for she offenders, and there is little doubt but if anyone caught the full measure of the law will be meted out.

We welcome again the return for the Christmas holidays of the Clyde boys who are holders of Dunedin High School scholar* ships, the more so as they all carry with them handsome prizes as marks of their in. dustry and attention to their duties. Mas* ter Frank E. Wilson and Master George T. Stevens, both in the sth class, were the gainers of prizes for English and drawing respectively, the latter also gained a certificate of merit for mathematics, English, and science. Joseph E. Steveas, in the upper 4th class, gained a prize for English, and C. C. Fache, also in tie upper 4th, obtained a certificate of merit for distinction in English, and Mr Solomon’s special prize for general excellence. All these boys, we need hardly say, were scholars of Mr J. B. Stevens, master of the Clyde School. From the annual report we also learn that Master Andrew E. Pitches, of Blacks, succeeded in carrying off prizes for arithmetic and writing, and Master Alfred E. Xndev, of Naseby, had the honour of winning the Chamber of Commerce Silver Medal for arithmetic, yd a prize for mathematics in the sth class^Bj We leam with regret of the aomST what sndden death of the wife of Mr John Martin, of Tinkers, which took place on Saturday afternoon last at her residence. In consequence of the illness of Mrs Martin the entertainment that was to have taken place on the Friday evening previous in aid of the funds of the Dunstan District Hospital was by general consent postponed till a future date. It is so seldom that a social gathering Or an evening’s amusement is afforded at Tinkers, that the thoughtful act of postponing the entertainment speaks highly for the kindly feelings of the residents of that place, and marks in no small degree the respect in which the suffering lady was held in by her friends and neighbours, and the dpbp sympathy felt for the bereaved husband and the ten children :p their time ot trouble# t

A* it U not generally known that/Chm*day. Friday, and Saturday, the 26th, 26th, ' 07th of December, and Thursday, ; the Ut he hank holidays, we here give the information for all and sundry "courthouse and Office. jOJ* for Christmas and New Yearhohdays frorn ♦he 24th inst till Monday, the 28th nut, also hom. the 30th inst, till Monday. 6th January. The programme of theAlexand^Dmma tic Club for thrir performance at Almnd» on New Year’s night appears m another column. On Friday and Saturday next, the 26th and 27th lust., Cromwell opens the season of sports with their race meeting, wh-ch. fromthe number of horses entered for the several events, promisea to be a most sue cessful affair. On the following Thursday and Friday, Ist and 2nd January, th Vincent Jockey Club hold meeting in Matakanm Park The pro gramme is a most liberal one. Sthe Club having been responded to bya large number of racehorse owners, a more than ordinary successful meeting a antimpated. SirWUliam Fox has been speaking at Home on temperance, before the Couno>lof the United Kingdom Alliance. Amount his remarks were the following :-The fjt is this s Four years ago we got in New Zealand, by an Act of Parliament, tha^> control!* ins powers which our respected fnends Mr Balfour and Canon Ellisionand to get for you in this country. W g • We got benches ad hoc for the P ur P™°<* licensing and controlling the liquor traffic , Jrove it to you. We have had these measures now in operation for three years; that ia to say, for three years Licensing ■Committees, as we call the*hav elected by the ratepayer of the °°™ tr y; men and women. What have they done 7 They have refused to grant some new licenses Your magistrates here have done exercised a cbntrolling power over the pub-lio-hon.es by compelling the publicans * -make them more comfortable, with mo accommodation, and therefore them -more attractive to drinkers.-(Hear, hear.) But as to taking away the existing hoens wb y in the whole three yearn, out of 2,200 drink shops, they have suppressed exactly •one. —(Hear, hear, and laughter).

It was manifestly unfair on the part of an American photographer, says ■contemporary, to-take a certain * much appreciated in her country, by surprise and obtain a portrait ot her 3“ 8t " she was stepping, dripmng wet. out of the ■aea to legain her dressing-box. A !ady of whom a mean advantage was thus taken had refused to be photographed with a de--termination that baffled the endeavours of New York photographers, her reason being that she objected toseeber’dkenes* ip every, .hop window she passed. Finding her in■exorable, it was resolved to have recoup to ax, expedient ; and one member Of the profession, ascertaining that she was spending a few days, for the purpose of bathm at San Francisco, followed her there with his apparatus, put it in a bathing machine and obtained what he wanted, unknown to the artiste. Shortly afterwardsabe revived a polite note containing her portraite as she emerged from the waves, and the intimation "0.000 of thesame would hepntonsae the following dav unless she c ° n ® e "* e * allow herself to he photographed in more becoming attire. She talked, m the moment of irritation, of appealmgtojhe police but on reflection she considered it wiser to capitulate, although her annoyance is extreme at the unfair proceedings of her prosecutors. . Does one ever hear of a medical man who lacks conraget There is a aadstorytold ,n the London newspapers (says the St James Ovzefee) of a doctor’s gallantry and devotion. A child at the Gray’a-inn-road Free Hospital was suffering from diphtheria, and the operation of tracheotomy was performed. In order to remove the matter that had accumulated in the child’s throat it became necessary to suck i* through a tube, and this was done by the senior medical officer, Dr Samuel Rabbetb. The Doctor, however, caught the disease, and died a victim to a noble and courageous sense of duty. Such acts are fortunately not rare in onr hospital wards and infirmaries ; bnt they assuredly deserve some recognition when they are recorded. Most men—most Englishmen, at any rate—we suppose are not deficient in a certain kind of physical bravery; but the bravery required to charge a battery of machine gnus, or even what Napoleon called “the two o’clock in the morning courage, which he claimed and which his enemi-s denied him, might fall before snob an ordeal as that incurred by the young medical officer. Dr Rabbeth, it appears was only m his 28th

year. , Apropos of the Tichbome case a good deal haa been said about the evidence that /■ could be given by a Mr Anchor now o - Wanganui, who is said to have been sail maker on board the Osprey at the time of the alleged rescue of the Bella’s boat. The Lvllelfm Times having gone the length of characterising as “ strange, not to say discreditable, the conduct of_ Mr Anchor in suppressing evidence which he must have known to be of the first importance a Blenheim paper comes to Mr Anchors rescue, and says "it happens to know that while he was residing in Wanganm he communicated with Lord Rivers, the late Mr A Guildford Onslow, and Mr Qnartermaine East-all gloat friends and supporters of the claimant —and that, at one time arrangemeats were at one time in progress for taking MrAocherto England to give evidence, But, speaking with an intimate knowledge of what his evidenge really amounted to, we Should toy (t was of folio importance one way&'ltm other.” '■■■*,

The OlydeSchobl prizes wilj tie bated onMdmiay' next, tljd ; parcel bon* taining then* having miscarried is the cause [of the dalay. '

. The weather at present is beautiful, and should it keep up until the ChfUtmas holi. days are over, there wiU ’be fidt little to complain of. , . The following is the description of Fitz gorald, one of the men implicated in the Neathorne murder, and for , whose apprehension a reward of LSO is offered by the Government About 28 years ; 6ft lOin ; stent, strong, wiry build ; fair complexion ; fairish hair, described by some fairishbrown, by others as fairish-sandy; short whiskers, moustache, and beard ; blue eyes, pleasing appearance and knits his brows when speaking; has a peculiar expression of mouth when speaking ; a scar recently made over one eye; an Irishman; a shearer, labourer, and station hand; knows the country well; arrived at Fort Chalmers in the ship‘‘Timarn,’’in 1878. A very curious question has arisen out of the action recently brought at Wanganui to oust Mr Spurdle (the Mayor elect) on account of haying committed. breaches of the Municipal Corporations Act. It wi,ll be recollected that one' Timbs informed and obtained judgment against Mr Spnrdle in the sum of LIOO for having eat at the Council table on two occasions while he was interested in certain contract work being done for the Wanganhi Borough. The fines were duly paid into Court and were claimed by the informer. But the borongh clerk also put in a claim for the'money as Corporation revenue, the Act providing that the borough fund shall consist (among other things) of “ all fines and penalties recovered under the provisions of this Act, or of Acts incorporated therewith, for any offences committed within the borqugh.” The penalties were clearly recovered under the Act, and the clerk of the Court is in a qnandary as to who is entitled to receive the money. He has accordingly referred the question to the Government for the advice of its law officers, and nntil fortified with this he intends to keep the money.

“ Only the other day ” (writes .“ AngloAustralian ” in the European Mail) “ I was convening with a friend on the very evident advances now making in most of the Australasian Colonies to a balancing of the sexes—an event not very far removed. It is evident that some -persons here are extremely anxious to bring about this consummation, and if half what 1 hear be true as to the systematioviieans now adopted or contemplated for ...furnishing disconsolate .Australian bachelors with wives, the male ser will not very hog predominate in numbers. At Grimsby, in Osborne street., there is, at the present moment, an agency expressly designed to provide, wives for Anatr lia, and great inducements are offered to charm away females who; might otherwise be disposed to heed the more prosaic but practical pleas of the;various Agents general, who are likewise working to reduce the present disparity of the sexes at the Antipodes. I namo. no.; names,-for., obvious reasons, and sincerely trust the Grimsby and other similarSgencies may do only good, but I fear that many women are disappointed. In one instance, we are seriously told that on the arrival df one ot these consignments of marriageable females, colonists rush to the docks, examine the new arrivals instanter, and forthwith propose! This is drawing a very long bow indeed.

A Northern paper declares that amongst the thirty-five applicants for the post of headmaster of the Wanganui High School was one who, as a qualification to entitle him to the appointment, stated that he had “a wife whose brother was an editor.” Amusing as the . editor’s brother-in-law’s application was, there were others that were more so. Anothei of the thirty-five said ha was personally acquainted with Sir Wil* liam Jervois. One candidate described himself as “ having the use of all his limbs,' organs, and faculties.” He followed by an applicant one of whose testimonials described him as being “no chicken,” bat “six feet three in his stockings.” This candidate forwarded his photograph with his application, bnt not a lock of his ha r. Another one wanted a change because “ his present duties brought his brain to a hopeless state of “ fluidity.” Yet another had “ rowed in his college eight, and played in his college eleven; ” while another muscular candidate boasted of having made “the highest cricket average for the season.”