NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 12, 13 June 1874, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

What Becomes of our Domestic Ser vants? —We learn from the registrar of marriages that fifty women, describing themselves as domestic servants, have been married in the Christchurch district during the past ten weeks.

The Atrato. —The's.s. Atrato, with the Uanterbury portion of her immigrants, ie expected to arrive in Lyttelton in the beginning of the week.

Ship Northampton.—The report from the quarantine station yesterday was on the whole satisfactory. Two fresh casesof modified small pox, viz, Mrs Baldwin and M. A. Sytnmards, have occurred, both of these are doing well. It is understood that no cases of sickness having occurred on the ship, she will be admitted to pratique early nest week,

High Rates op Railway Carriage,— The rates for carriage of goods between Lytteltou and Christchurch, and vice versa, evoked a long discussion at the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce held yesterday, and resulted in a deputation being appointed to wait upon the Government with a view to a general reduction being made on all the lines, but more particularly on the Lyttclfou and Christchurch line.

Railway Management.—The old subject of the management of the railways cropped up yesterday in the Council on'a motion of Mr Harper's relative to the reduction of the charges for the carriage of live stock on the railway. The lion, member for the Rakaia (Mr Jebson) twitted the Government with being unable to manage the Railway department, and stated it as his conviction that this portion of the Government service had been started on a wrong principle, which had obtained up to the present time. Mr Kcnnaway took up the cudgels for the Government, pointing out that the deficiency in rolling stock, which had been made one of the chief points by the hon. member, was rather due to the fact that it was a matter of considerable difficulty to get out rolling stock from England, and also that up to a very recent period the province had no money to spend in this direction, and was unable, owing to the restrictions of the General Government, to borrow any.

Colonial Bank op New Zealand.—A telegram from Duncdin in yesterday's issue stated that 20,000 shares iii the new bankhad been placed in Otago and Southland. This was a mistake, as we learn from Captain Boyd and Mr Cuttcn that 70,000 have been applied for, and the returns have not yet been sent in from the country districts. The share list in Otago docs not close till the 20 th.

MUSEUM.—The Board of Governors met yesterday afternoon to consider the question of opening the Museum on Sunday, and passed a resolution directing the Museum Committee to give effect to the resolution of the Provincial Council. After the rising of the Board the committee met, and gave instructions for the insertion of an advertisement, which will be found in our advertising columns. The Museum will therefore be open to-morrow from 1.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m., and every Sunday afterwards during the same hours.

Endowment for the City.—The following is the text of the petition from the Christchurch City Council presented the other evening by Dr Turnbull :•—'! To the honorable the Provincial Council of the Province of Canterbury, in session assembled, the petition of the Christchurch City Council humbly sheweth, —That the City Council of Christchurch has been established for many years, yet, for want of funds, there is a amount of work to be done to make the streets and belts what they ought to be. That the necessity for this work to be undertaken is the more urgent from the circumstances of the large increase of houses and population taking place. That the general rate of Is in the £—the limit allowed by the Act—is levied, and with sundry contributions, is quite insufficient to keep pace with the actual work required. That the Council are borrowing a large amount of money under a special Act for the specific purpose of carrying out a system of drainage. That the funds of the Council are not assisted by an endowment, the same as other municipalities in New Zealand are, as, for instance, Dunedin, Auckland, and Wellington. That the City Council respectfully submit to the Provincial Council the circumstances that the fees arising from licenses granted to hotel-keepers and auctioneers, and taxes on dogs, in all cases referring to only those accruing within the city, have been handed over to their respective municipal bodies in the province of Otago. That the General Government, in passing the recent Licensing Act, have anticipated a claim of muuicipal bodies for license fees, inasmuch as clause 12 provides that 'where such license fees have been made portion of municipal revenue, any person authorised by any such municipality shall have power to issue such certificate as aforesaid.' The City Council therefore humbly pray that your honorable Council will be pleased to take this matter into their favorable consideration, and pass an Ordinance by which all the fees arising from licenses generally and taxes on dogs in the different municipalities may become part of the revenue of each borough."

The Racecourse.—Sir Cracroffc Wilson obtained leave yesterday to bring in a Bill to amend the Racecourse Reserve Ordinance, so as to allow of the Jockey Club charging an admission fee to the course for foot passengers. The Government offered no opposition to the first reading, as they considered that the matter should be discussed on the motion for the second reading. The Bill was read a first time, and the second reading fixed for Wednesday next.

Ashburton.—An entertainment will be given in aid of the Library Fund, at the reading-room, on Thursday, 18th June. Apart from the object of the entertainment, the well-known high character of the Ashburton Dramatic Club should be sufficient to draw a crowded house. Width op Tires.—ln the course of the debate yesterday on Sir C. Wilson's motion for a sum of money to be placed on the estimates for putting the quarry roads in repair, Mr Knight called the attention of the Government to the necessity that existed for some legislation relative to the width of the tires of waggons using the public roads. Last session of the General Assembly a bill for this purpose was introduced, but it was late in the session ; "the annual slaughter of the innocents was in full swing, and this bill, amongst others, was shelved. Mr Jollie promised that the Government would take steps to see that some legislation on this subject was brought into operation. Adulteration op Liquor. —At the morning sitting of the Provincial Council yesterday a motion requesting his Honor the Superiuteudeut to take' steps to appoint a skilled person as a local analyst under clause 3 of the Adulteration of Food Act was agreed to. In the course of the discussion a very general opinion'was expressed by hon. members that some thorough systemof inspection of not only licensed houses, but also importers and merchants was necessary. Mr Potts, who moved the motion, ci;cd a case of a man who had not come to town for years, and the reason he gave was that he could not take one gla:'3 of liquor without being rendered almost unconscious from the eifect of it. The Government promised to take the matter thoroughly in hand, not only by securing the services of the professor of chemistry who was in the Atrato as analyst, but also by organising a complete system of inspection of the various licensed houses and import warehouses.

Fatal Accident.—A man named James Tunnuck, residing at Killinchy, was killed yesterday at Dunsande", by falling off a dray, loaded with firewood. It seems that ho arrived at Dunsandel nt 7.30 a.m., and had some drink at the Dunsandel hotel. He afterwards got on a load of firewood, and proceeded homewards about twelve o'clock. Shortly after leaving Dunsandel the horse—which was a young one, was observed to be going very fast. The deceased was sitting on the top of the load, which was untied, and was seen to slip off, and fall to the ground. Some persons ran up aud found him lying insensible, and observed a slight cut over his temple. He was carried to the Hotel, and did not speak up to the time of his death, which took place about three o'clock. There were no other marks on the body, but the cut mentioned.

Ellesmere Road Board.—A meeting of the ratepayers in the Ellesmere district will be held on Wednesday, Ist July, at noon, for the election of a member in the room of Mr C. A. Fitzroy,. resigned. Temperance Gatherings.—The first of a scries of temperance gatherinas in connection with St. Andrew's Lodge, 1.0.G.T.. will take place in St. Andrew's schoolroom on Monday evening. The Rev 0. Eraser, A.M., will preside. Addresses will be delivered by friends of the temperance cause, and appropriate vocal aud instrumental music will form part, of the programme. The public are invited to be present, and no charge will be made for admission.

1.0.G.T. —The usual weekly session of the Dauntless Lodge of Good Templars was held at Gee's schoolroom last evening, and was very well attended. Seven new members were initiated and several proposed.

New Comets.—ln its notice of the comet discovered simultaneously by Professor Winnccke at Strasburg, and by Dr Peters of Hamilton Colle.ce, New York, on the 20th of February, the " Athenaeum" of the 14th March gives some further information with reference to its appearance, and calls attention to the large number of comets which were added to the system duriug 1572 and 1573. The orbit of the new comet has been calculated by Herr Schulz, of Vienna, by which it appears that when in its perihelion, which it was on the 10th of March, it approached the sun within the small distance of about 4,000,000 miles. During the week preceding the 10th of March, its* distance from the earth had been increased from 80,000,000 to 100.000,000 miles. No name has yet been given to this new discovery, " owing to the increasing number of the small planets." Seventeen comets were discovered during 1872 and 1573, to some of which no names were given until quite recently. These have, however, at length been supplied, and a correct list is published up to the present time, with this one exception. Caution to Coffee Drinkers. — Chicory is said to contain properties positively injurious to the health. Get ground coffee, as sold by grocers, is often adulterated with this substance, and many persons insists that it improves the flavour of the coffee. We are informed on a recent work on coffee, that the coffee dealer adulterates his chicory with Venetian red to please the eye of the coffee dealer; and, lastly, the Venetian red manufacturer grinds up his color with brick dust, that, by its greater cheapness and the variety of shades he offers, he may secore the patronage of the trade in chicory. The Earth's Movements.—The earth is going round the sun at the rate of GSOOO miles an hour,.or.Hoo times faster than the fastest express train moves. The earth revolves on its axis at a very high speed, proportioned to the distance of its surface from the axis. At the equator it is 1040 miles an hour, or seventeen a minute ; at Rekiautis, a polar town, it is seven and a-half miles a minute ; at the poles it is nil. The earth has several other movemencs, one of the less measured, being that through space in common with the whole solar system, which is estimated at 457,000 mi'es a day. That Tasmania has much to expect from the development of her gold mines is evident enough from the following report which we extract from the " Launceston Examiner " of the 2oth ult.: —" On Thursday there was universal excitement in town in anticipation of the receipt of intelligence as to the result of the washing-up at the Golden Point Company's claim, Nine Mile Springs. As slated in our Thursday's j'ssue, on Wednesday afternoon the Manager, Mr Nicholas, and Messrs W. W. White, W. Turner, H. E. Lette, Just, and other shareholders, proceeded to the Springs, where they arrived the same evening. On Thursday the washing up was completed, and COO ounces of amalgam were obtained from the plates alone, which led to the belief that as the boxes usually give a very much larger return, the yield would be a thousand ounces. However, the returns from the boxes were not up to expectations, only yielding a little over 700 ounces. These 1300 ounces turned out 680 ounces of retorted gold, which, with several small additions from the blankets, tailings, &c., will make the total yield about 700 ounces, the largest cake whichhas ever yet been received from any Tasmanian goldfield. The quantity of stone crushed was 92 loads, weighing about 72 tons, s"o that the yield is nearly as possible 9| ounces to the ton. The cake was brought into town about midnight on Thursday by the gentlemen before named and two policemen. Yesterday morning the gold was placed in the Commercial Bank for inspection, and afterwards in the windows of Messrs Hopkins and Murphy, and was visited, we might say, by hundreds. In the afternoon, the directors of the company met and declared a dividend of £1 per share, after the payment of which there will still be a balance of £GOO to'the credit of the company. Work is again being pushed forward at the mine in quarrying stone. A curious case (says " Atticus," in the Melbourne "Age") will probably be brought before the public in a little while. A gentleman on his marriage nettled the whole of his capital on his wife, and, as will not appear strange to commercial men, did not prosper in bio business in consequence. The lady, who is young, prefers liviug apart from the husband, who is old, and now meditates the extreme step of seeking to have the marriage dissolved on grounds that the husband contends are utterly untrue. Should the application be successful, what about the marriage settlement? Will the money remain with the lady, or will the husband be consolvcd for his loss by being again set up in business ? And if it be not successful, will the husband be able to sue his wife for maintenance out of tLo fum: > that were ouce \m own ?

It was announced by advertisement (says the " Otago Guardian,") that the "Star Juvenile Troupe " would make its first appearance last evening at (he Queen's Theatre. As eight o'clock approached, however, there were no signs of the door being opened ; but a minute or two before that hour the secretary of the company that owns the theatre, being appealed to, gave up the key, and there was soon a very fair attendance in the lower part of the house, and a good sprinkling upstairs. The audience had cortie under the impression that a young girl, nine or ten years of ago, was about to sustain the part of Pauline, in " The Lady of Lyons," and that a distinguished amateur named Butler was to enact the character of Claude Melnotte. But the whole thing ended in a fiasco, for at a quarter past eight there was no appearance of being " just about to begin," the music not even having started —nor indeed was the band, consisting of a solitary performer, in its place, but calmly smoking a pipe in the lobby., at the back. The gods now became uproarious, and there were various emanations from human beings ranging from the shrill cat call to the bellowing of a bull. These musical sounds appeared to give intense satisfaction to those who indulged in them. At length Mr Lawrence came before the curtain, when he was at once assailed by a torrent of " Kentish fire," and other marks of decided disapprobation. Silence having been somewhat restored, he annonnccd that in consequence of the 'sudden indisposition' of Pauline, or one of her sisters —we could not catch which—there would be no performance that evening ; but he added that, if the people chose to keep their tickets and come to his benefit on the following night, they might depend upon getting ample satisfaction for their money—an announcement that was greeted with derisive cheers. Those, however, who preferred to take their money away with them could have it refunded at the doors. And, as most of them did prefer this course, there was an immediate stampede and a rush to the money-taker's box. Here ensued a scene of great confusion, the people expressing themselves in curses both loud and deep, and all trying to get back their entrance money at one and the same time. The result was indescribable confusion It was currently reported that the talented amateur who was to sustain the character of the noble, self-sacrificing "gardener's son" had not turned up at the time for commencing. If this be so, it was hardly fair to cast the blame upon one of the young ladies, on the ground of her being indisposed. Had Claude been present, he ought ceitainiy to have himself announced the cause of the " hitch " instead of Mr Lawrence ; or in his absence Mr Mills, the advertised agent, should have done so. We heard, however, that both Mr Mills aud Mr Butler (inseparable companions) were otherwise engaged ; and if this be so there is no possible excuse to be made for either of them. The public ought not to be trifled with in this way. Of one thing we are quite sure, that such a state of things cannot do good to the theatre, and is only likely to bring it into disrepute. The following extract from the " Pall Mall Budget," will prove interesting to many of our readers : —Noumea, the chief town of New Caledonia, the French penal settlement which, owing to the influx of Communist exiles, is fast rising into importance as a colony, boasts of a mayor whose adventurous spirit fits him to take the initiative in the arduous task of bringing a wildeitiess into cultivation, and forming the rejected of European civilisation into a prosperous community. Some years ago s.iys a Fieuch journal, a petty tradesman of Sens (.Hie et Yilaiue) went beyoud the seas to make his fortune, taking with him a small sum of money, and leaving his betrothed at home to await better days. He returned to France not long ago as Mayor of Noumea, and the possessor of a considerable fortune, married the object of his early choice, and has just sriled for the colony, taking with him not only his wife and her mother,but a number of skilled workmen, to whom he promises plenty of work and large earnings. Journeyneymen masons and carpenters make from ten to twelve francj a day in Noumea where a good opening also exists in various lines of business, more especially in watch making, the possessors of clocks and watches in New Caledonia being, as yet, obliged to send them to Sydney to be cleaned and repaired. The following is the account of Major Kemp's assault on his wife, as published in the "Wanganui Chronicle"—" On Saturday morning it became known in town that, on the previous evening, the Celebrated Maoii chief, Major Kemp, had assaulted his wife at Putiki in so brutal a manner that her life was in imminent peril. It seems that Kemp has a lawful wife, named Margaret, a woman about 40 years of age, and iu addition keeps two native women. Kemp aud Margaret have not lived happily together for a long time past, and. following a bad but common practice among the Maoris, he has been accustomed not only to make her work much harder than her strength woidd reasonably bear, but also to beat her severely when the whim seized him. On the present occasion his jealousy had been aroused by reports of her misconduct with some of the Wairarapa natives who lately visited Putiki during his absence at Kaiwhaike ; and on Friday night returning home intoxicated, he accused her of infidelity, knocked her down, and then kicked her with his heavy boot, breaking some of her ribs and leaving her in a dreadful condition. She was attended by Drs Earle and Tripe, and lay for some time in a highly critical state, but yesterday evening showed signs of recovery. Great indignation is felt at Kemp's conduct, because he has enjoyed the advantage of living amongst Europeans for many years, and understands full well the criminality of his off >nce. He is a native assessor, a major in the militia, and a Native Land Purchase Commissioner, and ought to set a better example to his tribe." Gerald Massey asking in America. "Why does not God kill the devil?' was answered by a Boston journalist, ''That Providence did not want, to leave the Chicago p-pers without an editor."