NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 88, 11 September 1874, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Education Rates. —All rates due under the Education Ordinance, 1873, must be paid on or before the 24th lost, or they will be recovered summarily.

Papanui Cricket Club— The second annual general meeting of this club will be held this evening at the Papanui Institute, at half-past seven.

Professor Pickerton’s Lecture.— The fifth of the series of lectures by Professor Bickerton. was given last night in the Oddfellows’ Hall to a crowded audience The subject of the lecture was “ Conversion of voltaic electricity into other forms of energy,’’ and was illustrated by numerous experiments, which were successfully carried out.

Horse Killed by Fright.— On Wednesday Mr H. Land, of Rangiora, was holding his mare by the bridle near a crossing of the railway at Southbrook as the noon goods train was running up. The animal shied and suddenly dropped down dead. Its value was £3O, and at the time of the accideutwas heavy in foal. Bankruptcy Cases.— At the monthly sitting of the Supreme Court in bankruptcy, yesterday, several cases came before His Honor the Judge which showed that unlimited and reckless credit had been given to bankrupts by tradesmen. His Honor, commenting on the case of Edward Smethurst, in which a large amount of credit had been .given to the bankrupt by tradesmen, and not one proved, said that these cases were most unsatisfactory, and the only comfort was that the creditors who had been so lavish in their granting of credit without the remotest chance of repayment, lo t their money, and it served them right. Indeed, he did not know which was the worst, the creditor who gave the unlimited credit, or the speculator who went into these undertakings.

Concert. — We understand that a concert will be given by Mr J. T. M. Smith and some friends, in the beginning of October, in aid of the funds for completing the peal of bells at the German Church. The first part will comprise “The Building of the Ship,” and the second part will comprise morceaux by some of our leading amateurs. The three principal bolls have already arrived, and will be hung as soon as the tower is erected. They will bo used for the first lime at Christmas. It is intended to complete the peal as soon as the necessary funds are forthcoming. The bells will be handel over to the city, so that they may be US'd by all societies—religions or otherwise. Subscriptions, in aid of the fund for hanging, maybe forwarded to Mr Ruddenklau, who will be happy to show the bells which have already arrived,

Hokitika Municipality. — From a private source we learn the result of the Hokitika Municipal election yesterday. Mr Bevau headed the poll, Mr Tabart second, and Mr Jack third.

United Canterbury Cricket Club.— The annual general meeting of this club, to receive the annual report and elect officers, will be held to-morrow evening, at Warner’s Hotel, at eight o’clock. Theatre Royal. tit cry of the Heart,” was the chi i . •.{fraction at this place of entertainment last evening. The piece abounds with the extravagant conceptions and absurd incidents peculiar to the French drama, and the presentation of this class of piay would lead one to suppose that the management have no judgment in their selection of the pieces likely to suit the taste of their patrons. The performance throughout was of the most miserable description, and all the talents of Mrs Walter Hill as the heroine, failed to '.make the representation a success. A dance by Miss Ettie Martineau, was given as an interlude, and we are sorry to be unable to report favorably of the attempt. The lady, however, is young, and may improve. The farce of “Cupboard Love” concluded the entertainment ; but with the exception of the charming acting of Miss Willis as Mrs Tissue, the other characters were but indifferently performed.

Ellesmere Agricultural and Pastoral Association.— A meeting of the committee of the Ellesmere Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held at Log’s Leestou Hotel, on Monday, 7th instant. Present Messrs J. Acland (in the chair), W. D. Laurence, J. Rennie, D. Moorhead, W. Bishop, and the secretary. The secretary placed upon the table proof-sheet of programme of coming show, 200 copies of which, with a few alterations. were oidered to be printed and distributed. The chairman having read a code of rules for the guidance of the society, compiled by a select committee, on the motion of Mr San dry, seconded by Mr Moorhead, it was resolved that the rules as read he confirmed. and that the secretary be instructed to have 200 copies thereof printed and circulated amongst the members of the Association. The secretary was instructed to write to several gentlemen, inviting them to act as judges in the ensuing show. It was resolved that the date of show be advertised in the daily and weekly papers. A special prize for shearing was offered by Mr J. Aslora. Members of the committee were requested to canvas for special prizes, and report progress at the next meeting. A vote of thanks to the chairman was passed, and the meeting adjourned to the 25th instant.

Mr George Meredith, author of “ Vittoria,” is, it is rumoured, engaged on a new novel, in which he deals with several of the most vexed questions of political and social life of tlv day. and in which, under assumed names, several living politicians will be introduced. One of the telegrams by the San Francisco mail said ;—“ The Freemasons of Italy have expelled the Pope from their order, which he had joined in his youth. The ground of expulsion was his refusal to answer certain charges preferred against him in 1865.” The JVnv Zealand Tablet gives the following version of the same “ The telegraph wires state that the Italian Freemasons have expelled the Pope from their society. We do not know till we receive our usual files the precise meaning of this ; but we may state that the Holy Father has never been a member of that accursed society ; and that if such a sentence has been passed, the meaning of it is—as in the case of Napoleon 111. —that an attempt will be made to assassinate His Holiness.” To this the Grey River Argus appends the following note “In the interests of a free and enlightened press, in a new country, we enter our earnest protest against such scandalous assertions.” The Americans are casting abroad for new markets for the produce of their wheat fields. They estimate that in the course of two years from the present time they will “producefar more than is needed by any section of the old world, and the question then arises, what shall we do with the surplus.” To this, says an American contemporary, “the answer must be, find a market for it in Japan, China, and India. The population of these regions is not less than seven hundred millions, out of which one hundred would be in a position to purchase from us the staff of life. If these use flour as we use it, they would need annually the quantity represented by five hundred million centals of wheat, a quantity three times as great as that raised now throughout the Union —one that we could not supply them with in less than half a century, and one that would require an annual lleet of one thousand steamers, like the City of Pekin, manned by a force of one hundred and fifty thousand men. This, however, is only one outlet for our future surplus wheat product.” “ One of the most desperate duels on record” was.accordiug to the Jackson and Whig Tribune , fought lately in Tennesse in the streets of Cotton Grove, a village eight miles east of Jackson between two men named Patterson and Sellars. The difference arose out of of “ a suit of clothes.” Patterson, it seems, on the 28th of May, bought a new suit of clothes, and on the following Sunday morning Sellars, who lived in the same house, asked permission to “ try them on,” Patterson objected, snatching the clothes away, and and denouncing Sellar’s conduct as ungentlemanly. After some further altercation a duel was decided on as the best method of adjusting the quarrel. On the Tuesday evening, accordingly, the two antagonists met in the streets of Cottongrove, Sellars armed with a double-bar-railed shot gun and two single-barrelled pistols, and Patterson with “a navy six,” When within thirty yards of each other both came to a halt, Sellars levelling his gun and Patterson to throw down his pistol. Patterson refused to comply with this request, but accommodated Sellars to a certain extent by firing at him and wounding him, Sellars then attempted to fire his double-barrelled gun, but both barrels snapped. Patterson fired again. Sellars then advanced steadily, throwing down his gun and relying on his pistols, with one of which ho wounded Patterson in the right side. Patterson “ opened again rapidly,” striking Sellars twice, making three times in all. Sellars then fell from loss of blood, and Patterson walked away, believing him to he dead. Sellars, however, was not quite dead; he had only one ball in his body, which cannot be found; another entering his right temple had come out behind his ear; and a third, passing through his upper lip. had lodged in his gums. He is, therefore, not much the worse for the encounter, although the ball in his body gives his friends some uneasiness. Since the duel Patterson has had the good taste to remain in seclusion.

The University of Cambridge has conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. upon Mr James Russell Lowell, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the author of the celebrated “ Biglow Papers.” The first volume of the “ Cabinet Edition ” of Tennyson’s works has been published by Messrs H. S. King and Go. The edition will be completed in ten monthly volumes.

Writing about the Suez mail service the South An,stratum Register says:—“lt is singular that almost at the moment we were congratulating tin I’. and O, Company a month ago upon fhc unprecedented speed with which they had delivered our incoming mail, the merchants both of India and of London were holding indignat'on meetings to complain of the tardiness with which that company was performing its mail contracts. The mail which reached London via Brindisi on Bth June was 46 days on the road, while its successor had not made its appearance when the outward mails were closed on July 10th. We believe that this is the first occasion for some years past on which our letters via Brindisi have arrived too late to be answered by the return mail. Even assuming that they were delivered in London on the following day, as seems to have been expected, they will have been 51 days on the passage, while the Southampton mails will of course be six or seven days later still. We observe that the European Mail accounts for this by stating that theTanjore, which took our mails from Galle to Suez, had been delayed by the monsoons. We gather, however, from a private source that an insufficient supply of fuel seems to have had more to do with the causes of detention. We have been kindly permitted by Mr W. C Buik to make the following extracts from a letter written to him by Mr Frederick Brooks, of the firm of Messrs Ashwood and Brooks, of Birmingham, who was a passenger by the homeward mail in question. After mentioning that the Pera. which took the mail from Glenelg to Galle did her work well, Mr Brooks writes from on board the Tan jure as follows :—‘ June 25, Aden in sight. We are three days late, and nearly out of coals. All the available wood was burnt yesterday—all the seats, hencoops, all the dunnage below, some yardarms, and part of the cabin furniture. I don’t think we can reach the harbor without assistance.’ On July 7th, the day after he should have reached Emrland, Mr Brooks writes from Brindisi—‘ We are four days late, and you must not expect any acknowledgment of your letters home by this mail, as they cannot reach Birmingham in time. We were too late at Aden to catch the last mail to Australia.’ ”