NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 103, 29 September 1874, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Avonside Cricket Club.—A meeting of the Avonside Cricket Club will take place this evening, in the schoolroom, Avonside.

?>oard op Education.—There was no quorum of the Board at,the hour of meeting yesterday. A special meeting will be held on Wednesday (to-morrow).

Theatre Royal.—Dance's comedietta of " Advice Gratis" preceded the Loyal Variety entertainment at the theatre last night. Considering the very unpleasant nature of the evening, there was a fair attendance. Lecture.—A lecture, on the present religious movement in England, will be delivered at the Iliccarton schoolroom to-morrow evening, by Mr J. 11. Tweutyman, at 7 o'clock.

Rain.—After the heavy rainfall of Sunday and yesterday, it is expected that several of the rivers will be in flood to-duy. Last evening the Gust was iu heavy flood. The Ashley and Waimakariri were also rising.

Lyttelton Colonists' Society.—We notice that the annual general meeting for the election of officers and members of committee for the Lyttelton Colonists' Society, will take place on Thursday next, Ist October.

Building Society.—The sixth annual meeting of No 2 Land, Building, and Investment Society will be held at the old Oddfellows' Hall, Lichfield street, this evening, for the election of six members of committee, the reception of the annual report and balance sheet, and other business.

Entertainment. —A miscellaneous entertainment will be given in the Colonists' Hall on Thursday next, when some well-known amateurs and professionals will endeavor to amuse the public. The names should be a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of the various items in the entertainment.

Discovery op a Skeleton—Recently Mr Webb, of Laverick's Bay, while walking along the beach after the late S.W. gale, discovered a Maori skeleton, complete in all its parts. It appeared as if the man had crawled under one of the sandhills and perished. We understand that it has been offered to Dr Haast for the Museum, and will be brought up from the Bay at an early date for the purpose of being placed therein.

Harmonic Society.—A meeting of the committee of the above was held on Saturday evening, Mr Bowron in the chair. It was resolved that the oratorio of " Samson," which his been in rehearsal for some time, should be given on the 9ih of October. The President announced that Mr A. R. Inwood, the secretary of the society, had tendered his resignation, owing to other engagements. Mr H. 11. Loughnau was elected as secretary, and a vote of thanks was recorded to Mr Inwood for his exertions on behalf of the society. It was resolved that the roll of members should be revised, after which the meeting adjourned.

Dunsandel Hall. —A.u entertainment of a very successful character took place here on Friday the 25th in aid of the building fund. The hall was crowded. The Rev Cree occupied the chair, who also gave an opening address, after which the following ladies and gentlemen took rart: —Mesdames Hurst and North, Messrs Walker, Cannings, Maddison, Keig, Mayer, Killner. Elms, Stainger, Jones, Sherratt, Bell, Bryant, Uuwiu, Fisher, Sutherland, Brisden, Masters John and Joseph Watson, and the Dunsandel singing class. The above, who were warmly applauded, and in some instances encored, were entitled to the vote of thanks which were awarded them. After singing the National Anthem, the floor was cleared for dancing, which was kept up for a considerable time with great spirit. Fine Arts. —Mr J. Peele, whose pictures we noticed some short time back as worthy of commendation, has just completed another series of three bits of West Coast scenery, the gem of which is a view on the river, having the snowy mountains in the distance, with foliage and water in the foreground. The details of this picture are excellently worked out, and it is worth careful attention. The others are two bush scenes and Lake McKerrow, with the last rays of the setting sun just glittering on it, a very pretty picture. The paintings will be on view at Mr Fisher's shop, Hereford street, to-day, and we can safely recommend those who have any love for the picturesque to pay them a visit.

Wellington Jockey Club.—The Post of the 23rd says :—The meeting of the Wellington Jockey Club held on Monday evening last was not of so trivial a nature as we were led to believe. The meeting was called specially to take into consideration the disqualification of Mr James Day, of Wauganui, which took place in 18(>7. It appears that Mr Day rode his own horse, Volunteer, for the Hurdle Race at the Hutt Races in the above year, and it was alleged by the owner of Jack Tar (second horse) that Day crossed, jostled, and forced Jack Tar outside the first hurdle altogether, so that he was obliged to pull up, and again put the Tar at the hurdle, which he for for some time refused to take ; but yet came in a good second After some enquiry by the stewards of 18(57, Mr Day was disqualified from ever riiling or entering a horse for the Wellington races again. The stewards of the present Wellington Jockey Club having received a letter from Mr Day, have gone thoroughly into the case, and have resolved to cancel the disqualification alluded to. Nevertheless, they are of opinion that Mr Day was deserving of severe censure for the manner in which he rode, but cousider that having been debarred from the course for the last seven years, sufficient punishment has already been iullicted. From what we know of Mr Day we have no hesi tation in stating that he will never again lay himself open to such a charge being made against him, and we sincerely congratulate the stewards on the course they have adopted, and trust to have the pleasure of witnessing the running of several of Mr Day's valuable blood stock at the ensuing December meeting.

The Launceston Failures.—Regarding t.he commercial failures in Launceston, the Examiner writes:—" Once more this community has been paralysed by a serious commercial catastrophe. The amount is not counted by thousands only, but by hundreds of thousands; nor the persons involved by twos or threes, but by dozens, and the whole extent is not yet known. Such a crisis has not occurred for many years. Of course all kind-) of rumours are afloat, many of which are probably without foundation; but there is too much reason to fear that the immense liabilities existing in some cases have not been incurred by proper trading. It is certain that accommodation bills to an enormous amount have been given by persons who ought not to have had anything to do with such dangerous paper. Their own legitimate business may have been tolerably sound, but they have been dragged to the earth and ruined by the preposterous suras for which they gave their names to sustain a huge and atrocious system of kite-flyiug. They are to be pitied, but they are not free from blame, for they had no right to imperil the interests of their own creditors, who confided in their integrity and prudence. We have heard of some instances of a most painful character in which struggling shopkeepers (one being an aged widow) have been in this way reduced to beggary." The Launceston papers complain of the secrecy observed locally with reference to the failures. No information whatever was communicated to them, and they had to await the arrival of the Melbourne papers to ascertain particulars concerning the bankrupt estates. The Victorian Navy. The Argus says :—" In July last, when Commodore Good enough, of H.M.S. Pearl was on a visit to Melbourne, he was requested by his Excellency the Governor and by the Treasurer to report upon the efficiency of our Victorian Navy. The Commodore acceded to the invitation, and i-i a letter dated the Bth September, he expresses the result of his inspection. After mentioning that he visited the Cerberus and Nelson on the 27th July, he states that he found the Nelson to be clean and well ventilated, and she fulfilled efficiently the purposes for which she was maintained viz., as a school and gunnery drill 6hip. Her appearance was thoroughly creditable to the officer in charge. The Cerberus he also found to be in a thoroughly clean and efficient condition. Every part of her gun-gear, turret machinery, hull, engines, and boilers appeared to be in thoroughly good order, and the men and officers had an efficient knowledge of their exercises and general duties. Captain Panter informed him (the commodore) that he experienced great difficulty in steering the Cerberus, as she sheered about in an inconvenient and even unsafe manner. This defect the commodore believed might be corrected by the addition of vertical bilge keels, and he had requested the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to authorise the professional officers of the department of the controller of the navy to suggest a remedy and the mode of its application, as doubtless the same difficulty had been experienced with other vessels of her Majesty's navy. His Excellency, he stated, had also asked him his opinion on the mode of manning the vessels of the Victorian navy. The plan at present pursued he understood to be to form a nucleus of thoroughly trained men, who would be reinforced in time of war by a number of a species ©f marine militia, less thoroughly trained, but well able to take the ordinary duty of guns immediately they were called upon. He thought without doubt such to be the correct principle on which to go. The instruction of the officers and men of the permanent force should be unremittingly pursued, and ample stores should be allowed them to be expended for the purposes of instruction, so that the moment it was desired to increase the force at the outbreak of war, every officer and man would be prepared to take a higher post than he held in peace, and to instruct other men in their duties."

Inter-Oceanic Canal.—The prospects of the interoceanic canal through the Isthmus of Darien, says an exchange, are improving. The Commissioners appointed for the purpose have completed their examination of the Nicaraguan line, and their report is favorable to the scheme. The whole of the proposed route from the Atlantic to the Pacific is 181 miles, of which 45 miles are actual canal, 63 slack water navigation, 56 lake navigation, and 16 from the lake to the Pacific. Of the 61 of canal to be built 47 miles are " in excavation and embankment combined," and the other 14 miles in excavation, "giving a general mean depth of excavation for the whole line of nine feet above the surface of the water in the canal." The proposed width of the canal at the water surface is in def>p excavation of rock 128 feet, and in excavation and embankment 150 feet, giving at every place sufficient capacity [for two vessels to pass each other. The whole route was " located and levelled" from sea to sea, takine an elevation every 200 feet in level country, and every 100, 50. or 25 feet in broken ground. Good means of communication arc said to exist along the whole line, and although the present roads are admittedly in bad condition they could be repaired at a small cost. The total cost of the undertaking is estimated at 63,093,463 dollars (£12,600,000). It is expected, however, that " modifications introduced in the line by a final survey" will reduce the amount from 20 to 25 per cent. The importance of such a work cannot be exaggerated. The Suez canal has completely transformed the conditions of commerce in the Eastern hemisphere, and there is no doubt the completion of the Darien Canal will have similar effects in the Western.

Why is grass like a penknife? Because the spring brings out the blades. The conference of delegates from the various Australian colonies, which it was proposed should assemble in Sydney in the early part of this month, to take into consideration the subject of uniform legislation in all the colonies for the suppression of diseases in stock, has been postponed, the Sydney Morning Herald says, for a week or two. The Queensland Government intimated their readiness to send the chief inspector of stock of that colony ; and on Saturday a telegram was received from the Tasmanian Government expressing a desire to be represented, but asking if the conference could not be postponed until October, as the stock inspector of that colony could not conveniently leave before that month. No definite reply has yet been received from the Victorian Government, but it is expected that either the chief inspector of stock or the secretary of the agricultural department will be able to attend,