NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 205, 4 February 1875, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Cab Question. —We are informed by the Cab Committee that the cab proprietors are perfectly willing to refer the question in dispute between them and the Council to the arbitration of independent persons, and to abide by the result. Leithfield.—A trotting match took place on Monday, between Mr S. Coleman's roan mare and Mr T. McNaught's black pony Prince; stakes, £5 a side ; distance, three miles, from Harleston to the saleyards. A number of persons collected to witness the race, and betting was indulged in, 3 to 1 being given against Prince. The match was well run on pretty even terms till within 600 yards of the winning post, when Prince took the lead, and at the same time the roan broke, and Prince was landed a winner by about a dozen lengths. Time, ten minutes.

Ahuriri Estate.—This estate was submitted to auction this morning at Messrs Miles and Co's store, Hereford street. Up to the hour of adjournment for lunch ten lots, comprising 757 acres of land had been sold, at an average of £l7 4s an acre. This included the whole of the Tai Tapu portion of the estate which had been cut up into paddocks. There was a very good attendance, and the bidding was spirited. Mr Walton acted as auctioneer, and the sale was held under an order of the Supreme Court, Mr E. S. Willcock, Registrar, being present. Lincoln Shebp.—A fine lot of pure Lincoln sheep have just been imported from England to the order of Mr J. Macf arlane, of Kangiora. The sheep, twenty in number, consisting of three rams and seventeen ewes, were selected from some of the most celebrated prize-taking iiocks in England by Mr Walter Buchanan, who at the same time purchased largely on his own account. The sheep were shipped to Port Chalmers, owing to the difficulty of getting a ship which could take them direct to Port Lyttelton; and fortunately they landed there in fine order, and were immediately forwarded to their destination, where they arrived safely this morning. Mr Buchanan's instructions were that he was not to look so much to great size as to symmetry and good wool, and he has very faithfully carried out the wishes of Mr Macfarlane. These animals are a decided acquisition to the province. Ship Rakaia.—The following is a list of the trades and occupations of the immigrants by the above ship now nearly due :—Farm laborers, 35 ; general laborers, 35 ; Ploughmen, 8 ; gardeners, 3; miners, 8 ; wheelwrights, 1 ; joiners, 2 ; carpenters, 5 ; blacksmiths, 5 ; iron-workers, 1 ; saddlers, 1 ; bootmakers, 1; butchers, 1; shepherds, 2 ; coal miners, 2 ; engravers, 1; millers, 1 ; grooms, 2; cooks, 1; painters, 1: tailors 1 ; bakers, 1. Single womec—Servants, 17 ; seamstress, 1; housemaids, 5; cooks, 1 ; dairymaids, 8 ; nursemaids, 1; needlewomen, 2. Summary—Male adults, 123 ; female do, 102 ; male children, 50 ; female do, 44 ; infants, 12 ; 331 sonls, equal to 272 statute adults.

Cabmen's Society.—A meeting of this society was held last evening at the City Hotel. There was a large attendance of cab proprietors. A lengthy discussion ensued on the present position of the society with the City Council, and a legal opinion was submitted advising the society to fall in with the proposition that licenses under the new byelaw should be taken out as from the first of February ; two months' trial under the stipulated fares to be given, when if it was found that a loss acorued, the whole question would be submitted to arbitration, and the Council be then placed in a position to amend the law in this respect. Ultimately the chairman put the proposition to the meeting when it was negatived by a large majority. INQUEST AT LoBURN.—On Tuesday an inquest was held at Mr Cunningham's Loburn woolshed, touching the death of Elizabeth Judson, thirty-five years of age, before C. Dudley, Esq., coroner, and a jury, of which Mr C. A. Cunningham was foreman. Evidence was givenjby deceased's husband, John Judson, Ann Judson, sister of the deceased, and Dr Downes. It appeared that deceased came to her confinement at eight o'clock on the 30th, there being neither doctor nor nurse present. She took a spoonful of brandy and began to wander in her talk at two o'clock on the 31 st. Her husband finding her growing worse went for Dr Downes, and in ten minutes after his departure she died. Dr Downes had made a post mortem examination, and reported the cause of death to be retention of the placenta and haemorrhage after child birth. The jury found a verdict that deceased died from natnral causes, and adding no blame was attached to the husband, as deceased was averse to having a doctor. Mosgiel Factory.—The following, from the home correspondent of the Otago Witness, appeared in the issue of January 23rd : « The Mosgiel Woollen Factory Company seems to be in a prosperous way, if one may judge from the quantity of machinery, &c, sent from the Clyde by nearly every ship. Mr A. J. Bums informs me that the Nelson and City of Dunedin both took a considerable quantity of material of various kinds, as well as some more hands for the weaving department; also, that the Oamaru, which sails in a few days, will have about 140 packages, besides another family of workers for the dyeing department, and the plant and other materials for commencing indigo dying. This last named branch of industry has never yet been started either in Australia or New Zealand. This extensive export of machinery has been necessitated by the great and growing demand for the company's goods. I am glad to learn, however, that some of the machinery can now be made as cheaply and as well in Dunedin as in this country, so that one local industry will encourage the other. Besides the machinery mentioned above, some more is in process of manufacture in Scotland, and will be shipped in thd December vessel from th* Clyde,

C.J.C.—At a meeting of the C.J.C., held yesterday afternoon at Warner's Commercial Hotel, it was determined that tenders should be invited for renting the racecourse from the 10th February to Ist May. 1.0.G.T.—A session of the Olive Branch Temple will be held at the Foresters' Hall this evening at half-past seven. The Star of St Alban's Lodge will meet to-morrow evening in the Oddfellows' Hall, at 7.30 p.m. Rangiora Literary Institute.—The monthly meeting of the committee of this institute was held on Tuesday evening. There were present Messrs Tribe, Keir, Buckhum, T. Boyd, Hunnibell, B. R. Good, and Aherne. Mr Tribe was voted to the chair. Resolved, that a door be placed between the teading room and the hall; also that Public Opinion be obtained with the periodicals ordered at last meeting. The treasurer, Mr E. R. Good, presented a statement of accounts, which was adopted. Several accounts due were passed for payment. Mr Buckham gave notice that he would move for a catalogue of the books in the library to be framed and printed. Acclimatisation.—With reference to a recent decision of the Acclimatisation Society with reference to the English birds on their way from England, the Daily Times writes : We notice that at a recent meeting of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society it was decided that certain English birds that are on their way out under charge of Mr Bills should be sold on their arrival " provided that not less than three males and three females of each kind be sold to one individual, and that the purchaser enter into a bond to liberate the same within one week within the limits of the province of Canterbury." Let us hope that the society will reconsider the decision it has arrived at and abandon its intentions. The plan, no doubt, has its attractions. Its adoption will be the means of placing the society in possession of a considerable amount of ready cash, which will materially assist it to undertake further shipments, and the clamours of the many subscribers who each wants a few birds for his " place" will be appeased. But we take leave to doubt whether the contemplated arrangement will prove the best for securing the successful naturalisation and the speedy multiplication of the birds which are being introduced. Rome few years ago, Mr Bills brought out a number of Euglish birds for our local society. Applications were sent in by individuals and by districts for a share of the birds, towards the purchase of which they had contributed. These applications were refused, and with the entire approval of Mr Bills, whose knowledge of English insectivorous birds and their habits is by no means inconsiderable, the whole lot with the exception of the partridges were turned out in the neighbourhood of Dunedin. The result now speaks for itself in the presence all round the city of blackbirds, thrushes, hedge-sparrows, starlings, linnets, chaffinches, and goldfinches, in considerable number. By the adoption of this plan, moreover, the distribution of the birds throughout the country districts will be more successfully accomplished than if small lots had been originally liberated here and there. In proof of this assertion, we may mention that the Otago Society has taken steps lately to procure some of the acclimatised birds which are now so numerous near Dunedin for distribution in the country. Last week about forty were obtained, and were turned out in the Oamaru district by the society's manager, Mr Deans, and the society has now about sixty birds in hand ready to be taken away. The probability is that before the summer is over many hundreds of healthy strong-winged birds will have been liberated in various parts of the province without the society having had to introduce any from Great Britain. We trust that these remarks, written as they are in a friendly spirit, will not be regarded by our neighbours as a piece of officious interference with a subject which is essentially their own business. Let us hope also that before Mr Bills and his little charges reach the colony, the Canterbury society will have reconsidered its decision. Should it do so, we oan only express a desire that its members will attach due weight to the results of the system which 'has been so successfully carried out in this province.

A gentleman in Scotland purchased a brace of young setters. He took them out on the moors. According to the attendant ghillie, they at once raced off in opposite directions. This worth jl was asked if he ever saw the dogs again. ' Na," he replied, " but when the grieve on the next moor sold his dead lambs' skins next year, twa of 'em were liver and white !' A gossip, who had lost her husband, was expatiating on his many virtues to a brandyfaced band of comforters, whose sympathies she was awakening with gin-tea. "The greatest consolation I have," said the disconsolate rib, "is that he was sensible to the very last." On being asked what evidence of that he had given, " Oh, ay, he was that," answered she, "for just before he died I was blamin' him for gieing me fash, an' the like, and he got up on his elbow and said I was an ill-tempered jade." The attack of Russia on the Khanate of Khiva has, as usual in the East, destroyed the Khan's power. The Turcomans will not obey him, refuse to pay taxes, and make attacks on Persian and Russian subjects. It is believed that a new expedition must be sent against them, and hinted that a Russian official will be required to supersede the Khan. In short, it is proposed, either by the Russian Government or its officers, to annex Khiva, from whence, as a base, expeditions may be pressed forward again, so eating up the artichoke leaf by leaf. The Musical World says . —" As rumours are spread abroad concerning a new soprano, said to have been discovered by Mr Guy, we may as well state, in order to remove all • darkness,' that Mdlle. Thalberg, a daughter of the renowned pianist, will make her first appearance at the Rojal Italian Opera next season. The lady is very young, reported to be beautiful, and to possess, in addition to a good voice, a rare musical organization." The Highlanders, from habit, invariably mix their toddy twice as strong as the Lowlanders are accustomed to do. "I was once sitting," says a correspondent, " on.the box of the Aberdeen and Banff coach, by the side of Charley, a well-known and respected dragsman, one very cold morning, when we stopped at an inn to change horses, and Charley informed me that we could get a ' drap o'real gude whisky there,' wishing to know whether I would prefer it ' Heeland or Lowland fashion ;>for ye ken,' continued the smiling Jehu, * the Heelander says a glass o' whisky and a glass o' water makes very gude Lowland toddy; but a glass o' whisky and a glass o' whisky dings a' for making it real tartan toddy.'"

"I am afraid you will come to want," said an old lady to an English gentleman. " I have come to that already," was the reply; "I want your daughter." The old lady opened her eyes. The Mongolia, which arrived at Southampton on November 16th with the heavy portion of the India and China mail, experienced very rough weather in the Bay of Biscay. She also encountered two icebergs there which had drifted from the north. Icebergs have been met with as far south, but they are generally well out in the Atlantic Ocean. A Northern correspondent telegraphs to a Plymouth paper a description of the Halloween festivities at Balmoral. The observance of the festival is dying out in many parts of Scotland, but on the Royal estate it was laßt year maintained in pristine glory. Her Majesty and Princesß Beatrice both carried torches in the after-dark procession, which took place in the Castle grounds, and while the effigy of a witch was being consumed in an immense bonfire, the tenantry and servants danced blithely around, to the strains of the Royal piper piping upon his pipes.