NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 382, 2 September 1875, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Telegraphic.—The Albion is expected to leave Hokitika at 11 a.m. on Saturday, the 4th instant. Telegrams for the Australian colonies, or Europe via Java Cable, will be received at the Christchurch Telegraphoffice, for transmission to Hokitika, up till 10 a.m. of the 4th inst. Christchurch Horticultural Society.—The usual mouthly meetiug of the above society will be he'd in the Congregational schoolroom to-morrow eveniug at stveu o'clock.

RANGITATA Bridge.—lt is officially intimated that the temporary bridge over the ivanfdtata ia now open for goods and passenger traffic, and that the railway department is prepared to book to the South bank of the river.

Heathcote Rowing Club.—The annual general meeting of this club for the election of officers and transaction of other business, will be held at the Wharf Hotel, Woolston, ou Saturday evening next, at eight o'clock. A meeting of the committee will take place at half-past six. Municipal Election. —The candidates for the vacant seats in the City Council will address the ratepayers this evening at the Oddfellows' Hall. The doors will be open at 7 p.m., and his Worship the Mayor will take the chair at 7.30. The polling will take place on the 9th inst, there being eight candidates for three seats.

Immense loss of time and patience is saved by purchasing your boots at Spensley's. The Sale is now going on, and you can depend upon a good article. No profit this month. The Purchaser gets all the benefit. Note the address— Spensley's Boot Store, Cashel and High streets.— [Advt.] Abms Act, 1860.—A petition, signed by all the dealers in Christcht r;h and Lyttelton licensed under the Arms Act, 1860, was sent up yesterday to the Hon E. Richardson, poiuting out the irksomeness of the Act, the injustice under which they labor through the restrictions placed on them by its operation, and asking him to use his best endeavors t o have the Act abolished.

Canterbury Horticultural and Arboiucutukal Soci TY.—The usual monthly meeting of the above society was held last evening at the Clarendon Hotel, Mr E. C. J. Stevens, president, in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, Professor Bickerton introduced anew tally for gardening use of his own invention, as an improvement on Beaton's. A specimen of Andromeda phillyreafdia was shown by Mr Marsh. After some interesting discussion, a vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceedings.

Many people do not know the reason why some description of soap, when being used, cause the hands to smart and feel sore. It is simply owing to the imperfect knowledge of some soap boilers, who not being thoroughly acquainted with the ingredients they are using, do not compound them in a scientific manner, or as is more commonly the case, that manufacturers either try to pass off a spurious adulterated article, or else by using an undue quantity of the cheapest commodities, make one of inferior quality. We a e aware that the Star Brand Soap is made on the strictest principles of chemical affinity, and that every care is taken by the manufacturers to produce an article possessing the strongest abstergent properties. All persons, whether okl, colonists or new arrivals, should use the Star Brand Soap, as it is the best in this market, [Advt.]

O.R.C.—The annual general meeting of the Canterbury Rowing Club will be held at Warner's Hotel on Saturday evening, when the report for the past year will be submitted, and a proposition for a change in the rules of the club as regards the increase of the subscription of working members and appointment of additional officers considered.

Funeral Reform Association. A meeting of the committee of the Funeral Reform Association was held yesterday afternoon, at 4 p.m, at the City Council Chamber. Present—Right Rev the Dean (in the chair), Rev L. Lohr, Messrs Malet, C. R. Blakiston, H. W. Packer, G. L. Mellisb, and G. Gordon. On the motion of Mr Malet, Mr G. Gordon was requested to act as hon sec. It was resolved that the quorum at committee meetings should be fixed at five. It was resolved that an advertisement be inserted in the local papers to the effect that persons desiring to become members of the association should apply to Mr G. Gordon at the City Council Chambers, and enter their names in the book of membership. Mr Gordon apologised for the absence of Rev J. VV. Stack and Mr L. E. Nathan, who were prevented by a prior engagement from being present. Mr Malet mentioned that the Cemetery Board of the Church of England would be willing to contribute £25 towards the cost of a vehicle for the performance of funerals in place of the hearse now in use. Mr Gordon was requested to communicate with the managers of the various cemeteries in Christchurch, with a view to obtaining their co-operation. The chairman was requested to communicate with the secretary of the Dunedin Funeral Reform Association as to the pattern of funeral car approved by that association. The meetings of the committee were fixed for the first Friday in each month. Mr Malet moved that Messrs Mellish, Packer, and Gordon, form a sub-com-mittee to ascertain from the various undertakers the terms upon which they would undertake various styles of funerals, under plans submitted by the association. Mr Blakiston seconded the motion, which was agreed to. The meeting then adjourned.

Narrow Escape from Fire.—About one o'clock yesterday some passers by observed smoke issuing from the roof of a stable at the rear of Mr R. McKnight's house in Oashel street west. They quickly went to the spot, when it was found that some bags of chaff in a centre compartment of the stable were on fire, the flame having also communicated with some bundles of hay in the same compartment. Willing hands were soon found to drag out the hay and bags and carry water, by which means the fire was quickly put out; but not a moment too soon, as the boards of the wall were burnt through where the fire originated, and the flame had reached the roof, some of the straw in an adjoining compartment having also caught on fire. As the bags of chaff had only been placed in the stable the day before, and perfectly dry to all appearance at the time, it is hard to arrive at the cause of the fire. Before all danger was over the fire bell?at the Market station was rung, followed by the Lichfield street station bell, and a few moments afterwards a body of constables, under Mr Inspector Bucklpy and Sergeants Pratt and Wilson were on the spot, accompanied by Mr W. J. Fisher of the fire police (whose name by the way we omitted from the list of officers elected on Tuesday evening). The hand engine under Mr Superintendent Harris and some members of the fire brigade quickly followed, succeeded by Captain Mitchell and several members of his corps. The services of these bodies were, however, fortunately not required, but the alacrity displayed by them in so promptly turning out, is not the less to be commended. It is fortunate the fire was discovered so soon, and that there was no wind blowing at the time, or the result might have been very serious, as the stable is only separated by a few feet from the residence of Mr R. Wood.

Dr Hans von Bulow has accepted an offer of £BOOO to give performances during a tour of eight months in the United States. He was to leave England in the autumn.

In his annual report just presented to Parliament Mr Lemon, manager of the Telegraph department, says : —" The duplex system of telegraphy, mentioned in the last annual report, has been in successful operation on the No 3 wire in the Cook Strait cable since the 18th of June, 1874, and the advantage of speedy communication consequent thereupon has been very obvious. Instruments are now ready, and the system will be immediately introduced on the No 3 wire north of Napier, and on the No 3 wire between Blenheim and Christchurch. With the additional wires erected and mentioned in another part of this report, between Napier and Wellington, it is anticipated that this will greatly facilitate the transmission of the increasing work now offering. It is proposed to introduce shortly the automatic system on some of the longer circuits, instruments for this purpose having just arrived from England. In the transmission of long press messages, which may possibly require to. be sent in various directions, the saving of labor cannot be over-estimated."

" Augur," of the Australasian, in writing of the Hawkesbury and A.J.U. Spring meeting, says :—" Several of the principal bookmakers left in the City of Adelaide on Monday, and on Tuesday Mr Dakin left with Lurline, Bullion, Sunbeam, and Motteston. The Ihree first were all looking well, and nobody will begrudge to see the purple and gold carried to victory by one or all of them. Bullion's Derby chance may not be quite so rosy as some of the young ones that are at present at Randwick, but with a little luck, he may bring the A.J.C. blue riband to Victoria. Lurline goes to meet the cracks in the Metropolitan and the weight-for-age races on the third and fourth days, and, all going well, I expect to see her win, for I've never seen her in such form. Yet she belongs to a fickle sex, and at the very last moment may go amiss. Her most dangerous opponents are Kingsborough, Goldsborough, Reprieve, Eros, and Llama ; and I fancj that we shall see the great New Zealand mare and the mighty Kingsborough fighting it out to the finish. Sunbeam may run forward, but I fancj the company is a little too good for her. Under any circumstances, both mares will run as if they belonged to different owners. There is every prospect of a large field putting in an appearance for the A.J.O. Derby, the probable starters at the present time consisting of Richmond, Ulifton, Ginger, Bullion, Redwood, and one or two others of Mr DeMestre's, Kismet, Connaught, Ringwood, the Valetta colt, Hyperion, Valentia, New Holland, and two or three that I know nothing of." A New York letter (says the Sanitary llecord) reports that, a short time ago, a certain Dr Lambert read a paper before the

Liberal Club on the " Special Articles of Food adapted to the Nutrition of the Brain, and the Methods of Cooking them." Preparatory to this, he invited some of his friends to a banquet, which is thus taken off by one of the daily papers :—" Last evening a party of gentlemen ate a ' brainial' dinner at Jones's restaurant, Broadway, their host being Dr T. S. Lambert. Mr James Parton and about 20 others, more or less well known, sat round the board and nourished their brains to a .somewhat alarming extent. The waiters grinned from ear to ear when they served the food, for not one of them had ever dreamed of a dinner beginning with toasted crackers and cheese and ending with boiled custard and buttermilk. The ' brainial' qualities of toasted cheese have long been known to scientific men, and nearly all the members of the Liberal Club are passionately fond of boiled custard, which, as is well known, contains over 90 per cent of phosphorus, and will readily burn if rum be poured over it. Dr Lambert lectures tonight on ' Brain Building,' and it was to raise the intellects of his audience to a high place that he gave this exhibition of encephalotropophagy, or brainial food. Such a dinner will do occasionally, but is dangerous if too often indulged in. The human brain is about 80 per cent water, and if it be stuffed with the sublimation of cheese, oysters, codfish, tripe, calves' brain, oat groats, and boiled custard, it becomes a powerful battery, a perilous magazine, liable at any moment to explode, to the great detriment of its owner and the surprise of bystanders. By the time the sixth course, which consisted of stewed tripe and green peas, was reached, the excitement became fearfully intense, and with the calves' brains the feast became almost an orgie. The forehead of the Pantarch grew four inches higher with the great pressure from within upon the convolutions, but happily the ganglion where oatmeal becomes universology was not affected in any marked degree. The parietal bones of a great Comptist separated, and the coronal suture widened quite perceptibly. Around the brow of a mighty spiritualist there was a marked nimbus, where the escaping phosphorus ignited upon coming in contact with the oxygen of the air. It was singular in the extreme to watch the oatmeal rising to the brain ; to see the subtle poison of the boiled custard turn a man into a demon of ratiocination ; and as the fiery buttermilk mounted to the intellect and hurled the reason reeling from its throne, the beholder was fain to acknowledge that the gods are just, and of our pleasant vicss make instruments to plague us."