NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 566, 11 April 1876, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Race Ball. —A subscription race ball will be held at the Oddfellows’ Hall on Wednesday evening, April 19th. Loyal Orange Lodge.—No 2, Purple Star Orange Lodge will hold a meeting at 7 o’clock this evening, at the Orange Hall, Worcester street. Board of Conservators —The usual monthly meeting of the Board was held yesterday, Mr R. J. S. Harman in the chair. The business transacted was of a routine nature.

10.0. F., M.U.—The anniversary ball in connect ion with the Loyal Benevolent Lodge of this order, will take place at the Oddfellows’ HaH, Montreal stieet north, on Faster Monday. PATE—Notice is given by the City Council ■ f Christchurch that a rate of a shilling in the pound has been sir nek. Objections must be lodged before the 10th May prox. The Museum. —The Canterbury Museum, which has been closed for the last eight days for the purpose of cleaning and re arrangement, was reopened yesterday.

Lyttelton Borough Council Nomination. —Dr U. McDonald and Mr VV, If Holmes sent in their nomination papers yesterday as candidates for the vacancy in the Lyttelton Borough Council, caused by Or Chalmers’ resignation. Bellringers. Considering the inclemency of the weather, there wag a very goo., house at the Music Hall last evening. A very good programme was presented, and the various items were gone through very sue cessfully. To-night the company will appeal at Kaiapoi, to-morrow at Rangiora, and on Thursday at Lyttelton. They leave for the South on Saturday next, and will return LChristchurch shortly for a season,

Sporting. —We remind those inleudh g tc enter for the Cavalry race at the Autumn Meeting that nominations must be made with Mr F. H. Digby, Secretary O.J C., at WarneT’s Hotel, on Wednesday, at 8 p.m. I. O.G.T, —A conversazione, in connection with the Hope of Christchurch Lodge, LO.G T., will be held this evening in the Music Hall. A number of attractions, in the shape of scientific experiments in electricity, chemistry, &c, will be provided, and there will also be music during the evening.

East Christchurch School. —lt is understood that many complaints are being made as to the way in which the children are treated at this school, that they are kept seated so- long in the cold schoolroom that their little limbs become benumbed, and that when they come home from the attendance at the school they look quite sick and ill. There are other complaints from parents of children in reference to the system of allowing the young to remain seated sufficiently long to admit of their blood, being stagnated. Yankee Humour. —Mr Charles Bright will deliver his lecture on Yankee humour this evening at the Oddfellows’ Hall, There is unquestionably the true vein of humour pervading the whole of Mr Bright’s delivery, the word pictures he presents to his audience are truthful delineations of actual life ; and whilst being toned and softened with a peculiar pleasantness of manner, are strongly marked with a vigor of handling scarcely to be surpassed. Judging from the success of his '‘Victorian Reminiscences” last evening, he has to look forward to a large attendance to night. Mr W. Wilson will preside.

Local Board of Health.— After the business of the City Council had been brought to a close yesterday, that body resolved itself into the Local Board of Health for the purpose of considering the report of Dr □earner, in which that gentleman stated that he had been called upon to visit four more cases of scarlet fever. He likewise stated that he thought it very undesirable that the names of the patients should be published, and Mr Turner strongly supported his view of the matter in this respect, saying that it was very improper that all that was said by members of that Board should find its way into print. He made special reference to a paragraph headed “ scarlet fever,” which appeared in the two morning journals on the day following the last meeting of the Board, and seemed to think that any reference to scarlet fever in a public journal was altogether out of place. Considerable discussion ensued, and it was ultimately resolved that the meetings of this Board should be private, or ‘‘in committee, ’ and that reports of the proceedings should be furnished to the press by the town clerk. The question of remuneration to Dr Deamer was postponed until a future meeting of the Board.

Meat Preserving —The Argus says : “ Active brains on both sides of the ocean are engaged in grappling with that problem of the age, the preservation of meat, and no less a person than England’s greatest chemist, Professor Tyndall, has now entered the field. According to the papers brought by the s.s. Durham, Professor Tyndall opened the lecture season of the Royal InstU tution on Friday, January 21st, with a discours j on the subject, and he made tne important announcement of the discovery that putrefaction will not begin in infusions of meat and other organic substances if they are kept in common air, which has been freed from all floating impurities. The ‘ motes and beams’ of a ray of sunshine in a dark room, and enemies more invisible still than they, are responsible for the mischuf. The atmosphere we breathe is, says Professor Tyndall, impregnated with germs of anim. 1cuhe, and espe ially of bacteria —lively little insects which shoot about in liquids with enormous yelocuy, and are desenoed by the lecturer as water fleas. Without bacteria there is no putrefaction. The professor’s apparatus is comparatively simple. At the lecture he showed closed boxes, with a pane of glass in the opposite ends. These boxes had been painted inside with glycerine, and in thiee or four days the floating dust had adhered to the sides. When the professor shot a ray of electric light through these receptacles, not a mite nor a stain could be detect d; and, more than that, the ray went straight through without dispersion, ‘ because there were no floating particles to scatter it by reflection.’ Various infusions placed in these boxes —extract of hare, rabbit, duck, sole, beef, and mutton —are said to keep for months. Some which had been placed in the pure air in the boxes in October were tested at the lecture, and found to be as fresh as when originally deposited. A full report of the proceedings will be awaited here with interest. There can be little doubt but that the professor has made a brilliant discovery, and one which, in a hundred ways, may be turned to practical account ; but we may point out to intending subscribers to the Mort-Nicolle shipment of frozen meat that their project is not trenched upon. Professor Tyndall said nothing about preserving solids, and it is solid food that the British market requires, and not soups and jellies. He found it necessary, as a matter of course, to subject his infusions to great heat in order to destroy any bacteria germs latent in them ; and it is fresh food, and not overcooked beef and mutton, that the British meateater demands. Success will be attained when a joint cut from a beast killed in Melbourne can be put upon the tables of the London Clubs, and to this point Professor Tyndall does not address hitrs >lf, and Mr Mort does There is another fundamental difference. Professor Tyndall adopts the agency of heat. When nature herself preserves solids, as in the case of the Siberian mammoths, she works, as Mr Mort does, by cold. Suggestive as the profcs*oi’s discovery is, our hopes must still rest upon the Sydney shipment.” The Channel Tunnel— “ With reference to the proposed Channel Tunnel and railway,” says the Daily Recorder of January sbb, “ the foreign office has furnished the newspapers with a copy of the correspondence on the subject between the two Governments immediately interested. It began in October, 1871, when the French Ambassador submitted to our Government the statement of the commissioners who had been appointed to consider and report on the feasibility of the undertaking. In ex pressing, as requested, their views on the report "in question, her Majesty’s Government, through our ambassador at Paris, stated that they saw no reason to doubt the uti ity of the project suburb ted to them if successfully accomplished, and that it would encounter no opposition from them, provided they were not required to supply any gift, guarantee, or loan in connection therewith. With respect to the prob> bility of the work being practically executed,

or of its pecuniary success afterwards, (he British Government offtred no opinion, but with reference to the latter point, counselled the promoters to weigh well the facts that a very considerable amount would be consumed in the work, and that great competition in the conveyance of merchandise, if not of passengers, must always be expected to exist, last February, a bill being about to be introduced into Parliament, the Government had to decide as to their attitude with respect to it. In the interests of the public the Lords of the Treasury deemed it necessary to impose certain preliminary conditions upon the promoters ; but, not knowing what similar steps were contemplated by the French Government, they were placed in a difficulty. It was considered desirable not only to ascertain the nature of the conditions to be imposed by the French Government, but also to arrive at a mutual understanding with respect to the relative positions of the two nations, both in regard tn the conception and execution of the design. They suggested for the Foreign Secretary’s consideration, that he might propose the formation of a joint committee, representing both countriess, to frame a provisional code of regulations, which should be submitted for the approval of the two Governments, and which, if approved by them, might then be presented to the promoters for their acceptance. Meantime, the Bill’s progress might be suspended, the Government giving an undertaking to the effect that there should be no unnecessary delay, and that their influence should be used in its favor to procure the suspension of the usual standing orders of Parliament. The foregoing suggestions having been communicated to the French Government, they willingly concurred in the proposal, and a joint commission was nominated. The names of the three French representatives are MM. Kleitz, Droeling, and dc Lappareut; the English representatives, Captain Tyler, Mr Horace Watson, and Mr Kennedy.”

A shocking fatality ia reported from Billington, near Whallcy. Two old nen, Joseph Clark, aged 75, and Thomas Manley, aged 72, were found dead in bed from burns or suffocation, a short time since. The deceased had had some drink the night before, and slept at Clark’s house, which got on tire. I t is supposed that one of the men smoked a pipe in bed, and ignited the clothes. Both were shockingly burnt.

A gentleman who resides on his estate in the neighbourhood of Benton, one day observed a miner strolling through the ground. “ What are you doing here, my man? ” asked the proprietor. “Wey,” said the stranger, “aa’s just takiu’ a waak.” “ Well, but don’t you know that you are trespassing?” “ 00, ay,” replied the miner, “ but thoo sees aa’ve na land of my aawn, and whose land mun aa walk on : ”

A telegram from Toronto announces that a minute of the Council of the Dominion Government of British Columbia, proposing new terms of union, has been published. It proposes that British Columbia should relieve the Dominion of the obligation to build the Canadian Pacific Eailway, accepting in lieu a bonus of 750,000, to be applied either to a local railway or to other public works, and also surrendering any claims to lands which may have been reserved in Vancouver’s Island for railway purposes. Should this proposal be accepted, the Dominion Government will be prepared to submit to Parliament at the next session the measures necessary to give it effect.