NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 718, 7 October 1876, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Public Library.— At a meeting of the Board of Governors, held to-day, Mr Watts was elected caretaker, &c, H.A.C.B, Society. —The members of this gociety are summoned to attend at the lodge room in regalia, to-morrow morning at ten o’clock, to meet bis Lordship, Bishop Redwood.

Postal, —The post offices at East Oxford (Mr Woodfleld), and West Oxford (Mrs Bean’s), will be closed on Monday evening next, and a new office opened on Tuesday paorning at the recently erected post and telegraph office. SIMONSBN’S Gj>EEA COMPANY, Thi 8 company, who arrived to-day per Otago, will give a concert at the Colonists' Hall, Lyttelton, this evening. The programme seleqtpd is a remarkably attractive one, comprising as iii dpeg no less than twenty numbers. all of which are so£ only popular but of high class. When we say that it pontains vocal solos for Madame Simonsen, Miss Lambert, Miss Minna Fisher, Signor Carmini Morjey, and Messrs Florence, Barring ton, and Markham, together with violin solos by M, Simons,en, piano by Mr O. B. poster, the talented pianist of tfie company, it ydli foe at once seen that ouy Jjyttelton j/jjendjs have a ££.eat treat in stpre. The t 0 ,9 hav,e $ {ffi f are in tfie concert, (~ l - ‘ least attf aptiy.e part of it, which is on M°P- da F e^en i n §: nP The company ... '• fftg t‘V e F welcome the Oddfellow’s'Haw, “ La Eille de Madame Augo.. Harmonic Society. The adjom.

general meeting ot the Christchurch Harmonic Society was held at the Orange Hall last evening. There was a good attendance of members. Mr It. Davis occupied the chair, and after some discussion as to the prospect and condition of the Society, the election of officers was proceeded with. The following gentlemen were elected as officeHearers, viz—President, W, J. W. Hamilton; vice-presidents, Rev 11 0. ML Watson, and Mr ft. A. Loughnan ; leader, Mr (J. Bennington ; secretary and librarian, Mr R. Davis ; treasurer, Mr G. Clark ; committee, Messrs J. S. Jameson, J. Stephens, G. Bennington, B. Button, and G. Rowley, junr. The office of conductor was not filled. Rule 3 having been amended, the committee was increased to four members, It was resolved that the practice might be changed to Tuesday, and that the lady members ot the Society be not required to pay a subscription. It was also agreed that the annual performance of the “ Messiah ” be given at Christman, and a suggestion was made that Mr R. Parker be invited to conduct the oratoriq. The meeting then adjournedi

Ilam Boad Bridge.—The bridge on the I! am road, near the Biccartou Road Board Office, will be closed against traffic from Monday morning next until further notice,

Roman Catholic Church.— The Bight Rev Dr Redwood, Bishop of Wellington, will bless the new church in Barbadoes street to-morrow.

New Church at Sumner. —The new church at Sumner will be opened t6n|orrow at 11 a.m. The service will be full choral, and the sermon will be preached by the Very Rev the Dean of Christchurch. » Sjj-

Shipping Telegram. —The New Zealand Shipping Company have received telegraphic advice from London, advising the sailing of the Hurunui for Wellington, and the Cardigan Castle for Lyttelton, prior to the 25th September, both with immigrants. Gaol Returns. —The following was the state of her Majesty’s gaols in Canterbury during the month of September : Lyttelton—For trial at the Supreme Court, 8 ; hard labor, 106; imprisonment, 3 ; medical treatment, 6 ; debtors, 4 ; total, 127. Discharges, tried at the Supreme Court, 3 ; discharged on bail, 3 ; tried before the magistrates, 18 ; medical treatment, 6 ; debtors, 3 ; total, 33. Addington—hard labor, 79 ; imprisonment, 9 ; medical treatment, 2 ; total, 90. Discharges, tried before the magistrates (two transferred to Lyttelton), 44 ; medical treatment, 1. Timaru—For trial at the Supreme Court, 5 ; for trial at the district court, 2 : hard labor, 16 ; imprisonment, 4: lunatic, 1 ; debtor, 1 ; total, 29. Discharges—acquitted at district court, 1 ; tried at the Supreme Court, 1 j tried before the magistrates, 8 ; lunatic, 1 ; debtor, 1 ; total, 12.

Imported Stud Horse.— Per Albion, s.s was landed on Thursday, in Lyttelton, a handsome dappled grey Arab horse, imported by Mr J. Guild, Opau, Flaxton, from Tasmania. The new arrival is named Lord of the Vale, his sire Ancient Britain, dam Cricket, by Statesman (imported) ; Ancient Britain is by Hadji Baba, dam Desert Maid, by Peter Flinn. Mr Guild made his purchase from Mr Curran, Launceston, the horse being bred by the late Dr Mcßeady, of Tasmania, Although so recently landed, yesterday he was in excellent condition. His general appearance is that of a horse such as is greatly required to improve our stock of roadsters, buggy horses, or weightcarrying hunters. He is said to clear a four rail fence with ease, carrying 12st. No doubt the new importation will be a valuable addition to onr horse stock, and his owner will have the gratification of seeing his object in importing him attained.

Mishap on the Port Chalmers Bailway.—A mishap on this railway occurred on the 2nd instant which disarranged the traffic on the line for several hours. The Daily Times gives the following particulars:— “ It appears that as the first train from the Port was being shunted at Burkes to make way for the second down train, the points were unskilfully handled, the result being that the engine was thrown off the rails, and most unaccountably got right athwart the line, after first tearing up a portion of it. This closed the traffic until the engine was lifted on to the rails again and the damaged line repaired, which was not accomplished until the afternoon. In order that traffic should not be entirely closed, the railway authorities procured the harbor launch Vire to run a couple of trains between the Port and Burkes, and connect with the trains to and from Dunedin. This, however, was not done until the forenoon was far advanced, and, in the meantime, the passengers who were waiting to go from the Port to Dunedin bv the 8.40 train walked along the line to Burkes, and took the up train there.

Western Australia, —The new session of the Legislative Council was opened on the 7th August, when Governor Bobinson delivered the usual speech. With reference to the question of telegraphs the speech stated:—“l am happy to inform you that the extension of the telegraph line to Eucla has been, so far, attended with success. The Bremer Bay station, 120 miles from Albany, has been opened, and communication has been established with Perth. The wiring has been completed to within a short distance of Ksperance Bay, 286 miles from Albany, and beyond that point the line hss been surveyed, cleared, and poled for a further distance of about 150 miles. Ido not conceal from myself that the most difficult part of the work is yet to come, but T nevertheless expect that when this House next meets I shall be able to congratulate you on the successful completion of a work which will place us in close and frequent communication with the neighbouring colonies, and help to draw attention to our many and varied resources. The total liabilities incurred on account of this line, including all contracts, amount to about £38,000, of which the sum of £33,000 has been already voted by this Council. The remainder will appear on the Estimates which are about to be laid before you, and will, I trust, prove sufficient for the proper completion of the work. I invite your particular attention to the correspondence which has recently taken place between the Government of New Z ealand and this Government on the subject of electric telegraph communication by deep sea cables between the colonies in these seas and other parts of the worjd, of wfiioh copies will be forthwith placed before you, j haye urged that the most favorable roqte for the proposed duplicate cable would be from a point to be selected on the nprth-wpst coast of this colony to Ceyjon, taking advantage of the Co, cog jlslaufla $9 a jajdway telegraph 3| : .s!fjprj, &p 4 affording the means, as ' in fhp porrpspondence, of wn*3tt»ttlUl}ießtißu betweep England, broken ' •'alaßia, without passing India, and au_ ■*•'**?, Subject of through any foreign course to your approval, and to the »- of her Majesty’s Government, I have expressed ray concurrence in tM(? opinion entertained at the conference at Sydney m 1873, that, for the construction of snph a line, the money necessary should be jointly raised, on terms and conditions to be agreed upon, and that while each country and colony should retain its own r.eppipte, each should contribute to interest, maintenance, and general charges in accordance with the stipulated conditions, and in proportion to the revenue derived. I need hardly observe that with this colony as a starting point for the cable, the financial success of our new line to Eucla would bo assured ; but apart altogether from this, and from the benefits which we should undoubtly derive from such a scheme. I believe that no other route is possessed of such conspicuous advantages, and that sooner or later it will be adopted,"

Opposition Tactics.— The Australasian refers in the following terms to the late tactics of the Opposition ; “ Nothing spreads faster than a bad example; It is not pleasant to find that the Victorian institution of a ‘ stone wall’ has already been adopted by the Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament as a legitimate piece of Parliamentary tactics. The case is made the worse by the fact that there was no shadow of a pretext in the form of a great public object to be gained or a serious public peril to be averted in justification of the resort to proceedings which can only be justified by a grave and extraordinary constitutional emergency. The occasion was the necessity felt by the Government to pass an Indemnity Bill to repair the blunder recently made in reference to the number of Ministers. It was perfectly reasonable that the Opposition should regard the difficulty of the Government as their opportunity, and should strenuously oppose such a measure. But when the opinion of the House had been fairly tested, and a strong majority was found to adhere to the Government, there should have been an end of the matter. However justified the band of patriots headed by Sir George Grey might have been in offering the strongest opposition within constitutional limits, there was no pretence of right in going beyond those limits. The only question was whether the humiliation already inflicted on the Government for its mistake was not adequate punishment, without insisting on its expulsion. There were no interests other than the interests of party demanding a change of Government on such grounds. Directly the Opposition resolved itself into a ‘ stone wall,’ its purely partisan character and factious objects became clearly manifest. It is gratifying to observe that as this character became clearer the Opposition votes rapidly dwindled, and the Government majorities increased, till at length the ‘ stone wall ” ended in miserable collapse, and the guidance to which the party has abandoned itself led it to another defeat, in which ignominy was added to disaster.” Repairing the Cable. —A correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald , says the Argus, “ has furnished that journal with some notes of the operations conducted on board the steamer Edinburgh for the repair of the Port Darwin cable. The account is not a descriptive one, being merely the jottings of a diary kept from day to day, but it furnishes information of interest, and fully explains the long delay which took place in getting the cable into working order. For days together the weather was so bad that nothing could be done, and unusual difficulties were met with in picking up the cable, owing to the peculiar character of the ocean bed upon which it rested. Sometimes a good sandy bottom would be met with, but in other places the cable passed over sharp coral reefs and rocks, or was deeply imbedded in oozy mud. The grapnels were frequently carried away, accompanied sometimes by many fathoms of good rope. Altogether, three principal faults were discovered. The first was found on July 3rd, near the Port Darwin end, and was remedied on the 4th, by cutting out the defective part and putting in about a quarter of a mile of new cable. About sixty-seven miles towards Banjoewangie the second fault was met with in about thirty-five fathoms of water. The bottom was sandy, but owing to unfavourable weather it took some days to make the repairs, which consisted in the substitution of about four miles of new cable for the defective part. The third, and most formidable undertaking, was the repair of a faulty portion of the cable about 180 miles from Port Darwin. This work was commenced on the 11th July, and was not finished until the 6th August, a period of twenty-six days. The cable having been grappled with some difficulty, it was found to be broken through, and completely useless for a quarter of a mile, through the chafing it had undergone upon its coral bed. One end having been buoyed, efforts were made to pick up the other, but extraordinary difficulties now presented themselves. The coral bottom was so rough, that the cable could not be hooked, and after breaking three grapnels, and losing fifty fathoms of rope and chain, the attempt was abandoned, and a trial made at another point. An obstacle of quite a different sort was now encountered. The bottom had changed from coral to mud, so deep that the cable had sunk far below the reach of the grapnels, and the line had to be picked up at a point twenty-five miles distant from the fault, and under-run until the broken end was arrived at. Operations had to be suspended several times on account of heavy weather, and it was not until the 3rd of August that the cable was hooked. It was found to be chafed and useless for some distance, and it became necessary to put in no less than 73 miles of new cable, which was laid clear of the coral bank, and therefore in comparative safety. This work was completed on the 6th August, and a few days having been occupied in rectifying some minor faults near the Port Darwin end, the Edinburgh’s task was finished on the 12th. For the present, at all events, the cable appears to have been restored to a state of efficiency, and it is reassuring tq find that the alarm about its destruction by marine worms has no better foundation than the fact that n small portion of the shore end near the cable house had been eaten away by ffind crabs. The improbable story of the cutting of the cable by Fenian agents is also completely and finally disposed of.’’ When persons purchase the Star Brand Soap, and thereafter will uee no other kind, it proves that it is the best value in the market. The universal approval of consumers is the best guarantee of quality.— [APYT.j