NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 730, 21 October 1876, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Outward Suez Mail, —lt will be seen from our mail notices that the outward Suez mail closes on Tuesday.

Pensioners. —We understand from a notice posted at the Custom House, Christchurch, that pensioners Redmond Condow and Thomas Dooley have not claimed their overdue pensions, and if not claimed within this month a delay will be caused of several months before the amount can be re-entered on the pay sheets. Imported Sheep. —By the s.s. Arawata there arrived yesterday 166 merino rams, consigned to Messrs Dalgety, Nichols and Co. These animals are from Victoria, and seem to have been carefully selected. They have arrived in splendid order, and are large framed with heavy fleeces showing fine texture and length of staple. Bust of Gibbon Wakefield. The Gibbon Wakefield bust, sculptured by Mr Joseph Durham, A.R.A., has been placed in the corridor of the Colonial Office on a bracket bearing the following inscription : “ Edward Gibbon Wakefield, author of the ‘Art of Colonisation.’ Boro in London March 20th, 1796. Died at Wellington (N.Z ) May 16, 1862. To commemorate the statesmanlike qualities and disinterested efforts for the improvement of the Empire, his Mends and admirers have presented this bust io the Colonial Cffice.” Diocesan Synod. —The annual session of the Diocesan Synod will be opened by the Most Bev the Primate, at the College Library, at 1 p.m. on Tuesday next. The annual services in connection with the Synod will be held as under—Evening service, full choral, Monday, 23rd instant, at 7,30 p.m,; at St Michael’s Church morning service, with Holy Communion, on Tuesday, 24th instant, at 11 a.m. The Yen Archdeacon Harper will preach on Monday evening, Members of choirs and others wishing to assist at the opening services will meet at St Michael’s Church to-morrow evening at a quarter-past eight. The annual church meeting will be held at the College Library on Tuesday evening, when a number of papers will be read. The chair will be taken by the Primate at eight o’clock. Sticking up at German Bay.—On last Saturday night, between ten and eleven o’clock, as Mr Wilson, the schoolmaster of Barry’s Bay, was returning from Akaroa, he was stuck up on German Bay Hill by four men, who dragged him from his horse and used him very roughly, and robbed him of all the money he had (about a pound) and a bottle of whiskey, Mrj Wilson had been in company with Mr Hewer, the collector of school rates, and had left the town in his company, and it is supposed that he was mistaken for Mr Hewer, who was known to have a large sum of money about him, The perpetrators of the outrage have been traced, and warrants have been issued for the arrest of four men. The San Francisco Mail,— “The last mail via San Francisco,” says the Argus, “ which left Sydney on the 30th of June, reached the Golden Gate on the 28th of July, but was not delivered in London until Friday, the 18th of August having occupied twenty-one days in the transit. The City of Montreal, of the Inman line, which brought it over from New York, sailed on Saturday, the sth of August, and did not reach Queens town until 4 a.m. on the 17th. Some passengers who came on to San Francisco, from Honolulu, by the Australian mail steamer, crossed the American continent, and left Quebec by the Allan Line steamer Polynesian, making the passage to Liverpool in seven days six hours, thus reaching England upwards of four days before the mail was delivered, having only been sixteen days on the way from San Francisco. This shows what could be done by that route.” Cause of Bishop Pattbson’s Murder, —The Auckland Herald of the I2th says:— “The arrival of r.the Melanesian Mission vessel 'Southern Cross, yesterday morning, places r i in possession of some interesting facts it ative to the progress of the missionary efforts in the Melanesian Group; and also a native version of the cause which led to the murder of the late Bishop Patleson. The vessel, since she left Auckland, has made a couple of trips round the islands, upon which missions have been established. It is satisfactory to record that, upon the whole, the schools are well attended, and the natives are desirous of receiving the instruction that is provided for them. The most eventful incident of the cruise however is the Rev Mr Still’s interview with a couple of Santa Cruz natives, at Ulawae, in the Solomon Group, who have a vivid recollection of the death of Bishop Patteson, and the causes that led to the lamentable affair. The residence of the natives at Ulawae, in the first place, was a compulsory one ; but eventually they had taken to themselves wives from Ulawae, and had consequently thrown in their lot with the natives of that Island and refused to return to Nupani of the Santa Cruz Group, when invited to do so by the Mission party. It appears that the Santa Cruz natives’ sojourn at Ulawae, in the first instance, was due to the fact of a large canoe, of which they were the only survivors, having been blown thither from hanta Cruz, and had been attacked by the natives of the island. At first the men were shy in responding to the enquiries, but gradually came round, and save an account of the reason of the murder of Bishop Patteson, their story confirming the generally received theory on that subject. One of them had been in a canoe which the bishop communicated with the night before he was killed, and he says that he warned the bishop not to go to Nukapu, but to come to his island of Nupani, close by. One of the bishop’s crew remembers the invitation though not the actual warning being given. The native then alleged that the cause of the murder was an attack pseviously made by a labor vessel on one of their canoes, in which four men had been killed, four wounded, and four taken away He added that these last named had reap pearecj in a small vessel, a statement which corresponds with the account of the disap poarance of four Santa Oruz men from Fiji, as mentioned in the papers some time ago. The mission party tried to get the men to accompany them to Nupani, hoping to re establish intercourse with the natives there by their means; but they declined on the ground of being married and having families at Ulawae, and probably, also, they were afraid.” A well-sustained and growing demand for any article in these days of m iversal competition, is a sure sign of its superiority. The wonderful increase in the sale of the .tar Brand Soap proves this conclusively,— [A DVT.]

Salmon, —A correspondent of the Argus gives the following particulars of the capture of a grilse of 31bs weight at New Norfolk, Tasmania:— 11 Doubts having arisen as to whether the Tasmanian salmon would take the artificial fly, it may interest your angling readers to know that Mr Matthew Seal, accompanied by another of the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners, has brought into Hobart Town a beautiful female grilse, weighing 31bs, caught at the falls above New Norfolk It was taken fishing from a boat, with a small, rather dull-colored salmon fly, After trying unsuccessfully all the morning with the artificial minnow, it was determined to try the fly, as many goodsized fish were observed rising, sometimes two or three together. A fly-trace was accordingly fitted with one bright and one dull fly, the rod used being a medium singlehanded trout rod. For a short time nothing stirred, but suddenly the eyes of the fisherman were delighted with the flash and the splash which almost invariably accompany the rise of a grilse, and away went the fish twenty or thirty yards down stream, finishing with a breach into the sunlight, exposing the side like a bar of silver. After two or three leaps the steady strain began to tell, and in a few minutes the first salmon grilse taken with a fly in Tasmania was lifted into the boat.”

The New Law on “ Crossed Cheques.” The last Act of the session, says the European Mail , was to amend the law relating to “ crossed cheques.” It is now in operation, repealing two former Acts and declaring the law on the subject. There are general and special crossings. A “general crossing” means where a cheque bears across its face an addition of the words “ and company,” or an abbreviation thereof between two parallel tranverse lines, or two parallel tranverse lines simply, and with or without the words “ not negotiable.” A “ special crossing ”is where the name of a banker is put, The public are now informed “ that where a cheque is uncrossed a lawful holder may cross it generally or specially. Where a cheque is crossed generally a lawful holder may cross it specially. Where a cheque is crossed generally or specially a lawful holder may add the words “ not negotiable.” Where a cheque is crossed specially the banker to whom it is crossed may again cross it to another banker, his agent, for collection. A crossing authorised by this Act is to be deemed a material part of the cheque, and it is not lawful for any person to obliterate, or, except as authorised by the Act, to add or alter the crossing. There are twelve sections in the Act in reference to “ crossed cheques.” Sporting. —“ Anglo-Australian ” in the j European Mail writes “It will interest bteeders of horses in Australia to hear that the celebrated Middle Park Stud, which Mr Blenkiron inherited from his father, is to be offered for public competition, unless disposed of by private contract, at Tattersall’s, on September 22nd and 23rd. If the stud should be sold in detail some of the best horses should certainly be secured for some one or other of the Australian colonies. As, however, two new stud companies are now in course of formation, and as several years are required to establish a breeding stud, it is very likely that the whole of this stud may pass by private contract in one lot into the hands of one of these two new bodies. Another fact in connection with the turf will interest racing men on your side. It is not, perhaps, generally known that the Grand Prix de Paris is the only race in France in which English-bred horses are allowed to compete. This has always been regarded as a subject for regret, and it is said that the International Baeeding Association will endeavour, by establishing a stud in Normandy, with a branch in this country, to counteract this disadvantage. The existing prohibition will not lie against horses foaled in France from mares and sires of the best strains of English blood, and in this way it is hoped that the new progeny will be able to carry off many of the French prizes, and, as yearlings, command a price superior to that of the blood stock now bred in this country. Mr Bleukiron’s stud includes 110 thoroughbred brood mares, of which eight are by King Tom, ten by Newminster, son of Touchstone, seven by Stockwell, four by Rataplan, and the remainder by Touchstone, Birdcatcher, Macaroni, Weatherbit, Wild Dayrell,Yoltigeur, Marsyas, Kingston, Dundee, and others, with many foals by Rosicrucian, Victorious, Yes pasian, Saunterer, and Galopin. Besides these, there are eight stallions and twenty yearlings. It may be added that at a recent sale of the Littleton stud Charm and Fifz Glare were bought by Mr Harris for New Zealand—the former for 45 and the latter for 125 guineas. Charm is two years old, by Narbonne, dam Rosina, by Orlando; Fitz Clare is also two years, by Fitz Ivan, dam Lady Clare, by Wild Dayrell.