NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 761, 28 November 1876, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Bacheldeb's Pantascope.—There was a crowded house last night at the Oddfellows' Hall, to witness Bachelder's beautiful panorama of the Californian mail route. The various scenes depicted were enthusiastically received by the large audience present. Some valuable gifts were distributed amongst the audience at the close of the'entertainment.

Rifle Association.—"We have been requested to state that the meeting of the Council of the Rifle Association, stated to be held this evening, is fixed for Thursday evening next, at 7.30 p.in, at Warner's Hotel. The business to be transacted will be the arranging of the programme for the next competition. Accident at Rangioka,—On Monday last a man named Thomas Gibson, at work at the railway station, was caughtjbetween the buffers of two goods waggons and crushed. His escape from sudden death was a very narrow one, but there iB reason to believe he will, in a few days, recover from the effects of the shock.

Cable News.—Elsewhere we publish cable news from Europe to November 21st. The British Ambassador at St Petersburgh has had an interview with the Czar. The Emperor urged that a complete agreement should exist between Russia and England. He gives his word of honor that he had no intention of acquiring Stamboul, and if he had to occupy Bulgaria, it would be only temporary. He further deplored the feeling of distrust which existed in England towards Russia, and said that the conquest of India by Russia was an impossibility,

Wilful Destruction.—We regret to say that some one is in the habit of stealing and destroying the periodicals in the reading room, at the Colonists' Hall, Lyttelton. The room has been thrown open by the subscribers for the use of all nautical men and visitors, and it is a poor return when the illustrated papers are mutilated and stolen. Wa are glad to see that the president has offered a reward of £5 for the detection of the offender or offenders, and hope he or they aB the case may be, will be brought to justice.

Ashlet County Election.—A meeting of several of the leading residents in Rangiora and the vicinity was held on Saturday evening, for the purpose of considering the county election. There were about twenty present, and Mr H. Blackett was voted to the chair, The following resolutions were proposed chairman write to the Hon C, C. Bowen for information respecting the subdivision of the Mandeville and Rangiora district for the county election." 2. " That the chairman of the Road Board be asked to convene a public meeting early in December." 3. " That a requisition to Mr John McFarlane be prepared, asking him to allow himself to be nominated." 4, " That if a member is to be returned for Rangiora proper, Mr Blackett be nominated." A vote of thanks to the chairman brought the proceedings to a close.

Burglary in Oamaru.—The livies states that late on Wednesday night, or early on Thursday morning, the shop occupied by Mr Alexander Thomson, butcher, was entered and a cash box containing a £1 note and £4 38 in silver stolen. The manner in which the thief or thieves accomplished their purpose, was simple, but effective. At the rear of the shop there is a room used for making sausages, &c, lighted by a small window, about 2ft 6in broad, by 3ft 6in in length. This window is usually kept open in order to allow the air to enter the room. The thief entered the window, stepped on to a mantel shelf almost immediately below, and to reach the floor from that was an easy task. Going into the shop, he prized open the wooden desk with a butcher's knife, and abstracted the cash bax, leaving the building by the same window through which he entered. Lake Ellesmere.—The contract for lowering this lake was let by the Government some few days back to Mr Leatham of the Tai Tapu for the sum of £SO. The contractor has been so far successful that he succeeded in completing the necessary channel from the lake to the sea, after having been only three days employed at the work, and should the weather continue favorable, before long a stream will be running into the sea that will be able to defy the south-west swells, that prove such an obstruction to the mouth of the outlet. About six weeks ago the Government employed a gang of men to make the outlet, under the supervision of one of their inspectors. The attempt, however, proved a failure for two reasons, partly from the channel having been opened in the wrong place, but principally from the water in the lake not being at a sufficiently high level to give it the necessary force to scour itself a channel and resist the waves of the ocean. Mr Leatham has this year introduced an entirely new system of working, utilising horse power in preference to hand labor as heretofore* and with the assistance of three horse-scoops, with two men to each scoop, haß made an opening in a few days that would have taken three times the number of men nearly a fortnight to accomplish.

Southbridge Sports.—A well attended meeting of persons interested in holding sports on New Year's Day was held at the Boyal Hotel, on Saturday evening, Mr L. H. Herdman, who was voted to the chair, opened the business by reading the advertisement convening the meeting. The question of holding one general sports meeting for the whole district was fully discussed, and it was almost unanimously decided that endeavors should be made to amalgamate with Leeston or other parts of the d ; strict in holding one general meeting on New Year's Day on the public recreation ground. Messrs T. A. Winter, Lewis, Killahan, Herdman, Smith, Little, Bridge, Elwin, and Willis were appointed to represent this meeting at Leeston on Monday night, with power to make necessary arrangements. The treasurer of last year's committee stated that he had a balance in hand of nearly £B, which would be available this year. A. vote of thanks was then passed to the chairman, and the meeting adjourned to Friday night, at thes ame place, when the delegates were requested to bring up their report for ratification.

Local Board of Health.—The first meeting of the Local Board of Health was held at the office of the Drainage Board yesterday. Present —Messrs F. Hobbs (chairman)" Tancred, Hall, lioss, Duncan, Harman, Wright, and Jones. The chairman said that he desired to bring one or two points under the notice of the Board. Under the Act the Board was empowered to take charge of all sanitary matters in the city. The inspector of nuisances would therefore come under the supervision of the local Board. It was fore for the Board to consider whether it would not be necessary to appoint two officers, one of whom might carry out the inspection in the outlying districts. The present inspector was also inspector of hackney carriages, &c, which under their Board he would ,not be. They would also have to appoint a medical officer, whose powers were very 1 arge indeed. Mr Harman said that this was a most difficult matter to deal with, and one surrounded with innumerable difficulties, if it was possible they should get a medical gentleman whose services would be at the disposal of the Board entirely, The chairman said that their medical officer had most strictly confined himself to the consideration of the circumstances causing the disease, and in no way did he interfere with tbe conduct of a case by the medical gentleman in charge of the case. The name? of the infected houses were also suppressed, so that no medical man c©uld in any way feel offended. The chairman said in looking over the list of infectious diseases put down by the Central Board of Health, he found that they had included typhoid fever. Now typhoid fever was not infectious, only in one way, and he had had it said to him by medical men that if they had to report on cases of typhoid fever they would be doing nothing else all day. He, therefore, thought it necessary that they should tell the Oentral Board of Health that typhoid fever should not be included in infectious diseases. Two cases, one of scarlet fever and the other of typhoid fever, were reported to the Board by the medical men attending the case. The Board then adjourned until, 10,30 a.m. on Mouday next.

WOODKND— On Saturday night or early on Sunday morning some larrikins in this township battered in the door of Mr Banby's store. Awakened by the noise he gave them chase, but it was too dark to see the delinquents. The drill-shed suffered in a like manner, We trust the police will be able to bring the offenders to justice. TJ.R.O. —Pair-oar races for prizes presented to the Union Club by Mr H. H. Hennah will take place this evening. The course is from Pratt's to the Boatsheds, and the first heat will start at 5.30 p.m. The following crews have entered, and will row in the order of heats given below :—First heat: Dowle and Strange against Hobday and Johnston; second heat: Searell and Willcox against Harding and Campbell; third heat: Kesteven and Culpan against Jacobsen and Walters.

Representative Firing. The first competion of the carbine companies in Canterbury for choice of a representative at the Colonial Prizj Firing was fired yesterday by the C.Y.C., at Hillsborough. The conditions are, that the O.Y. Cavalry, Ohristchurch, Timaru, and Akaroa batteries (using carbines), Bhould fire two competitions at 200, 250, 800, and 400 yards, the highest aggregate scorer in both matches to be the carbine representative from Canterbury. A second man can also attend the colonial contest, but will have to pay his own expenses. The C.T.C. won the toss, and fired their first match yesterday, but the weather was very gusty, and unfavorable for high scoring. This company will fire again in a few days, when the scores will be given. The squad was under the command of Colonel Packe, and Captain Strouts was also present on the ground.

Treasure Trove. There has been in circulation lately (says the Mount Alexander Mail) a remarkable story respecting a wealthy gentleman who was once a citizen of Castlemaine. Some time since a person in a neighbouring township died, leaving a quantity of old lumber in his domicile, and and no heir or nest of kin to take possession of them. The whole fell into the hands of the Curator of Intestate Estates, who quickly realised upon the goods. The gentleman referred to attended the sale, and finding there three ordinary looking boxes of tools of a description he fancied (being an optician by trade), he bid for them ; some dealers, however, ran him up, so that he had to pay for one box £4, another £2, and a third £l. On opening the largest and dearest box the contents were found to be so worthless that he directed one of his assistants to throw it out, or make an " old clothes" box of it. At the same time he overturned it and threw all its contents on the floor. On readjusting the box a small secret drawer was discovered, and curiosity tempted this gentleman to examine it, when to his surprise he found a packet of deeds and Grown grants carefully stowed away, representing the title of the deceased man to property in Carlton estimated, to be worth from £ISOO to £2OOO. Communication was opened with the Curator of Intestate Estates through a solicitor, notifying that a valuable discovery had been made, but without revealing its nature. In a day or two the gentleman was surprised by a visit from the officer of the down, who demanded to know what was the discovery, but the finder waß too wary to be caught like that, and referred the visitor to his solicitor. After some negotiation, the purchaser of the box remarked—" If you give me £2OO, provided my discovery realizes to you £IOOO, or proportionately less if it does not bring so much, I will give you the requisite information." This was agreed to, and the deeds were at once handed over to the astonished curator. The £2OO was then paid, and subsequently the property sold, realising considerably more than the estimated value.

Fatal Accident in Hawke's Bay.— The Herald of the 21st gives the following particulars of a fatal accident to a lad at the Industrial School:—"A shocking and fatal accident occurred on Sunday at Meanee to a boy named Michael Langhan, a son of the man now awaiting his trial for wife murder. The lad was between 10 and 11 years of age, sent to the Industrial School at the Mission Station at Meanee, on conviction for placing an obstruction on the railway. Since his stay there his conduct had been exemplary, and he was looked upon as a most promising pupil. Yesterday morning, about 10 o'clock, he shot himself accidentally in a manner somewhat singular. He lingered throughout the day until 6 in the evening, when he expired. He was conscious and could speak during the interval. He gave the particulars of the manner in which he shot himself to those who attended on him. It appeared that some considerable time ago about six months—a piece of an old rifle barrel, a foot long, had been loaded by a boy named McKenny, who has since gone to Wairoa. Langhan, it appears, knew of the circumstance at the time. The boys had attempted to fire it off at that time, and had inserted a match in the touch-hole for the purpose. The match, however, burnt down without setting it off. Langhan, on Sunday, went up to the loft, where it had been left, with the intention of drawing the charge. In endeavoring to do this, he put a nail into the touch-hole and thus fired the match. As he held the piece to him at tbe time, the charge went through his body."