NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1044, 30 October 1877, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Sudden Death.—Mr John Elvines died suddenly this morning at his residence, Manchester street. Dr. Campbell, who was sent for, said that in his opinion death had resulted from apoplexy. An inquest will be held. The Races. —We are requested to state that, by an accident, Ivanhoe was omitted from the list of nominations in both the Steeplechase Handicaps published yesterday. Acknowledgment.—-Mr Charles Type, Lyttelton, desires through our columns to express his thanks to the ladies and gentlemen who assisted and attended at the entertainment held in the Oddfellows' Hall, Lyttelton, for his benefit. Customs' Concession. —By a recent decision of the Hon. the Commissioner of Customs, wire specially imported for reaping and binding machines is to be admitted free, and regarded as part of such machines, even though separately imported. Famine Relief Fund, Kaiapoi.—The total amount collected in Kaiapoi towards this fund is £62, inclusive of sums already published, £2 10s subscribed by the scholars attending the Borough school, and £2l 12s 3d, collection in the Presbyterian Church on Sunday. Last Tuesday's Fete. —A meeting of the Famine Relief Sports Committee was held at Radcliffe's Hotel last evening, Mr W. R. Mitchell in the chair. The business was of a purely routine character, confined to pas ing accounts and other matters incidental to the winding up of the committee's affairs. The nett proceeds, when all claims have been paid, will be handed over to Mr Ollivier and acknowledged by him. The Ballarat Riots. The Ballarat East Town Council appears to be determined not to let the Eureka Stockade lie in oblivion any longer, or fade away from the history of Ballarat, for want of some landmark to show the site of the memorable engagement which took place now nearly 23 years ago. At a recent meeting Councillor Long moved on notice —" That in the opinion of this Council the spot where the Eureka Stockade once stood, and where so many brave men fell on the memorable 3rd of December, 1854, should bo enclosed, as soon as possible, with a substantial fence, and a suitable monument erected to the memory of those who lost their lives in resisting the unconstitutional proceedings of the Victorian Government on that occasion." The motion was carried. Canterbury Domains Bill. —ln the Legislative Council, on the 18th instant, the Hon. Mr Hall said the debate on the second reading of this Bill was also postponed with a view of ascertaining public opinion on the subject in the part of the colony to which it related. Very considerable difference of opinion appeared to exist, but the general result seemed to be that, if certain amendments were introduced into the Bill, it would be acceptable. He proposed to ask the Council to allow the Bill to be read a second time, and to be committed for the purpose of inserting those amendments. He would then move that it be discharged, with the object of withdrawing it this session, and circulating it with the amendments during the recess. — The Bill was then read a second time. Adulteration Act.—A Bill has been inlroduced in the House of Representatives by Mr Wason " for preventing the adulteration of food or drugs, and the selling or exhibiting for sale adulterated or unwholesome food or drugs of any kind." It proposes to repeal the Act of 1866. The penalty for adulteration is fixed at a maximum of £SO for the first offence, of six months' hard labour for the second. And Ihe penalty for selling or offering for sale'adulterated food or drugs is fixed at £2O. A second offence is punishable by the delinquent's name being published at his expense in the newspapers. Analysis are to be appointed, and Inspectors of Nuisances or of Weights and Measures are to procure and submit samples of articles to In' analysed; analysts being required to report, annually, Any purchaser may obtain an analysis for a fee of 2s 6d to 10s Gd. The Act is not to affect the power of proceeding by indictment °F otjjerwjf e,

Heavy Sheep.—Five sheep exhibited at the late Agricultural Show at Napier were killed in order to decide a bet as to their weights. These were found to be 120,140, 149,149, and loOlbs. An Old Colonist. —Another old colonist has passed over to the great majority. The Palmerston "Herald" of yesterday records the death of Mr Lewis Cameron, the oldest settler in the district, who came to Otago in the Philip Laing. Alleged Malicious Prosecution. —It is stated in the Reefton papers that an action for malicious prosecution, in which the damages are laid at £IOOO, is about to be brought by H. Smith against S. Gilmer. The action will be tried before a special jury at Nelson. Smith waß lately tried and acquitted at Nelson, where he was charged with stealing a cash box and its contents from his employer Mr Gilmer, hotelkeeper. Copper Ore. —Mr Docherty, who was the discoverer of a lode of copper ore at Dusky Sound some months ago, paid a visit to Christchurch yesterday, as a passenger by the steamer Maori on his way to Dunedin, after a second visit to the Sound. He was accompanied on his second visit to the Sound by Captain Malcolm, who remains here to join the steamer Taranaki, of which he is to assume the command. The result of this second examination of the lode is likely to be the immediate formation of a company to work it, the ore/as analysed, having been proved to be of a valuable character. Fatal Accident. —A most painful accident, unfortunately resulting fatally, occurred at the Ashley township on Thursday last to a child of Mr R. Hawthorn, storekeeper. It appears that in removing a kettle from an American stove another kettle tipped into the fire, causing a quantity of boiling water and steam to envelope the face and left side of a little boy about seventeen months old. For some time the little sufferer seemed to progress favorably under the usual treatment, and hopes were entertained that all danger had passed, when, from shock to the system, convulsions supervened, and terminated fatally on Saturday morning, in spite of medical aid. Sale of Privileges.—Messrs H. Matson and Co., on Saturday, held the usual sale of privileges in connection with the'forthcoming show of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. There was a large attendance and capital prices were realised. Three publicans' booths were sold, and fetched as under:— No, 1, Mr Wild, £35; No. 2, Mr Barrett, £6l; No. 3, Mr Cookson, £4O. Confectioners : No. 1, Mr Willis, £22; No. 2, Mr Poole, £lB ; No. 3, Mr Bashford, £ls. The total realised was £l9l. Yesterday afternoon Mr J. T. Matson sold the privileges for the Metropolitan Meeting. Mr Matson's eloquence was poured forth lavishly, but with little avail, though there was a very large attendance. The biddings were exceedingly languid, and it was all Mr Matson could do to get the prices realised. The committee had determined to have but three publicans' booths instead of five, and it was thought that there would be keen competition. The first lot submitted was the new stand bar, and after a short contest fell to Mr J. W. Morton at £9O for the three days. No. 1 booth was bought by Mr Morling for £55 ; No. 2, Mr Cookson, £6O; No. 3, Mr Wild, £7O. The confectioners' booths were sold as under : No. 1, £4O, Mr Poole ; No. 2, £34, Mr Poole. The right of sports fell to Mr Walker, for £4O, and the horse yards to Mr Eead, for £l2. The total realised was £403 as against £397 10s last year. The Indian Famine.—A private letter received in Christchurch from the famine district in Bombay contains the following : —" In addition to my Forest work I have been put on Famine work. I have about 136 villages to inspect and see thatnobodyin them dies of starvation. The utterly destitute and emaciated, and those otherwise unable to work, such as the blind, lame, old men, and women, and women with young children, are sent to the chief town, where there are Government kitchens, and fed. The people without food, but who are able to work, are of course put on the public works to earn their bread. Many people will not leave their villages, but prefer to die of starvation there than to go to a distance and work. The strict orders of Government are that officers are held reepon>ible for j deaths which take place from want; it is also I laid down that people are only to be fed when lin absolute want. I go round to about four ! or five villages a day, turn out all the inhabitants and inspect them—l went to the soup kitchen here this morning, where I found about 250 people waiting to be fed —some old men and women like skeletons, women with babies in their arms, little bundles of skin only ; all sorts of loathsome diseases, leprosy, small-pox &c. —a most painful sight, j Spectrum Telegrams.—The " Spectrum Telegraph Reporter" is the title ot a new publication issued at Ballarat. It professes to be in communication with all parts of the : world by means of " those magnetic and allpervading, though invisible, forces, that wrap the material world in their embraces." In explaining itself, our mysterious contemporary says: —"The object sought to be j accomplished was the production of a telei graphic system of communication that should j be free from the adverse influences that mar the usefulness of our electric system, and tho Old World and New are now united by a triple band that encircles the earth." A long list of " spectrum telegrams," are then given, the most startling of which bears date 2nd October, and states that the Russians have had a severe repulse between Rasgrad and Tirnova, where some 10,000 troops were held, in command of Kern Zearwitch. The journal, however, states that Osman Pasha was moving towards Shumla on the 24th September, when we have it on the authority of Reuter that he was fighting in Plevna on the 25th, so that the internal evidences of truth in the new journal are not very strong. Dull Times on Diggings.—The "West Coast Times" reports that one or two of the principal Hokitika importers have met with more than their ordinary share of ill-luck, in the shape of bad and doubtful debts, during the past week. In years gone by when trade was brisk and profits large, the loss of a few hundreds was a matter of little concern, and several Wharf and Rerell street merchants could and did then frequently look upon such a circumstance as an ordinary incident iu trade, which had to and could be endured. Now-a-days, two or three heavy stoppages among the second houses within a or a fortnight causes leading houses to quake and wonder where i 3 to be the end. During (he last ten days it is reported that three /inns alcaio have been hit to the respective amounts of £I2OO, £BOO, and £BOO. The community may at the present time be said to be suffering from the effects of a ■•"lipse from the Kumara fever of, this time ia,Bt year,

Inopportune Accident. —A wedding parfcj at Kumara, one day last "week, started after the ceremony to take a drive. Just as they were starting an accident happened which, though it might have been serious, was more provocative of mirth than mourning. This was the unshipping of the back seat of the vehicle in which the party were. The consequence was that two ladies and one gentleman turned a summersault in the air before reaching the ground. Fire near Southbridge.—A fire equally distressing and destructive broke out in the upper part of the dwelling-house of Mr Oyer (situated upon the creek named after himself, some four miles from Southbridge), which utterly consumed the large and well-fwrnished building and, with small exception, the whole of its valuable and sometime valued contents. The fire was first noticed by the members of the family, after the maidservant had retired, to be raging in the upstair rooms. The house was built of brick, with timber lining and calico ceilings. So rapid was the conflagration that, though two willing and afrle friends gave every assistance, the only articles saved were the piano, sofa, and a few chairs from the lower room. The entire wardrobe of the family, books, pictures, and much that cannot possibly be replaced were in the space of one half-hour utterly destroyed, the maid-servant having bare time to escape under cover of a blanket. On visiting the scene one was saddened by the sight of the very hospitable home of one of the oldest and most respected settlers of the Ellestnere district reduced literally to ashes and surrounded by withered fruit and rose trees. Mr Oyer was in occupation of a large tract as a squatter before the rapid settlement of this as an agricultural district took place, and it is needless to say that he meets with the sympathy of all. The building only was insured in the New Zealand Company office for £4CO. The Eelation of Christianity to Science and Civilisation. —The Eev. Professor Salmond, of Dunedin, delivered his learned and eloquent lecture on the above subject in St. Paul's new Presbyterian Church last night. There were between three and four hundred people present. Mr John Mills, of Lincoln, occupied the chair. Admitting all the great and good results of science and the impetus it gives to the progress of civilisation, he expressed his conviction that science had not, as was sometimes shallowly and vauntingly asserted, discovered any truths at real variance with the Bible. In dealing with the statement made by scientists regarding the dogmatism of the Church, he showed that the accusation applied with as much force to scientists as to theologians, and pointed out that the opponents of religion made the glaring mistake of confounding the clergy and the Church with Christianity.. Scientists talked of the nonprogressiveness of the Church, but modem materialists themselves were only saying over again what had been said by Democritus and Lucretius long ago. He showed that Christianity, instead of being opposed to progress, had been the foster mother of arts and learning, and the active promoter of intellectual activity. On the motion of Mr John Anderson, seconded by the Eev. C. Fraser, ft hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Professor Salmond for his lecture. The Eev. Mr Elmslie, in the course of some remarks, said that he regretted to see so small an attendance, and observed that if the learned lecturer had given out that he was to perform some clever gymnastical feat the large building might no doubt have been filled to overflowing. Such was the popular taste. The next of the series of lectures begun last night will be delivered in the old church next Monday evening, by the Eev. J. Paterson, of Wellington. The subject will be "Mohammed and Mohammediim." St. Paul's Church—Commemoration Luncheon. —The Eev. John Elmslie, as a pleasant way of commemorating the opening of St. Paul's new Presbyterian Church, of which he is minister, entertained between forty and fifty of his friends, lay and clerical, at a luncheon on Monday afternoon in the large dining room of Eadcliffe's Commercial Hotel, Cathedral square. Mr Elmslie, who proved himself a most agreeable host, occupied the chair, Mr John Anderson, one of the leading lay members of the congregation of St. Paul's, the vice-chair. The dining room was arranged in a manner suitable to the occasion. The tables were amply loaded and most tastefully laid out, the whole reflecting much credit on Mr EadclifTe as a caterer, and on the skill of his chef de cuisine. About fifty gentlemen were seated at the tables. Amongst them were Professor Salmond, of Dunedin, the Eev. J. Paterson, of Wellington, the Eev. Mr Morley, Wesleyan minister, Christchurch, Eev. Mr Habens, Eev. Mr Watson, of St. John's English Church, Christchurch, Eev. Mr Hill, of Lyttelton, Eev. Mr Fraser, of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch, many other clergymen, and a large number of leading laymen. "The feasting of the lions," as Mr Elmslie facetiously phrased it, being over, several speeches of a social and congratulatory character were made. The host expressed a pardonable pride at being the pastor of a congregation who, at great expense, had erected such a church as the one which had been opened for the first time on the previous day, and trusted that the congregation might ever continue to live in harmony and in welldoing. The building committee had worked well, and their labors had in his opinion been suitably crowned with success. The committee, the architect (Mr Farr), and the contractor (Mr P. Hyndman) deserved, individually and collectively, the thanks of all concerned in the new church. Professor Salmond, the Eev. Messrs Watson, Paterson, Morley, and Habens, each made a few remarks appropriate to the occasion, as did also Mr E. Wilkin, Mr J. Inglis, and others.