NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1056, 15 November 1877, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Trotting Match. —A match which caused considerable local interest took place at Southbridge on Wednesday, between Mr John Bradshaw’s Biddie (twice winner of the prize class lady’s hack at the Ellesmere show) and a very powerful horse, Farmer, belonging to Mr Tom Harper. Mr Robert Phillips rode Biddie so well as to land the mare a length ahead. The distance was from the entrance gate at Willesden to Webster and Cameron’s Iron Foundry, and the stakes £5.

New Factory. —Mr Toomer’s new boot factory, which is being built of brick in Lichfield street east, promises to become a most creditable edifice of its kind. The main building is three storeys high, while to the back there is a low long stretch of apartments which will he used in connection with the work of the factory. There is no hoarding at the street front of the building, and those who pass along the pathway during the day do so at the risk of being knocked on the head by pieces of brick falling from the scaffolding used by the workmen. Police Changes. —lnspector Feast, who has been appointed to the charge of the now extensive Grey district, leaves for Greymouth by Friday morning’s coach. Noticing the contemplated departure of Inspector Hickson, who had for many years charge of the same district, the “ Grey River Argus” says : “ Mr Hickson has always distinguished himself as a most efficient officer, and has deservedly earned the respect of the residents of the district.” He will, no doubt, find a fit successor in Inspector Feast.

Facilities for Wool Shipment. —Messrs Talbot and M'Olatchie’s new shed at Lyttelton is now completed, and Messrs Sutton and Weastall, the contractors, appear to have done their work really well. Though by no means ornamental, the new shed is most commodious and admirably adapted for the storage and dumping of wool. The shed was completed not a moment too soon, for the wool season has commenced in earnest, and already the big piles of bales in the new store attest this. The stone work was done by Mr Stinson, and gives great satisfaction, being, like the rest of the work, massive and strong. Dumping began yesterday morning, and it was found when steam was got up that the engine and machinery had not suffered at all in being removed from the old shed. The enterprise shown by Messrs Talbot and M'Clatchie in erecting this building will, no doubt, be well rewarded.

The Governor and Ministers. —An impression lias gone abroad that His Excellency the Governor has signed the writ calling Mr J. N. Wilson to the Legislative Council. But such is not the case. The statement that he had done so was made in the draft reply te the House submitted to His Excellency by the Ministry, but this His Excellency did not adopt. The Governor’s latest memorandum to the Ministry was that he adhered to his determination, and the “ Gazette” of November Bth contains no notification of such appointment. A Mystery Solved. —Our readers will recollect some time back that a name-board of a vessel had been picked up on Farewell Spit, bearing the mysterious letters “Antofagasta.” The whole press of the colony was puzzled to decipher the name, but without success. Mr James Campbell, of Christchurch, who returned yesterday from a trip to South America, and who will be welcomed warmly by a number of friends, gives a clue to the mystery. The explanation which he suggests will be found in our shipping column. A Shocking Example, —The Wellington correspondent of the Auckland “Herald” narrates that the reason the Opposition had not a majority in a recent discussion was because they were too careful. In order to make sure of Mr Gisborne, they sent Mr Johnston to look after him. Mr Johnston, never dreaming that division would be rushed on so rapidly, took his time about his errand, and leisurely puffed the fragrant weed. He arrived at the House just, half a minute too late after the division lobby was locked. Here you have a shocking example of the effects of smoking. A Government positively retained in office through a cigar!

The Fisheries Bill. —Mr Macandrew’s Bill for the protection of fish has been printed. It places in the hands of the Governor power to make general regulations—(l) For the constitution of districts in which the Act shall come into operation, and prescribing the limits thereof ; (2) declaring what places in any waters of the colony shall be fisheries for the purposes of the Act; (3) for setting apart and reserving any part, ol tiny fishery for tin natural or artificial propagation of fish; and (4) lor regulating the period of the yea; during which sea fish may bo lawfully taker in any fishery, and the size of the mesh of any net or seine used for the purpose o' taking sea fish. The Governor has also powei t.o grant to any person the exclusive right tense any fishery, but he may, notwithstanding such grant, exclude any particular fish from being taken. A breach of the Act renders the offender liable to a penalty not exceedin'; £2O.

Greymouth. —An ex-publican of Greymouth, named John Quinlan, has been taken into custody by the police, on the charge of having attempted to commit suicide by drowning. An old resident of the same town, Joseph Graham, who had been in the hospital suffering from paralysis, died last week. The deceased was a well-known horse trainer and dealer.

The Late Gale. —Our correspondent who was a passenger to the West Coast when Redfern’s coach and two drays were blown over by the wind, writes that the course of the wind could be traced the whole way across the island—more particularly on the western side, where along the wooded ranges it had cut a clean track of about twenty yards in width. Had the country through which it passed been thickly populated the destruction of property and the loss of life must have been very great. The Dunedin Show. —lt will remembered that at the Dunedin show last year the principal prizes in the fat sheep classes were taken by Canterbury exhibitors. At the coming show to be held on the 28th and 29th inst., Canterbury will be well represented in those classes, but this time by Dunedin owners, as the City Company there have purchased from Messrs Henderson and Mcßeath the two prize pens of merino wethers which attracted so much attention at the Rangiora and Christchurch shows when exhibited by Mr Chapman. The City Company have also purchased Messrs Henderson and Mcßeath’s first prize pen of five long woolled wethers, under eighteen months old, and from Mr John Mann his first prize pen of long woolled wethers, above eighteen months, and also the first prize pen of ten lambs for butchers’ purposes. A Hard Case. —What appears to us to be a hard case cropped up in connection with the charge against the man James Morris, brought up at the Hokitika Resident Magistrate’s Court on a charge -of horse stealing, and remanded. The prisoner, says the “ West Coast Times,” was brought from Christchurch, and with him a man named O’Brien, whose evidence is required by the police to identify the horse. O’Brien was formerly in business as a butcher at Kumara, and subsequently was permanently employed as a slaughterman by a butcher in Christchurch. While in this employment he was subpoenaed to give evidence against Morris, and threatened that, unless he complied, a warrant would be issued to compel his attendance. As his employer could not dispense with the services of a slaughterman, O’Brien had to throw up his billet, and travel overland all the way to Hokitika, the only prospect of compensation he has being limited to the promise of Sergeant O’Malley that he would get his coach fare. O’Brien is a poor man, with a large family to support, and one can only be driven to the conclusion that there must be something radically wrong in our much-vaunted system of administering Justice, when in order to secure a conviction against an assumedly guilty man, an innocent one should be made to suffer so severely. About Atmosphere. —lt is thus that the “Southland Times” commences a leading article on the state of the crops and flocks in that part of the country:—ln accordance with well-known laws, atmospheric phenomena are ruled in cycles. The gently gliding wheel of time has again presented to our notice that pleasant segment of the meteoric disc which poured its benign libations on our pioneering heads in the golden and muddy days of compound railing. Certainly the weather may have been sufficiently bitter of late, but yet between squalls there have been cheerful blinks to raise our spirits, and enable us to endure the next in succession. We have thus avoided sinking into that melancholy frame of mind which, according to the popular French belief, impels the unhappy Englishman, located on the foggy Thames to make periodical attempts at committing suicide. No doubt the considerable amount of clearing, ditching, and breaking up, and even regular burning of the native growth, has had much to do in causing the clearer atmosphere of now-a-daye. And if this steady process of improvement is supplemented by a proper system of arterial and thorough drainage, there is no reason to doubt that this climate will become yet more agreeably modified. Not that there is any danger, while Fovcaux straits exist as a suction funnel, that the Southland plains will ever be reduced to such a scarcity of water as periodically occurs in North Otago, Canterbury, and Napier, and in our neighboring Dunstan country. We are never likely to be entirely without materials for concocting epigrammic telegrams to the effect that “ a southerly ‘ buster ’ is blowing still! ”