NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1064, 24 November 1877, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Lbctuee. —The Rev. W. Lee will lecture on " Courtship and Marriage" at the Walthaan Wesleyan Church, next Wednesday, at 7.W p.m. Nohthbkn RAILWAY. —Preparations are in progress for laying down the narrow gauge line between Christchurch and Arnberley, which has to bo done by a suspension of the traffic on the 20th December. Between the time of the running of the last train on the 19th and the first train on the 21*t it is expected the line will be laid ready for traffic. The lint? is proposed to be made by placing one line of metals closer to the other. The main portion of the work of narrowing the gauge will be at the points. Canoe Club.—A general meeting of the Pilgrim Canoe Club was held at Badcliffe's Hotel on Thursday last. Tl e following gentlemen were elected as members, viz., Messrs J. C. Martin, H. Miller, and A. B. Bain. At a subsequent meeting of the racing committee, it was resolved that a canoe regatta should be held on the Avon on the 22nd December next. The programme arranged was as follows : —l. Ladies' Prize; 2. Pilgrim Club cup ; 3. All-Comers' race ; 4. Canoe Steeplechase. The two first will be handicap races.

Cricket. —Southbrook v. Ashley.—A match was played on Thursday between the Southbrook Cricket Club and the newly formed club at Ashley, on the grounds of the latter, which resulted in an easy victory for the visiting team. The Southbrook men went first to the wickets, and were not disposed of till a score of 99 had been placed to their credit, Mr Archer heading the list with 21. Their opponents were much less successful, principally through the much better fielding of the Southbrook men, and retired for the small score of 43, which implied their following on. Time was called before their second innings closed, and a defeat, which they fully anticipated, was the result of their first public appearance. Mr Thou. Croft, the captain, alone reaching double figures. A return match has been arranged for Saturday fortright.

Baxsom Cabs.—Another attempt is going to be made to introduce hansom cabs into Paris. The late Emperor, says the "Pali Mali Gazette," sought to acclimatise them in 1852, but the experiment failed for a multitude of reasons, of which the French never mention the only true one—that is, that their countrymen are such bad drivers. The Parisian cabman has never a dexterous use of his means, and but seldom a clear perception of his object, for his mind is troubled with musings on the disturbed state of the political horizon, so that he forgets to sit straight; but adopts a three-quarters posture, with his legs crossed, and his head drooping on his chest, pensively turning over the points in the leading article of (lie Opposition newspapers, which peeps from his coat pocket. To such ■>. >'ontemplatire attitude the high ant! rickety a;at of u. hansom was not farorab'e ; tlis driver was too liable to bite the dust; and this must have been the more humiliating, as there are some IJOOO English private coachmen in Paris who arc but too prone to view with a mocking eye the shortcomings of their French brethren of the road. However, in the new hansoms the exigencies of political meditation and personal equilibrium will be happily combined, for the driver's seat will bo placed in front and Jow down j in fact, the new vehicle will be » haiieum in aU but the meuiial point.

The New Ministebs. —Criticising a recent speech of Sir George Grey, Mr Fox concluded by saying :—Then we hare a little more dust affecting the position of Ministers. He told us some hon. members remarked that all the Ministerial seats were not filled up, and that it was rather a curious thing. Then the hon. member got up and, in his usual solemn tones, said he was rather proud of it. He said it was owing to the honorable feelings of certain members of the other side who recently joined him, and who did not wish it to be said that they went over for the sake of office. He felt proud to be able to stand up as the leader of such gentlemen ; and so on. This is all very fine ; but what if it is understood throughout the House and the lobbies that all these gentlemen hare offers to go into the Government directly our backs are turned ? Why can he not tell us who they are ? He has made up hia mind who they are to be—it is all nonsense to say that he has not. And it is miserable prudery on the part of those gentlemen to say, "We would rather wait. Spare our blushes ; but when the Assembly has gone, and nobody can make any remarks, you can put us in."

Union Rowing Ciub. —The final heat in connection with the senior pair-oar races for prizes presented to the above club by Mr Hennah, was pulled off last evening between the Brothers Jacobsen and Messrs Campbell and Petrie, the former rowing in the Syren and the latter in the Una. Mr H. Thomson again officiated as starter and Mr Hennah as judge, though the latter's services were not actually called into requisition. As far as strength and weightwent the race was greatly in favor of the Jacobsen Brothers, but Messrs Campbell and Petrie had been working hard for a considerable time, and were in <;apital training, and for this reason it was pretty generally expected that the contest would be a very close one, consequently a good number of spectators assembled to watch the result. The boats were at the starting point a few minutes after six o'clock, and at the word "off" the two crews gripped the water simultaneously, but before being fairly under weigh the bow oar of the Una got into difficulties, and the Syren shot away with a lead of a clear length. Notwithstanding the plucky endeavors of Campbell and Petrie they were out of the race the whole distance, the Syren coming in an easy winner with a good number of lengths to spare. Though Campbell and Petrie rowed very gamely throughout and pulled their stroke well home to the chest, they lost a great deal by their somewhat slow recovery, whilst their opponents were quick at recovering, but were not nearly long enough in the water. It would be as well too for both crews, should they row again with the same coxswains, to give these aspiring young watermen a hint about bobbing their heads in such a jack-in-the-box like manner, for it is simply ridiculous and utterly useless for them to throw themselves about in Buch a violent and eccentric fashion as they were allowed to do last evening. Besides, if boats are racing abreast round the sharp bends, it is impossible for the coxswains to steer properly while at every stroke they are straining every muscle in their young bodies in order to bring their noses in sharp contact with the bottoms of the boats.