NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1348, 10 June 1878, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Sydenham Bobqu.gh Qomstpq*— The usual meeting of this Council take this evening. , Ranges Appoint^.—Martin Burns has been appointed a r»nger for the Canterbury district under tb« Protection of Animals Act, 18 ?3. . ~ , Bazaab- —A bazaar in connection with the United Methodist Free Church, Oxford, will be opened at the Town Hall, Oxford, on [Thursday, June 13th, at noon. Shipping.—The New Zesland Shipping Company have receiyed cable advice of the arrival at London of their ship Hurunui, from Wellington, all well, prior to the 7th inst. Railway Depabtment.—Mr J. Menkes has been appointed chief clerk in the Commissioner of Railways' Office, Chrietcburch, Mr F. Back general manager of the Christchurch section of railways, and Mr W. M. Hannay, assistant traffic manager at Christchurch. County Council Election.—The nominition, says the " Aahburton Mail," of candidates for election to the seat formerly occupied in the Ashburton County Council by Mr C. N. Mackie, will take place at the Road Board office, South Rakaia, on the 18th instant. A poll, if necessary, will be taken on the 37tb juetant,

Chbistchubch-Dunedin Railway.— The " Timaru Herald " hears, on good authority, that owing to one cause and another there ia very little probability of through railway communication being established between Christchurch and Dunedin before the end of August. Gbeyhounds.—The Ringarooma on Saturday brought two greyhounds from Melbourne for Mr Fisher of Christchurch. They are both fawn dogs of the celebrated Britain blood. Young Briton is a son of Britain, and Fire King is by Young Briton out of Little Fraud. Mail Sebvice to the Hubunui. —On Friday Mr F. Holder's man Derritt made an effort to cross the Waipara on horseback with the Northern mails, and at great risk was able to accomplish his object, and the public of the North are indebted to him for his pluck. On Saturday the communication by coach northwards was reopened. The rivers have fallen greatly. Ciibistian Recobd. —By advertisement it will be seen that the Rev. J. Elmslie is about to join the Rev. Lindsay Mackie, of Dunedin, in the editorial department of the "New Zealand Christian Record." We understand that the manager of this journal is at present in Christchurch making arrangements tor its increased circulation.

Stbeet Cbossings.—lt would be a great boon to all persons going to and from Christchurch railway station if a crossing was made over the South Belt from the end of Manchester street to the passenger station. During last week the muddy state of the belt has been a source of discomfort to many, and a crossing here would be of great advantage.

J The Late Mb Maples.—The somewhat v sudden death of Mr £. Maples, which took place on Saturday morning, will be learnt with regret by a large circle, especially by the cricketers of the province, with whom Mr Maples was more immediately connected. An ardent lover of the game, and at one time no mean player, Mr Maples took a deep interest in all connected with cricket. Outside of his cricketing friends he was much respected, and his death will be regretted by many. City By-Laws.—The complaints that have been made from time to time in the City Council of the lukewarmness of the police in carrying out the civic by-laws, seem to have had a stimulating effect upon the members of the force. In the course of Saturday last the names of over forty offending cabmen were taken by the constables on duty for driving rapidly round street corners. A considerable amount of disgust and astonishment was evinced by the cabmen at the unexpected action on the part of the police. Stbeet Sweepings.—At the meeting of the Drainage Board on Friday it was pointed out, that owing to the effective manner in which the street-sweeping machine did its work, an immense quantity of stuff must be carried by the side channels into the rivers, and it was resolved to communicate with the City Council on the matter, and suggest that a system of silt pits would to some extent mitigate the evil. We learn, however, that the municipal authorities have already had this subject under their notice, and a fortnight ago gave instructions to the city surveyor to construct silt pits at every point where they were likely to be of use in preventing the flow of the sewage mud into the river. Official Ignobancb.—An amusing in- ' stance of official ignorance occurred the other day at the Christchurch railway station. A ' visitor from Palmerston had purchased certain bacon which he desired to send by rail to Palmerston. On applying to do so at the i station, he was rather taken aback by being informed that it could not be done, because there was no station at Palmerston. He had ' the pleasure, however, of enlightening the ( official darkness by submitting a convincing reply in the form of a return ticket to Palmerston issued by the railway authorities . themselves. It is to be inferred from this occurrence that it is not regarded as a necessary part of the official routine to apprise the goods clerks when a new station is opened. It is respectfully suggested that even railway \ redtapism is sometimes susceptible of improvement, and that it might be improved in I the particular referred to. • The Longwood Reefs. —It is gratifying to note the steady interest still being maintained in the Longwood reefs (says the i "Western Star"). Mr M. Instone is endea- , vouring to float a company to erect a public battery. The spot proposed is at the sawmill, where the driving power is already on . the ground in the shape of a good water supply and a turbine wheel. Mr J. Taylor and party, who years ago prospected the range, have gone back to their old love since Hayes' discovery, and taken up a piece or ground five miles from the prospector's claim. A considerable quantity of very likely looking stone was brought down on Thursday from a drive which they prospected years ago. Gola is plainly seen in part of the stone, of which there is an unlimited quantity. The exact locality of the find has not been divulged, but it is understood it is in the direction of the Round Hill. There is now a considerable population on the ground, which will no doubt rapidly increase shortly. The Civil Sebvice. —The Wellington correspondent of the Hawke's Bay "Herald" thus refers to an oft-repeated assertion that Mr Carruthers ruled the late Ministry with a high hand, and that the firm action of the present Government has been the cause of the Engineer-in-Chief's resignation : —Mr Carruthers never ruled matters with a high hand. Fancy Mr Richardson, Major Atkinson, Sir Julius Vogel, and Mr Ormond being ruled by any Civil servants, however able. Can anything be more ridiculous than the statement, or anything more farcical than a set of Ministers being complimented on their pluck in over-ruling the wishes of a Civil servant ? The real fact is that all the stories of an Under-Secretary's league of rampant engineers and domineering Civil servants, is the purest fiction. All the Civil servants, with the exception of Mr Fitz Gerald and Dr. Knight, have always been most obedient to the Ministers of the day. Mr Fitz Gerald and Dr. Knight were specially appointed to act as a check on Ministers, to prevent a wrong use of the funds voted by Parliament. Now that so much of the public works policy has been accomplished, the huge engineering staff must necessarily be cut down, and it is highly probable that great changes in the staff will be made, but these changes have no connection with the imaginary insubordination of the Civil servants. In consequence of these reductions Mr Carruthers and Mr Higginson will retire with twelve months' pay. Alabm of Fibe.—About a quarter past eight o'clock last evening an alarm of fire was given by the Lichfield street bell being rung somewhat intermittently. The brigade were promptly on the alert, the hand-engine being got out in a very few minutes alter the alarm had been given, followed by the Extinguisher Are -engine. The engines were taken dow» Colombo street as far as the railway gates, but there being no indication of a fire, were at once brought back to the station. The Deluge, from the Chester street station, was also by this time near the spot where the fire was supposed to have broken out. The Fire Police under some of their olkcers were also out promptly, as were the mpmbers of the Constabulary. The fact of the brigade being unable to discover the fire induced them at first fco believe that the ringing of the bell was a practical joke. So strong was this feeling that Superintendent Harris expressed his determination to prosecute the offender, should he be discovered. It was, however, subsequently found that the alarm was perfectly genuine, the fire having occurred at the third house from Colombo street, on the South belt. This was a two-storied houpo occupied by an engineer of the name of Friend. Mrs Friend had emptied some ashes into a box in the scullery at the back of the house, and the heat from them ignited a quantity of matches which had accidentally fallen into the box. This blazed up and set fire to a meat safe and some wood-work. A carter named Whiter Cole, who is in the employ of Mr George Booth, seeing the blase, immediately ran to the fire boll and £Gunded the alarm. Meantime Mr Friend succeeded in extinguishing the flames by means of a few buckets of water. The damage, &» it is, can be repaired for a few shillings. The house is the property of Mrs fitratton, of Akaroa, and i» insured,

FoOTball.—lhe match on Saturday in connection with the Christchurch Football Club was Cricketers v. Boaters. Owing probably to the unfavorable state of the weather, the attendance waß not as numerous as on previous occasions, but those who did take part in the game entered into it with considerable spirit, and a capitally contested match resulted. During the first part the play was pretty even all round, but the cricketers finally proved too much for the representatives of aquatics, and when time was called at five o'clock the score stood in favor of the former team by four touch-downs to two force-downs, each try at goal being unsuccessful. Pbofosbd Eailway Thbough Centbal Austbalia. —It appears from the " Corowa Express" that the proposal which was brought under the notice of the PostmasterGeneral, for a railway from the borders of Victoria, through New South "Wales and Queensland, to Port Darwin, is the project of a wealthy capitalist, who is well acquainted with the country through which such a line would pass, and that if permission -were given for its construction by a private company, lie would be willing to take shares in the concern to the extent of £500,000. The name of the capitalist had not been mentioned, but it is understood that the gentleman in qveition has stations in all the colonies. The Domain Gabdens.—lt is high time that some stringent steps should be taken by the Domain Board with regard to the supervision of the public gardens, especially on a Sunday, unless they wish them to be tabooed to all respectable visitors. It is perfectly impossible for Mr Armstrong to cope with the rowdiness of the only visitors who now frequent the gardens, unless assisted by the authorities. The necessity is urgent for the attendance of a constable or two in private clothes of a Sunday afternoon, as the filthy language and rude behaviour of groups of disorderly half-grown lads is sufficient to deter any respectable female from running the gauntlet. Perhaps the Domain Board might take some steps by which the hands of Mr Armstrong could be strengthened. Bobough of Eangioba.—A great deal of interest appears to be taken in the election of the first councillors for the Borough, no less than seventeen candidates having been nominated. For the office of Mayor only one has come forward, namely Mr Henry Blackett, and he will therefore be declared duly elected on the 18th. Those nominated as councillors are—Messrs E. Aherne, C. Bourke, H. Boyd, W. A. Burt, G. Cone, B. Ellis, E. E. Good, E. H. Hanna, L. Hunnibell, J. Johnston, J. Lilly, John Luxton, J. J. Eobinson, S. Stephens, F. Thome, William White, and John Wheeler, and a poll will be taken on the 24th. For the office of auditors Messrs 0. J. Chapman and M. Whatman were nominated, and will be declared elected on the 25th. It is expected that a public meeting will be held at an early date, to give the burgesses an opportunity of hearing the candidates' views on public affairs. A DISCOTTBAGEMBNT TO LOAFEES. —A Wellington paper says : —The proceedings of the Divorce Court yesterday were listened to by a sparse audience of some half-dozen. It has been suggested that this faot is patent evidence that there are much fewer idlers in Wellington than in any other of the southern cities of the colony. While we believe the latter part of the assertion to be true in fact, we demur to. the reason given for the lack of attendance at the Court. This is due entirely to the wretchedly cold and utterly cheerless character of the building, which yesterday was as piercingly cold as an underground vault. The man who could stand in the Court yesterday and listen to even a Major Yelverton case would either require to have the heart of a lion or be as dead to feeling as a frog, and in either case would probably carry away with him the seeds of a " church-yarder." Stanmoee Eoad. —The evidence taken on Saturday at the inquest on the body of Eichard Houghton, who was found last Friday dead in a drain in the Stanmore road, proves the necessity of some steps being taken towards lessening the danger of this locality to persons unacquainted with the position of the drain. Although, as stated in the evidence, it is possible for a sober man unfortunate enough, say on a dark night, to fall into this open ditch, to extricate himself, still it is quite possible that a man not under the influence of liquor might, in falling, so injure himself as to be unable to get out again, and be suffocated in the muddy stream. In any case it is a matter that the Heathcote Eoad Board should attend to.