NEWS OF THE SAY.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1589, 24 March 1879, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Committee Meetings. —The finance and public works committees (of the City Council) met this morning, the business transacted being of a purely routine character. Tomorrow a meeting of the water supply committee will be held. Examination of Teachers. —The certificate examination of teachers commenced this morning. The Latin examination took place in the morning. The examination in Euclid and Alegbra was taken this afternoon. Templary, Lyttelton —The members of Sea Shell Lodge, No. 105, I.O.G.T., are informed elsewhere that the lodge will meet on Wednesday evening, in place of tonight. Railway Signals. —A very necessary addition has been made to the apparatus for the guidance of railway traffic at the Christchurch terminus. The two signal boxes, at Colombo street and the west end of the platform respectively, have been connected by telegraph, and a bell is fixed in each box as a means of communication, certain signals having of course been agreed upon to indicate the intelligence which it may be required to convey. The advantage of this addition to the works at the station will be obvious, when it is considered that heretofore a train running either way could not see the signals until it had got half way round the curve : now, by means of the electric bells, above described, the occupant of the first signal box at either end may be apprised of any interruption or danger on the line, and thus the chances of a collision are very much reduced. Resident Magistrate's Court. This day Elizabeth Carson was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with hard labor for stealing a watch belonging to T. Searell. In the case of Michael Ryan, charged with illusing a horse, it was found that the summons had been served on the wrong man. The information against J. Lynn for creating a disturbance in the White Hart Hotel fell through, the Resident Magistrate being of opinion that the charge did not come within the definition of creating a disturbance in a licensed house, but was rather a case for damages. Lyttelton Borough Council. The nominations for the seat in the Council vacated by Mr P. Cunningham closed to-day. Messrs William Holmes and William Reed were nominated. A poll will take place on April Ist. Carriage of Grain.— On Saturday last there were 20,000 sacks of grain on the Christchurch section of the railway. Of that quantity 11,000 sacks wore cleared today. Land Sale.— Messrs H, Matson and Co. offered at public auction yesterday, the block of land, with buildings erected thereon, forming a triangle bounded by Tuam street, High street, and Madras street. There was a large attendance when the sale opened, but the bidding was decidedly slow. The auctioneer being compelled to withdraw the first section, that at the junction of Tuam and Lower High street, for which the highest bid received was £24 per foot. The sale, which commenced shortly after two o’clock, was proceeding as we went to press.

Kaitangata Fete. —The hon. secretary begs to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of £4 from the jobbing departments of the Press office, in aid of the above fund; also from Messrs Hobbs and Hoodwin the remission of their account for bill posting in connection with the same. Several other tradesmen have also responded in a similar manner. Accident. —On Saturday last a boy of nine years, named Edward Cunningham, met with a serious accident which necessitated his removal to the Hospital. He was standing in a cart, while his brother was putting the harness on to the horse, when he pulled the reins under the impression that the bit was in the animal’s mouth. This caused it to bolt. The boy was thrown out of the dray, which was overturned on him, and broke his thigh. District Court. —His Honor Judge Ward to-day will deliver judgment in the case of Hofmeister’s Trustees v Marks. The case of Mason, Struthers, and Co. v Waller will be continued. The only other case for trial is Pepperell v Breeze. Of the other two cases, that of Miles, Hassal and Co. v Radcliffe, has been postponed for a month, and Fillman v Mullins has been settled by payment into Court. The Late Fete.—A general meeting of the committee under whose auspices the recent fete was conducted, will be held at the City Council chambers to-morrow evening, when the statement of accounts, &c., as far as is practicable, will be submitted by the hon sec. Those who wish to contribute articles to the art union can do so now, and they will be received by the secretary. Street Perils. —The Heathcote Road Board has erected along the East belt a series of highly dangerous posts, which will certainly cause accidents if not quickly removed. Their object apparently is to protect the channelling at the crossings, and for this purpose the posts, which are some eighteen inches high and six inches square, are planted at the corners almost two feet in the roadway. To see them in the dark is of course utterly impossible, and therefore it may be confidently anticipated that, broken kneecaps, overturned and smashed vehicles, and other thrilling accidents, followed by a crop of interesting actions for damages, will shortly be heard of from that district.

Supreme Court. —His Honor Mr. Justice Williams sat in chambers on Saturday, at 11 a.m. A lengthy cause list was disposed of. On Tuesday next there will be a sitting in banco, when the remanets from the last two sittings will be taken. The West Coast Railway.— Mr Blair, the engineer-in-chief for the Middle Island, will probably arrive in Christchurch this evening en route to the West Coast, to report upon the extension of the Northern railway from Amberley. The North Avon Drainage Works.— That portion of these works which the Drainage Board resolved should be done by day labor under their own supervision is making considerable progress along Kilmore street from the bridge to St. Luke’s Church, and the part of the thoroughfare between the bridge and Manchester street is consequently closed against vehicle traffic. When this portion of the street is completed the sewer will be carried on as far as Colombo street, where it will join the main sewer. Considerable difficulty has been experienced hitherto in the work just commenced on account of the course of the new sewer coming in contact with the old storm water sewer put down some years ago by the City Council under the supervision of Mr Walkden, the city surveyor. This, which was intended to carry away the storm water from the grounds of St. Lukes is evidently of a first-rate class of workmanship, being solid and substantial, while the cement employed is of so excellent a quality that it is harder than the bricks themselves. It is true that at one spot near the bridge there was a very small defect between, some few of the bricks, but a mere nothing to speak of. It has been found necessary to remove a considerable portion of this sewer as it is for some distance in the way of the new sewer. Where it has been removed it has been replaced by good solid pipes. The new sewer will be nearly two feet below the old one, being on an average at a depth of seven feet from the surface. The drain for the sewer has been carried some distance along the street, and the work will be preceded with quickly, there being now no went of bricks. It is expected that the line along the street will be completed in eight or nine weeks. The size of the sewer is two feet six inches deep, by about one foot eight inches wide, being egg shaped. Tho work in Madras street will probably he completed in the course of a few days. Wetherstone's Cement.—The Lawrence correspondent of the ‘‘Otago Daily Times” says : —“ The Weatherstones Company are now working night and day, and the stuff they are putting through the battery looks very well. The Premier Company (adjoining the Weatherstones) have called for tenders for the erection of a 10 head battery similar to the Wetherstones. Hands are to be put on at once to cut out a site for the machine. The Black Horse Company are pushing on with their permanent shaft, which is now down about 160 ft., but have not yet arrived at the desired blue cement. The Holden Fleece are down about the same depth. The Tuapeka Company’s shaft is down about 90ft., and they are now getting a little gold. The Dauntless Company are down about 84ft., the sinking giving great trouble in the shape of water ; about 80 gallons have to be lifted to one small bucket of cement. They are now working two shifts to try and overcome the difficulty. Tho cements appear to be of the right kind, and full of mundic. The Homeward Bound Company are down 70ft., being quite dry, and good sinking. The tenderers for sinking the Jeweller Shop and Derry Walls (amalgamated) have finished their contract—viz., 200ft.—which is now at a standstill, ponding further arrangements.” Georgia Minstrels.—The original Georgia Minstrels will make their re-appearance at the Gaiety Theatre this evening in an entirely new programme, comprising singing, dancing, and burlesque acting. City Council. —The usual weekly meeting of this Council will take place this evening. Decidedly Confusing —After reading the following clip from the “ Western Australian Times,” it will be allowed that residents in the place named may readily be excused should they get a little confused as to dates : —“Chatham Island, lying off the coast of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean, is peculiarly situated, as it is one of the few inhabitable points of the globe where the day of the week changes. It is just on the line of demarcation between dates. There high twelve on Sunday or Sunday noon ceases, and instantly Monday meridian begins. Sunday comes into a man’s house on the east side and becomes Monday by the time it passes over the western door. A man sits down to his noonday dinner on Sunday, and it is Monday noon when he finishes it. There Saturday is Sunday, and Sunday is Monday, and Monday becomes suddenly transferred into Tuesday.” Pulpit Eloquence.—Complaints are frequently heard re the want of pulpit eloquence in Christchurch, and, presumably, the local clergy are straining every nerve to introduce fire into their utterances. There is a medium in all things, however, and the following story, taken from a clerical journal, will illustrate our meaning. A clergyman, urged by his friends to be somewhat more impassioned, determined to make a grand attempt to show his congregation what he could do, if he was put to it. He started, and his hearers were thunderstruck at the roundness of his periods and tho fire with which they were uttered. He grew more and more eloquent; he was in his finest passage ; the sentences fell glibly from his fervent lips. Away he hurried to the impressive end, and brought his climax to a thrilling pitch by exclaiming, “ And Peter crowed, and tho cock wept bitterly.” His hearers all felt that, whatever excuse Peter might have for acting in that unusual manner, the cock might well take offence at the distressing misrepresentation of its peculiar powers.