NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1895, 20 March 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

To-Day’s Issue.—The reports of the City Council, Sydenham Borough Council, and Mutual Benefit Building Society, also the Vital Statistics and the report on the Native Land* Court, held at Kaiapoi, will be found on our 4th page. District Court. —The following cases are set down for the District Court on Monday:— Bluett and Co. v Craig; MoGuinness v Healey ; Smith v Matson and Co.; Gallagher v Matson and Oo.; Kernan v White; Malloy v Thompson. City Council. —At a special meeting of the City Council, held last night, the members passed certain resolutions with reference to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Bill proposed to be brought in by the Government.

Sydenham Borough Council. —Tho ordinary meeting of this Council took place last evening, when a good deal of routine business was disposed of. A report of the proceedings appears elsewhere.

Autumn Meeting. —Owners are reminded that general entries, final payments on the Great Autumn Handicap, and a payment of 3 sovs. on the Champagne Stakes, are due before nine this evening. Railway Benefit Society. —At a special general meeting the Railway Employes Benefit Society, held on Thursday evening, Mr Wm. Shaw in tho chair, Dr. Campbell was elected by a majority for the ensuing six months as medical officer to tho society.

Oddfelowship at Leeston. —Some time ago an attempt was made to establish an Oddfellows’ Lodge at Laeston, but for want of funds and proper management the effort fell through. Another attempt is now being made, and already sixteen have promised to join, and application has been made to the District Lodge at Christchurch, through the Southbridge Lodge, requesting permission to open a Lodge. Mr Jameson, who is the prime mover in the matter, has called a meeting for Saturday evening, to be held at Spring’* Hotel, when it is expected that the numbers of those willing to become members will be largely increased,

What thb Queen has Down.—Very remarkable changes have taken place during the forty-two yesrs’ reign of Queen Victoria. She has outlived by several years every Bishop and Judge whom she found seated on those benches in England, Scotland, and Ireland. She has witnessed the funeral of every Premier under her, except Lord Beaoonsfield and Mr Gladstone. Not a single Cabinet of her uncle and predecessor’s day now survives. Of the members of the Privy Council who sat in June, 1837, to administer to her the oath, only four survive. She has received the homage of four Archbishops of Canterbury, four Archbishops of York, and of five Bishops of Chichester, Lichfield, and Durham successively. She has filled each of the Chief Justiceships twice at least; she has received the addresses of four Speakers of the House of Commons. She has entrusted the Great Seal of the Kingdom to no less than nine Lord Chancellors. Thb French Railway System. —M. de Freycinet’s proposed increase of the French railway system seems likely to be soon bearing fruit. According to a recent report of the Minister of Public Works, it was decided in the last Parliament to proceed with the construction of between 11,000 and 12,000 kilometres of now lines, which, roughly speaking, will thus be divided among the different systems : —Nord, 796 kilom.; Est, 2549 ; Quest, 2335 ; Orleans, 2341 ; Lyons, 1962 ; and Midi, 2126, Traffic between France and other countries is, or will be, abundantly served by 40 international lines, of which 29 are already at work, and 11 have to be made. When all these lines are finished Prance will have communication with Belgium at 22 point?, with Germany at seven, with Switzerland at six, with Italy at three, and with Spain at two.

The Dangers of Electricity. —Owners of gas shares have been sorely exercised during the last eighteen months through the rapid strides Mr Edison has made with his electric light. Many have quietly gone and disposed of their shares, but a reaction is now setting in, and all kinds of rumors are afloat in the old country respecting the dangers of electricity. The “ Home News ” says the dangerous character of electrical machinery has been proved by the disaster which has befallen a man who has played with it: — One of the musicians at a theatre in the North was foolish enough to take hold of the two brass connections, and received the full shock of the current generated by the powerful battery which lighted the stage with the electric light. The unfortunate individual was unable to disengage himself, and was almost instantaneously rendered insensible. The doctors arrived and did their best, but in spite of restoratives the sufferer died within the hour. The same journal then goes on to stats that it must be remembered that awful things wore prophesied of gas when first adopted, but adds that the prospective horrors were illusionary— so may it be with the electric light. A Faemeb’s Enemy. —Mr John Rankin, who rents a portion of the Strathkellar estate, and whose crops have suffered severely from the grubs, has (states the “ Hamilton Spectator ") taken the trouble to collect specimens of the insect plague in its various stages of development, and by keeping on hand individual specimens has been able to watch the transition of the caterpillar into the grub, chrysalis, and moth. He says that the insect in its most destructive form is a small lightbrown caterpillar, which, after committing depredations upon the oats, changes into a dark brown grub, about an inch and a-half long, which is found buried in the earth, and whose habits are nocturnal. This grub afterwards becomes a chrysalis, which in course of time developes into a handsome looking red fly, with bright blue wings, and a long doubleforked tail. The fly as it grows older changes its appearance considerably, and eventually comes to resemble a gad-fly or “horsestinger.” Mr Rankin is now waiting to see what sort of eggs the creature will lay, and then after watching the process of hatching he will have completed his investigations into the whole circuit of developement. An “ Awful ” Sell. JEgles in the “Australasian” says:—As two passengers were stepping from the train at the Hobson’s Bay Railway station, one of them picked up a coin from the floor of the carriage. “Halves” cried the other. “ Finding is keeping ” said the man in possession. Near the carriage door was the stationmaster, who looks at things from a serious standpoint. ‘ Anything found in the carriages must be handed over to the railway department,” said he. To this the finder gravely, but positively, demurred. The stationmaster insisted, and offered to prove the correctness of his position by a reference to the by-laws. An adjournment was then made to the office to refer to them. Sure enough it was just as the stationmaster had said. Still the finder objected, and the faithful officer expressed his astonishment that after so clear an exposition there should be any further hesitation on the part of the holder of property acquired in this irregular way. At length, with an air of reluctance, and seeming chagrin, the finder said, “ Oh, very well, I suppose I must give it up. Here it is," placing in the hand of the stern but astonished official a penny piece. The vindicator of the by-laws looked more like a man who had lost a sovereign than one who had triumphed in discussion. He failed to smile. Sale ot Privileges. —The sale of the rights in connection with the Volunteer Review and Autumn Race Meeting took place yesterday at Cookson’s Hotel. The attendance was not nearly so large as on previous occasions, and the bidding under the circumstances was spiritless. Mr James Campbell, on behalf of Messrs. Acland, Campbell and Co., as usual acted as auctioneer. The following prices were obtained : —New stand bar, £72; No. 1 publican’s booth, £sl; No. 2 publican’s booth, £4B. All three were purchased by Mr E. Ravenhill, of the Oaveraham Hotel. The confectioner's booth was purchased by Mr Poole for £27, the horse yards fell to Mr Butcher for £l, and the right of sports to Messrs. Hobbs and Goodwin for £3O. It may be added that the right of sports does not include the totalisator, the club having made special arrangements for its working. The prices are in most respects scarcely so good as those realised last year. Mr Arthur Sketchley.— This gentleman had avery numerous audience at the Academy of Music last night, and kept them in an almost continuous burst of laughter. Mr Sketchley, as will be observed, pays a visit on Monday and Tuesday to Leeston and Lyttelton. A Mule that Wasn’t For Sale.— He was showing the man the new bay mule that he was working in a team with the old grey. ‘ You warrant him sound and perfectly kind and gentle ?’ the man said, ‘ Perfectly,’ said Parmer John. ‘My wife and children drive him, and he is a perfect pet. Comes into the house like a dog.’ ‘Easy to shoe?’ asked the man, ‘ Well, I guess so; fact is, I neyer had him shod. I don’t believe in it; he works better without it,’ replied Farmer John. ‘ How does he act when you put the crupper on ?' asked the man. Farmer John hesitated. ‘ Well, pretty good, I guess,’ he said ; fact is, I never put it on.’ ‘ How does it get on ?’ asked the man; “ who does put it on?’ ‘Well, I kind of don’t know,’ said Farmer John ; ‘ fact is, he .had the harness on when I got him,'an’ it flt him(,«p well, and he. seemed to be so kind o’ oorltented in it like, that I sort of never took it off’n him.’ ‘ And how long have you had him ?’ asked the man. Farmer John chewed a wheat straw very meditatively. ‘ Well,’ he said, ‘not to exceed more’n two year, mebbo.’ And the man backed a little further away, and said he would ‘ sort of look around a little further before he bought, like.’ And Parmer John never saw him again, not even unto this day. Theatre Royal. —There was no change in the programme last night. This evening the nautical drama of “ The Pilot” will be produced. The cast embraces Mr Hoskins as Long Tom Coffin, Mr J. P. Hydes as Captain Boroughcliff, Mr Boothman as the Pilot, and Miss Lizzie Lawrence as Kate Plowden. New scenery has been painted, a great feature being made of the sea scene with a full-rigged ship in full sail. The performance will conclude with the French melodrama, “ Robert Macaire.”

Pigeon Bay.—Tho s.s. Akaroa will make an excursion trip to Pigeon Bay on Good Friday, and will run to suit the trains, returning to Port the same day. Tickets may be made available for the following Monday, if desired. • Wesleyan Church, Colombo Road.— Harvest thanksgiving services will be held at this church to-morrow morning and evening. The Rev. Alexander Reid will bo the preacher in the morning and the Rev. J. S. Smalley in the evening. The evening subject will be “ The Religious and Political Aspects of Corngrowing.” I.EClUEß, —Professor Hughes will deliver his popular lecture on Thomas Moore at the Academy of Music this evening. As befere, the lecture will be interspersed with a choice selection of vocal and. instrumental music,