NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2136, 29 December 1880, Page 1

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Rhgatta DAT Exotjbsion.—The staamer Titan will run excursion trips round the harbor next Saturday. City Council Emotions.—Tl« following were nominated to-day for the vanoancy in the North-Weßt ward, caused by the election of Cr. Q-apas as Mayor:—Messrs J. P.Oliver, J. Bowman, Q. W. Treleavan.

Eabt Ohbistohuuch Piobon Flyino Club.—The following are the acceptances for the races to be flswn under the auspices of the abore club on New Tear's Day 1881:—Champion Race, from Dunedin to Christchurch, 233 miles Messrs Ashby's Bruiser, G. Bryonton's Postboy, P. Taylor's Land Agent and Governor, F. Williams' Crusader, J. Hick's First Xing and Stormbird, R. Fowlke's Blair Atbol and Blue Villian. Maiden Plate, from Rolleston to Ohritchurch, for birds that have never flown in a race before—Messrs R. Fowlk's Chippendale and Queen Fisher, A. Walker's Fashion, J. J. Parker's Stonewall Jackson and Joan of Aro, W. Ashby's Blueskin, Progress and Seabird, F. Williams' Firefly, Mite and Faun, G. Bryenton's White Squall, and BlackJ Squall, P. Taylor's Lotty and Stranger.

Chbistchubch Cabmen and thb Railway.—ln the course of a trifling oase against a cab-driver at the R.M. Court this morning his Worship took occasion to compliment cabdrivers and the Railway authorities for, as ho said, the admirable arrangements madt for the convenience of travellers arriving by railway, for the good order observed by the oabmen, and their attention and civility to their customers. The cabman appeared to misunderstand what was said, for he hastened to observe that " That was not their (the cabmen's) fault." His Worship only replied "Perhaps not," and there was a general laugh. Accident AT Kaiapoi Isi,and.—On Monday, a lad named George Fox, about seventeen years old, had his right leg broke in three places by a horse which he was riding falling dead. He lay for some time before assistance came. He was attended by Dr. Ovenden, who reduced the fracture. Some time ago Fox had his left leg broken. O.Y.O.—The various oountry contingents of the above force arrived in Christchurch yesterday, and, in company with the Christ, churoh troop, proceeded by road yesterday afternoon to Bangiora, where they will be put through three days' drill instruction by Drill Instructor Dundas. The force was under the command of Captain Slater and Lieutenant Wilkin. The Bangiora head quarters are at Roberts' Junction Hotel. Thb Aljbukton Fibb Brigade.—An excellent concert was given last Monday evening in the Town HaU, Ashburton, by the above brigade in aid of their funds. After the performance there was a torchlight procession through the town to the brigade station, where there was an excellent display of fireworks, the novelty of whiih attracted, literally speaking, the whole town to the scene. Addinqton Biblb Chbistian Sunday School.—The anniversary of the above sohool was held on Sunday and Monday last. On Sunday the Rev. J. Orewes preached in the morning, in the afternoon appropriate addresses were given by the Revs. J. Orewes and J. Wilson, and in the evening a sermon was preached by the Rev. J. Wilson. On Monday the ohildren had their annual treat in a piddock kindly lent by Mr Vincent. During the day various amusements were indulged in for physical exercise, &0., and all seemed thoroughly to enjoy themselves.

Prebbytkey of Christchukch.—A pro re nata meeting was held in St. Andrew's schoolroom on Thursday, 23rd insfc., at. half-

past, ten. Sederunt—Rev. W, H. Horner Moderator, Revs. Fraser, Hill, Cairns, and McCallum. Messrs Charles Young and J. Clark appeared as Commissioners from the Kuupoi Kirk Suasion and congregation. Mr Cairns stated that the committee of the Kai'ipoi Church had agreed to reeognißO thoir obligation to pay their late minister, Rev. W. S. M'Gregor, balance of stipend duo to Lim, as defined by the Presbytery, and to pay the same as soon a? practicable. Authority waj asked for and given to Mr Cairns, Moderator of the Ktiiapoi Kirk Session, to moderate in a call to a minister, it being stated that the sti pond would bo not less than £250 per aunuuu Iho meeting closed with prayer,

Thb Woundbd Man Kbbuison.—No change either for better or worse is perceptible in this ease.

U.A.O.D.—The half-yearly meeting of the Athehtan Lodge, No. 112, was held last evening at the Lodge-room, .Royal George Hotel, A. D. Bro. O. Tomson presiding. There was a very large attendance of members, nearly all being present. One person was initiated as a member, and one was proposed. A considerable amount of business was transacted, and the receipts of the evening amounted to upwards of £25. The lodge was closed in the usual manner at 11 p.m. Board of Oonsbbvatobs.—The first meeting of the newly-elected Board of Conservators took place yesterday, and was of rather a longthy character. Mr J. L. Wilson was elected chairman, and visits to the Waitnakariri works and those at the Rakaia were arranged. Thbatbb EOYAii. —Professor and Madame Haselmayer repeated their clever performance last night at the Theatre Royal, when the various items on the programme were excellently carried out. To-night a change of programme is announced, and on Friday the first matinee performance, in addition to the usual evening one, will be given. Pionebe Bicycle Club.—The monthly committee meeting of the above was held at headquarters last night. Present Messrs Farr (captain), Dalton, Hubbard, Allison, Fox, Searell, Norris, and Clarke, hon. secretary. The minutes having been read, the programme for the olub races, which will be held on February 20th, 1881, were arranged as follows:—One-mile club handicap race, 100 yards slow race, three-mile open handicap race, one mile novices' race, ten-mile open handicap race, and one-mile consolation race. These races will be held on the new course off the Ferry road, where some good time may be expected. It was decided to ask Mr 8. P. Androws, M.H.8., to act as handioapper. The runs for January were also fixed as follows : —January Ist, for Lyttelton Regatta, at 8 a.m.; Bth, Xaiapoi; 15th, Tai Tapu; 22 nd, Springston ; 29th, Sumner. The meeting then adjourned. Rbbident Magistrate's Cotjbt, Ashbtjbton. —At the above Court yesterday, before J. N. Wood, Esq., R.M., Arthur O'Neil was charged with the larceny of a watch the property of Robert Macintyre. The evidence wont to show that the prosecutor, O'Neil and their wives were working together on the 15th of March, 1879, stacking oorn in one of the prosecutor's paddock. Macintyre laid aside his vest, in the pocket of which was the watch, and when he took it up again the watch was milling. On the 12th of November last, a man named Thomas Bradford sold the watch to Mr James Quinn, watchmaker, Aehburton. Mr Quinn informed Macintyre that he had got a watch answering the description of the one Macintyre had lost. Macintyre recognised it as his property. Bradford stated on oath that he found the watch in Macintyre's paddock, and the ooly evidence to connect O'Neil with the disappearance of the watch was that of a man named James Porter, who stated that O'Neil offered to exchange iwatohes with him in July, 1879, and that the watoh produced was the one O'Neil had then in his possession. Mr Branson, who appeared for the defence, animadverted strongly on the evidence of Porter, and said that it bore on the face of it the brand of a conspiracy between Macintyro and Porter. His Worship said there was not the slightest evidence against O'Neil, and he was consequently discharged. Huhxihq A Bicycle.—A correspondent writes to the Bombay "Gazette":—"The following incident which I witnessed on the evening of the 26th July, will probably serve as a warning to bicyclists. While driving down > Dadur road in my dogcart on the evening in i question, I heard the cries of natives howling in a most alarming manner behind me. I turned round and great was my surprise to see a young man on a tall bicycle flying along at the rate of about fourteen miles an hour, with an infuriated bull, head down and tail erect, a few yards behind. As the bicyclist passed my dogcart I heard him cry out * Help!' I pitied the poor fellow, for I could see the bull gaining ground, and apparently nothing could save him. On went the bioyele, but now the bull was only about one yard behind. Suddenly, with surprising skill and dexterity, the rider turned his bioyele round, and as quick as lightning was going in the opposite direction to the bull, amid the cheers of hundreds of natives, who could not help admiring the address of the hunted youth. Alas ! a worse fate was reserved for him. A herd of buffaloes suddenly turning a

corner of the road, received him, not with

opsn arma, but with lowered horns. There waa a cry, a groan, and all was over; the beautiful bicycle, which a few seconds before waa flying along at railroad speed, was now no many pieces of steel, and the rider, bruised, out, and bleeding, lay looking at the wreok." Thb Late Mb A. Beid. —The friends of the late Mr Alexander Beid have republished " The Cabinet," tbe manuscript journal he wrote on board the Groat Britain during her paßßage to Melbourne in 1861. In the frontispiece of the little volume is a photo-lithograph of the very handsome memorial which stands in the churchyard of Wick, the birthplace of the late Mr Beid. Then follows a sketch

of the journalistic career of the deceased. Says the writer :—" Widely known as an able journalist, who not only wrote with a rare power, and in his lighter moods with a fine sense of humor, but who scorned to advocate any cause unless he was convinced of its justice, he had been so fully occupied > in the engrossing duties of his profession, in which, to apply an expression he used about an attached friend, 'he always strove to give the wholesome thoughts of a gentleman,' that it is impossible to find among his writings anything that adequately represents hia powerful and cultivated intellect, and generous disposition." The monument forma a conspicuous object in the Wick new oemetery. It consists of a pillar about 18ft. high, based on a solid foundation of three courses of granite. This is the inscription r—" In memory of Alexander Beid, journalist, a native of Wiok, who was accidentally drowned, from s.s. Taupo, in Oook Strait, New Zealand ; born, 3rd June, 1834; drowned, sth March, 1878, Erected by a few personal friends in New Zealand." Addington Bazaar. The bazaar now beiDg got np to provide funds for the purchase of an organ for Sit. Mary's Church, Addington, and which it was intended should be held next mouth, has been postponed. It is now fixed for Baster Monday and Tuesday, and will be held in some central place in town. Bingsland School Treat.—The Bingslnnd United Methodist Sabbath School will hold their annual treat iu Mr Flesher's paddock, Avebury, New Brighton road, on New Tear's Day. Tea will be provided for adults in the afternoon. The parents of the scholars and friends of the church are cordially invited.

Telephonic Concerts. —The first of a series of telegraphic concerts, under the supervision of Mr W. G. Meddings, will take place this evening at St. Patrick's Hall, Barbadoes street.

Benefit.—A. complimentary benefit to Mr J. Gardner will take place on Wednesday next at the Academy of Music, when the troupe known as the Comiaues, which has already achieved a considerable local reputation, will appear. Sydenham Pkesbytebian Church.—A Eoiree in connection with the opening of the above church will be held in the hall on the Show Grounds on Thursday next. A meeting will be held in the church afterwards, when addresses will be delivered and musical selections rendered by the choir.

Mr Hoskins has been playing Shakespeare in Melbourne. The following is the opinion of the "Leader's" theatrical critic on the performance of the " Champion Farwellist." "Nothing could be more inert andcolorless than Mr Hoskins' Touchstone. It had neither force nor characterisation. The motley was eliminated, and nothing was left but the lean and slippered pantaloon, so that the audieno enjoyed little of Touchstone but his name. Mr Hoskins, no doubt, won his laurels in the past, and well deserved them, but t seems a cruel mockery at this period of his existence to put him forward in leading parts, even though ho may, in what now seems bordering on tho legendary period of dramatic history, have achieved success in them. ' Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.' Thia is &n old reproach against papular favorites who cling with tenacity to the footlights. W« do not desire to derogate one jot from the merits of Mr Hoskins, either in tho p»Bt or present, nevertheless wo think his Touchstone one of the sorriest spectacles we have ever witnessed on tho stage."'

A qualified judge—Squiro Horsonail, M.P. (who has been inspecting the board school) *' Well, good-by, children. Yer reads well an' yor spells well, but yer haint sot still!"— " Putsch." The Czar has become bo nervous that the sound of a wash boiler falling down stairu at ■t'dnight will raise him out of bed before it strikes the third floor.

Mr Jeffersoa haa been playing Bob Aorea in Philadelphia to crowded houses.

M. Benan, it is said, intends loon to begin writing a history of the Jews. The work will comprise three or more rolnmes. _ Nebraska theatre audiences are unconventional in their oondnot. At Lincoln, while John T. Eaymond was presenting the trial scene in "Colonel Sellers," two dogs began to fight in the centre aisle. All attention was instantly diverted from the stage to the fight. I more we snspend proceedings in this court, taid Baymond, " and I'll bet a dollar on the white doe." " I'll take yon," cried a man m the andience. The white dog won, the dollar was pasßed across the footlights to the star, and the aoting of the play was relumed.

The Sooteh Education Department has reP i°'ij ed l ° Parliam ent that the number of children of the echool oge —namely, from five years to thirteen was ascertained to be 620,254 at the last census, from which it advanced in the seven years to 645,076; and the schools ia Scotland provide places for 40,000 more children than there are to be educated.

The French Aoademy has distributed its annual prizes for virtue. Four hundred dollars each were awarded to a woman in humble life, for adopting deserted children, and to an artisan, for forty years' devotion in saving lives from fire ; to a peasant for preserving lives from drowning ; and to a widow, for fifty years' services to the sick and needy.