NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2183, 23 February 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Where He expected to oo to. —A little boy, aged about nine years, was this morning, at the Police Court, produced as Queen’s evidence in a case of housebreaking that had been done by himself and eight other small scamps. The offence, by the way, was not eo bad as ite title denoted, the house broken into being empty, and though a few articles of small value were taken by the boys, the affair eeems to have been more from the prompting of mischief than from any criminal propensity. The small witness being brought forward was asked by the magistrate if he understood the nature of an oath, and to explain the question said, “ Do you know where yon will go to if you now tell a lie ?” “ Yes, air, I shall be sent to Burnham,” was the reply. His interlocutor was not quite satisfied with the reply, but, under the circumstances, the oviden e was taken for what it was worth. Found Drowned. —lt will be fresh in the. memory of our readers that a little girl, about eight years of age, daughter of Mr Reese, of Oxford terrace, was reported as missing from her home on the 13 th February. This morning, as Constable Hill was on duty in Oxford terrace, ho discovered the body of the child in the river, about four chains above the boat shed, and fourteen chains below her father’s house. It is in a very decomposed state, owing to the length of time it has been in the water. The body lies at the depot morgue, and an inquest will be held, most probably to-morrow.

LabGß Occumbbes. —Mr Nanoarrow, of Colombo street, has bow on view at his shop a brace of the largest cucumbers we have yet seen. They are of the Marquis of Lome variety, grown by Mr Nanoarrow in his cucumber house, and measure about two feet in length, and of good diameter. Those are but a fortnight old, and certainly a very handsome brace of cucumbers. Sitndat-School Picnic. — The children attending the Sunday-schools in connection with St. Luke’s and St. Matthew’s Churches met at the former church this morning, and after a short preliminary service, at which the Revs. Messrs Lingard and Mortimer officiated, the children formed into procession, and walked to the Christchurch railway station, where a special train was in readiness to convey them to Hillsborough, where the necessary arrangements for the school treat had been made. The usual games inseparable from these gatherings were entered into with great zest by the youngsters, and the completeness of the arrangements, joined to the beautiful weather, rendered it a most successful anniversary, which was in no way detracted from by the profusion of good things provided by the liberality and thoughtfulness of several influential parishioners. Indnsteial Association; —A meeting of the Industrial Association was to have been held ot 7.30 last evening, but owing to the absence of a quorum those who were present adjourned shortly after 8 o’clock.

Road to be Closed. A notification appears in this issue stating that under the Public Works Act, 1876, application will be made to close the road passing through R. S. 319 a, on the bank of the River Cam, on March Btb, at the Court-house, Rangiora, and objections thereto will then be heard. Baptist Ohitboh, The usual weekly meeting of the Oxford Terrace Mutual Improvement Society was held in the above church on Monday evening last. About eighty members and visitors were present. The president, the Rsv. O. Dallaaton, occupied the chair. Mr E. G. Lewis read a very able paper on “ Moral Courage,” which was afterwards discussed by most of the members present. The chairman intimated that Mr R. Osborn would read a paper at the next meeting, subject “Justification.” The meeting then closed. «

Naval Station. —As will he seen from the chairman’s statement at the meeting of the Harbor Board yesterday, the Admiralty have addressed a series of questions to the Board, through the Collector of Customs, with respect to the facilities offered by the Port of Lyttelton for vessels of the navy to refit, Ac. Fortunately the Hon. E. Richardson was in a position to answer satisfactorily, and no doubt, now that the Admiralty authorities are aware of the advantages offered by the port, something practical will arise from the inquiries. R.M. Const, Ashbttbton. —At above Court yesterday, before Nugent Wood, Esq., R.M.,' a German named Sohumake was charged with stealing a pair of trousers on the Methven train. It appeared he took the article out of a fellow traveller’s bag during his absence on the platform of the carriage. He was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment with hard labor. G. J. Martin was charged with using abusive language to Brown, foreman of works under the Borough Council. The case arose out of Brown impounding a cow belonging to the defendant, and it was postponed until the charge of allowing a cow to wander at large was heard. On this case being called, it was found that the oow was described as a horse, and “ statute ” spelled as “ statue,” and on these grounds it was dismissed. Several borough by-law oases were heard. The Aeoha Mubdee. —The “New Zealand Herald” says : —The Russian Finn, John Proooffy, who has been arrested at Te Aroha, under suspicion of having murdered a young Maori, came out as a sailor on board the barque Dunloe, now in harbor. Ho deserted the second day after her arrival in port, and proceeded to Te Aroha, accompanied by a young man named Moore, a passenger by the same vessel. We learn from those on board that Proooffy was of a sullen nature, and rather quick-tempered. On one occasion the second mate and he had a dispute, resulting in a figtt with fists, and the mate administered severe chastisement to him. At that time he promised to use the knife to that officer when opportunity offered, but his comrades, being Britishers, discouraged any such proceeding. Pawning a Piano. —An unusual case occupied the attention of Mr McCulloch, Resident Magistrate at Invercargill, last week. Three young gentlemen bachelorising in town obtained from a local tradesman a piano on the deferred payment system. Shortly afterwards one of the number got into difficulties, and, making the acquaintance of his “ uncle,” obtained an advance of £35, giving as security, inter alia, the aforesaid piano. On his departure for another colony his erstwhile companions returned the piano to its original owner, against whom the accommodating relative of the departed one brought an action to recover it. According to the “ Southland Times,” Mr McCulloch ruled that the negotiator of the loan had no right to pawn the piano.

Shipping. —The New Zealand Shipping Company hat received advice of the arrival at Plymouth of their thip Op&wa, from Lyttelton, ahe having made the passage in seventynine days. This vessel left Plymouth on the sth of August last year, and consequently has accomplished the round voyage in six months and sixteen days, including detention in port. Value op Shares. —One of our leading brokers effected a sale yesterday of 350 shares in the New Zealand Shipping Company at par. It baa long been a surprise that the stock of this company should have been quoted so far below its value, which, however, can only bo accounted for by the understood fact that transactions have been few, and mostly enforced. With a reserve fund of I £75,000, and a steady dividend of 10 per cent, per annum, which the company has now been paying for some years, these shares should further rise in public estimation. Ancient Order op Foresters. — The usual fortnightly meeting of Court Star of Canterbury was held on Monday evening. There was a moderate attendance of members, and the routine business was soon gone through. The report of the sub-committee re Registrar-General's circular was read and received. The statement of receipts and expenditure of the uvenile court since its commencement was read, received, and adopted. Three now members were initiated, P.O.R , Bro. Bowen, of Timaru, assisting in the ceremony. A circular from the Working Men’s Club, calling attention to their entertainment on Monday, 28th inst., was read. The receints of the evening were £23 16s 6d. The Otago Cricketers. The Otago team of cricketers, with the exception of Hume, who leaves Dunedin to-day, arrived by the express last evening. They were met at the station by several members of the association, and were driven in a drag to the Royal Hotel, where they will put up during their stay. J. Loilh has taken the place of Harris, who was unable to come, and id. Leith is the emergency man. Harvest Prospects. —Reports of a rich harvest reach us from ell parts of the South, ern district. A paddock of 300 acres, belonging to Mr Studholme, of Waimato, has threshed out fifty-eight bushels of wheat So the acre. Mr Studholme has altogether over 400 acres of grain, and it is expected it will yield an average of forty bushels to the acre. Sixty bushels of wheat to the acre have been grown at Makikihi by Messrs Quinn Bros, North Kowai School Committee.—A meeting was held in the main schoolroom on Monday evening ; Messrs Douglas, Robertson, Purchas, McAdam, McNaugbt and Williams (chairman) being present. Miss A. Kitohingham being the only applicant for the post of mistress was recommended to the Board for the appointment. It was decided by ballot to vote for Messrs Inglia and Rev. Charles Fraser to fill the ordinary vacancies on the Board of Education and Mr E. J. Lee for the extraordinary one. Communications from the master, urging on the committee the necessity of having a division in one of the large roams, and suggesting a form for parents to fill up giving the reason of their children's absence from school were considered. The chairman was requested to remind the Board of the former, and a slightly modified form of the latter was adopted. In the absence of any tenders for cleaning the schools, the chairman was requested to make arrangements for having the main school looked after, Messrs Robertson and Purchas being requested to endeavor to got some one to undertake cleaning the side school.

Thbatbb Bota.li. — A very peculiarly constructed piece, entitled " Our Own Oorrespondent,” was produced at the Theatre Royal last night. The play is talky to a degree, and certainly is not calculated to place its author in the front rank of colonial dramatists. Mrs Hill did her best with the part allotted to her, which was but a sketch at the best. Mr Hydes, as a representative of the Fourth Estate, was peculiar. It is not often that one sees an attempt to pourtray that much-abased character, the newspaper man, on the stage, bat certainly as enacted by Mr Hydes it was as much like real life as the traditional stage Hebrew. His aspirations seemed to be entirely limited to laments for the flesh pots of Egypt, as represented by a hot petatoe can in London, and the notion of a “special ” doing the family history of a very uninteresting Hibernian family for the readers of the Thunderer at Home, was rather too far fetched. Certainly the members of the Fourth Estate have no reason to feel proud of the attempt to place them before the public in the person of Mr Erasmus Shorthand. Their faults are many, but even at their worst they never arrived at the pitch of mental imbecility as pourtrayed by Mr Hydes last night. The other characters in the piece call for no comment.

Thb Accident to Natatob,— Referring to the mishap to Nat at or the “ Morning Herald ” of yesterday says :—Wo are carry to say that the railway authorities cannot be complimented upon the arrangements made, or rather the want of arrangements, for the reception of the northern racehorses last evening. Ten horses came in four trucks. They were taken out of the trucks at the horse station in the dark. There was neither lamp nor lantern ready, and the only light afforded was that of a few wax matches. The result was that, in the confusion which arose in the darkness, Natator got away and went over two or three great pieces of bluestone. Some of those who had charge of the horses were very outspoken on the subject of want of proper accommodation, and one complained bitterly of the want of forethought of the railway officials. “They get our money,” said he, “ and that’s all they care for.” Such a complaint as that cannot be applied with justice to the Hallway Department generally, but there was certainly foundation for it in the instance which occurred last night. It was not till nearly all the horses had been got out that a lantern arrived.

Mbat Kxpoet.— The following prospectus of an Oamaru company, which it is proposed to form for the export of frozen meat from that port, is published in the Oamaru “ Mail ” :—“ Memorandum re association for carrying out a shipment of fat stock to England by the freezing process. It is proposed to engage a space (say 200 tons) in a ship of 800 or 900 tons for the homeward voyage from Oamaru to London, getting the ship fitted with the necessary freezing machinery, engines, &c., before leaving on her outward voyage. The association would erect a f reeling shed on the wharf at Oamaru for freezing the meat, which would be killed on the stations and sent to Oamaru by rail. It is estimated that a shipment could thus be made of about 4000 carcases of mutton, and that the results might roughly be estimated as on accompanying sheet. It would be necessary that a capital of, say, £4OOO be subscribed, viz,:—Freight and expenses, machinery, &e., £2000; cost of 4000 sheep, say £2OOO. Of this it would only be necessary to call up, say, £2OOO in cash, the balance being subscribed by the members of the association in fat stock at a price to be agreed on, the cost of the sheep to be a first charge on the proceeds of the shipment, and the surplus proceeds, if any, to be accounted for pro rata. The Messrs Campbell would make arrangements in England as to freight and fittings, &c., and engage an experienced man to come to New Zealand to take charge of loading the cargo, and to return with the ship, and would also make the best possible arrangements for disposal of the cargo on its arrival in London. Estimate—Freight space, say to 200 tons, £4, £BOO ; freight, coal and machinery, say £200; cost of coal, say £l2O ; cost and fitting up of machinery in England, cost of royalty and man’s wages in charge, £1000; expenses at Oamaru, freezing, and shipping, £600—£2720; less freezing machinery on hand, £6O0 —£2120; sale of 4000 sheep, say 561 b each in England, say 5d per lb, £SOOO ; giving the stockowners for the 4000 sheep, £2BOO. In the above statement it is estimated that one ton of space will store twenty carcases. This may probably be exceeded. It is also estimated that the skins and fat will cover the expenses of killing and railing the sheep to Oamaru.”

Miss Amelia B. Edwards’s “ Lord Brackenbury,” is appearing, in German, in Hallbergor’s “ Illuetrirte Bomane,” under the title of “ Die Branldiamanten, oder Lord Braokonbury.” The same author's early novel, “ Barbara's History,” is admirably translated into French.

Signor Salvini’s experiment of a bi-licgual performance seems to have succeeded immensely in Philadelphia, ■where his triumph rivals that of Sarah Bernhardt in New York. I have never heard a performance of the sort, so cannot judge of its effect, but I am sure that only an actor of the greatest power could safely attempt it, so that Signor Salvini's present success perhaps says even more for bis genius than his former triumphs in Europe and America, After the termination •f his American engagements, Signor Salvini will return to Europe, and will probably appear in London in May next, supported by an English company.

A great many tricks of stage coatnmo spring from personal defects. In whatever cut of waist Modjeska appears, there is always a bunch of dowers or a bow placed at the left of her open corsage. When this device is not resorted to, a little strap of silk will be trailed across diagonally, or a little fan of lace will suddenly spring from the left corner, in order to hide a scar on the breast that looks as if it might bo the result of a wound from a poniard, a “ souvenir of a romance,” Poor Lucille Western was afflicted by a birthmark. She was a regular female Esau. About tier waist there was a growth of silky brown hair which ran to a point in front. When it came above the tops of her dresses it was carefully shaved, bnt the skin always remained blue. So Lucille wore a huge cross dangling just over that portion of her anatomy. Parepa Rosa had a deep vaccination soar far down her robust arm, and when her sleeves were very short, a knot of ribbon or a trail of dowers used to cover it. Before she grew so extremely stout she wore a golden band above the elbow to hide it, bnt when her armlet had to be as big as a waistcoat she abandoned the oddity. One night, speaking of this soar to an American girl, who sat in her dressingroom, the Yankee offered Parepa an immediate and effectual concealment of the offending spot. She took one of the candles off the toilet table, and holding it above the arm, let one drop of the melted wax fall upon the place, and there was no further need of concealing devices. A dash of desh-tinted powder completed the cure, and Parepa’s make-up box far ever after contained a bit of wax candle.

That wonderful old actress “ The Green Bushes,” Celeste, is said to have been the dret to introduce realism in stage accessories. To create an effect she brought her own beautiful collection of porcelain, &0., upon the stage, and with great success ; but so many things were smashed by the scene shifters that she did not repeat the experiment. In the accessories of the table realism has long been in vogue in the Oomedie Frangaiee, both in the ancient and modern repertory. When acting Provost never drank anything bnt the dneat Bordeaux; Monrose wonld sooner have resigned than cut up an articulated wooden chicken ; Mile. Mars would never use artidcial dowers. In “ L'Assommoir” and “ L'Ami Frits” a heavy dinner is consumed. That old violins occasionally fetch very high prices is a matter of notoriety, and the increase in value of these instruments during recent years is truly extraordinary. A few years ago two or three hundred pounds was a high price to give for a violin, hut only a short time since a violin fetched £SOO, and now Messrs Mahillon, of Brussels, announce a violin, “ Antonins Stradivarius Oremonensis” of 1736, at the extraordinary price of 22,500 fr., or nine hundred pounds sterling. They will probably get it, for the vendors guarantee its genuineness, and the violin is unique of its sort. For it seems likely that this is the very instrument mentioned by Fetis as having been made by the veteran and signed at the age of ninety-two. On the violin mentioned by Fetis, Antonia Stradivarius had himself written his age, “ Anno sstatis 92,” and this is ndeed the only clue we have to it.