NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2250, 14 May 1881, Page 1

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Good Tbmplae Enteetaxkmbnt.— One of tbe most successful open lodge meetings held in this city took plaoe in the Templar Hall on Thursday evening. The entertainment was under the auspices of the New Victory Lodge. The hall was crowded, and the chair was occupied by Bro O. M. Gray, District Deputy. The programme comprised songs by Sisters Stirling and Pollock, and Bros. Olarke end Woodard; readings and recitations by Sister Delamare and Bros. Grant and Wood; duets by Bro. Grant and Sister Stirling, and by Bro. Clarke and Sister Stirling ; a scene from the “ Two Bonnycastlcs,” by Sisters Clarke and Stirling, and Bros. Clarke, Grant and Wood; a scene from the “ Serious Affair,” by Bros. Olarke and Woodard, and Sisters Olarke and S'irling. The “Fisherman’s Glee" and “ Proud Nan," by the choir, wore very fairly rendered. Original rerses on the wreck of the Tararua and on the New Victory Lodge were road by Bros. Wood and Olarke respectively. The success of the meeting was attributable in a great measure to the indefatigable efforts of Bro. Olarke. Votes of thanks to the performers and to the chairman concluded a pleasant evening,

Thb Hast Family at Lbbstok.— This talented troupe of variety artistes appear at Leoston on Monday evening, having engaged the Town Hall for a short season. The performance will take the form of a drawingroom entertainment.

A.O.D.—The usual fortnightly meeting of the Lyttelton Hearts of Oak Lodge was held in the Foresters’ Hall on Thursday night. Thirty candidates were duly initiated by A.D. Bro, Gillies, assisted by P.A. Bro. Hildyard. Consultation.—Mr Thomas McDonald, of Lyttelton, announces one of those events on the Handicap to be run at Timaru on the 24th instant.

The Town Clock at Poet.—The Lyttelton town clock, for the lighting of which public opinion at the port has been strongly in favor for some time, is to be illuminated for four hours every night in future.

Db Simms’ Lecture.—Last evening Dr Simms gave a lecture on courtship and marriage as the closing one of his instructive and amusing course in the Congregational schoolroom. Largo audiences have given undivided attention to these lectures, which have been original end edifying. Masonic,—At the usual monthly meeting of the Canterbury Lodge, 1048 8.0., last night, a resolution was passed instructing the secretary to forward a letter of condolence to the surviving relatives of the late Bro, Dr. Donald Campbell. Theatrical,—The opening night of the Carden company has been fixed for Tuesday evening, when Mr end Mrs Carden will appear in “ Olancarty,” supported by an excellent company. Amongst those who will support Mr and Mrs Carden may be noted Miss Jenny Watt Tanner, Mrs Lachlan McGowan, Mr Arthur Elliott, &c. The opening piece is one which has achieved considerable success in England and elsewhere, and no doubt, as the company comprised under Mr De Lias’ banner is one which should commsnd public support, the season will be a success.

Telegraphic.—We (“ Daily Times ”) have received the following notices from the Tele, graph Department:—“ The telegraph station at present known as Qrahamstown will in future be designated Thames.” “From and after Friday, I3th inst., the extra charge of 6d levied on messages to and from Akaroa will be discontinued.”

Peimititb Methodist.—lt ii notified by advertisement that the Eer, J. Ward wiU preach to-morrow evening in the Primitive Methodist Church, Cambridge Terrace, near Colombo street bridge, with reference to tho Tararu'a disaster.

Fibe at Ashbttbtok. —A. fire took place in Ashburton yesterday morning about 2 o'clock which completely destroyed the Central Temperance Hotel and Messrs Baker and Brown'* coach-factory. The origin o£ the fire is unknown further than that it broke out in the kitchen of the hotel, and was discovered by a boarder named Lawry, to whose activity and promptitude the saving of several lives is duo. Mr and Mrs Watt, who leased the hotel from Mr James Baker, were absent from town, and the servant was left in charge of the house and the children, Lawry, as soon as he discovered the fire, proceeded at once to rescue the children ana the servant, in which he succeeded, but failed to awaken a boarder named Daly, who went to bed under the influence of drink on the previous evening. Constable Neil being made aware that Daly remained still in the building rushed in and succeeded in dragging him out through the window. The constable deserves the highest praise for his plucky action, as but for him Daly would have perished in the flames. The fire brigade were very readily on the ground, but want of water rendered them less useful than they might have been. However, with the assistance of buckets, the fire was confined to the two abovenamed buildings, though at one time Mr Hicks' bakery and other houses were threatened. The hotel, the property of Mr James Baker, was insured for £3OO in the South British and £3OO in the Standard, and the furniture, which belonged to Messrs Friedlander Bros., was insured in the Union for £2OO. Mr Watt, the lessee of the hotel and furniture, lost everything belonging to him which the house contained, nothing being insured. Messrs Baker and Brown’s building was insured in the South British for £250, but the otook of carriages and the plant were uninsured, and, as a great part of them was destroyed, they estimate their loss at £350, The Taoto.—The “Daily Times’’ states that the South British Insurance Company had a risk of £7OO and the Standard Company one of £3OO on the gear on board the b.b. Taupo when she foundered. Reported Hold Reefs.—The reward of £SOO, offered by certain residents of Waimate to the discoverer of the first payable goldbearing quartz reef in the district, is about to be claimed (says the “ Timaru Herald ”) by » man named Eades, who brought into Waimate last Saturday a piece of quartz showing the precious metal, and which, upon being crushed in a mortar, gave a yield equal to half an ounce to the ton. The piece tested is stated to have been broken off the outcrop of a reef on the Waihao River.

Native Pebbbntation. —Mr Maloney, who hag lately been transferred from the Native school mastership of Waikouaiti to Hokianga, wag presented by the Natives with a silver watch and chain, suitably inscribed, before leaving Waikouaiti. Mr Maloney had been nearly sis years master of the school, and is to be succeeded by a Mr Green from Waiapn. Mrs Maloney, who bad shared in the labor* of the school work, was presented with quite an assortment of Native mats, baskets, omamenfi, &c. Thbateb Royax.—“ The Irish Detective " with which Christchurch playgoers are pretty familiar, was played at the Theatre Royal last evening. To night, “ The Streets of New York” is announced. Fiek. —Shortly after midnight last night the bells rang out a peal, and the members of the fire brigade were quickly in attendance. The fire was found to be in a gorge hedge in Tuun street east, and was extinguished without much damage. A great deal of credit is due to the members of the fire brigade for the prompt manner in which they responded to the alarm. Mb Saunders at Waiau.—On Thursday evening, Mr Saunders addressed some of the Cheviot electors at the Waiau Hotel, The meeting was not numerously attended. Mr Saunders spoke but briefly and answered a number of questions put by Captain Baylor and Dr. Waddel. At the close, a vote of thanks was unanimously agreed to. Passbngebs pob Sydney.—The demand for steerage passages for Sydney yesterday by the Union Company’s steamer Arawata, waa unusually active. For an hour before the steamer left, the office of the company was crowded with men applying for tickets, and no less a number than fifty-five were booked within that short time. The Taeaetia Disaster.—A meeting of those interested in the relief of the families of mkiitors of the Wesleyan Church lost in the Tararua wag held in the Kaiapoi Wesleyan church on Wednesday evening. Mr Isaac Wilson occupied the chair. The Rove. Baumber, Simmonds, and Mr J. Woodaddressed the meeting. A motion expressing sympathy with the families bereaved through the Tararua disaster was passed, after which a committee of Messrs Wood, Pashby, Blackwell, Turner, and Wilson, was appointed to collect subscriptions. A sum of £76 13s was subscribed, and it was estimated that £l3O had been collected in the Kaiapoi district. Maritime Disastbbb,—ln on article on the wreck of the Tararua, the “ Tasmanian Mail” gives a list of some of the maritime disasters that have occurred on the shores of Australasia. It says—“ Perhaps the worst was the wreck of the emigrant ship Oataraqui, on Ring’s Island, in 1845, when 414 lives wera lost. The Dunbar disaster at the Gap, near South Head, Sydney, in 1857, will be remembered by the fact that there was only one survivor, Johnson, out of 120 passengers and crew. Nine years afterwards, singular to say, he rescued the only survivor from the wreck of the steamer Oawarra, at the entrance to Newcastle, 59 persons being drowned. In the wreck of the steamer Admolla, on the trio between Adelaide and Melbourne, in 1859, there were 75 persons perished ; while the disaster that bofel the ship General Grant off the Auckland Isles in 1866, caused the loss of nearly 90 persons. Then there was the loss of the British Admiral off King’s Island in 1874, 79 lives lost; the steamer Gothenburg, wrecked in FJinder’s Passage in 1876, 102 lives ; and the steamer Dandenong off Jervis Bay in 1876, 40 lives.”