The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1878.

Kumara Times, Issue 596, 26 August 1878, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1878.

A special meeting of the Borough Council was held this afternoon, seven members being present, to consider the advisability of the Mayor attending the meeting at Christchurch re railway matters. On the motion of Or. Blake, seconded by Or. Hanna, the meeting was adjourned until Friday next, at 2 p.m., in order that the Public Works Statement might be received and considered before taking any action in the matter.

We observe tlmt the sum of £232 10s appears on the Estimates, as a refund of License Fees to Publicans in the Kumara Special Licensing District. A paragraph that appeared in our issue of Saturday evening last, relative to the acquittal of J. C. Duffy at Greymouth, charged with embezzlement, was penned on what we supposed at the time so be an undoubted authority, our informant having left Greymouth after the sitting of the Magistrate’s Court there ; at which, we since learn, the accused was remanded to Hokitika.

We understand that nearly one thousand signatures have been attached to the local petition for urging on the Government the desirability of constructing the Greymouth and Amberley railway. A complimentary concert is to be tendered by the lovers of ancient Gaelic music to Mr John Coughlin, the celebrated performer on the Harmonic Union Pipes, as a mark of respect by many who have heard those melodious strains, so characteristic of this ancient instrument. The full programme will appear in a few days. Palmerston is .agitating for an additional policeman. At present the Municipal Councillors and others have to assist the only constable stationed there to convey drunken men to the lock-up.

“Augur,” in the Australasian, does not appear to think the New Zealand horses in the Melbourne Cup have much show, for he does not even name either of them among twenty-two from which he expects the winner to turn up. He concludes by naming First King, Chester, Savanaka, Calamia, Swiveller, and Emily, one of which will probably furnish the winner. Meiita is now a very hot favourite, having come with a rush from 100 to 3 to 100 to 10 in one day. In a cricket match played at the Grange ground, Edinburgh, between an Eleven of Edinburgh and Eleven of Glasgow, the former made the greatest aggregate score ever made by an eleven in one innings, viz., 692 runs. The first day’s play produced 415 runs for the loss of five wickets. Tall leather hunting, this. A contemporary cautions its ladyreaders, when they are dressed in velvet, against sitting down on cane bottomed chairs. Mrs. Fanny Kemble once, when she found a chair provided for her at one of her readings in the West, turned upon the leadingcommittee-man a basiliskglance, and exclaimed, “ Man, do you wish to give my best velvet gown the small-pox 1” It ie stated that the theatre at Pompeii was recently opened with the following announcement : —“After the lapse of more than 1800 years, the theatre at tliis city will be re-opened with ‘ La Figlia del Reggimento.' The manager solicits a continuance of the favour bestowed on his predecessor, Marcus Quintius Martins, and begs to assure the public that he will endeavour to equal the rare qualities displayed by his predecessor during his management.”

Salt-water drinkers are to be met with in the Paumoton Islands of the Pacific, where there are no brooks or springs, and where the wells which have been dug yield only brackish water. The vegetation is limited to a few cocoanut-treea, of which the milk, with sea-water, constitutes the only native drink.