The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1879.

Kumara Times, Issue 970, 8 November 1879, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1879.

Monday next being observed as a general holiday, to celebrate the anniversary of the Prince of Wales's birthday, all the Government offices and the Banks will be closed, and also all the business places, as the Mayor has proclaimed a public holiday in honor of the occasion.

Mails for the United Kingdom, via San Francisco, per s.s. Australia, close at Auckland at noon on Tuesday, 11th inst.; and mails for Sydney, per s.s. Rotomahana, close at the same place, at 2 p.m. on the same day. By the Ohristchurcli coach, which passed the Bealey early this morning, there were six heavy bags of mails for Kumara but no passengers.

We would remind our readers that the entertainment in aid of our local Hospital will take place on Monday evening next, when the Hokitika Lilies will again kindly give their valuable services in Kumara. We may mention that the Adelphi Theatre in which the entertainment is to be held has lately undergone great improvements. The full length of the building i 3 now 83 ft by 32ft wide, the new stage being 20 deep ft with a clear opening in front of the curtain of 24ft. The height to the centre of the building is 25ft., with lGft walls. The whole of these alterations have been made personally by the enterprising proprietor, Mr J. H. King, who is deserving of great credit for the manner in which he has carried out the work ; and those attending on Monday evening next will, we feel assumed, bear out our remarks in this matter. Another great improvemnt, and one generally overlooked in these buildings, is ventilation, and this has been effected by four ventilators on each side of the Theatre, which can be opened or closed when necessary.

We understand that a special meeting of the Hospital Committee will be held on Tuesday next, to investigate the matter referred to by a correspondent in our columns last evening. From the holder of the ticket personally, we learn that Mr Leverie and Mrs Realini, of Goldsborough, are the fortunate winners of the second horse in Gilbert Stewart's late Consultation on the Melbourne Cup. This ticket we erroneously credited the possession of to Messrs Morse and H. Cameron, although doubtless they would not have felt the least offended if the statement had been a correct one.

The Calfornian correspondent of a contemporary writes : —"Australians will remember Michael O'Farrell, who attempted to murder the Duke of Edinburgh, near

Sydney, in 1808, and who was subsequently hanged for the offence. A brother of his, going under the name of Corbett, was arrested in New Orleans for an attempted massacre of Roman Catholic priests in that city. Corbett, otherwise O'Farrell, had been educated for a priest,

but falling from grace had not been ordained. He then joined vagabond crowd and another, until at MR he drifted into the Fenian Brothcrl. became crazy on the subject of Irish Independence, and during a tit of luv<;;-\ planned the massacre as above stated. T'ie whole affair came out when he V;:s arrested} although he claims the whole business as a joke: He has a sister who is superioress of a New Orleans convent. lii Belgravia Richard A. "Proctor shows that while it is theoretically possible trt construct a chess-playing automaton, it is practically impossible, because the machine would be necessarily eo enormous and complicated th£re would swateuly be room on the earth for it, and it ddtild not be operated. The number of different combinations that can be formed on a chessboard is approximately represented as 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 j 000, 000 ; and if a Workman can make and drill 1200 holes an hour, it would, to drill the requisite number" of holes in a metal plate for one automatic chess-boarctj require all the present inhabitants of the earth 100,000} 000,000,000,000, years! Therefore Mr Proctor thinks there will never be a chess automaton that can play a game, unless there is " Life in Other Worlds than Ours:"