The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1880.

Kumara Times, Issue 1057, 19 February 1880, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1880.

A meeting of the Borough Council will be held at the Town Hall this evening, at the usual hour. The attention of the County road overseer is directed to the state of the Greenstone road at the southern approach to the Teremakau bridge, as, in consequence of the beach gravel with which it is metalled not binding, taken in connection with the fact that an unnecessary gradient occurs at the same point, this portion of the road necessitates a heavy strain on the powers of the horses drawing vehicles thereover, which could be easily obviated at a slight outlay of labor. At a sitting of the Assessment Court held at the Greenstone yesterday before J. Mackay Esq., Judge of the said Court, the only objection heard was that of Messrs Keech and Malloy to the assessment of a pastoral lease at Lake Brunner which the Court allowed. We would draw the special attention of miners to a notice that appears in another ■cdhimn relative to the lodging of applications at the Warden’s Court when applying for claims, water-rights, privileges &c. Messrs Tait Brothers, the well-known photographers of Hokitika, have reopened their studio in Main street, where .they have now on view a splendid collec-

4inn:of -choice photographs, among which -we, observe many familiar faces depicted with, that life-like truthfulness and ex-pression-that goes so far to make a good portrait. As Messrs Tait Brothers’ stay is a very limited one on this occasion, those who are desirous of securing specimens of the photographic art should, by an early interview, avail themselves of this opportunity. The comet was first observed from Victoria on February 2nd. The nucleus was detected from the. Melbourne observatory on February 6th, but very faintly. The appendage increased from 15 degrees, to* over, 40 degrees. No good observations ‘ seem/yet?to. have been obtained of the nucleus, therefore the direction in which the comet is travelling, whether to or from the sun, is still a matter of uncertainty. Geneva papers last year predicted the appearance of a comet between the 27th January and 10th February, 1880, and as this prediction can only apply to a comet which has previously visited this system, it will probably prove to be identical with ! the comet of 1843, first observed from this hemisphere, and with which the present visitor seems to correspond in so many respects. According to the Wanganui Herald, the the new Strait cable will be landed about a mile north of the Wanganui Heads, and a cable-house erected there. A line of telegraph poles will be erected thence to the Wanganui office, carrying the connecting wires. It is anticipated that, owing to the excellence of the soundings obtained between Wakapuaka and Wanganui, and the slackness of the current, the new cable will wear many years longer than the cable stretched between Wakapuaka and. Wjellington, where the bottom is rocky and the current strong. A staff officer who was present at the battle of Ulundi tells of a curious circumstance which accounts not only for the small loss of the British troops, who were there drawn up in square, but also to some extent for the far greater loss of the Zulus who were armed with the MartiniHenrys taken at Isandula. These weapons they had tried, and, having observed that the bullet went farther when they aimed with the sight up, they came to the conclusion that the sight was a contrivance which, when raised, made the weapons shoot harder. Accordingly, on the day of Ulundi they one and all put up the sights of the Martini-Henrys to the extreme range of 1000 yards, and fixed them in that position with wax. The result was that most of their bullets went clean over the square, and many of them are believed to have reached their own men who were coming dowft to attack the other side of it.

There was great satisfaction in London at the news that Colonel Gordon had arrived safe at Massowah. There is no more dashing and distinguished officer in our service than Chinese Gordon, as he used to be called, Gordon Pasha as he is now better known. It is greatly owing to the personal gallantry of men like Gordon Pasha and the two Baker Pashas, men with the training of British officers and the adventurous spirits of knight-errants, that the English reputation stands so high in countries where the extent of British power is so little known.

The Bank of England stock of paid notes for five years numbers about £58,000,000, and their original value was over £2,200,000,000, and their weight over eighty tons. The notes fill 13,000 boxes, which, if placed side by side* would reach two-and-a-quarter miles, and were the notes placed in a pile they would reach the height of five miles ; or is joined end to end would form a ribbon 11,000 miles long ; while as regards their extent it is rather less than that of Hyde Park. An interesting discovery has recently been made at Chatham, in the shape of an old Dutch war vessel, one of the fleet which, under De Ruyter, raised such a commotion in London in the reign of Charles 11. by ascending the River Thames and for a time almost threatening the metropolis itself. This vessel, . now discovered in the operations for the enlargement of Chatham Dockyard, sank on her return voyage. Part of the guns taken from her have been sent to the gun factory at Woolwich ; the others will probably be handed over to the Dutch Government as interesting souvenirs. The Telegraphic Construction and Maintenance Company have recently completed the laying, for the Eastern and South African Telegraph Company, of a cable of about 2000 miles in length, with stations at Durban (the southern terminus), Delagoa Bay, Mozambique, and Zanzibar. Between Cape Town and Durban messages are sent over the existing land lipes. The remaining link re-

quired to connect the South African colonies in telegraphic communication with the rest of-, the world,, was successfully completed during the last days of December. At a dinner at the Mansion House, London, three foreign consuls were present, whom the Lord Mayor wished to honor by drinking their healths. He accordingly directed the toastmaster to announce the health of the “three present consuls.” He, however, mistaking the words, gave out the following :—“The Lord Mayor drinks-the health of the three per cent, consols.”