The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1332, 7 January 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1881.

A tea meeting in honor of the visit of the Ven. Archdeacon Harper will be held at Callaghan's this evening. Great preparations have been made in that little township for the event, and a number of persons left here this afternoon to take part in the proceedings. 'lThere was a capital attendance at the Thealtre Royal last evening to witness Thompson's Diorama of the American War. The various scenes, which are depicted frdm a Confederate point of ■view, are well painted, the perspection in some being admirable. The ventriloquial portion of the entertainment, by Lieut. Herman, excited the admiration of the whole house. The ventriloquist is one of the best we have ever heard, his lay figures being far superior in every way to those placed on the stage in an entertainment of this nature. Lieut. Herman was repeatedly applauded, the wonderful gift he has of changing the tone of his voice to suit the various characters being extraordinary. "Theßabies in our Block,'' as also *' Coming through the Rye," given respectively by two of the figures, were received with great applause. At the termination of the entertainment a ■distribution ■of some really useful gifts took place, the first prize, a silver watch, falling to Miss Mogdridge; and the second,, a handsome oil painting, to Messrs Pollock and Co. This evening there will be a complete change of programme as far as the ventriloquial entertainment is concerned, and one hundred and twenty prizes will he distributed.

We have received the following answers to the problem—"ln groups of three, how many times can the names of thirtynine horses be transposed T'— Finlayson,

71,884 ; "Dove, 12,996; Brown, 13,693; Watson, 4793 ; Williams, 117,892 ; Simmons, 9471 ; and Gill, 54,834. There is evidently room for improvement in some of the calculations made so far.

We understand that Mr James Rugg, of this town, intends very shortly starting a line of coaches between Kumara and Christchurch, so as to enable travellers from Greymouth to book from here direct for "the city of the plains." As competition always benefits the public, we have little doubt this new arrangement will be the means of greatly reducing the present fares. Full particulars as to the date of starting will appear in our advertising columns shortly. The South Canterbury Times is responsible for the following : —"A son of Mr W. G. Allen, of this town, was engaged the other day in the juvenile pastime of kite-flying, when he was rather astonished at a sudden change in the appearance of the tail of his kite, the appendage becoming visibly enlarged and of a densely black color. The youthful genius had read of Benjamin Franklin drawing lightning from the clouds, and, elated at the prospect of some woftderful discovery, he proceeded to explore the phenomenon by drawing in his flyer. His amazement, if not disappointment, may be imagined when, on reaching the he found that a young hive of fugitive bees were clustered to the apparatus. Bees, when swarming, select curious sites at time*) but this is the first instance, so far as we are aware, of a hive swarming on the tail of a kite in mid-air."

At the recent prize distribution at the Mount Cook School, Wellington, Mr Danks, one of the members of the School Committee, is reported by the Post to have made a most extraordinary speech to the lads by way of " encouragement." In this speech he told the boys how a woman, whose son had been discharged from the Telegraph Office, wanted her son to be "employed by him, but as he had been 'brought up to so useless a business, he coul& ¥iot '.give him employment. He also said if he found a boy coming to him for " a job, - *'' and knew Latin and such things, he wpnlA be *io use as a brassfounder. What 'Was "wanted was, for boys to study for trades, and never mind having dirty faces so leng as -they had money in their pockets. This was better than going to look for those " clean jobs," which are a " disgrace to oar comtfifi-fcity." He would like to see a number_of_Alu>TaggwimUi " vvjuar-aowii town and look for jobs," as they had enough schooling at the public expense. Generally, Mr Danks' remarks amounted to this—- " Keep your faces dirty, my lads ; get a ' job' of some sort which is not ' genteel.' Don't get employment in the Telegraph Office, which is a useless sort of thing as far as you are concerned ; and don't break windows during the holidays." What effect this will have upon the lads remains to be seen.

An enterprising American inventor (Mr G. H. Bell) has sent a plan of a rain tower to the Scientific American, by which he promises not only to produce rain when it is needed, but also to prevent it from falling when it is not desired.

The following remarkable example of the use of telegraphy in the capture of criminals is worthy of passing notice : "A man was ' wanted' in Norway on a criminal charge. The Norwegian authorities, after careful inquiry, had ascertained that the fugutive had left for Scotland, with the intention of taking passage by the first steamer sailing from Glasgow for America. The criminal had a start of two or three days, and not a moment was to be lost. At seven minutes before 7 o'clock p.m. a telegram describing the man, in about 40 words, was put on to the Norwegian end of the North Sea cable, which enters Scotland at Peterhead. There is a slight difference between the time at one end of the cable and the other. At four minutes before 7 o'clock the message had passed through Peterhead to Aberdeen, whence after translation, it was forwarded to Glasgow. The detectives of St. Mugo received the message a few minutes past 7 o'clock, and the next trans-Atlantic liner was to have sailed at 15 past 7 with the wanted man on board. Before the posted sailing time, however, the Norwegian was in custody, having been arrested on the steamer by the Glasgow detectives. It is a significant fact that within 30 minutes of the time of the despatch of the Norwegian telegram to this country a return message was on its way from Glasgow to Norway announcing the capture and safe custody of the criminal." A guest at a fashionable hotel took his seat at a dinner table, but no one appearing to wait on him he remarked, "Have you any waiters in this hotel 1" "Yes," responded a wag on the opposite side of the table; "the boarders are the waiters."