The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1334, 10 January 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1881.

The election of two councillors for vacant seats in the Borough Council was proceeding when we went to press, the candidates being Messrs William B. Galland, John Sambell Pearn, and George Simmons. There was not the least excitement evinced over the matter, and, in fact, it would have been difficult to know that an election was in course of contestation. The election for the remaining vacant seat will be held to-morrow, for which the throe candidates before mentioned and also Messrs Thomas Mogdrid«- e and George Stewart have been nominated.

At the Theatre Royal this evening, the Great Hercules will make his first appearance in connection with the Diorama now hein'g exhibited there. The gifts to-night wdll be on a scale never before attempted, the prizes not only being numerous, but many of them valuable ones. A splendid silver watch will be given for the best conundrum on ventriloquism this evening,

and \vo are requested to state that all those entering for this prize must hand in their coiiuftdfums before nine when a committee of three will be selected from the audience to determine the best amongst those forwarded. In connection with the Diorama we may mention that Mr W. S. Thompson, one of the proprietors, has, we observe, been home and at considerable expense obtained a large diorama of the late Zulu war which he is now exhibiting in Sydney with great success. To-morrow evening will be a grand fashionable night for th.e benefit of Lieut Herman, when several local amateurs have kindly given their services for the occasion, Mr David Williams, for one, appealing in his great Chinese impersonation.

We learn that Mr Capper, the postmaster of this town, has received notification of his removal to the office he formerly held at Cable Bay, Nelson. His successor, Mr M‘Dermid, is expected to arrive here shortly by the s.s. Kennedy. We are requested by the Secretary to acknowledge the receipt of £5 3s from Red Jack’s, and £1 from No Town, on behalf of the Phelan Relief Committee. There was a very large attendance at Holy Trinity Church this morning, in which the fair sex greatly predominated, on the occasion of a well-known resident taking unto himself a partner for life. The best man, however, probably affected by the unusual position in which he found himself placed, totally failed to take advantage of his privilege on the occasion, and it appeared for the moment as if the happy bride would leave the church without the orthodox oscillatory embrace. When just on the verge of entering the porch the omission was most ably rectified by the Westland County Chairman, who, with the gallantry of a cavalier of old, most courteously and effectively performed this addition to the legal ceremony, much to the amusement of the onlookers and the chagrin of the best man. The drawing of Hannah’s art-union of watches and jewellery will take place tomorrow evening, at the Town Hall. There are only a few tickets now remaining, for which early application is necessary. This incident occurred in a West England town some twenty years ago. An eccentric individual of the Ranting persuasion was in the habit every Sunday of perambulating the town at about 8 a.m., preaching as he went. At length scarcely anyone troubled him by listening, so one Sunday morning he got into a quiet street, and commenced shouting “Fire ! Fire ! Fire !” very energetically. Up went a dozen windows and “Where, where 1” resounded on all sides, “Below for sleepy sinners,” responded the holy man. Quick as lightning he had the contents of a • waterjug over him, with the advice to “ Take that and put it out.” From the Broad Arrow we learn that Sir Donald Stewart, at a recent meeting at Simla, paid a very marked and graceful tribute to the army chaplains in the field of Afghanistan. He related how he saw a certain Roman Catholic clergyman attending to the wounded in the fighting line of a British regiment ; and how he found another chaplain more energetically engaged in rallying with his stick some native cavalry who were endeavouring to execute a strategic movement to the rear. “This,” added the General, “was very good work. ” The Rev. Thomas Jackson, a missionary priest, especially distinguished himself at Khush-i-Nakhud ; he was present in the thick of the battle, and shared in the terrible retreat. To these might be added the name of the Rev. G. M. Gordon, who, though he was professionally a missionary to the natives, died nobly while filling his self-elected occupation as a volunteer array chaplain.

Au American contemporary, writing of the state of affairs in Ireland says “ The serious measure advocated by the Times was last put in force in 1871. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in a district in Ireland, and power was granted to the Lord-Lieu tenant to issue his warrant “for the arrest and detention, without trial, of any person whom he had reason to suspect of belonging to the Ribbon Society.” The effect of the Act was magical. The district named in it became as quiet as any part of Ireland. The Act expired in 1873, but its effects continued down to a late period. The long line of secret societies covered by it extended over a period of a hundred years. Towards the end of the last century the “Houghers,” so called from their system of proceeding by houghling cattle, extended their operations to the ham-stringing of British soldiers, by stealing behind them and severing the tendon Achilles with a heavy butcher’s knife. They were followed by the “ Terry Alts,”

“ Whiteboys,” and “Lady Clares,” and these by the Ribbonmeu and Molly Maguires, the latter society changing its locality from Roscommon -to America about twenty years ago. The Ribbon Society continued to flourish in Westmeath, Meath, and King’s County until the law made a vigorous crusade against it.”