The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1349, 27 January 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881.

i. :At * meeting pi the newly-appointed Local School Committee last evening, Milt. J. Seddoh was re-elected Chairman, and Mr Wylde was appointed Secretary* vice Mr A. C. Campbell, resigned, A rifle match between the First "Westland Rifles and Greymouth Rifle Rangers commenced on the Kumara rifle range this morning at 10 o'clock Tho conditions are .ten men a side, five shots at 200, 400, 500 and 600 yards ; Wimbledon targets and scoring ; stakes, £2O q, side. The following are the names of the re*pective teams :—Greymouth Captain Smith, Lieutenant Smith, Sergts. Hamilton and Rutledge, Corpl. Badger, Vols. Richarcbwty Heaphy, Boase, Moss, and Masters. Hokitika—Lieut. Learmonth, Sub.-Lieut Linstrom, Assistant-surgeon James, Sergeant Watt, and Vols. Paul, Green, Ross, Stennard, Oliver, and King. On Monday morning next, Mr James Rugg, of this town, will open his new

line 'of coaches between here and Chris,tchurch,fby starring: 'the first coach punctually at; 6 aAii gfior Springfield. The fares have to the smallest "■. payable amount', so as to enable desirous of enjoying a week's holiday, or or on business bent, the opportunity of visiting "the.city.of the plains" and other towns on the east coast, at but a small pecuniary outlay 1 . To commercial travellers this line should prove of inestimable benefit, as, by booking here direct, they will be enabled to at once secure their seats and place their samples on coach without the vexatious disappointment many of them have encountered when, leaving here via Goodfellows', they have found the mail 'coach from Hokitika crowded, and with difficulty have secured a seat for themselves, much less stowage for their luggage; As the greater the opposition the more the public will benefit, we -wish Mr Rugg every success in his new enterprise. Mr Thomas Maher, the coachdriver, who, recently met' with an accident in Wellington, is so far convalescent as to be able to get about, and it is to be hoped he will be able to get up to Foxton in the course of next week.

There appears to be some doubt as to whether the rowing match between Hanlan and Laycock is really for the championship of the world or not. The New York Clipper states that the articles for a match for 2500d01. a-side, the Sportsman's Challenge Cup, and the Championship of England, were signed at the "Sportsman's " office on the 13th November, half the stakes being deposited, but that a later telegram states than Hanlan objects to have the next race for the ship of the World take place anywhere else than on Toronto Bay, and that *the understanding between the principals in the present match : is that the title shall not be involved in the issue.

The following paragraph is taken from "Life," a London paper,;.—" Two officers are under arrest at,. Poona. One, the Honorable G. Vernon, 12th Lancers, appears to have committed the high crime and misdemeanour of attempting to pass the carriage of Sir James Fergusson, the Governor, near Sunesh Khihsa, having in his phaeton, a lady who was ill and wanted to get home. . The Governor's body-guard unlawfully endeavoring to interfere with Mr Vernon's horses, one of them got a cut with the whip, and for thio the lieutenant was placed under arrest. A gallant Major at Poona having a "difference on a point of etiquette with one Of the Governor's aides-de-canrp, also fcfund himself under arrest. Arid, as the Bombay Gazette says, ; 'this makes two of them.' Sir James Fergusson seems to think he is a very imperial' personage indeed."

Sir James Oldknow, the Mayor of Nottingham, Was aWoke by burglars in his bedroom; he gave chase, but unsuccessfully. The robbers had coolly ransacked several rooms, conveying all movables on to the lawn, and then going back for more, actually, intending to clear out the bedroom as well.

James Smith, a dog dealer, of Leadenhall market, was summoned by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He had been seen to take lip five King Charles spaniels, one by one, and bite off their tails. Smith "contended it was the general custom, and was performed on thousands of puppies yearly. He was fined Is and costs.

Joseph Hatton, the English journalist, now; visiting in Chicago,, is surprised at the laxity of justice in that country. He Bays:^"if-we commit wilful murder on •our side of the Atlantic, we are hanged to a certainty. In the United States, the xshances of escape are numerous. I have seen and met several murderers during the last few Weeks. One of them is quite a respectable man, and in a large way of business, not as a murderer, but as a speculator in corn,"

Dr. Talmage has been treating the people of Brooklyn to an extraordinary piece of florid oratory, describing the marriage of Adam and Eve. Thiß is the climax :—" The leaves whispered and the birds chattered, and laughing were the voices of the waters, for the king of the humah race was advancing with his bride the first man leading to the marriage altar the earliest woman. See now, God her father, steps forward and gives away the bride, while angels are the witnesses. Qh, wondrous wedding \ In the Book of Time an angel inscribes the record. ' Married, on the second Tuesday in May, of the year One, Adam, the first man, to Eve, the first woman, high Heaven officiating.'" The doctor has omitted one material point—the document was signed as a witness by " T. de Witt Talmage."

A ypuiig' woman, travelling on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, looked out of the window, aihd the next instant, the passengers, in the same colapartmgnt: were horrified by seeing her-flung back;' wards with part of lier head knocked off A train was passing at the time} the projecting lamp of which caused the accident.

One of the largest sheep farms in Rossshire, Auchnasheeh, is to be instantly converted into a deer forest. By: this means the country at large will have to import so much more flesh food every year; and so many scores of agricultural laborers will be driven out of glens they and their fathers have inhabited from time immemorial

The Contra Costra (California) Gazette of October 9, states that there arrived in that town a great equine curiosity, recently purchased in Arizona for John Sherman, Ygnacio Valley. It is a horse having a smooth dun or mouse-colored hide, without a single hair upon any portion of it. The animal is four years oid weighsabout 1,050 pounds, is finely formed and in apparent health.

Mark Twain, speaking of a new mosquito netting, writes :—The day is coming when we shall sit under our nets in church and slumber peacefully, while the discomfited flies club together and take it out of the minister;