The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1404, 1 April 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1881.

More than usual interest appeared to to be taken in the proceedings of the Box’ough Council last evening, as the Town Hall was crowded, several strangers to the locality being present, who must have been highly edified by what they heard and witnessed. The report of the meeting appear in anothers column. The open season for shooting game in Westland commenced to-day and a number of sportsmen, or otherwise persons in the happy possession of a fowling piece for the time being, left town late last night for the lakes where ducks abound in numbers, but where the amateur sportsman has but little chance of even examining them except at a distance. It is surprising at what an early hour a number of pigeons met their death this morning to be in the market before daylight. The Court Minstrels will make their re-appearance at the Theatre Royal this evening, having, during their absence from here, been performing to very good houses in Hokitika. A meeting of the Phelan Relief Fund Committee as also their balance sheet, which lias been held over, will appear tomorrow. We would remind our readers that the next great race in point of interest to the Melbourne Cup—the Sydney Gold Cup—will take place on the 18th instant, and that early application for tickets in Gilbert Stewarts consultation on the event is necessary, as the drawing will shortly take place. Parents wishing to send their children to be educated at a private boarding school are referred to an announcement by a lady at Greymouth that appears in another column. The rateable value of the Borough of Oamaru, as amended by the assessment Court (according to the Times) is £53,871 10s being £4501 10s more than in 1880 and £4376 more than in 1879. The rates being 3s 9d in the £, will produce a revenue of £IO,IOO. The interest payable on loans amounts, we believe, to £11,200, so there is little chance of the rates being reduced this year. However, as the water rate, rents, gas profits, licenses of different kinds, &c., have to be added, the financial position of the borough may be regarded as being pretty good. The harvest which has just been gathered in by the farmers of this district (says the Marlborough Times) has proved an excellent one, though not by any means so good as might have been reasonably expected considering the very favorable weather that was experienced. Many of the farmers have suffered severely from the depredations of caterpillars, which in a few instances have almost totally destroyed promising crops. Had it not been for this drawback the output of the district this year would have been equal if not superior, to that of any previous year. The statement that the Great Eastern has been chartered for ten years to carry dead meat to Great Britain from the American seaboard on the River Plate is startling enough (remarks the Liverpool Mercury). The scheme is a bold one, as will be seen when we mention that its promoters calculate that beef of prime quality can be laid down in the United Kingdom from the Argentine Provinces at 3d per lb, and that they propose to slaughter the cattle on board from day to day as received, storing the dressed meat in refrigerators to the extent of from 10,000 to 15,000 carcases each voyage, all hung, and equal to from 3000 to 4000 tons of meat. The Great Eastern is 7000 feet long, and 24,000 tons burden. The first cost of the Great Eastern was £2,000,000; siie was constructed to carry 32,000 tons cargo, and 10,000 passengers ; her paddleengines were of 1200 horse power, and her screw-propellers 1700 horse - power • and she carried 21 boats. For list of prizes in a grand art-union at Hokitika see fourth page.— [Advt.] To those in search of merriment, visit S. S. Pollock’s, and obtain the great Irish song “The Babies in our Block,” or “Little Sally Waters”; price sixpence. [Advt.]