The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1573, 12 October 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1881.

The mail cojich from Springfield, with East Coast mails, left the Bealey at the usual hour this morning, and arrived at the Kuinara post-office at 3.20 p.m. The Wallace, which arrived at Hokitika was tha only shipping business at either porta yesterday. Madame Lotti Wilmot gave her first lecture at the Theatre Royal last evening. There was an attentive and appreciative audience, though small. The subject matter of the lecture, a fuller report of which appears elsewhere, was exceedingly iwteresting and might have boen listened

to with immense profit by numbers of young people who, unfortunately for themselves, were not present. To-night the subject will be " Melbourne by Day and Melbourne by Night." The lecture will commence at eight o'clock. We regret to state that Mrs Mackintosh's little boy, who was poisoned by taking potash from Stennard's browery (not the bre'wery near the Zigzag, as we were originally informed) still lies in a very precarious state, having eaten nothing since the day that he partook of the poisonous draught. The doctors have succeeded with the injection of a small quantity of beef tea, chicken broth, and port wine and egg beaten together, and hopes are still entertained of his ultimate recovery.

Kumara has broken out afresh in the matter of pedestrianism, as on several occasions of late young men have been met who seemed to be apparently vieing with each other in the length of their strides and pace of walking. Of these, two are now matched against each other for a three hours' contest at the Theatre Pvoyal, on Monday, the 24th October. Mr H. Jenkins is on that evening to concede Mr J. Coutts 20 minutes start out of the 180, and whoever covers the most ground in that time by fair walking ia to receive the amount of certain stakes which are to be deposited in full on Saturday next.

Whilst the Hokitika Evening Star of Monday contained an advertisement from Mr G. G. Fitzgerald, announcing to the electors of Hokitika his candidature for that district for the House of Representatives, thus opposing Mr R. C. Reid's candidature : in the West Coast Times (Mr Reid's paper) is inserted, presumedly from "a correspondent" at Wanganui, under date yesterday, the 11th, the following mystified telegram: Fitz Gerald anxious to stand for one of West Coast constituencies. He expected encouragement from Greymouth again, but was disappointed. He has received telegrams from Kumara and Hokitika and was doubtful which to choose. Bonar urged him strongly to try Hokitika, and says he can put him in. Others telegraphed not to be misled by Bonar."

The West Coast Times to-day contains also the following paragraph :—«' A formidable opponent to any candidate for this constituency, is being * requisitioned' at Ross. Our Ross correspondent informs us that a document is being largely signed in that town, asking Mr J. T. Petrie, (one of the Corsican brothers), to come forward."

In 1865 the numbers of letters sent through the post all over the world was estimated at 2300 millions. The available data for 1877 show that the postal correspondence had arisen to over 4020 millions. Europe contributed 3036 million letters to this enormous mass of correspondence, America about 760 millions, Asia 150 millions, Africa 25 millions, and Australia 50 millions. The length of telegraph lines, both by sea and land, in the world must be at least 437,500 miles, not reckoning the double, treble, &c, lines. The vital statistics for Christchurch for the month of September are returned as follows : —Births, 180; marriages, 30; deaths, 80.

It is Btated that there are no less than six hundred untenanted houses in Christchurch at the present. How sore the landlords feel at having to pay the Property tax upon them may be imagined. Miss B. O'Brien, for nine years housemaid at Stutt's Hotel, Melbourne, has married a Mr Shannon, worth £25,000. The Melbourne Argus proprietors announce that it is their intention to issue a daily evening journal. Preparations for the publication of the paper have been in progress for some time. They are now completed, and the date of issue is to be notified upon an early day. The name of the new journal will be " The Evening Mail."

The racehorse Waxy has been sold to Mr F. Wentworth, of Sydney, for £2200. The new owner has already backed him to a large extent to win the Melbourne Cup. We learn from the Field of August 6 that the great chess match between Blackbume and Znkertort-terminated in favor of the Prussian, with the excellent score of 7to 2, and 5 draws. Mr Zukertort's claim to rank as the first practical player of the day is now fully established. Since he went to England, in the year 72, he has slowly, and by hard work, risen to his present position, of which he may justly be proud. The golden sovereign makes less noise in the contribution-box than a pennypiece—principally for the reason that it i 3 rarely put in.

A foreigner in China can get a discount of one-third the price of purchases if he speaks the language. The Chinese have so great a veneration for their native tongue that they pay a tribute of 33 per cent to the foreigner who talks it. The extraordinary performances of Fritz Kapernick, the famous Berlin pedestrian, are attracting the thoughtful attention of scientific circles. While physiologists, physicians, and anatomists are speculating as to the secret of Fritz's unique physical powers, Professor Alfred Kirchoff, of Halle, the celebrated geographer compares his achievements with those of the historical pedestrians of the ancient Mexican postal service, known as the Tschaskis, and declares that he has proved himself to be quite their equal. The Professor continues :—" It is recorded, for instance, that the foot messengers constituting the Aztec post not infrequently traversed a distance equivalent to 385 yards per minute. This statement has generally been regarded as mythical, but Fritz Kapernick has demonstrated its credibility, for his race from Berlin to Potsdam has matched if not exceeded it." We may add that Kapernick, at the suggestion, it is said, of English sportsmen, has projected for the autumn a run of 2500 miles in six consecutive weeks. If this is accomplished it will be by far the most conspicuous example of human endurance in this direction on record.