The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1882.

Kumara Times, Issue 1659, 23 January 1882, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1882.

Householders are reminded that the annual election of members of the Local School Committee will take place at the State School this evening, at 8 o’clock sharp. The District Court, Greymouth, was opened this morning, Judge Broad presiding. The Argus informs us that “ the business on the list is one criminal case, Reg. v. Cahill, indecent assault ; and the following civil cases Martin and others v. County Council of Westland, Warner v. Gird wood and another, Shannahan v. Kane, and Ah Fow v. Rose, an appeal from the Warden, There is also some probate and bankruptcy business. Mr William Payne, master of the State School, Ahaura, died on Friday last, and was buried yesterday. He was, we are informed, sixty years of age, and well known and widely respected. Messrs MTlraith and Beaumont, the Commissioners appointed by the Chamber of Commerce to examine the proposed line of railway to the West Coast, handed in their report to the promoters on Wednesday last. It is understood that the general tenor of their, report is unfavorable to the floating of a public company for the purpose of constructing and working the line, on the ground that the enterprise is not likely to prove remunerative for years to come. The most obtuse and dlinderheaded : policeman in the whole habitable globe was a witness in the Supreme Court, Dunedin, yesterday, the Times states, and through his peculiarities was kept in the box several hours, needlessly protracting an already most wearisome case. Even ; the Crown Prosecutor lost patience and j observed of him, with justice, “he is the ! worst witness I ever saw in a box, and the biggest fool who ever wore a policeman’s uniform.” Mr Weldon’s feelings were so pained by the exhibition his satellite made that he left the Court, and Sergeant Sevan seemed to wish he had the constable under him in the army, so that he could be drummed out. That policeman’s lot will not be a happy one while he remains in the force.

The drawing for the long published? Grand Art Union at Hokitika of books, pictures, Ac., is positively to take place to-morrow evening. The Press Agency at Dunedin has thought it sufficiently remarkable to telegraph all over the colony that “a member of the Waikouaiti Rifles did some extraordinary shooting whilst firing for the district prizes. He failed to hit the target in 21 shots. ” It might have been as well to have given the name of the rifleman who has so distinguished himself, as would probably have been done had he made a wonderful score. As it is the company get the discredit; Mr Peter Muir, of Springston, noted for the magnificent crops of wheat he grows, is now cutting a crop which surpasses all his previous productions. The crop stands between six and seven feet high, the ears are from four to six inches long, and number from sixty to one hundred grains in each ear. This is one of the finest crops ever grown in the district, and competent judges estimate the average yield at from sixty to seventy bushels per acre. Was there ever a dull seasdri without the big gooseberries so dear to the journalistic stomach ? The South Canterbury Times is the first to be attacked this time. Here it is “Mr Nicol, of Goodwood, Otago, has a gooseberry bush 57 feet in circumference in his garden. Can anyone beat that ?” The telegraph wires in operation in New Zealand are 9587 miles long, bringing in a revenue of £83,000. The Colony of Victoria has 6875 miles of telegraph wires in operation, yielding a revenue of £85,000 ; New South Wales, 18,689 miles, with a revenue of £84,000. A late London cablegram states that a barmaid of Spiers and Pond’s Criterion Restaurant, Piccadilly, recently committed suicide. At the inquest it transpired that she had been seduced by Lieutenant Ponsonby, a naval officer, and' that she committed suicide in consequence. The jury censured Ponsonby, and he has since been dismissed from the navy. Another message states that Trickett speaks of following Hanlan to England, where a sculling match has been arranged to take place on the Thames on the 20th June, between Hanlan and Ross, Hanlan having already left New York for the purpose of training on the Thames. The 31st October being All Saints’ Day, the Paris cemeteries were as usual thronged by crowds laden with wreaths of flowers, statuettes, and emblems of various devices destined to do honor to the memory of the dead. The graves of departed political leaders and of men famed in art, science, and literature were, as is customary, profusely decked. A few days ago (says the Home News of the 18th November) the banking-house of Walker and Co., Zurich, was broken into, the safes forced, 75,000 fr, in cash, and all the negotiable securities taken away, and all the other securities and the greater part of the books burnt. On the following morning the bank closed its doors, and the incident is giving rise to unpleasant surmises. A felt want will soon be met by the publishing of the New Testament with the Authorised and Revised Versions in parallel columns. Such an edition has already appeared in America, and 40,000 copies of it have been sold. No doubt this universal interest in the New Testament is in part curious and critical, but it is also a gratifying sign of the times.