The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1884.

Kumara Times, Issue 2398, 9 May 1884, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1884.

Jurors summoned to appear at the District Court at Hokitika, on Monday next, 12th inst., are informed that their attendance will not be required.

At a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday, a telegram from Wellington states, the case of Donohue, convicted at Hokitika of the Maori Creek murder, was considered, and the result of their deliberation has been forwarded to his Excellency the Governor. The fate of the prisoner will be made known immediately a reply has been received from Sir William Jervois.

Thr stoppage of the Oriental Bank was not altogether unexpected, as it had been in a moribund state for some time, owing to the depreciation of the silver currency and losses in the coffee plantations of Ceylon, where it had large interests. As a consequence, a cablegram to-day informs us, rapid and unexpected withdrawals of deposits at its Eastern branches followed, thus compelling the Bank to stop payment. It is expected depositors will receive 17s 6d in the £ ; and as the Corporation has large estates in the Mauritius, none but the shareholders probably will sustain any direct loss. The Bank had branches in Sydney and Melbourne, and had recently appointed a new general manager, Mr Brett, with the intention of placing its business on a new footing, and extending its Australasian operations, which have never been of any great magnitude. In New Zealand the Bank had no branches. In Ceylon and India the stoppage of the Bank would be likely to cause considerable excitement.

Ecclesiastes, or, The Preacher, said that “ There is no new thing under the sun.” These words his Worship the Mayor was also reported yesterday to have made use of on Thursday night, but that was a typographical error ; he said that it was an old saying that “ there is nothing in a name.” Yet perhaps when Ecclesiastes lived there was nothing new under the sun; but things are altering, and every day man is inventing or improving something or other. And, Avrites a correspondent, genius seems to have reached its highest climax in the inventive faculties of a miner or band of miners not one hundred miles from the borders of the Teremakau River. This party has a dam constructed for holding water for Avorking the claim, but as the supply of the liquid element therein is not at all times equal to their requirements, it Avas resolved to apply for the rigid to construct another race to bring into the dam another tributary of that essential ingredient, Avhich was to be found in a company’s race which runs, comparatively speaking, close by. When the enterprising spirits came to take levels they found that their dam Avas some 15 feet higher than the race. Here Avas a poser that would have staggered most ordinary mortals ; but one of the par ;} Avould not hear of so short a distance deterring them from obtaining the desired supply ; and, aft a little consideration oi the mailer, he proposed that they

should sink a shaft 40ft. deep, down which they should put pipes 2ft. in diameter, curved at the bottom, and connected with a pipe Ift. in diameter to be carried up the shaft and then on 15ft. higher into the dam, said individual having calculated that the pressure gained by the 40ft. x 2ft. fall would be ample to drive the water up the one-foot pipe 55ft. high into the dam. Accordingly the pipes were ordered and the shaft commenced. Now, as the genius who originated the idea intends taking out a patent for same as soon as he gets it into working order, and has made sufficient by it to pay the expenses of obtaining a patent for the same, our correspondent trusts that none of our readers will take advantage of our having published the modus operandi, and forestall the inventor at the Patent Office. Our correspondent adds that he noticed his grandmother, when filling up the teapot for tea, always looked at the spout to see when it was full up inside.

The report of the proceedings at the half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors of the Bank of New Zealand was held at Auckland, on Friday, 25th April. The net profits for the half-year ended 31st March, after full appropriation for all known bad and doubtful debts, and in reduction of bank premises and furniture accounts, amounted to £79,504 10s. The report and balance-sheet were adopted, in which it was proposed to pay a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, to give a bonus of 5s per share, absorbing £75,000 of the profits for the year, and to carry the balance of profits, £13,405, to profit and loss account.'

The quadrille assembly at the Adelphi last evening was fairly attended, considering the very short first notice. The music was conducted by Mr A. Miller. The assembly at Dillman’s was also well patronised. The following representatives have been selected to do battle for the Canterbury Chess Club in their match with the Wellington Club, to be played by telegraph to-night and to-morrow night, and next Friday and Saturday, 16th and 17th inst. :—Messrs Hookham, Jacobsen, Yeel, Moore, Horwood, Willis, Ollivier, Searell, Todd, and Peez. The following will be emergencies .-—Messrs Bull, Cuddon, sen., Smith, Woodborough, Sevan. The Wellington Chess Club has also received a challenge from Auckland to play a match at an early date. What are our Kumara chessists doing ? The attack on the prison at Cincinatti on the 28th March, cablegraphed to us at the time, is thus described in a San Francisco telegram ;—“A mob was suddenly formed to lynch a man named Berner, convicted of murder and sentencee to the Penitentiary for twenty years. The people thought the punishment insufficient, and sought to inflict the death penalty outside the law. There were over 10,000 desperate men assembled, who attacked the Gaol and Court House, attempting to fire both buildings by means of coal oil. The police and military resisted them, and the fighting on both sides was desperate. The second day the mob succeeded in destroying the Gaol and House, but previously Berner had been removed by an underground passage. During the fight 200 persons were killed or wounded.”