The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1884.

Kumara Times, Issue 2589, 22 December 1884, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1884.

Our correspondent at Greymouth telegraphs that the steamer Star of the South, in trying to get into the Grey River this afternoon, against a strong current, is aground and in danger. Two disastrous fires, attended with loss of life, occurred during Friday night and Saturday morning. By a fire at the Catholic Orphanage, Brooklyn, a city at the west end of Long Island, near New York—(with which it is connected by a suspension bridge nearly half a mile long and 125 feet above the water) —twentyone children are known to have been burned to death, their bodies having been recovered, and ninety others are still missing. The other calamity occurred in the neighbouring colony of New South Wales, at a place called Narrabri, 320 miles north of Sydney. By a fire at that town on Saturday morning three persons are reported to have lost their lives, whilst the damage to property is estimated at £BOOO. This in a small town with a population of about 830 souls, will prove a great blank. The Rev. R. Heffernan, our new Church of England minister, last hailed from Narrabri. The following handicap for the big footrace to be run at the Christmas sports was declared to-day : 100 200 300 440 600 H. Greenwood ... scr scr scr scr scr Jos. Stenhouse ... 3 6 8 10 12 W. Hobbs 3 6 8 10 12 F. Smith 4 7 8 10 12 W. Surgenor ... 5 8 10 12 1G L. Morse 5 8 10 12 16 J. R, Stenhouse ... 6 10 14 18 20 F. W. Fell 6 10 14 18 20 M. Ryan 7 10 14 12 10 H. Adamson ... 7 12 16 25 35 W. Morgan ... 8 14 18 25 35 J. A'Court ... 8 14 18 25 35 J. Coutts ... ... 8 14 18 27 35 Acceptances, with 3s enclosed, must be paid before 10 a.m. on Friday, 26th December, to the Treasurer, Mr H. Burger. To-night at the Theatre Royal, the Rev. F. R. Seaborn will give popular readings from the works of great poetry and prose writers, specially from Poe, Southey, Sims, &c. The chair will be taken at 8 o'clock by D. Hannan, Esq., late Mayor. The Inspector of Asylums and Hospitals, Dr. Grabham, arrived unexpectedly by yesterday morning's coach from Hokitika. He proceeded immediately to the Hospital, where he met Dr. Monckton, with whom and in company of Messrs Nicholson and Campbell, he went through all the wards. Everything was beautifully clean and comfortable, and the chief things to excite remark were the new hospital bedsteads, recently made by MiHewitt. Dr. Grabham considered the j

moveable head-boards to be a very good contrivance, and mentioned that the wire netting stretchers, to which our surgeon is so partial, are being extensively adopted by a large manufacturer at Home. Dr. Grabham observed that the large ward was over-crowded, and pointed out to the committee-men present the necessity of preventing the space becoming occupied by improper cases. He again referred to partitioning off the Wardsman's room, curtailing one ward, and concluded his inspection by examining the case-book and separately interviewing each patient. Dr. Grabham proceeded on to Greymouth by the afternoon tram.

All votes of School Committees for four | members for the new Westland Education j Board are required to be sent in to Mr M. F. South, Returning Officer, on or before to-morrow. We observe the Blue Spur School Committee recorded their vote on Friday for Messsrs M'Whirter, Jack, Seddon, and Rose. Jacob Vandyke, who on the 12th inst., at the Upper Junction Hotel, North-East Valley, Dunedin, shot Mary Ann Wadsworth, wounding her slightly, and afterwards attempted to take his own life, has been committed for trial. Bail has been allowed, himself in £250 and two sureties of £l5O each. Vandyke is a gardener, who owns property at the junction and has resided there six years. He is a German by birth, apparently about 45 years of age. Miss Wadsworth is 17, and daughter of a dairyman well known in the district. Vandyke, it is believed, paid his addresses to her, and being accorded but slight encouragement, became jealous. i This is the only motive for the deed. In view of the possibility of some of the Kumara Rifle Volunteers going away during the holidays, and also to give some of the new members to qualify for capitation allowance, the monthly inspection of the Kumara Rifles will take place to-morrow evening (instead of the last Tuesday in the month), at the Adelphi Hall, at 8 p.m. Tenders for the several sludge-channel contracts are required to be sent in by noon on Wednesday next. All persons indebted to Mr D. Hannan on account of mining agency matters are requested to settle them on or before the 31st inst.

Mr J. J. Foster, the advance agent of Webb's Royal Marionettes, has arrived, and is making arrangements for the appearance of this talented company at the Adelphi Theatre on Monday and Tuesday evening next.

Applications are invited for the office of Secretary to the Greymouth Harbour Board. The Secretary will be required to give his whole services to the Board, the office being open to the public each day between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and from 2 till 4 p.m. He will be required to attend all meetings and committee meetings, conduct the correspondence, and do all necessary business of the Board. The salary is £250. The Secretary will have to give security for the faithful performance of his duties, to the extent of £250, either by Fidelity Guarantee or by a bond, to be signed by two persons to be approved of by the Board. Applications must be addressed to the Chairman of the Greymouth Harbour Board, Town Hall, Gresson street, Greymouth, and be sent in not later than 12 o'clock noon, on Wednesday, the 7th January. A Reuter's London cable in the Melbourne papers read as follows:—"It is announced that the Most Rev. Richard Chevenix Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, has resigned his see, owing to ill health." The following is the form in which the same message reached and was published in New Zealand:—"James French, one of the accused in the Dublin scandals, who was acquitted, has resigned the county inspectorship owing to ill health."

It is not generally known (says the Wellington Post) that Colonel Stewart, the tidings of whose sad fate in the Soudan reached us some Aveeks ago, was cousin of Mr George Veysey Stewart, the originator of the Katikati special settlement at Tauranga. In a letter to the Auckland Herald, on the tragic occurrence, M. G. V. Stewart says:— "The sad intelligence of my cousin's tragic death has just reached us. His death will no doubt be avenged one hundred fold, but it is indeed sad to contemplate that this gallant officer should fall a prey to treachery just at a time when the reward of his pluck and gallantry was almost within his grasp. It is only about a fortnight since his widowed mother received a letter from him, stating that he expected very soon to be back to his family." What is more acceptable as a Christmas or a New Year's gift than a faithful portrait of yourself ?—Tait, the photographer, is now in Kumara for a few days,—[Adyt.J I

Commander Edwin wired at 11.33 this morning : pected between west and south and southeast ; glass further rise, and colder weather."