The Kumara Times Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1886.

Kumara Times, Issue 3105, 15 October 1886, Page 2

The Kumara Times Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1886.

Mr Seddon on Tuesday telegraphed to the Minister of Public Works to know the position of affairs re the Hokitika-Grey Railway, as it had been reported here that the surveyors were against the proposed deviation. The reply -was that the plans of the proposed deviation had only just reached him, and he would take the opinion of the Engineer-in-Chief this week. The Minister also stated that "a competent officer from Wellington will come down to inspect the route and report, when the Cabinet will finally decide on the question." Mr Guinness, M.H.R., this morning kindly handed us the following telegram on the subject of the railway deviation : To A. R. Guinness, Esq., M.H.R., Grey. Replying to your telegram of yesterday as to the date of my visit to the West Coast, I regret that I cannot tell for a few days. Regarding the Hokitika-Greymouth Railway, the plans of the proposed deviation, surveyed at the instance of a West Coast member, only reached here yesterday, and I shall not have the opinion of the Engineer-in-Chief till next week, when I will wire you again." Edward Richardson. Wellington, October 9. Mr Gordon Harcourt will give his aciopticon entertainment this evening, at the Theatre Royal. Referring to this exhibition, a contemporary remarked that it "is one which has met with the highest enconiums wherever it has been produced. The pictures embrace views in different parts of the world, and many of the scenes are of historic interest. The statuary is very beautiful and excited great admiration, whilst the comic sketches introduced at intervals were mirth provoking in the extreme." In the absence for so long of public entertainments of any kind in Kumara, there should be a large house to-night. Commander Edwin wired at noon today—" Glass further rise. Indications of frost." The great race of the year of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club, the Caulfield Cup, a handicap of 1500 sovereigns, will be run on the Caulfield Course tomorrow. The race last year is memorable for the greatest racing catastrophe that ever occurred in the colonies, fourteen horses falling over or against each other in the race, one jockey and one horse being killed instantaneously, and several others severely injured. The Wallabi sailed on Wednesday morning from Greymouth, with a full load of coal, but had to put in at Westport yesterday through stress of weather. A number of stamps for the Government of Tonga are being printed by the New Zealand Stamp Department. The Bootmakei''s Union of Dunutliu has resolved to support the candidature of Mr Thomas Bracken for Dunedin Central. A nasty accident occurred recently to Mr Miles Dixon, the well-known bi'idge 2ontractor, of Nelson. The Mail states that he was dressing a piece of timber when his foot slipped and the adze in coning down severed two of his toes. How "le escaped losing his toot is a mystery. It ■\iii i"! viiiie mi.i. \>:urc Lo will boa/Wet; about. Mr Dixon was. enjvn.'pd in preparing the timber for the erection of an hotel at Flower's Flat, Owen River.

A. preliminary notice announces that an entertainment will be given for the benefit of the Church of England Sunday School, in the Theatre Royal, on Friday, the 26th November. The Waikato is not alone in its " Saurian Sensation." An American exchange says :—" The other day a stage driver and two tourists, while near Yellowstone Lake, claim to have seen an enormous reptile, which, while running through the grass, carried its head ten or fifteen feet above the ground. They think it must have been at least thirty feet long. A party was organised to pursue the reptile yesterday. A number of tourists, among them Captain Wear, Superintendent of the park, and his assistant, Captain Baronette, while near the. cave of an extinct geyser in the vicinity of the lake, ! heard a hissing sound coming from the cave, and saw the head of a reptile thrust out some fifteen feet, and immediately withdrawn. Parties are watching for another sight of the monster." The Sydney Morning Herald sides with the Cable Company in the dispute between the company and the New Zealand Government. Our contemporary hopes the Government will reconsider its decision and accept the reasonable proposal made by the cable company. Dr. Youl, the Melbourne Coroner, has held 12,000 inquests. A Home paper states that at the High Court of Foresters, the representative and supreme governing body of the order, held at Leicester, P. G. Dalby stated the various friendly societies of England were distributing £IO,OOO daily for sick benefits and funeral donations. The following comes from Ottawa (Ontario) under date July 27 :—An aged aunt of Joseph Goderiau, a French Canadian, died on Saturday, and last evening several friends of the family gathered at Goderiau's cottage to sympathise with them in their bereavement. After a while the mourners began to make merry, and a wild scene of hilarity ensued. A terrific thunderstorm arose, but none of the revellers noticed it. Finally a bolt came down the chimney. The coffin, which had been placed close to the fireplace, was ripped up as clean as with a razor ; the body was reduced almost to a cinder, while Eugene Gareau and F. X. Bauvin, who were standing near, were instantly killed. The rest of the partysome six or seven in all—were rendered insensible by the" shock, and it was not until late this morning that any of them recovered. When they staggered out and told the story to the neighbours it was hardly credited, but when it was fully realised the superstitions of the ignorant peasantry were aroused and not one would go near the house. Few persons perhaps are aware that they possess a pair of harps. They are called the organs of Corti, after their discoverer, and are located in the ear. They are estimated to have 8700 strings, being of course microscopic, and varying in length, from 1500 to 1200 of an inch. If you hold a properly-tuned violin near a piano when the E string is struck, the E violin string will vibrate and sound too; and so with all the rest. Now the 8700 strings of the human ear-liarp have such a wide compass that any appreciable sound is conveyed through the connecting filament to the auditory nerve, thence to the sensorium, and thus a knowledge of the sound is received by the mind. Mothers Don't Know—How many children are punished for being uncouth, willful and indifferent to instructions or reward simply because they are out of health ! An intelligent lady said of a child of this kind : —" Mother dont know that she should give the little one moderate closes of American's Co.'s Hop Bitters for two or three weeks, and the child would be all a parent could desire."