The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1886.

Kumara Times, Issue 3125, 8 November 1886, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1886.

To-morrow being the anniversary of the birth of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and observed as a general holiday throughout the British Empire, there will be no publication of the Kumara Times. All mails usually despatched on Tuesdays will close this evening at 7.30. There will be a delivery of letters over the PostOffice counter between 7 and 8 this evening. The heavy rain this morning was not allowed to interfere with the Fire Brigades' competition at Greymouth. It will be seen by our report elsewhere that the Kumara team has been successful in securing first place in the three principal events, at which the members of the Brigade are naturally jubilant. After about fifty or more hours' continuous rain, the weather this afternoon showed signs of improvement for awhile, but at the time of our going to press is raining heavily again. The Hokitika mails had to be carried over the footbridge at Quinn's Creek, and arrived here about an hour and a-half after the usual time. The Teremakau and Saltwater Rivers were too high for the aerial car or tram-car to cross, and no mails have reached us from Greymouth to-day yet. The big flood in the Teremakau has carried away two of the dolphin-bays which acted as a protection to the bridge. Commander Edwin wired to-day at 12.31 p.m.—Bad weather may be expected between north-west and west and south ; glass further fall j but rise within 12 hours." The Volunteers and Band, some sixty in number, take their departure for the review at Greymouth at six o'clock tomorrow morning. The district order notifies that Volunteers are to be at the Tram Station at a quartet' before six o'clock. By the return of the direct mail steamship Tongariro, in which vessel Mr Marshall M'Cahon took passage home, we regret to learn M'Cahon is not likely to get any benefit in the way of restoration of his sight. Through the courtesy of Mr Seddon, wo are enabled to extract the following particulars from a letter received on Saturday from Dr. James, late of Hokitika. relative to r.his case. It is dated LM ■{ J;vou Itoad, Brth.loy, Middlesex, September 16, 1880: "My dear Seddon—A few days ago I saw at

Moorfield Ophthalmic Hospital j a man ! named Marshall M'Cahon, and I pro- i mised him that I would write you about him. I am sorry to say that for all practical purposes he is blind, and nothing further can be done for him. Mr Gray, of Melbourne, has done all that can be done in the way of operative surgery.—D. P. Jambs." The friends of Dr. James will be pleased to learn that he has been attached to the Royal London Ophthamic Hospital, Moorfields, for more than two years now, as one of Mr Kettleship's senior assistants. He intends devoting himself to the eye, throat, and ear; and he is going up shortly for final examination for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, which is the " blue riband" of surgery. The aforementioned institution is open free, daily, to the poor from 8 to 10 a.m. The Dillman Town quadrille assembly will meet at the Empire Rooms on Wednesday evening, at eight o'clock. A fire broke out at Mr James Stephens' International Hotel, Goldsborough, at two o'clock this morning, emanating, we learn, from the sitting-room chimney. The house was burned to the ground. We are informed that Mrs Stephens was reentering the burning building with the view of saving some £6O in notes from a drawer, but was pulled back, and not allowed to enter. Of course we are no* in a position to say whether Mrs Stephens was too venturesome or the person or persons who prevented her from reentering the burning building thought the risk too great; but the losb of so much cash, as well as house and nearly all its contents is a matter for much regret and sympathyThe premises near, being so close, must have had a very narrow escape. The Union Steamship Company, with their usual liberality, announce that during the months of December to March, inclusive, return tickets will be issued over the company's lines at reduced rates, available for return for three months from date of issue. These reduced fares have always in the past been largely taken advantage of, and there seems" no reason to doubt that they will meet with the same result this summer. There are still a number of persons at the Bluff (says the Southland Times) who believe that gold is to be found in paying quantities on the West Coast. During the last few weeks two parties have been busy putting their vessels in order for expeditions to that quarter. The first party, comprising five prospectors—viz., Messrs M. Burns, S. M'Clements, James and John Young, and James Burns, left the Bluff early on Friday morning in a large decked boat named the Surprise. They have taken six months' provisions, and intend prospecting the whole of the bays and fiords as far north as Milford Sound. Their small craft is very suitable for the work, as it can be easily propelled by oars and beached when required. They have gone to a good deal of expense to have a complete outfit, and we trust that they will meet with deserved success. The North Otago Times reports that a fatal accident occurred near Ngapara on Saturday night, 30th ult. While Mr James Rayne, of Ngapara, was returning from Duntroon to Ngapara the horse and spring cart he was driving went over the bank at a sharp turn of the road, and the side of the cart falling on his head must have killed him instantly. He was found next morning with the cart still lying on him, and the horse injured, but attached to the cart, lying on the ground. Mr Rayne leaves a large family, most of the members of which are grown up. He was greatly respected in the district, and his sudden death is much regretted. The Dunedin Herald reports that a serious accident was happily averted on Saturday, the 30th ult. About a quarterpast five a woman was approaching one of the crossings near the Railway Station, and an engine approaching at the same time, she seemed to lose her presence of mind, and walked right in its track. With commendable promptitude the engine was brought to a standstill, but not before the front wheel had crushed a portion of the woman's foot, and this it was found necessary to amputate. The Hospital Sunday collections in Melbourne this year amounted at £4966 14s o£d. The list is headed by the Presbyterian Church in the fashionable suburb of Toorak, with the handsome sum of £3BB 2s 6d. The next in order is St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, St. Kilda, with £lls, and St. Francis's Roman Catholic Cathedral with £lOl. St. John's Church of England, Toorak, which last year contributed £212, only collected £45 this year. The total collection is a thousand pounds less than last year. J VTpor. ■-.liiWlii.g a British steamer which ' arrived at Philadelphia recently, it was j found that about one-half the cargo of I

2200 tons of sugar was a fluid mass of syrup instead of sugar in bags, as it had been shipped from India. The sugar had been melted by he3t, and the syrup was eight feet deep in the hold of the vessel, which had come through the Suez Canal. The Rabbit Questionsolved.—"Bough on Rats" to the rescue ! This article, which may be had of Chemists, in wdScl boxes, three sizes, cleans out Rabbits, Moles, Skunks, Sparrows, Weasel, Mink, Gophers, Chipmunk, Ground Squirrels, Rats, Mice, Roaches, Flies, Ants, Beetles, Waterbugs, Bed-bugs, Moth, Potato-bugs, Insects. "Rough on Rats"—Clears out rats, mice, roaches, flies, ants, bed-bugs, beetles, insects, skunks, jack-rabbits, sparrows, gophers. At chemists and druggists.