TOWN & COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6505, 2 January 1882, Page 4

TOWN & COUNTRY.

Thb Govbbhoß. Bis Excellency the Governor will leave Fort to-day at & p.m. for Wellington. - g Exoubsion pbom Wellington. —The s.s. Grafton arrived from Wellington yesterday with about eighty excursionists. Death at thb Hospital. —Tho little girl, Annie Taylor, who was admitted into the Christchurch Hospital from Springfield on Deo. 7, suffering from burns caused by her crawling into some hot ashes, died in the institution on Friday evening. An inquest will be held this afternoon at three o’clock. Joubhalibtig.— Just on the eve of the general election campaign the Ashburton Mail changed from a tn-weekly issue to a drily morning. It announced on Saturday last that the daily issue would cease from that date, and (ho old tri-weekly publication would be resumed. Ivtebooiohial Wbathbb Exchange.— The following message has been received;— “ Sydney, Friday : Noon, Fine, with light south-east winds' in New South Wales; moderate south-west winds and broken weather on coast of Victoria.

Sydney, 30‘0.” . Fibs.—By a fire that occurred at Mrs Gibson's farm, Wakanui, on Friday afternoon, a stable was completely destroyed, along with a horse that was in it at the tune, and a large quantity of harness. Mrs Gibson was not insured, and she will, therefore, lose about £l2O by the mishap, the origin of which is unknown. Niw Ykab’b Eva Sbetxosb.— -Special services to usher in the New Year were held in several of the town and suburban churches on Saturday night. In the Cathedral the evening service was held at 7.30, instead of at 6.15, and bore special reference to theoooasion. A late service was conducted in St Luke’s Church by the Bev B. A. Lingard. The customary watch-night service wasneld in the Wesleyan Churoh.Funhesl of Mb Mblhbh.-—The funeral of the late Mr G.L.Mellish took place on Saturday afternoon. The cortbge started from the deceased gentleman’s residence, Armagh street, at 2 o’clock, and proceeded to the cemetery attached to St Peter’s Church, Bicearton, where the burial service was performed by the Bev 0. Bowen. The hearse was followed by a number of private carriages and vehicles; his Honor Mr Justice Johnston was among the mourners. inquest was held on Saturday morning at 11 o’clock on the body of Mrs M'Hafße, who had died suddenly on Friday afternoon. Dr Coward, coroner, presided, and Mr Charles M'Niohol was chosen fore-

man of the jury. The evidence of Dr M'Bean Stewart, who had made the post mortem examination of the body of deceased, was to the effect that death was the result of peritonitis and cancer in the stomach. The jury returned a verdict of “ Death from natural causes." Lyttelton Regatta.— The following entries for to-day’s regatta were received by the Committee on Friday night -.—Ships' Sailing Boat Boce, 8 entries j Yacht Baoe, 8 ; Champion Sailing, 5; Four-oared Whaleboat Baoe for Youths, 8; Canoe, 8; Sailing in Open Boats, 6; Double Soulls, 4; Ships’ Boats Fulling, 8 { Four-oared Outrigger, 4; Fair-oared, 8; Ballast Boats, nil ; Friendly Societies, 8 ; Four-oared Inrigger, 8; Fouroared Ships Boats for Apprentices, 2 5 Naval Brigade, 4; Dingy, 1, The steamers Titan, Akaroa and Grafton will run excursion trips round the harbour at intervals during the day,

giving their passengers a good opportunity of seeing the various races. The s.s. Lyttelton will make several trips to Governor’s Bay landing and embarking passengers at the wharf there on each occasion. Baza ah at Lyttelton.— On Saturday afternoon -a Bazaar, in oonneotion with St John’s Presbyterian Church, was opened in one of the Railway sheds, Lyttelton, adjoining the Railway gates, the proceeds from which will 30 to the funds of the Church. The Bazaar is well worth a visit, as a most choice and tempting array of useful and ornamental articles is made. Some of the crewel work is most beautifully done, and called forth special comment amongst the visitors. There is an almost endless variety of articles, so that all visitors can, if they choose, find something to purchase worth having. The shed is very nicely decorated with flags, evergreens, &0., and, together with the tasty manner in which the stalls are dressed, presents a very pleasing sight. There are four stalls, under the supervision of the following ladies s—No. 1, Mesdames Fitoaithley and Joss, Misses Irving, Milsoro, and Fitoaithleyj No. 2, Mesdames Grubb,, G. Miller, J. Yule, and A. Watsonj No. 8, Mesdames G. Maokay, F. Cunningham, B. Brown, Mieses M'Olatohie and Leith 1 No. 4, Mesdames H. Macdonald. J. W. Clarke, Misses Bill, Hielop, and Sinclair j refreshment stall, Miss Biloy. In addition to the attraction of the stalls, Mr W. Graham has bis turning lathe at work, and exhibits the operation of turning articles in bone. Mr T. Hay lent an astronomical telescope, through which, on payment of a .small fee, the heavenly bodies might be viewed. A variety of pianoforte selections were played daring Saturday evening, which enlivened matters considerably. The Basoar was well patronised on Saturday, aud a very fair amount of business transacted. To-day (he Bazaar will be open all day, when, in addition to thepbjecte of interest already mentioned, a fine live seal will be on view, Captain Fairchild having . -. P- .»

B. M. OomtT.—Ther* will b« bo sitting of tho B. M, Oourt to-day. , Ashsukton HoiPiTAL.-»Tho following ore the Ashburton Hospital returns for tho post month t—ln Hospital on Deo. 1, 8 patients } admitted during the month, 0; discharged, 2 s remaining, 10. Baoino Stock.— By the ship Marlborough arrived a shipment ol nine brood mares, tne property of Mr ,Q. G. Stead. ”he mares have all arrived in splendid condition, and were landed on Saturday. A description of the animals is given elsewhere. Cobh Exohangb —The annual general meeting of subscribers to the Corn Exchange was held on Saturday afternoon, when it was resolved to continue the Club for another year, and the President, Vice-President, and Committee for tho new year were elected. A report of the proceedings will be found on another page. Oathbdbal Choib.— There were nineteen applicants for the two vacancies in the Cathedral choir. The successful candidates were Herbert Watson and Ernest Little, who were •elected after a careful trial both as to voice and knowledge of music. The boys who pass into (he choir receive a free education in (he Cathedral Sohool.

Vitas Statistics.- The following is a : Beturn of Birth*, Marriages, and Death* i which have takes place in the City of 1 Ohrstchuroh and District during the month 1 of December, 1881Birth*, 167, as against i 172 in the corresponding month la»t year} ' marriages, 49, a* against 81; deaths, 65, a* l against 68. The total* for the year 1881 are: --Birth* 2068; marriages, 414 } deaths, 680, ' Thb Pdmmho Station,—On Saturday, a preliminary trial was made of the machinery at the Drainage Board’* pumping station. 1 Everything was found to work with the greatest smoothness, and it is intended in a day or two to hold another trial, when we shall he able to gi re some description of the method ' of proceeding and the nature of the works. Fibs. - About half-past 10 o’clock on Saturday evening, the decorations in Mr Basterwiok’s, fishmonger’s stall, in Victoria market, caught fire through the wind blowing the flame of one of the gas lights into contact with them. Some members of the Fire Brigade and others were promptly- on the spot, and the fire was extinguished by means' of a paU engine. The damage done was confined mainly to the decorations and stock. Ltosb’ Tottbists. —The children’s matinee given-by Lyons’Tourists on Saturday afternoon was fairly attended. In the evening a good audience assembled, when the Christmas pieces of the previous nights were sueOessfnlly repeated. The Misses Tullooh and Fox were especially successful in their graceful posturing* and dancing, and Miss Horton’s songs were as usual well received. The same performance will be given this evening. Mabohio. —On Fnday evening the follow* ing officers for the ensuing year, of the Somerset Lodge of Freemasons, Ashburton, were installed with the usual ceremonial by D.D.G.M. Bro H. ThomsonP.M. H. Stephenson, W.M.; James Bradley, 1.P.M.; T. Undrill, 8.W.; U. W. Felton, J.W.; J. Davidson, Secretary; B. Hughes, Treasurer; W., Anderson, S.D ; Q. Parker, J.D.; J. Wilson, organist; Bros Boss and Poole, Stewards; J. Canning, M.C.; J. Musohamp, LG.; B. Cullen, Tyler. The evening was afterwards spent with the customary harmony. Acoidints. —On Saturday a man named Alexander Davidlon, in the employ of Mr Knight, butcher, was engaged in cutting the ribs out of a piece of beef, when the knife ■lipped, and inflicted a severe gash on his right leg, just above the knee. He wis at - once removed to the hospital, where his hurt was attended to. Ahoy about-12-years of age, named William Adams, was on Saturday afternoon run over by a carrier’s van, while he was crossing the street from his father’s house. The lad was taken to the Hospital, 1 where it was found that his right leg had sustained a simple fracture. Hbw Vbab’s hat ih thb Nobth.— ; To-day there m plenty v»r ■ fb? thb inhabitants. At Bangiora, the annual meeting of the North Canterbury Bace Club will be held, the first race commencing at 12.30 p.m. There are good fields for each event, and consequently a good days should result. At Kaiapoi and Oxford local athletic sports will be held, and at the former place there will be a display of fireworks in the evening, which the members of the Volunteer. Fire Brigade have been preparing for fora considerable time. The trains from the North leave at the usual time in the evening, which, to some, may be a drawback, but no arrangement for a delay was asked for. TbmpIiBTON.—A meeting of the Sports Committee was held in the Public Library, Templeton, on Friday night, when there 1 was a good number present. Mr H. Tosswill was voted to the diair. The protests arising out of .the late sports were considered, and the following disallowed:—Mr W. Guy against Mr T. Lyford, for being out of the district, as it was proved that he was in the radius, and also Mr H. Toswill’s protest against W. Blake and A. Hooper in the_ walking race for unfair walking. The following protests were allowed: James Bailey against Walter Anderson, in the sock race, it being proved that he had entered under a false name, and also for being out of the district. A. Bailey ■gainst Joseph Voice, in the race for boy* under 14 years bid, he being proved to be over 14 years of age. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr James Bodgers for the kind use of his paddock for the ■porte. The money was then paid over to the winners, and some accounts were also paid. The meeting then adjourned till Tuesday, January 10. Thbatbb Eotax.— On Saturday, “Eiohard III.” was played at the Theatre Eoyal, before a somewhat scanty audience. The manner

in which the piece was put uponthe stage was not as careful in matters of detail as the comEhftve taught the public to expect. The eta of the soldiers, for instance, which were donned appropriately enough in « Anthony and Cleopatra," were out or place surmounting the sturdy men who took part in the closing struggles between the houses of York andXanoaster. On the whole, how* ever, there was little to complain of as to the dresses and and other accessories. Mr W. H. Leake gave a fairly successful reading of Biohard HI. While carefully avoiding anything like melodramatic exaggeration, he gave the text carefully and with due emphasis, and made many good "points." Mr H. Fleming, as Earl of Bionmond, gave his “ lines ” with elocutionary effect, and divided the applause with Mr Leake for the" closing “ combat." Mr W. Hoskins gave a scholarly reading of the part of the Duke of Buckingham. Mr J. J. Wallace was wonderfully good as King Henry VI. The part gave him another opportunity for showing how excellent an actor he is. Miss Liazie Laurence was Quean Elisabeth, Miss Bessie Vivian was the Duchess of York, Miss M. Douglas was Lady Anne, and Miss H. Lambrette was the Frinoa of Wales. Faob of the ladies acquitted herself with her usual success. The many other characters in the drama weae fairly represented by other members of the company. To-mght" Twelfth Night" is to be played, with Miss Louise Pomeroy as Viola, and Mr W. H. Leake, as Malvolio, the rest of the oast being pretty much the tame at when the comedy was performed some weeks ago. A scratch match of cricket, England and Australia v. Christchurch. will bo played on Lancaster Park on Tuesday, Jan. 8. The Superintendent of the Sunnysido Asylum desires to acknowledge a present of biscuits »nd lollies from Mr Qrinsted, and coke from Mrs Thomson, for the use of the patients. The Ellesmere anuual sports will take place today on the Kocroatlon Bosom, and promise more attractions than usual. Besides the usual athletic portion of (ho programme thorn la a great trotting handicap race, for which there are nine accept, anoos. The Committee have been fortunate in Collecting a fair earn of money, and the prises offered are unusually good. The first event starts at 10 o’olook punctually. A cricket match of unusual interest to cricketers in the Ellesmere district will be pleyed at Leeatoa to-morrow. The match is between the Leeeton Club and members of the old Ellesmere Club.. The teams will be chosen from the following playete i Leastom Club - Masera Bean, J, B,(Campbell, Durant, Ennutt. Hammond, Jameson, A. Los, D. Lee, 0. Lewis, F. Murray, Mayne, Makeig, Worthy, Overton, Scott, and Wills, Old Ellesmere ClubMenrs 0. Alington, H. Allngton, W. Q, Bnttau, H. Bridge, A. Cotterlll, 0. T. Dudley, L. V. Dm* borough. B. Frankish, B. F. Holdeness, L. Lea, 0. H. Lee, H. M. Lee. W. D. Lawrence, T.S. Lewis, O. Maydwell, T. Willis, and W. Woodman. Play will commence at 10 a m. sharp, asd special

Tsbbitobuii Ksoikskts.— We toko from the London Qlblt the following omaoicg illoitrotion of one of the dissdvsntsget of the new territorial title* of English regiments "The infantry will consist of the 2-16th, the 80th, the 30th, the 92m1, and the 07tb;' ■o telegraph* a Durban correspondent, in connection with tbe possible re-occupancy of the Transvaal. Had be employed the * tend' torial designations ’ of these regiments, the message would have thus run : —‘ The In* fantry will consist of the 2nd Battalion Bed' fordsnire Begiment, the 2od Battalion South Staffordshire Begiment, the Ist Battalion Bast Lancashire Begiment, the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, and the 2nd Battalion The Queen’s Own BojralWest Kent Regiment.’ As the rate for telegraphing to South Africa ia about Os a word, newspaper proprietor* have, little cause to bless the territorial system.’’ Tub Fxmiahb ih Aksbioa.—The Fenian dynamite plotters in the United States have not recently been appearing to any great extent in the public prints. The explosion of American public sentiment against assassination and the entire infernal machine business, which followed the detection of the cement barrels at Liverpool, so frightened these plotters that they have since kept comparatively quiet in their newspaper utterances. That American denunciation and the disclosures at Liverpool also reduced the contributions to the dynamite fond*. The Irish who had been contributing reasoned that if their money was to be wasted in failures they might as well keep it. After Bossa’s boast of having caused theDoterel explosion the contribution! increased, but the Liverpool failure had the opposite effect. For some time, although considerable money ha* been fathered by the Irish Land Leagues, the ynamite fund* have had only slight collections, so slight, in fact, that the fellows who are living on them are becoming pinched. WiMt»o Sticks.—To break off a branch for defensive purposes, as Orusoe did on finding himself on an unknown Island, would be one of the first acts of primitive man. A rude support of this kind would soon be followed by the pilgrim’s staff, familiar to ns in picture* of the patriarchs; -and from these early atavee down to the gold-headed cane of our modern dandy, what a variety of walking ■ricks have been produced, according to the fancy and fashion of the time. When, in 1701, footmen attending gentlemen were forbidden to cany swords, those quarrelsome weapons were usually replaced by a porter’s ■tail “ with a large silver handle, as it was then described. Thirty years later gentlemen of faehion began to discard their swords and to carry large oak sticks with great heads, and ugly faces carved thereon. Before very long a competition arose between long and short walking sticks, some gentlemen liking them as long as leaping poles, as a satirist of the day tells us; while others preferred a yard of varnished cane " scraped taper, bound at one end with wax thread, and tint at the other with a neat turned ivory head as big as a silver penny."— Chambers' Journal.

Besuxts of a Fbaotioax Joke.—The New Orlean* Picayune gives a lerioua warning to practical jokers. At two o’clock on a recent morning a gentleman left his club in that city with a friend, and, the latter returning for his cane, the former concealed himself in the bottom of the big box that holds the balancing weight of the elevator, and is called a “ lift case.” The friend came back and went away disgusted at finding no trace of the jolly joker. The latter, as he entered the lift case, had closed the door. He tried to open it, but could not, for it .opened without a key only from the outside. He laughed heartily to see the biter bit, until presently he - heard a noise, which he could not misinterpret. The lift was slowly falling down from the fourth floor. He, in groping for the door, had palled the rape which set it free. Death stared him in the face, for that immense mass of iron would inevitably crush him as flat as a pancake, and by a slow torture that would make dying seem an JSfir his lifecase as only despair could do ; he, ekrieked for help. Hit shrieks were heard by the janitor, who found him in a swoon, and dragged him out when the lift was only fifteen feet off. A physician was summoned. Consciousness was The unfortunate gentleman sprang to his feet, screamed incoherently With wild gestoree. He was orasy. Qsnbsax Bubhab? oh the Abht.— Major-General Burnaby, in returning thanks for the army at Newcastle, said; —“ This country has, perhaps, fewer men under arms in proportion to the population than any other nation; and it has a stronger second line, relatively to the number of men with the colours, than any other European nation; but when we consider how vast are our possessions, and how extended one from the other; and likewise the immense lines of frontier and of sea boundary wo have to maintain, it behoves us that those men who are with the colours should be everything that is perfection. Now, the cost of every British soldier under the colours is no less than £l4O a year, and compared; with the cost of foreign soldiers—with France at the head with £ol, and going down to Italy, with £36 par head—there is every reason why this £l4O should be spent in the most efficient manner." General Burnaby continued:— “ After an experience of some 34 years in a distinguished regiment namely the Grenadier Guards—l am able to tell you, so far as you value my experience, that I am not of opinion that the stamina of our soldiers is that which it should be, particularly if it is compared with the stamina of other European nations. They seldom enlist a young man before he has attained his 21st year—l am now speaking particularly of Germany—whereas we take recruits as early

mlB years of age; and very often it is found that they leave the colours on the short service system before they become thoroughly acclimatised and experienced to undergo the hardships and fatigues of war, which they at any moment may be called upon to undergo with so small an army as we have.”— Tims. A Stbamoi Stobt.— The Naples Correspondent of the London Daily Mies writes: — u Many, many, years ago a German soldier sold a kitten to the municipality of Agnone, and In course of time this kitten became a cat, all black, with the exception of a perfectly white tail, from which it took its name of * Coda-bianoa.' Coda-bianoa was kept in the theatre of the town, which, like all such places, abounded with rats. Instead of persecuting these rats, the oat seemed to have concluded a pacific alliance with them, and to have, as it were, a precedential authority over them. The custodian of the theatre often observed the rats participate in the food of the cat, who, when they fought among themselves for some dainty morsel, restored order by a cuff of its paw. The custodian even had to explain to the Commnnal Council that the food he had to provide oost more than the sum allowed for the purpose, but the Council decided to continue the liberal rations, for as long as the rate shared the oat's food they did not gnaw the scenes of the theatre. Time passed on, the cab became old and toothless, no weapon remaining to him but very long claws, which, however, were proportionately weak.. Of late years the theatre has been always closed, and the rats had increased enormously. Inst week a revolution took plaoe among (hem, and when'poor Codabianeft tried as usual to restore order, the rats burned upon him in a fury, and bit him to death. At dawn the next day Coda-hianea was found dead in the middle of the stage, like some tragic hero. The youth of Agnone made a solemn funeral, earning Coda-manoa through the streets on a bier, covered with black velvet, and leading in firings the numerous progeny of the celebrated cat, all black with white tails, like himself, and of the same gentle and intelligent disposition. Coda-hianea at (he time of his death weighed ten kilogrammes, and the number of his children was a hundred. A speech was made in the Town-hall of Agnone, and it was decided to take revenge on the rake by scatter- . ing poison all over the theatre.” |