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Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 108, 2 April 1880, Page 2

We are informed that the Taylor Pass road is again in a passable state of repair. There will be a meeting of the Marlborough Land Board on Monday next. The Education Board will meet on Tuesday morning next, and the Borough Council in the evening. Messrs Smith and Philpotts, of Picton, are the successful tenderers for the Blenheim Railway Station contract. Mr T. O'Sullivan will hold his customary Stock Sale to-morrow at noon, when some fine animals will be submitted to public competition. Mr McCall has recently put gas-fittings into the Club Hotel in a very satisfactory manner, and is prepared to execute similar work for any customer who may favor him with an order. The work advertised for by the Awaterc Road Board from the Taylor Pass to Nina Creek, will be shown by the Inspector of Works to-morrow, at 11 o’clock, to intending contractors. Wc understand that Police-Sergeaut Adams is to be transferred from Havelock to the Auckland district, and that Sergeant Hogan, of Auckland, will succeed Sergeant Adams at Havelock. Intelligence reached town on Wednesday that a cart shed on Mr A, Munro’s station, Bankhouse, had been destroyed by fire. It was insured in the South British for £SO. The fire is supposed to have been accidental. We understand that the repairs to the railway bridge at Koromiko are to be commenced immediately. Mr John Williams, of High Street, who has taken the job, left this morning to make arrangements for com mencing pile-driving. The Committee appointed by the Education Board to draw up the Annual Report, and revise the teachers’ salaries met for the second time this morning. We do not anticipate their report by the next meeting of the Board. We hope that that the Board will see its way to increase salaries rather than reduce them, or we shall have to put up with inferior teachers.

Mr J. Hornby has obtained a, second prize for his exhibit of Colonial timber at the Sydney Exhibition. On and after the Ist April iiist., vessels other than intercolonial trading vessels and coastsrs, will have to pay (id per register*:! ton light dues. Inter-colonial trading vessels 4d, and coasting vessels nil, A fine sample of nuggetty gold weighing about half an ounce, from Oliver and Go’s ten-acre claim at Wilson’s Beach, Wakamarina, was shown to us yesterday. It is in M r P. Lawrence’o possession. We have received no letter from the Upper Wairau this week, but MrP. Lawrence informs us that he has purchased lately 20 ounces of gold, stated to be the produce of that Field, and offered it for sale at the Bank of New Zealand. The success attending the conversazione and Art exhibition at the Literary Institute on Monday induced the Committee to open again the following evening, which was again enlivened by music and singing (Herr Norberg presiding at the piano.) The attendance was not so large as on the previous day. The sum of £2 8s was taken at the doors. Travellers to and from Havelock since tho late heavy rains, and consequent damage to some parts of the road, speak in terms of high praise of the energetic manner in which Mr T. O’Sullivan, Inspector o} Works for the district, and the men unJ der him have set to work, and have already ' succeeded in making the road again fit for general traffic. The Agricultural Society will meet at 3 o’clock to-morrow at the Club Hotel, All who are interested in the progress of agriculture in the district should attend, as we fear the Society will collapse unless those connected with agricultural and pastoral pursuits take a more active part in it. The Acclimatisation Society will also meet tomorrow afternoon at the Club Hotel.

Captain Bendell arrived from Wellington by the Napier on Thursday, and proceeded by road to the Ure to make a survey on the wreck of the schooner Rose, now lying on the beach, on behalf of the Under-writ-ers. The steamer Napier proceeded there yesterday evening. An enquiry will be held into the circumstances of the case under the “Enquiry into Wrecks Act,” either here or in Wellington at an early date.

Mk Rayner has returned from England with a large stock of Men’s, Youths’ and Boys’ clothing, tweeds, ladies’ dress materials in all the new and fashionable styles, flannels in great variety, French silk dresses colored and black. These goods have been purchased previous to the rise in wool, consequently they are being sold at a very cheap rate, wholesale and retail, and can be seen at his private residence Southside. To arrive shortly a 'arge parcel of cutlery of all kinds. [Anvx.] In our report of the Anniversary meeting of the Wesleyan Church, at Ewart’s Hall on Good Friday (which appeared in our last issue), the names of the ladies who provided the tea-tables were accidentally omitted, the ladies mentioned in the report being those who sang in the Choir. Those who provided the tables were : Mesdames Carr, Pyke, Holdaway, Rose, Hammond, Davies, Carvell, Chuck, Terrill, Jackson, Tatley, and Misses Carr and Jackson.

The Assessment Court will sit at Blenheim on Tuesday, the 6th April, at eleven o’clock, before PI. Mclntire,. Esq., for the purpose of determining objections to the Valuation Rolls of the following districts : —Awatere Road Board District, Spring Creek Road Board, Omaka Road Board, Wairau Road Board, Lower Wairau River Board, and Borough of Blenheim. Cocoa-nut matting has at length been laid over the whole of the floor of the Court-house, and will be a great improvement as it will deaden the sound of feet of people coming in and out and walking about, causing hitherto so much noise as frequently to drown the voices of the Court, counsel, or witnesses, who happened to be speaking at the time. The Court, under any circumstances, is a bad one for hearing.

The Blenheim Rifle Volunteers, owing to the windy weather in which they fired for tho District Prizes, are not quite to the front in the prize list, although they did very well indeed. We are informed that with a view of establishing their true pos’tion relatively with other companies, they have sent a challenge to each corps in the district to shoot a match with any number of men, the ranges, number of shots, size of targets, and place of shooting to be decided by the party challenged. This is plucky and liberal. We hope to hear of the different challenges being accepted and that some friendly meetings will result. Our correspondent writing on from Havelock on Monday last says : To-day will be observed as a general holiday. The juvenile portion of the community are arranging a cricket match, and should the weather prove fine a very pleasant day’s amusement may be expected. At present we are experiencing a dense fog, but it will probably pass away and like many another cloud of the morning may turn out a bright day. The match we learn was played Between the following teams: Red—Messrs Morrison, Jones, Halpin, Pike, Levien, Symonds, Hamilton, H. Price, W. Clarke, Scott, and Doreen. Blue—-Messrs Matthews, Price, Blacklie, A. Clarke, Davis, Brown, G. Pike G. Matthews, B. Halpin, and A. Levien. The Reds were the victors by 45 to 54.

A meeting of Justices to revise the Jury list for the district of Blenheim was to have been held to-day, but was adjourned until to-morrow. The Resident Magistrate, who vvas the only Magistrate present, said he wished to take time to consider whether he, as Resident Magistrate,, could make use of his knowledge as Sheriff with regard to striking off names, &c. Mr MeNab apnlied to have the following struck off the list on the ground that under section 7 they were outside the “ distance ’ of 20 miles’from the Court-house. This question will be argued to-morrow at eleven o clock. The objectors reside in and near Havelock : -James Hadfield Smith, Thomas Morgan, George Levien, Moses Fear, George Crichton, W. H. Smith, William Brownlee, V. C. Vennimoru, Robert Nesbitt, Robert Alaxander, Chas. J. Owen, William l erry, U l N Clarke, W. Dorreen, R. Jones, Charies Blackbee, J. Robinson, T. Scott. In the matter of Owen and Pickering vDive in pursuance of a decree of the Supreme Court, 11. Mclntire, Esq., the Registrar at Blenheim, summoned the parties, who appeared by their solicitors before him yesterday, for the purpose of taking directions as to the manner in which the accounts are to he taken. Mr Rogers appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr Sinclair for Mr Dive. The Registrar directed that Mr Dive should on or before the 17th April file in the Court his statement of accounts verified by the affidavit of Mr Firth accountant to the late firm of Dive and Co., and that the plaintiffs should file their objections (if any) on or be fore the 30th April. The sth of May was appointed for investigation and adjudication upon the accounts, when the objections raised (if any) will be heard, and evidence taken in the matter.

1 The following address, beautifully euj grossed in colored letters by Mr Carey, and i .surmounted by a photograph ef the recipient, is about to lie forwarded to Brother James Oorrie, P.G., now resident at Nelson, on behalf of the members of the Loyal Marlborough Lodge 1.0.0. K., M.U., No. j 4»j29 To Brother James Gorrie, P.G. On behalf of the members of the Loyal Marlborough Lodge 1.0.0. F., M.U., No. 4029. We beg you to accept this testimonial as a small token of our esteem and regard, on the occasion of your resignation of the office of Trustee for this Society, and we thank you for the assiduity you have evinced for a period of seven years in the performance of those duties devolving upon you in your official capacity in connection with this Lodge. Wishing you and yours prosperity and happiness, on behalf of the Lodge, We are, &c,, J, S. Carroll, N.G., R. D. Nosworthy, Secretary.” In our last issue we published the scores of the cricket match—Sprink Creek .y, r Tradesmen of Blenheim, played on Friday last. The following account of tho match from our own correspondent came too late for publication in the same paper:—“A match between Eleven of Spring Greek and Eleven Tradesmen of Blenheim was played on the grounds of Redwood Bros, at Marlboroughtown, on Friday last, and resulted in the Creekites scoring a victory. In the. early part of the morning the appearance of the weather was anything but cheering, but before the time, appointed to play, all sign of rain had vanished, yet with a cold breeze from the South East, and a wet unsound wicket, neither side anticipated a big score. Wrh. Robinson was chosen skipper of the Spring Creek team, and J. Ryan was appointed commander of the Iradesmen, and Messrs Budge and Dickens officiated as umpires. The luncheon was provided by Host March, whoso arrangements were perfect, and an excellent spread was made for the cricketers and their friends. Altogether a very enjoyable day was spent, the game being conducted in a friendly spirit throughout, and at its conclusion three cheers were given for the respective teams and three cheers for the umpires.

The police at Wellington have been engaged in supplying tho occupations of persons on the electoral roll to the Returning Officer to assist him in making up the new roll. No doubt the list is carefully compiled on the whole, and the work is one of considerable difficulty. It is rather a shock to one’s feelings, however, to find the respected Commissioner for Crown Lands described as a carter; while the Auditor-General is at one fell blow deprived of his office and described as being of “no occupation. Post.

A gorgeous English swell leading a dog enquired at a railroad station: “Must I aw—take a ticket for a puppy?” The bewildered clerk regarded him for a moment, and then replied: “No, sir; you can go as an ordinary person.”

A youthful Maori lady at Ohau last week jeered and jibed her spouse of 60 summers into climbing a karaka tree to gather some berries with the result that the poor man fell and broke his back. At any rate the Manawatu Herald has it on the best authority that the natives regard the jeers and chaff of Mrs Hoani Huarau as the prime cause of her husband’s death.

The Nameless Ones.—We note from a Toledo, Ohio, paper, that a German, who has been keeping a saloon there for the accommodation of printers, lias been forced to suspend. On his book entries were found under the following titles: —“ Der laim brinter,” “der leetle,” “der Pen Putler brinter,” “ der tivol.” “ der brinter mit der red hair,” “der brinter mit der hair not shoost so red.” Mild Satire.—Adelina Patti, on her recent arrival at Dresden, was met at the railway station by a party of her admirers. Their spokesman, a general, handed her a beautiful bouquet and was about to deliver and address, when the impressario of the prima donna approached him and said:— “ Your Excellency, please postpone the agreeable task of addressing Madam, for in this draught she may easily catch a dreadful cold in the head, and every such accident costs me 15,000 marks.”

Notes and Queries contains the following “If a young lady should so far forget herself as to suggest a union between herself and a bachelor acquaintance, who should be uncivil enough to decline her proposal, she could thereupon demand from him the gift of a new silk dress with proprety, she must at the same time be the wearer of a scarlet petticoat which, or the lower part of which, she must exhibit to the gentleman, who by the law of leap-year, is bound to present to the lady a silk drss to cover the scarlet petticoat and assuage her displeasure at the rejection of her proposal.” Says a Wellington paper, evidently in search of sensational news:—“ The fame of “Jagger, the one-eyed Caffir,” who was to have appeared at the Academy of Music a few nights ago, butdidn’t isnow completley eclipsed by a 11 one-eyed kawhai, which a delighted fisherman recently hauled up on the wharf. It is supposed, from its partial blindness, that this singular fish was a Justice of the Peace, amongst some of the Finny Tribes of the Deep .—Exchange.

An Ancient Minor.—The writer of “Echoes from the Cafe,” in the Waikato Times gives to the readers of that journal the following:—“ One of the “ devils own made a nice little exhibition of himself last week. He appeared for the defendant in a case where the plaintiff was a goldmining company, suing for non-payment of calls. Ho had forgotten to prepare his defence, so he whispered to one of his legal friends sitting beside him, asking what defence he should offer. “ Say defenffent is a minor ” was the reply. No sooner said than done. Mr Parchment put in his defence, and all went well until the examination of the defendant, who was asked his age. “ Sixtythree,” was his reply, which was followed by a roar of laughter from all in the Court. ’

Miss Isabella Bird, who has written a book on the Rocky Mountains, treats us to a narrative of thrilling adventure. Protect ed only by her sex and helplessness Miss Bird passed an autumn and a winter in the wilds of Colorado, among squatters and miners and mountain desperadoes. The staunchest friend she made was a notorious villain, who terrorised the country around has cabin, and drank himself into fits of insanity from time to time to drown the memory of innumerable atrocities. She donued masculine habiliments for her greater convenience, and backed such half broken horses as she happened to hire. She rode them along shelving paths, overhanging hot tomless canons, through forests which were haunted by “Grizzlis ”on the prowl. She sought her quarters for the night in any habitation she chanced to reach, and once she slept in a den of thieves, in blissful unconsciousness that a member of the gang had been left hanging by “regulators ” to a tree near the dooi\ She climbed a peak that is known as the “ American Matterhorn,” having borrowed a man’s jack boots for the expedition, to replace her shoes, which were condemned as unserviceable. All the time she was travelling for health ; and her health kept improving, as her spirits were unimpaired.

Mr R. 8. Smvthe, who for several years was one of the most successful caterers for the amusement of the colonial public, and well known as the Rev. Chas. Clark’s agent has returned to Victoria from Europe as the representative of Messrs Thomas Cook and Son, the famous tourist agents and excursion managers of London, and whose agencies are to be found in all parts of tire world. Believing that a large number of people will select the year of the Meloourne Exhibition as a favorable occassion for making an Antipodean tour, Messrs Cook and Son have opened a branch office in Melbourne, and their round-the-world tour for the current year will include for the first time Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. To fix the travelling and hotel arrangements for the New Zealand portion of the tour is the object Mr Smythe’s visit. — Exchange.

Origin of Plants.—Cabbage grew wild in Siberia; brick wheat originated in Germany ; the potato is a native of Peru ; the onion originated in Egypt ; tobacco is a native of South America ; millet was first discovered in India ; the nettle is a native of Europe ; citron is a native of Asia ; oats oaiginajied in North Africa ; rye came originality from Siberia ; parsley was first discovered in Sardinia ; the parsnip is a native of Arabia ; the sunflower was brought from Peru ; spinach was first cultivated in Arabia ; the apple is from Europe ; the horse-ehesnut is a native of Thibet ; the quince came from the Island of Crete ; the raddish is a native of China and Japan; the pear is supposed to be of Egyptian origin; the horse-radish came from the South of Europe.—Chicago Medical Journal

The following letter, which is a gem in its way, is given as published in the Auckland Star:— “Editor Star: Sir, all the Falsehodssirculated by either Press or Pulpit will nott stop the Truth from rolling forward and spreading on the Right hand and the left nether will it prevent the honest in heart from investigating and when fo. id embracing the Truth, as for Mr Davis and his Challenge I will say to him and to all high and low Priest and People read thirty eight verse in second of Acts, pray over it, reflect over it, and above all obey it—respectfully yrs, John, P. Sorensen (not Lorensen) Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

There is something irresistibly comic when Frenchman first go in for English sports. Time works wonders, but at first it is very funny. During December the first attempt at a coursing match was made in the Boisnde Bouloge. The company was limited for it was very cold and Frenchmen abhor cold weather; just a few genuine sportsmen and some bad imitations were there. The unfortunate hare was conveyed thither in a box, and when turned out half dead with fright, fell an easy victim to the dogs. A story is told of an ancient stagliunt at Meudon when they hunted all day fora stag of which they had lost the scent. At length they discovered that it bad not been turned out of the cart!

Lord George Hamilton M.P., in an address to the Edinburgh University Conservative Association said that since receiving his invitation to address that meeting a great electioneering phenomenon had occurred through the visit of Mr Gladstone to Scotland °when excluding minor addresses he spoke thirty-seven columns 85,840 words, substance of which could be summarised in the sentence, “The infamy of Lord Beaconsfield’s policy is only equalleiby the villany with which he had carried it out.” If the Ministry had committed the series of atrocities with which they were chaiged would it be necessary to expend so many words bringing home to the public these self-evident crimes? He maintained that the policy of the Government on the Eastern Question was exactly that adopted formerly by the country, only Mr Gladstone was then in power and now he was in opposition.

Naturalists will be deeply interested in a very novel occurrence (says the Auckland Star) which was recently witnessed in the shop of Mr Caiman shoemaker, Queen street. The premises in which he carries on business are old and infested with rats, and he therefore keeps a cat on the premises. This animal which is of the ordinary gray colour, is of medium size, but has frequently killed small rats, though it appears disinclined to encounter the larger species of rodents. The cat has lately brought forth kittens, of which only two are alive. One afternoon she lay in a corner behind the counter with her kittens, while Mr Caiman was at work, as usual only a few feet away. On looking at the cat what was his astonishment at seeing a full-grown rat lying down beside the kittens and sucking her teats. He called in a gentleman who was passing and for some minutes the two watched the singular occurrence. Even when Mr Caiman approached the interesting group the rat was not frightened a way while the cat appeared to submit to the sucking with quiet unconcern, even lazily turning her head to look at her strange progeny. The group was broken up when Mr Caiman seized the rat by the back of the neck and killed it. The rodent was old and suffered himself to be seized without moving. The cat was afterwards taken near the rat but would not touch it.

The Lancet is often very good reading, even to the folks who have nothing the matter with them, and are not looking for a “ parallel case.” The last number describes a gentleman who swallowed his false teeth, and felt them in tho pharynz (wherever that is ; my own medical knowledge ends with the larynz). A doctor was sent for, who introduced a probang, which touched the teeth, so the patient said, but he was afraid to proceed to extremities with that ins ! •ument, because they were described to him as “a complete set of molars. He then “bent a 10-inch military silver probe, and tried to hook the teeth up,” but the spasms of the larynz were too severe, and the secretions from the pharynz so excessive, that these dredging operations had to be suspended. The patient began to get in extremis ; so presently another doctor was telegraphed for, who found the missing teeth on the top of a chest of drawers. This gentleman reporting on the matter very justly observes, that this curious effect of imagination upon a strong and healthy man throws light on many a case of supposed hydrophobia. Here is a “ belief ” which takes one’s breath away. “ We verily believe,” says the North Otago Times, “that before the present century is over, vessels worked by electricity will travel at the rate of a hundred miles an hour.” That’s a stunner ! The credulous writer can never have tried even seventeen knots an hour at sea, with a fresh breeze, or he would not find it easy to “ believe ” in the practicability of a ship riding an ordinary ocean swell at half the speed of his imaginary hundred miles an hour. Some of our readers may have tried a railway i un on a fast express—the Wild Irishman’s flight from London to Holyhead, or the Flying Dutchman’s run round to Exetr. How would they like to double that speed ? The carriages would dance over the rails like hot peas in a frying pan. The rush through water presents an equal difficulty of a different kind, for a very fast speed involves so much risk of the ship’s

nose running under, even in an ordinary ocean swell, that passengers would have to equip themselves for an amphibious voyage wheu the speed was guaranteed to average a hundred miles per hour by electic motive power, the prow would run under so often and so long, that passengers would get tired of waiting for it to rise again, and might go below to arrange croquet parties and lawn tennis with David .Jones and his Meirmaids. All this is to happen before the present century is; over, so that some of us outside of Otago will have a chance of being there to see. The jockey Derritt has had a good run of luck since the removal of his disqualification for the Fishhook business. At the Christchurch Metropolitan meeting he won the Free Handicap and Metropolitan; at the Dunedin Spring he won the Selling Race; at at the Wellington meeting he won the Cup going on to Dunedin he ran third for the big race, and won the St. Leger, the Dunedin Jockey Club Handicap, the ForburyHandicap. He now wins the Wanganui Cup. He is evidently making up for the time lost while under the ban.

A Dunedin correspondent of a contempo rary writes as follows :—Talking of the Grey journals reminds me that we are to have a new weekly in 'unedin this week, the Echo, edited by Mi Stout. About ten years ago Mr Stout coi.ducted a paper under a similar name. It was then a highly unorthodox publication as regards religious sentiment, but allowance was made for his youth, for generally there comes to a man a period when all is doubt and chaos in such matters. In Mr Stout’s case, however, his then opinions have developed into a highly advanced Free-thought. Consequently it is expected his paper will lie racy upon religious topics, and except among the “unco’ guid ” there is always a corner for the enjoyment of a rub at the forms of religion. Of course in politics Mr Stout will stick to Grey. An eccentric Englishman has recently built a house in the Quarter Tivoli for the residence of himself, his wife, and eight children which is the talk of all Pairs. It is circular and has neither door nor window externally. The approach to it is from the ground floor on to the roof by means of a ladder, which is moved up and down by machinery similar to that of a drawbridge. There is only one floor, and that contains eighteen apartments, more or less small in dimension looking into the centre, which is lighted from above by a glazed cupola. One stove for all these rooms is in the middle, and in summer is to be occupied by an exquisite parterre of flowers. A circular balcony, open to all the departments, surrounds this space. The motive of this oddity is of course, only known to the author of it, but everybody can see that two points are gained by it—immunity from the taxes on doors and windows, and a perfect preventive to any attempt at burglary.—Boston Traveller.

The Cologne Gazette, of the 16th January, states on the authority of its London correspondent that an immense sensation has been caused in British Court circles by the appalling discovery that the two young Princes, sons of the Prince of Wales, who are midshipmen on board H.M.S. Bacchante, had been permanently disfigured by having anchors tattooed on the bridges of their noses by their brother midshipmen. The horror created by this sacrilegious outrage on two Royal noses was indescribable, and an immediate investigation took place, when it was found—lst, that the anchors were of microscopically minute diminiuons ; 2nd, that they were tattooed on the sides of those Royal noses, and not on the bridges, therefore were not offensively prominent ; 2rd, that the operation was performed with the consent, and at the earnest desire of thejyoung Princes themselves. The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to be in despair about the affair, and all the medical science of London has been consulted as to the possibility of obliterating the marks. Every loyal subject will rejoice to learn that the opinion is that the marks will wear out in time.