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Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 169, 2 November 1880, Page 3

There was no one present at the Land Hoard yesterday, consequently the meeting lapsed.

■ The annual meeting of the Marlborough Club will ho held on Monday evening next, at eight o’clock. The Borough Council will meet this evening at the usual hour. A petition re the raising of Halifax-strcet is, we understand, to be presented. Mr Hodgson paid a visit of inspection to the Wairau Valley school yesterday. In a few days he will have completed ids workin the district, and his report will be looked forward to with interest. The prisoners under sentence in I’icton gaol—four in number—will he removed to Wellington this evening, I’icton gaol having ceased to be a “ public prison ” from the Ist instant. Mr Wernyss is prepat ing plans for a commodious new building to take the place of the present Commercial Hotel, which Mr Pritchard intends to make as convenient a house as any in town. By the s.s. Hawea on Friday last, the following Marlborough horses passed by Wellington for Christchurch, to take part in the coming races there:—Mr. H. Bedwood’s Dolphin, Amy, Norseman, Flapjack (Lillipee coit), and Miss Domett, and Mr. Charles Redwood’s Talent and Sir George. All the horse appear to he in good condition.

A friendly match at cricket was played yesterday, between Grove Town and Blenheim. Grove Town went in first and made 03, of which number Macintosh scored 17. Blenheim then went in, but the rain considerably interrupted the play. They, however, nii.de up the score ahead of their opponents, Trcweck obtaining 41, and C. A. Halliday 30 (not oat).

Yesterday being the anniversary day of the Province, was observed as a Bank holiday, and most of the stores and other places of business were closed. The Government offices were open as usual, and the R.M. Court held its customary sitting. Tho rain which fell in the afternoon spoiled the holiday considerably, and many of the visitors to the Butts, the. Wesleyan picnic, the Grove Town cricket match, and elsewhere got a regular “ ducking.” Sermons in celebration of the Sabbath School Anniversary of the Wesleyan Church were preached in Ewart’s Hull on Sunday last by the Rev. T. G. Carr, the esteemed pastor of the congregation, to large and attive audiences, collections being made at the close of each service in aid of the Sunday School fund. Yesterday tho annual picnic took place at the Taylor Bass, and was attended by a large number of both adults and juveniles, whose pleasure, however, was considerably lessened by the rain, which fell on the afternoon, and set many home with wet garments, Some time ago we re-publishcd from an Australian contemporary a graphic account of the wonderful cures effected by Mr Milner Stephen, the well-known barrister, of Sydney. A gentleman living near Blenheim, feeling interested in tho case of the blind man, Elsinore, wrote to Mr Stephen asking if he could give any hopes of restoring the man’s sight. By the last mail he received the following letter in reply from Mr Stephen’s son : “ Sydney, Audit Office, October 13th. To Mr . Dear Sir —My father, Mr Milner Stephen, is now in Melbourne, and will be there probably another two months. With reference to “ hope ” for your blind friend, my father “ heals” by the aid of kind spirit friends with no knowledge or powers of his own. He can only refer to many cures reported in the papers. lie is generally successful, hut every now anil then (why, we don’t know) fails entirely to give relief. He never says, “ I can cure ” but only “ I will try.”—Yours faithfully, Ai.fi;no i. H. Stephen-.” At the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday ,before if. Mclntire, Esq., 8.M., Eugene Sullivan was charged with being drunk and disorderly in High-street on Saturday evening. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined 15s and 2s costs, with the customary alternative in ease of non-payment.—Thomas Maxtcd, charged with permitting a horse to stray in Bed-wood-street, did not appear but was represented by his son, who admitted the truth of the charge, stating that the paddock where the horse was usually kept had been under water for some weeks and it was turned out for an hour to get a feed and there was a watch kept to see that the animal did not get far away. Tho Court imposed a penalty of 12s, which was paid immediately.—ln the matter of Main v. Do Ferrers, a claim for L 5 14s !)d, no defence was offered and judgment was given for plaintiff' with costs. Plaintiff asked for immediate execution and called Mr Sten-

house, who stated that defendant had told \r_ him lie (defendant) was about to leave the Colony for England. The Court under the circumstances granted the application.—ln the matter of Blick v. Do Ferrers, a claim for L 4 on an acceptance, Mr Stcnhousc applied for an adjournment for a month, which was granted.—The adjourned case of Clark v Oliver was further adjourned until the fil'd instant. This concluded the business before the Court. How scrupulously exact the English law is—especially the Bankruptcy law. Hot even the fractional part of a penny, says Truth, can he diverted from its proper channel. The other day a friend of mine in the West received by post a sheet of foolscap, informing him that a doctor’s estate had been realised, and that a first and final dividend of 11 -XOths of a penny in the pound was payable to him in London. Who shall say the Bankruptcy law needs amendment. We take the following item of news from the Wanganui Chronicle of Oct. 27th : We have been informed that Sub-Inspector Goodall lias been offered and accepted the charge of the police at Blenheim. We are sure that everyone in this district, with the exception of the rogues, will be very sorry to part with him. Sub-Inspector Goodall will bo relieved of his duties in Wanganui by Inspector .James, who arrives on Saturday,

T’atent Arms of Precision.—At the close of the recent machine-gun experiments at Portsmouth, where the Hotchkiss revolving cannon competed with tho Nordenfelt Naval gun, their Lordships offered to purchase the revolving cannon by way of recouping thoinwntor the expense he had incurred. This offer Mr Hotchkiss declined to accept, intimating at the same time that he would be willing to supply a larger num-b.-rof his guns. Their Lordships, having taken the whole circumstances of the case into consideration, and recognising the fact that much useful information was derived from tiiese trials, have decided to purchase a battery of six guns from Mr Hotchkiss. These will ho used as experimental weapons in future trials, but the system will not be adopted in the Navy. The recent trial of the Nordenfelt 1 h inch gun, having served to prove that this calibre of the Naval gnu can do double the work performed by the Hotchkiss revolving cannon of tho same calibre, it having completely perforated a 2-inch plate, in which the Hotchkiss projectiles had made but slight indents.

The Home correspondent of the Otago Daily Time* says: ThefearislestSir Arthur’s inexperience of a Colony with Constitutional Government, with his well-known autocratic proclivities, should bring him into unpleasant relations with the New Zealand Government. I hope bettor things. A man who is young enough, and has brains enough, should always get credit for undeveloped possibilities which new circumstances may bring out. Moreover, it must he better in the long run for an Colony to have in ouch a position a ran i who has opinions, and who is able to express them, rather than the indiaruhber personage who in some . copies’ estimation make a model Governor. Sir Arthur Gordon, by the way, is eally a first rate speaker. 1 once heard him in Exeter, at a missionary anniversary meeting, deliver one of the most telling speeches that it has ever been my privilege to listen to. It was a Methodist May meeting gathering, witli some of the best speakers that the church could muster on the platform, hut Sir Arthur’s speech carried the day.

Bowled Out.—We extract from an American paper the following amusing incident concerning Mrs Hardiugu Britten:— “ Dr Tanner attended the lecture of Emma Hardingo Britten yesterday morning (August 17). It was not known by the audience or the lecturer that lie was present in the hall. Mrs Britten, in closing her remarks on magnetism, referred to Dr Tanner and the wonderful example he had given of will over matter. She assorted that the density of population, the magnetic influence of the multitude, and the aroma of food, made his feat possible in this city, while, if attempted in the keen air of the country and in solitude, tho body would soon he exhausted by the vigorous and consuming oxygen. At tho close of her remarks a well-dressed, sharp-eyed mail rose, ami obtained permission to address a question to the speaker, who introduced himself as the sub ject of the lady’s remarks. All eyes were turned in surprise upon Dr Tanner, who said, ‘lf I continued my fast in Clarendon Hall without the aid of the air in the park, I could not have continued for 20 days. Indeed the bracing air of the Minnesota prairie made it possible for me to continue 42 days at once without food. My experiment in this city was attended with for greater difficulty. Therefore my experience is not in accordance with your theory of magnetic forces.’ Mrs Britten did not attempt to sustain her theory. The doctor looked fresh and vigorous, and talked to many who surrounded him before lie left the hall.”

The Clock Agent. A persevering “ notions ” canvasser walked into a lawyer’s office in this city with a new kind of alarum clock. The man of quibbles was evidently interested, and heard him patienely to tho end. When it came to his turn to get in a word, which in those cases is about once in an half a hour, he spake ni' chly as hereinafter contained:—“ My friiiid, I firmly believe that that alarm clock isworth seven dollars, as you state, and that you arc foolish tc offer it to me for two and a half; that it will go every half hour for sixteen months without winding up and wake up an elephant every pop. My heart tells me this is true, and I am simply aching to give you four times the price yon demand. But when I inform you that I have an infant throe months old at home, afflicted with perpetual colic, and a baby going on three, who insists on having a drink of water at regular intervals during the night, and never sleeps after 4 o’clock in the morning, do you not think that my investment in this beautiful invention which you are retailing might, in a measure, he characterised as extravagant?” That clock agent nodded, assented, picked up his hat, put up his alarum, and retired.

Waste of Energy.—A stranger sat in a corner of an American railway carriage, in easy attitude, his feet upon a large black trunk. The gentlemanly conductor, going his rounds, at the first station politely informed the stranger that the trunk must be put into tho luggage car, to which the strange made no reply. At the second station the vexed conductor imperatively told the stranger that he must put the trunk into the luggage car, or it would be removed from the train to which the stranger made no reply. At the third station the irate conductor had the trunk removed, and left. ’The stranger said nothing. At the fourth station the mollified conductor, addressing the stranger, begged him to remember that lie had hilt done his duty, and that his action was solely the stranger’s fault, to which the stranger laconically replied, “ Don’t care, ’taint my trunk.”

The following particulars of the late coach accident arc published in the Fatea .Mail of Thursday last and from the somewhat unintelligible account there given we extract the following:—On the previous day the down coach from Hawera, containing ail extra freight of passengers, while descending the cutting to the Manawapoua bridge, dashed with such force against the north buttress of that structure that the king bolt gave way, and the four horses carried off the pole and fore-wheels. On the box were seated by the driver Mr. F. If. Brett and another passenger, whose name does not appear. The two latter were thrown-over the bridge into the river fifty feet below, and the driver was pitched on to the roadway. Mr Chalmers, who was on the top of the coach, was also deposited in the river by the shock. Mr. Brett, in falling, struck the rail of the bridge, and received severe internal injuries. Mr Chalmers took refuge on a snag but the others had no such protection, and struggled to get a footing on the face of the steep rocks. They were eventually got out by the driver, Mr Owen (one of the inside passengers), and others. Mr Brett appears to lie the only person seriously injured. Besides Mr Owen, there were four ladies and two children in the inside of the coach, hut beyond getting a severe shaking and fright they were uninjured. Most of the possengers were conveyed to Fatea in a vehicle procured from Mr Henry Young, farmer, and Mr Brett was taken back to his residence in Ilawea in a buggy.

An accident happened on Sunday afternoon to a boy named Wm. Crewe, working at the Mcadowbank Run, who had his elbow dislocated through a fall while running. He was at once brought into town and the bones replaced under the influence of chloroform.

The Wellington Chronicle says—Professor Proctor, the astronomer, appears to have that rare faculty of taking trouble. In preparing for an American course of lectures he once found that in tho photograph of his charts of the heavens the stars were not “brought out” to throw them with sufficient distinctness on the screen. He therefore sat down with his pen to make every one of those stars distinct, and lie did it. There were only 324,000 of them to go over, and (with reasonable intermissions for eating and sleeping) lie accomplished the work in just 70 hours of continuous application. The Melbourne correspondent of the Auckland Star draws tho following comparison between Melbourne and New Zealand tradesmen:—“ It makes me sick and disgustcd(hc writes) when I contrast the generous feelings of the New Zealand business man—his anxiety to oblige and to encourage trade—with the' grab-all,’ thciving practices of the conceited Victorian shopman. A Melbourne shopman would sooner cheat a customer out of a penny than lie would trade honestly, and so make a pound. The same spirit permeates'the whole fabric of sooiety in the premier colony.”

A writer in Coulburn’s New Monthly Magazine says:—“ All the heat we experience lies dormant in the atmospderc, and is raised to a higher or lower degree within it, up from a certain minimum, by the light of the sun. Should wo ascend from the earth to the sun, in rising up through the veil of the atmosphere, every step higher as it became thinner, the cold would increase up to vacancy, and we should find no heat there. Continuing to come nearer the sun, the intensity of his light would be increasing, the nearer the approach, but still there would be no heat, and if he is, what is most likely, without an atmosphere, we should discouer that instead of being on a ball of lire, his whole surface would consist of endless regions of cold desolatfon.

The Board of Education met this morning. Present —Messrs Seymour (in the chair), Ward, Parker, Henderson, and Fell. Mr Hodgson, Inspector of Schools, was also present. Some discussion took place as to the filling up tho scholarship at Nelson College rendered vacant by the death of Walter Conolly, but the matter was postponed for further consideration. The Inspector answered a number of questions put by Mr Henderson and stated that his report this year on the Marlborough schools would he a favorable one, and would bo ready by Monday. There were three schools where the results were unsatisfactory but there were extenuating circumstances, which would be mentioned in the report. These schools were the Picton Lower School, Grove Town, and the Blenheim Boys’ second division.

A monster pig belonging to Mr Frederick Poole, of Cranbourno, is thus described in a recent issue of the Dantlenong Advertiser: —“ It is two years old, stands 3ft Sin high, is 7ft Sin long from tho snout to the root of the tail, lft (Jin across the hack, 7ft (fin round the barrel, sft Sin round the jowl cuts a ham 2ft wide, and its belly from the ground is only 3in. Out travelling reporter. when at Mr Poole’s farm some six months ago, recoiled the weight of this pig to be about 7001 b, and competent judges who measured it the other day state unhesitatingly that it will now turn the scale at 10001 b. Mr Poole has been offered £SO for the animal, but has refused, as he intends exhibiting it at the forthcoming International Exhibition.

The following little story from the Bay of Plenty Times is not altogether flattering to the morals of the district;:—“We suppose tho old adage, in vino verifns, explains the fact that the cheques of a certain wellknown gentleman living not a hundred miles from Tauranga arc always refused by tho Bank as not containing his proper signature, except those signed by him when under the influence of drink. It appears that when the gentleman recorded his signature to the bank hooks on opening his account lie was more than half full, and the difference between his writing in his sober senses and that when in drink is so great that they would not be known to be by the same person. This little matter has been productive of a good deal of inconvenience to those who have received that gentleman’s paper.”

Dr Tanner’s Fast.—According to the calculations of the Hew York papers, Dr Tanner received altogether the sum of 137,010 dollars for his 40 days’ fast, or upwards of L 27.530. This is at the rate of 3441 dollars, or LGSO a day. This not altogether beggarly remuneration is stated to have been made up from the following sources:—The doctor's own bets, 5000 dollars ; through a betting agency, 12,223 dollars; sale of photographs, 1500 dollars ; payments for admission to the house, 78,315 dollars ; from various manufacturers for the doctor’s signature to their commodities, 11,102 dollars ; gift from the University, 3000 dollars; present from the State of Ohio, 5000 dollars; and from the firm of Liebig and Co., 20,000 dollars. The U.S.S. Company’s Cup.—The Volunteer Gazette says the Dunedin City Guards held their first competition for the Nelson Cup at tlipir range, Lawyer’s Head, on Saturday morning and afternoon, 18th ultimo. The above trophy was presented to the National Rifle Association at Nelson in March last, by the U.S.S. Company, and won by the City Guards, who then competed against all the “crack” companies that took part in that meeting. The Guards have now decided to shoot for it among themselves, in monthly matches under the following conditions :■ —The highest scorer in each match to count five points the second four, the third three, the fourth two, and the fifth one point, and the competitor who first scores twenty-one points to be the owner. The trophy is valued at thirty guineas, and as each member is Lent on having it, there will, no doubt, be a close contest before the lucky one can say, “It is mine.” Sergeant Provo was the successful man in this match, making 45 points, and thus scoring five points towards winning the cup. We don’t go in for lectures on “ woman’s rights ” in Wanganui, but we sometimes assert those rights in a practical way. On Sunday last, for instance, three young ladies of this town went out for their “ constitutional,” and on sitting down to rest, each of the fair damsels pulled out a cigar, lighted it and puffed away most enjoyably. “ And what for no ? ” as the landlady siys in St. Roman’s Well. Why should not the gentler sex taste the fragrant weed as the Musselman in the story enjoyed his wine ? It is only a plucky defiance of superstition in both cases, the superstition being of a religious character in the one case, and of a social nature in the other. The value of kisses is not depreciated by this assertion of woman’s rights, that is shewn by the example of those countries where it is as much a matter of course for a lady to have her cigarette as to have her glass of wine.— Herald,

The benefit of the N.Z. Accilent Insurance Company was brought ho me to the general public lately. MrArthurwho was severely injured at a building in Wanganui, took out a policy in the Insurance Company about a fortnight before. He will receive £1 per week until he recovers, and had the accident terminated fatally, LI.OO would have been paid. The Lyttelton Times has the following:— “Two rival dealers in stock were haggling about the price of a mob of sheep fit for the butcher, and 13s (Id per head was the highest offer made privately for them, but 14s was demanded. The vendor, however, refused this offer, and while the wouid-be-purchaser was otherwise engaged, shifted the mob into another yard and and allowed the auctioneer to put them up to public auction, when the dealer who had previously offered 13s fid per head was foremost amongst the buyers of the lot and they were finally knocked down to him at His per head. He then went to the yard in which the sheep had been formerly, with a view of buying them at the price required and the discovery was made. That dealer waxed wroth. ”

The New Zealand oats (says the London correspondent of the Auckland Herald), which are arriving in London, are making considerable impression here in a quiet way. A gentleman brought some to me the other day, which he had picked up in the docks, the leakage from sacks of oats which were being taken out of the ships. He thought that such corn had never been seen in this country before. I met another gentleman from Mark-lane, who brought the same report as to the impression New Zealand oats were producing there. lam told tlr.t they arc selling at more than 3C'; per quarter. With such a quality of oats as these I do not see why oats should not pay to ship to England as well as wheat. That is if anybody can he persuaded to sow oats again who has once had to sell them as Is per bushel. At any rate, to send such corn Home is indirectly a great benefit to the Colony. A few samples going about the country are capital immigration agents. And as they will soon he eaten up they will escape the pitiless abuse which usually falls to the lot of any ordinary mortal who ties to do good in that way.