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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 17, 19 January 1877, Page 2

■ ■' '■ : ' *^ H ' . ; : 'ii TTi 'it :Ji A'■ !Ths Wellington .Choral Society netted over £55 by the performance of the Messiah at Christmas time; ; 'The gross' taking^ at the doors Were in excess' of '£100.: . i •■;■-'- :O~- <j.V? TheCh'ristchurch Press < writes/a* follows regarding the f^rst meeting of the Selvryn' County Council, of which Mr Kolleston, the late Superintendent,. has, been, elected .chairman:*—The opening i-wasinot'aSjtended bf any rush oE enthusiastic spectators. a JlTfie Speaker's and Strangers? > galleries were alike untenanted. .The, Council, met. and transacted business under ihe : gaze^bf dn exceedingly select sectioniqfi, the; public, numbering, when the excitement reached its highest pojnt,. juskthree persong.., o^e ( must admit, however, that .there was, :epay a visit;.,. The. three citizens whose in- ' j terest'iri things apolitical ■' drew " <lnem ) ttf the Council.room : must have found, themselves ■» , rather bored. r Tlje,Coun<jil had, nptjiing^,' , say or to do that was in the .slightest. degres. ( wosth hearing^ seeing. ' .The'jpembejrsji:^.,. fused to go beyond such formal proceedings^ as electing : a chairman or the like,, aail put off everything' of :; in'ferest-or imp^r'^rifee for cons^eratium;at.jkhe nfxt meeting. Pfeekfps on this^first, occasion Ihe }geniyp loci \ras u tob ' much.for them." J Td ; several/ Watt' events'/ the place of meeting must have suggested reminiscences that ijarred harshly wichtpir" present occupation. Yfe ,,carn r fancy M^ Rolleston, fdf instance, niourufulfy ciillSi^ 1 to mind his past appearances in that Chdm*ber,; sighing, qvgr; t^e, contrast i'jbetw.e,en.<£his;, picture and that, and oppressed with a vague consciousness that he was assisting in an act of sacrilege as. he («!$; M r the; t y^ sanctum sanctotum ef provincialism to do the business of a county. MrTancred, again^ doubtlesscast many wistful . glances ,'at the Speaker's chair, and felt that there was'itr uly something rotten in the state of Denmark 'whett that 1 old familiar seat, was to be his no more. And Dr Turribull; whose first speech in ihe Couni; cil revived in every sentence memories of bygone Superintendencies, mu3t haye beeQ too keenly reminded, as he looked 'to'und'thedeserted Chamber, tnat,'flchabod;" the glory was departed. ( Such sentiments were natural. That they had any' effect in shortening the proceedings we will not ventured to affirm/ But whatever the, causes, the xtgafi not in,the humor for seriquspw^r^""jijLcojifined itself to matters of forjn^and'ppstpQned alLgraver. business, till i%Q m&s' ing. ' • ' ' ""i"-^-^- 1 -

V'M c Rowing are the\partfculare of^he late filial thunderstorm at ~Jfrapier:~irha<l# |e§n raining heavily off fe?s da&g tUe afternoon; whe^tsudd^sjy a |Iftding\flasb;of fire was seen by * all m?the ..KJaserVatory^laccom^aiuedi by "a .crsSa of timber, ,and^ almoafc aQ&tahtly^f ol^ lowed by the moat awfully deafening peal of thunder which those present had ever experienced. Mr Wood, who at the time was in a stooping posture, was thrown on his face, as he describes it, by a shock or blow on the f'sfloulders, flfhicb. bore him ;down instantly;^ IS? afohce^ose, went to-, ha children! and® found IBe twd little girls lying'adwnwittr their eyes open but apparently paralysed. Thebodyof the boy was lying across their reel; ' Tfie oiily marks' found on- 'tfie'Do'dy^ OTf^ slight scorching of the hair behind Jaahght ear, and a small mark on the forehead, probably caused by falling down. tFronvthe present appearance of the -hpuse. alone, can be inferred the course which the " ?%k!?ing flash folJowed. It appears first to «havestruck thejiew part of :the house. The were torn off round the chimney, 3s« "Kjpflng boards and rafters shattered. rEjcoin the door leading from the kitchen to s «y*ebed..room, close to whe|re the child 3tood, sthedock had been crushed. Between-, that door and the back wall the lining hWbeen forced inwards*, exposing 'one of thOtuds, gwhjtah was split in two. In the bafih-wom, spfclififcj three feet of where, the wdo4-wa3 struck, and qoite at the- other end^'of the conservatory, the outer frame of ; the wuidow was split and lorn from its pla?e. l^the "Sf aw Jßg-rcom a very ; curious ; phenomenon is Theipattern,of ;the paper is ipfcflowers and diamonds, the fines jof the nafeer ; being formed vfith gold or bthe^f yellow 1 ;. lcCone case the lightning haa,lfrom s f6ei'oof tp the floor, blackened diagonally -J^?i Q es of niefal, ! ; more [ singular to '•state/where the lines intersect; each.%bther, au explosion appears to: have iakeu.,pjace, forming a mark, of ir-regular shajpe, still uni |°.? m ; about one j and a-quarter-inch by rM*|-^-inch, this mark leaving £ blaligi! stain wheii tubbed with a white;; handkerchief.'