CANTERBURY,

Otago Daily Times, Issue 137, 24 April 1862, Page 2

CANTERBURY,

Discovery op Water ky the ArtesianWell System.—The mode by which the two principal towns of the province will eventually he supplied with water seems to have beeu. discovered almost simultaneously. Our readers will remember that some months ago, -advocated the trial of artesian boring in the town of Christchurch, and suggested that the Government should send home for the proper apparatus and commence sinking for public fountains. What the Government have not done, at least so far as is publicly known, private enterprise has succeeded in doing, and the fact is established that perfectly pure., water-may be had in abundance ata moderate ' depth by the process of boring through the subsoil of Christchurch. It is difficult to overrate the importance of this discover}', for though the city is travereed by a river sufficiently large to supply its wants for some generations, unfortunately tbe rapid growth i of the watercress has so sompletely tainted 1 the stream with decaying vegetable matter that it threatens to become both nauseous and unwholesome: A fresh supply of water has also been discovered in Lyttelton from a i source before but little suspected^ For the . space of two months past,- the contractors ot 3 the railway have had great difficuty in con- - tending with the increase of the water which wells out with considerable force from crevice^ in the solid rock laid open by the process of blasting. So considerable did the supply at last become that when it reached 60,000 gal- " lons a day the men could no longer work^ at the inner or northern face, and had to coniine _ their labors to effecting a junction with the southern drive of the tunnel, which, as will be rl found stated in another part of our columns n has at last been effectually accomplished. For y the last five weeks nothing has been done to the north face ofthe rock, and-yet the water forces itself through with the same violence as when the last blast was fired, showing either that extensive springs must exist below tbe surface or that a monstrous cavity may pos1_ sibly be found within the mountain, the res' pository for years past of the drainage of the r'. hills. Already, the water taken out with the il imperfect machinery applied for temporary ie purposes, would fill a space considerabh' larger than Lyttelton Church, and yet, as we ~ have said, there is no.sign of the stream , diiuinisliiii!? in force.

_ Notes ok Recent Legal Decisions.—Negligence. T —Aledicines. —A person buffering from diarrhce;i tent I to a chemist in liis neighbourhood for a mixture to y relieve liim. The chemist sent the medicine, after _ which the patient became insensible, and was with difficulty brought round. The patient sued the chemist for damages, and the defence was that the ie mixture was composed of chloroform, oil of cloves, and peppermint, -n liich waS kept ready-mixed in a largo bottle, and tho chloroform being the heaviest fluid had sank to the boitom of the vessel,-which v.as I nearly empty when the plaintiff was supplied. The I jury found for the plaintiff, with damages.—Harley ly" v. Drew. Divorce. - Cruelty.—Sir Creswell Crc-.'-Vy-011 has just refused to grant a, judicial separation on the ground of cruelty, when it appeared that one act of cruelty only been committecd. Sir C. Creswell ""^ observed "that "in all cases where a, judicial separation had been granted, there had been repeated acts of violence to wan-ant the Court in granting a decree. — Smallwood v. Small wood.-— Execution. —Insolvency Protection Order. —The point was argued on Wednosian day last, before the Court of Common Pleas, whether om an interim order of protection from arrest nrofectcd a*- an insolvent against process in respect of debts not included in his schedule. Tlio Court was unanimously of opinion that the interim order protected the debtor , • from arrest for any debt, whether scheduled or not.— Wallinger v. Gurney. Oaths. —Atheists.—Evidence.—A very important caso was argued before the °^ Judges of the" Exchequer last week, on an appeal ul from the decision of the' County Court Judge at [?° Rochdale. A witness was sworn in the '.usual way, ?. and was about to give svidence, when she! confessed, . ■ in answer to a question of the counsel on the other '"■ side, that she did not believe in a futiu-o, : state of rewards and punishments. The Jugde declined lo r»clined to receive her evidence, and the question was whether a witness might be rendered incompetent at the option of the opposing party if he did not ohjecfc a'e to take the oath. After an elaborate argument by ?*» Mr. Crnnford, the Court confirmed the decision of lt" the County Court Judge, and dismissed the appeal.— Aladen v. Catanach.— Birmingham Gazette. Mb. Heid's New Steamer. —The little steamer which was brought from-Melbourne a few months cc" ago, in the Eucalyptus, and purchased by Air. Reid of New Town, having had her woodwork fitted by Air. McGregor, at liis ship yards, and her engines l>y Air. AlcLaehlan, took her trial trip yesterday. Tlie vessel is an iron steamer 05 feet over nil, with 7 feet >er- beam, and a depth of 4A feet, and is calculated to carry 16 tous, She is propelled by a hia-h pressure engine of 4-horse power, and hasapatmt tubular boiler. When completed it is intended tliat she shp.ll ~ n cany from thirly-five to forty passengers, for which j' latter accommodation will bs arranged, die is intcudod, we undei-s-tand, ior the conveyance of pas* _ sengers nnd cargoes lo and fi-om Dunedin to Pert Chalriier-, having been specially bought as we are in-' • formed, for that purpose. Tiie little vessel started on J 1" her trial trip with Air. I?eid, who was accompanied .'"" by one or two friends, commanding, Air. McLachlan ' taking charge of the engine. Sim left-Alv. AlcGrefior's slip at 11 a.m., and proceeded to the New Jetty, — where she remained until one o'clock, when she left — lor Kangaroo Point, returning thence lo the wharf,and then went up to the river ay far ns Mr. Heid's residence, steaming- round New Town Bay. Leaving the Bay she steamed to Res'tdowu -where"' the party remained an hour, returning to AlcGrcgor's slip at six o'clock. The tri.il was, we are informid, pei : feetly satisfactory in every respect, the little vessel [. , being found to be well adapted to the object for which ' c she bas been purchased. Her average speed during her successive trials, was betwre i si* and seven knots, and improvements were yesterday suggest til by which it is. anticipated this speed will be increased. When these are effected and the whole of her woodwork fittings are completed, the vessel will be taken to her destination. She is not .is yet manned we believe. Tlie appearance of so small a steamer iv the Bay caused some excitement — Hobart Town Mactiry, April 5. The very memorable 1861. closed with a mildness unusual for the season, and,consequently, the new year, 1862, was ushered in with unusual mildness. Many occurrences have tended to render 1861 more memorable than many of the preceding years. Locktins *nf> a* nicteorologically, we had not only a ficklo nuiumer, but a very stormy one ; it really makes one's blood run still when we read of the vast destruction of human life by shipwreck which the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette records. January 1861, 202 vessels wrecked ; in February, 285 ; in March, 133 ; in .April, 149; in May, 142; in 'June, 115; in July, E. 91; in August, 108 ;in September, 146 ;in October, 119 ; aud in November, 2S9—making a serious total — of 1,r79 in eleven months ! — jl/arle Lane Express. j. s This Fall-preventing Rei.vs.—Air. A. English, . o oneof the inspectors of Hertfordshire constabulary, "i" stationed al Hatfield, has patented a most ingenious ' indention, the object of which is to prevent horses in i' harness from failing. A set of reins, beautifully imde, was exhibited to the magistrates present at the i canity petty sessions lately, and it is understood that "j tley have been examined by competent persons, who ' Uglily approve of the invention, having been tqtd vith hoi ses accustomed to fall, and found to answer almirably. In one of thp cases referred to a liorse vhich could scarcely go a hundred yards without . 0I|" stumbling was driven for many miles over ji very bad !l1" .roacl without exhibiting any tendency lo its aceustomj'ei vice. A description of the mnnnerwhich the in ■-c ' reins arc applied will be sufficient to show their use / and power. The reins commence under the belly of -> the horse, with a loop which receives the saddle giith j and tug girth ; they then pass on either side the thest • ofthe horse to the .round ofthe hame, were they pass r> through a loop, then through the eye of ftic hame and fi- the ring of the saddle, and over the dash-board Into the box or bottom of the chaise, wheie they are mafia -. ' fast over the axle by two straps. The' obvious effect " of the reins thus disposed is to bracp up ihe horse and j™ -throw the whole weight of its fore quarters upon the , v -^«v-thuiunaking it impossiWe for the animal to fall. J The invention, wlficiris-elegant and durable, can lo applied as readily to carts as to other vehicles. Tlio , fall-preventing reins are "'miletnented by a simple "' but useful contrivance for pi-eventing a horse from . running avay. An auxiliary rein, in the form of a « short 1001^^"^; fP-osps the fall-preventing reins f-UtfSSro Sythe driver "vf 11"^?" I ', ?"* be seized a* ' movements of'the We n^'* ~es "? tu, control«« ;. !»,»it will bethe moest StffA?^ hf J? .. inventions. It j s most i r „i,-K£{ e . Mfi , leisure he has been aM7to^«™ f h,m tbat tho employed, and it to to fa hStfet £n S° W°rtJ"iy ial success of his invention hevinZi CT Uerc' \ reward.— Stanford. nd an adequate Poaching Extiuoih>i.\aiiv~.a ™wi — rents a moor on the line of a recentlv^ro .m^ way on the west of Scotland,Tfr7«££ , !? his slumbers interrupted by the «.»£, * ■ g0 cited af - staßt keeper o^Urmed h m t CIn Jt of poachers were in the glen nursni™ Ji, • with the keepez? and'^nd S aJ' e t,tllem' He set »* destroyers wire a party of enifnt ° W*ed game I njr level, with a'tttfe^^f-