NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2124, 13 January 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The annual general meeting of the Temuka Mechanics’ Institute Committee will be held on Thursday next. The Fire Brigade met for wet practice last night at the Ship hotel tank. There was the usual crowd of sight-seers, and the proceedings were conducted in the usually effective manner.

At Oamaru yesterday Young Gleeson, the pedestrian, walked 60 miles in 11 hours 50 minutes.

An accident occurred in the Dunedin harbor on Sunday whereby a man named Christian Bode, who carried on business as a hairdresser, in George street, lost his life. The circumstances are thus described by the “ Otago Daily Times”: —About 3 in the afternoon JBode with other men, named Stoneham, Richardson, and Nees, were going off from somewhere near the Stewart street jetty in a dingy to a sailingboat lying at anchor off the retaining-wall. By some means the dingy became overbalanced, and capsized and sank. Two of the men swam ashore, but Bode and another could not swim. Bode was drowned, and the other managed to keep afloat until help came from a passing boat, the occupants of which picked him up, and also managed to secure the body of Bode. On reaching shore the the services of Dr Richardson were at once obtained, but all efforts to restore animation failed. The deceased was a middle-aged man, well known to many in the city, and leaves a wife and some grown-up children. We are usually able to make a haphazard guess at the cablegrams that we receive, but the following specimen of unintelligible jargon which reached our hands yesterday afternoon defied our inventive efforts: —“‘Argus’ special. London, 10th. Russia upholds service against Austrian railway scheme access Bacchus jealous of Russian influence southward Mahomay Java is rallying the Afghan Guzni.” Our morning contemporary—the “ Herald” — supplies the following interpretation: “ Russia is upholding Servia in her opposite the Austrian railway scheme. Mahomed Jan has retreated to Ghazine, where he is • rallying the Afghan forces.” A son of Lord Lyttelton, and who is a distinguished musician, is at present in Christchurch, and lately sang at the Colonists’ Society at Lyttelton.

At the annual meeting of the Levels Eoad Board held to-day, Mr Beswick was re-elected Chairman for the ensuing year.

The Levels Eoad Board have determined to prosecute the task of dividing Geraldine into two separate Counties. At their ordinary meeting this afternoon they passed a resolution expressing regret at the action taken by the representatives of the Levels Eiding in the Geraldine County Council, in bringing the Counties Act into operation in defiance of the ratepayers. They also decided to take legal opinion as to any additional steps that might be necessary to obtain separation for the Timaru district.

At Ashburton, yesterday, a farm hand, named John Gorman, was prosecuted for kissing a girl aged 14, named Lucy Swan. It came out in evidence that the information was laid through ill-feeling having existed between the parents and the accused, and purely at the instigation of the parents.

The effect of taxes on property on the valuation rolls was briefly discussed at the Levels Eoad Board meeting to-day. The new rolls shewed a reduction in the total valuation of nearly 25 per cent, as compared with last year. So far from questioning the fairness of an estimate which implies a considerable loss of revenue the members of the Board congratulated each other on this year’s valuation being so good remarking that the tax imposed by the Legislature on property had so seriously diminished its value that they scarcely expected the valuation returns to be so satisfactory. Yet a falling off of £SOOO in the value of a Eoad District in one year is rather a serious item!

A Levels plains farmer, named Balfour, appears to be on the horns of a dilemma. The favorable weather has given him an enormous crop but his paddock is a fastness to which there is no access. In his anguish he has applied to the Road Board but the overseer declares the poor man’s property to be rockbound, a veritable fortification. The only way suggested for getting a reaper on the farm is by carrying it in pieces and scaling the ramparts. The overseer has been requested to do what he can but he fears he can do but little.

Six “ violent deaths” (i.e., from other than “ natural” causes) occurred in New Zealand last month. Of these, four were accidental, namely, two from fractures and contusions, and two from burning, the latter being the deaths caused by the second fatal fire in Dunedin, where also one death was caused by a tramway engine, a verdict of manslaughter being recorded. Lastly, one suicide occurred in Wellington by shooting.

A new idea in advertising has been started by the Associated News and Advertising Bureau, of’Auckland, in the shape of an “advertising paper dinner napkin,” the first of the kind in the colony. It is printed in two colours, on what is known as silk tissue, and contains a “ tissue ” of business notices, around which is a very tastefully executed border and design. This novel invention has been registered by the manager of the Bnreau, and all rights for New Zealand reserved.

A sad case has recently occurred in an American theatre, by which one of the spectators sitting in a private box was accidentally shot dead by one of the supernumerics 'engaged ■in a melodramatic battle on the stage. Suddenly during the combat there was a sharp report, and a gentleman in a private-box was found to have been shot in the head. It is assumed that a ;bullet had been accidently left in one of the rifles bought second-hand for the theatre, and that no murder or mischief was in any way intended.

General Newdigate, who]? distinguished himself during the Zulu campaign, has had the pluck and the good sense to refuse an invitation to a public luncheon, and so has given a quiet snubbing to the common trick of receptions that have lately got beyond the bounds of discretion. The General writes a very gentlemanly and proper letter to decline, and states with some force that “ As a soldier I have simply done my duty, or attempted to do so, to the best of my ability.”

Captain Bayldon, of the steamer Wanga. nui. reports having recently seen 12 whales of Ranks Peninsula, and other reports have reached us of whales been seen near the shores of the East Coast of the Colony.

Within the last fortnight about 14 hundred souls were added to the population of this Colony, by the arrival of the ships Waitara and Enturpe, at Lyttelton ; the Auckland, Otaio, and Elizabeth Graham, at Port Chalmers ; the Lutterworth and Bebbington, at Wellington ; and the Adamant and Inglewood, at Auckland.

A circular in Maori has been printed at the office of the “ Manawatu Herald,” announcing that the jubilee which was to have begun at Otaki on Jan. 1, 1880, has bebn postponed to Feb. 9, when it will be held. The jubilee is in commemoration of the preaching of the Gospel amongst the natives. The circular also states that all persons attending the jubilee services are to wear white hats and coats, and are especially warned to abstain from drunkenness and all other evils during the celebration. The circular is signed “From the assembly of la3 f men.”

A London paper contains the following:— “No woman has ever done large and living work in musical composition. Music has hitherto been the one art in which sex has asserted itself, in defiance of the dearest theories of the advanced. Is our time to see the contradiction of this fact? At the Royal Accademy of Music the Mendelssohn Scholarship was gainfed for the first time by a woman—a Miss Maud White, who is now at work upon an opera which is described as 1 magnificently dramatic.’ Her libretto is taken from Lamartine’s * Jocelyn,’ and the young composer’s ardent hope is that when her darling work is produced she may be allowed to guide the orchestra, to the full interpretation of her meaning, by conducting it in person.

A special general meeting of the Timaru Harmonic Society takes place this evening at the Sophia street Hall.