NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2238, 20 May 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Mr P. J. Bell’s consultation on the Grand National Steeplechase Gup, to be run for on Monday, closes on Saturday. Speculators should therefore lose no time in applying for the remaining tickets.

It is stated that Messrs J. and T. Meek of Oamaru, are about to move for a new trial in the case of McLeish v. J. and T. Meek, in which £SO damages were awarded to the plaintiff at a late sitting of the District Court; so that the famous sheep case is not yet settled. Sir George Grey addresses the Invercargill electors this evening.

The Hon. John Hall addresses his constituents at Lceston this evening.

A debate on Byron versus Burns, with a view to decide which was the greater poet, will form this evening’s programme at the Literary and Debating Society’s meeting. A correspondent, who expresses entire approval of our remarks regarding the usurious rates of interest for small loans, has brought under our notice three cases in •which he was himself a victim. In one instance he received £8 10s in cash, and paid £lO within four months by four instalments of £2 10s each. At 10 per cent, per annum the proper interest for this accommodation would have been 3s 2d ; he paid 30s 1 In another instance, for £ls in cash, paid off in seven monthly instalments, his total payments amounted to £l7. At 10 per cent, interest he would have paid about 10s ;he actually paid £2 1 In a third case he paid for £lO, returned in instalments extending over six months, £1 interest, or £ll in all. In this case the simple interest, at 10 per cent would have come to about ss. Thus, in two instances he paid at the rate of 40 per cent per annum, and in one instance nearly 100 per cent. This large charge was by Messrs Moses and Aaron ; the more moderate charge of only 40 per cent was made by a money-lender whom by courtesy we might call a Christian, and who, at all events, was not a Jew. Of two evils it is always well to choose the less, and we should recommend our impecunious readers, when they 1 must’ borrow to do so in the cheapest market.—“ Otago Daily Times.”

Captain Barry, the Venerable Crustacean of New Zealand, has been lecturing at Milton, on his contact with the upper crust of British Society. He is under the hallucination that he has brought £BO,OOO into the colony, and that the Government owes him something more than a debt of gratitude. At the conclusion of his lecture a deluded lady new chum, Miss Hart by name, made a fluent address, in the course of which she severely deprecated the way in which governesses and educated ladies had been seduced by immigration agents to New Zealand and their ruin.

The South Dunedin ratepayers at a public meeting on Tuesday night proposed that their Mayor should be hanged. The resolution was seconded but was not carried. According to the “ Times” a long and acrimonious discussion then ensued as to the mode of taking the voting, in consequence of the | large number of non-rate-payers in the hall. After a lengthened delay, the chairman said there was no hope of the question being decided at that meeting, and vacated the chair and retired. The whole proceedings were characterised by a species of rowdyism rarely witnessed, there being at least a dozen fights and scrimmages during the controversy; while the town clerk at the conclusion of his oration was brought most unceremoniously from the platform to the floor by a ratepayer, and a number of intending speakers were simply “ shied” off the platform.

Hit is an ill-wind that blows nobody good. The Christchurch City Council have written to the Minister of Public Works, pointing out that as the railway staff have been burned out in Dunedin, a capital opportunity has been afforded the Government of repairing their injustice by bringing them back to Christchurch, where there is plenty of accommodation.

“ Kosmos ” of horse-whipping fame has joined issue with the Rev J. Upton Davis on the subject of gambling consultations. “ Kosmos” maintains that there are greater swindles perpetrated in the church than on the tuff. He lectured for three quarters of an hour on Tuesday night on this subject and received a vote of confidence.

Speaking of the recent post-sessional utterances the “ Otago Daily Times” says:— “ Among so many voices it is hard to distinguish any tune. There is an evident weakening of party ties in the ranks of the Opposition, and unless Ministers make some serious slip, they should be very strong during the coming session. It seems evident, however, that there will be strong opposition to the property tax. No one has a good word to say for it. It is “inquisitorial,’; “oppressive,” “un-English,” and in fact everything that is bad. "We have never defended the tax on any other grounds than the absolute necessity of raising revenue, and the desirability of taxation being made to press so generally on various classes in the community that a cry for economy would be an immediate result-

The Parihaka meeting has passed oyer without anything in the shape of a sensational Maori demonstration. The customary feasting took place and Te Whiti made an address of a pacific,: temperate, and in every way sensible character. He expressed his approval of the roads the Constabulary were making, and suggested that in order to avoid the swamp, a deviation would have to be made by the beach. He hoped they would be metalled and rendered fit for all kinds of traffic, and he strongly advised the natives not to dispose of an inch of the land that God had given them.

As the result of an inspection of the Otahuhu, Panmure, and Wangarei districts, Mr F. Lewis, cattle inspector at Auckland, states that pleuro-pneumonia is not spreading.

Tke Marlborough “ Express ” saysOn the principle that “ union is strength,” the matrons of Picton held a meeting the other day, and decided to form a society for the purpose of administering corporal punishment to wife-beaters. Several of the ladies present proffered their services as flagellators. If such a society is actually formed, a probability we are inclined to doubt, we shall watch for the narrative of the first aggressive expedition with some curiosity. Similar associations have existed fora short time in other parts of the world, only to end in a Police Court scene.

An esteemed correspondent writes to‘us (“ Express ”). from Picton as follows: “ Your Picton contemporary reports the case of a man having been bitten by a dog, and that the injuries so sustained rendered the attendance of a doctor necessary. It appears that an individual residing on the elevation has some little boys, whom he keeps at home to do field labor, instead of sending them to school. One evening last week he returned home to find that one of the boys had not performed his work satisfactorily, and in order to chastise him for his fault took up a garden rake and struck him across the back, with such force as to break the handle. One of the spectators of the scene was a dog, which with the sagacity worthy of a happy home and humane master, seized, his owner, bore him to the ground, and held him there until the little fellow had made good his escape. The poor faithful dog was shot, but not killed until the following day, when a kind neighbor put an end to his sufferings. Such is the common report in Picton, and if any member of a Humane Society or a Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals see this, they may find sufficient suffering to justify them in taking some action in the matter. The least that can bo done is, to see that the children’s interests are looked after by the Committee.”

Eight acres of oats on the farm of Mr Bailey, Mount Horrible, have yielded this season the extraordinary average of 105 bushels per acre. The “ Otago Daily Times” hears on reliable authority that Mr Webb’s monetary affairs, so far as they relate to the Permanent Building Society, of which ho was manager, have been put in order, and that owing to assistance from friends there will be no loss.

Mr Franck, the proprietor of the patent Totalisator, has caused a threatening letter to be forwarded through a Wellington firm of solicitors to the South Canterbury Jockey Club in reference to the infringement of his patent at the last race meeting. The troubles of this unfortunate patentee seem to be accumulating, for the distressing telegrams sent from South Australia respecting the eccentricities of the wonderful instrument have caused him such uneasiness that he has telegraphed from Dunedin to the Australian newspapers that his is the only apparatus of the kind that “ can’t lie,” and that those in use in Australia arc worthless colonial imitations.

Mr George Thompson, a well-known settler in the Tcmuka district, who it will be remembered left Timaru on Feb. 2, in company with Mr Donald McLennan, has returned to the colony. To-day a telegram was received from him at the Bluff, intimating that he will be in Timaru to-morrow, Mr Thompson has performed the feat of travelling round the world, visiting a great number of places of interest and spending five days in England, in the short space of 107 days. The “ South Australian Register” publishes the following extract from a letter from the owner of the Edith Hoguh, s,, to the owner of the barque Strathnairn, which it will be remembered, foundered recently on her voyage from England to Adelaide : “ Immediately after the collision, Capt. Hawkins hailed the captain of the barque, and asked if she was making water, and if boats should be sent, to which the latter replied, “ I am all right, lay by me till daylight.’’ Very shortly after this, however, the barque was seen to be going down, .and a boat was immediately despatched in charge of the mate, who returned in about an hour, and stated he could find no trace whatever of barque or crew. The steamer remained on the spot till daylight, and then steamed through a quantity of wreckage and cargo marked Adelaide ; also headboard with the name Straithnairn in yellow letters. Some novels were picked up, but bore no name. After finding no good could be done by remaining longer, the steamer resumed her course, Only about seven minutes elapsed between the time of the collision and the disappearance of the barque.”

A vocal and instrumental concert (in aid of the School Funds) is announced to take place to-morrow (Friday) evening at the Washdyke School-room at 7.30-p.ra. The annual inspection of the 0 Battery, New Zealand Artillery, by Major-General Davidson is announced in another column to take place to-morrow (Friday). -The Battery will parade at the barracks at 7.80 p.m,

The C Battery, N.Z.A. Cadets, will parade at 7.80 p.m. to-morrow, for inspection by Major-General Davidson, Inspector of Volunteers. A full muster at the ordinary parade to-night is specially requested.