NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2239, 21 May 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A telegram just received from Invercargill states that Sir George Grey will probably speak at Timaru on Monday, returning to Dunedin on Tuesday.

A requisition is to be forwarded to tho Premier, asking him to address the electors at Invercargill.

The opening of theWaimea railway, the great prop of Sir Julius Vogel’s Agricultural Company, is indefinitely postponed owing to the Government refusing to take it over. The hearing of tho charge of embezzlement against H. T. Read (late of the Timaru Mechanics’ Institute) was to have taken place at Belfast (Victoria) Assizes on May 1, but was deferred till the next Court, as there had not been sufficient time to prepare the case for the Crown. The defendant was admitted to the same bail.

The lauding steps that the Harbor Board recently resolved to erect were yesterday placed in position on the north side of tho breakwater, and will no doubt be found a great convenience.’

A largely attended meeting of drapers and clothiers’ assistants was held last night in the chess room of the Queen’s Hall. It was unanimously decided to take steps for the immediate formation of an Early Closing Association, and a committee was appointed to wait on employers rc early closing. It was also resolved that the ladies of Timaru be requested to abstain from late shopping. Mr Lancaster, a butcher at Ashburton, and one of his employees had a narrow escape of being killed last Tuesday. They were working in the slaughterhouse when a strong gust of wind blew it down, completely burying them. When extricated they were attended by T>r Eoss, but though they were bruised about a good deal, their injuries were not serious. A special general meeting of the South Canterbury Jockey Club will beheld at the Grosvenor Hotel at 8 p.m. on Wednesday next to consider the advisability of holding a steeplechase meeting near Timaru this season.

A peculiar accident occurred at the Theatre Royal, Bolton. It seems, according to the “Figaro,” that the ingenuity of somebody had invented a “ vampire-trap,” or, in other words, a trap at the foot of which was a mattress, suspended by four ropes. This mattress was, it seems, with combined ingenuity and forethought, swung over the “ well,” so that if any accident occurred to the ropes, anybody jumping down the vampire-trap must be precipitated into the well, a distance of some eighteen or twenty feet. Matters being thus ordered and settled, the fun began. The harlequin descended and broke one of the ropes, going, of course, at once down the “well.” He was then followed by the clown, who fell on the harlequin, and lastly by the manager, Mr J. F. Elliston, who, not inappropriately, played the part of Simple Simon. When the casualties came to be reckoned, it was found that the poor harlequin had severely injured his spine, that the clown had escaped with a few bruises, and that Simple Simon had fractured his ankle. Additional interest to the scene ’was gained when it was discovered that the mattress had fallen on a stage carpenter and had injured his head. And this is what the public are pleased to, call “ amusement I”

The ship Geraldine Paget, now duo at Wellington, has the following adult immigrants on ' board for Timaru; —Robert Barlow, Jane Barlow, Kate Fitzg.erald, Nan Fitzgerald, and Mary Fitzgerald-

..The quantity of rock-cod taken off the Breakwater recently has been “prodigious,” as Dominie Sampson would say, and successful anglers’are everywhere laden with spoil. From an early hour this morning the lower end of the Breakwater was crowded with anglers, and at ten o clock, between 40 and 50 large fish were to be seen lying about so that it became somewhat difficult to avoid treading on them. The people in the small boats about the harbour are daily catching immense quantities of fish.

Information has been received by the Government from the Immigration Officer at Auckland, to the effect that there is no distress now in that district but that on the contrary he can find work for several families. The Government have therefore inti mated to the Mayor of Wellington that they will forward from Wellington to Auckland thirteen or fourteen families who may be in want of assistance or employment. A somewhat curious and not - altogether creditable incident is reported in connection with the Whangarei shooting case. It appears that after being fired at by the accused man, Smith, Mrs Washer ran away and was lost in the bush all night. She went for assistance to a bachelor, who pleaded that “ he was a single man and could not help her.” The Whangarei sense of propriety must be very finely developed when it prevents a man from giving shelter to an unfortunate woman who has had a narrow escape from the bullet of a would-be assassin and is reduced to the extremity of wandering about the bush all night.

Tradesmen should bo cautious about dealing with Union Bank notes, as a good number of spurious ones arc still in circulation. A considerable number have been altered from £1 to £5 notes by an ingenious manipulation of thofigurcs. Others have been altered to represent larger amounts. By holding them to the light the erasures may be discovered. Another test is to ob serve the words “ One Pound ” in the body of the note, and a third is to notice the date, the Bank’s notes being dated as follows : £l, Jan. 1; £5, Feb. 1; £lO, March 1; £2O, April 1, A case arising out of these fraudulent notes has just been heard before the Resident Magistrate in Dunedin. Albert Evans, a draper, sued G. H. Glover, hatter and haberdasher, for £5, the value of a forged note cashed by the plaintiff on April 17. The note had been changed at Evan’s shop by ono of Glover’s workmen, and Glover, on being applied to, stated that he received it from a man named Halligan, while Halligan in turn swore that he must have got it a fortnight previously from Glover himself, or from the City Hotel. Judgment was given for plaintiff for the amount claimed.

The skill of the Celestials in Legerdema n is even exercised in their cookery, and at a recent Chinese banquet to Americans n San Francisco, some very curious dishes were produced. Each guest, the San Francisco “ News Letter ” tells us, received an orange which appeared to be in its pristine condition, but on being opened, contained five different kinds of jelly. No trace was visible of any cut in the orange to extract the pulp. Coloured eggs were also filled with jelly, nuts, meat, and sweets, in a similar manner. The interpreter, when asked for an explanation, declared “ Mclican men heap smart, why he not findee out ?” Sir George Bowen (remarks the 11 Capo Times ”) is making laudable efforts to impress upon the minds of the Mauritius people the necessity of tree planting, upon the preservation and extension of its forests depending the prosperity or ruin of the country and the life or death of its inhabitants. And ho is a man of deeds as well as words. A largo portion of the domain at Eeduit has been appropriated by him as a nursery for the cultivation of useful trees and plants. Already, under Sir Georgo Bowen’s auspices, 15,000 trees have been raised in this arboretum, chiefly from seeds of varieties of the eucalyptus , brought by him from Australia, Mentioning this fact in a recent address to the local Society of Arts and Sciences, he said :—“ It will be recollected that plantations of this tree have been found most effective in checking the spread of malaria in Italy, in Greece, in Algeria, and in other fever-stricken countries. It is intended to raise at Eeduit for distribution throughout the colony other valuable trees, such as the chincona from which quinine is made, the kauri (dammara) of Australia and New Zealand, which is highly prized for its timber, together with many other trees of remunerative growth.” Paternal government is not without its advantages. The Aucklanders, with their splendid water supply and efficient Fire Brigade (says the Auckland correspondent of the “Otago Times”),'are chafing under the new tariff arranged by the holy alliance of the fire insurance companies. They fail to see why they should pay for the losses incurred through indiscreet risks in marine business. It is stated that a number of business men have all agreed to give risks amounting to £30,000 (but ultimately to bo made up to £i00,000) to any English company starting an agency here, apart from the associated tariff. It is a great pity that the companies should oscillate between a tariff which is confessedly exorbitant on the one hand, and on the other one which from its ruinously low and reckless character, is simply promoting incendiarism. There ’la no reason why such a scale should not be adopted as, while giving a fair and reasonable profit to those institutions, would at the same time prove satisfactory to the assured.

It is expected that Sir George Grey will address a public meeting in Dunedin on Saturday evening. In response to an invitation a number of representative tradesmen and manufacturers in Dunedin belonging to the Local Industrial Association, waited on the Native Industries Commission on Wednesday. The Conference which lasted over three hours was of a most interesting character and the Commissioners received a large amount of valuable suggestions. One of the legal gentlemen having occasion to ask that the witnesses in a certain case heard this morning, might he ordered out of Court, His Worship remarked that the order had better perhaps be given, although the witnesses might just as well stop inside the Court as out for anything they would be able to hear.

A slight accident occurred to the breakwater crane on Wednesday, one of the centretravelling shafts giving way and causing some inconvenience and delay. The damage having been repaired this morning* work was once more resumed.

The annual inspection of our local volunteer corps by Major-General Davidson, takes place this evening, at 7.15, when it is hoped there will be a punctual muster. Attention is directed to a notification elsewhere, that the regular meeting of the Lodge of St John, No, 1137, E.C., will be held this evening at 7.30 o’clock. The ladies of the Congregational Church, Timaru, announce that they will hold a sale of useful and fancy articles at the Rooms of Messrs Mackley, Priest, and Co., kindly lent for the occasion, on Monday next, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.