South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, MAY 24, 1880. NEWS OF THE DAY.
Railway returns for the nine months ending May 31st have been published. The gross receipts are £575.588 or £99,412 under Major Atkinson’s estimate which was £675,0CC. The working expenses amount to £430,284 and the net revenue aval 1 able, for interest on cost of construction is therefore £145,304. Eat her a poor return on the outlay. Bell’s consultation on., the Christchurch Steeplechase Cup, run f.otto-dry, took place on Saturday evening. The winning numbers appear in another.- column. We understand tlvj.t Mr John Thompson, who was originally appointed an assessor under the Property Tax Act for the Levels District, has instructed Messrs Stout and Hamcrsley to coi nmonce proceedings against the Governmen t for breach of contract. The Froliqvies made their how to a moderate audiem je at the . Theatre Royal on Saturday evening. Their entertainment ns a whole is a pleasing one, for if its attractions are limited, it contains nothing that can poss" .bly give offence. Essentially it is a varie' ;y minstrel performance in which the bn - .mt cork is relieved by a quartette of bloom jng young damsels. Two of these are i jood vocalists, and a third. Miss Lottie Elli ott, the skipping rope dancer,is deserving of every praise. The instrumental music on, the whole was good, particularly the F /Ortion supplied by Mr Martin Simonson, for the renowned Paganini, compressed and reanimated, could scarc°ly have done more with catgut. The negro business was but a moderate success, the jo!: or what were intended to be jokes, eliciting hardly a laugh, while the “niggers” were lively acrobats but poor contortionists, and far too serious to be funny. The absence of two young ladies who had been placarded and posted all over the town contributed to the disappointment occasioned by {the appearance of the Froliqucs in Timaru. The managers of the Auckland Industrial School are in a mutinous condition. Forgery and uttering is attaining the dimensions of a new colonial industry in the North Island. Good penmen are consequently in request.
Eewi has refused to receive the house built at Kihilri hi under the authority of the late Government, unless Crown granted. He retracts ’the authority given over nis lands, and says he alone will exercise mana, Hannaford, the Auckland matrimonial agent, has coir-.e into collision with the Law Society through writing a letter that should have been ent rusted to a solicitor. He awaits his doom cheerfully.
A most extraordinary occurrence happened on board the barque John Bull which has just arrived at Auckland. On the Ist inst a seaman named Peter Ledgkrim, who was on the foretopsaii yard passing a wing, suddenly ceased work. The mate sent a man aloft to ask the cause, and he found the seaman quite dead. Heart disease is supposed to have .been the cause of death.
Two vagrants named'James Murphy and Thomas Halpin, were brought before Mr Beetham, E.M. to-day and sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. Murphy .was fined 10s, with the alternative of 48 hours imprisonment in addition for drunkenness.
The latest swindle in America is styled “census-taking.” A gentlemanly fellow who drives up with blanks for statistics on the farm—bushels of wheat, number of cattle raised, acres under cultivation, Ac. Between the tables and the foot of the page, where the farmer signs his name, attesting the statement, is blank space, whose existence is accounted for as affording room for miscellaneous information. In a month more the farmer received notice from a neighbouring bank that his note for 150 dollars is due. He knows nothing of the note, but investigation shows that the “census-taker” has filled in the blank with a promise to pay, which, being now in .the hands of an innocent holder, must be ■paid by the unlucky dupe.
The Nelson members arc daggers drawn. Pitt and Adams have turned their backs on one another politically and socially; The late row at the Club, when the friends and relatives of the members joined in a pugilistic contest, has brought about a crisis. Of course the electors are disgusted, for with, their members at loggerheads their main trunk railway stands not the shadow of a chance. Mr Adams has been asked to resign, but like a wise man ho politely declines. The latest phase of the quarrel is that Mr Pitt offers to resign his seat and go to the electors if Adams, M.H.E., will do the same. The latter,_ having cut his wisdom teeth, will hardly accept the challenge.
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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2241, 24 May 1880, Page 2
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755South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, MAY 24, 1880. NEWS OF THE DAY. South Canterbury Times, Issue 2241, 24 May 1880, Page 2
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