NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2273, 30 June 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Messrs Peacock and Gcancy have decided to postpone their winter show of meat till Thursday and Friday, July 8 and 9. The postponement is due to the state of the roads and unsettled condition of the weather In the meantime wc would suggest that some of the other butchers of Timaru should take advantage of the delay to promote a competitive exhibition. Consumers who arc apt to be dissatisfied at the increase in retail piiccs which has just been announced, might have their lacerated feelings relieved if they were assured as to quality. Besides a general mid-winter show would tend to enliven the markets.

About four o’clock, yesterday afternoon, two muscular residents of Timaru, accompanied by an admiring crowd of forty or fifty citizens proceeded to the beach near the Breakwater, for the purpose of settling a recent grievance, Before reaching the shingle, however, the rain began to descend in torrents, and by the time the pugilists had stripped themselves and assumed their war-paint, their ardour was so far cooled that their angry emotions subsided. This is by no means the fust time that a cold shower like a kind word, has turned away wrath.

Some neglected pumpkins, solved by a well known member of the House at Eangitiki, have blossomed into bee-hives.

The division on the no confidence motion is expected to take place this evening. Ministers are confident of a substantial majorit}'. The rumours of a probable reconstruction of the Ministry, several members wishing to retire, arc said to be without the least foundation.

The schooner Elibank Castle was in some danger last night and about nine o’clock a gun was fired at the rocket station which attracted a considerable number of people including members of the Brigade to tiro spot. The alarm turned out to be a false one, however, as the vessel was quickly out of danger.

Many of our readers will regret to observe in our death notices this evening the name of Mrs Young, of Church street, the wife of a well-known tradesman and a lady whoso kindly affable disposition and excellent business qualities endeared her to everyone. We arc informed that several deaths from puerperal fever —an epidemic of a most frightful and fatal character —have lately taken place in Timaru.

The Camaru Waterworks arc reported to be a "rent success. Tire pipes in the township arc charged with a pressure sufficient to send the water over the highest buildings although tire reservoir is not yet nearly full. The works arc of the most substantial kind, but the first estimate of cost is somewhat exceeded.

The question of voting the Mayor of Dunedin a salary of £IOO per year, has been shelved by the Council adjourning for ten minutes and then failing to present a quorum.

The “ Mount Ida Chronicle ” complains that an officer of the Land Tax Department lias been sent up country at an expense of £1 or £5 a day (a high ligurc surely) to swear in assessors, when the duty could have been as well performed by the local It.M. or a J.P. if the necessary authority had been given.

On Sunday last Joseph Gartshorc, a digger at Wuhan Valley, was talking to his mate when he suddenly fell back dead. The balance sheet to be presented at the annual meeting of the Union Insurance Company on Juty G shows a balance of £18.058 His Id. The directors propose to pay £7500 as a dividend, place £7OOO to the reserve fund, and carry forward £5558 IGs Id.

One of the men on strike at Shag Point, a pitman named Lister, has been lined 5s for trespass, and ordered to leave the ground of the Shag Point Colliery Company Lister with the permission of the mining manager had erected a hut near his work partly with mud and partly with timber which he bought from the .company. Into this he removed his wife and family, who had previously resided at Palmerston. As he joined in the recent strike, however, ho was interviewed on the 21th instant by the manager and Police Inspector Thompson who read for his information section 11 of the Town and Country Police Ordinance, which empowers property-owners to direct trespass to leave their property, a refusal rendering the person refusing liable to a penalty not exceeding £lO. Thereupon the lyanagcr, on behalf of the Company, directed defendant to leave the Company’s ground within an hour. After the lapse of an hour the manager returned to the hut, and found that defendant had not left, and did not intend leaving. Por the defence it was contended that defendant’s hut was not upon the Company’s ground, but upon the foreshore, and that defendant had, therefore, not been a trespasser. 'The bench which consisted of Mr J. N. Watt, of Dunedin, and Mr Crbcll, J.l’., refused to increase the lino to £5 to enable Lister to appeal but agreed to state a case for the Supreme Court. The list of eases set down for hearing at to-morrow’s sitting of the District Court will be found in another column.

Mr Stoss, was knocked down and narrowly escaped being run over by an express in the streets of Wclllington on Monday. It is rumored that Ministers have promised to reduce the estimates by £150,000.

It is considered highly probable that the tea and sugar duties will be reimposed.

A small bridge on the railway, at Wai mate, was swept away this morning by the heavy rains. Some inconvenience was caused to the early train going bouth, but the damage had been repaired by the time the midday express went through from, the North.

A first class ve-sed has been laid on from Melbourne for Natal, the nearest port to the African diamond and goldfields. A free lecture on a somewhat uncommon subject is announced in our advertising columns, to be given in the Foresters’ Hall on Friday next, at 7.30 p.m. Mid-winter Snow.—-Messrs Peacock and Gcanoy, butchers, of Church street, Timaru, beg to notify that in consequence of the inclement weather, they have postponed their mid-winter show of meat till Thursday and Friday, the Bth and 'Jth July next. [Advt.]