NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2298, 29 July 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Chairman of the South Canterbury Board of Education received a telegram yesterday from the Minister of Education requesting that the Board would not undertake any new works and further intimating that the Government looked to the Board to co-operate with them in their efforts towards retrenchment. The matter will be discussed at the next meeting of the Board.

The members of the Timaru Harmonic Society have wisely abandoned their intention of retiring from public life. They have announced a concert on Thursday August 19 when “ The Bohemian Girl” will be produced. This opera has already been successfully placed on the stage by the Society and lovers of good music who patronise the forthcoming entertainment may anticipate a genuine treat. After a useful and successful sojourn in Timaru Professor Basstian contemplates making an early departure. Sufferers from corns who desire to profit by his skill are therefore reminded that they have no time to lose. Go it, ye cripples ! Efforts arc being made to retain, the services of Sergeant Gilbert at Waimatc, a numerously signed petition having been forwarded to the Superintendent of Police at Christchurch.

The report is current that gold has been discovered in a creek near Hawcfa.

At Russell a little boy two years and six months old, named Stone, sell into the fire and died from the effects of the burns received.

Several chinmies were knocked down by an earthquake at Wanganui yesterday. The shock was also severely felt at Wellington. School buildings, although compelled to be insured arc usually considered iirc-proof, but last evening a school house at Featherstone was destroyed. There arc a number of destitute carpenters iu the neighborhood.

The officers of the French war ship Guischcr, now at Auckland, report that the French naval division in the Pacific comprising the ironclads La Yictoricuse and Aviso Le Chasseur, made an expedition against the Kanakas of La Dominique, who had killed .and eaten some white men. About 200 troops with two mounted guns were landed. Two shots were fired, one man was killed and 72 made prisoners. When the remainder heard the reports of the guns they fell on their faces and surrendered. They were transported to the Island ofKaraka.

At Wanganui, on Tuesday night, the Courthouse was entered by thieves, who got through the window of the bailiffs room, and then burst open a door leading to the clerk’s room. An attempt was made to open the safe, which was unsuccessful. Drawers were rummaged, but nothing taken. It is thought the thieves were after documents and not cash.

A singularly impudent theft was reported to the police yesterday. A man named Crompton was accosted in the street by a stranger who asked what o’clock it was. He pulled out his watch to see, when the stranger made a sudden grab at it, and immediately cleared out. The prosecutor lost no time in making known his loss at the police office, and this morning Detective Kirby arrested a man named Chas. Williamson this charge. W'illiamswaa brought up before the Bench this morning and remanded until Saturday. Souvenirs of the Kelly gang of bushrangers seem to be the rage in Melbourne. One young man who started for Clcnrowan immediately the intelligence of the presence of the gang in that place became known in Melbourne, has secured the neckties of two of the gang, and some of the bullets which were fired at Ned Kelly, hut failed to hit him.

The Magistrate’s Court at Gisborne yesterday was occupied in hearing an information for perjury, laid by Mr Cooper against. W. L. Bees. Mr Cooper applied for a remand, as he was unable to obtain counsel to prosecute in Gisborne. After an hour’s deliberation the Justices decided to go on with the case, and Mr Cooper prosecuted himself. While going on with the case, Mr Bees sent several natives to Cooper’s farm, and they broke open the gates and drove all Cooper’s stock to the pound. It is expected this action will cause a charge of forcible entry being laid. The Court adjourned till to-morrow. That Brigham Young had I'J wives is scarcely an evidence that he was “ good and great ” as some would have us believe (says a contemporary), but may be taken as an index of his possessing an imperturbable temper sadly wanting in a resident in Oarnaru, who, the other evening, tapped his only wife on the head with an axe-handle. The “ Otago Daily Times” strongly disapproves of the report of the Hallway Commissioners, because they (tire commissioners) disapprove of the Otago central railway. Our contemporary is jealous of Oarnaru.

The “ Press” correspondent telegraphs from Wellington as follows: —About 12.;50 this morning, during the discussion on the estimates, a" loud report from the sunlight aloft caused considerable consternation among the members. The heat of the gas had apparently cracked one of the large sheets of plate glass, and those who were sitting below feared they might be guillotined by the glass falling on their heads. Almost simultaneously with the report, every member rose to his feet, glanced hurriedly upwards, and started for a door. No immediate danger being apparent, the committee presumed. On two occasions large sheets of glass have fallen from aloft upon the benches beneath, and therefore there was ground for their fear this morning.

The “ N.O. Times” states that a party of men is being organised in Oamaru for the purpose of proceeding into the interior in search of gold. They intend starting about September 1, “ Canterbury in 1880 ” is the title of a cartoon in the window of lloss Sims and Co., land agents. It contains a capital portrait of Mr Ick Mayor of Christchurch ladling out soup to a group of hungary applicants while beneath the table is a cat and dog having a quiet snarl, prior to being converted into food for the famishing. The cartoon is intended for “ home readers” and is registered for transmission abroad.