NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2343, 20 September 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY .

The ’Brisco mail steamer arrived at Auckland this afternoon.

The hirst of the scries of promenade concerts under the auspices of the Artillery Band took place on Saturday evening and attracted a crowded house.

The Pantascopc entertainment was well attended on Saturday afternoon, and the youngsters, of whom a considerable number were present, seemed to enjoy themselves. On Saturday evening the entertainment was repeated. This evening the programme will be varied, the mechanical diorama of “The Enchanted Palace” being substituted for that of the Arctic .Regions.

According to the “ New Zealand Times” the generally correct-speaking Sergeant Anderson, during the recent session of the Supreme Court, addressed Mr Justice Johnston as “Your Worship,” bringing down on himself an awful reprimand from the Court, which was astonished that a sergeant of police, did not know the difference of st3 r lo between a magistrate and a Supreme Court judge, and spoke so severely that the worthy officer's gigantic height seemed diminished by two inches for the rest of the day.

Auckland telegrams last week reported the death of a notorious local dipsomaniac of the name of Kate Taylor, but the papers to hand to-day say that Kate has disappointed her police friends and taken a fresh lease of life. The “Star” says that Bishop Cowie was among those imposed on by the reported death of Kate, who was taken in an inanimate condition from the police cells to the hospital. He discoursed eloquently at the gaol on the text of her sad end, and was earnestly inquiring at the hospital about her spiritual condition in the last moments, when he was politely informed that the most reliable information on the subject might bo obtained from the patient herself up above—in the female ward.

Printer's errors arc very funny at times. In an American journal lately, there appeared an advertisement that a certain troupe of British blondes had been “ two years on the road without clothing.” This statement astonished the public, and roused the ire of the “British blondes,” who wrathfully demanded air immediate explanation of such a statement. The original copy was sent for by the beleagured editor, when it was found to have been written “ two years on the road without closing.”

The “Evening Chronicle” is responsible for the following : —“Lying is fast becoming a line art. As regards New Zealand it has attained very considerable excellence in places, but San Francisco must take the prize. Here is a specimen of careful culture in this line, which we take from the San Francisco “ Chronicle ” ;—‘ New Zealand owes 175,000,000 dollars, and is suffering from such widespread business prostration that an appeal to the charity of the world is not improbable. Thousands of her people are threatened with starvation. Affairs in Ireland are not very much worse.’ ”

The “Lyttelton Times ” states that from a case of polished kauri, now on view in the shop of Mr Jewell, cabinetmaker, Hereford street, looks forth the head of the gallant old racehorse, Templeton. The case also contains two of the hoofs which have so often brought Bob Bay in at the front. The work of the taxidermist has been well done, and no doubt numbers of people will avail themselves of the opportunity to look once more at their old favorite.

In future the town rates will be payable half-yearly instead of annually. A watci and town rate of Gd in the £, or 1> altogcther will be levied in May and November. This makes a total annual rate (including the water tax) of 2s. Those who are disposed to grumble may realise consolation from the circumstance that in Oamaru the rates are about twice as heavy as in Timaru, while the burgesses of Cor-poration-ridden Dunedin have to contribute about 7s in the £.

Admirers of lawn tennis will have the opportunity in future of witnessing our local athletes at work, the Timaru Lawn Tennis Club having secured a suitable reserve at the rear of Mr Witt’s oil Elizabeth street. The ground is now being prepared and some animated play may shortly be expected. As the effect of a “ Notice to Ratepayers" inserted in our advertising columns the other evening, outstanding rates which had defied the collector, to the tune of £290, were paid into the coffers of the Borough Council on Saturday. £2OO in one day in return for a small advertisement shews into what a powerful agent, even as a debt collector, the press may be converted. The (ireymouth correspondent of the “Otago Daily Times ” writes: —At Barry-ville|(Scventccn-mile) there is nothing new to report on. The present population may be stated as 100, but in the event of the second ancient beachlinc in the large Hat, now being steadily prospected, proving even moderately payable, there will be a very large addition to the number before the close of the year. Mr Warden Mackay in his very- able and comprehensive annual report, speaks of the Sevcutecn-milc district as “probably the least developed, but most valuable, field for gold mining in New Zea-

land." And it is quite true that the Paparoa Mountain range, from Cobden, immediately opposite Grc.ymouth, to Charleston in the Duller district a distance of 00 miles in length by ton miles in width, is on both its eastern and western slopes, highly auriferous. I am much mistaken if a fine city of the futme don’t take root by-and-by at Point Elizabeth.

The singular fully of bringing bad stone for railway protective f purposes from Lyttelton to Timaru and ignoring a magnilicent quarry on the spot has been reproduced in a small way at Eikaia. Says the “Ashburton Mail’’:-—An instance of the manner in which the Eailway Department conducts its business has lately come under notice. A portion of the planking of the gangway leading off the platform at the Ilakaia station was found to be rotten, necessitating the putting in of three new planks, averaging in length about ten feet. The station master as in duty bound, reported the matter to the proper authorities. A workman was sent down from Christchurch, who took the dimensions of the work that wanted doing, returning to town again by the next train, coming up again the next — or a day or two after—-and fixing the planks in their places, the work necessitating the driving of about eighteen nails, when the job was finished. The man travelled one hundred and forty miles by train, spending the hotter part of two days and carrying the timber thirty-live miles, to execute a job that could have been done on the spot in halt an hour, at a cost of not more than live shillings!