NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2344, 21 September 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

-—- —$ It is proposed to hold races at AVaimate on New Year’s Day. The Geraldine race meeting this year promises to be as successful as usual. The entries include a number of well-known horses and the various events will no doubt bo warmly contested. Entries for the Maiden Plate and Publican’s Purse at the Temuka races, must be made by 9 p.m. on Monday next, with the secretary at Temuka. The quickest passage from Australia on record has been made by the Liguria, which delivered the mails in London thirtytwo days from Adelaide. A special meeting of the Borough Council was held last night, his AVorship the Mayor presiding. Several tenders for the construction of the head works of the waterrace rvere opened, that of Messrs Frazer and Nicholls at £740 15s Gd being accepted. The fifth provision of by-law 1 was suspended in order to allow the Council to call for tenders for contract No. 2 at once, the work being urgent. It was resolved to invite tenders for the same to be in by Monday next. It was further resolved to call tenders for the construction of a couple of portable huts for the inspector’s use, as soon as the engineer has prepared specifications. The engineer was requested to report on the comparative cost and advantages of iron and lead piping for service connections. Mr John Ilowc w r as appointed inspector of waterworks construction at a salary of £4 per week. A Chinaman has been arrested at Roxburgh, Otago, for indecently assaulting a girl of 14, on the main road, on Friday last.

The Duke of Manchester, who is now on a visit to Melborne, is one of the representatives of the British Commissioners to the Exhibition. His Grace has taken an active interest in Colonial affairs for many years past. As Viscount Mandevillc he was one of the original promoters of settlement in the Province of Canterbury, New Zealand, where he is an extensive owner of property, and he is also president of the Colonial Institute.

The Merchant Shipping and Underwriters’ Association report the arrival at London of the William Davie from Port Chalmers (left Juno 23), and the Earl Granville, from Lyttelton (left May 20.) ; A youth named James Carr, eighteen years old, a junior clerk in the Union Bank of Australia, was fishing from the upper protective works at Hokitika on Saturday morning last, when he slipped into the river and was drowned. His body was found on the north beach.

Mining matters at Mapourika are progressing favorably, though nothing new has has been discovered. Seven or eight parties are on gold, and others progressing with their shafts and tunnels.

Our paragraph on Saturday announcing that the price of milk had been reduced to 5d per quart has had a disgusting effect on the retailers of that article. Some of the milkmen complain that their mental rest was disturbed on Sunday by the threats of their customers, who objected to pay Gd per quart any longer. We may state that the information we gave concerning the reduction was well authenticated, but it seems that there has not hitherto been any proper understanding between the owners of the milky way as to price. This state of affairs is to be remedied, so that out of our paragraph much good to vendors and customers will probably arise. It is stated by the “ New Zealand Herald ” that the authorised surveyors of New Zealand contemplate forming an association, under the sanction and approval of the Surveyor-General, with a view of placing the profession on a more satisfactory footing than at present. It is proposed that the association shall consist solely of authorised and Government staff surveyors, and the principal objects in view are to put a stop to the employment by the unwary public of unauthorised and irresponsible persons styling themselves “ surveyors,” or more frequently “ engineers, arch'd ccts, and surveyors,” but whose professional knowledge and experience is of so limited a nature that they arc unable to pass the requisite examination, and obtain an authorisation from the Survey Department, and to draw up and obtain the Government sanction to a lixed scale of charges for each survey district in the colony.

Mr John P. Armstrong of surgeon dentist fame, but who is better known on the lecturing platform as “The Irish Pilgrim,” intends to give the people of Timaru the benefit of a series of his racy and diverting entertainments. The Pilgrim is to appear at the Queen’s Hall on Thursday and Friday evenings, and if ho is only half as good as he has been described by the Press wherever he has figured, he deserves a crowded house.