NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2345, 22 September 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Tcrauka race privileges were disposed of by auction yesterday, by Air K. F. Gray) and realised £3B 7s 6d.

The Stamp Duties Amendment Act,which comes into operation on Oct. 1, provides that : —(1) All receipts given by or on behalf of the Corporation of any county, borough, Road Board, Education Board, or Harbor Board shall be and the same arc hereby declared exempt from duty ; (2) All receipts given to Her Majesty, or to any person on her behalf shall be chargeable with stamp duty under the provisions of the said Act, and any exemption of such receipts from stamp duty is hereby repealed. A general meeting of the Timaru Athletic Club took place last evening at the Criterion Hotel, Mr W. E. Newberry in the chair. It was resolved to hold a sports meeting on the Prince of Wales’ Birthday, November 9, arrd also to ask the South Canterbury Athletic Club to lend their ground for the occasion. A sub-committee was appointed to draw up a programme of sports and report to a committee meeting on Monday next. It was further resolved to give an amateur entertainment at the Theatre Royal on the night of the sports meeting at which the prizes won during the day will be awarded. The finances of the club were reported to be in a satisfactory condition Mr J. R. Jones and W. Collins were appointed secretaries pro iem, and the meeting closed with the usual vote of thanks to the i chair.

The following Assessors have been appointed for the district of Waitalci, under <c The Property Assessment Act 1879” : George Dyson, of Temuka ; Gabel Ezekiel Shorratt, of Geraldine; Eobert Irvine, of Peel Forest; Fredrick Charles Slirimpton, Edwin Henry Lough, and Francis Worcester Stubbs, all of Timaru; Andrew Carter and John Bell, both of Waimate; John Church, James Bcc, and David McMaster, all of Oamaru ; Gordon Imres Millington, of Hensley; William Henry Sherwin Eoberts, of Waipahi; and George Frederick Clulce, of Burke’s Pass. A Sydney paper says; There is a clerk in one of the banks in George street who is 6ft lOin in height, and only weighs six stone avoirdupois weight. He possesses most extraordinary digestive powers, and can assimilate almost anything from Kidman’s cheese to a Cambridge sausage. Queensland owns him.

With reference to the attempt to wreck a train at Bushcy, Hertfordshire, a late English cablegram states that a quantity of dynamite was found close to the line over which a passenger train was shortly to pass. No motive has yet been ascribed for the intended outrage. The police are actively prosecuting an enquiry into the matter.

At the last meeting of the Auckland unemployed one of the speakers was a respectable looking tradesman, whoso name did not transpire, but who said that he had been deluded into breaking up a comfortable home in Sheffield, and coming out here after steel works, which Sir Julius Yogel said were in operation. He brought out seven skilled workmen with him. Forty more were on the road to the colony who were hooked by the same yarn. Where were the steel works ? If he ever got hack to London it would be a case with Sir Julius Vogel.

Warden Stratford docs not seem to he very popular in the Dunstan. At a meeting at Arrowtown attended by 200 persons on Saturday night, his removal was considered. It was moved that the Government should be asked to make Arrowtown the headquarters of the combined Wakatipu and Dunstan districts. An amendment, that the Government be requested to retain Warden Stratford in the district, was received amidst uproar and cries of “ Let him go, in God’s name!” “Let him clear out,” “Wo have had enough of him,” and other more choice expressions. Finally, about half a dozen voted 'for the amendment, and the motion was carried by the rest.

Tire Premier of New South Wales, replying to an address from the Presbytery of Sydney approving of the course adopted in reference to Mr Proctor’s proposed lecture on a recent Sunday, said :—“ The question which presented itself to the Government was a very plain one —Were the theatres and other similar places to bo thrown open on Sundays as on week days, to enable travelling lecturers to do what our own citizens would not be allowed to do—to carry on their business of money-making ? If this were done for Air Proctor's lectures, why should it not be done for concerts and for many of the plays of Shakspeare which, on moral grounds, arc equally unobjectionable ? If Air Proctor were allowed to make money by selling his knowledge of astronomy, how could we consistently restrict our tradesmen from making money by the sale of their commodities on the Sunday evening ?

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Protestant Friendly Alliance Society will take place at the Oddfellows' Hall, Sophia street, at 7 o’clock this evening. The Pantascope Entertainment was repeated last evening at the Theatre Eoyal. To-night is the last of the season, when a special novelty will be introduced in the shape of a couple of automaton gymnasts and trapeze performers. The management announce that they will give any person £IOO who can tell them the method by which the automatons are worked. Our readers arc reminded of the lecture by Capt. AA’m. Jackson Barry, at the Oddfellows’ Hall, Barnard street, this evening. The Captain is an “ old identity,” and promises his hearers a history of his adventures both as a pioneer colonist and as a traveller in the old country, where ho interviewed the “ real Sir Hoger" and other ’.celebrities.

A concert of a most attractive character will take place in the Concert Hall, Geraldine, to-morrow evening. The promoter is a well-known resident of high musical attainments and he will he assisted by an efficient staff of artistes. A well arranged programme lias been prepared, and being on the eve of the races, the entertainment will ne doubt secure plenty of patronage. The Davis A’ertical Feed Sewing Alachine is creating quite a social revolution. Mr Eowlcy, the local agent, informs us that he is bcsciged with enquiries for it. One shipment was disposed of almost as soon as the machines were unpacked, and now a second shipment has been sold in advance. This demand for sewing machines is unprecedented. It proves the success that a valuable invention is capable of attaining even when money is said to be scarce.