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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2413, 10 December 1880, Page 3

A lunatic was committed to Sunnysidc Asylum this afternoon on the certificate of Drs Chilton and Hogg. At Waimate yesterday a resident named George Sunnaway was fined £4O on two charges of sly grog selling ; in default two months’ imprisonment. Mr W. Martin, second clerk in : the Resident Magistrate’s office, Christchurch, has been appointed Clerk to the Resident Magistrate's and District Courts, Ashburton. Mr Barclay, the third clerk, has been promoted to the office vacated by Mr Martin, and the vacancy caused by his ap- j pointment is filled by Mr Harper, late of the Immigration Office. The Railway Department have invited tenders for additions to the Oamaru railway station. . The morning paper calls the station “ a poor apology for a rabbit hutch,” although it is a palace compared to the barn ’ that does duty for a station in j Timaru. A commencement is about to be made with a two-storey concrete police barracks at Lyttelton.- What has Timaru done ? Our local member might do worse than apply to Mr Allwright for a loan of his secret. A man rained James Parker, a wood carver, who arrived in the colony by; the Waimate in March last, was arrested in Christchurch on a charge of drunkenness at about three o’clock yesterday afternoon, and placed in one of the cells at the central depot. At half-past five one of the policemen having occasion to visit the prisoner, found him dead. Death must have been very sudden, as the man had been seen alive only a few minutes previously. Since his arrival in Christchurch, Parker had been a heavy drinker, and it is said that he had suffered an epileptic or some other kind of fit previous to his arrest yesterday. The Government have received official reports to the effect that there is a considerable demand for labour at a,fair rate of wages in the South Island, especially in the country, and that this demand is likely to continue, even increasing as the harvest approaches. A conclusion has therefore been arrived at that Government assistance is no longer needed in the South Island, and that as it is undesirable to interfere with the labor market any more than can be avoided, works which have hithei to. been carried bn as a means of charitable;relief for the unemployed, being nolonger necessary, are to be discontinued at an early date. Notice has been given accordingly to the officers in charge of these works. The‘‘.New ; Zealand Times” of Wedncs-day-gives the following particulars of the centralising process how being so rapidly developed in Wellington A further and successful effort of retrenchment has been made by the Government in amalgamating the offices of accountants of railways of the North and Middle Islands. Hitherto there has been one for each island,the accountant for the Middle. Island having his headquarters at Christchurch. His office has now been abolished and one accountant, stationed at Wellington, will do the -work, for that particular branch of the department, for both islands. The new’ arrangement 1 comes into operation ; immediately.' Middle Island railway, accounts are to be forwarded to Wellington next week. A monster-sewing machine,'wciglnng over four tons and runjby steam, lias been cbiistructed for a manufacturing firm in Liverpool. ; The machine is the largest in the world. ;