NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2415, 13 December 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A delightful change in the dry weather experienced lately took place yesterday. About noon the sky became thoroughly clouded and during the- whole of the afternoon and up to a late hour in the evening rain fell in copious showers. To-day the weather has cleared up, but the effect of the moisture on gardens, grain crops and pastures has been magical.

In accordance with the recent determination of the Government to get rid of the unemployed all the men on the Mullocky Gully section of the Otago Central Eailway have been discharged. A few men are still at work on the Hindon section, but it is believed that they will also be discharged in a few days. An exhibition that shows that colonial boys are not wanting in daring was witnessed off the Breakwater yesterday morning. Nearly half a mile to seaward in the midst of a shoal of porpoises was a frail wager boat. The boat seemed in imminent danger of being overturned, for every moment crowds of porpoises, any one of which would have sent it high in the air, could be seen leaping on every side of it. Nothing daunted, the solitary boatman, a fellow of nine or ten years', stood with legs astride, and oar uplifted waiting to have a shy at his assailants. Although he did not succeed in killing a porpoise, he evidently believed that he kept them at bay, and the spectacle of juvenile intrepidity afforded a good deal of amusement to the onlookers on the beach.

Mrs Hana Tamihana, the wife of Mr E. S. Thomson, the interpreter who was lately' dismissed, publishes the following advertisement in the “Wanganui Herald,” addressed to purchasers at the recent land sale:—“The 7000 acres lately sold by Government belong to me; and no provision having been made for myself or my children, I refuse to consent to its occupation by Europeans, against whom I have never fought.”,

The New Zealand Timber Company just successfully floated, have purchased the Whangarapai estate of C. A. Harris, senior and junior, of 25,000 acres, with plant <vc.

Peter Smith, against whom there were a number of previous convictions was charged before Mr Beetham this morning with being drunk and disorderly, and also with vagrancy. Peter was fined 20s. A first offender was let off with a caution.

Sir F. D. Bell was presented with a silver claret jug and cup at the Town Hall, Palserston, on Saturday afternoon. The present was purchased by subscriptions limited to one shilling. Sir F. D. Bell denied that his taking office as Agent-General was a matter of arrangement between the present Government and himself, and said he was surprised when the offer was made to him. One hundredweight of picked specimens and 35 cwt of quartz from a leader in the prospectors’ claim at To Aroha yielded 19| ounces, of gold. It is rumored that other claims are getting gold, but none has been shown of any quantity. The prospectors are putting in a drive to cut the leader at a lower depth and intend sinking a winze. Many business places have been erected but comparatively little mining work has been done on the field as yet. The Warden’s opinion is that the goldfield extends over a large area, oven in blocks included in Batetere. Several claims have been formed into limited, companies, and scrip has b®en issued.

A meeting of the Eegatta Committee takes place this evening at the Criterion Hotel, at which entries for the ordinaryevents and acceptances for the handicap events must be presented. The Hasehnayers will not be in Timaru quite so soon as expected, owing to their engagements elsewhere. They will probably open here early in January. A splendid collection of gold and silver watches forming the prizes about t® be distributed at Mr Eicketts’ art union are now on view at the shop of the promoter. Our readers are reminded that Mr H. Friedlander’a Consultation on the Champion Eace closes on Dec. 27.