NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2428, 29 December 1880, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Foul Play, the winner of the Auckland Cup, has been sold by Mr H. P. Lance, with all engagements for £656 to Fred Matthews, who is understood to be the agent of Mr Percival, Secretary of the Auckland Racing Club. Mr Ivess’ new venture the “Bulletin” is to be piloted by “Liberty.” The latter will break the ice on Saturday next. Although an indefatigable journalist, Mr Ivess has the invariable good luck to have his ideas pilfered and his new ground preoccupied. The Hon 11. 11. Beor, supposed to be a member of the upper branch of tiic Queensland Legislature, committed suicide on Christmas Day, by shooting himself. He was a passenger on board the Rotorua, travelling from Sydney to Auckland, and his remains were committed to the deep.

A manufacturer in Berlin, Germany, is turning out a novel horseshoe made of malleable iron. It is not made solid, but has a deep wide groove, into which tarred hemp rope is so firmly wedged that it cannot be withdrawn. It is so thick that it protrudes considerably beyond the rim of the malleable shoe. It is stated that the lightness of this horseshoe has gained for it considerable favor in Berlin. Excursionists should beware of old steamers in a colony where there is no proper inspection of vessels. The Grafton made an excursion with passengers from Wellington to Nelson during the Christmas holidays. On her return passage things were made lively, her fore-mast and maintopmast being carried away. Luckily the passengers escaped. The masts were found to be rotten.

News from Fiji to Oct. 15 states that the Louisiana arrived at Lakamba, after being 21 days at sea. One man died from exhaustion,and one of the survivors was in au emaciated condition, Fifty firearms, held by Polynesian laborers without licenses, have been seized, The wreck of the Dauntless was knocked down for eleven guineas. The cutter May Queen is missing, Fighting among foreign laborers is becoming more frequent. A son of Mr W. G. Allen, of this town, was engaged the other day in the juvenile pastime of kitc-tiying, when he was rather astonished at a sudden change in the appearance of the tail of his kite, the appendage becoming visibly enlarged, and of a densely black color. The youthful genius had read of Benjamin Franklin drawing lightning from the clouds, and elated at the prospect of some wonderful scientific discovery, he proceeded to explore the phenomenon by drawing in his flyer. His amazement, if not disappointment, may be imagined, when on reaching the ground, he found that a young hive of fugitive bees were clustered to the apparatus. Bees, when swarming, select curious sites at times, but this is the first instance, so far as we are aware, of a hive swarming on the tail of a kite in imd-air. In an article on the reorganisation of the Telegraph Department the ‘ Hawke’s Bay Herald ’ says “To our thinking the department will never be improved until it is thoroughly reorganised, and conducted on a totally different system. The present plan may be briefly summarised as a combination of extreme parismony, gross extravagance, favoritism, and terrorism. There are ways in which large suras of money are now and then annually wasted, both in the construction and transmitting departments, while the ma>s of the operators are miserably underpaid. We arc rapidly losing all our bestoperators, and until there is a radical change in the management of the department the exodus will continue. Everything is now done to destroy the interest of the operators in their work ; they see no chance of fair promotion though they stay in the service till their hairs grow grey, and it is not surprising that the result is mutilated msesages and general inefficiency.”

The Wesleyan Chapel at Feathcrstone has been totally destroyed by five.

Mr Ricketts’ Christmas art union of watches and jewellery closes this evening at 8 o’clock when the drawing will take place. Investors in racing sweeps are reminded that Mr H. Fried lander’s Consultation on the Champion race closes to-morrow. Mr William Collins’ £SOO Consultation on the Champion Race will be drawn at the rooms of W, Collins and ■ Co., auctioneers, on Friday, 61st December, at 8 p.m. Early application is necessary to obtain tickets. The race will be run in Melbourne on New Year’s Day, 1881, at 2 p.m. Consultors only, on production of their tickets, will be admitted to the drawing.— Advt.