NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2437, 10 January 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY .

Te Whiti charges the Europeans with stealing his pigs and potatoes. Sir William Fox intends to explore the Murimotu Plains as far as Taupo. A walkist named Edwards completed 180 miles in 18 hours in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin, on Saturday night. Tired of presiding over defunct humanity Dr Coward, the Christchurch Coroner, has left for London.

Civilization is advancing among the Waikato Maoris. The store of Charles Bell has been robbed of £IOO worth of drapery and the natives arc suspected. The individual who escaped from a pub-lic-house at Clinton a few weeks ago was captured in a state of nudity in the house of Mr Cameron, at Glenore, on Wednesday. The unfortunate fellow has since been committed to the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum.

Why are the telegraph operators in Nelson more hardly used than those of any other town?—Answer : Because the Government have not only taken off the 10 per cent, but they have now deprived them of their Tucker —Tucker was the name of the officer- in-charge. The Victorian Minister for Education, in presenting the prizes at the State school at Ballarat, spoke of the advantages of scientific education, and also said that he intended to reduce the number of singing and drawing masters in the. State schools, and wished to do away with the patronage of the Minister, leaving promotion to merit.

The efforts of female evangelists are evidently required in Auckland. The “ Star ” says The so-called masquerade ball which was advertised to take place in the Albert Hall on New Year’s Eve proved to be a mere dance, arranged under the auspices of a portion of the demi-monde, a few of whom were attired in fancy costumes. It is almost useless fo say that there was no master of ceremonies.

A wonderful cure is reported from BaT larat at the hands of Milner Stephen. A young woman named Elizabeth King, residing at Egerton, who has been deaf and dumb from her birth, after undergoing the usual course of treatment was requested to say “ Yes,” and with a look of bewilderment on her countenance she repeated the word almost correctly. On her own name being then pronounced she gave distinct signs to her mother, by pointing to her own breast, that she could hear and understand that her name was mentioned, and burst into a lit of hearty laughter,' apparently of delight at the new sensations experienced by her.

For some time past consols have been approaching par, and the particular cause which brought them up to and beyond that line was the operation of the new law, which throws open the national debt to small investors. Under it, any person wishing to invest £lO in consols can do so under the Post Office Savings Bank at a charge of !)d. In order to confine this facility to small investors, no one can invest more than £IOO in one year, or more than £llOO altogct’ner. “ Some day (says the “ N.Z. Herald ”), the colonial Governments will follow this example.” The following letter has appeared in the “Taranaki Herald —The most disgraceful thing I have seen for the last 25 years is the sham reduction of the Government. They employ Constabulary for particular services in front of Te Whiti. and they allow them to go at large in bodies with bands of music playing in front of public houses during retrenchment times. If they don’t require their services why not discharge them and save the unfortunate taxpayer their expense? Taranaki, at the present day, is a disgrace to the colony.”

The usual sitting of the District Couit on the Hth Of the month, will be adjourned to-morrow until the ;Uth, when a criminal sitting is to be held. A large haystack was burned to the ground last night on Mr William Gosling's farm near Mount Horrible. Suspicions of arson are entertained.

The Wellington “ Monthly Prices Current” is candid. It says :—•‘lhe commercial depression which o\ei spread neat Ij the whole of Mew Zealand in the early part of last year, has, apparently, become a thing of the past for all the colony except Wellington, which is still characterised by a good deal of dullness.

At an early hour this morning an accident which might hare been attended with serious consequences occurred on board the George Noble, now lying moored inside the breakwater. One of the crew was engaged in hoisting a bucket of coal from the hold of the ship, when a large lump fell striking him on the shoulder and rolling him over. The man was reniered nearly insensible by the blow, and fears were at first entertained that the shoulderblade was shattered. Dr Maclntyre was sent for, and attended the sufferer at once. Fortunately he found that no bones were broken but the map is terribly bruised, and it will probably be some days before he thoroughly recovers.

In writing to a contemporary in regard to the working of the Property Assessment Act Mr G. M. Waterhouse, of Wellington, says ;—Some months ago a well-known gentleman of this city bought by auction, upon the usual terms of credit, a property for the sum of about £llOO. The assessor valued the property at double the amount which had been given for it. The owner claimed to have it valued at the price he had actually paid for it, but the assessor refused to do so, saying he was not going to make his valuation according to the price of land bought by auction. At the present time the Commissioners are endeavoring to enforce an assessment upon a valuation twice the actual cost of the land.

At some bush races in Northern Queensland, a bibulous fellow was, by common consent, appointed to the responsible position of judge. He mixed his liquors pretty freely, and towards the afternoon he was the enemy of no man. The last race of the day was a match between a black horse and a grey. They changed positions several times in the run and the finish looked like a dead heat. There was a general rush for the decision of the judge, who stood calmly steadying himself by a friendly post, “Well,” eric 1 the excited crowd, “ Which was it.’ Was it the black ’ Was it the grey !” “You’re all wrong,” said the judge, in his most judicial manner. “1” was neither one nor t’other ; the winner was a piebald !”

The editor of the Auckland “ Free Lance ” is either a most courageous man or he wears a coat of mail. This is what he says of a local apothecary : —A sublimated, sulphurous specimen of an apothecary of minute dimensions, well-known in Queen-street, has lately been visiting Te Aroha. This chemical atom, after staying two and-a-half hours on the gold Held, stated publicly, on returning to his druggery in Auckland, that there were not any reefs on the new lield. We beg to assure this homeopathic globule that he is mistaken. There are many reefs, from three to nine feet in thickness, already discovered; and we advise this minute particle of assafcepathic to confine his selfconstituted geological researches cither to his own back shop, or to write a treatise (if possible, grammatically) on the dirt of his own native Primrose Hill—but, at any rate, to write it.

At the annual inspection parade of the Volunteer companies in kelson last week the men were manoeuvred in a sham fight. During the engagement and when the guns were thundering forth fire and non-destruc-tion, a lady of that profession of which Mrs Sarah Gamp was so distinguished an ornament, suddenly appeared from a neighboring house, and without preface, thus assailed the commanding officer : —‘ I wish you and your guns and trumpets was further with their banging and blaring and me just called in to attend a good lady who was took ill this very evening, and has to get worse afore she gets better.’ With that gallantly for which he is noted, says the “ Nelson Evening Mail” and with a readiness to adapt himself to circumstances that did credit to his discretion, the Major at once saw how he could atone and-the same time please the lady and get his troops out of the difficulty in which they had become involved, so he ordered the ‘ Cease firing to be sounded, and the scene of warefarc was shifted.

A convocation or the Royal Arch Purple Chapter of the Loyal Tiinaru Orange Lodge, takes place to-night at 7.30 at the Sophia street Oddfellows’ Hall.