NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2547, 20 May 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A correspondent makes a complaint regard’ng the facilities afforded by the Union Company for the transhipment of passengers. He states that on Wednesday afternoon ten or eleven women and children were conreycd in an ordinary waterman’s boat to the sleamcr Waitaki, which was lying in the roadstead. When they reached the vessel, alongside the ladder there was a surfboat, the men in which absolutely refusa l to make way for the boat containing the women and children As a consequence they were knocked about in a tolerably' rough sea. The boat was low in the water, and the passengers became so frightened that their cries could be distinctly heard on the wharf- The father of one of the young ladies who was cn board inform* ns that his daughter is now in bed very ill, through the fright she received. Edwin Charles Shepherd, a Whatawhata settler, charged with cruelly treating three children for the Home for neglected and destitute children, was committed for trial at Auckland yesterday, for alleged perjury during the hearing of the case. Te Whiti has given permission to the natives recently released from gaol to return to their hapus, and a number of them passed through New Plymouth yesterday, on their way homewards, after an absence, in some cases, of two years. I; is telegraphed from Dunedin that the •Switzers Sluicing Company is getting large yields of gold. Mr H. Bastings owns twothirds of the claim, and has persevered for ten years, going to a great outlay in machinery', Ac, He has been offered £II,OOO for his share.

The accident ward of the Christchurch Hospital received an unusual patient the other day. A man named Lynch was admitted with a broken leg, caused by him slipping while dancing and his partner falling on his leg. Sandhurst has upwards of fifty miles of streets planted with flourishing elms, pines oaks, and eucalypti. Not content, a progressive ratepayer asks the City Council to plant their further roadways with orange trees.

A northern exchange states that Mr Fitzgerald, who has announced himself a candidate for the seat in the House of Representatives rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr Masters, “ declares himself prepared to give a hearty general support to the present Ministry who hare, in his opinion, labored honestly and efficiently to rescue the country from finsncial difficulty, the result mainly of national extravagance extending over some years.” Says a writer in the “Press”:—Sir Hercules Robinson is a fortunate man, by which I mean he was always lucky in racing and oilier matters. This time, as a racing friend points out to me, he has struck a good treble —he has won the Autumn and Easter Handicaps and squared the Boers. I wonder what the odds were, saj r a year ago. against such treble coming off. The Atlantic cable to a bit of thread would about represent them. The Dunedin “ Times” referring to the finding of the body of Captain Garrard says that the probability is that the unhappy man removed his coat and boots on the vessel going down, and swam away from the wreckage until he saw a clear chance of making for the beach at some distance from the fire which was lighted on the beach, so that he might avoid the rocks. Either the entanglement in the kelp, or the fact of his becoming exhausted in the surf, may account for his not reaching the shore alive. There was not a scratch on the body except a gash on the forehead by a blow from a piece of timber, which is known to have occurred during the previous day. The “ Morning Herald " thus alludes to the New Plymouth Harbor Board ; The action already taken by that body does not afford much encouragement for hoping that they will use their wealth with much discretion. If the wsrk of harbor construction is not conducted with more judgment than has been displayed in obtaining the plant, the statement so frequently made that the colony has been in duced to throw away a quarter of a million into the sea at New Plymouth, will prove to be only too well founded.

The Arrow correspondent of a Dunedin contemporary writes :—“ A requisition from the electors of the Wakatipu district has been presented to the Arrowtown Council requesting that Mr H. J. Finn, M.H,R., for the district, who left Queenstown for the North Island some months ago, be written to 'in order to ascertain if he intend? to address the electors before the opening of the coming session, or if he intends to resign bis position. Mr Finn left the district without any intimation of his future intentions, and has since his departure not publicly coramun’cated with his constituents, who on that account begin to feel and express much dissatisfaction.

An instance of a premonitory dream comes from Ross, on the West Coast. The body of an elderly woman who was frozen to death was found by a man named Stephen Burford, who, at the inquest, stated that he had no rest at all one night through dreaming about deceased. He dreamed that he hud found her body by means of an iron rod with a hook at the end, which he had in the house, ar,d it was that dream which caused him to look for her body where he found it. The jury returned a verdict to the effect “ That the deceased died from exposure to frost and snow.”

The estimated census, when complete, gives New South Wales 850,000, and Victoria a trifle over 900,000. New South Wales is thus rapidly overhauling its neighbor, a result, however, that was to be expected, the area of Victoria being only 88,198 square miles (less than New Zealand), w*vle New South Wales has an area of 31> square miles. The enormous falling n the gold yield of Victoria will also e; a the small increase of population in iuat colony.

By all accounts (writes the Alexandra correspondent of an Otago journal) the “ Heathen Chinee” has been realising a rich harvest of late, especially in Conroy’s Gully. From the claim they purchased from Muir and party for, I think, some £4O, they dropped upon a patch of 400ozs. This welcome find was principally under where Muir’s house stood, and in the garden.

Dr Tanner has been out-starred by the fasting woman of Ohio. A telegram from that city under date April 6, says : " Hattie Deull completed her forty-two da/s in her efforts at suicidal starvation today. The City Medical Society hare resolved lhatit views with the deepest regret the unseemly and disgusting exhibition of the misfortunes of the human being, and those who abet the prolonged suicide of an insane individual should be held responsible, nccording to the principles of common law. Di Aylworth, her b other-in-law, will reply to-morrow. L is believed that the Commissioners of Insanity will be forced to take charge, and if possible to restore her by injecting food.” The Empress of Austria, who recently visited England to enjoy her annual hunting tour, has a very high appreciation of Mr Gladstone. “He is one of the strongest men living,” Her Majesty the other day de dared, and then proceeded to draw, with much ingenuity and some little humor, a parallel between him and Bismarck, whom she cordial detests. Her favorite'politician however, is Andrassy. This is how she dealt with the British politically :—“ You English have done your best to render government impossible all the world over. The attempt to imitate you has done Austria more harm than Solferina and Sndowa put together.”

A correspondent writes to the “ Lyttelton Times ” as follows :—A perusal of the census returns shows that the population of the City of Christchurch and subm bs is between P0,0;)0 and 60,000, being the largest number of people settled at any one point in New Zealand. The increase during the three years elapsing since last census is about 10,000, or over 8000 per annum. What will be the population twenty years hence ? At least 100,000 unless some unforeseen calamity occurs. At present we have in Christchurch and suburbs not less than one-ninth of the entire population of the Colony. The “Southland Times” publishes the following extract from a letter written by a gentleman in Manchester: —'* I see there are large meat-preserving works near Invercargill. If you would give them a hint not to cook the meat so much, it would be a great improvement. Everything in those tins is cooked to rags. I presume they are sealed up before being cooked, and if so would be quite done when boiled ten minute 9 for they cook in cooling. Besides we can cook them more, but not fm.”

Alluding to the recent address by Sir George Grey at Auckland, the “N.Z. Herald ” says :—Sir George Grey belongs to a school of philosophers, and his speech of last night was rather the application to this community of abstractions than that of a practical statesman. He himself must have been aware of the distinction by the gulf which separates his own performances in office from the large ideas which he delights to promulgate. W ith regard to Sir George Grey’s proposal that the Colonial Legislature should pass resolutions to be submitted to the House of Commons respecting matters of Imperial importance we heartily concur. It is undoubtedly possible in this way, as bir George Grey thinks, to influence the British Ministry and Legislature, and thus to some extent effect the unification of the Empire*