NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2549, 23 May 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Borough Council takes place to night. That diminutive specimen of humanity, Baron Puck, had crowded levees on Saturday evening. A brace of inebriates put in an appear ancc at the R.M Court this morning and were discharged with a caution.

Fifty tons of exhibits for the Dunedin Industrial Exhibition are coming from Melbourne by the Te Anau. Frederick Sexton, a shunter at the Christchurch railway station, fell down in a fit on Saturday afternoon. He was re moved to the hospital, and died on his arrival there. The cause of death is not yet known. A general meeting of the Canterbury Jockey Club was held at Christchurch on Saturday last. The Committee, Stewards, and officers were elected for the ensuing year. The Treasurer’s statement showed a credit balance of £BOO, after paying £2-lG overdraft from the past year. A new grand stand,costingj£ MOO or £ISOO, will be erected before next Spring meeting. To meet this they have £B6O in hand, and £3OOO arranged to be advanced by the Union Bank, repayable in six annual instalments. MrW, B. Aruison was elected a life member for his services as architect. Chicago has determined to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the great fire by erecting a fine public library,costing 500,000 dollars. The nucleus of a library was formed by 7,000 volumes obtained by Mr. Thomas Hughes from English authors and publishers after the fire.

There seems every reason to believe that the 300,000 guineas which the Wesleyan Methodist community has attempted to raise as a thanksgiving fund will be realised. Already £187,(500 has been received, and the further amounts promised will bring the total to upwards of £295,000. The " Standard” correspondent says ; —- The establishment of-the financial organisa'ion of the League in Paris is likely to be taken notice of by the French Government. It would be entirely contrary to the precedents and traditions of the French Government to permit the establishment on any part of their territory of a fund to purchase arms and get up an insurrection against a friendly Powci, and as foreigners are liable to expulsion at a few hours notice, the treasurer of the league ought not to be surprised if he receive very shortly notice to quit. If, on the other hand, a Frenchman were put in charge of the fund, matters would be thereby somewhat complicited; but I hare not a moment’s doubt that the Government would not shrink from its international duties. The Government have a novel method (says the Auckland “ Herald ”) of promoting settlement, by disposing of land to which no possible access had been given by road. At the Waste Lands Board yesterday an unfortunate deferred payment settler applied for exemption from the residential and improvement clauses till he could get access to his land. It appears that there is “a great gulf fixed ” between the termination of the district road and the place where his land is situate, and that the projected road (on paper) goes over this gully, which is 250 feet in depth. The deferred payment man naturally wants to wait till the road is made over the gully, notwithstanding the reasonableness of his request, the Land Laws would not permit the Board to accede to it, and with regret they were compelled to turn a deaf ear.

The Manawatu “ Times ” is authorised to give a positive denial to the rumor that Mr Halcombe had purchased the Patatere Block on behalf of the Colonists’ Association. Mr Halcombe had made arrangements with the Government, which made the purchase practicable, but it was decided by the Duke of Manchester, Colonel Pearce, and Mr Levin not to conclude the arrangements, and so the purchase was abandoned.

The “Lyttelton T.'mes” estimates that the census returns will show the total population of the Canterbury District to be over 110,000, or an increase of about 10,000 during the past three years. “ Crucllf murdered by his playmates,” is the singular inscription on a child’s tombstone at North Shore, Sydney. The patents of the Singer sewing machine having expired, anybody can now manufacture them.

Shark, Kosciusko, Winfield (late Thilo), and Stella, arrived by the express from the north to-day, to take part in to-morrow’s steeplechasing. A telegram from Dunedin states that Lady Emma is a strong favorite for the Birthday Handicap on Tuesday, but the wet weather is making the course heavy, which may effect her chance. Nautilus, at his owner’s training ground, fell over a sheep, and it is not yet known whether he is much injured, but his arrival here is posponed in consequence.. M. Dc Lesscps says that the Panama Company has 16,000 thousand women shareholders.

A cable message states that the s.s. Orient arrived at Plymouth on Saturday with the Australian mails of April 6 ; the Wolverine has also arrived from New Zealand,

The detached squadron, including H,M, ships Inconstant, Carysfoot, and Tourmaline, arrived at Melbourne on Saturday.

The Eight Honorable the Minister of Justice in the Canadian Dominion Parliament called an oppinent '* A foul, false, malicious, and a convicted slanderer and liar.”

The (i Patca Mail’’ says ;—That was a funny mixture, when Sir William Fox went in a Native canoe up the river to Tauro’s pah, the teetotal Commissioner at one end and a barrel of beer at the other. They say the barrel was broached in Sir William’s honour; but there are so manny stories about.

A better gauge of the general improvement in the condition of the the people of England could not be furnished than by the state of the jewellery trade of Birmingham, because " the articles manufactured being purely luxuries, this trade is the first to feel bad times and the last to recover from them.” “ During the last few months there has been a marked increase in the activity of the jewellery trade”; and as an instance Inspector Bowling reports that “ silver bracelets are at the present time being turned out in Birmingham at the rate of 10,000 a week.” The Portland “ Investor ” quotes from one of Moody’s sermons thus:—"lf a young lady going home to-night should be spoken to by some drunken men, how alarmed she would be; but did you ever think that in that lost world libertines and drunkards and murderers shall be your companions?” It adds that Rev, Mr Hopps, referring to this and other similar passages in Mr Moody’s sermons, said in his pulpit that it was a very sad thought that the man who indulges in such revolting ideas and expressions was the most popular evangelist of the day; and that this fact showed that, with all our boasted progress, are still, in matters of religion, “ at the barbaric stage.” The report of the Postal department of Victoria for the year 1880 shows a gross revenue of £201,171, which leaves a deficiency of of £117,764. The Postal department of New Zealand, on the other hand, is nearly self-supporting. The last rep rt showed revenuefor nine months, £115,680 ; expenditure, £117,707, including the ocean mail subsidies What, therefore, does the colony lose by the San Francisco service 7 Victoria lost by the Suez contract last year £lß,lßl.

The “ Taranaki Herald says ; —“ Sportsmen complain that the birds this season are very scarce, and it is a matter of great difficulty for a moderately good shot to bag a couple of birds in a whole day. A few sportsmen have been rather fortunate, but it is admitted by all that pheasants arc not on the increase in this district.

In the event of European complications Italy seems determined to take care of herself. The new Italian ironclad to be constructed, which will be the fifth of colossal proportions, will be armed with two guns of 100 tons and twelve smaller ones. The engine will be compound, of 10,000 horse power, and capable of driving the ship sixteen miles an hour. The new vessel will be superior to the Inflexible or any other ironclad, and will carry 875 tons of coal. Her plates will be 45 centimetres in thickness.

The English Civil Services estimates for the current financial year, show an increase of £645,000 over last year; £IOO,OOO is required for expenses in connection with the census ;an additional £58,000 is required for the Irish constabulary ; while the Government grants for day and evening schools are £144,000 over last year. The amount required for the postal telegraph offices is £205,000 in excess of last year. The *■ Times’” Paris special’says: In a long interview with Eochefort, he said; “ Gambetta cannot live long. He drinks a great deal too much. He is enormously corpulent, and is inclined to apoplexy, and I anticipate his death from natural causes in four or five years at the farthest, Gambetta ganbles very heavily on the Bourse, and speculates wildly in stock.” The cost of the census in the United States was about £70,000. This exceeds the estimates by about £20,000, due to the rise in wages and prices that occurred just as the enumeration was commenced, and also partly to the unexpected increase which has taken place in the population, being 2,000,000 in excess of the highest estimate of the office. A Free Thought Association has been formed with 60 members at Auckland. A telegram from Auckland states that there is even yet a chance of the E. and E. Company’s steamer Bowen with tea, coming to Auckland first. Cruikshank and Co. have pointed out to Gibbs, Bright and Co. that 750 tons of cargo were ordered by Auckland merchants, and a telegram received by them yesterday stages that the steamer wi 1 most likely come to Auckland before going South The English Lodge Victory, 1.0.G.T., meets this evening, at the Foresters’s Hall. W. J. McLaren of Timaru wrestles J. Held of St Andrews, to-night at Lea and Whitley’s saloon for £9 a side. The match is fixed for 7.30. The Harts open to-morrow night at the Theatre Royal. Herman’.- consultat on on the Grand National will be drawn at 8, at Collins and Co’s auction rooms. Calcutta sweeps to follow. P. J. Bells’s Derby sweep will be drawn at Lea and Whitley’s saloon this evening. Calcutta sweeps afterwards,