NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2558, 2 June 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

At a meeting of the Auckland Prcsbybytery, the Rev D. Eunciman moved that the Presbytery instruct ministers to endeavour to make suitable arrangements for religious instruction on week days of children belonging to their several congregations. The Chinese who arrived by the Arawata at Auckland, on Tuesday, were marched up to town and lodged in shanties belonging to their countrymen in the city. A number of people alarmed at the talk of leprosy, have stopped purchasing supplies of vegetables from the Chinese hawkers.

In our report of the Education Board meeting yesterday wo inadvertantly stated that Mr Lovegrove had obtained leave of absence to visit England, whereas we should have said that this gentleman’s resignation was accepted, and the same resolution embodied the acceptance of both Messrs Lovegrove and Postlethwaite. The secretary to the Board will take the necessary steps to fill the vacancies. Mr Montgomery addressed his constituen's at Akaroa on Monday night. He gave the Government no credit for retrenchment, as it had been forced upon them by Mr Ormond and others. He was in favor of representation on a population basis, but that 'was not fairly carried out by the Ministerial Bill. He thought teachers in the State schools were not sufficiently paid, and was of opinion that the standards are too high. He objected to Mr Hall’s plan of the House of Representatives electing the Legislative Council. The members of the Upper House should not be more than thirty in number, and should represent large electorates. An unanimous vote of thanks and confidence was passed in Mr Montgomery.

Mr Dil!on, M.P.,has addressed a meeting at Clough, on the borders of Kilkenny and Queen’s County. Having read a telegram giving an account of the affray at Ballaghadcrcen, he said ;—May the blood which has been shed and the curses of the children be on the heads of Mr Forster and Mr Gladstone, who refused to hearken to our repeated warning.” He urged the people to stand true to each other, and alluding to the Land League, and its attitude towards the Land Bill, he warned them to keep their eyes on the traitors, and “ They must have no mercy on them.” Mr Whiteford, R.M. at Christchurch, has decided to disallow interest charged on tradesmen’s accounts, unless the charge for interest and rate of same has been agreed to. The latest photographs of the deceased Czar represents him as an emaciated old man, with in the once mild blue eyes the stare of terror and hallucination. His nights for years have been sleepless. The sights which he witnessed in the Danubian campaign appalled him, and permanently affected his already shaken nerves. He returned to St. Petersburg with a severe attack of asthma, which never left him.

It is a carious fact that while all the leading Victorian newspapers are admitting that the census returns have fallen far short of all expectations, and the Government is about to appoint a Commission to elucidate the subject, the “Ballarat Courier” should say that “ the argument is irresistible that our general and sturdy enterprise, our mining developments, our protective policy, and the efforts we are making to get the land settled upon have all done good -work ; and the census figures just supplied by Mr Haytcr furnish no end of encouragement for us to pursue the same policy, just the same as they show the percentage of increase to be so con sidcrable and welcome.”

Englishmen may buy such titles as M.D., but they have not yet come to selling and buying titles of nobility. It has been gravely proposed in the French Chamber, however, to legalise this practice. The proposer, M. Joubert, would charge 10,000 francs a year for the title of duke, 5000 for that of marquis, and so on in a descending scale, finishing with 2000 francs for the use of the particle dc. He thinks there are Frenchmen enough who love titles to pay the State 1,000,000 francs a year for the right of sporting them. The Captain of the steamer Wakatu, which arrived at Wellington from Wanganui yesterday afternoon, reports that a saloon passenger named Miss Amy Cochrane was lost overboard the previous night. She left the bridge at 1130, as Capt. Evans thought, to go to the ladies’cabin. When the steward went to call her in the morning she was missing. A telegram received from the Inspector of Police at Wanganui states her body was found floating in the river at noon yesterday,

Mr Proudfoot now offers to sell his tramways in Dunedin to the City Council for the sum of £130,000. The offer has not been entertained.

Rose, the prisoner who escaped from the Dunedin hard labor gang the other day, has been sentenced to, six months for this offence. Ross had only a day to serve of his original sentence when he escaped. A cabman named Brennan was found drowned at Pelichet Bay yesterday. It is believed to be a case of suicide through domestic disagreements. A football match takes place at Waimate on Saturday, Timaru High School v. Oamuru High School. Timaru will be represented by:—Buchanan, Burnett, G. Cole, J. Cole, Cullmann, Foster, H. Goodall, Graham, C. Hassell, G. Jones, Lovegrove, McDonald, H. Tate, R. Tate, Campbell. Emergencies Gabites and Lawrence. Mr Walter Fry, accountant, notifies his removal to Anderson’s Buildings, Main South road. Mr James Bruce has only a few bags left of the damaged wheat, and will be sold at 2s fid per bag, worth 6s, but it must be cleared out immediately. Bran at 5s the cart load, al =o flour, and other pig-feed. —[A DVT.]