NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2559, 3 June 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Over 150 feet of piles for the wharf extension have now been sunk. The big crane is found invaluable in lifting the heavy piles, performing as much work in a couple of hours, as would otherwise take a couple of days to accomplish.

At the annual meeting of the Timaru Harmonic Society just held, the annual report and balance sheet were considered highly satisfactory. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year : President, Dr Lovegrove ; Vice-Presidents, Messrs Goodall and James Scott ; Conductor, Mr W. Zicsler ; Deputy-Conductor, Mr Walcot : Pianist, Mr Bilton, Organist, Mr T, F. Gooch ; Leader of Orchestra, Mr Haigh ; Secretary, Mr R. Foster ; Treasurer Mr E. Wethey ; Committee—Messrs W. C. Wright, W, Priest, J. Bowles, T. Roberts, and H. J. Sealy. At the R.M. Court this morning, before R. Bcctham Esq. R.M., two first offenders were fined 5a a-piecefor drunkenness, The adjourned hearing of the civil cases Reid v. Hope and Hope v. Reid was fixed for today, but owing to the absence of Mr Hamersley (who was to have appeared for Mrs Hope), at Waimatc, the cases were further adjourned until to-morrow, Theatre goers will no doubt be pleased to learn that the Lydia Howarde burlesque troupe which recently had such a successful season here, intend to call at Timaru on their way north, and will play at the Theatre Royal next Friday, Saturday, and Monday evenings. The opening piece will be “H.M.S. Pinafore” and judging by the success of the company when here before, there is every reason to believe that they will produce “ Pinafore ” in firstrate style.

A number of gentlemen in Christchurch are now in communication with the patentee of the Edison electric light, with a riow to the formation of a company to supply Christchurch and New Zealand in general with the electric light. The Lyttelton Harbor Board have determined to assist in the establishment of a Sailor’s Home at Lyttelton, if they can obtain power. A telegram from New Plymouth states that the returned native prisoners,after two years absence, state that they were treated very well in Otago, in fact not like prisoners They left there on Monday for Parihaka with other natives, and it is not thought they will be back for some time, in fact one of them said ‘We now live at Parihaka.’ The prisoners seem to be anxious for the return of Paugi Puanama, the head man of Te Whiti, but he refused to return as long as one remains in gaol.

In the course of the investigations respecting the steamer Ferret, seized under such remarkable circumstances at Hobson’s Bay,a matter incidentally cropped up which seems deserving of more attention than has yet been given to it. One of the men under examination is reported to have stated that it was in contemplation, should circumstances suit, to ship a couple of guns at Melbourne, with the view of waylaying and plundering one of the mail steamers carrying specie from Australia to England.

A large saw-mill, 100 feet square, and capable of cutting 100,000 to 150,000 feet of timber a week, is being erected at Mongonui by the Auckland Timber Company. The mill will not be finished for four or six months hence, and when complete will cost about £IO,OOO.

The Christchurch “ Press ” of yesterday states :—“ A very unfortunate fire occurred on the farm of Mr John Kennie, Doyleston < whereby he had about twenty fat pigs, burnt alive. The stye, which must have been burning for some time, was first discovered to be on fire at 4 a.m., when everything possible was done to try and save them. There is no clue as to how the fire originated. A murder of singular atrocity has been committed near Cherbourg. A man named Lecomte entered the house of a widow named Mosquet, aged eighty, with whom he was acquainted, seized her by the shoulders, and by bis own confession, held her head for twenty minutes over the flames of the fireplace, till, although she cried for mercy, she was burned to a cinder. He then robbed the house of 11,000 francs, which he concealed with his father-in-law, Jonan, a well-to-do farmer. The money was found concealed in various places, and Jonan and his wife were arrested as receivers. Referring to a statement made at the last meeting of the Invercargill Borough Council that the cost of an Avery’s weighing machine was saved in Dunedin out of one cargo of coal by the check it proved on their delivery, the “ Otago Daily Times” says : “ This is surely news even to the Corporation watchdog, as Councillor Barnes delights to call himself.”

By cable we learn that the Derby has been won this year by an American horse, viz. Mr Lorillard’s Iroquois, Among the public works enumerated as being in progress are the fortifications at Newcastle and at Botany, involving an expenditure of about £50,000. The General Government pays a large figure for the supply of water to buildings belonging to the State. In Dunedin the amount last year was £BO2 ; Wellington£4oo ; and Auckland, £4BB. The City Council of Wellington protests that it is not fairly treated in the matter, as there is more Government property in that city than in any other place in the colony. The “ Tcmuka Leader ” of yesterday contains the following“ Wanted a Leader. Such is the lamentable state of Temuka at the present time, and such has been its unenviable condition for many years past. Outwitted by the Timaru people with respect to the harbor, and outstripped by Ashburton in population, commerce, and institutions, Temuka remains a sad but instructive of divided counsels and the want of union amongst its prominent citizens. A young lady named Gale, while mentall • deranged from the effects of low fever drowned herself in the Clarence River, N. S. Wales. Her father was drowned at Clarence Heads some years ago, on the occasion of the wreck of the s.s. Helen M’Gregor, in which he was a passenger.

Mr Curnow, the schoolmaster, has been awarded a Victorian Society’s silver medal for his action in stopping the-rain on the night of (he K«!Iy capture. Lieut. Houston has also been awarded a silver medal for his action at the torpedo explosion.

A bookmaker was heard to observe at a late meeting, “Them there tantili ators ’ll be the ruin o' the turf."

Sydney is to be the head-quarters of the German Consulate in Australia. Continued accounts of the great scarcity of pheasants come from a’l parts of the Waikato district. Hares are, however, met with pretty generally. A Wellington telegram states that it has been decided to release all the Maori political prisoners, and orders have been sent to Dunedin, Lyttelton and Hokitika to have the Maoris in readiness to embark at once. The opening of the Dunedin Industrial Exhibition has been postponed until the 14th iust. The full share lists of the West Coast Railway Company (North Island), have rot yet been received, but it is understood that the requisite number of shares have been taken up. At the annual meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Mr Thomas Morrin, the retiring President in his address stated if members were unanimous in their desire to assist Auckland in demanding that the Waikato railway should be pushed into the interior to connect with existing lines, either to Napier or Taranaki, he felt confident it could be accomplished in a year or two. Were such magnificent country to be acquired in the Middle Island, he ventured to say there would be little or no difficulty in the way. As to the mail route, any direct steam service to England to he a financial success must make Auckland its head-quarters, whether our southern fiiends like it or not. There have recently been made at the laboratory of the Technological Museum at Melbourne a scries of analyses of teas, obtained from all manner of sources in that City, including all the kinds in common use in New Zealand, and the results are rather startling. Out of thirty samples purchased out of bulk from importers and varying in price from lOd to 3s 3d per lb in bond, not a single one would pass the standard even for a low class genuine tea. A French vigneron named M. Raycr, from Cote d’Or, in Burgundy, has established himself at Mount Albert, near Auckland, and has already 10,000 vine cuttings planted there. The climate is even more generous here than in his native province, a d he anticipates a most fruitful yield from his vinery. Some of the cuttings bore the season after they were planted, a circumstance quite without a parallel in his experience, and they all exhibit signs of luxuriant growth. He is desirous of putting in 40,000 additional cuttings this season. Mr Westgarth, in his circular of April 8 says The privilege of converting the New Zealand 5 per cents., 1889, into 4 per cents, expired on the 16th ultimo. About 4i out of five millions have been converted. This privilege ended, the 1889 stock has dropped in value from llo£ xd to about 105.