South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1881. NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2569, 15 June 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1881. NEWS OF THE DAY.

At the Resident Magistrates Court thi-s morning, Archibald McPhee was mulcted in the us al penalty for dmnk< mess. William Blake, on a charge of larceny, was: dismissed. Charles Riddell was ordered, to be sent to the Lunatic Asylum. Lillie Thompson, on a charge of vagrancy, was discharged, A telegram from Greymouth states— Last week four men at the Seventeen Mile Beach obtained seventeen and a-half pounds weight of gold (worth nearly £IBOO sterling) for one week’s work.

The shower-bath of infamous notoriety in Mount View Lunatic Asylum (Wellington) has been entirely removed. Liquor is no longer given in the Asylum. There used to be a liberal distribution either to patients or officers, most probably to the latter, so there wp.s no great harm done except to the Treasury and to the tempers of attendants.

A return lately published of the cost of the last general election in England shows some very curious results. For the borough of Wednesbury, which is represented by Mr Alex. Brogden, M.P., he expended 4s Gd per vote, his unsuccessful opponent £lB 2s Id per vote, la New Zealand matters in this way are nearly as bad. At the last contested election in Wellington, the legal and “ necessary” expenses of the successful candidates were 15s per vote, of the unsuccessful, 23s per vote. Zola contributes a long article on Russia and the Nihilists to the Par.in “Figaro,” He ridicules the idea that it is possible to found a republic in Russia in the present state of Russian society. The 60,000,000 peasants forming the greater part of the nation are ignorant, isolated, and wholly devoted to the Czar. The popular clamor in the towns is powerless for .revolution, and if the Nihilists continue their policy of blood and violence we may some day witness the spectacle of an infuriated peasantry rushing blindly to th® rescue of their “ Little Father.”

An American piper contains the following curious paragraph :—“The son of a Ne.v Zealand King lias arrived in New York. It is his boast that he will own 7,000 acres of land‘when he shall succeed Ins father. We have several sovereigns in California who could cut off 7,000 acres of land from their estates and scarcely miss them,” The enormous-'influx of Chinese into the Hawaiian islands, which has been going on for the past two years, and which still continues with no apparent signs of cessation, is looked upon with alarm by the white residents of the islands, and the greatest public indignation is expressed by them at the rapid increase in the number of Chinese in the kingdom, which threatens to overrun the island with them. According to recently compiled statistics, it has been ascertained that there are more Chinamen in the kingdom than there are of adult males of all other nationalities put together.

Considerable sensation has been caused in Pennsylvania through the confession of a boy that when thirteen years old he drowned another eight years old, because of a grudge he had against the unfortunate victim’s father.

They had a very exciting election at Pa'.ucca, in the Island cf Corsica, a few days ago. Athough the Republicans were in the majority,- the Bonapartists endeavoured to prevent them from going to the polls, armed men standing near the Mairic and threatening the electors as they came up. M. Bartoli, however, father-in-law of the Mayor, and'a prominent Picpublican, refused to submit to this intimidation, and boldly advanced to the votingroom for the purpose of setting an example to bis followers; but just as be was entering the door the report of firearms was heard an I he fell lifeless to the pavement. The whole village, amid a scene of indescribable tumult, rushed to arms. The Mayor proceeded with the vodug as if nothing had happened.

Timber merchants, dealers and builders are referred to an announcement of Mr James Bruce in another column.