South Canterbury Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1881. NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2664, 4 October 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1881. NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Timaru School Committee met last evening. The average attendance at the two Timaru I’ubl'c Schools for the last month was Sib,7. Contributions from parents in aid of incidental expenses to the amount of ;Cb 5s R.I were received during the last quarter. The increased auendrim.c at the schools entitling the Committee to an increase of some .Gib to the total amount payable to the School Committee for salaries, the Committee decided to apply for it, and to add it, to the salary of Miss Cox, acting head mistress of the infant’department, on account of the extra w rk she was now doing, It was decided to put the compulsory clauses into active operation to compel th.c attendance of children who ought to be at school, but are not.

The usual weekly session of the English Lodge Victory 1.0.G.T., was held at the .Foresters’ Hall last evening. The W.C.T., Rro. Thomas Tichhon, occupied the chair. One candidate was proposed for membership, and being in attendance, was introduced und initiated, A short recess then took place, and when business wan resumed a charitable appeal so the lodge was made on behalf of a dlHressee. sister residing at Milton, who is a widow; having oevea helpless children to support. After dietswsiag the matter the sympathy of those present was substantially shown by handsome nonItihm'oni’. which -vi!> bo sent lYrthwit!., T/l!’ lodge. ('.ln ,p.:>(,

Nothing new was heard in Wellington from Parihaka yesterday. •• A prospect giving 2 ozs of gold to the dish was obtained last week in the Break-’em-all Claim at Waikaia, Southland. Judge Gillies at Auckland suspended the certificates of a couple of bankrupts on the ground of “ reckless ” trading. The Customs duties collected at Christchurch last quarter amounted to £39,40(5, and the beer excise to £2904. Adelaide sparrows are doomed. Sixpence a dozen for heads, and two-and-sixpenco a bundled for eggs. A “ grass-widow” named Utiing tried to drown herself in the Avon yesterday, hut rV.’-S prevented, There ns agtealcr number and variety of newspapers' published in New Zealand, in priiporMontu its population, than m any other country on tin.- lace oi the globe. Two men disputed about religious topics ia a railway train, in the Wellington district lately, till both their heads went violently through one of the windows of the carriage, Captain Slater, commanding Uic Canterbury Yeomanry' Cavalry, denies » report I hat tjiat Cor.pt had offer'd tbp-.r -x-vierj to t’v ; The Corps, lie sr-y-s have ::c:' hr"' l .;gkv, of >nch a p : ccc of ‘Min ;ci.3;: ; . ’ A.t, '..oiling iii Vi.- -ern i> r-1;. A oi. < ',l • iiHiiiu., •"•n he question of t ....wing A- 3000 to procu. - '■ ;o "r- ; o!! pi' , 32-; ■ cs were ncoi'dal T. fa*or of - id. bonv vug, and only nine against. The “ Ashburton Mail," bitwi.) a inweekly, appeared for t! o first lime on Saturday a.- a daily paper, An edilo-ial note on the circumstance «ay« fuat as a, purely business affair the 11 Mail’ in.-; born cmim-RCy succcssf'd. Happypi iprV-tr • •; 1 ,f:■ of. r. now and simple kind of co-operai.-ei. »n Wellington. A number of Civu ..... r. Tro-r to _oh: together and select onctaii..*, ... . ulelrr and so forth, to whom they will pledge themselves to give all their cudetu on cunditiou that a reduction oil: the usual retail prices is allowed them. Up to 31st March last, 18,2*0,270 rabbit skins had been exported from New Zealand and in the shingle year 1880 no fewer than 7,303,01(> skins were sent out of the country These figures show the vast extent of the rabbit nuisance. Between 1877 ami 1878 the number of sheep in the colony decreased by about- 1,000,900 and (his decrease is said to be chiefly attributable to the rabbits.

There is some talk of applying for .another side school in the Timaru School District, to accommodate the children of Maori Hill and Woolcoinbc's Gully. There must b.: a great many children in those localities, for whom the walk to the present school is a long ore,

The Colonial Secretary has informed the Dunedin people that the Gaming and Lotteries Bill comes into force on the first of November next, and not January first, as was generally supposed. The November race meetings will therefore be sat upon a a good deal.

After two weeks' consideration the Christchurch Resident Magistrate decided yesterday that it is illegal to hang goods to a verandah in front of shops for sale, and indicted a line on the tradesman so summoned. This question was decided in I’iniaru a good while ago. The " Mataura Ensign" says that a number of South Canterbury farmers are atno g (hose who have gone to look at the Otara block which is to he sold next month, amt chat they have expressed themselves as highly pleased with the richness of the soil.

Some of the strikers at the Addington shops have taken.to "rattening." A man who went to the shops to look for work was waylayod in Hag ley I’ark by four men and maltreated. Of the sixty-eight men who "went out" the places of sixty-four have been tilled by competent men. A Co-operative Land Society has been formed at Christelmrsch for the purpose of enabling laboring men to obtain freeholds on the principle of paying halc-a-crown per week for three years. Tne idea has been eagerly taken up, and suitable blocks of land in various suburbs have been placed at the disposal of the .association.

At the enquiry held on Suturua.y Ja.-.-r, into the colliding of the steamers Wait aid and Albion, in Dunedin Harbor on the night of August 17 last, the evidence showed that the Albion had run aground and while waiting for the tide to float her off the Waitaki came up, and ran into her stern, the ollicer in charge not knowing till too late that the Albion could not move, The Waitaki was damaged to the extent of •A:’,On. the Albion only to the extent of about £2O.

The Borough Council had a long fitting last night, and some important basilicas v.-as considered. The first taken was the Waterworks By-law, in which several amendments were made, and November 7 was Jixed for its formal adoption. It was decided to otter for sale or lease the surplus land of the water-race reserve, wherever the width of the surplus is such as to make jt worth while to attempt to doai with jt in this manner, An animated discussion took place on the question of street lighting, some of the Councillors thinking that the Gas Company were taking advantage of their monopoly to charge In:,her rates than were fair and reasonable, others, shareholders of the Company, '-'.riving to show ilir.l ■"he Company got very little profit out of the street lighting. A motion to throw over the Gns Company altogether .and resort te kerosene met with some support, bpt was withdrawn fn layer of an alternative motion to make a modified offer te the Company, which if accept 3d will only save some £27 a year. Or. of the the sharpholding Councillors charged the non-shareholders with seeking cheap popularity in advocating their views, which these, of course, warmly repudiated. The question of clouding the Borough-, to take in the suburbs, came up ana ti vr-<m owdae-.t to go to no expuesr. or trouble in the matter till nest ordinary meeting, when a notice of motion that certain rscpv w taken will be withdrawn. This ohang? ;d attitude is duo In ts.c <VH Boil a urutim: lie.! 1.,*.)i bjiv.-.’; oirmkm d m <l>c .ao mm; <1 gainst then iiwi'i". •

TLe estii.ljliyliii.aGn t of Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co’s Sulphuric Acid Works at Dunedin, seems to have aroused the long slumbering project of establishing such’ works on White Island, in the Bay of Plenty, a Dunedin Company taking the matter in hand. This would seem to be a very advantageous site, as it is said that sulphur is obtainable there in any quantity.

Among Urn fresh electoral items going round are these ‘ —Mr I homes Campbell is announced as a candidate for Wanganui, ami 'Mr 11, 0. Bcid for Hokitika. Messrs Oliver and Bathgate an; likely to stand for Ro>lvn, Mr Gisborne has bid farewell to liiH Totara constituency, private affairs ‘aking him for some time from the. colony, ,ifr Sutton has addressed the Napier constituency. He spoke in support of the Govern nvmt. aud “gave it hot” to Mr Ormond ami Capt. ItusselL Mr Ormond will stand for Waipawu.