NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2689, 1 November 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The next mail for Home via San Francisco closes at Timaru on Saturday next.

The Timaru High School Board meet at seven o’clock this evening.

The National Insurance Company made a profit of £21,723 on last yearjs transactions.

The ship Otaki arrived at Port Chalmers from London yesterday. A seamen named Wheaton committed suicide on the voyage, and another named Stream was washed overboard and lost during a heavy sea.

The Government has agreed to carry by rail free of charge, all hum fide New Zealand exhibits intended for Messrs Joubert and Twopeny’s exhibition to be held at Christchurch next March.

Another death from reckless working in excavations. A young man was killed by a fall of stuff in a gravel pit near Invercargill yesterday. A large crowd was assembled at the railway station last night on the arrival of the evening train from Chrisohurch, presumably to witness the return of the Artillery Band from Lyttelton and of the arrested apprentices. The friends of the latter, however, managed to get them clear by the back way, accompanied them to the police station, and bailed them out till this morning. The usual weekly session of the English Lodge Victory, No. 42 1.0.G.T., was held last evening at the Foresters’ Hall. There was a good attendance of members present. Two candidates were proposed for membership, and two initiated. A short recess then took place, and when business was resumed the election of officers for the ensuing term was proceeded with, much interest in the competition for office being taken throughout. The rest of the evening was devoted to music, and the Lodge closed at 10 p.m.

The usual concessions are to be made by the railway department for the Prince of Wales’ Birthday holiday. Single fare tickets taken at and for any station on the Bth and 9fch inst. will be available for return up to and including the 10th, Special concessions are also made for the Christchurch Show and races. Single tickets issued at any station between Amberley and Dunedin for Christchurch, on any day from the 7th to the 12th inst., maybe used as return tickets till the 14th.

The work of laying the large mains of the waterworks within the town is now nearly completed, but the secondary system of 2} inch pipes has yet to be laid all over the town, a commencement having only just been made. The laying of these will not take nearly so long as the mains, as the pipes will not be put so deep in the ground. A troublesome work yet to be done is the carrying of pipes across the railway line. This has to be done at the Strathallan and George street crossings, and probably at another place or two.

A considerable improvement has been made in the grading of Arthur street, opposite the gas works, where a hollow which used to fill with water to a depth of several inches during heavy rains has been filled up to some extent. The footpath in the same place has been re-formed and guard posts placed at the two corners of Latter street. If the Council could manage to destroy the unsightly stagnant pool on the north side of the street there near the public buildings, by filling up the hole it occupies, they would be doing a good work, At present the hollow is used for the deposit of rubbish of all kinds, largely street sweepings, so that an offensive if not dangerous manure heap is gradually accumulating there. A deposit guano is a good thing in its place, but the Chinoha Islands, say, is the place for it, not the middle of Timaru.

A Tasmanian journal has been considering the evidence, and says of the New Zealand . telegraph operators “ that taking the department throughout, they are the quickest transmitters and sound readers in any country where the telegraph is in use.” That’s so. You can’t (c) lick him.

Prayers for the peaceful settlement of the present Native difficulty were offered in several of the churches in the colony on Sunday. Scarlet fever threatens to be troublesome in Dunedin’ There are eighteen cases within a hundred yards in Maitland street. Not long since Dr Murphy warned the City Council that it threatened to become epidemic and recommended preventive steps, but other medical men pooh-poohed the idea, and nothing was done. Every day makes the danger greater.

The Customs duties collected at Christchurch last month amounted to £16,671 10s 7d.

The acceptances for the Timaru Athletic Club’s Handicap races will close to-night at Messrs W. Collins and Go’s auction rooms, at 8 o’clock. The first siirgicial case arising of the present warlike preparations occurred at Auckland, where at the departure of a contingent, a bus knocked down a boy and ran over both his legs, injuring him seriously. A row occurred in the Dunedin cemetery on Sunday morning among some Chinamen who were holding an annual festival in connection with their dead. They belonged to two different tribes, and some dispute arose among them, ending in blows, to be further followed by a blowing up from the Magistrate for breach of the peace.

The total acreage of land belonging to the Agricultural College, at Lincoln, is 661, of which 626 are under crops of various kinds, The live stock at the station comprises 85 cattle, 1110 sheep, 58 pigs, and 14 horses. A new wing is being added to the buildings, which will give accomodation badly wanted. The present edifice is overcrowded, and a number of applicants have lately been refused admission.

John Chinaman knows hows how to “ gridiron ” as well as some Canterbury squatters. A Keefton paper says that complaints are made that the Chinese, in taking up alluvial claims, so contrive to pog their ground as to leave blocks between the claims. The spare ground thus locked in is, of course, useless to others, being protected to soma extent by registered rights' for tail-races. When the proper time comes shares in the claim proper are sold to other Chinamen, and the spare ground is barred from occupation pending the arrival of Chinamen from Otago.

Some one in Tauranga had a little bill given him the other day, and subsequently an application for payment was made. The answer of the debtor shows an intimate knowledge of parliamentary procedure. It was as follows: —“ Your bill must follow the usual course. It has passed the first and second reading, and has been passed into committee; but as tho House is now prorogued, you will have to wait until next session, as tho bill is one of the slaughtered innocents.”

Owners of property whose previous statements would be affected by the Assessment Act Amendment Act of last session can obtain forms for new statements at any post office connected with a telegraph station either by personal application or by letter. The amending Act requires statements to be made as if at noon on the Ist Oct. last, and property is to be stated at its full cash value at that time. Any liability incurred on real or personal property,lor incurred for purchase of goods not in the colony, or to a person not a bona Me resident in the colony, is not to be deducted. Any goods received on consignment from places outside the colony are to be included as if they were the consignee’s property. Should the Commissioner deem it expedient in the interest of the revenue, he may recommend the Government to purchase any property at the value given in the statement, plus ten per cent., unless the owner will consent to increase his valvation to what the Commissioner thinks the fair value. On the other hand, if a person thinks he has been been assessed too highly in respect of property, he can call upon the Commissioner to reduce the assessment or else purchase at the assessed price. The Melbourne correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald” last week, writes thus of larrikinism in the Victorian capital ;—“ Young savages break into a public-house, beat the landlord, destroy his property, insult his wife, consume his liquor, and stone the police sent in pursuit of them. And we are quite helpless in the the face of these filthy riots, for the police know it is of little use interfering ; the magistrates only fine the scoundrels in nominal sums, or admonish them to be good boys for the future, and hence the larrikin is absolute master of the situation. Hawks, as wc know, do not pick out hawks’ eyes ; and as the bulk of our legislators arc of the larrikin class, we are not likely to have any severe legislation against their own order 1” Pretty strong language 1

Mr Hislop, grocer, Woolcombe street, is selling fresh butter at sixpence per lb. (Anvx.) A Demon—“ Is it worth knowing!” Mr G. E. Stacy, Electro-biologist and Chiropodist, has just arrived from Victoria on a professional visit. Mr S. has been called a Demon because he cures the worst case of corns in a lew minutes, by a new process, (without pain), and can promise immediate, entire, and positive relief. Numbers of testimonials from leading people of the colonies—See hand bills. Mr Stacy is making a specialise of the Skin, and the Skin’s appendages(the Hair and Nails),and may be consulted between 9 and 11 a.m., at his private rooms, side door, Hallam’s Baths, Beach Road, or will attend anyone at their own residence during the afternoon on communication. Pees—Corns, from 2s Gd to ss; Bunions, ss; Ingrowing Nails, ss; Loss of Hair and all Marks of the cuticle, 10s 6d. ' Mr Stac> is the inventor of the Almanac of One Hundred Years, New Discoveries in Electricity, Icc., &c.— [Advt,]