NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2722, 9 December 1881, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A gift auction was held in the domain at Geraldine on Thursday, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to the enlargement of the English Church in the township. A great variety of articles, useful and ornamental, were disposed of, Mr Corbett officiating as auctioneer. The sale realised about £2O, and a refreshment booth on the ground did a good trade, and brought in a good round sum, there being a very good attendance of Church people from all parts of the district.

At the Timaru Court this morning, before H. Belfield, Esq. J.P., a man named Richard South by, arrested by Detective Kirby at the Point, on warrant, was romanded to Waimate, on a charge of deserting his wife at that place. Thomas Williams, of Timaru, charged with an aggravated assault on his wife, was remanded till Monday next. A first offender, charged with drunkenness was cautioned and dismissed.

The work of levelling the ground for the new railway station is going on steadily. The rails for the ballast train were this morning extended to the northward of the old services, and a very different appearance will soon be given to the shingle beach in front of the present station. At the same time rails are being laid on the ground excavated sometime ago at the back of the station, and other changes are being made in the arrangement of the premises.

Mr J. Maclaren, one of our watermen, was this morning practising in a new canoe, of a different make from any we we have seen before. The body of the little vessel is formed of two very thin boards, broad at the midships and tapering off to each end. At the midships the sides have but very little curvature, a section of the canoe having a flattened V form ; some degree of carvature is given as the boards are twisted to join at stem and stern. The top is covered with oiled calico, and the oval opening in which the canoeist sits is surrounded by a thin board a few inches high, The canoe is very light, weighing only 38 lbs, but it could evidently have been made lighter by diminishing the thickness of the ribs, without endangering the strength. It is to be taken to compete in the Akaroa Regatta on the 16th, and its owners expect to come in first with it, as they are confident it is the fastest thing of the kind in the colony. It was built by Mr P. Bradley and is well put together and neatly finished.

A meat freezing company has been formed in Auckland, and 60,000 shares have been taken up. A Maori has been arrested in the King Country charged with horse-stealing at one of the settlements.

A fire in Symonda street, Auckland* yesterday, destroyed two stores and a cottage. The insurances amounted to £3OOO. The arms taken from the Native settlements a short time ago, were yesterday sent from Pungarehu to Opunake under escort. It is expected they will be sent to Wellington.

Vincent and Go’s brewery, Christchurch, caught fire last night. The damage was confined to the brew house. The loss is covered by insurance.

A protest lodged against Reid and Gray for putting their names on several of their exhibits at the recent Dunedin show has been sustained.

The pile driving at the Rangitata traffic bridge seems to be progressing satisfactorily. Only four piers now remain to be driven, and out of the last fifteen piles put down only one broke. The number of telegrams forwarded for tbe quarter ended 30th Sept., 1881, was 337,524, and the revenue received £18,368 11s 3d. Tbe value of Government telegrams transmitted for the same period was £5568 7s 9d.

The Akatea station, Wellington district, consisting of 31,384 acres freehold, with 24,000 sheep, 550 cattle, and 50 horses, was sold yesterday for £55,000, to Mr R. Linton ; also, the Glencoe and Ohanga stations, 12,072 acres freehold and 39,000 leasehold, with 40,000 sheep, 1850 cattle, and 85 horses, for £35,000, to the Hon. W. S. Peter.

The French Government, through the French Consul at Dunedin are calling for tenders to suply 3000 tons of flour for New Caledonia during the ensuing twelve months. Hitherto they got their supplies entirely from Adelaide, but Mr P. C. Neill, the Consul induced the Government to take the present step.

The erection of a new goods station at Dunedin is to be commenced soon.

The sum total of the amounts claimed by the medical men who attended President Garfield was 87,000 dollars, or £17,000.

The District Auditor, Mr Ollivier, has refused to pass an item of £l5O paid by the Ashburton County Council for the Industrial Exhibition. He failed to find any clause in the Act that justified the pay" ment, and had therefore rejected it, under clause 130, hoping to receive a notice from the Council of its refund, so as to obviate the necessity for bringing the matter under the considerrtion of the Colonial Treasurer.

The “ Federal Australian” speaks thus of the merits of Mr Bryce : —“ The New Zealand colonists owe a grand banquet and a silver tea service to Mr Bryce, the Native Minister, for so prominently and effectually settling that Te Whiti ‘ scare.’ Mr Gladstane is acting on the same safe and sure lines with respect to the Parnell agitation in Ireland. There is nothing like grasping your nettle.”

A great feat in Arctic Navigation (says the “ Home News ”) has been accomplished by Captain Adams, the skipper of a Dundee whaler, who in the course of a single season has made his way into three of the moat perilous branches of the Arctic Ocean, each of which is associated with the loss of a great seaman. In the first, Belcher was compelled to leave his ships, in the second, Franklin was’overcome by disaster ; and in the third, Parry was wrecked. Dr John Eae, who is one of the oldest and most experienced of Arctic seamen living, pronounces the achievement to be almost unprecedented. The Court of Appeal delivered judgment yesterday in the cases of Brogden v. the Queen, and Smith v. the Queen. In both cases judgment was given declaring all the pleas pleaded by the Government, except one, to be good, and all the replications pleaded by the Messrs Brogden bad. The one plea on which judgment was given against the Government is an immaterial one, and the judgment on that plea rests on a purely technical question of pleading and does not affect the merits. Notice was given on behalf of Messrs Brogden of their intention to apply for leave to appeal to the Privy Council, the effect of the judgment being that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to try the Brogden claims, but all proceedings in respect of these claims must be taken under the Government Contractors Arbitration Act 1872. The Court also decided that no extras could be claimed not expressly ordered in writing by the Minister for Public Works,

Writing on the Milburn Creek scandal, the “ Sydney Mail ” says:—“ The outcome of the Eoyal Commission is that, out of the total award of £17,198, there has been traced £3660 to the hands of Mr Baker, £2871 to Mr Bussell, £2266 to Mr Waddell £2263 to Mr Mathieson, £416 directly to Mr Bennett, £1538 to the Thorns, if they care to take it, and £llß3 to all other persons and for all other purposes. In other words, the trustees, solicitor and legal manager swallowed up £13,015 of the award in dividends and other payments.

A civil action, that should interest the members of benefit societies generally, was decided by Mr Mellish yesterday at the Christchurch Court. The point at issue was, whether a medical man acting as doctor for a benefit society could recover his fee for attending a member’s wife for a complaint that was constitutional, and of which he had no knowledge at the time of her husband’s joining a Lodge. Mr Mellish held that it was the surgeon’s duty to satisfy himself as to the health of an intending member’s wife at the time of the former’s making the usual declaration, and that, if he neglected to do so, he could not recover a professional fee for any medical attendance.

At a recent meeting of electors in a rural district (says the “ Press ”), the candidate who addressed the electors, and who had never before occupied a similar position, seemed ill at case, and his intention was t« “ seem ” to deliver his address—not read it. The document lay on the table, but as he glanced at it from time to time, and spoke on each topic, it was evident his memory would not carry him to the logical end of the written paragraph. Consequently many breaks occurred, and he was occupied in repeatedly refreshing his memory. At the conclusion of the meeting, a man who had occupied a position in the body of the hall approached the candidate, and oblivious of bystanders, ejaculated, “A pretty mess you made Of it. lam sure I wrote it plain enough,” “ I don’t know how it was,” replied the would-be legislator, “but I was so excited—l couldn’t help it,”