NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2745, 10 January 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Tho salary of the Mayor of Oamaru for the year has been fixed at £IOO.

Ngapara will shorjtly be connected with Oamaru by a telephone-line, with wayside stations at Weston and Enfield.

The Friendly Societies at. Christchurch realised a profit of £139 by their fete on Boxing-Day, Mr Spillane, late of the Arowhenua Hotel, has taken the Royal, in Timaru, for a number of years. 1 It is reported that steam has been issuing from a crevice in the Port Hills at Little River since the recent earthquakes. : .

Two Christchurch publicans w;erq yesterday fined £2 10s each for breaches of the Licensing Act. One of the defendants bad held a lottery, in which the prizes were mostly liquor. The Railway Department have decided to hand ovar to widow Woodcock, whose son was killed by the recent accident at Kaihiku, a sum equal to six months pay. . Two men quarrelled in a public house at Bethnal Green, London, about the guilt or innocence of the murderer Lefroy, and went out to “ settle it.” One struck the other behind the ear and killed him.

During the trial of Guiteau for the murder of President Garfield, the injured section of deceased’s backbone was produced in Court. Gniteau took it up and examined it with great coolness, amid the hisses of those present. Ah Hung, 'a 1 Chinaman, was recently found dead in his hut at Alexandra. ,Ap; inquest was held, and a verdict was arrived at that Ah Hung came to ‘ his death by poisoning with opium, taken while in a fit of temporary insanity.

The anniversary soiree of the Primitive Methodist Church, Timaru, will be held this evening. Tea will be laid in the Barnard 1 Street hall, after'which addresses will be delivered in the Church by Revs. Luke, of Geraldine, Dumbell, and others. ■ A deputation of Chinese waited on the ; Mayor of Wellington yesterday and handed him, a donation of £36 for the Hospital. The deputation intimated that the Chinese presidents in Wellington had decided to' become annual subscribers to the Hospital, 'fund, ’’ '■ ' a s

. The Constabulary at Parihaka are engaged in roadmaking and ordinary camp duty. The natives who were dispersed appear to have no inclination to return. Yesterday morning between twenty and thirty dray loads of potatoes were sent jaway from Parihaka to the natives living beyond New Plymouth.

A man has been committed to the Lunatic Asylum (says the Auckland "Herald”) iwhose mania is of a somewhat dangerous kind. He went into anction rooms and bid for valuable articles and valuable animalfj, having them knocked down to him at prices which gladdened the hearts of anationeeers and sellers. - The liabilities' he incurred in one day were something quite respectable. During the sitting of the Borough Council last night, a diversion was caused ■by the practice of the Fire Brigade in Beswick street and Cain’s Terrace. Jets of water were thrown high over the Grosvenor and Royal Hotels, apparently twice as high as the buildings, and thje upper part of the jets being visible from the Council Chamber, there was a rush of members to the back windows, and congratulations ad lib on the power of the supply. At the monthly meeting of the Timaru Fire Brigade last night. Captain Amos was chosen to represent the Brigade at the Fire Brigade Conference to be held next month. Several members who were called as witnesses in the Moses arson case, complained of the pecuniary loss they had suffered in consequence, losing their wages, in some cases having to pay some men to take their place, while all they received was 15s each. It was. considered only fair that the Insurance Companies should .make good the loss.

Mr Robson, Shakespearean and humorous reciter, soprano singer, flautist, and clarionettist, gives the first of two entertainments in the Theatre Royal to-morrow evening. The southern Press praises Mr Robson’s varied performances very highly. Judging from their'accounta hois possessed of a; quite phenomenal voice. In the " cauldron scene ” from Macbeth, for instance, he is stated to introduce seven distinctly different voices, and consistently apply them. He has a choice selection of Shakespearean readings, and a number of Scotch and Irish and other numerous sketches at command. Then he sings florid songs, a la De Mnrska, with great success, and plays the clarionet to perfection. According to these accounts, Mr Robson must be well worth hearing.

The Good, Templars, in Auckland propose to take united action, when the new | Licensing Law comes into force by the proclamation of licensing districts, in the election of new Benches. ■

At the Supreme Court at Auckland, yesterday, Michael O’Connor was found guilty of rape on a Maori woman, and sentenced to two years. .- ■ • At the District Court Auckland,- yesterday, D. Wickham, 1 editor of the Free Lance,” obtained" judgment against J. LT Rees for £54, costs in- the recent libel action, which was dismissed.

A' person in Dunedin named Binnie is said to have invented an efficient apparatus for making a .good illuminating gas from; “ animal carbon.” (Why does he not call it tallow, or. fat, and avoid , misleading, people, who may suppose that by “ animal carbon” he. means animal.; charcoal !) From a description of his machine in the ‘ ‘ Times ” we gather that it can be made in' small sizes and attached to an ordinary fire-place, but we gather also that the process is not too safe a one, and we shall not be surprised to hear of an inquest in the Binnie family at an early date. Water and melted 11 animal carbon ” are led through red hot pipes in a furnace/and the gas is mixed, with air before it reaches the ; burners. This last pioceas is good one for getting up an explosion. % i The usual monthly meeting of the Timarri School Committee was held last evening, Messrs 'Walcot (Chairman), Haft, Rowley, Hall, arid Reilly being present. The business .transacted was mostly unimportant. The nomination oft wqmembers i to’ther Board of Education,‘to be madebefore the end of the,month, was leftj for, the new Committee to make. Certain fourth-yearpupil terichefs Applied, ’and the; Headmaster wrote in support _o£ , their; application, to be allowed to remain at work another year before going up for examination. The Committee have no! power in matters of this kind but agreed to: recommend the Board to favorably consider the requests. The Chairman and Mr Hall were appointed to wait upon the Borough Council rc supply of water to the schools. The meeting was adjourned to Friday. (the 2Qth, ,when a draft -of the Committee's annual Report will Be submitted for approval, Messrs Walcot and Hart being entrusted, with its preparation in the meantime.

A little child, two and ahalfyearsold, son of Mr Rambert, a contractor, at* Kaiapoi, was kicked on the head by one of his father’s horses on Saturday, and his skull smashed so that a portion of the brain protruded. The child was still alive last evening. i

An accident happened to the Harbor Board’s big crane this morning, the short shaft of one of the middle pairs of travelling wheels coming in two.; The fracture appeared to have been occasioned some time ago, but owing to its being a long scarf-like break a good part of which was within the wheel, the injury did not sooner manifest itself. . A new shaft will be fitted by tomorrow morning.

Lyons’ Tourists had a crowded bouse last night to witness their second performance; ‘ The opening piece was a sketch '•An Hour in Seville,” which went off well. .-.Their pantomine was then - given with splendid spirit. It is very seldom indeed that so much “go" is seen in a piece on these boards, and the audience were evidently delighted. In the course of the pantomine Miss Amy Horton sang a local song in which the following lines were introduced;—

Our Breakwater is very near completed, Of its success there’s not’the slightest fear, We soon will .have a safe and handy harbor If Captain' Sutter does not choke the Engineer. They quarrel over nothing every meeting, And fight about the gravel and the Bills, But their fuss about the harbor and the Cashmere, Was blighted by our old frimd Captain l

Mills, There is not much in the words themselves, 'but the manner in which they were given elicited tremendous applause, and Miss Horton had to sing them three times over. ■This; is; the last night of ; !the Company |here, and they ,deserve ; a bumper house , for their farewell; ; d Those who-'visited the Breakwater this afternoon Would get a good idea of what the “ range ” is that prevents big vessels from being safely brought alongside the wharf. A heavy south-westerly swell got up during the day— without warning so far as strong winds from that, quarter are concerned—and in the afternoon every wave that swept past the end of the mole sent a wave down behind it. There were twd' vessels moored at the wharfi the steamer Waitaki furthest onV.and the barquentine Edith May, and each strong wave caused them to surge backwards and forwards, throwing a great strain on their ,holding tackle. The steamer errried away her head line, an old one by the way,'and then thought it prudent to get away from the wharf and anchor. The barquentine rearranged her tackle and held on. She •was fastened at the head—seaward—by a stout coir hawser, aftterwards two, to the wharf, and had her port anchor out a good distance on the other side. Astern she was moored by a single line round her mizenmast. The strain put on the forward ;and stem lashings alternately sufficiently indicated "what trouble would' be experienced in trying to hold a large vessel.