South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1882. NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2750, 16 January 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 1882. NEWS OF THE DAY.

An Auckland lad named Dixon picked up a dynamite cap, and it exploded, blowing his hind to pieces. * Mr W. F, Bockland has petitioned against the return of Major Harris for Franklin North. Moss Jonas sells to-morrow the right to erect a publican’s booth and a confectioner’s booth on the cricket ground on Wednesday, for the A.E.E. match with Timaru. Two cases of Californian quail were received from the quarantine station, per Zealandia,for the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. A bed of hard flint, such as used for glassmaking at Home, is said to have been discovered in the Wairarapa Valley. Three thousand Sunday School children accompanied by 200 teachers took part in a picnic in Auckland on January 2. It is stated that up to the present time it has cost the Government of New South Wales a sum of £50,000 to try and stamp out the small-pox disease. The Auckland City Council caused a number of electric fire-alarms to be fixed up in the city a short time ago. Larrikins have smashed the whole of the glass indicator discs. The Presbyterian Synod of Otago have accepted the application of the Rev Mr Maxwell, Congregationalism to join the Church. The dividend to ministers for the year from .the Sustentation Fund is £21313s lid. At the quarterly meeting of the Auckland Licensed Victuallers’ Association it was decided not to interfere in the working of the Licensing Act, but to accept moderates who were prepared to administer the Act fairly.

A resident of Sydenham, named Magner, is missing from his home. He left a note stating that “in this life he would be seen no' more,” so it is supposed he has made away with himself.

During the last quarter of last year there were 31 buildings in course of construction in Oamaru, including several large stores and business places. At a moderate estimate these 31 buildings represent £60,000, three of the number amounting to nearly half that sum.

In making some alterations to the official residence of the Premier, at Wellington, the workmen discovered in one of the gables of the roof a mass of honeycomb 12 feet square and reaching from the ceiling below to the angle of the roof. It was estimated to contain five cwt of honey.

A grocer in Wanganui has been mulcted in a penalty of la and costs under the Gaming and Lotteries Act for enclosing lottery prize tickets in packets of tea, the prizes being considered by him in the light of Christmas presents. The “ Herald” states that the Resident Magistrate imposed the fine with evident reluctance.

A lawyer in Wellington the other day tried to bother a witness, a dairyman, by asking him which was the “ near side ” of a cow. He failed, but was recompensed by the pleasure he derived from showing that the near side of a cow is the side she is milked on, and that it is the opposite side to the near, side of a horse.

A competitive trial of reapers and binders under the auspices of the Farmers Co-opera-tive Association will take place near Timaru on Tuesday Jan. 24. In addition to other well-known machines the new Howard machine is expected to take part in the trial. Prizes will be awarded by the Association, who by the way, deserve great credit for giving the farmers in South Canterbury an opportunity of inspecting the working of the respective reaping machines now in use in the colony. Entries will be received up till Friday next. The usual weekly meeting of the Lifeboat Lodge 1.0.G.T., was held at the Forester’s Hall on Friday evening, Bro, Clayton, W.C.T.,. occupying the chair. After the usual opening ceremonies had been gone through, one candidate was reobligated and another one was proposed for membership, and being in attendance was initiated, after which a recess was granted for harmony, when songs were well sung by Bros Clayton, Lyell, Kennedy, Cullen, and Russell, and a reading given by Bro Alison. The Lodge was then formally closed at 9.30 p.m., and immediately afterwards “ second degrees ” were conferred on four candidates.

The work of constructing the north mole of the Oamaru Harbor Works is progessing visibly says the “ Nort Otago, Times. About 180 feet of the mole have been carried out, and its construction is massive and compact. The blocks of stone used for the external or northern side, each of which is carefully selected for position before leaving the quarry, are none of them less than three tons in weight, and in many instances huge boulders weighing over five tons have been "used. Those put down on the internal face arc in no cases less than a ton and a half, and the body of the mole, which is 80 feet at the base, and 20 feet -on the surface, is formed of rubble of a lesser size. The whole mass is of a solidity whic ,h would appear to be capable of offering a'lmost as firm a resistance to the action of the sea as the breakwater itself.