NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2810, 27 March 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

The Borough'Council meet this evening at 7 o’clock.

J : |The well-known racehorse The Poet ; is advertised for "sale with all his engagements, ■

A first ofiender was this morning fined five shilling at the B.M, Court for drunkenness. T. W. Hall, Esq., J.P., was the presiding magistrate. The Eev. J. Dumhell preached the last of his, Sabjbsith iaorning services yesterday, taking 1 Cor,', xiii., 13, ah' tbs) subject of His discourse, and addressing himself to the Orangemen who were present officially, together with the brethren of the Protestant Alliance. In the evening the Church was crowded to; excess, and Mr Dumhell was visibly affected towards 'the close of his address. vjv

Up to March 23, 419,000 bags of graih havebeen camedon the,Canterbury; Bail-. 'Ways this season. 1 " V, ’ The Union Steamship Company are not tooftiberaHn their fares tariff, but'there is no denying the speed of their boats. The Botomahana arrived at the Bluff at half; past three yesterday, 3 days 19 hours from - T i ~Can;;any titizbh devise sbjhe sbkelhe providing the stray youths ,of this town with more elavating' amusement than parading,,the ; streets , and. blppking the corners on Sunday evenings? They don’t mean any harm,- but their language is loud and coarse, their manner rough, and theft presence" not pleasing ;-W nor is fheir tobacco of the best quality, which especialiyfaave aright td complain of, for; the young fellows puff volumes of smoke into aces as they pass,

Judging, ; by. accounts from; other places, it appears/.that,-.providence is: very good to fimaru in the matter of fire. happfeniag everywhere;tiuf,'since the water has been laid mi here, the place has been . wonderfully, free from;burnings. Wonderful '’coincidence! A dwelling house (and medicated baths of all establishments to take -fire) in Auckland was completely destroyed on Sunday morning; ’ It is some comfort to know that every; thing was snugly insured. . • .. n Mr H. Lush, Auckland, ; solicitor’s , carriage was upset by‘the swerving of the , horse on Saturday, and one of the children seriously injured. f

A public meeting of rAteipayeifs of the Karaugahape district, Auckland, to decide whether to join the city or adopt a form of self-government, ended in great disorder:"'

The Colonial Secretary is übiquitous. Off again to-day from Wellington, per Te Anau for Dunedin. Major AtkinsQpi' too, is on the move northward. 1

; The natives about the Upper Thames have yielded 1 to Bryce aUd* consented to have the snags removed that have hitherto seriously interfered With the Navigation’Of the river. ; , .

Thepoliceare beginnings to look quite •‘blue-mouldy for wapt ay abatin’,” everything it so quiet. If we go’ on improving thus the polioeman’s occupation will soon lie gone. The condition of the town reflects great credit (more than most peopld are aware) oh Inspector 1 Pender’ and his intelligent force,

:Mr Federli has returned to Christchurch from 1 a Visit to Akaroa and the Peninsula where be has persuaded -a ■ number of persons to undertake the silk industry on a [large scale. He has successfully hatched many silkworms, and hasraised, cocoons superior to any be has seen before and will exhibit a bay of interesting specimens of sericulture at the International ExhibiI ' !l 'i 1

■From Dunedin we learn that Williamson’s Opera Company concluded their .month’s season there, winding up with a sa|jrejl concertto-night.;] I They <have pro,duced “Patience,” "Pirates,” and “Pinafoie,” in a style altogether uhapptoached previously, and the first-named has drawn extremely good houses, being put on the last night td as large an aUdien6e as oh the second night of its presentation, •• In every respect the season has been an unqualified success, and the company is the largest, most complete, and best appointed that has ever visited Dunedin.

the first trial of the “ hew" 'steam foil Dunedin ; -was.made on Sat|wday sevend members of the Harbor Board'and visitors proceeded.. ;to Port ; Ghalmers and subsequently, on board the dredge, outside the Heads. No bitch occurred in the the drqdgewas set. tOrwprk on the sandbank meur the PoiT'Cb'almers wharves, Nut the stuff-.was very stiff sand and slow progress was made. When about three hundred . tons hoppers the dredge proceeded a mile outside’ the Heads *and' discharged it, everything working properly. (Those'on'-board got! a fright at one time, when the unWieldly boat got broadside on to the sea, j but she was quickly putroumi again- ; The Usquebaugh partaken of in the Bay of Plenty district is ' evidently a potent liquor. The: “Times” of a recent date says “ Whisky drinkers are not perhaps aware of the danger they run in drinking liquor put up in flasks or in bottles with indiarubber" stoppers. ' A few days ago a person bought some whisky in an hotel, 1 It was put in an ordinary sodawater bottle with a patent indiarubber stdpper. A few hours afterwards the purchaser and his frierids regaling themselves with a drink of the neat stuff,, poured, a, quantity into a glass for the purpose of diluting it with Water. As soon as the water touched the whisky r the liquor, which had all the , taste and appearance of the unadulterated .article, turned . white, assuming the color of new milkj Of course those who had partaken of the whisky were quite alarmed, thinking they had been poisoned, one of them, we are informed, being so affected .with terror that lie was actually thrown into a state of perspiration.' 1 ; fjergeanfi White, who got' knowledge of the'- transaction'/ submitted the stuff to Dr Ginders for analysis. Dr Ginders discovered that the‘cause of the discoloration was gum, which had been -extracted from the stopper by the action of the spirits. It remained ;uhdetectcd as long ias no foreign material was added to the whisky, but showed itself immediately on water being added. Indiarubber gum, though not poisonous, ie not a very pleasant ingredient to mix with one’s drink.”

j An entertainment in aid of the building fund of the new St. Mary’s church, Geraldine, Will be held in the Oddfellow’s Hall on Thursday evening next. : • ' ;

TheTiife Boat, No. 101, 1.6.G.T.," held their weekly meeting in the Foresters Hall oh'Friday evening last. P.M. Bro. Potter, W. C. oresiding. The regalia of the officers was draped with crape, in respect to the memoryof BrorHay,'who died 'suddenly in' the hospital. After a discussion re erection of drinking fountains in the town, the lodge was opened for harmony,- Several songs and recitations were given by members. An enjoyable, evening was closed at 9.30 o’clock. -

It appears 5 (says the “New" Zealand Times’’) that the troqt.which. have been placed in many of the New. Zealand streams are exposed to a danger to which members of the Acclimatisation . Societies have never even given a thought. The destruction of a large number of fish in, the Wainuiomata last week has illustrated the subject in a manner' which must have ( filled the hearts of anglers with regret, 'a very large number , having been either poisoned or suffocated.^ 1 Over a hundred were picked up in one day. It appears that bn Tuesday and Friday .large quantities of rata sawdust were emptied from one- of Messrs Sinclair’s sawpits, and thrbw.p.-, into a tributary of the Wainuiomata, whence it was "Washed into' the . larger stream. When the fish vjerp found,, dead, it was at first supposed that some person had thrown poison into the watery . blit When it- was discovered that their I 'gills were clogged with sawdust,.the conclusion was. that’ the fish .bad either been .suffocated or poisoned by tannin, of which rata is known to dohtaiu large quantities, "The sawdust of many other New' Zealand iimhers would probably prove: destructive to a similar extent, and the; question might therefore 1 be asked whether the subject is not one which should receive consideration by our Legislature. ■’ : ■ ;

Mr Talmage, the popular American, preacher, in alluding to the : prevailing impression that anybody can edit a newspaper/ said: —“ The theory that anybodycan make a newspaper a.success is often' disastrous. Three “or'four fortunes are often swallowed up bpfore.people ; are convinced that brains are required to conduct a journal. Although there are 7000 dailies, only thirty-six are half a century old. The average newspaper, life is five years. Most of them die of cholera infantum. An editor must he an encyclopedia. More qualities are. needed as an editor than any other business. I say this to save men from bankruptcy. Men who think that without experience they can run a newspaper have softening of the brain. Such a man had better throw his pocket-hook into his wife’s lap and rush up to the Bloomiingdale Insane Asylum, (Laughter.) The [newspaper is the channelto bring the waters iof knowledge to the people. The Bible, Webster’s Dictionary, and a' good newspaper ; these fit men";for this life and- the next. 1 '■

; It is stated oh gdod ) authority (says-the “EllesmerdHaardian”) that 1 the Hon. W. Robinson, well known as ‘ Ready-money Robihson, intends next season .to - sow 16,000 acres of land with wheat,.