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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2868, 3 June 1882, Page 3

Clarence’s weight for the Waimate Steeplechase Handicap is 12st 121 b, not list 12lb, as published yesterday, The following amounts weie to-day paid over, in connection with the Timaru Steeplechases :— J. Pilbrow, £lB5 ss, W S. Armitage, £l7 10s; W. de G. Beeves £3B ;D. O’Brien, £2B 10s; G. Lawson, £9 10s. The Wellingtonians arc going mad over H.M.S. Nelson. The officers are to be entertained at a ball, and in other ways, by the citizens. Altogether Wellington is not a bad station for a naval man. The Rev. W. Gumming, (Head master of West Christchurch school) recently appointed an Inspector under the Board of Education, was yest'-rday, presented with an address from the teachers, the pupils, and the “old boys,” and a handsome epergne and an ink-stand, equally handsome. There was great enthusiasm and very kind feelings were expressed on all sides. Professor Bickerton presided.

A piano-forte teacher in Philadelphia, being of an enquiring turn, and desirous of experimentalizing, has come to the conclusion that the difficulty people find in raising the third finger of the hand above the keys can be overcome by cutting a cord. He has not cut his own cord, but he has induced a pupil to submit to the operation. An application to the Wellington Benevolent Asylum, .by an old sailor, who writes a quaint letter, thus;—"l usually wear two flannels, but they have ' evaporated ; my two shirts are only held together by severe patching, and an I may say, it is mterhyarilvs ! If I were not working my passage this would not matter, but the winds of the ocean, especially the Antarctic, do not temper themselves to the shorn lamb when they find him at the wheel; nor when one is on the lookout forward on a dark night —GO deg. S., with the spray perhaps freezing as it falls on bo.ird—do the salt waves enquire if he is properly apparelled before paying their customary attentions. I» endeavoring to be graphic I hope I have not been betrayed into flippancy.

The editor of the Auckland “Star” must bo a Scotchman or a Quaker. Referring to our esteemed old friend, Captain Jackson Barry, he says “ His lectures are said to be amusing.” The editor don’t cpmmit himself, mark, The “Advocate ” gives the following instance of the outeness of the Maori race, as exemplified a few days ago in Fielding. A well-known Native walked into a bank in that town, and said to the manager, “If I give you £SO and then go away for a year, how much you give me when I come back P” He was informed that he would receive £52 at the end of the term mentioned. For a moment he appeared to be absorbed in a deep thought, and then said with extreme naivete, “ If you give me £50,1 go away for a year, and when I come back will give you £52.” The genial banker smiled a smile, but was “ noton.” The Borough Council of Capetown (South’Africa) made things so unpleasant for their engineer that he was obliged to resign, and in handing in his resignation he gave the councillors a bit of his mind. His letter is worth consideration by harbor boards and similar bodies :—“ I would ask the Board of Works to excuse my further attendance at their committee meetings. I cannot witli justice to myself and to the profession to which I belong, submit to the ungeutlemanly and inconsiderate treatment it has pleased the members of this Committee to .adopt towards me. I would merely state that I have been astonished at the presumption with which councillors have put forward statements in favor of or against suggested improvements, when they were, both from the lack ot education and want of technical knowledge, totally incompetent even to express an opinion on the rudimentary principles involved. I have no thanks to give the Council on leaving their employ, neither can I express my regret. The twelve months that expired have been to me twelve months of the most unmitigated disgust, without one redeeming bright spot.”