NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2999, 6 November 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A regatta will be held at Port Chalmers on Boxing Day. The Auckland City Council’s receipts on the general account Tor ,tho past hall year are £19,817. It has been decided to form a New Zealand Association at Auckland for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act. Hadlield’s ten-roomed hotel, at Waiwera, has been burned down. It was insured in the Imperial for £2OO, and the furniture for £IOO.

There was a clean sheet at the R:M. Court to-day.

A number of prisoner* have been told off to- ay, to beautify the grounds of the Courthouse.

The Otago Art Society’s opening took place on Saturday. The exhibition was well attended.

The executors of the will in the estate of the late Tertius E. Armitage, require all claims to be sent in before the 20th inst. Mr C. B. Eichbaum notifies that he is in receipt of 35 packages of drugs, perfumery etc., ex Gerd Heye from London direct. W. H. Crossby, whose father was a clergyman at Waikato, has been committed for trial at Auckland for obtaining goods under false pretences. The Gem Portrait Company whose premises are in Anderson’s buildings, exhibit very fine specimens of photography. Their announcement appears in another column.

D. Scanlon, licensee of the Nottingham Castle Hotel was fined 20s at Auckland on Saturday for taking jewellery of money from W. H, Orossley, in payment for liquor.

The circus could not show at Christchurch on Saturday night, owing to the rain. The amateur opera performance was very thinly attended.

Arthur Fawcett, has been arrested at’ Auckland, on telegraphic advice of a warrant from Sydney. He said the,arrest was made to ruin his prospects in New Zealand. He was remanded on bail for eight days. Persons stamping bank notes for advertising purposes render themselves liable to a penalty of £5, on and after the Ist Jan. next, under the “ Banks Amendment Act” of last session. The banks are now cancelling defaced notes and issuing new ones instead. The Act also renders illegal the payment by any crossed cheque unless it comes to him through another banker.

A railway navvy named Norman lost his life when performing a heroic act. He and three fellow laborers were working their way home on a trolly near Gootamundra (N.S.W.), when a special cattle train burst suddenly into view round a curve. The three men jumped off the trolly and got clear of the line, but Norman thinking that the trolly might upset the train, endeavored to get it off the rails. He had managed to clear the trolly, with the exception of one pair of wheels, when the train came up and struck him. He left a wife and eight children. At the monthly meeting last evening of the Counoil of the Trades and Labor League, the Secretary was directed to forward the following resolutions to the Dunedin and suburban members of the House of Representatives (1) “ That this Council gratefully acknowledges the efforts of all those members of the Legislature during, the past session of Parliament who manifested such an interest in the prosperity of the working classes as to vote for all liberal measures calculated to improve their condition,” (2) “ That this Council speoia’ly acknowledges the services of Messrs Green, Bracken, Fish, Bathgate, and Barron in endeavouring to pass into law various measures set forth in the Council's political programme,” A brass steamwhistle, thought to be the largest ever made, has been manufactured by the Eaton, Cole, and Burham Company ■ 58, John street, New York. It is of cast brass, 4ft 9in in length, the bell having a diameter of 20in. Its weight is 4001 b, and its value £IOO. The supply pipe is 4in in diameter. It goes to a large steam saw mill in Canada, where it is to be employed with a system of signals, to give orders to the lumbermen at a distance, and to summon the widely-scattered employes in case of fire.

There are 7000 hawkers of newspapers in London—big men, little boys, old women, and young girls. They are in the preliminery or normal condition of paper— i,e., rags—and live from hand to mouth on pocketing pennies and yelling their journals’ names and contents. The 11th of July, 1882, will be memorable for one cry. and one great sale of London papers. The cry was not so correct as the sale, for “ The Bombardment of ilemtiderl" was the one, while the other was 780,000 of “ Hextra ditions I ” No such sales since the Crimean War. ‘ *

M. Naquet, the well-known French deputy, has made an interesting discovery. By dipping old postage stamps in a weak solution of potassium, and rubbing the surface of them with the finger, he found that the whole of the ink came out, leaving the color unchanged. In short, by dipping the stamps in this acid, and then in fresh water, they are made to appear quite new. M. Naquet has used several stamps thus renovated for letters to various friends, and they have not attracted the least notice at the Post Office. But now that the discovery has been made public, the Post authorities will have to adopt some more effectual means of defacing stamps.

Among the “ things not generally known,” must be classed the employment of many thousands of cats in the postal service of the United States. These cats are distributed over the different offices to protect the bags from being eaten by rats and mice, and the cost of providing for them is duly inscribed in the accounts. When a birth takes place, the local postmaster informs the district superintendent of the fact, and obtains an addition to his rations.

A St. Petersburgh correspondent says : “ The death of Skobeloff, alas I was due to the abuse of pleasures and excesses to which so many brave and ga’lant young Russians fall a prey. His doctors had warned him repeatedly against these sad temptations, but Skobeloff was not the man to curb a desire for fear of consequences. Ardent, passionate, eloquent, he led the orgies as he led the battle, and was the first in pleasure as in danger,

A woman named Catherine O'Connor recently set fire to a quantity of sulphur at a house in Wooloomooloo (N.S.W.) and while inhaling the fumes dropped to the ground. On being picked up she was found to be dead.

An American paper say -A subordinate of King George of the Tonga Islands, the Governor of Variari, who has authority over two thousand souls, lives in a splendid palace, is attended by liveried lackeys, wears an extravagant court costume, and has his table furnished with gold and silver. King George himself has a Parliament containing a Treasury Bench and an Opposition, and issued a proclamation o "strict neutrality” on the part of his twenty-five hundred subjects when the Franco-German war broke out.

The recent rains hare had a most beneficial effect upon the country, and farmers look forward to an abundant harvest, provided no nor’-westers come upon us. .

Mr George Green, of. the fi m of Johnstone and Green, butcher?, informs us that Mr Johnstone has gone away on business foFa few"'weeks, add "that”'during 'his absence, the butchering business will be carried on as visual.

Mr John Inglis of Christchurch, telegraphed to Inspector Broham, declining to prosecute Thomas Bush, who had surrendered to the police, charging himself with embezzlement. Bush was therefore discharged from custody.

Mr Mcßride, contractor for the erection of the monument to the memoiy of those who lost their lives at the late wrecks, has commenced operations on the site at the rear of the Post Office buildings. The pedimental stones are being dressed, and the order for the pillar, which is to be' of Aberdeen granite, has been sent Home. It is not probable that the monument will be ready for the unveiling ceremony for eight or nine months to come.

It is stated that the Duke of Hamilton is by no means in want of money, and that his only object in selling the contents of Hamilton Palace is to realise unprofitable property and to invest the proceeds in land. The noble Duke is now in -treaty for an estate in Lanarkshire, for, which he is to give something like £BO,OOO. As a residence, Hamilton Palace has no longer become tolerable, much less attractive, .in consequence of the growth of factories and population about it; but the Duke has two other, estates—viz., Broderick Castle, in the Island of Arran, and Easton Park, in Suffolk, which are amply supplied with costly and beautiful pictures, statuary, 'and other works' of aft.

I am sorry to say (writes the London correspondent of the “ Argus ”) that my friends the Salvationists -have begun to quarrel about watches. Just as it is not lawful for any officer in the Queen’s service to accept titles of honor without her leave, so General Booth does not allow “testimonials” to be offered to his officers. Three of them, however, have had gold watches given to them by grateful audiences, in acknowledgement of their distinguished “ services,” and they won’t give them up. They have not gone the length of saying they will sea the .General at Jericho (or farther) firsfc> but they have stuck to their watches. “ Yery gpod,” saya the General;you are for Time, l am for Eternity." . He has not put it in those words, beoausei he is not a humorist, but such are his sentiments ; and in the meantime, the watchkeepers have organised an opposition 11 campaign.”