NEWS OF THE DAY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3018, 29 November 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

There is a great scarcity of station and farm hands in Hawke’s Bay.

Mr Graves Aicken has been elected Chairman of the Auckland Haibnr Board.

Mr T. Howley, Clerk of Court, has been sworn in as Deputy-Sheriff for the district. A son of H. Lane, of Bussell, (Auckland) aged live years, fell off a rock into the sea, and was drowned.

The Shamrock Hotel, in Timaru, was put up to auction yesterday in Dunedin, and was passed in at £O4OO.

A public meeting rtt Harbor Board Loan will be held in the Barnard street hall this evening, commencing at 8 o'clock.

Mr Robinson, R.M., of Oamaru, will sit in Timaru every second Tuesday, during the absence, on sick leave, ■of Mr J. Beswick, R.M.

The trustee has concluded an agreement with the Ngatimanikikai tribe for the lease of 2400 acres of their land in the neighborhood of Hawera.

The Otago Harbor Bond employes have formed a league and have asked Mr H. S. Fish, M.H.U., to be their president. Being a member of the Board he has declined.

The DuncdinCity Council have presented Constable D .vyer with a Maltese cross for his gallantry in saving Mrs Kitchener, at the late fatal fire in Cumberland street.

A Mrs MoVicker, in Dunedin, out her throat with a carving knife yesterday, it is believed not fatally. She had been suffering from asthma, and had threatened to drown herself.

A man named Perrin has been fined £2 in Christchurch for pulling down fire alarm placards from the telegraph poles, He was drunk, and imagined himself in charge of the poles.

Mr and Mrs S. C, Phillips, of the gaol, Lyttelton, have been presented with handsome testimonials from the officers of the prison, on the eve of their transfer to Dunedin.

The Scottish societies of Southland will to-morrow, St. Andrew’s Day, banquet Archibald Forbes, and give him a Scottish welcome to the colony. He lands among the Scotchmen at the right moment. A law has recently been passed in California, enabling j uries to stipulate in returning a verdict of guilty of murder, that the punishment shall be imprisonment for life. This abolishes capital punishment to all intents and purposes. Raymond Davis, a seaman, shipped at Auckland on the Hotmione for Loudon, cashed his advance note of .£6, and disappeared. Ha was arrested at the Thames goldfields, fined £4, and sent to his ship. He refused to work, and was brought up again, and sent to gaol for two months with hard labor.

Daring a native Tand dispute which Mr McKay was arranging to settle with the aid of the leading chiefs, one of the native women set fire to a weatherboard house on the disputed tract. Mr McKay interfered and had the fire put out. The lady, it seems, has been guilty of incendiarism before.

The Waimate Borough Council resolved, at their meeting on Monday evening—- “ That this Council now make a rate o£ le in the £ on the rateable value shown on the existing valuation list for the current year, such rate to be for the period com. mencing on the ‘27th day of November, 1882, and ending on the iUst day of March, 1883, and that the same shall be payable in one sum at the Town Clerk’s office on the 7th day of December, 1882, It is stated in an American paper that George Francis Train, who lost his wits when he failed to make his fortune by providing London with tramways, has fallen, at length, into a most pitiable state. He sits all day on a bench in Broadway, New York, as harmless as a dove, surrounded by children, to whom he gives candy. He wear’s no hat, he is bronzed from exposure, and his hair is white. He will apeak to none but children, and is expecting that all New York will turn out presently to visit him every day. The b’outh Canterbury Caledonian Society mot last evening, Mr D. Maclean, President, in the chair. It was decided to hold the sports on the old show ground, The following special prizes were promised. Mr Mcßcth a medal for Highland Fling, Mr Meiklo one for greatest number of points in running, Mr Ligertwond one for putting the stone, Mr Maclean one for bagpipe muric, Messrs Bower and Fergusson one for strathspeys and reels, Mr Macbean one for sword dance, it was decided to ask the Fire Brigade to join in the proproceedings, and to sell the gates as usual-

j The Post Office clock has been set in full working or er again by Mr Littlejohn. The quarterly meeting of the Revels Licensing Committee will be held at the Resident Magistrates’ Court, Timaru, on Wednesday, December 0. A meeting of the South Canterbury Teachers’ Institute, will be held on Saturday next at the usual place, The chief business will bo the appointment of delegates to attend the proposed conference in Christchurch, The Eeeftou people a/c still protesting against the exclusion of the West Coast route from the consideration of the Oom-iai-:don. The first boat of the direct steam service between New Zealand and Great Britain, will leave England and New Zealand respectively, iu July and October next. Child’s cabinet and turnery works at Nelson have been almost entirely destroyed. The building was insured in the Norwich Union office for £2OO, the stock was uninsured.

Mr C. While, manager of the Wellington Building Society and the Albion Gold Mining Company, is believed to have slipped away quietly by the Frisco mail boat. Levanting is a fashionable New Zealand pastime. Mr J.L. Hall, thecomedian, has received his discharge from the Bankruptcy Court, and it is understood that he and Mrs Hall go to Sydney to take leading parts in a Christmas pantomine, under engagement to Mr Williamson.

At the land sales opening at Gisborne yesterday, about 500 persons were present. 7000 acres of the Ponama block were sold at an average per acre, of £2 2s Gd. Others fetched £ls per acre. For most of the laud there were no biddings.

Mr Adam Hassall, son of Mr Hassall of Oamaru, fell over a cliff at Napier, 300 feet high. His body was discovered yesterday when the tide came in. He is a brother of Dr Hassall. Resident Surgeon at the Timaru Hospital. The Dunedin Carnival is a great success, and the Costume Cricket Match, fixed for Saturday, is likely to interfere with the success of the races. The Jockey Club have remonstrated, but the Carnivalists will not make, any alteration of their arrangements.

The Board of Education will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, December 6, instead of Wednesday. This postponement is consequent upon Mr Hammond being officially engaged al Waimate on that day.

The Auckland—Oamaru cricket match was finished last night. The Auckland team had a one innings victory, with 77 runs to spare, 'the total score was Auckland, first innings 232 ; Oamaru, first innings 88; second innings 67. Total 155,

Hugh Hamilton, aged 32, employed at Archibald Clarke and Company’s, at Auckland, returned home early yesterday morning, and entering his bedroom, fell against the bedstead fracturing his skull. He was found unconscious in his room at daylight, and died during the forenoon. He leaves a wife and three children.

The polling on the question of the loan for drainage works was being taken to-day, It had not closed when we went to press, but judging by the opinions expressed during the day we imagine the proposal would not be carried. The polling for four representatives on the High School Board was also taken to-day at the Town Hall.

A number of gentlemen met at the Grosvenor Hotel last evening make arrangements p or Mr Archibald Forbes delivering a lecture in Timaru on his way north. The drawback of a suitable hall was discussed, and it was ultimately resolved “ That Messrs C. Bourn, E. Stansell, E. GL Kerr, D. Maclean, and A. St G. Hamersley bo a Committee to make arrangements with Mr A. Forbes’ agent for a lecture by Mr Forbes while in Timaru, and endeavor to secure a suitable hall for the lecture.”

A case of great hardship came before the police Court, Dunedin, yesterday. A woman named Montagu sued her husband for £lO due on an order for her maintenance. She had four children, and £l6O was due to her upon the order. She was now unable to work to support her children. Her husband had been living,with another woman by whom he had four children. The Magistrate adjourned the case for a fortnight, telling the husband that if he did not pay then he would be sent to gaol for six months.