The Southern Cross PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, March 10. General News

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 50, 10 March 1894, Page 8

The Southern Cross PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, March 10. General News

The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone resigned office on Saturday last. A number of interesting Friendly Society Notes are crowded out of this issue, and will appear next week.

Sir G. Grey has deckled to visit England He goes in the Gothic.

Mr J. K. Grant, late of Gore, has died in Dunedin after undergoing an operation for gangrene.

Funds are to be provided for a scientific expedition to the North Pole. R. M. Balltantyne, whoso novels have delighted thousands of boyish readers, died at Rome on the Bth ult. Sergeant Macdonell is on the warpath, and has asked for an inquiry into the allegation made in certain quarters that the police suppressed some medical evidence in the Thornbury case. Melbourne’s population shows a decrease of 46,000 souls since 1891. A good many of them have come this way. Carnegie, the great iron king, has been fined £28,000 by Uncle Sam for supplying defective armour to one of the U.S. warships. Mr Brewer, of the well-known firm of Brewer and Trembath, was elected Mayor of Gore on Monday last, scoring 172 votes to 83 recorded for his opponent, Mr W. B. Anderson. At the last meeting of the Invercargill Athenreum Committee it was suggested that the opening of the institution on Sunday evening as well as afternoon would be appreciated by a good many people. It is possible a motion on the subject may be tabled ere long. Drought in Queensland during the last two years is responsible for the loss of over 600,000 sheep. There is money in medicine. The New Zealand Drug Company show a net profit for the year of £7,090. They pay a dividend of 71 per cent., and carry forward £12,852. The much-talked-of street by-law has been passed by the Dunedin City Council. As several clergymen and others offered to test its validity by setting it at defiance, further developments may be looked for. According to the Pope Masonic and other secret societies arc at the bottom of the troubles afflicting the nations of the world. The promoter of the “ New Australia ’’ Utopia, Mr Lane, has had to assume dictatorial powers. “Do you what you can to dissuade anyone from following our very misguided footsteps,” is the latest message from the settlement. The Socialistic bubble has soon burst. So many anarchists have been arrested in Paris that prison accommodation has been exhausted. It has been elicited that many wealthy families have been paying anarchists to protect them from outrage. A farmer named McMurtrie (South Australia) has lost seven of his family, including his wife, from diphtheria, in five days. The able letter on “ Mining Enterprises,” published in these columns a few weeks ago, is reprinted in full in the current number of our Dunedin contemporary, the N.Z. Journal of Insurance, Mining and Finance. A miner at Ooolgardie went out to search for a friend who had been lost in the scrub, and found an 18oz. nugget. What do the Americans do with all their meat ? They sell what they can, and can what they can-not. At the second reading of stations at the Wesleyan Conference, the Rev. W. C. Oliver was named for Invercargill. Two hundred batteries of artillery are to be added to the Russian Army. For all that, Lord Dufferin says the Czar’s attitude towards India is friendly, and his continuance on the throne a guarantee of peace. The Sheffield City Council has taken what a Home paper describes as a bold step. It has decided by- 19 votes to 16 to have all betting and gambling news blotted out of the newspapers takea at the various free public libraries in the city.

The colony's fire brigades have been holding their annual conference at Napier. Invercargill was well represented. Captain Stewart, of the Invercargill Southern Brigade, is one of the new vice-presidents.

Under instructions from the Defence Department, the volunteers of the Oamaru, Dunedin, and Southland districts will move into camp in the vicinity of Dunedin during Easter —viz., from Thursday evening, 22nd March, till Monday evening, 26th March.

The Tapanui Courier reports a singular occurrence at Waikoikoi last Monday. A mob of sheep were placed in the saleyard, and while the driver was at tea a dog got amongst them and hustled the lot into a corner, with the result that 108 sheep were quickly smothered.

A girl of fifteen, named Margaret Concher, in jured herself while walking on the approach to the new jetty at Colac Bay on Sunday last, and died in the Riverton hospital the follow--ing Tuesday.

Behanzin, King of Dahomey, has given proof of his belief in a future state. When he decided to surrender to the British he told his mother his deceased father of his intention, and then had her beheaded.

Jabez Balfour, whose Liberator Society frauds wrecked many homes and drove some people to madness and suicide, says he has entire confidence in the justice of God !

Fie, ladies, fie! At a meeting of. the Woman’s Franchise Association in Brisbane a scene occurred, during which such epithets as “you cat!” and “ old maid|!” were ©kJ changed. The hopes of a free entry for colonial wool into the United States have been dashed, the Tariff Committee intending to impose a dutyof 15 per cent in order to pacify malcontent Democratic Senators.

The orthodox view of the inspiration of theBible has been so severely handled in the opening address of the Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly (held in Sydney) that one member denounced it as rank heresv.

Report has it that Lord Rosebery, whosucceeds Mr Gladstone as Prime Ministexof Britain, will marry the Duchess of Albany, widow of the late Prince Leopold. Lord Rosebery is a widower. His late wife was a member of the Rothschild family. “ December 29, in Liverpool, the wife of John Gladstones, Esquire, of a sou.” So stands it written in the year 1809, in which the ex-Prime Minister was born. It was only in 1835, when William Ewart was M.P. for .Newark, that the father dropped the “ s ” and became Gladstone.

The Sydney police were armed with re» volvers on Eeb. 18 —a grim tribute to the presence of the larrikin element in the city.

Some bakers in Broken Hill were latelyfined for selling light-weight bread, and now they have raised the price of the 21b loaf from 3d to 3*d.

An “ Anti-Humbug League ” is one of the latest institutions established in New South Wales. Its aim is to put political matters shipshape, and solve the unemployedproblem. An old man, who was found wandering in Melbourne, told a constable ho did not know who he was or where he was. Subsequently it was found that his name was James Leaver.

Sunday concerts arc to be stopped ia Sydney.

Napoleon Bonaparte has two royal successors on the Island of St. Helena—Dinizulu, the son and heir of Cetewayo, the late Zulu king, and Undabuko, brother of the same monarch. The climate compels them to wear a blanket or other heavy covering most of the time, and it is doubtful whether they will ever leave their island prison alive.

“Their tone is surprisingly meek.” So runs a cable message in reference to the late King Lobeuguela’s followers. Surprisingly meek, indeed ! And pray, what people, black or white, wouldn’t be, after losing their king: and seeing thousands of their fellows slaughtered in the course of a few weeks ? At the last meeting of the Southland Presbytery Mr McCaw, presently labouring in the mission charge of Oteramika, was appointed to the Forest Hill district.

News has been received of the death, at Hawthorn, Victoria, of the Eev. Mr Shaw, who ministered in the old North Hoad Wesleyan Church in the sixties.

The half-yearly meeting of the Invercargill district, 1.0.0. F., M.U., will be held on Wednesday next. The Shamrock, Eose, and Thistle Lodge will be represented by the following delegates : Bros. A. Carnahan, J. S. Goldie, P. Brass, and John Ward.

The Mataura Freezing works are kept in full swing ; no less than’Bso lambs and sheep have gone through recently in one day, and the difficulty has been to keep pace with the requirements of the Company. —Ensign. A carter named Neil Johnston was driving, a horse and dray through Sydney lately when the horse jibbed. Johnston took up a position on the ground on the near side of the horse, with the reins in his left hand and the whip in his right. In making a movement he stepped with his left foot on the thong of the whip, which was trailing on the ground. His right foot caught in the loop, and this caused him to trip and fall to the ground. Before he- could rise the near wheel of the cart passed over the upper part of his body. He exclaimed pieces; it was the whip that did it,” and died soon after.

An extraordinary incident lately occurred in Sydney harbour. A little girl of six, daughter *of the captain of the barque Kosciusko, and given to walking hr her s k e P> got out of her cabin in the night, walked down a steep gangway, unfastened the painter of the ship's boat, and drifted in it 600 or /00 yards, when the occupants of a police launch heard her wailing : ‘Takc me home to my mother,” and restored tue wanderer to her parents. i\f r A W Nicol resumes his shorthand classes next week. A knowledge of this art is becoming a factor of increasing importance in commercial education, and all young people with business careers in prospect would do well to avail themselves of the opportunity of acquiring it. Early this week the results of the University examinations were announced by cable. Among the local successes may be mentioned ■Messrs John Erskine and W. H. Clark, the U.A. degree. Misses W. B. Adamson and M. Perrin, and Mr L, Thomson are credited with passing the first section of the B.A. decree, while Mr Erskine, above named, also secured a senior scholarship in physics. The ordinarv meeting of the Southland County Council, held on Tuesday last, was attended by Mr T. Green (chairman) and Crs. Hast, Eraser, MeCallum, Hamilton, Dunlop and Ward. —It was decided to forward to the Governor notice of the Council’s objection to contribute one-third of the cost of erecting a trailic bridge over the Mataura at Gore, and to obtain signatures to a petition against its construction.—A number of applications for works in various parts ot the County were dealt with. The collector was instructed to sue for all outstanding rates.

Mr Scolluy’s fine cutter Eclipse, launched six weeks ago, foundered in a gale near Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island, on Monday last. Her crew of three escaped to Long Island, from which they were afterwards rescued. The vessel cost her owner nearly £SOO in cash, and nine months’ hard work. An effort will be made to float her.

Some interesting particulars regarding the career of a Queen of the Air in Britain appear in another column. At Auckland the other day a Miss Adair, an American parachutist, went up, but not high enough to enable her to descend on ker parachute. The balloon ultimately fell in Rangitoto channel, where the lady was picked up by a steamer. Mr Wilkinson and Miss Walker, two wellknown residents of Christchurch, were lately united in the bonds of matrimony. They are believers in dress reform, and were married in knickerbocker suits. With one exception, the other ladies and gentlemen forming the bridal party were similarly attired. The bride, well-known in scholastic circles, lived sit Wyndham some years ago.

Acceptances for tbe Irisli Athletic Society's sports on Wednesday next close on Saturday night. Entries for the various •vents, including the chopping and sawing contests, arc numerous, and a capital afternoon’s sport is assured. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings the Irish Dramatic Society will be in evidence at the Theatre lloyal with a stirring drama, entitled “ Peep o’ Day.” The handicaps for the Sheffield Handicap are advertised in this issue. The llailway Department also announce the issue of cheap excursion tickets in connection with the sports.

The growing importance of Wilson’s 3River goldfields is recognised by the Postal '’Department, the Chief Postmaster (Mr J. W. Wilkin) inviting alternate tenders in this issue for a fortnightl 7 and monthly steam mail service between Invercargill or Bluff and Cromarty, Preservation Inlet. Tenders will he received up till the 15th inst.

A splendid opportunity of visiting the glorious West Coast Sounds at a comparatively small cost in the way of money and time is afforded by the owners of the s.s. Invercargill. She is advertised, sufficient inducement offering, to leave the Bluff on Saturday night for the Sounds, returning on the following Thursday. During the interval the chief Sounds will be visited, including Milford, the magnificent, where 24 hours will be spent, giving visitors ample time to go ashore and visit Lake Ada and other places of interest. A visit will also be paid to Preservation Inlet, where the goldfields are situated. The charge has been fixed at the very moderate sum of L 5, and those who intend to make the trip require to lodge their names with the local agent, Mr A. B. Campbell, by noon of Monday.

The N.Z. Rifle Association meeting closed on Wednesday. The Southland representatives did well. Five members of the Southland Rifle Club took L 53 in prize-money. The championship was won by (Japt. Smith, of the Dunedin City Guards, with a score of 496, Mr W. Smith, of Invercargill, coming fourth with 472. Our Mr Smith annexes a trophy and Ll 5, and Mr McNab wins LlO.