LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 201, 20 November 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Geraldine Primitive Methodist Church. Tiie anniversary services in connection w.ilh the Primitive Methodist Church'were held on Sunday, Nov. 9. The Rev. Mr Dmiioell, of Timaru, preached two eloquent sermons during the day, and was listened to with rapt attention. On the 10th a lea meeting was held in the church, hut there was a very scant attendance. The meeting was presided over by Dr Fish, of Geraldine, and in his opening speech made a great hit. The Secretary presented his report, which siiowed that the receipts (with a deficit of £1 2s Id) amounted to £45 12s ltd. A well selected choir gave some sacred music during the evening, and added greatly to the interest of the entertainment. Regatta at Timaru.—lt has been resolved to hold a regatta in the Timaru roadstead on December 17. Pleasant Point. — A., meeting of the Schpol Committee was held in the schoolroom on the 15th inst. Present—Messrs McDonald, Jackson, Halstead, Alton, Greig and Butler, (Chairman). A letter was read from the .Board of Education, enclosing a petition from householders, asking for a re-investigation, &c., in the case of Henry Henri, pupil teacher. The petition was laid before the meeting, and the Chairman was instructed to add a \foot note showing that out of the 41 names on (he petition there were 22 who had no children attending the school. In re the same it was unanimously resolved that the Cl airman inform the Board of Education that the Committee having reconsidered the matter they distinctly refuse to re-open the case in any shape or form. The quarterly attendance returns of the public schools in South Canterbury was laid before the meeting. Vouchers for salaries fur the past month and Ll 3 10s for incidental expenditure was also reported. From the Board, in le the examination in standards which will be held on the 18th and 19th insts. From the Church of England Tea and Concert Committee, requesting a half holiday for the school on the 27th inst. After considering the matter the request was granted. Several accounts were passed for payment, and the proceedings terminated.

Great Fire in America.— A great fire lias taken place at Titusville, in America, by which five tanks, containing 85,00' barrels of oil, have been burned. The fare was caused by lightning on Aug 13, and on Aug. 17 the flames had. not been extinguished. The third tank caught fire on the morning of Aug. 16 and burst with terrific force, the concussion shattering every pane of glass on River Avinue, and knocking several people senseless. The burning oil rushed into the river, and it became a sheet of flame. The greatest consternation prevailed, every one fleeing to the bills for safety. The wind suddenly changing, the town was saved. A Dog’s Suicide.- —At Lowell, fMass., recently, a large . Newfoundland dog was acting in an unaccountable manner on the margin of a small pond He seemed to wish to approach the water, but at the same time held back by a dread of it. He apparently suffered, also, from spasms, during which he would leap high in the air and then writhe in agony. While a policeman went in search of a weapon to kill the animal and end his misery, the dog jumped into the pond, in spite of his evident aversion to water, walked twenty or thirty feet from the bank toward the middle, and there deliberately drowned himself. The First Baby in California —lt was on the 4th July, and Downieville celebrated it. |The ,stars and stripes floated from a peeled and lofty pine, and the chorus of the anvil had re-echoed through the hills. The house was crowded with the miners ; poet, reader and orator had performed their parts, and the recently organised band was giving in boisterous resonance some National Anthem, when, suddenly, there burst out the feeble wail of an infant ; first low, then swelling out in all the defiant strength of his baby lungs. The band put forth its loudest strains ; the baby incited to renewed exertions, redoubled its vigour. It was nip and tuck between the band and the baby. The young mother did her best to divert the child and hush him, when, from the audience, there up rose a brawny miner, and shaking his fist at the musicians, ho cried—- “ Hush that blamed band, and give the baby a chance !” The band stopped its playing, and never did stalwart men listen to sweeter music than those exiles from home and women, as they drank in the tones of the wailing child. There were tears in .many an eye. The child was hushed upon its mother’s breast, and at the word there , went up three rousing cheers for the first baby of the Northern Sierras. A New Telegraphic Invention.— Professor Klinkerfnes, the Director of the Observatory at Gottingen, has patented a new telegraphic invention by which it is said to be possible to send as many as eight messages simultaneously along the same wire. A portion of the inventior. is an apparatus which simultaneously writes down all the messages as they arrive at the station to which they are addressed. Looking for a Man.— A gentleman in search of a man to do some work, met on his way a lady not as young as she once was asked her, “ Can you tell me where I can find a man 1 ” “No, 1 cannot,” she replied, “for I have been looking these twenty years for one myself.” Intemperance. Cardinal Manning, speaking at a Catholic temperance meeting in Liverpool on the Ist September, said that in Manchester, Liverpool (and Teetotal League of the Cross numbered 50,000 of the soberest men in England, Drunkenness was affecting our factory hand to such an extent that Americans who visited England to study the labour question declared that the factory labour of 'America was more efficient than that of England, in consequence of intemperance among English factory operates..

A Pertinacious Petitioner. —The pertinacity' with which a man with a grievance will plead his cause is .veil instanced in the case of Thomas Butler,the late keeper of the Nelson Luantic Asylum. Three years age, Butler brought charges of “-immorality .against the surgeon and matron of the Asylum. These charges were heard by the Deputy Superintendent, an executive of the and Butlfer was dismissed, though with six mouth’s salary Butler appealed to the Superintendent (who was absent when the inquiry was hold), but that gentleman refused to interfere. Abolition occu dug soon after he appealed to the General Government, who declined to revise the decision of the Provincal Execuitve. In 1877, he petitioned the House of Representatives, and further inquiry was made. A Royal Commission was issued to Dr Skae and District Judge Broad, who after hearing Butler by counsel, pronounced the charge a wilful and malicious falsehood. Last year, Butler again petitioned the House, buttlio Public Petitions Committee refused to entertain the question. Then he petitioned the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who of course refused to interfere. Previously to this he had petitioned the Marquis of Normanby, and bad written so many letters to the Colonial Secretary, that that gentleman at length refused to answer them. On the arrival of Sir Hercules Robinson, Butler petitioned him, enclosing also a petition of the House. List month, Mr Acton Adams asked the; Colonial Secretary whether the Govern- 1 inent contemplated reinstating Butler, and the Hon. Mr Hall, after recapitulating the above facts, said they did not intend to do so. Victoria Religion.— The following incident occurred in a church notathousand miles from Lydiard street, Ballarat, a Sunday or two ago. An observant young man noticed that the two well-dressed members of the softer sex, sitting in the pew immediately in front of him, were very devout during the service, and seeing one of them lean towards the other at the conclusion of the service, he leant towards both of them, expecting the one whose motion he bad observed would gush fortli anent the beauties of the sermon. He heard the following ;—“ Say, have you you r collection money V “I have a threepenny bit.” “Well, suppose we keep our money for beer—we can pray when the plate is corning round.” “ All right.” And the observant young man noticed that they prayed. Born Without Eyes.— A child at Dover, South Mills, Me., now eight years old, was born without eyes. He has eyebrows and eyelids, but there is nothing which indicates the presence of eyeballs, and doctors say that he has nothing whatever in the nature of an eye organism. The little fellow is an unusually bright boy. He has never been heard to utter a word of complaint at his condition, and he invariably rebukes his friends iFthey give expression to any pitying words. That he appreciates, however, the misfortune that afflicts him is shown by this fact ; His little niece had a cataract upon her eye, and he heard fears expressed lest it should destroy her sight. It was not long after this that his mother heard his voice in an adjoining room, and, going quietly to the door, she was surprised to hear him pray-ing to God that the little baby might not become blind. A New Theory. —The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine has started a new theory on the subject of the distress existing in the Home Country. It says ; “The deart ■ of food is thought to have been brought about to some extent by the teetotallers,who make up for intemperance in drink by intemperance in diet. To watch these gentleman at work on 'bread, fruit, vegetables, and meat is certainly the sure way to be astonished. They" are proud, too, of their powers, not having yet recognised the principle of temperance in all things, or that by stowing away a pound of beef at a meal they are simply taking their own share and some one else’s at once. If we have a million or more acting daily on this increased consumption of food principle it will make a very vast diffeience in the supply of the nation and the cost of provisions, and we have a perfect right to ask them to be moderate in all things, and to beg and intreat of them not to eat as though they were troubled with worms.” The reasoning is plausible, but peculiarly feminine. No allowance is made for the saving of grain, potatoes, &c., that would be required to produce alcoholic beverages for the halfmillion water-drinkers.