GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 315, 24 December 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

The leading Dunedin residents suggest the erection of a Town Hall and a Supreme Court in " one building," somewhere near the cud of Dowling street. >

" Honor to whom honor is due " seems to be Dunedin's motto. A banquet will he held on the sth January in honor of the Premier. Larrikinisji prevails at Palmeraton.

TnE success of Mrs Bladen Neil's silk-worm growing experiment has exceeded the most sanguine expectations.

In Oamaru, some of the footpaths are about fifteen feet wide, portions of which, to the extent of four feet in width, have undergone the asphalting process.

The Mat*ura Bench of Justices lately fined the landlord of the Pyramid Hotel £2 for permitting drunkenness in his Hotel.

Neably four millions of money are invested in manufacturing enterprises in Victoria, and gives regular employment to about 23,000 persons.

The Auckland Joixrneymen Bakers' Association have formed a cricket clnb among themselves.

The ''Thames Advertiser" says it is confidently expected that nearly £13,000 will be paid in dividends on that field during the present month. On Monday night, a fire broke out in Dunedin in the shop of Mr Nicholl, boot maker. The interior was much injured. *

The cost of widening a certain portion of Vrinces-treet Dunedin is put down at £10,000.

The Dunedin Artillery, on Saturday, commenced the shooting season at the Anderson's Bay Range with a series of handicap matches open to members of the Company only. Nearly 900 persons may be expected to arrive in Southland within a very short time as the result of nominations at the Invercargill office. " Labourers wanted !" seems to be a general cry throughout the province. At Waimate, in Canterbury, 75 acres of Government bush realised £29 4s 9d per acre.

The twelfth annual show of the Taieri Agricultural and Pastoral Association takes place on the 26th inst.

Mr. Delapielt), the great brewer, lost nearly £80,000 as lessee of the Royal Italian Opera in two seasons. The Kakanui Meat Preserving"' Company, employ 160 men, and cure 500 sheep a day. The Thames Catholics lately contributed £800 for Catholic schools.

Seveeal New Zealand natives received ordination at the hands of the Archbishop ,of Canterbury at Croydon. The sermon was preached by Bishop Suter flate of Nelson). The value of land at New York is, nearly 50 per ceinfhiglier than that of land in London.

Me. Raworth, Ihe New Zealand artist, Art Unions a number of his pictures at Sydney in a week or so, and thereafter intends to use his brush solely upon Australian scenery. The Nelson Exhibition Commissioners disposed of 'a.barrel of beer by Art union. The trustees of the Hokitika Museum have insured a moa skeleton for £300,

Mariners, tempted by " Railway wages'" are daily leaving vessels. The ilokitika gas works will cost £6500. One ram's fleece, in the Poverty Bay district, weighed about 201bs.

Ma. Vincent Pyre, P.G.M., officiated at the recent installation ceremony of the officers of the Masonic Fraternity at Clyde. Messrs . Hazlett, Simpson, and Mackay went lately to Blacks to select a block for settlement. Skotion 20 of tlie Otago Licensing Ordinance, 18G5, provides that if there shall not be a quorum present at the usual quarterly meeting, any Resident Magistrate usually holding a Court within the licensing district, or a Justice of the Peace who attended at the place of meeting, shall signify to the Superintendent that no meeting was held, and "it shall then be lawful " for him to act in lieu of the Justice.

Thk salaiy of the school-master of the Tokomairiro grammar school, is increased from £275 (the remuneration hitherto) to £300, with several advantages in the way of house, glebe, &c. At Waimataite there is a field of 25 acres of oats, six feet in height, giving promise of a yield of fully 70 bushels to the acre. Thk foundation atone of tho new Wakatip Grammar School will be laid on the 19th. i irisfrmt. ! Wa>*ga>ti larrikins will, in future, bo whipped. The Canterbury " Press " says t — " We understand that Mr. A. A. Fanthan has sold three calves, varying from one week old to one month, to Mr. D. Grant, of the West ' Taieri, for £50. The calves were two bulls and one heifer, the former being out of Lady I>on and Afoss Rose, the latter out of Venus." The Kohinoor claim, at Redman's, Boss district, is yielding splendid returns. Last week work was suspended for three days but the other throe days' work gave thirty ounces of gold. A bill has been passed removing a doubt t previously existing as to the inability of the { Sovereign to bequeath landed estates to the ' heir apparent ; during a keen discussion, Mr. < Gladstone strongly denied the truth, of the j prevalent ideas of the Queen's enormous J wealth. i

Mr. Whalley is indignant the restrictions placed around the advocacy of the " claimant's " cause in England, and repairs to America to appeal for pecimisiry help.

"With tlie opening of the new Post-office building in Sh Afurtin's-le-Grnml an addition will be made to existing facilities for the distribution of telegrams by pneumatic tubes. Few persons are aware to what an extent this very ingenious contrivance is at present adopted. All country telegrams arc received at Telegraph-street. From this central station tubes extend eastward to Fcnchurch-street and westward to Chnring-cross ; and between those points, together with more than a dozen intermodmte stations, " carriers " — that is, little cylinders of gutta pcrcba enclosed in felt — arc flying all day long with, written telegrams inside them. Some idea may bo formed ofthe numbers of these missives from the fact that two of the stations interchange one thousand five hundred a day. They are propelled by a force of compressed air bcliiud them, while iv front a vacuum is created, the condensing and rarifving being performed by engines of nearly forty-horse power. The transit between Telegraph-street and Fen-church-street, a distance of nine hundred and eighty yards, is achieved in less than fifty seconds. These tubes, therefore, not only accomplish a great deal of work which would otherwise have to be performed by men or boys, but, greatly facilitate tho prompt delivery of telegram.*. Tho operations in connection with the new building will bo much more extensive. Instead of forty-horse power engines there will bo one hundred and fifty-horse power at disposal, while the tubes now in course of construction, or actually laid into the building represent a distance of nearly eighteen milos. An improvement in the apparatus employed has rendered it possible to send the carriers one after the other in rapid succession, whereas hitherto only ono at a time could be despatched in any section of the line. When the transfer to tbe new premises has been mad*-, the public will naturally expect that, wilh ample room and greatly improved facilities, the authorities will considerably reduce the charges for telegrams. It is satisfactory to note that the new system of " duplex " telegraphy— which, by means, of a new condenser, splits the current of electricity and enables the operator to send the messages through, the cables in contrary directions at the same moment— has been successfully organised by the Eastern Telegraph Company. A ccording to the periodical circular of Mr. William Abbott, the able and accomplishedelectrician of that company have surmounted all difficulties, and proved that perfect applicability of the system to submarine telegraphy by practically adapting it to the section oi the cables between Lisbon and Gibraltar (eleven hundred and twenty miles) and Malta and Alexandria (nine hundred and fifty miles). As soon as the nefiessary implements can be obtained, the electricians fully expect to be able to apply the system also, successfully to the longer sections between Malta and Gibraltar (eleven hundred and twenty miles), between Suez and Aden (fourteen hundred and fifty miles), and between Aden and Bombay (eighteen hundred and twenty miles). It is impossible to overrate the importance of these improvements, for when perfected they practically at once double the carrying capacity of all existing submarine cables, a fact which must have a considerable influence upon their value as paying investments, besides rendering it probable that the present high rates for messages will be materially reduced.

TnE prize distribution of tho girls' High School, Dunodin, toolc place on tlie 16fch inst. Among those* present were fclioHon. W. H. Reynolds, Dr. Stuar* (Vice Chancellor of tic

University) the Rev. Dr. Eoseby, the Speaker of the Provincial Council, and other leading citizens. During the last quarter, the number on the roll has been 137, the. average for the year 126. Thia school is "high" in teaching power, as well a 9 in title — science lessons have been taught by lectures, illustrated by diagrams on the black board, and specimens which the girls could handle and examine for themselves. Each girl takes notes, and the class is frequently examiued on these notes. The pupils -n-ko score 75 per cent of the required marks, get an honor certificate from tho Board of Education. Competitors for tho dux plare must qualify in all. Programmes of the work for the year were posted in the suhool-rooms at the commencement of the session, ' so that the girls knew what they had to work for, The following languages arc taught, English. French, Latin, and tho general instruction includes almost every accomplishment which is taught in the highest English Ladies' Academies. Mrs. Burn on the prize day made a statement from which the abovo epitome is extracted. The Premier (the lion; Julius Yogel) addressed the successful pupils. As each of the prize-winners received her | gifts she was greeted with a buzz of applause, which swelled into quite a burst when the twoyoung lady medallists carried off their honors. The youngjadies who took pmes for gymi nasties and calisthenics caused considerable merriment among some of the pupils."' Mr. Yogel said : I think Mrs. Bum may fairly congratukte herself upon the success which has attended this institution, which is not only a credit to Otago, but to the whole of New Zealand. It is the only institution of tho kind in these colonies. I. lived for many years in Dnncdin, and profess to have a pretty accurate knowledge of it ; but since I was here it has grown greatly, and I must express my surprise at the immense change which has taken place in that time, especially in reference to thisinstitution, and the dimensions to which j it has grown. There can be no doubt that it has been highly successful. lam one of thoso disciples of John Stuart Mill who bclievo in the right of tho female sex to< exercise tbo franchise. (Applause.) Mr. Pope who hasbeen during the closing year exclusively do- i voted to the girls High School received a handsome gift from his classes, and MrYogel handed Mrs. Burn a magnificent bonquet. The proceedings were brought to a close by tho girls singing the i Anthem. I

FIVK cases of silvor coin arrived pov Calloi* Ou.

TnE " Times" says that tho Dunedin jetties are unadequato for the efficient unloading of owing to tho great increase of trade at the port. TnE Dunstan R.M. Court is hourly annoyed by the sound of passing vehicles, which drown* tho voice of justice.

A NEW export goods shed, measuring 200 feet by 50, is commenced at Invcreargill.

Ix a recent letter to Messrs. Chappie, Glass, White, and others, Mr. Bastings, Secretary for Works and Goldfields, stated that tho Government should endeavor to get the Ida Valley Block surve-V'ed and thrown open for selection by the Ist of February.

We may remind parents that the births of children may be registered without fee within 62 days, the day of birth inclusive, or, subsequently, to a date not exceeding six montns after the diite of birth on payment of a fee of 10s 6d. After this, registration cannot be made, and parents are liable to a penalty of £10, summarily recoverable, and a recent circular gives instructions to registrars to rigidly enforce the penalty.

The rector of the Oamaru Grammar School gave £15 out of his own pocket for school prizes

At the Clyde Oovernment School there are seventy-two scholars on the roll, and the average attendance was over sixty.

A large family hotel is in course of erection at Akaroa to accommodate the increasing number of tourists from Dunedin, who spend a portion of tho summer there in the enjoyment of its " lovely climate, beautiful sconery, good batlnng, boating, and fishing."

In Cantrburye there are now 7095 children attending State-aided schools the average daily attendance being 4915.

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