NEW ZEALAND. [BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2038, 30 July 1885, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND. [BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. Tiikrk waa a severe shock of earthquake shortly before eight on Sunday night. Services were proceeding in the churches, 1 and the congregations were considerably alarmed. At tho ;Cathedral, some 300 people immediately made for the door*, and the sermon, which had just been commenced by Archdeacon Dudley* - father, was concluded, and in about seven minutes the congregation dispersed. The shock w.is very heavy. St. John's roof creaked alarmingly, and portion! of the plaster fell from the sides. Two of the ladies were carried out fainting. It is stated that the organist, who vu just commencing the last hymn, left hit scat, and for a few seconds the whol* congregation was frightened. Reports from Riccartou and other districts state that the shock was one of the heaviest ever known, but no damage ia reported.

DUNEDIN, Wednesday. At the half-yearly meeting of th« Colonial Bank, the report and balance* sheet already telegraphed were adopted. The Chairman, Mr E. H. Cargill, thought the shareholders would be satisfied at the bank holding its own. The depression was not to be ascribed to anything peculiar to the country, but was limply the reflection of what existed ail over th« world. The alterations in the articles of 1 association were carried after a poll wa« taken, that for allowing re-election of directors without a year's interval by 845 to 192, and that for doing away with the limit of representation by proxies by 777 to 204. The profit and loss account of th« j Roslyn Pram Company shows a credit 1 balance of £363. No dividend is de« clared.

Mrs Wkldox ix Prisox.— Mrs WeN don's room in Holloway Gjol is, $, correspondent of an English paper writes, * veritable workshop of literary *nd legal projects, and on her reception days the gives audience to quite a crowd of faithnil '• ministers." One of these is a dramatic author, who is writing a play for her, in which she is to appear at the moment of her release. The funny thing is that a female warder has to be in attendance while all this is going on, aid that she enjoys it as much a* any of them. Now and then she is asked to listen to portions of the play, and though prison rules forbid her to gire a spoken opinion, she knows how to imply critical approval. The gaolers are charmed with their captive, and seem to look on the whole affair as a sort of holiday treat. Ax Oi'ex-Handfd Lawyer. — Mr r - James Day, a wealthy lawyer of Nttr York, reading a letter from a working boy in a newspaper, asking where he and his companions could go to play at ball, answered thp question by setting apart five and twenty acres of his estate on the A Hudson, accessible in twenty minutes, at^ a fivepenny fare by steamboat, and with j a spring of fresh water and a shady forest close by. He is going to erect a large tent for the use of the boys, to lay out a running track, and to put up swings in different parts of th« wood ; besides providing accommodation for football and basebnll players ; and all free of charge. It was a fortunate thing for the boys of New York that the lett»r of one of their number should hare fallen under what Macbeth calls, "tbt tender eye of pitiful day,"