NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 452, 25 November 1875, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Hank Holiday. —Tuesday, 30th instant, being St. Andrew’s Day, will be kept as a holiday by the various banks in Christchurch.

Heathcote Election. —Mr J. T. Fisher announces his intention of offering himself as a candidate for the Heathcote district at the general elections.

Telegraphic. —The Ringarooma is expected to leave Hokitika at 8 p.m.this day. Telegrams for the Australian colonies or Europe via Java cable will be received at the Telegraph office for transmission to Hokitika up till 7 p.m. this evening. Heavy Fleece. —A fleece weighing 18£lb was recently taken from a Lincoln ram, says the Timaru Herald, the property of Mr J. Henchman, of the Waterfalls, Opihi. The sheep was shorn on the 15th of November last, and as it was shorn previously on the 14th of November, 1874, the fleece was of twelve months growth. The animal, which was bred by Mr Johnston, of Dumfries, Scotland, was imported in March, 1874. Educational. Persons intending to come up for examination in January next for teachers’ certificates must send in their names to the Secretary for Education on or before the Ist of next month. Candidatss for first or second class certificates must specify in which of the optional subjects they desire to be examined, and if in Greek or Latin, to name the books they intend to offer.

Cricket, —The match on Saturday will be Town v Country, in which the sides are as follows : —Town : Messrs Corfe, Fuller, J. Fowler, Hislop, F. H. Moore, Nation, G. Turner, Taylor, Reeder, Mclntyre, Wilkinson, Wood ; Country ; Messrs Alpe, Dickinson, Dickson, E. Fowler, Harman, Monck, Ollivier, Neilson, Souter, Stevens, A. C. Wilson, Watson. The match will begin at two o’clock, and will be continued on following Saturdays until played out. Accident at Kaiapoi. —On Wednesday a spirited horse, attached to a spring cart, driven by Mr G. Edwards, Okair, bolted, and pitched him out on to the North road, near to Miss Morgan’s, into whose house he was conveyed in an insensible state, he having been stunned by falling violently on his head. Mr J. B. Fletcher, surgeon, was speedily in attendance, and as consciousness returned it was found that beyond a few abrasions of the skin, Mr Edwards was fortunately not seriously injured. The horse, with the vehicle, made its way over the swing bridge and down the North road, but was soon after brought to a standstill without doing any damage.

Inquest.— An inquest was held yesterday at the Hospital before J. W. S, Coward, Esq, coroner, on the body of George Philp Bullock, who was found drowned in the Avon the previous day. From the evidence it appeared that the body had been found by Mr Hall and Mr McCallum, landlord of the New Brighton Hotel, while bathing in the river about 11.30 a.m. that morning. The body was floating near the bank, face downwards, both arms extended, and hands closed. Information was at once sent to the depot, and Sergeant Pratt returned with the messenger, had deceased taken out of the water, and removed to the morgue. A young man named Wm. Walsh identified the body, and stated that deceased had been out of work for about three weeks, and was in a very despondent state of mind. He left his home on the 9th November, and had not been seen afterwards. The wife of the deceased was too ill to appear. The jury returned a verdict of “ Found drowned.” A Mystery membered that on Sunday, 7th instant, the body of a man was found floating in the Avon near the boat sheds by a party of young men who were pulling down the river, and that a man bearing the description of the deceased hud hired a boat from Mrs McConnell some ten days previous, the boat being afterwards found adrift near the Stanmore bridge. Nothing was known of the deceased, and no papers were found on the body which would give the slightest clue as to who he was. An open verdict was returned at the inquest, and since then the police have been making strenuous efforts to discover whether the unfortunate man had any relatives in the province. Their efforts have at last been rewarded, as yesterday a man named James Wallace recognised the clothes taken off the body as those belonging to and worn by his brother Robert, who left him at the Sefton station, on the North line, on the morning of 27th October, to come to Christchurch. His brother had £7 or £8 on him when he left, and he afterwards learnt that on his arrival in Christchurch he stayed at the Uncle Tom’s boarding-house. Deceased was a native of Ireland, and arrived in New Zealand by the ship Star of India, about the end of July last. Oamaru Breakwater.— The Guardian of November 22nd says:—“ The work of forming the breakwater at Oamaru is progressing satisfactorily. Already the massive structure has been carried out a considerable extent into the sea, and is found to afford a great amount of security to shipping. The breakwater is being formed of large boulders, and huge masses of concrete, many of the latter weighing as much as twenty tons. The whole work seems to be gone about in a systematic manner, and, when completed, the (breakwater will be one of the greatest triumphs of engineering skill to be found in the colony. From the massive natqre of the work, and the manner in which the various parts of it are put together, it wpuld seem impossible for any sea to destroy any portion of the breakwater. To the town of Oamaru this work is one of the utmost importance, and its completion is looked forward to with no small degree of pleasure, as it will be the means of affording a haven of safety to the large amount of shipping which now finds a profitable trade with the second town of Otago, as Oamaru has been fitly termed. Alongside the breakwater—and, as it were, forming a portion of it—is being constructed a commodious wharf, along which lines have been laid for the convenience of railway trucks conveying goods to and from vessels The wharf is also formed of concrete, and is a most substantial affair. When this great work was first spoken of, the people of Oamaru were accused of wishing to throw their money into the sea. Truly, they have thrown it into the sea to some purpose, for instead of passengers being compelled to land and embark, as foimerly, through the heavy surf on the ocean beach, with the certainty of a wetting and the possibility of something more serious, they are now able to do so from the wharf.”

Popular Amusement Association. —The adjourned meeting of this association will be held at the City Council Chambers tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, at four o’clock, for the purpose of arranging the programme and other details.

C.J.C.—A meeting of the committee was held last evening at Warner’s Hotel. There were present—Captain Clogstoun (chairman) Dr Prins, Messrs Wynn Williams, and E. G. Griffith. It was decided that Mr Wynn Williams’s name be added to the sub-com-mittee for preparing a set of regulations for the general management of affairs on the course. A letter was read from the secretary of the Ashburton Jockey Club in reference to fixing dates for the various country meetings, and suggesting that the Ashburton meeting should be arranged to come off between the Ist and the 14th of February. The secretary was instructed to reply to the effect that the time mentioned appeared very suitable, but that it was impossible to make any definite airangements for country meetings until information had been received from Dunedin with respect to the dates for country meetings in Otago, Mr Griffith and the secretary were appointed to communicate with the country clubs in reference to the dates for the various meetings. It was decided that Mr Griffith should act as chairman of the committee during the temporary absence of Captain Clogstoun, and also that during the treasurer’s absence the chairman should be empowered to sign cheques on behalf of the Club. Mr Warner’s offer of a room in the Commercial Hotel for the use of the Jockey Club was accepted. Some routine business was then transacted, after which the meeting adjourned.

Immigration to New Zealand.—The New Zealand Times publishes the following letter from Mr Holloway, dated Wootton, England, August 16th, and addressed to the Under-Secretary for Immigration :—“ Of course you are aware that I am engaged by the Government to lecture upon emigration to New Zealand. lam visiting the various counties, and by lectures and other means doing all I can to promote emigration to the colony of New Zealand. We are not receiving so many applications just now, in consequence of the harvest and of the abundance of work there is just now ; but from all I can hear and learn, as soon as the harvest is secured we shall be receiving a great number of applications for New Zealand. The numerous encouraging letters coming home to England by every mail to persons having friends in the colony, and who speak in the highest terms with regard to the prosperity of the colony, are exerting a great influence upon the minds of those they have left behind in England, and will undoubtedly influence manymore to emigrate to that good land. Of course there are some few disappointed individuals in New Zealand as well as other countries, and occasionally we receive a letter from some of these ne’er-to-do-well gentlemen, giving a very gloomy prospect of the colony to intending emigrants, and doing all they can to hinder emigration to the colony. We have had a Mr McPherson, who styles himself president of the Working Men’s Association in Canterbury, over here lecturing in different places against emigration to New Zealand. Of course his name is well known to you ; and 1 need not say that his meetings here have been of a very uproarious character, as you wdl see from a report of one of his meetings which was sent to a Mr J. G. S. Grant, in Dunedin. This Mr Grant has seen fit to publish a letter in the Banbury Guardian, in which he corroborates Mr McPherson’s statements in a very great degree with regard to the prospects of the colony, giving a very woeful description of the manner in which the emigrants are treated at the barracks; he attempts to show that the emigrants get demoralised out there: and he also denounces the existing Government in no very measured terms, as you will see from two papers which I have forwarded to you by this mail, one of which contains his letter corroborating McPherson’s statements; also another letter which he wrote to the Scotch papers, entitled ‘ A Voice of Warning to New Zealand.’ You will see in his letter that he speaks very ungentlemanly with regard to my own visit to New Zealand, to which I have replied in the other paper I have enclosed. Of course these men do a large amount of harm to the cause of emigration, simply because they get so many to believe them, instead of paying attention to the many encouraging accounts which are constantly reaching England from sober, industrious, persevering individuals. I just mention these facts to show that we have something to baffle with here in advocating the cause of emigration ; but we have no cause for fear in the long run. There are too many of the right class in the colony who are doing well, and whose testimony to the prosperity of the colony will counteract the injury and harm which the above gentlemen seek to do to the colony.”

The American papers announce the death of Dr Winslow Lewis, at Boston, aged seventy-six years. Dr Lewis was reputed one of the most skilful surgeons in the United States, having studied under Dupuytren in Paris, and Abernethy in London, and practised with success in Boston. He served several times in the Legislature of Massachusetts, was for some time President of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, and was twice Grand Master of the Masons of Massachusetts.