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Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 29 March 1880, Page 2

A meeting will beheia at M'Gaffln's Hotel at 8 o'clock this evening re tbe I>ow Level Tunnel Company. To-day being Easter Monday, will no douM be kept as a general holiday by the various business places, public offices and banks. The childrens' pic-nio in Smith's paddock will no doubt attract many Tisitors, and the enjoyment of the occasion will be much heightened by the presence of the Black's Point Band, the members of which have kindly given their valuable services. As the funds for the pic-nic are chiefly driven from private sources, and all children in the district are cordially invited to the gathering, any additional contributions from our business men in the way of sweetmeats will no doubt be a we'come supplement to tlie juvenile store. The trustees of th 9 Reeton cemetery (the members of the County Council) have, we are pleased to learn, decided to expend a considerable sum in improving the aspect of the enclosure. The whole of the area is to be cleared and sown in English grass ; ornamental trees and shrubs will be placed along the fence and at the corners of the principal crossings, and many other improvements will be effected, which cannot but add greatly to tbe appearance of tbe site. We elsewhere publish the Engineer's Eeport >cad at the last meeting of the Inangahua County Counoil. It contains come interesting information re the Maruia stock road, and points conclusively to tbe fact that ere long that route will be extensively used at a meaps of supplying the meat market of tbe West Coast lIU Lordsb'p, the Bishop of Wellington, ; ;j .-t:. ■ '.'-.'■ n;:'.^-'- of 'r.<-....- c !J ? „; i • "-.-.-. ■ \y; '/.ii- r. utp.'.:i y E -.'W^ r^ii "•, /■ ■;, I- i; ;[-vr-:..! v/ 111 oa ao=? i about rr^-rs. ! Sr|i.-j it: C-f JC ?t. O 1 " bit :;4Jfitfif>B .'3 f v h" r^ OU- i

a number of Catholic priests to meet the rapidly increasing calls of the diocese. His Lordship will also bring out a number of highly qualified teachers for the better control of Catholic schools in the large cities. During Bishop Redwood's absence, the affairs of the diocese will be administered by the Rev. Father Garin. A marriage ceremony * will be^ performed at the Catholic Chapel at » quarter past 9 o'clock this morning, immediately after which a procession of children will be formed to the pic»nic. The members of the Black's Point band hare very iindly given their services to head the procession to and from the ground. All children in the district are invited to take part in the pic-nic. Ou the ground a variety of sports and amusements will be provided, and should the weather hold fine, of which there is every present prospect, a very enjoyable day will no doubt be spect. Although a sum approaching to £100 had been subscribed for the purpose of holding a two Jays race meeting on Monday next, the proposal has, at the eleventh hour, been allowed to fall through. The reason is that although the race committee felt confident of being able to present a very tempting pro» gramme yet the time of the year is inopportune, the day not falling upon any proclaimed holiday, which of itself would no i doubt militate greatly against the attendance of the public. The season, moreover, is vtry uncertain and the days short, >o that the risk of success, in a pecuniary sense, would be great. Upon the whole, we think the committee acted very wisely. The amount subscribed, ad^ed to the contributions of Christmas next will enable the Jockey Club to put forth a splendid programme for De« cember, and thus ensure a really first-class meeting. The Pacific Christian Advocate, of the 15th February, publishes the following vivid description of a pitched battle which occurred on a recent Sunday in a Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, betwoenthe partizans of the Rev. Mr Woodsitie and those of the Rev. Mr Clyde : — " The battle raged with great fierceness. Many eyes were blackened and many noses much damaged. One elder had his head laid open with a poker, and one or two arms are said to have been broken. The female members of the congregation encouraged the combatants with loud shouts and a lively fusilade of bibles and psalmbooks was kept up by the skirmishers in the back pews. Finally the. police were called in, and the combatants ' parted, when the fighting ceased. It was really a drawn battle, although the Woodside party claimed that if the police had not arrived the victory would have been theirs,' The writer criticises the management of the fight,. and Says that ' the large 15-inch Bible mounted on the pulpit would have done tremendous execution if it had been skillfully projected on the heads of the elders near the pulpit stairs ;' and also that the foot-stools in the pews were neglected or ov< looked entirely. The Wanganui race meeting according to all accounts was a financial success. The club are, however, not likely to repeat the 1000 so vs. Cup, although it is their present intention to give quite as much, if not owe added money next year. Much, comment having been excited by the big money being lumped on to one race, it '"a anticipated that on the next anniversary it will be divided, and £500 given to a handicap on each day of the meeting. , Visitors who have returned from the : -races say that the alterations and improvements recently made have rendered the Wanganui course the best appointed in New Zealand. Madame Carlotta Patti has received quite an ovation at the hands of the musioal peo pie of Sydney. The local papers speak of her first performance with enthusiasm. ' Marvellous,' says one critic, ' is t'>e only word to describle the effect she produces ; dashing off roulades with a rich fulness in the lower notes, a most delicate piano instantly changing to a powevhx] forte arid vice versa, a shake which in quality and tone is perfect and ever varying, and in quality almost interminable echo bits and fairy-like phrases which are startling in their very delicacy.' We should have called this panegyric rather than criticism. The performance muat be a great one of which the half of all this could be said with perfect truthfulness. An American editor writes : — We have tried the! Bogadus kicker, we have kept a kicking mule in our room, we've used bulldogs and kept Bhot guns, and still people who have nothing else to do will come when we are busy and insist on having us stop work and Meten to them * blow their horns' for an hour or two at a stretch. We have invented a chair which is a Buccess. It is made of iron, screwed to the floor near to our desk, and the seat is so arranged with steel springs that it • lets co ' every ten minutes a'ter it is wound up. One winding will let her go three or four times, and it has the power of a three year old mule ; no matter who sits on it, when it goes off it lifts 'em and flies back to its harmless position It went through its first operation yesterday. A little chap with side whi-kers, from Cinninnati, came in to talk to us. He took his seat in ' our choir ,' and commenced telling us about our " flings' at the swillhouse below his native city. We wrote away, while we knew ' things was working." His ten minutes was up. Flip ! the machine acted, and he was flung light through space, say i 5 yards of it. into a freacle tub kept kindly at some distanoe to gentle receive our visitor. He came out, ran down the street, but the little boys were after him, and insisted upon "licking" him, which we in our mildness, and in another cense, had refrained from doing. The •• Chiel " in Bell's Life, referring to a suggestion made by the Globe, that the third class target used in rifle fhooting should be of the same size and shape as an infantry soldier kneeling • the secon^-dnss target the fk'nco of an infantry soldier stamlin» ; the '• ■ ' •■ ■ : •' :"."■'"■ ■::'.' : ■;••'.—; "- 1 "■'• »■ ■ ■■-<■ : f '. ■ - •••-■■ ■■■• ut ;,■■-. -„' ■:. tij ■ „,:

sportsman. They are guggestive of no warlike idea, and yet I suppose the object of training men to be marksmen is not that they may win cups in time of peace, but that they ' may prove efficient soldiers in time of war. To the mari who has never fired at anything except a square white target, with a black square in the middle of it, a human being must be altogether a puzzling object to aim at, hence- the ludicrous expenditure of ammunition in a battle in proporlion to the result of tbe killed and wounded. In the late Zulu war, when our men were blazing at closely packed masse? of savages, the execution done was really by no means great, when you take into consideration the wonderful combination of rapidity and precision in the fire of the modern breech-loader.