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Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 3 May 1880, Page 2

We publish elsewhere the programme of the concert to be beld on Saturday evening next, in aid of the Church of England Fund. A number of new names appear upon the list, and upon the whole the bill of fare Is a yery attractive one. . < A committee of the Provisional Directors of the Low Level Tunnel Company canvassed the town- on Friday last for the purpose of ascei taining the amount of local support likely to be accorded to tbe undertaking, and we learn that they met with great success. A large number of shares were promptly taken up. The canvass wilt be continued and completed to-dny, and the balance of the shares will be offered outside the district. We also learn that letters have been received from prominent residents in Nelson and other places, who are largely interested in reefing here, promising substantial support to tbe undertaking. The date for closing applications has been fixed at tbe 10th instant, and there is no doubt whatever that by that time the company will be fairly floated; The County Engineer will leave for Maruia this morning-, for the purpose of setting men to work at the Cannibal Gorge to clear the track for the passage of stock. The work i will be performed by day labor. We publish to«day the annual balancesheet of the Inangahua County Council. The balance-sheet published in our last issue Wei for the half year ended 31st March last. The sum of £910 shown as having been received during tbe year from the General Government on account pf the Hospital, was merelj a refund of moneys previously advanced t< the institution by the Council. A number of sawyers, engaged, by the contractor to saw telegraph poles for the line bei tween Reefton and Lyell, have struck wori under circumstances that point a moral tc contractors generally. They engaged to oul timber at 14i per 100 ft, which is considerably above the current rate, but ascertaining fcubsequeutly that the contractor was bound rather closely at to time, they refused to gc to work at a less rate than 20s per 100 ft. S Whether tbe contractor has yielded we know mot, bnt the faot serves to show the kind of difficulties contractors have occasionally to deal with in distriots where labor is scarce, and there is no doubt Government would keep tbis fact fully in view when dealing with 'the question of penalties. That terrible scourge to stock owners, pleuropneumonia, appears to have obtained a strong hold in many cattle districts of the Colony, and hai naturally spread the gravest alarm amongst stcck breeders, The most vigorous efforts f>te being made to check the spread of disease. The last Government Gazette contains notifications of the appoint* meat of cattle boards and inspectors in the various stook districts of the colony, and evtry exertion is being used to discover and destroy infected animals. It is to be hoped that the proper steps will be taken to prevent the introduction of diseased oattle to the West Coast meat market. It is notified in the Government Gazette that twelve months protection of lease has been granted to the Inkerman Company, and two years protection to the Dauntless Com« pany. At the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the United Alpine Company held at Lyell on Friday |ist, the following were appointed directors for the current half-year \ —Messrs J. Fennell, If. Caoace, F. Feddergpn, M. Conradson, and H. J. Gorrie. At the meeting of directors of the Wel« come Company, held on Saturday last, tenders were opened for the varfous works in connection with the erection of the company's battery. The contract for the erection of paddocks was let to Mr Quigley for £107 j and that for construction of shoot to the same tenderer at 9s lld per fs#. The tender of D. Da vine was accepted for the construction of 40 chains of tramway at £4 10s. per chain, Tbe Post says : — In the present hard times it is gratifying to find the yield of the Auckland and Otago goldfields showing so marked an increase during the past quarter aa compared with the March quarter of 1879. 0e respnetive values of the gold exported from Auckland was £47,403 for the March quarter of 1880, as against £38,108 for that period ol 1879. The O^ gold exports displayed still greater improvement, being £131,400 as against £85,592. On the other hand there has been a large falling off on the West Coast, and a smaller decrease of the Nelson and Marlborough goldfields. The net increase fo? the whole colony was £20,711*. The ; teial value- of |h-e- go|d exported, from Nei«

Zealand up to the present date is £36,471, 58 *« .' «/ i The sixty-five municipalities in the colony have a total indebtedness of £1,175,000, with an annual booms of«,?70. T, ; e^" ' eight counties, in wbich'tbe whole of - Ih* i Counties Act, 1876," is to fc*e, h ** *" * indebtedness on March Ust. 1879, o WW with an income for the year 0f.£498,246. A singular affair lately happened at Leeston, Canterbury. About a week ago a reside at named M'lntyre all butfnurdered his wife, and was arrested in consequence. After , figuring before ,tbe r Bench he escaped firo^ . custody,and tlkpqjiqe bayef mce i beofi hunting' for him, Recently he returned for the purnn«fl of surrendering himself, but could find * WonT to TdoTßun up. The police are still looking for M'lntyre, and M'lntyre is looking for the police. *" His Honor Judge Kenny, of Hawke's Bay, > «tbe«<rtherHb-'y^l»^ ; appearance in unofficial costume, namely, without his wig and gown, but he stated that the Union Steamship Company were cjnyying^ thenfi^^^d|doj|nj|i*|e|ast. jA'A | | if* very* cruel aot was perpetrated on a horse belonging to a settler named William Arnold, of Waterview, Great North Boad, last week. Tbe horse was turned out on the run to graze, and a short time afterwards was found by his son wounded in the belly by some sharp instrument. The horse's track for a couple of hundred yards was marked with goats of blood, and when the wotrad was' examined it was found to be six inches long, and part of the intestines protruding. Mr Arnold, being confined to his home by sickness, was unable to prosecute the necessary inquiries. The miscreant, it ia to be feared, wil escape the penalty of his misdeeds, as Mr Arnold has since died, his last thoughts in his delirium, being abont the injuries inflicted on tbe poor brute. — N Z. Herald. The inhabitants of the Bordelais country , are prone to exaggeration, but one of them reoeatly metthis match. He was dining with a Japanese friend on tbe boulevard, and mushrooms came under discussion. •' la my country,' said the Bordelais, " the mushrooms uuder tbe trees are larger than these plates," What of4hat P'^xoj%med the Jap*... " In my country it is the trees that grow under tbe mushrooms.' Tbe Benalla Standard is responsible for tbe following !—" A severe reprimand was administered to a bank manager in this district the other day by his jnspector. The inspector, while Ojif hfst rounds,| cafled la at the f ba»k| aSct oeibre leaving took up a revolver^ which had been provided as a protection against tlie Kelly. Upon examination the inspector ' fonnd it to be unloaded, and immediately asked the reason wby the weapon was empty | in, , the Kelly » county,, t*. -The manager, after: a little hesitation/ replied that he had fired* off the sixehambers for practio.e but confessed that he did not know how to reload the 1 weapon. -he reprimand followed close upon ' the last admission."*,, trm! A.p,A ■?•-.■■ A man of eccentric habits, named Lyne (says the Bolton Evening Guardian), recently * died at Wigan. Feeling some time ago that r his dissolution was not far distant he walked 9 into an undertaker's shop and had himself measured for Im wooden* stjifc. $?he fjfßn' : wa§>rep^fl a^en^lisnej actgfaiifr fto * " his own instructions, and paid for down on r tbe nail, Lyne declining to be bnijed by the y parish authorities. This piece of furniture ' having been constructed according to the di- " rectioas of its yet living tenant, Lyne wrote r out his funeral caks|intfinatingi the * B0M& ' the date of his demise, and requesting the 1 attendance of his friends. Everything being * in readiness for hia death, the man quietly laid himself down and died. How he managed to die it is difficult to say, although 1 it is certain the.man If id no violent*handa on 1 himself, ¥ ' ■' x '