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Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 29 June 1881, Page 2

The tickets in tbe Jacques arfrunion are going off so well that the drawing is positively fixed for Saturday week. It appears that the snow-fall on Saturday last was much heavier in Grey mouth than it was in Rfeeftdn, and snow -balling was freely indulged in. Mr W. B. Robertson, who has filled the position of manager of the National Bank, ! Reefton, for the; past twelve 1 moflths, leaves by coach for Greymouth on Friday morning next, en route for Invercargill, there to assume the management of the National Bunk. Mr Kobertson succeeded to the management < of the Bank here at a time when, owing to great commercial depression, the difficulty and responsibilities of the position were of no ordinary kind, and it is nQt too much to say that few men could have bridged the period with equal advantage to the institution, or with greater regard for the interests of the constituents of the bank generally. Mr Lewis will succeed Mr Kobertson as manager here, and Mr Allen Broad will return as ac oountant. Mr John Tannery, we observe by a Vies torian paper, has been negotiating for the purchase of a rock-boring machine. Mr Trennery is now in Dunedin, and is expected here in the course of next week* Mr Richardson, tailor, tbe contractor for supplying the new uniforms for the members of the Reefton Fire Brigade, has all but completed his contract, and the costumes are now on view at his shop, Broadway. They are being made to measure, of stout blue 89rge, with scarlet facings, and present a very dressy appearance, alike credirable to the corps and the contractor. It has been suggested that some demonstration, such as a ball for instance, should be held to " inaugurate " the donning of the uniforms, and thus afford the public an opportunity to manifest their appreciation of tbe disinterested exertions of this useful organisation. Smith and Barkley announce that they are now showing new and fashionable stock of winter drapery. The advertisement will appear in our next. It is not time (asks ' Iron ') that some uniform measurement were introduced in the metal trade; At present the vagaries of a ' ton ' are most amusing. Thus ; a smelter's ton of copper ore is 21cwt., and weighs 23521 b., the manufactured copper being sold t 24401 b. to the toa. Coke for a run out & . ... . . . .....

fire is bought 20001 b. to tjje ton. A ton of pig iron for a forgo is 226|1b.. blooms being sold at 24611 b. to the ton| and 27001 b. constituting a ton of refined metal. Coals on the American continent are Bought at 22401 b. to the ton. and retailed! at to the ton. In England they are alw'ayg bought and sold at 22401 b , except at Newcastle, where they are shipped by the chaldron of3ocwt.of 33801 b., and Newcastle coals are to-day so bought and sold in Quebec, Canada. "Wonld it not be best to adopt the bo Called metfeton (of 1000 kilogrammes) of tfie European Continent ? But then this Would inevitably lead to the final adoption of the decimal system, against the introduction of which, notwithstanding its great advantages, we are at present struggling with all our might. The 28th May was a red letter day at Picton. The first shipment of coal taking place from Mr Fell's mine. The coal 60 tons in quantity, was token |dn board the Eawea to give it a trial. : ; At the conclusion oflhe Tararua enquiry at Dunedin the Magistrate said that the Hflmane Society's medal would not be too\ great an honor to confer, %n both Lawrence and James Maher, the £wo men deliberately plunging into the hea% surf running .and jeopardising thei^jliveß^^fy, ; aEd save their , fellow castaways. -*j '.-:. -3?^mS^ji r * ■ ~ ' "* THe Sjm Ffanc^cdf Illus- ; trative of the value of the New Zsaland and Australian markets to American manus facturers, we were, informed by the general agent for tbe Peering heavesters and twine binders, who arrived by the Zealandia, that he cold last season fifty odd machines in Syd* ney and Melbourne, and 186 in New Zealand. In his opinion, New Zealand takes hold of an American invention much quicker than Australia does.' The race between Albert White, of Auckland, and W. Hearn, of Wellington, for £200 and the sculling championship of the colony, is now definitely fixed for the 9th July, Mr E. 0. Batkin having received a telegram from Mr Thomas Henderson, of Auckland, stating that, with one exception, White had agreed to Hearn's alterations in the terms of the agreement. We. (New Zealand Times) understand that the match will come off at three o'clock in the afternoon, and besides the principal event, there will be a four-oared race between the .Town and Civil Service, and a handicap ecuUer's race, open to all comers. Spofforth is not only a good cricketer, but is also a first-class short-distance runner. At the last Sydney Amateur Athletic meeting the event of greatest interest was the 100 yards flat, which resulted in a dead heat between Spofforth and Bush who gained upon him considerably during the* fart twenty yards. It was thought that in the run off Bush would easily dispose of the ' demon ' bat Spofforth again got away at the start and succeeded in putting in the first fifty a gap of at least two yards between himself and his opponent, which he kept till the finish, wins ning easily in lOf sees. The Vienna papers say tbat the Princess Dolgourouki, the morganatic wife of the late Czar, arrived in Vienna from St Petersburg on Wednesday morning, March 16, and wont on the same day with her three children to Italy. The express train takes 59| hours to traverse the interval between Vienna and St Petersburg, and it was therefore calculated that the Princess must have left St PetersbußS* by the 5.30 afternoon express on Sunday, two hours after her husband's death. She no doubt availed herself of the general confusion to quit the Winter Palace unnoticed, and traversed Bussia under a false name. Her fear was lest she would be put into a convent and separated from her children. Her future is sufficiently assured there being over £6,000,000 sterling lodged to her credit in a Berlin Bank. The last deposit of £1,200,000 was lodged in the bank only three weeks before the Czar's terrible death. In the largest library in the World, in Paria may be found a Chinese chart of the heavens, made about 600 years before Christ. In this chart 1460 stars are found to be correctly inserted as Corroborated by the scientists of the present day. The Otago Daily Times says :— ' As regards the nature of tbe Government insurance risks, that office has effected large and extensive insurances on the class df hotelkeepers in the colony. Tbe largest and oldest Australian Company, after a fair trial, hds for some years past reft^ed to insure this class at all. This shows a certain: recklessness on the part of the Government, and it is probable the same want of prudence exists in other directions.' This class of tradesmen find it very difficult in the United Kingdom to insure their lives at all, the principal offices refusing to take such risks on any term?. The most deadly trades are proved to be less fatal to those engaged in them than the occupation of retailing intoxicating liquors. I was talking the other day (says the author of London Town Talk in the Melbourne Argus) to one who knows more about such matters than he cares to tell, and put the question — * Granting your wrongs, why are you a Nihilist P Why do you not demand your rights P ' He answered :• We can demand nothing \ we are forbidden to speak ; the only means by which we can demand a hearing is by dynamite.' • But if you got what you wanted, would that be anarchy P ' Yes ; that is to say, it would be anarchy to begin with. There is nothing in Bussian administration that is not rotten to the core ; nothing that admits of mending. It must all go to pieces, and from nothing we must start anew.' This is not very hopeful, but it is at least intelligible and, us it seems to me, a notable contribution towards Understanding the whole subject. Tbe impression I gathered from this gentleman's talk (which now and than curdled my blood more than Wilkie Collins ever did) was that if the new Emperor manifested a strong desire to right matter?, so far as in him lay, his life would be spared. He was even so good as to imply that a little law would be giyen him — time to make up bis mind one way or the other, but that if he decided on repressive measured he was a doomed man.