Local & General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6090, 21 November 1887, Page 3

Local & General.

Lawn Tennis. — The unfortunate rainfall on Friday left the Rangiora courts in such a wet state on Saturday that the Club's opening day had to be postponed to Wednesday next, Nov, 23, and the match with the Merivaie Club, which was to have taken place on Saturday afternoon, was also postponed to some future date. Bishop Geimes. — The Reception Committee have, we learn, reason to be pleased with the subscriptions for the necessary expenses which have come in from Christchurch and the surrounding districts, viz., Shand's Track, Leeston, Southbridge, Lyttelton, Rangiora^ Oxford, Kaiapoi, &c. As something more is required the Committee reminds those whose subscriptions are not yet paid that the time is getting near. Theatkk Royal.— There was a capital house atthe Theatre Royal on Saturday night to witness- the performance of "Alone in London" by the Bland Holt Company. The play was rendered with a thorough, appreciation of tho many stirring dramatic incidents of the plot, while the humorous incidents given to some ,of the characters lost nothing in the hands of the ladies and gentlemen who filled the parts. " Alone in London "isto be played again to-night and to-morrow, after which it will be positively withdrawn, to make room for the sensational drama "Taken from Life." Ctclinc— The run of the Christchurch Bicycle Club on Saturday last round Heathcote Valley and Murray-Aynsley's Hill, under charge of Captain Andrews, was fairly well attended, and was enjoyed by all. The weather was all that could be desired, and the roads, except in parts where metal had been laid, were very good. The run was remarkable for one j cyclist running into a hedge rather than take a header going down the hill, and i another tried the depth of a hole on the | roadside, neither experiment resulting seriously. Heathcote Political Debating Society. — The first meeting of the above Society was held in the liower Heathcote library on Tuesday last, Mr M'Diarmid in the chair. There was a good attendance. Mr Tanner read a. very interesting paper on the land laws of Ireland, which was listened to with marked attention, and was loudly applauded on concluding. After several speakers had spoken on the subject the Chairman intimated that the next meeting would be held on Dec. 12, when Mr Beer had kindly promised to read a paper. After a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Tanner and the Chairman the meeting terminated. The Recent Accident. — A meeting of the employees of the D.I.C. was held on Friday evening for the purpose of showing their practical sympathy to one of theii number, Thomas Spanjer, whose family, through a most painful gun accident on Friday, Nov. 11 (necessitating amputation of the right leg), has temporarily lost the means of livelihood. It was pointed out that, through late unfortunate circumstances, it was necessary to do something at once, and as several gentlemen outside had expressed a wish to donate, a subscription list was opened, and the support of all present willingly promised. The Working Men's Club (of which Mr Spanjer was an active member) are arranging for a monster dramatic performance, which effort wiil be supplemented by the above : and this opportunity is taken to inforn the public, whose help will be gratefullj acknowledged, that a subscription list nov lies at the offices of the Drapery Importing Company for the purpose. The Manage] iand Secretary were appointed to receivi donations and wpoxt to a future meeting.

1.0.0. F., M.U.-— A special meeting of the J Ashley District was held at the Oddfellows' Hall, Eangiora, on Saturday, commencing at 9.30^ a.m,, for the purpose of j revising the district rules. Delegates were present from all the Lodges in the district. A Musical Discovebt. — Eduard Kremser, the choir-master of the Vienna Musical Association, has discovered at Engelsberg some compositions of Franz Schubert and the composer Engelberg, which have been hitherto unknown, lie found four pieces written by Schubert himself, with the date " Wahring, July, 182t>," two of them previously unknown. One has the title, "Hail, Bacchus," the other " Hippolytus." One of the others was an earlier setting of Shakspere's "Hark, hark, the lark at Heaven's gate sings." A Dastardly Action. — A telegram to the London Baihj Chronicle from Allaha- j bad says that a dastardly attempt had been made, by some porsons unknown, to poison the _ men of the Borderers Eegiment, stationed at Fatehgarh, by mixing arsenic in the cask-beer consumed by tbe regiment. Forty of the men, after drinking the doctored beer, were seized with the usual j symptoms attending arsenic poisoning, although, fortunately none of the cases proved fatal. An exactly similar attempt was recently made at Agra. Fbbnch* Exoticism. — We have become (■says Le Petit Monitcur) the prey of the English, the German, the Yankee, the Spaniard, thfe Italian, and UUU quanti. Most of all, however, it appearß that the British yoke is pressing French society. To wit: "A brutal shake-hand (!) has replaced our former elegant way of kissing a lady's rosy fingers. The quadrille, so I convenient for the exchange of spirited talk, is replaced hy boorish Boston, a sort of dance more suitable for kangaroos than for our graceful Parisian ladies. If we look at our dress and ab our language we find the same state of things. Before long our great boulevards will be nothing but atrocious caricatures of Eegent street or of Fifth avenue. Look afc these young men. Are they Frenchmen, or are they not ratber stable-lads in their Sunday garments ? And where are they going ? To the five o'clock tea of a society lady. Tho five o'clock tea has existed at all times, only formerly it was called Ie gov.lcr, and pretty women used to fly at it with fruits or light pastry. Now England has quickly put her heavy paw on the graceful custom, and at theso orgies of English tea, ham sandwiches, ruoflms (!), pudding, gengember-pie (!), &c, aro swallowed down, and our Bordeaux has I given way to chemical compositions known a3 cok (!) tail and sherry gobler (!). "VVc have no longer any cafes ; they have become taverns, bars, and musik (!) halls." The Russian Peasantiiy and the Eclipse. — A singular story is furnished by the Nouoc Vrcmya in connection with the recent total eclipse. When Professor MendelaiefP was descending in his military balloon near Moscow, several peasants ran out of the village of Ozerkoff with guns to shoot, as they described it, "the evil beast that had darkened the face of the sun." But luckily for the Professor, the balloon passed them, and came down some considerable distance off. Hore four men, including two merchants, were locked up for showing a violent inclination to tear the balloon to pieces. The local policeman, who tried to reason with them, was pulled from his horse and dragged along the ground. An astronomer who was stationed at one of the observation points on the Volga says that the terror caused among the common people by the eclipse was very great. There was a general fear among them that the world was coming to an end. This idea was strengthened by the curious coincidence that, on the previous Sunday the part of the Gospel appointed to be read in the churches happened to be the twentyfourth chapter of Matthew, in wliich occurs the prediction that the sun shall be darkened and the stars shall fall from the heavens. The force of this passage was further intensified among thepeasautry by a remarkable fall of aerolites within ten days after the eclipse in several places in the Province of Perm. Austkalian Naval Defence. — A valuable letter upon the subject of Australian naval defence has (writes our London correspondent) been forwarded from Brisbane to the Times by Lord Brassey, who does not disguise his belief that the Australian squadron, even when reinforced by the proposed auxiliary fleet which the Colonies have undertaken to maintain, will still be inadequate to protect the vast British interests which have been created in the Southern Ocean. The additional ships which he thinks should be stationed in Australasian waters can, he considers, be provided by a judicious redistribution of the vessels on foreign stations. He would I abolish the separate command on the southeast coast of America, by extending the duties of the North-American and training squadrons, he would reduce the strength of the Pacific squadron, and re-arrange the work of the East India squadron. In view of the recent additions to the Russian fleet in the Pacific, Lord Brassey holds it to be the clear duty of the Admiralty to strengthen the Australian squadron. The attention of the Press has been so concentrated upon Irish topics that no comments i have appeared upon Lord Brassey 's scheme, j excepting in the St James' Gazette, which regards his suggestions as very sensible and not extravagant. It, however, points out that, in estimating the danger to Australia from the presence in the North Pacific of a strong Eussian force, he has not allowed for the China squadron, whose main duty is to watch and combat the operations of Russian cruisers. One of the sensations of the day in Berlin is a chimney-sweep, who was overheard singing whilo pursuing liis sooty calling by a member of the Philharmonic | orchestra. He was so enchanted by the exquisite sweetness of the sweep's voice that he sought him out, took him nexfc day to tho Director of the Society, who immediately arranged for the musical education of the sable prodigy, who has suddenly become famous.