TOWN & COUNTRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 642, 13 June 1884, Page 15

TOWN & COUNTRY.

Mr S. Danks has been appointed Prison Visitor at the Mount Cook Gaol.

The resignation by Mr S. H. Cox of his appointment as an Inspector of Mines is gazetted. Tbe Hon. W. W. Johnston has resigned his seat in the Executive Council, and the acceptance of his resignation is gazetted. Dynamite has' again made its presence felt in Spain. This week’s cablegrams inform us that an explosion has occurred at Barcelona, resulting in the death of one man and serious injury to buildings in the neighborhood of the explosions. Very little evidence was taken at the St. John’s Church inquiry last week to induce the belief that the suspected person — John Windsor — had any connection with the fire. One witness swore that on the Sunday morning previous to the conflagration he saw Windsor jump over the fence from the church yard, and two others said they had frequently seen him loitering about the locality at unseasonable hours. Windsor, however, was equally positive that on the Wednesday night he slept at Wadestown. Detective Chrystal, who had been engaged in the case, was subjected to a severe cross-examination by Mr James Petherick — who, by the way, appeared to be in splendid form — as to the owners and occdpiers of certain houses around tbe neighborhood ; but, notwithstanding the vigilance and energy of the foreman, nothing new was revealed. The practice which is in vogue in the Resident Magistrate’s Court, of compelling suitors in civil actions to procure fee stamps, is no doubt correct and strictly in accordance with law. The Court officers are, hhwever, public *** servants, and therefore it may reasonably be expected that merchants and traders who have business in the Court should be treated at any rate as buyers of goods—i.e., stamps—and that every facility should be afforded for the disposal of stamps. Such is not the case with regard to the procuration of fee stamps in the Resident Magistrate’s Court in this city. Suitors, ignorant of the Stamp Act, hang about Court for hours, and at last are curtly informed that they must obtain a stamp before their case is heard. This state of things might be easily remedied by a few pounds’ worth of stamps being entrusted to either the clerical staff of the Resident Magistrate’s Court or else to the bailiff, for disposal to the public. Mr S. H. Cox, F.G.S. and F.C.S., was a passenger by the Wakatipu for Sydney last Friday. Mr Cox, who has for the last ten years been in the geological service of tbe New Zealand Government, has been appointed as an instructor in geology, mining, and mineralogy at the Sydney Technical College. This college was established in October last, and has taken over the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts. It is supported by a Government vote, and follows out the principles laid down by the City of London Guild, its object being to improve the technical knowledge of workmen by teaching the scientific principles underlying their handicraft. The fees are fixed at a very low rate and large reductions are made for apprentices and those attending more than one lecture, in order to enable every artizan to obtain some scientific knowledge. The affairs of the college are managed, by a board, of which Mr Edward Combes, C.M.G., M.L.A., is the president. The subjects entrusted to Mr Cox are amongst the most important ones taught at the institution. The Oamarn correspondent of the Otago Daily Times telegraphs to that paper : Several fires of graiu stacks which occurred lately were attended by circumstances that pointed so fairly to incendiarism as their cause that in one instance the New Zealand Insurance Company offered a reward of £IOO for the detection of the fire-raiser. The police inquiry led to something mere than a strong suspicion that several of the stacks were wilfully set on fire by a Prussian named Mullendorf, and he was traced by the (police to Tokomairiro, and thence, to the Nuggets Lighthouse, where he was arrested. It was then found that the man was a lunatic suffering from religious mania, with a strong desire to burn the earth, and a particularly stronglymarked antipathy to grain stacks and threshing machines. It was consequently deemed advisable to place him under restraint, and he was committed to the Dunedin Lunatie Asylum. After his arrest Mullendorf admitted having fired a grain stack near Oamaru.

The London Comic Opera Company made their final appearance last night week, at the Theatre Royal, on the occasion of the benefit of Mr DunniDg, the manager of the company. The house was well filled throughout, and the benefit to the management should therefore be a substantial one. The opera chosen was “Blue Beard,” which, as presented last evening, may be characterised as one of the most successful efforts of the company. The libretto is well and wittily written, whilst the musical portions are tuneful and most taking. Tbe songs are well set, and all of them came within the range of the members of the company. The plot is rather slender, and differs materially from the old story of “ Blue Beard,’’ who in the opera is a kind of modern masher. He is a beau of the first water, and his horrible crimes do not appear as formidable when perpetrated by him. As a matter of fact, the uxorious Blue Beard, it turns out, is not a murderer after all, as at the termination of the piece his six wives, all of them, put in an appearance. He is a polygamist, and nothing: more. Mr Wentworth, as the debased ! courtier Popolani, was immense, whether his acting or singing was concerned, and the same made be said of Mr K. Aston as Blue Beard, in which character he displayed an amount of versatility in bis acting with which hitherto h& had not been credited. Mr Appleby and Miss Stanley were, as usual, highly successful in the impersonations of the king and queen. M. Loredan was evidently suffering from indisposition,, and no doubt requires rest. The piece was well mounted, and was admirably dressed. Now that the company have left us, it may not be out of place to again observe that the orchestra, which is under the guidance of Herr Juncker, is one of the most capable and painstaking which has ever visited this city, and each individual member of the band may be characterised as being a thorough master o£\ his profession. The company left for Napier on Friday last, where, en route for Auckland, they will play a short season. That Husband of Mine is three times the man he was before he began using “ Well’s Health Renewer.” Druggists. New Zealand Drug Company, General Agents. %

We are requested to state that Lady Jervoiwill be “at home ” to receive visitors at Government House on Tuesdays, from 4 to 5 p.m. We are glad to be informed that steps are being taken to provide a place in which the telephone at the Heads will be easily accessible day and night. A small building is befog erected for it. Store sheep must be getting very scarce now, or else thi3 is a wonderful winter for gras3 in the Wairarapa ; for wherever one goes, the cry is, “ Have you any stores for sale.’

Hews from Melbourne, dated last Monday, telegraphed to the Sydney Morning Herald, states that it now appears that the patient who wa3 supposed to be suffering from smallpox has shown symptoms which lead the attendant medical men to believe that the case is not one of small-pox. Messrs Warburton and Co. report the following Reefton returns of amalgam for the past week :—Keep-! t-Dark, 3280zs from 160 tons ; Welcome, 7980zs from 70 tons ; Inglewood, 1420zs from 79 tons ; Globe, 65ozs from 4 days’ crushing ; Fiery Cross, 1550zs from 5 days’ crushing. On Monday a vehicle, in which were two occupants, came into collision with the wooden uprights of the water-tanks opposite the Rost Office. The men were thrown out, and one of them sustained a fractured finger. The horse got out of the sffair scathlsss, but the trap was considerably damaged.

A subscription list in aid of the family of Walter RobinsoD, who was accidentally killed at Johnsonville on the 17th April last, leaving a wife and three young children in destitute circumstances, has been opened. Contributions will be received by Mrs Myers, Willisstreet; Mr Holliday, Lambton-quay ; and at the office of the New Zealand Times. A fire broke out at about a quarter to 8 Tuesday evening in a shed belonging to Mr A. McDonald, situated in a lane off Willis-street, opposite the Melbourne Hotel. Some shavings left in front of the fireplace caught fire, but were speedily extinguished with a few buckets of water by a man named Dennis living next door. No damage was done. The recent discovery of silver on the borders of South Australia and New South Wales appears to prove of considerable importance. The deposits in the Barrier Ranges are, according to the Australasian, turning out to be of an ■exceedingly rich nature. In the Lakes Camp District ores of sulphide of silver have yielded assays as high as 22,0000zs of silver to the ton. Fresh finds are of daily occurrence, and, bo far, the yie'ds are reported to exceed those of the celebrated Nevada silver mines.

During session time there is invariably an accession to the Maori population of the capital. On Monday a rather distinguished native party arrived in town ; it being composed of Wahanui and Bfcaff, the latter consistxngof eight Maoris,including three women. The party visited the Government Buildings during the day, and attracted considerable attention as they walked along the beach. Wahanui •was the centre of attraction, and although, perhaps, not so tall as several of those natives who accompany him, looks every inch a chief. What might otherwise have proved a most calamitous accident was happily, and very pluckily averted on Monday morning by the prompt action or Constable Carroll in , seizing a runaway horse attached to a dray in 'Cuba-street. The animal became frightened whilst standing opposite a shop, and bolted towards town, and it was not till the terrified horse had reached the Royal Oak Hotel, that his career was stopped by the officer in question. This is not the first time that the constable in question has risked his life in a similiar way.

A big yield of gold is reported from the Thames, where, according to the Advertiser, three large specimen stones, which have been the cynosure of visitors to the Prince Imperial office for several months, were crushed recently, and gave the magnificent return of 50z3 gold to the pound avoirdupois, The collective weight of the rocks was exactly 201 b?, and the total yield retorted gold. They have been acknowledged to be the richest stone ever obtained from the mine, and their value is enhanced by the fact that they were broken about 420 feet below the sea level in the slopes on No. 2 reef. No stone of' equal richness has ever been obtained in a similar depth in any part of this or any other goldfield in the colony.

The offer of work made by the Government recently in response to an appeal from the Mayor of Dunedin on behalf of the unemployed in that city, has been taken advantage of only to a limited extent, although the sum offered was increased to 4s 6d per day. The Star, in a paragraph about the unemployed aa y ß Only two men applied for the stonebreaking work which was offered the unem. ployed by the City Corporation this (Wednesday morning). Sixteen men applied for work at the Mosgiel quarry, and have received orders to go by ballast train at 6 55 to-morrow morning. The Government have raised the wacres to 4a 6d ; and there have been twentyone* orders issued. The applicants at the Immigration Office to-day seemed to be more amenable to reason than they were yesterday, and are satisfied with the terms on which they commence work, which it is to be hoped will be only temporary.

The Melbourne Age has the following reference to the melancholy occurrence which happened during the last passage of the steamer Ringarooma from New Zealand to Melbourne. The Riagarooma arrived at an early hour yesterday morning, and reported that shortly after 11 ofolock the previous day a steerage passenger named Edgar Bastings, a brother of a member of the firm of Bastings, Laery, and Co., of Dunedin, New Zealand, was seen to walk aft and seat himself on the taffrail. He then waved bis hat frantically in the air, and after cheering,jumped into the sea. On the cry being raised of a man overboard, the engines were reversed, a boat was lowered, and the body recovered. It was found lying face downwards at some distance astern, and in less than sixteen minutes from the time that Bastings jumped overboard the vessel was going ahead again at full speed. Every attempt. was made to resuscitate the body, but without avail. On arrival at Wilhamstown deceased’s effects were handed over to tne immigration officer. The deceased was fortyeight years of age, and resided near Dunedin. He is said to have been suffering from melancholia, and was voj aging to Victoria for the benefit of his health.

Two boys named Epps were passengers by the Waihora from Napier on Sunday on their way to the Burnham Industrial School. They were taken to the police station for the night.

In the Supreme Court sitting on the matrimonial and divorce side, a petition has been filed by Mrs Grey, nee Jane Mary Stainslaus O’Kearne, for a nullity of her marriage with James Gratten Grey. The suit will come on for hearing at the next sittings of the Divorce Court, Mr E. Shaw being retained for the petitioner.

From latest Australian files, we learn that a case of what is supposed to be smallpox, has made its appearance in Melbourne. At the time the mail left Sydney, it was a matter of dispute between medical men, according to the Morning Herald, as to whether the case was one of smallpox or chickenpox, but in the meantime the patient was being kept strictly isolated. It would appear that there is a very slender chance of Dr. Pollen attending the session of Parliament this year. In the Legislative Council last Friday Mr Chamberlain said that before be left Auckland Dr. Pollen informed him that he thought he would not be able to attend Parliament during the present session.

. Extraordinary geographical mistakes are frequently enough made in England, but still it might be expected that the secretary of a learned society such as the Victoria Institute and Philosophical Society of Great Britain would know better than to forward a communication. as he did lately, to “ Fiji, Polyneeia, New Zealand.’’

The maxim “practice what you preach” has not been adhered to by Mr Parnell, expresident of the defunct Land League. He has recently proceeded against a widow, in the Dublin court, to recover three years’.arrears of rent, and in the course of the hearing of the case it came out that the lease contained a clause to the effect that the tenant must not seek compensation for permanent improvements. The Daily Telegraph, commenting on the affair, says Mr Parnell is like the poet, but with a difference—he has learned in suffering what he did not teach in song.

The Wellington Harriers held their usual meet on Saturday afternoon. The course taken by the hares, Messrs Gallie and Smith, was from Polhill Gully, across the hills on to the Karori-road, along which they ran for some distance, leaving it to climb some of the very steep hills behind Karori. The hares then shaped for home, passing tfce upper and lower reservoir on the way, and getting back shortly before dark ; about five minutes before Messrs Morrah and Inglis, who were the leading hounds. Mr Thomas Corbett, of the Perseverance Iron Works, at Shrewsbury, has, it appears, been making a tour through the Australian colonies, and on bis return home delivered a lecture at Shrewsbury descriptive of his tour. The local Chronicle gives an epitome of his lecture, including the following brief notice of New Zealand :—The coach was, on more than one occasion, his conveyance in New Zealand. During his overland trip in this country Mr Corbett saw a good deal of tbe Maoris. He always found them quiet, inclined to be lazy, with a few intelligent fellows among them. He was much interested in a school which he visited in the Lake district, and met there a number of Maori boys and girls who could read and write English well and speak it fluently.

It has been suggested that a match should be arranged with the New Zealand football team on their return from New South Wales. The suggestion is a good one, inasmuch as its adoption would provide for a proper reception in Wellington of our representatives who have accomplished such great things over the water. In the face, too, of the match played previous to the departure of the team—a match which can hardly be described as anything else but a failure—the local players would do well to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them to prove their real capabilities against the crack team ; and a local fifteen, if picked at once, so that they could go into practice, would undoubtedly make a very good match of it. We commend the suggestion to the Union, as one worthy of consideration. Persons who are careless in their use, or rather abuse, of explosives ought certainly to be liable to some penalty. Serious and.paiuful accidents are constantly happening owing to a careless U3e of firearms, or to a culpable recklessness in leaving loaded firearms and other dangerous things lying about a house. The latest record of an accident resulting from criminal thoughtlessness of this kind comes from Christchurch, where Bella Mac donald, a girl seventeen years old, residing at Cashmere, met with a painful accident the other day. Her father had left a dynamite cap about, and in trying to ascertain the nature of its composition with a hairpin, Miss Macdonald caused it to explode. The first and second fingers and the thumb-of her *efb hand were shattered. The wound was dressed at the Hospital.

In these days when dangerous lunatics, possessed with party lunacy, seem to pervade parts of the Old Country, more than ordinary care should be taken to prevent the possibility of tbeir possessing themselves of the (by them believed) almighty dynamite. According to the European Mail, packets of thß explosive are made up in Pans. To facilitate the transmission of the dangerous substance, they are so small in size that they can easily be carried in a breast-pocket, or concealed between the cloth and lining of a coat, the dynamite befog wrapped in oil-paper, and resembling outwardly cakes of blacking, about an inch in thickness and five inches in diameter. If this report be correct, the searching of luggage brought to English seaports is Obviously useless, and the only effectual precaution would be to have recourse to personal search, which would, constitute a considerable annoyance for the travelling public generally. It is affrmed that the quantity of dynamite thus conveyed to English shores is large, and that it is hidden away in certain London suburbs, to be used when a favorable opportunity presents itself. It is further stated that the outrage at Victoria Station is deprecated by Irish dynamiters as useless and ill-judged, for it roused the attention of the police, and the game was not worth the caudle. Dynamite, in the opinion of these despicable conspirators, ought to be reserved for public buildings, not wasted on railway stations.

The following new subscribers have been added to the Telephone Exchange :—Messrs John Duthie (private house, terrace), Farmer (Cuba-street), J. Mandel (Willis-street). Some twenty members of both Houses of the Legislative Assembly arrived by tbe steamers Waihora from the North, and Hawea from the South on Sunday, including Sir George Grey.

A return in connection with immigration, laid before the House last week, shows the number of nominations sent to the AgentGeneral during the last twelve months to be 4190, and the amount deposited, £11,804 ss. The only case set down at the District Court for hearing to-day is an action brought by Francis Tiso, to recover from Michael Danaher the sum of £142 Is, for work and labor, goods supplied, and cash paid in connection with the defendant’s contract on the Wellington and Manawatu Railway.

The new establishment recently erected on Lambton-quay (adjoining Stationers Hall) by Mr Hannah, of the old and well-known bootand shoe emporium, was opened for tbe first time on Saturday evening, and attracted a large number of spectators and customers. The premises appear not only commodious, but also particularly well adapted to the requirements of the trade.

The Temperance Herald of June 2 says : At Reefton, the chairman of- the Boatman’s Licensing Committee, was fined 20 a for drunkenness. A publican was summoned for supplying him with liquor in the face of a prohibition order, but the person- most interested (the chairman), refused' to- give evidence, and was sentenced to seven days’ Imprisonment for contempt of court. Arrangements have been made between the Wellington Racing Club and the Island Bay Park Company, to hold a steeplechase meeting at Island Bay immediately after the Napier meeting, which comes off on the 26th inat. The course will be laid off in such a manner as not to interfere with the present improvements, and several fine water jumps and fences will be provided. The time agreed upon is a most suitable one, offering, as it does, inducements 1 to owners of horses engaged at the Hawkes Bay Meeting, to enter and, doubtless, the enterprise will turn out a most successful one. How shipping disasters are dealt with in the German courts is instanced in the following case given by tbe Hamburger Nacbrichten : —“ A commission of inquiry bad, a short time ago, a case under consideration and deferred judgment. When the assessors and experts afterwards met for consultation, they were two hours considering what the captain onght to have done at the moment of the disaster, and each expert was of a different opinion. At length one of the assessors got up and said : ‘Gentlemen, if it takes us two. hours to consider what a captain ought to have done in the ©ne minute he had to decide in, I don’t see, for my part, how we can condemn him.’ The captain was discharged upon this practical view of the case.’’

There is no work in which the native police of New Caledonia delight more than in running an escaped convict to earth. They track him through the bush like a pack of hounds, and he need: expect no mercy if he falls into their hands and offers but the least resistance to furnish an excuse for ill-usage, and perhaps a fatal blow on the head from one of their clubs. Tbe clubs have a sort of sharp knob near the end, and tbe Kanaka can be seen following convicts who have been sent away from the gang on some business or message. If any attempt is made to escape by the convict, the native follows him, and one blow from tbe club may end the prisoner’s sentence and his days. Assaults by convicts on natives, or vice versa, are common ; indeed, it would be hard to overstate tbe bitterness of feeling existing between the two. Last Sunday being Trinity Sunday the services at St. Peter’s Church were full choral, both morning and evening. At St. Paul’s in the forenoon the Right Rev the Bishop of Nelson preached, taking for his text 2 Timothy II., 19. After his discourse the Bishop referred to the fact of his having recently travelled through the diocese and held confirmations at various places, and said that what he had observed led him to urge upon members of congregations the necessity of supporting the General Church Fund, so as to enable ministers in the country districts to have some degree of independence. He trusted that the city churches and all who had the means to do so would assist liberally in this object. The service at St. Paul’s in. the. evening was full choral, and the anthem rendered by the choir was “I am Alpha and Omega.’’ The benefits conferred upon the human race in the colonies by acclimatisation societies are not always entirely unmixed blessings. In the early days of acclimatisation, their importa? tions into the country, of live stock of various kinds were comparatively harmless, and indeed ' in most cases were entirely beneficial. But latterly, partly owing in all probability to want of other live material, and partly in order to counteract tbe evils that have resulted from former importations, these societies have got into the habit of letting loose upon tbe country ■ all manner of evil beasts, which not only prey upon the pests they have been brought out to destroy, but go further and harass the farmyards, and prey upon the minds of unfortunate settlers whose homesteads are at their mercy. Their example in this respect is just now being followed by the Government, who are importing. by the Doric, some 109 weasels and stoats with a view to an unlimited decimation of the rabbits. This would be all very well, if these ferocious little beasts could bring with them a guarantee that their depredations would proceed no further than the rabbit warren ; but, unfortunately they are quite as likely to seek their meals in the sheep fold and from the hen roost. Settlers in the Wairarapa are already sufferiog.from ferrets, which have recently caused serious loss to breeders of valuable poultry, and it is only the other day that some men came across an old buck ferret which actually showed fight, kept their dogs.at bay, and was with difficulty despatched with ; firearms. Weasels have been known to attack full-grown men before now, and if they and tbeir still more vicious cousins the stoats, are allowed to run riot over the country districts, it will be difficult to say where the mischief they may do will stop ; certainly children will have to be kept close at home. These considerations should be very carefully thought over before a Pandora’s box of vicious vermin ) is opened upon the countryside.

The list of cases to be heard at the ensufog sitting of the Supreme Court, which commences on Monday next, is- not yet complete, but it is believed there will be about eight cases for hearing.

The Chairman of the Thorndon Licensing Committee stated yesterday week that the hotelkeepers of the district were at- liberty-to extinguish the lights outside their houses after closing hours.

The following New Zealand names appear in the list, published in the Scotsman of April 16th, of medical students at the University of Edinburgh, who have taken honors in:/ this year’s degree examinations F. .Truby Kfog (Taranaki) ; F. H. Jeffcoat (Dunedin) ; W. Johnstone Will ; Arthur C. Purchas ; -.Lewis A; Hawkes (Christchurch) -; Ernest Robertson and T. W. Bell.

It is said that the Opposition had some difficulty in arriving at an amicable arrangement with a certain eminent - member in connection with the amendment to the Address in Reply. This gentleman, whose support was indispensable to the movement, finally expressed his willingness to agree- to the motion on condition that no person aspiring to the leadership should : be entrusted with the taskofmoving.it..

We regret to- say that" Mr F. A. Duncan met with a fatal accident yesterday week on board the s.s.' Hinemoa. He had occasion to go on board the vessel, and it appears one of-the hatches, immediately at the end of the gangway,.was off. Mr Duncan unfortunately stepped into the opening, and was precipitated to the bottom of the hold. He was picked up senseless, and in the afternoon, when he bad rallied a little, he was, by Dr Grace's advice, removed to the hospital. Mr Duncan was ■ greatly cut about the head, and his system received such a severe shock, that he died on Tuesday night." This week’s news from the Soudan is of a twofold kind. On the one hand !we hear that the garrison in Souakim,' which has been lately reinforced, is expecting an attack by, Osman Digna with a force of 7000 men ; on the other hand we have news that Gordon has left Khartoum, and made his escape up She Nile In a steamboat. Afterwards came the news of the fall of Berber, the massacre of the garrison, and the investment of Wady Haifa. Affairs, Egyptian,. seem , going, to the dogs, as will any other foreign complication, .so long, as “ the grand old man ” is in power. Britainsadly needs a change of Ministry.

That a wake is a delusion and a snare, is the experience of an aged citizen called Michael Brett. Mr Brett on Tuesday night last visited the city on the keenly/ painful, pleasurable mission of attending the funeral wake of a friend. Grief thoroughly overcame him, and at 2.15; a.m Wednesday be -was found peacefully slumbering in the side channel of the street. Mr Brett told Mr-Warded' at the Resident Magistrate’s Court Wednesday that he had drank nothing but two drinks- at the wake during tbe evening. His-Worship-said that he thought that ss, the fine imposed, was, under the circumstances, exceedingly- eh-eap, considering the accommodation accused had found in the-watchhonse. The sum: of £39, within threepence, was found on the prisoner’s person.

In reference to the refusal- of the application of Mr Leech, of the Branch Hotel, for an extension of hi? license to- 12 o’clock, by the Lambton Licensing Committee Wednesday. Mr Fisher, the Mayor,, who- was on the Bench, made a few remarks in which he said that it seemed to him, coming fresh on the scene almost an - outsider,, that the licenses were now given in a rather- irrational and unfair manner.. Obliging- 0110 man to. shut up at 10 o’clock, and another at 12j. gave rise to soreness and discontent. He- was sorry that the committees did not observe their joint resolution to have uniform licenses throughout the city. If the sale off intoxicating liquor were injurious ou one side of the street, surely it was equally injurious to. the community on the other side.

Our musical readers will regret to learn that Mr C. M. J. Edwards,, the well known tenor, is leaving, this city for Melbourne at the end of the present month. He is deservedly popular, and has always been willing to place his services at the- disposal of any deserving cause. His friends, therefore, are determined not to let him go without hearing him sing again, and arrangements have been made for a farewell concert,, which- will probably take place at the Theatre Royal on Friday, June 27. It 13 o.nly necessary to say that, the whole of the musical portion is under the direction of Mr Robert Parker, this fact being a sufficient guarantee that an excellent programme will be submitted.; The business arrangements are. under Mr Keyworths care, and we fully anticipate that the theatre will be crowded.

Universal regret will probably be felt at the news, that has reached us to the effect that the cargo of frozen mutton sent Home by. the steamer Florida has turned out for-the. most part a failure. From private telegraphic • in*. formation received in Wellington, , we understand that a portion of the cargo was jettisoned on the voyage Home. It will doubtless be remembered that while the Florida, was lying at the Queen’s Wharf, owing to a breakdown in the machinery on board tbs Lady Jocelyn, a portion of the latter’s cargo was-transhipped to the Florida. There is reason to. believe, however, that neither this nor the other-portion of tbe Gear Company’s shipment per the Florida, suffered any injury, and that the cable news a 3 to the condemnation of a portion of her cargo does not refer to. the carcase shipped from Wellington.

“ JEgles,” in the Australasian, advocates the taking of steps to give, by parliamentary authority, some legal force and! legal credence to telegraphic messages, so. that they should hold a legally recognised position in a court of law. He says ; Of course, there are difficulties, but they are not, I think, insuperable. By way of starting the topic, I suggest, that a message received, say from London, might be repeated hack to that financial centre, and that through a notary public or some high official personally known or vouched for to a telegraphic offioer in London, a reply might be sent here such a? *' Your repeatmessage corresponds with that originally sent.’ And this, I think, might, be accepted in a court of law as evidence. My suggestion may be crude, and a better proposal may be made, but it certainly is not an, accordance with the spirit of the age that telegraphic information should hold a legally unrecognised I position in a court o£ law..

f Between 1871 and 1882, 35,660 seamen and 3062 passengers lost their lives on British ships. . - The debate on Mr Steward’s‘want of confidence motion had the effect of curtailing the bnsioess on the Order Paper of the Legislative 'Council Wednesday. A most important motion, so far as the native race 13 concerned, brought forward by the Hon. Mr Waterhouse after a speech by the mover,, was virtually shelved, the debate being, at the instance of Mr Oliver, who is at present the only representative of the Government in the Legislative Council, adjourned for a week, This course was adopted in consequence, as was explained by tbe Hon. the Postmaster-General, in consequence of tbe recognised rule laid down by Constitutional Governments, that no business beyond that which was absolutely necessary should be transacted in the Legislature pending the decision of a vote of want of confidence. The hon. gentleman informed the House that the only business which the Government intended to take until the primary question affecting the Government in another plaee was considered would ba the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, which would be taken on the following afternoon.

The New Zealand Herald has the following :—“ At Sir George Grey’s meeting at the Thames, Mr W. Rowe disturbed'' the proceedings, and, by direction of the Mayor, was expelled. He was put in the lockup by the ‘police, and kept in custody for some time. At the Police Court, on Monday morning, before Mr L. J. Bag Dall, J.P., Mr Rowe was .charged with being drunk and disorderly at Sir George Grey’s meeting on Saturday ‘night. The evidence of tbe arresting constable and of the lockup keeper having been taken, the defendant stated that he was not intoxicated. All the liquor he bad taken during the last three months, if taken within two hours, would not affect him- It was the excitement of hearing some- of Sir George Grey’s statements that caused, him to act as he did, more especially when he heard Sir George Grey make statements- derogatory to the Premier —than whom no man in New Zealand had done more for the -Thames—he was carried away by his impulsive- nature. The Bench said it was present when the disturbance took place, and the constable’s evidence was mainly correct j he would say nothing as to the intoxication. Allowing for the indignity suffered by Mr Rowe, he would dismiss the ease.”

The following excerpt from a leading article in the Times, dealing with the subject of the transportation of French criminals and Lord Roseberry’s address at Dundee-, shows that the new editor, Mr Buckle, is fully alive to the importance of our Australasian colonies : “ Colonisation in the handis solely of the criminal and depraved, classes has been always regarded as a doubtful experiment and we cannot view without some apprehension the prospect of a stream .of the worst elements of France flowing steadily year after year- into the aboriginal population of. the Pacific Islands. The immediate matter,for aoncern is the feel- . ing of our Australian cousins. They areunanimous and resolved p and that sympathy with them, for which Lord Rosebery wisely pleads, could not be better shown than by. endeavoring to appreciate the reasons whichhave brought about this universal expressionof indignation. It is a- factor in the future of our Colonial Empire, which cannot be ignored,” Dr J. Simms, a- lecturer on physiognomy, who, some few year* ago, delivered several > successful public utterances in this city, earn-... menced the first of a series of lectures ou practical and scientific physiognomy, at the Athenmum Hall,. Wednesday. Dr. Simms- is a humorist as well as a scientist, and, consequently, his lectures, are invariably listened to with great interest and attention. Added, to this, Dr. Simms is an enthusiast in his profession, and even, if one does not entirely agree with him in his premises, one cannot- truthfully assert that be is altogether wrong* Dr. Simms Is possessed of the rare faculty*)! being enabled to keep an audience—and he had a large one on Wednesday—thoroughly amused for nearly, tw-o, hours, partly through tha interest attaching to the subject, but especially owing,,,to .the tact and ready wit evinced by him. The-doctor possesses a happy! knack of being able to, speak with equal facility to all classesiofa. community, and even when he is moat jocose, he may. be said „to ho most thoroughly in earnest. His lecture last evening, entitled “ Faces and Noses,”’ was a most comprehensive one. By diagrams* and etchings, some of which cannot be designated otherwise than as good-hnimfoed caricatures, the lecturer endeavored to prove that the human race was closely allied, at-, any rate, so far as “the human face divine- * was concerned, to the brute creation. Perhaps not everyone could agree with the theory pro'pounded by Dr. Simms, but no one could who .hears him lecture failytp admit that, ; a substratum oftrutb.pervades his argument, j and theory. The lecturer is untiring in his* efforts to amuse and instruct his audience, and t : these combined qualifications in a publicspeaker are muck to be appreciated.

There was an. amfiring 1 scene in the centre,, aisle of ja London church (says the London, Echo) on a recent Sunday evening. One of the sidesmen, was. seen to ga, and. wh'sper to the,, vicarrs. churchwarden, and-, draw his attention to tbe endi occupant of one of the sittings. The churchwarden glared- at the occupant, and whispered back to the sidesman. Then there was a lapse of time, daring which the service went on apd tbe churchwarden seemed, to be stringing, himself up for a». unpleasant duty. Finally, he went carefully along tb© aisle, and bent down behind, a. buckishlydressed individual with the stiffest of dog collars, wispiest of ties, and most irreproachable of shirt fronts. Beard,, whisker, or moustache the youthful dandy had not, but the hair of the head was crisp, shprt, and close, so much as could be seen for the natty i deerstalker hat kept upon the head. Then ; there was a whispered inquiry plainly heard : through all arouud. “.Is there any reason why you should keep on your hat ?” Buzz, buza, buzz came in answer, very low, and not in a bass voice. What was said did not happen to bs audible; but the churchwarden went back to his seat with slightly heightened color, for he bad made the discovery that he and the sidoman had made a mistake. In, fact, when t.he congregation were leaving church it was observable that a 3 the hat, collar, shirt-front, and tailor-cut coat wearer walked down the aisle, tbe masculine costume ended at tbe waist;,

Mr Charles Bright, the well-known spiritualistic and advanced-thought lecturer, passed through here on Sunday, en route to Blenheim, where he is to deliver a course of lectures.

The weather telegrams received at the Colonial Observatory Tuesday morning, showed a depression to the south cf New Zealand, with showery weather and northerly winds, the wind being especially strong at New Plymouth. The Australian cablegrams reported a depression passing to the southward of Tasmania, with westerly winds and high barometrical pressure to the west. The indications of the barometer were as follows :—Russell, 30'2 ; Wellington, 30 0 ; Bluff, 29 8 ; Albany, 30 3 ; Hobart, 29-8 ; Sydney, 29 9. Prom the meteorological returns received by Dr Hector for the month of May, we find that at Auckland the mean temp, in the shade ws<i 54’4, nearly 3deg under the average for the same month in the previous years ; the maximum was 65‘5 and minimum 37'5 ; total rain, 4T9iD, about the average. At Wellington the mean temp, was 50*2, nearly 3deg under the average; maximum, 65*0 ; minimum, 37 ; total rain, 5*242in, or about Jin in excess. At Christchurch—mean temp., 45*5, 2Jdeg below the average ; maximum, 66 ; minimum, 21 ; total rain, I'24id, lin less than, average. At Dunedin—mean temp., 46’5, nearly ldeg under average ; maximum, 68 ; minimum, 32 ; total rain, lT9in, or 2Jin less than the usual average. At all the above stations the temp, for May has been below the average by in moat cases about 3deg; the rainfall in the North has been about what is ÜBual for this month, but in the Sooth it has generally been less.

At a very early hour on,Tuesday morning a service pipe in Willia-3treet, nearly opposite the Melbourne Hot6l, burst, and owing to no workmen being available, tore up a small portion of the road, which was very speedily -inundated, the water overflowing the footpath near the store of Mr Waring Taylor, a portion of whose premises was swamped, some considerable amount of damage to merchandise being occasioned. The civic authorities were as soon as possible apprised of the mishap, and workmen were set to work to repair the damage, which was completed last evening. Meanwhile, however, the matutinal baths suffered from a drought, and considerable inconvenience was occasioned owiDg to the want of water for the breakfast table. About 9 o’clock

a.m. the old service was turned on, and the supply of water was again abundant. Mr Waring Taylor has sent in a claim to the corporation, and this body has ordered a survey to be made. Our Herbertville correspondent writes : “There is an old and true saying, * Wherever God erects a house of prayer, the Devil's sure to put a ‘‘public ” there ;’ but, in our case, his Satanic Majesty has got the start ; for we have a very handsome building, which, I believe, will on the Ist proximo blossom forth as the Herbertville Hotel, but there are.no signs of a public place of worship. It is high time that some decisive action should be taken in the matter. There are very good grounds to start on—namely, one settler has offered £SO down, if any other gentleman will give a like sum ; also, Messrs T. and A. Herbert have intimated that they will giye a building site for. the erection of a church, and many'others are ready and willing to assist. Now, I hereby ask the head of either the Wesleyan or Presbyterian denominations to assist in supplying the great want in our district. I once heard a reverend gentleman, while preaching here, accuse us of employing our Sabbaths in calculating onr bash-felling and arranging oar temporal affairs, instead of devoting ourselves to the service of Christ. Well, now we are waiting to do our duty, eager and ready. Bet those whose lives are dedicated to God’s service come forward, or on their heads be the blame. ' ‘' ’ - '

Some considerable public interest was taken on Tuesday afternoon in the proceedings of the Tire Brigade, who assembled at the corner of Feathersfcon-sfcreefc and Bambtonqnay, for the purpose of testing the pressure of water brought in from the Wainuiomata. The result of the experiments were eminently satisfactory. Sixteen heads of water were kept playing at once, each hose sending a jet of water into the air as high as the Athenakum clock tower, and while this was going on there still remained a pressure in the mains of 1101 bto the square inch. A peculiar accident happened to one of the firemen, named White, during the trial. He was in charge of one of the branches, and happened to have the hose twisted round his arm. The water was suddenly turned on, and took White by surprise, and the twist of his hose incontinently knocked him down, and for a few moments nothing was visible where he once stood but a confused and squirming mass of hose and fireman. He was rescued by a bystander from his unpleasant position, and was found to have sustained some severe cuts and bruises. The bystanders would probably have enjoyed the spectacle and laughed at it had they not had to use. all their time and energy in clearing out of the way of the water from the hose, which was sweeping the street in all directions.

We have received a letter, signed “ Sorely Aggrieved,” from a person who is a frequent sufferer by the depredations of cemetery ghouls—that is, those miscreants who make it a practice to plunder the graves of the floral tributes laid upon them. Batterly the depre-' dations have been frequent and barefaced in the extreme. We are aware of the particular case with which “ Sorely Aggrieved ” is concerned, and we stigmatise it as a mo'fc impudent as well as an unholy robbery. No later than Sunday last a lady made her customary weekly offering at a grave that is remarkable even in the Episcopalian Cemetery, where graves are particularly attended to, for the care bestowed upon it. She placed a beautiful bouquet at the head of the grave and another of lesser beauty at the foot. Then she ran down to the sexton’s house to return a water-jug she had borrowed, and at once returned to the grave, only to find that a thief, who must have watched her movements, had, in the meantime, stolen the bouquet from the head of the grave, and, to divert notice from the depredation, had replaced it with the bouquet from the foot. Scarcely a week passes without complaints of the rifling of flowers at the cemetery, aud it seems to U 3 that the evil is only to be stopped by severe examples being made by the magistrates when detection and arrest follow. In the case we have quoted above, it is believed that the theft was systematic, and that the flowers were disposed of for drink.

His Worship the Mayor returned to Wellington from Sydney by the Waihora on Sunday morning.

We have received a letter from a correspondent suggesting that “ the State might derive a good revenue from a sweep carried out on tho Hamburg principle.” Returns published in last week’s Gazette show the approximate cost of construction of all railways in the colony np to 31st March last (including expenditure on harbor works forming part of the railway system) to be £12,163,000. A report of the proceedings of the Intercolonial Convention, held in Sydney at the end of last year, has been presented to Parliament. Papers in connection with confederation and annexation, relating to the Pacific Islands, the labor traffic, &c., &c., were also presented.

In the House of Representatives last Friday, Mr Hutchison asked leave to postpone his questions bearing upon ecclesiastical endowments, in consequence of the non-arrival of a “ distinguished gentlenr an,” presumably interested in the ques -! on. The request was opposed by the Minis' - r of Bands, who, however, did not press his objection, and the question was accordingly adjourned, pending the arriraljof the distinguished gentleman. The traffic returns for tha four-weekly period ending April 26, 1884, show the following figures in connection with the Wellington section :—No. of passengers carried, 16, 293 ; total revenue from carriage of passengers, goods, &c., £4379 18s 9d ; as against a total of £3780 15s 5d for the same period last year. The total revenue for the period from all the lines in the colony was £93,501 9s 2d against an expenditure of £48,859 8s 9d, the expenditure being 52*26 per cent, of the revenue. During the corresponding period last year, the revenue was £88,299 lls Bd, and the expenditure £49,041 0s 7d ; the expenditure being 55*54 per cent, of the revenue. A return presented to Parliament yesterday week shows the apportionment of the £6OOO subsidy voted for distribution to public libraries, The distribution in the Wellington district, amounting in all to £2BB Is 6d, is as follows:—Carterton, £27 12s 3d; FeatherstoD, £23 5s ; Hntt, £l3 17s 3d ; Kaiwaiwai, £9 9s ; Karori, £ll Is 6d ; Maoterton, £SO ; Ohariu Valley, £l3 6s 3d ; Otaki, £l3 4s ; Pahautanui, £9 18s 3d ; Petone, £l7 13s 4d ; Te Niii and Castlepoint, £l2 8s 3d; Upper Tutaenui,£l4 3s 7d ; Uriti, £l6 3s Id ; Wainuiomatr £9 13s 6d ; Wairarapa Institute, £22 3s 7d ; Wellington Young Men’s Christian Association, £24 2s Bd. Total, £2BB Is 6d.

An erratic member of the New South Wales Assembly has ventilated a peculiar grievance of the better-halves of his constituents. He alleged that in consequence of the Minister for Works promising to open the Ryletone rail- , way in November last, the ladies of the district had invested largely in silks and satins and other costly material for a fancy dress ball to celebrate the opening. The event has been postponed for six months, aud these dresses were being spoilt by disuse, and it was claimed that they should be reimbursed the loss they had suffered by the Works Department not keeping its pledge. The said department is ungallant enough to dispute the claim. It is nearly twelve months since the Salvation Army occupied the city with a contingent, and it may be reasonably thought that since the commencement of the campaign their efforts have been directed in the right way, although, perhaps, at times the efforts put forth by the officers have not been quite judicious. On Saturday next, and the two following: days, special services will be held in connection with the Army of rather a novel character. For instance, placards announce that the entire local contingent, headed by the band, and commanded by Captain and Mrs Wright, will parade the streets for the purpose of selling War Cry’s. Other services will be held during the week, and a Salvation tea meeting will conclude the celebration. The business transacted in the Legislative Council last Friday, was of an exceedingly unimportant nature, and occupied the attention of this branch of the Begislature, but a few minutes. In fact, but for a protest on the part of the Hon. Mr Waterhouse, on the subject of the appointment of a committee relative to the appointment of Public Petitions, the proceedings would have lasted but a very few minutes. The question involved is doubtless a highly important one, and it therefore is a matter of satisfaction that Mr George Mcßean moved the adjournment of the debate till Tuesday next, his object for so doing, being that he believed that other hon. members desired to address the House on the question. The motion for adjournment was agreed to without dissent. . The Right Rev. the Bishop of Nelson de livered a lecture Monday evening,at the. Church room, Tinakori-road, before a large audience. The subject wan a most interesting one — viz,, “A recent visit to the Holy Land.” The chair was taken by Archdeacon Thorpe, who briefly introduced the lecturer. Bishop Suter’s descriptive powers are so graphic and are so thoroughly well known that it is needless to say he kept his listeners spellbound during the whole of the lecture. The subject, always an engrossing one to a Christian community, was handled in a light and pleasant style. The lecture abounded in anecdote, and in the narration of legends dating anterior even to the time of Moses, and was further illustrated by curios gathered by his Lordship during his late travels in Palestine, and also by a large number of exceedingly wellpainted slides, shown by a powerful lantern. The Bishop, in a pleasing manner, which is peculiarly his own, took charge of his audience, and conveyed them over the Desert, past the Pyramids, right through Palestine, into Jerusalem. The rev. lecturer stated that the native Jews of the Holy City regarded with considerable disfavor the increasing addition to their community of Jews from Poland, Russia, and Western Europe, which was accounted for by the fact that the contributions sent by Jews and Christians for the relief of the Jews in Jerusalem were distributed amongst all alike, to the disgust of the Jews who were natives of the city. At the conclusion of the lecture a hearty vote of thanks was unanimously accorded to the lecturer. It is to be hoped that Bishop Suter will be induced to repeat bis lecture on his late travels in Palestine in a more central building ere he leaves the city.

Owing to the absence of Mr Hugh Gully, counsel for the bankrupt, the examination meeting, re C. W. Schultze, which had been postponed from the previous day, was further adjourned to the 30th iust. It should be mentioned that Mr Gully was suddenly called away to Foxton on important business. Mr Chamberlin on Tuesday, from bi 3 place in the Begislative Council, gave notice of his intention to move, on Tuesday next, the following :—“ That, in the opinion of this Council, it is d-' urable that the licensing laws of ihe colony be amended in the direction of prohibiting the employment of women or girls at the bars of hotels or public-houses.” The business transacted at the Resident Magistrate’s Court Wednesday was not important. A person named Joseph Alexander, alias Frenchy, was sentenced to a month’s incarceration on a charge of vagrancy. Three drunkards were fined in the usual penalties, with the customary alternatives, and a woman named Mary White was sent to gaol for a period of forty-eight hours for being unlawfully on premises. A curious legal complication has arisen out of the earthquake disaster at Cassamicciola. Among the victims were a Signor aud Signora Bonavita, who left property worth 1,000,000 dollars, to which there is no direct heir. Their relatives, in order to determine the succession, have petitioned to have the bodies disinterred, that by an examination of the external injuries,<it may be ascertained, if possible, which died first.

As is usual in such cases, members of the City Council dispersed without beat of drum last week when Councillor Petherick’s motions came up for discussion. One Councillor, however, forgot to take his hat away with him, and a few moments after his departure the office messenger stole in softly, and carried away the portly chapeau amidst the undisguised mirth of the council generally.

At the meeting of the Thorndon Licensing Committee held last week, Sergeant Anderson submitted a report, from which it appears that convictions for Sunday trading in the Thorndon district have been, rare, principally owing to the circumstance that the Bench had ruled that boarders and their friends could he supplied with liquor outside of licensed hours. Samples of various liquors had been analysed in accordance with the Adulteration Act, but in no instance had any deleterious ingredients been detected. The number :of hotels in the district seemed to he in excess of the requirements.