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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6301, 22 June 1881, Page 2

Sidney Wolf, R.t'.M., of this city, has filed a declaration of insolvency. Mr. A. S. Allan, Registrar of the Supreme Court, held a sitting in bankruptcy yesterday, when a certificate of discharge was granted to Thomas Moore, pianoforte maker’, of Wellington. The Town Clerk received thirteen tenders for the construction of a bridge over the Hutt river in connection with the Wainuiomata waterworks, that of Messrs. Bayliss and Co., £1342 15s. 5d., being accepted. The highest was £5879 10s, 2d. At the meeting of Licensed Victuallers, which was called for last night at the Empire Hotel for the purpose of considering the Licensing Bill, only ten put in an appearance, and the business was adjourned until next Friday, when it is expected that a large number will attend. The first meeting of creditors in the estate of Messrs. Bennett and Potts, builders, Carterton, was held yesterday before the DepatyEegistrar of the Supreme Court. The liabilities of the debtors were set down at £475 35., assets £45. Mr. Fitzgerald appeared for the debtors. Mr. A. Fisk was elected trustee in the joint estates. The Volunteer corps in this city which are armed with rifles have decided upon holding their regular parades together in the future, as it is very properly believed that by this means they will attain a higher degree of efficiency. They made a beginning on Monday when there was a very fair attendance. We hear on good authority that a sculling match is to take place this afternoon between Lieutenant Bennett, of the Naval Brigade, and Mr. George South, traveller for the firm of Mr. W. W. Taylor. The distance is to be one mile, and the stakes of £5 aside were deposited at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel last night. We call attention to the volunteer district order in another column and to the distribution of prizes which is to take place after parade. The prizes will be presented by Mrs. Charles Johnston. The president and vicepresidents of the association, and the donors of prizes, and citizens with their ladies, are invited to be present on the occasion. The usual weekly meeting of the Committee of the Wellington Benevolent Institution was held yesterday. Present—Messrs. Holdsworth (chairman), Brown, Smith, Banks, Powle-', and the Revs. Van Staveren, Kirk, and Habeas. A number of urgent cases which required assistance were dealt with. It was resolved that the treasurer, Mr. Powles, make application to the Government for the sum of £2OO to be placed at the disposal of the committee for the month of July. This was all the bush ness, and the meeting adjourned.

IMr. J. C. Brown tried to draw from the Government yesterday some information about . the intended bestowal of the Public Works portfolio. Would the Government, he asked, permit him to ask the question without notice. Of course, the Hon. the Premier replied in the negative, and the hon. member for Tnapeka then gave notice that he would ask the question in formal order. At a meeting of the Central Board of Health on Monday evening, there being present the Hon. T. Dick (chairman), Messrs. W. Seed, W. R. E. Brown and Captain Johnson, it was resolved that the Mayor, Chairman of the Harbor Board and the Harbormaster at each port, be appointed Local Boards of Health with full jurisdiction over the town, harbor and quarantine station. The probabilities are that the services of these Boards will never be required except to go through mere forms, but the precautionary step is nevertheless a proper one. The following Wellington telegram recently appeared in the Auckland Star ; —“ Astagors, the Greek fiendess of storms, is raging in Wellington, and the harbor is lashed into foam. So far no chimneys have blown down. Only a few tiles, kerosene tins, paving stones, hats, umbrellas, and miscellaneous articles have been whirled away into space. No damage lias occurred to the shipping ; but a few roads have been washed away, and several landslips. Bankruptcies here average about three a day. The Wanaka has just sailed in a gale.” The gale was evidently severe, for otherwise it wou'd bs quite imposs :M c to account for the number of bankruptcies. There is a singular picture in the Wanganui Exhibition which, owing perhaps to the technical and repulsive nature of the subject, has hitherto escaped notice. The Herald says that if seems even to have puzzled the compilers of the catalogue, for although numbered 74, and stated to be the property of Mr. Joseph Annabel!, it bears no name whatever. A medical man, however, will at once see what it is meant for. Two children, and a large dog, every one of the three suffering from advanced hydro-cephalus (or dropsy of the brain), are standing upon the brink of a lake ; and although flowers and playthings lie at the feet of the pcor suffering children, it is evident from the pain depicted upon their countenances, that their thoughts are running upon suicide. From time to time we hear of the proceedings of erratic religious bodies such as the Hallelujah Chorus, and the Salvation Army, at Home; it is but rarely, however, that colonial towns are made the scene of outdoor demonstration of religion. For some time past, this city has proved an exception to the rule, for about once a week a number of men and women parade some of those streets which are chiefly taken up with private residences, singing hymns and choruses as they go. Occasionally they make a halt, and treat the particular neighborhood to eight or ten minutes of by no means bad vocal music, and having obtained a number of listeners, someone with a stentorian voice gives a general invitation to attend a certain place of worship. The somewhat unseasonable proceedings are not always productive of the most pleasant results, as the chorus singers have on more than one occasion been treated to a considerable quantity of flour, as well as more offensive missiles. In our report of the Hospital Ball yesterday scant justice was done to several who took a very active part in the arrangements. To Mr. J. S. M. Thompson (Thompson, Shannon and Co.) is due the credit of the decorations. They were devised by him, and carried out under his supervision. He also was particularly prominent in arranging matters with the trustees for the use of the Hospital. No ladies could have worked harder than Mrs. and Miss Brogden and Mesdames Norris and Newman in preparing the supper room. They were indefatigable from the outset, turning their hands to anything and everything to promote economy and the success of the affair. We have been asked by many people how it was that bis Worship the Mayor did not take any part in the proceedings, and to this we may reply, because he disapproved of the manner iu which it was proposed to open the Hospital. He emphatically declined, when appealed to, to have anything to do with the ball. The ball, however, was a remarkable success, nothing like it having occurred in Wellington for years past. The supper was really excellent, and did infinite credit to the catering skill of the many ladies who contributed it. Nearly the whole of yesterday’s sitting in the House of Representatives was occupied with the further consideration of the Licecs’ng Bill in Committee. Considerable progress was made with the Bill, the Committee, having passed no fewer than thirty clauses. That the measure, however, will occupy a position upon tho Statute Book in its present form is exceedingly doubtful. Hon. members are becoming jocular on the Bill, and commencing to exchange chaff with each other. On the clauses dealing with the local option provisos being called, Sir W. Fox moved that progress be reported, and, in taking this step, intimated that rest was absolutely required in order that the real fight in connection with the Bill might be inaugurated by the committee when it was in a position to continue the fight with energy. Mr. Bunny thought that no good could possibly accrue from continuing the consideration of the measure, as it was a foregone conclusion that it would never be passed. That other members entertained a similar notion was evident, as although the motion of the hon. member for Bangitikei was at the time negatived, the committee shortly afterwards agreed that progress should be reported. The House adjourned shortly after midnight to meet again this afternoon. There were some interesting remarks made last evening in the Lower House on clause 32 of the Licensing Act, which provides for wine . licenses, the wine to be “ the produce, of fruit grown in the colony,” and Colonel Trimble wanted the word “ grape ” inserted before “ fruit,” in order to stop the sale of “ the insidious poison” madein Nelson. Mr. Stevens, having the idea of parsnip or gooseberry beverages iu his recollection from childhood, pointed out that wines were made from other things than the fruit of the vine. The member for the Bay of Islands wanted to know how Colonel Trimble’s amendment would apply to wine made from honey, as the clause would cause the bees to become idle—a sad calamity for the North. The clause also included “ cider and perry,” which gave Mr. Turnbull the opportunity of remarking that there was a man in Dunedin who manufactured cider and perry in this wise, and retailed it throughout Otago. He started from Dunedin with a barrel, a horse and cart, and a good supply of effervescent powders. His modus operandi was very simple. He went to a creek, filled his cask, put in his powders, and started to look for customers. Mr. Oliver said there were some villainous compounds retailed in the South not fit for a Christian to drink ; and when challenged by the member for Kaiapoi as to whether he drank these objectionable beverages himself, proved his Christianity by a vigorous denial. Mr. Seymour George said large quantities of wine were made in the Rodney district—more than the people who made them could drink ; they were 'not sold ; they must perforce be bartered for other goods whereat the Colonial Treasurer pricked up his ears to see whether a taxable commodity was escapiug his observation. Mr. Bunny, while the clause was being debated, kept calling “ question,” but the voices in favor of the “ grape” amendment were only three or four, and the clause was passed unaltered.