THEATRE ROYAL.

Auckland Examiner, Volume 2, Issue 54, 24 December 1857, Page 3

THEATRE ROYAL.

In our last impression tbe case of widow Godding (not Gordon, as stated by Mrs Slipslop) and her four children was stated to bo a case for tho benevolent. Wo are happy now to announce that this evening’s Theatre Royal performance will be for the benefit of theso unfortunates. Managers Bellair and Hill at once offered the. free use of the Theatre as well as the. gratuitous service of themselves.jand company. A considerable sum has been raised by private subscription ; but that sum, though large, is riot large enough to enable certain Auckland citizens, who aro ever unostentatiously benevolent when benevolence has room for legitimate exercise, to place Mrs. Godding and her infant children in a position of comparative ease and comfort. The alacrity with which our Theatre Royal Managers have come forward on behalf of real distress, is creditable to them. We are no admirers, of the begging box system, or at all in love with people who make benevolence and charity a cant. Nor can we deny that just now Subscription Sheets are multiplying themselves amongst us at rather alarming rats. But in all recorded time it has been acknowledged that to console the widow and fatherless in their affliction fo a duty prescribed by moral principle as well as enjoined by religious precept. The Misletoo Bough ; a Tala of Christmas Evo; The Captain’s not A—Miss; and Paddy Miles' Boy are pieces announced for this interesting occasion. It would ba difficult to conceive a happier selection of pieces for Christmas Eve. We hope to enjoy them no less heartily than, the most enthusiastic of chopstic believers in J ohn Barleycorn will enjoy any amount of “ toast and yale.” It strikes us gentle—and wo hope uupuritanical—reader that you might do worse than put in for a share of tho enjoyment. o—— Lecture at the Young Men's Christian Association, by Dr. Fisher. Subject:—Lieb in its Lesser FormsLife is still for metaphysicians the problem of problems. When Hamlet’s mother tells, him All.that lives must die,. Passing through Nature to eternity, he replies in the words sententious and significant—Aye, Madam, it is common. But though whatever appertains to common life is. common enough, yet at what point the lino supposed to separate living from dead substances should be drawn it would be hazardous to declare. Indeed metaphysicians, like-mathe-maticians, deal in lines imaginary, and this is one of them. It is easy to separate in fact, and therefore in idea, the organic from the inorganic in Nature’s vast laboratory. But who shall say that sensitive plants have no sense and that polypi have ? Polypi seek their food; eat, digest it, and seek for more. Yet those curious animals seem less acutely sensitive than some plants. The philosopher can no better enlighten us with regard to the begining, middle, or end of life manifestation than the ploughman. This hopeless task Br. Fischer was wise enough to leave unattempted. ‘ Ilia lecture on “ Life in its lesser forms” had for object the pictorial illustration of truths concerning life in its. lowest as well as highest appreciable manifestations. Few persons n wera present. In point of fact the Young Men’s Chrisii.m Association Lecture Room is so small that to squeeze fifty people within its four sides would be difficult. We hops Dr. Fischer will again deliver the same discourse where more room can be found and a purer atmosphere can be breathed.

Auckland Choral Society;—Tho first public rehearsal for' the year ending Oetober, 1858, took place on Thursday evening last, at the Mechanics Institute. Handel’s Oratorio ‘’Messiah” was the subjeat of performance, which we understand wascreditably performed. Our reporter was unable to be present, but wc believe that the counter attraction of the performance at ths Theatre Royal (Rob Roy) made rather a slackhouss. The n.xt rehearsal will take place at the Odd Fellows Hall.

Wang ARIE IfiußDEß.—The man charged with this murder was brought to town on Monday and lodged in gaol, by warrant of Dr. Kenderdine, Government-appointed Coroner at Wangarie. His name, we are informed, is not John Kelly (the name he appears to be generally known by) but John Killey. The man be is alleged to have murdered is called Butler. He formerly was of the 58th. Early on Wednesday morning the accused cut his throat with a razor which he had contrived to lodge in his boot. At home people committed for murder are searched. We presume that so salutary a practice obtains here. But Killey, if searched at all, must have been searched in curious manner. Razors can be seen without aid from a microscope. The public will require explanation of so unaccountable a piece of carelessness. It seems that the razor employed by prisoner was blunt, and that the wound inflicted is not likely to prove mortal. After hacking as well as cutting his throat prisoner printed the name Bancroft in his own blood, and the initial H. in pencil. Why he did so is at present a mystery. Bancroft has been lost sight of for more than eighteen months. Day named for trial is 3rd of March.