The Evening Star. SATURDAY JULY 22, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 478, 22 July 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star.

SATURDAY JULY 22, 1871.

" For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do."

We must revert to our contemporary the News, which we have taken under oiir particular care, and whose piceadilloes it is our pleasure to correct. Our exposure of the base attempt to create a panic in the sharo market by false quotations iv Mr. Coclirane's auction sales has moved that veracious journal to make what is meant to pass as an acknowledgment to the public, and yet in doing it the old passion for misleading, and the vicious desire to injure,' shareholders aro apparent. Tho pretended correction in yesterday morning's issue is more infamous than anything that has preceded it. We gave a list of seven misquotations, which wo verily believe to have been deliberate aud wilful. Our contemporary says,"Twoinaccuracies slipped in. All Nation shares were sold at £3 18h each, Nonpareils at £3 18s to £i, instead of the prices given in our report. In all other respects, followed the list supplied us by ihe auctioneer. A corrected list in full was published in last night's Evening s. " On referring to tlis list thus deliberately vouched for, wo find the misrepres entationn maliciously repeated, except the two thus offered to appease the public- Junctions are still asserted to have have been sold at -£1, -tfhen the lowest was" £llls; Prince Import us aro rc-quotod at 255, when the loweet !>rice wis 45s ; Long Drives are quoted at £!>, when the lowest sold was at 69 10s ; Eureka Hills arc quoted at £1 2s 6d, when iho ijwest sale was _it*32s 6:1 ; and Belfasts are again asserted to have been sold at 55., which is just the one-twentieth part of tho lowett price at which they w_ va really sold. It he malice of our contemporary must now be pretty apparent, and will, wo trust, be powerless in the future. Those, if any, who were led to sacrifice Caledonians and Thames by the unwarrantable attempts'of our contemporary to " bear" the market; must now feel grateful to tho News when the temporary cloud is passirip: from the Caledonian, and they see the rapid rise towards former quotations.

The p.s. Nebraska will leave for Napier and" tho South this evening, with-13 passengers and general cargo

An esteemed correspondent sends us the I following.«— Truly it may be said that the people of Auckland aro a peculiar people, patient and long-suffering to an unprecedented degree. Not conte.ht yith a General Government, Governor, Superintendent, Provincial Coundil, Mayor, and Town Councillors, .they now have a Harbour Board, aud that Board must consist of thirteen persons, v/'ii n sis would have been amply sufficient. TirisJ3.arbo.ur-Board has now been in oflice fa- about six or seven weeks, and, naturally wo expect to ccc some useful work begun in the harbour, which greatly needs attention and care ; but nothing of any importance has been done. But this fact is patent to everyone, that they aro spending the public money on themselves and their offices. What right have they to take offices which must cost, at the least, £200 per annum, when the old Harbour Office would have-done for the present ? The Secretary, of course, ought to bo paid, as he does his work, but in c struggling place like this, what right has the Chairman to accept a salary of £150 per annual ? Why not give his services gratuitously, at least until the many improvements which are needed in the harbour, bo completed. If, however, he be so mercenary that ho must be paid, let b.im have half the sum, or £50 a-year. I will now enumerate some of the alterations which ought to be mede. The extension of the wharf, so that the large steamers now visiting our port-might come alongside and discharge their freight. Had this been, done the Nebraska, would have gbtaway this morning, instead of being detained j till late this evening. A steam pile-driver, should also be procured. This would expedite matters, and bo a saving in expanse. A machine for dredging tho harbour, which is fast silting up, .-md a shed built for stowing goods as they aro discharged fr»m the ship, thereby enabling captains to obtain greater despatch than they hare at present; for many and grievous are the complaints of masters-of foreign ships at the want of proper acconujo.dation afforded them by tho harbour authorities. If the members of the Harbour Board would give their attention to these matters — which are within their scope at present—they would do much more good than in trying to get up a graving-dock, for white!; they have not yet sufficient means. Let Iheuj bsgin with the shed, as the least expensive aud thel most needed at present.- We shall watch Ihe proceedings of the Board with great interest,; and it is to be hoped that, when they have made themselves sufficiently eom/prlablo, they will turn then.' attention to tho public &-e:il, i

The annual meeting of tho r.-il -c f' the Grafton Road Highway District w.i_) held yesterday afternoon. A throe-halfpenny rate was struck, and Messrs.' Hughes, •T- L White, Dyson, Pierce,- atitl Woon were elected trustees. Tho question of considering a higher rate was adjourned for a fortnight. I

A correspondent sends us the, following, hut t3 what particular portion of road we know j not: —"You will oblige by itfeerfing the' following : An unlucky piece of road.—The | following accidents have happened jvitliin' a very recent date :—Major's horse killed,;". Stewart's shaft broken; Motrin's'man'thrown • out of a waggon twice, and' wheel-passed, oyer him ; horse thrown down1, with a.load of hay,,? two shafts broken, and a marinearly killed ; Pearson maimed for life; Morrin's shaft of cart broken ; Major George's horse severely injured, and carters are in .numerous difficulties in backing into the curb."

Laura Fair was condemned to he hung on the 28th of July inst., her application for ■ a new trial having beenrefused. The New York Times, in commenting upon the Fair case, says: There appears no way in which the California murderess, Mrs. Laura D. Fail', can escape the penalty of her crime. The laws of that State do not permit the Governor to interfere in any other way than by granting an absolute pardon—a power which he will ba loth to exercise in the present state of publio feeling. The doomed woman, we are told, continues to receive demonstrations of sympathy from ' the " strong minded" of her sex, who protest in the most violent language again at her execution. Therein, it appears to us, they are a little inconsistent. They are continually boasting of their equality with men in all respects, jand clamoring for the rights of men. Why, then, should they not bo subject to the same penalty for their crimes ? There is certainly nothing in Mrs. Fair's case requiring that mercy should be strained in her favour. Even " strongminded women" could find yo justification for the murder of her lover, bovver excusable she may have been in getting rid ofl'two husbands.