The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 577, 15 November 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 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 have received a letter from "Inquirendo," drawing attention to the similarity in the mining reports of the Cross and Ilerald in this morning's issue of our contemporaries, Mnd enquiring if the reporter for tlio two papers is the" same person. 'Hiving made enquiry, ■we find that the. Thames correspondent of the Iterald, being very unwell, requested the correspondent of the Cross to furnish a copy of. hia notes to the Herald, which is the cause of the identity of the two reports. We arc sure that our correspondent will admit with us that in the case of sickness sucJi natural help is not only pardonable, but right,

- The opera of " Faust " was to bavo been given on next; Saturday at the Prince of Wales Opera House, but has been postponed until the following Monday, when several well-known amateurs will join the ranks of the company. In lieu of it;tbe popular opera of "£a Somnambula " will be placed on the

stage. This being one of the best known and best understood by British ears, will be certain to draw a full house ; and the fact that last evening during the performance of the same opera the theatre was crowded anct the audience thoroughly pleased, affords additional grounds for believing that the manager is right in deciding on its reproduction.

We always imagined that Iho foliage of the Government Domain was of such a character that the trampling of a dog could not injure the vegetation to any grout extent, aud it would really appear that the mythical trustees, of whoso proceedings no one ever hears anything, have hitherto been of the same opinion, for there is no proper fence round the place, and nothing to prevent any animal whatever from penetrating to its inner recesses. Although this is the fact, there is a by-law providing a penalty for the owner of every canine quadruped which dares to peimtruLu the racred recesses of the tabooed ground and revel among the luxuries of echiL), Phormium lenax, supplejack, tree ferns, and rubbish of every description. But an atrocity was committed the other morning, and a wretched dog was rash enough to follow his mistress into the select spot, and by a very curious coincidence, one of the men employed on the ground was at work. This man seems to have been seized with a sudden influx of unusual energy, and made an elephant-like rush towards the quadruped, which having four legs, while the custodian having only two, contrived to evade him, and plunged frantically through the scrub with the terrors of the law behind him, tearing, in his rash progress, several leaves oil'the valuable plants originally found there by the Maoris. The unfortunate lady, however, was not so lucky, for when the hard-worked gardener returned from the pursuit of the refractory quadruped, he fouud its mistress standing in a state of alarm j and having found her name, took measures to compel her to at end at the Police Court. In that shady nook the poor lady had to appear the other morning; and there she stool, unused to the gaze and coarse remarks of the loafers who atteud that temple of Justice, trembling and hiding her face, uncertain whether she was to be hanged or only imprisoned for life, for committing, or suffering to be committed, that awful outrage on the property of the people, vested in the hands of that hitherto inert body the Domain B.'.ird Although she was only fined in a nominal penalty, and that whs only imposed because the law compelled the justices t> do it, the circumstance shews that the Domain people have awakened with the summer, like the hybernatiug quadrupeds, and are determined to do their duty at all risks. Long may they live to do it, and long may it be before they catch another wretched dog destroying their pet scrub, and long also may it be before their roads and tracka through the forest, protected as a garden, are again left in the impassable stato in which they have been left during the last bad season, while the labourers were undergoing their winter sleep.

A numerously-attended meeting of the Auckland Alliance, for the suppression of the liquor traffic, was held on Tuesday evening last. The only business before it was the subject of union between this society and the New Zealand Auxiliary of the United Kingdom Alliance. The following resolution was passed : —" That the committee regret very much the absence of Dr. Rayner, but being exceedingly anxious for union between the societies, appoint Messrs. Hemus, Car, and the Secretary, to obtain an interview .vith Dr. Rajner for the purpose of bringing the subject under his notice, and personally inviting him \o meet with us 'ou__^^«Wl'flffa^f&3? 4T'ven o'clock p.m.

The Kyber Pass Road has hitherto been a most dangerous thoroughfare for both pedestrians and equestrians. The former were liable to come to grief against the sido of the cutting when pressed by farmers driving home at night from market, as there was no footpath, and the road very narrow ; and at n spot a little lower, the hitter were subject to the immiinent danger of a fall over a precipice if tho horse should happen to have imbibed too freely during his stay in town. Many such accidents have actually occurred, and several lives have been lost. It was with pleasure, therefore, that on passing the place this morning, we found prison labor was being utilised in widening the cutting, so as to give room for a good footpath, and that the material cut away was being carried off to widen the embankment further down. Another good thing in this transaction is that prison labor is employed, as it, always should be, and although not directly remunerative, is so indirectly, by performing Avork which would certainly have bad to be paid for ere long. The work, too, we may mention, ia being carried out in a proper manner, and the unfortunate criminals are doing their best, and toiling like paid mechanics.

Tho Wabash (Indiana) county ha 3 always been celebrated for the persistency and quality of its fever and ague. A local phy.-ician thus describes the genuine Wabash article : " It come 3 creeping up a fellow's back like a ton of wildcats : goes crawling through hia joints like iron spikes, and is followed by a lever ■which prohibits tho patient from thinking of anything but Greenland's icy mountains. It isn't the ' c very-other-day' kind, but gets up with a man at daylight, and Bleeps in the small of his back all night. His teeth feel about sis inches long, his joints wobble like a loose wagon wheel, and the shakes are so steady that one can't hold conversation except by putting in dashes."

Two members of the West Virginia Legislature lately took the sleeping cars to go to Gratton. The cars were crowded, and the two had to sleep together. One was fat; the other was lean; the fat man snored, and the lean man therefore lay awake. At about midnight the inßomnie legislator could no longer stand the stertorous breathing of his mate, and arose and sat by the fire. An old lady entered, and wanted a place to sleep. " Gfo to my berth," said the sardonic lean one, " I left my little boy asleep there ; I shall sit up. I must think of legislative things." So the lady went to the berth, disposed of useless clothing, and lay down. Presently the " boy" kicked. Then the lady patted him on the back and said, "lie still, sonny ; pa said I might sleep along with, you." '" Oh, oh! " roared the bison—a boy no more, but a bison. " Thunder 1 who are you ? I ain't a boy. I'm a member of the West Virginia Legislature." The lady went into a swoon, nor could she be aroused till the fat mun promised her that lie would have the lean one impeached. What IT COSTS.—Commissioner Wol Is, who has been gathering facts and statislioS concerning drinking and its cansequonces/ furnishes these facts:—"6oo,ooo common drunkards ill the United States ; 1,500,000,000d01. spent every year in intoxicating drinks ; 2,000,000 people, including women and children, involved in misery by the habitual use of alcoholic liquor, as a beverage, every year; 200,000 panpera in ado every yenr by drunkenness; 400 suicides of drunkards every year; 300 murders every yea- b.y clmukiirds ; 200,000 orphans male yearly by the. drunkenness of parents; 100,000 people yearly sent to drunkards' graves ; 100,000 drunkards sent toprii-oii every year; 130,000 licensed dram-shop.-' f 390,000 persons employed in them; 40,000,000d01. expended in preventing crime, caused'by them, every year; 1,573,491,816d01. paid every year fov intoxicating drinks at dram shops."