The Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1865.

Evening Post, Issue 83, 16 May 1865, Page 2

The Evening Post. TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1865.

The Hon. Mr. Sewell has consented to bebecome a candidate for the representation of New Plymouth. The following is hig address to the electors :— Gentlemen-— I accept with great pleasure your requisition to me to become a candidate for the representation of the town of New Plymouth in the General Assembly. It affords me gratification to observe that the special ground on which you invite me to become your representative is my sympathy with Taranaki in its troubles. I can assure you with great sincerity that you do me no more than justice in attributing to me that sentiment, and that the reinstatement of that province is one of the cardinal points of the policy of the Goxernment of which I am a member.— l have the honor to be, gentlemen, your most obedient servant, H. Sewell. Wellington, 24th April, 1865." Notice is given that the civil cases will not be called on for trial at the Supreme Couruntil Thursday, the Bth day of June, at ten o'clock. The Court will sit in Banco on the 15th, at eleven o'clock forenoon. A meeting of Foresters, Court of Sir George Grey, i« convened for this evening, at eight o'clock, at Barrett's Hotel, for the purpose of opening a new Court in connection with the order. A full attendance of members is requested. A meeting of the Volunteer Fire Brigade assembled, pursuant to convention, at eight o'clock yesterday evening, in the Mechanics' Institute—Captain Lewis Moss in the chair, On the roll being called over, thirty-two balloted members responded, and the business of the evening commenced by reading over the minutes of the last meeting which were confirmed. Owing to the absence of the Rev. A Stock, no Treasurer's report could be furnished, but the Secretary explained that the balunce of £96 5s 9d was in favour of the Brigade, exclusive of the Insurance money. The tender of Mr, T. F. Drummond, to letter the caps of the Brigade at the rate of 5d

each was accepted. The following gentle" men were duly elected to examine into and revise the prpc°nt rules and regulations of the corp' ;— Captain Moss, Lieutenant Boardman, and Messrs. E. Moss, C. T. Richardson, Whiteford. The following gentlemen wero nominated as officers for the ensuing year, to be electi'd next month : — As Captain, Mr. L. Moss ; as Lieutenant, Mr. Boardman ; as hose foreman, Messrs. J?amus,B-Levy, Fargte> \\ hiteford ; as hook and ladder foremen, Messrs. Quin, Whisker, Brown, Jacobs ; as fire foremen, Messrs. M'Nab, Quin, and Nicholas ; as Treasurer, the Rev. A. Stock ; | as Secretary, Messrs. E. Moss and Jacobs After the following gentlemen were balloted j for and admitted into the corps the business of the evening terminated, and the meeting dispersed : — Messrs. Whiting, Stains, MacKelvie, Beck, Hitch, Scholer, Richards, Richard^ Haynes, Stainer, Duck, Frazer, Thompson, Houston. Last night •' Aladdin or the Wonderful scamp " was represented at this little theatre, and produced in a stj'le that would n fleet credit on even a London ftage. Some how the management seem to improve upon every thing they produce. •• Cinderella " was good both in appointments and the manner in which it was acted. " The Colleen Bawn" was another triumph ; but we certainly were quite unprepared to see " Aladdin " placed upon the a tage in anything like the manner J it was. The scenery by Mr. Charles Mnssey was splendid ; indeed, this gentleman seems a perfect master of his art, and taking into consideration the rapidity with which the pieces are produced, it is certainly astonishing how this clever artist contrives. We must also give great praise to Mr. Ilyder the I mechanist. The dresses, too, were superb, and certainly better have never been seen anywhere. OH the acting glso we cannot speak too highly. The hero of courde was " Aladdin," Miss Marian Dunn, who has added another leaf to her wreath of renown by her impersouation of that idle vagabond boy ; and we can testify that she looked a rare impudent and mischievous little scampHer singing was charming. Miss Maggie Griffiths made a dashing Pekoe, and in appearance and acting was well fitted for the part. Miss Anstead played the Princess very creditably. Mr. John Dunn, the magician' had not a leading part, but it was made to appear so in the able hands of this talented gentleman, to whom nothing seems to come amiss. The emperor was capitally played by Mr. Howe ; his make-up was inimitable, and the idea of the character good. We cannot certainly pass over a lady we have omitted to mention, and to whom the success of the piece is in a great measure due, vizthe Widow Twanky, Mr. Frank Towers, who positively thrpw us into convulsions with his droll acting and make-up— it was perfection, and his acting kept thorough pace with his appearance. Mr. Towers seems to excel in these ecceiitric parts and hits them to a nicety, and more praise is therefore due to him since a female character is by no means an easy task to undertake. But we shall take a further opportunity of referrinu to this excellent piece at full. To night it will be repeated for Miss Marian Dunn's benefit with " Guynneth Vaughan," when we have no doubt that a handsome tribute will be paid to this young lady's desert. Durii g her sojourn here she has become a universal favourite, and deservedly so, for her talent is beyond dispute, and we hope that she will continue amongst us, so that we shall have other opportunities of reviving those pleasant j evenings we have already spent at the Theatre Royal. N vJ&he Porirua Koad Cricket Club played their last game for the season on Saturday. The match was between the married and single, the latter winning by 47 runs.^ The following is from the Marlborough Press of the 10th inst.— "Mr. Murdoch, formerly a clerk in the Bank of New Zealand t who has been lying for the last six months in the Picton gaol awaiting his trial on a charge of having robbed the Bank to the extent of JE3700, was forwarded to Nelson by the steamer Wellington, and with him went as witnesses the whole of the staff of the Picton branch of the Bank of New Zealand. While the case is sub judice we withhold any remarks as to the probability of the unhappy man's innocence or guilt • but we 9hall have occasion to speak when tho trial is over upon certain very remarkable features which surround the charge. One mattter we are at liberty to mention is, that no fresh evidence has been obtained tending to prove the guilt of the prisoner, and it is doubtful whether the grand jury will return a true bill on the

¦ indictment. Two other prisoners have likewise been sent from this province to be tried at Nelson on criminal charges ; some civil cases will likewise be heard there." The West Coast Times says :— '• The Steamer Ruby arrived here on Friday last, from Dunedin via Nelson. The arrival of this boat has caused considerable satisfaction, and to none more than ourselves, as the plant of this paper was on board, and the lengthy passage of the Ruby (24 days) has occasioned great inconvenience and heavy loss. Far be it from us to depreciate the value of this noble vessel, but we may observe that for the future, if tho Ruby and a sardine tin be advertised to start for a certain port, we know in which conveyance we'd trust ourselves. We have hitherto laboured under the impression that a steamer had an advantage over a sailing brat, but it appears that it was reserved for our Hokotika mariners to ' change all that ;' at least, there are vessels in port that sailed after, and arrived before, that remarkable ' screw' the Ruby." We extract the following from the Moiyneux Mail : — "During the past few weeks a notorious character in the person of a man named Murphy, alias Couroy, has been committing a series of systematic plundering with a coolness and calculation that would do honour to a better cause. Commencing near Tuapeka, he paid several stores and hotels a nocturnal visit, and appropriated sundry articles in the way of cash, gold rings, clothing, &c, according to his particular fancy at the moment. A s will be seen in our police report, this worthy broke into Mrs. Ferguson's hotel, on Moa Flat, about ten miles below the Teviot Junction, on the night of the 28th March. Leaving that locality, he travelled (in company with his mate) up the country, pilfering as he went, until he reached the neighbourhood o£ tho Shotover, where he committed a robbery, for which he was tried and committed ; in this instance he stole a large sum of money ; but the only point of identity was a defaced sixpence. The mate of Murphy has not yet been introduced to the police, but perhaps it may be his turn next. Altogether, the robberies supposed to have been committed by this man number nearly twenty, and it has fortunately turned out that with all his expertness he has retained a ring in his possession which has been positively identified by the owner, and thus a clear case has been made out against him. This man has been cleverly tracked by the police, who have been several times close upon his heelg, imd have at last succeeded in blinging him to justice." A Terrible Catastrophe occurred in the port of Havre, on board the Glasgow steamer Australasian. That vessel was being unloaded in the atternoon when a cask of benzoin fell from the crane baok into the hold and burst, the contents ruuning ou^ nto the bottom of the steamer. The labourers shortly after left, but returned in the evening to work by candle light, and four men had gone into the hold with lanterns, when a loud explosion took place, and the spirit becoming ignited the flames rushed up the hatchway as from a volcano. One man only, named Elic, could be rescued, and he was shockingly burnt. The other three must have perished immediately. The flames were shortly after got under, and two firemen, attached to ropes, were let down into the hold to see the fire quite extinguished* and at the same time endeavour to recover the bodies, but at that moment a spark from a torch fell down the hatchway and a second explosion occurred. The two firemen were quickly drawn up, but, being severely burnt» were removed to the hospital with Elie. The last named is in a critical state, but the other two are believed to be out of dangerThe flames were got under a second time, and the vessel being of iron is not much damaged. A Voick from Charleston. — The following is an extract from the Charleston Mercury of Jan. 12:— "The grand crying deficiency in our affairr., political and military, is and has ever been the want of nerve; dema- j gogism in politics and demagogism in the army ; fear of the populace and fear of the soldiery. What we most want now and have ever needed is nerve — nerve, not to break law, but to enforce law ; nerve, not to run into excess and illegality, but to main, tain an inflexible obedience to law and duty« Nerve to be steady and unalterable, not the ! presumptuous arrogance to outstep law and assume power ; nerve to face the enemy, not nerve to bully and oppress frienda. We want nerve in congress ; we want nerve in our generals. It is nerve that has carried Shertnan to Savannah ; it is that which is

now carrying him to cut the confederacy in half. His is an arm> of discipline '; aa army of soldiers, not an army of ragamuffins. He has no generals with rolls of twenty or thirty thousand men, and twenty or thirty hundred in the fields. His men stand to their gunF, not people's chicken-coops and barnyards. His men are full in hand at their posts. He holds them there. He is a general. The condition of the confederate soldiery in this department (and others are little better) is a disgrace to the cause, to the country, and to the whole science of war." Racing and Royalty. — Henry VIII., among the various accomplishments ascribed to him, appears to have possessed a taste for horseflesh, and to have lent no small assist, ance to the amelioration of our indigenous race by the importation of stock from Spain and Turkey. Horses from the former of these countries, which owed their celebrity to its occupation by the Moors, were afterwards more freely introduced into our paddocks by the wreck of the Armada. This fleet had been furnished with a number of choice barbs ; and its destruction upon our coasts proved a boon to the breed of our horses, as well as to the other more important interests. Indeed, we had, on that occasion, much need of some sort of aid in this respect, for Elizabeth's ministers were sorely troubled to mount 5,000 cavalry for repelliug the invasion. Then James I. was the Macedonian Philip of the age. The palace he built at Newmarket, though it was used in the first instance as a hunting box, served as a landmark inaugurating the distinction of that town as a great central emporium, of sport ; and thither generations after generations have repaired. — Once a Week.