The Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1865.

Evening Post, Issue 175, 30 August 1865, Page 2

The Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1865.

The Town B iard met yesterday at three o'clock for the last time, when the Commissioners formally resigned. The Treasurer presented a statement of receipts and expenditure, and vaiious outstanding accounts were ordered to be paid. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman and Treasurer for their past services. i The Storm Bird, Captain Thompson, arrived / this morning from Wanganui, bringing 20 cabin and 23 steerage passengers. The barque Omega, 400 tons, 9. Urquhart, arrived at ten this morning, witli 600 tons of coal, for the N. Z. S. N. Company. Left Newcastle on the 19th inst. with a light southerly wind. On 23rd, encountered a heavy storm and high sea ; shipped a quantity of water which carried away the galley, long boat, and several spars, and did other damage. Afterwards met a water-spout and altered her course to avoid it. A meeting of the City of Wellington Band of Hope was held last night, at the Weslcyan Schoolroom, Manners street, when about sixty children were present. Mr. Tolley presided, and Messrs. Read, Fraser, and Levy> delivered addresses. Singing and recitation followed. The money collected at the Penny Bank amounts to £5 ss. **"¦ Tho adjourned debate on the Panama quesv tion was resumed in the House of Representatives yesterday, an fihstract of which we hike from the Advertiser. The Postmaster General said that n contract had been made, an Act endorsed, and no resolution of the house could affect it ; moreover, the Imperial Treasury approved of the present arrangement. Mr. Vogel was in favour of making Auckland and Otago the ports of call, and aborted that Wellington could never be made n f^rcat commercial city — it could never equal Auckland or Dunedin. Mr. C. Ward said tii it most of the gentlemen who had spoken in l.'.votir of this question did so, not to do the best they could for the colony, but to benefit their particular provinces as far as po<!sf))lp, or they would never have overlooked tho patent and self-evident fact that there was no .such central position as Wellington, or one where the mails can be so ppeedily shipped and discharged? 1 * Suppose that the mails came to Auckland ami that they were immediately transhipped into M earners which would run down the F<ast iind West Coasts, th< j y would have to call at Tnnranga, Napier, Castle Point, Tarnn.iki, Wellington, Pictou, Nelson, Lyttelton, Port f'linlinprs, and the Bluff, making a total of Die number of days which all ports would be w iMiHf for tluir 1 ¦¦•(¦¦•l •<, ir \*n f iH : 'n"'i •» n

Ii nr i!"vs. r lho difference in favour of tlio latter port would, therefore, be seventeen days As Wellington was the centre of the island our different steamers could be sent in vnrions directions, instead of the two only which could be sent from either A uckland or Olago, thus saving a considerable amount of time, and the whole of the work could bu done at, once. From Wellington six provinces out of the nine could be readied within a d.iv of the mails being landed, and t'le steamers on such short trips would have no delays of any kind iii the way of coaling, &o. Now a steamer having to make the whole run from Auckland down would have to stop to coal. T.ie groat duty of the house in this matter was to consider the speediest and best me ins to obtain speedy postal communication. It was no part of their business to enquire — now that the contract was taken — whether the contractors could do the work for Jess money than had been agreed upon. Until a proposition was laid before them to do the work in less time and for less money, it was not their duty to enquire into it. If all advantages were to be sacrificed in order to save expense they were doing that for the contractors Avhich they could very well d& for themselves. If the work coulrl be dove cheaper and worse byAuckland and Otago, the contractors would be gaining at the Colony's loss. Wellington also stood in the same central position with regard to the other Colonies as it did to tho Provinces of New Zealand. He hoped that the House would bear in mind that the great point to be considered was; that this was a postal question, and that the greatest advantages to he got was to deliver the mails with the greatest possible despatch. The Bit me number of days would be lost by the steamer coming to Wellington or Otago. Four days at least would be lost in their conveyance from Auckland to Of ago or vice versa, whereas the commercial advantage wwuld be the same both ways. No commercial advantages would be gained by altering to the ports they wished. And then the other ports would also look to have their fair share of advantages. Now, these latter would gum seven or eight days by having Wellington for the port of call, and it' was therefore the most desirable. The amendment that the matter be referred to a select committee, was lost by a majority of 24 to 18. Mr. Mantell has given notice ol motion for Friday nexl. :— " That if any loyal and friendly natives have been, or should be, found to he imprisoned on board the Manakau, it is right that due compensation should be paid tc them by Government, accompanied by a due apology for tho indignity." On Saturday last, about nine o'clock p.in , a whare, situated in Ball street, in the occupation of Mrs. Mullins, wife of a soldier of the Csth, was entirely burned to the ground. The poor woman, being very industrious bad with her savings just erected a neat little cottage in front of the whare in which she lived. The two buildings were so close together that the flames from the whare caught the side of the cottage, which, had it not been for the timely assistance rendered by some of the neighbours, must have fallen a piey to the devouring element. As it was, however, the wind miraculously shifted, and the cottage escaped, beyond a mere scorching and charring. We hear the unfortunate sufferer lost everything she possessed, and that it is contemplated to raise a subscription to assist her. — Wanganui Times. A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writing from Hokitika, 1 4th August, says — " We are an orderly people here, and a moral ; but we are quite as much in want of religious instruction as our brethren on the East Coast. We have had a visit from a Catholic priest ; and good and active Mr. Buller has travelled the overland route to see his peculiar flock ; but no Church of England clergyman has put in an appearance, nor has the Bishop cither of Christchuroh or Nelson sent any one to spy out the land. Perhaps this notice, and a few remarks from yourself, might have the d sired dtuct." An important notice has been issued by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, calling the attention of the Trustees of Insolvent Estates, under the provisions of the Debtors and Creditors Act, to the fact that the Act requires the payment of one shilling in the pound on the gross amount of money received iv the estate, to be paid into the Supreme Court to the Ififedit of the Insolvent Estates Fund. The payment of this charge has been neglected hym-'ir pers-on^ bavin;. 1 ; ti, ••>iVJ ' I'Kii; (it r |,n f, u,i !<>r -Ji-'i'l" "¦' i'"J ' ' o'tii", aiiu \n<v toliii -- .irr 'iiiHiol 'to be I i. it, all -ieiVuiUi-K."-' !¦ i^o Times. (