Untitled

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1976, 4 September 1869, Page 2

Magistrate’s Court. —ln the Resident Magistrate’s Court, to-day, the only criminal information was laid by the Town Belt Hanger against P. M’Nulty, for cutting down a tree on the public road, between Duke and Leith streets. The tree was valued at L2 ss. Ho was ordered to be imprisoned four days with hard labor.

Gaol Return.—The following is the state of Her Majesty’s gaol, Dunedin, for the week ending Sept. 4 : — Awaiting trial, 0 men, 0 women; under remand, 0 men, 0 w-men ; penal servitude, 27 nmn, 0 women ; hard labor, 60 men, 11 women ; imprisonment, 0 men, 0 women ; in default of bail, 1 man, 0 women ; debtors, 6 men, 0 women ; total. 94 men, 11 women. Deceived during the week, 10 men, 3 women; di charged, 9 men, 3 women. Princess Theatre.—There was a crowded house last evening, the performance being for the benefit of Miss Anna Forde The piece de resistance was the favorite mu,fieri comedy of “The Daughter of the Regiment,” with the beneficiore as Josephine. The task undertaken by Miss Forde was a very arduous one, for, in addition to the piece being new to her, she had to face an audience inclined to be very critical, and i f whom a large portion possessed vivid recollections of tbe performance of the same character by artistes whe have achieved a high position in their profession Miss Forde’s assumption of the character will, in some respects, bear favorable comparison with that of some of the artistes we have referred to. Her acting was on the who e good, and she sang tbe incidental music very sweetly. The great defect was, that she failed to infuse into her performance sufficient martial ardor ; her Josephine is more of the country coquette, than the gay vivandiere. The part of the Duchess de Grandtete was admirably played by Mrs Jackson ; and that of the Marchioness was most creditably filled bv Miss Ma'thews. Mr Forde was Sergeant Scal’ade, but he did not play the ■ ■art to our liking at all. The Duke De Grandtete was placed by Mr Woolfe ; but his conception of the character did not please us. He made the Duke to be one of tbe Dundreary species, and as such he acted very well. Miss Forde received a call before the curtain at the end of the second act. The comic duett “Beautiful Swells” was given in character by Mrs Howard and Miss Forde. and was twice encored—the ladies substituting “He’s a Pal o’ Mine” the second time. The burlesque of “The In visible Prince ” b ought the perf -nuances to a close. This evening Mr Talbot will make his appearance as Richard the Third, and will be supported by Messrs Jas. Bartlett and Rayner. Savings Bank Returns. —The last New Zealand Gazette snppl es some interesting information relative to savings banks transactions in the colonv, which shows a marked addition to the sphere of usefulness of this c’ass of instituti n, and a very large increase on the aggregate of capital. In the second quarter of 1809, there were 56 of these banks in the colony, while for thsame quarter in the previous year there were 48 ; the new accounts opened being in a similar ratio ; but tbe amounts of the deposits by new account were not so. for wh de the number of accounts in the second quarter in 1808 is 806. representing L 24.953 19s 7d it takes 921 during the similar perk'd of 1809 to represent the lesser sum of L 24.451 15s. This would apparently show that the depositors have either less to deposit, or that they have sought a more profitable investment, or withdrawn their deposits altogether for the purpose of leaving the Colony. The latter seems to be the most likely, as the b tal of balances remaining this year is con-iderably less than in the previous year. In 1868, there was L 20.442 14s 4d ; " hile in this year there ff only L 14.526 4s 7d. It is further shown by the fact that both the number of deposit© s and the amount deposited in 1809 were in excess of thorn of 1868 ; yet the number of withdrawals and the amount they repr sented were, also great' r in tbe for rner year. The number <*f accounts closed in th° second quarter of 1868 was 329 reoresenting L 9.231 9s Id ; the number for the same quarter of this year was 405, representing L 16.598 l°s lOd From the popularity of savings’ banks’ transactions, it were hard to account for this decrease in their capital, unless by attributing it to the present and recent general dep-ession. mainly the reaction resulting from our ruinous Avar expenditure. We hope that the correspondin'? tables for 1870 will show that during the recess the tables have been turned. Woollen Manufactures. with the greatest pleasure that we learn of the motion proposed to the House of Assembly by the Colonial Treasurer, affirming the desirability of encouraging local manufactures, and bringing the theory into practice by s-ggesting “ that in obtaining Avoollen cloths and blankets for the Defence Force, preference should be given to local manufactures over imported goods, supposing that taking the serviceable use itUo consideration the cost will not be greater.” This is the kind of protection the country wants, the development of that instinct of self-preserva-tion which is the first law of our nature, and which should be as poweiful a principle when applied to the salvation of a community from commercial suffering, as it is when acting to preserve their bod es from physical pain Looking at the en rmous consumption in our colony of such simple manufactures as blue serge and plain cloth (such as the Nelson tweed, the manu facture of which has been proved to pay) we must'bo astonished at our own want of

energy in failing to appropriate to ourselves so profitable an employmen’ for capital and labor. Even if tbe first cost of articles of borne manufacture is somewhat more than that of imported goods, it must be borne in mind that in the primitive ifim"linity of our manufactures we shall he for some time probable more bo- e t, and less gi> eti to adulteration of the raw material, than are our highly “educated” manufacturers at home, and we shall more than gain in extra wear a return for our slightly increased expenditure. It is not to the matter of woollen cloths or blankets alone that we should confine our present efforts to the establishment of local factories. There is not the slightest reason why the colony should th'ow into other hands the profits of the manufacture as well as the charge itself, with a double carriage to the other side of the world, ill all the wool bales and cnrnsacks we make use of and consume. In December, 1807. the return of sheep throughout the country was 8,418,579. Taking a low estimate of one wool bale required for every 100 fleeces, we must consume at least 84,140 baies, besides an immense quantity of sacks for corn and other agricultural products. The statistics of 1867 show that bags and bales were imported to the value of L 55,000. Wellington Independent,

The Telegraph Department.—ln the House of Representatives, on August 20, Mr Burns asked if the Government would close the telegraph offices on Sunday, and said he asked it, not on religious grounds, but because- he thought a very hard-worked class of Government officials should have one day’s rest out of seven. Mr Vogel said that, in the very disturbed state of the country at present, the Government could not shut the offices the whole day, but, like the late Go vernnnnt, they wou'd, as far as possible, discourage the sending of telegrams on Sunday.

Theatrical. —A private letter from England states that while Mr Harwood, one of the lessees of the Theatre Royal Melbourne, was in London engaging novelties for the Colonies, he arranged with Mr B. L. Farjeo i fir an original drama from that gentleman’s pen. Mr Farjeo-i is well known as being a successful dramatic writer during the the time he %vas in Dunedin ; and as the plot of the drama is to be in some way connected Avith the Colonies, there is a likelihood of its proving one of Mr Harwood’s trump cards. Sir George Grey. Sir George Grey does not seem to have forgotten us. In Ei gland as foimerly in New Zealand, he uses every effort in his power for the advancement of the country he takes so deep an intere-t in, and raises his voice +o denounce any attempts to slander or injure it. Th- European Mail , in the report of a meeting of the National Association for the promotion of social science, says Sir George Grey undoubtedly ma le the speech of tbe evening. He re f erred more especially to Lord Granville’s la e despatch to the Governor of New Zea'and, and asserted that it would probab'y lead to _ fresh series of nrsstatements f' om beginning to end. “My heart,” he exchrmed, “is almost breaking at th- accounts I’ve lat ly rec ived from NeAV Zealand.” The veteran Gove nor spoke so quietly, and yet so eloquently, that he evidently carried the meeting Avith him. He wont on to that, in his opinion, the Colonial Secretary ought at least to i ave a council, like the Indian Secretary, to advise him. Until injury had accrued, he asserted, to the Colonies from the ignorance of the heads of the Colonial Office, avlio were appointed to their high duties frequently without the lea-t previous training” —Evening Post, Aug. 21. The Water Yelocipede. This species of velocipede has been tried in Christ church, and fo nd to answer admirably. The principle of the machine is thus described by a c iiitemporary :—As, on the principle of working direct Avith the fret on the cranks, the top weight must be heavy, the main ■ litficulty is in having a boat of sufficient beam to prevent its being crank. The ol I plan Avas to work tbe cranks by hand in a sitting posture, a wheel being on either side. Much greater lightness, however, combined Avith steadiness, has been obtained by having two boats about' ne foot or eighteen inches apart, each about one foot beam and twelve or fifteen feet long, strongly b' aced with flat iron bars, as il ustrated in one of the papers before mentioned. The wheel working between the boats is shown as about three fe-t in diameter, covered in Avith a light paddlebox, the river sitting behind on a raddle as on the bicycle, and propelling in the same manner, steadying himself by a cross-handle to which the stirrup apparatus—rods or lines from either one or two rudders— is attached. It is stated that two b-ats or canoes of this description can with safety stand much rougher water than an ordinary gig, the speed attained being about six miles per hour with but slight exertion.

A Case of Ratting.—One of the moat amusing instances of journalistic ratting which ever took place occurred last Aveek. Mr Anderson. Avho has v.-ry ablv filled the po-4 of ed : tor of the Independent for the last seven years, was compelled to resign last Avee l; owing to ill health. Mr Anderson is well known as m able and excell mt edit-r, and under his care Hie Independent rose from n miserable rag to a faffly respect dfle journal. Ever since Mr We d’s day, the Independent has been one of the most earnest and consistent supporters of self-r limce. even Avhen mo-t bitterly opposed to Mr Stafford’s Govemment. Since Mr Fox has been in office, the In dependent has been an Opposition paper, but it av s pretty Avell knoAvn that the Gov- rnmeut was anxious fo secure its support, and that Mr M'Kenzie was anxious to emerge from the cool shades of Opposition into the glow and sunshine of Government patronage. As soon as Mr Anderson’s resignation afforded an opportunity, negotiations were ent red into through the medium of VD Knowlos, of the Superintendent’s office, and the following day, without a Avord of apology or explanation, the Independent renounced self-reliance, and came out Avith a flaming article in favor of tbe Government resolutions for sending for troops. And so, under the temporary editorship of Mr John Knowles, the Independent has become a strong Government organ, having most unkindly cut out the poor little Post, which f mght so hard for the present Government, and for a time aspired to the dignity of “organ.” The Post is of course a little nii-oved, ft”d no worn!- r ; but the Independent is jubila >t in it< new line, and as long as it eu]ovs the Government patronage is quite willing to let people laugh at it.— Wairarapa Mercury. Lecture on New Zealand —The London correspondent of the Melbourne

Argus, writes last week it was my good fortune to be present at a meeting of the Ethnological Society, at which Sir George Grey read an admirable paper on “ ihe social life of the anch nts Inhabitants of New Zealand ” He traced ami illustrated the resemblance which appeared to bun to exist between the social fife of the ancient New Zea'anders and the ancient Britons. Sir George Grey’s papers le:t the conviction upon the audience that the Maoris ha I attained to a much higher state of civilization than wis g nerally supposed. He read, as a specimen of their literature, an ancient New Zealand legend abont a chief named Power, which kept his hearers hovering between tears and laughter. He narrated an anecdote of a New Zealand chief who complained to him that the English Press misrepresented his people, judging them all from two or three individuals, and adding that he believed if a fellow-Maori, blind in one eye, should go England, the papers there would immediately say that all New Zealande. s had only one eye. The Bishop of Wellington also addressed the Society on the ethnology of New Zealand, and interspersed his remarks with anecdotes. He told how a New Zealander had defended cannibalism to him, saying, “The food of birds is birdfood, the food of beast is beast-food, &c., and, therefore, the food of man is man-food.” He also related that Queen Victoria some time ago, asking Bishop Selwyn if the Maori women were pretty, he replied, “I will answer your Majesty as Captain Cook did your illustrious graudsire in respect to the Tahiti women—they are quite pretty enough for the men.”