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Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2041, 19 November 1869, Page 2

The Mayor’s Court. —We understand a special meeting of the City Council was held to-day, to take into consideration the steps necessary for initiating the Mayor’s Court. Supreme Court. A sitting in bankruptcy will be held on Monday next, commencing at ten o’clock. Mr Justice Ward is, we believe, a passenger by the Phoebe, which is due here on Sunday. Princess Theatre. —The drama of the “Cornish Wreckers,” and the farce of “To oblige Benson,” were repeated last evening to a moderate house This evening the performance will comprise “ Hearts are Tramps,” and the burlesque of “The Maid and the Magpie,” and it is anticipated there will he a full house. Cricket. —The return match between the married and single of the Citizens C.C. will be played to-morrow on the C.C.C. ground, commencing at 1.30 p.m. The following are the names of the players ;—Married : Pledger, Fish, Woodilield, Thompson, Gardner, Watson, Clark, Swire, Asher, Marsden, and Elam. Single : Aids, Cole, F. M. Coxhead, Ferguson, G. W. Geddes, A. Josling, Morrison, Peake, Smith, and Whetham.—There will also be a match between an eleven chosen by Mr Maddock and an eleven selected from the sixteen chosen to practise for the Canterbury match. Masonic Ball. — The ball under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity of this city, took place at the Masonic Hall last evening, and was a very successful affair. The arrangements were very complete, and reflected the greatest credit on those who had the undertaking of them. The attendance was not so numerous as we expected ; but those who were present must have heartily enjoyed themselves. The hall was very tastefully decorated with bunting, evergreens, and Masonic emblems, by Mr Webb ; and the refreshment department, which was under the supervision of Mr Job Wain, gave general satisfaction. The orchestra was filled by M. Fleury’s baud, to whose excellent music the company tripped the light fantastic toe, until an advanced hour this morning.

Nevis. —The mining population is set dowij. as 100 Europeans an i 200 Chinamen. Nfllani* and party are at work on Slaughterhouse Jiill. lately amalgamated with the ad joining claimiioldfcii, a„'.d are now engaged putting in a tunnel in the expectation of striking gold at a distance of 600 feet into the hill. In prospecting the ground two shafts were sunk from ilio brow of the range, hut the water made so fast when they had gone down 100 feet that the working had to be abandoned. They have now deepened their tailrace, with the view of getting the water carried off into it through the tunnel. A shaft is to he put down so as to meet the tunnel at a distance of 300 feet from the mouth. The stuff is to i.e raised surface through this shaft, so that the remainder of the tunnel will he left entirely for drainage purposes. Connell and party, at work in the same locality, are reported to have struck very good gold, and have since commenced putting down another shaft. Ridley mid party have aiso taken to tunnelling. After slujcing a portion of their ground they find the load dip on the off side, consequently they were banked in whliout sufficient fall. It was with the view of remedying this state of matters that they knocked off sluicing, and betook themselves to tunnelling. The Chinese are all engaged on the flat, and quite a township has sprung up amongst them. Plymouth Brethren. The TF«iraropi Mercury of a recent date says ; “ One of those scenes that bps made the Wairarapa during iho last six months go notorious took place at Masterton on Sunday last. The sect known generally by t ie above name, but whose members refuse the appellation, has been in the habit of holding mo l tings at different times both in Carter Um and Masterton, under the direction of Messrs Feist, Compton, and Grayir •, since the much regretted accident that caused the death of Mr Backhand. So long as their services have hgt-n conducted quietly and orderly we have not tlgQUiiht it pur duty to cntici-e the meeting or the doctiipes propounded to the various audiences. But vhep religion is turned into ridicuie and opportunity is given to those who never neglect the .change offered of "turning subjects that ought to be treated with respect into ribald jests, we canpot abstain from pointing out to the pulfiic general y, apd t: e sect of which Mr Feit is the recpgnised Lead in the Wairarapa in particular, the advisability of either discontinuing his practices, or of adopting some more private and judicious manner to carry ,tbcm out. The spectacle on Sunday last, of a crowd, numbering soim* threescore people, gazing at Mr Compton baptising or “ dipping ” some dozen people of different sexes in a creek running at the back of Mr Feist’s residence is, we are glad to sa} r , not often seen in this distret. One old man (whose gray hairs should at least have protected him from ridicule) too feeble to walk, was actually carried into the bath. He had passed the age mentioned by the Psalmist as the period to which man can aspire to live, ami had gxpcrieuced an epileptic fit some time ago. It ip needless to add that the result is what might have been expepted to ensue, if spiritiu lly cured, bis body is cprtainly wo se. The whole proceedings were a grotesque burlesque, on the Baptismal Qeiembjuy, The candidates, with hands folded —wonn n’s garments being tied round the ( ffioiating cha-gyyian taking hold of what a policeman would term the T scruff of die n< ck,” and plunging the patient backwards bocldy, head and all, into the muddy water—the plunging—the religious formula used—the sputtering—the reappearance all dripping -the congratulatory shake of the

hands on “ a soul being saved ” —and all this taking place amid an uproar of what we believe they term “ singing,” were sights that may be imagined hut, cannot possibly be described. Mr Feist himself was a candidate, and thought the most appropriate costume for the occasion was a large pair of indiaruhber boots, reaching past the knee, which must have been a considerable weight when full of water. He wound up the performance with a sermon, and at the conclu sion a profane member of the audience threw a dog into the bath. If people will go to these meetings to gape with wonder and ridicule, they might at least keep their blasphemous remarks to themselves, until the departure of those members of the sect who regard it as a part of their religion. Lord Stanley on Agriculture.— We all sec that farming is becoming every year more and more of a scientific business. Implements are more numerous, more effective, and I am afraid, as a consequence, more costly ; and the principle of substituting mechanical appliances for human or for brute force is one which must inevitably train ground. If there is one result that inevitably follows from that state of things it is this, that farming, to be successful, cannot be carried on without a certain amount of capital, whether that capital is contributed by the landlord or by the tenant, or by both together ; and, next, I think it follows that farming cannot, in the long run, succeed if it is carried on in such a manner or upon such a scale as to render the use of mechanical appliances impossible. These iwo conclusions seem to me irresistible ; and they are important because there is, ill the present day, a school of thinkers, amiable and kind hearted men, and no doubt sincerily persuaded of the truth of the theory which they set fo>th, who believe that it would be a great gain to this country if the land were to be in general, the property of tlv se who work it with their own hands. In other words, if, instead of our system of landlord and tenant, we were to have that peasant proprietary which already prevails in many parts of Europe. That system is, in my mind, equivalent to the substitution of hand labour for machinery, and to the separation of the capital ©f the country from the soil of the country. To my mind, therefore, it involves, not progress, bnt retrogression. It is going back from the system of the factory, with its thous.-nd hands, to the handloom weaver; it is ignoring, as 1 conceive, all the tendencies and requirements of modern industrial life. — Mail.