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Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2124, 25 February 1870, Page 2

Immigration.—The new ship Jessie Headman, sister ship to the Christian M‘Ausland, sailed from Greenock for Otago, on December 17, with SO passengers. While ct the Tail of the Bank she dragged her anchors and fonled another vessel. She was to he repaired where she lay. Australian Actors.—The “AngloAustralian in London” states that the Lentous are at the Holhorn Amphitheatre ; Lady Don has been indisposed and absent for some weeks, but is recovering ; George Fawcett is playing at the Olympic ; Julia Matthews impersonates the King of the Gold Mines at Covent Garden, in the pantomime called “The Yellow Dwarf ;” Mr and Mrs George Case are shortly expected in England ; Barry Sullivan has gained fresh laurels by his production of “Love’s Sacrifice;” and Charles Wilmot was engaged by Messrs Mansell to appear at the Lyceum in “Opera Boufle” early in January.

The Bendigo Quartz Beefs. —The amalgam from the crushing for the Aurora machine was retorted the latter end of last week, and gave the result of 135 ounces. This comes very close upon the amount antipated. Our Bendigo Gully correspondent says :—“The quantity of stone originally deposited at the. mill for the trial crushing was one hundred tons ; hut as I have already advised you a break-down took place in the machine’ and not more than forty, or at most tifty ftons were put through. The machine has since been repaired, and is now going ahead as fast as possible with tiro second crushing. The Company still continues to take out a few bucketfuls of stone as rich as the specimens 1 advised you of last week. The vein shows no symptoms of exhaustion, although I should be scarcely justified in saying'that its proportions are increasing very rapidly. Indeed, I would prefer reserving an opinion of it for a ferv days longer, until the trench has been taken down to a lower level. The adjoining claim, known a& the Victoria lease, is taking out stone from the eastern boundary shaft, which is showing up splendidly. 1 should not be at all surprised if something very rich was struck in it before many days. Colclongh’s prospecting claim looks remarkably well. They have got from GO to 70 tons at grass, the prospect from which gives six ounces to the ton. Six tons from the Garrick Range Reef at Pipeclay Gully was brought up to the Bendigo battery on the evening of Monday last, it will be put through the stamps on Friday as a trial crashing. It should go at least seven ounces to the ton if the prospect be at all a fair one. On the Alta line a very singular break or otherwise a new lead has just been discovered. It cuts off, so far as I understand in a southern direction, and the Victorian reefers are sanguine that their north and south theory will after all be found to hold good. I cannot in the meantime furnish more detailed particulars.” Australia. —Pressure on our space prevents our giving any lengthy extracts from our Australian files; but we cull the following items from them : —The death of Madame Lucy Escott, the well-known opera singer, in London, is announced.—General Tom Thumb’s troupe consists of himself, Mrs T. T., and her sister, whom the Argus described as “two of the moat pitching epitomies of feminine humanity imaginable,” and Commodore Butt. The General has brought his equipage and ponies with him, all of Lilliputian dimensions, and the coachman is in perfect keeping with the turn-out. —The tragedy enacted at Pentridge when the Rev. Win. Hill fell a victim to the homicidal mania of George Ritsnn, was very nearly being paralleled at the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum very recently, A warder named Christopher Banks was in the act,of putting a Chinese inmate, named Ah Tic, to bed, when the latter, without a word being said to excite him, drew a formidable weapon he had concealed about his person, and made a stab at Banks’s throat, indicting a transverse wound about three inches long, which penetrated to the root of the tongue. Fortunately the wound, though very painful, was not dangerous, and Banks is now able to go about. Ah Tic is one of the most violent lunatics in the asylum, but has not hitherto shown any homicidal tendency, his fury generally being shown in biting, scratching, and kicking. During the two years he has been at the Yarra Bond he has bitten off portions of the fingers of three persons, the ear of one and part of the nose of another. In the Victorian Assembly, the following notice of motion has been given by Mr Casey:—“That a select committee be appointed to consider and report upon the expediency of inviting the co-operation of the severel Colonies of Australasia, for the following purposes : —l. To provide for the extradition of offenders from one Colony to another. 2, To provide moans whereby the effect of insolvency or the granting of probate or letters of administration in the Colony shall be extended to all. 3. The adoption of a system whereby execution may issue in any Colony upon the registration of the judgment of the Supreme Court of any other Colony.”—The English pedestrians have been carrying everything before them in Victoria. At Melbourne, on the 9th inst., they gave their second performances in the presence of 8000 spectators. In the onemile handicap fiat race for LlO 10s, Bird started at scratch, giving the others, eleven in number, and including Don Ford, and Halpin, distances varying from 49 to 90 yards. He won by live yards ; time, 4min. 35secs. For the four-mile walking race Toplcy started at scratch, giving Lyall and Woodhouse 70 yards, Woodhouse, Greenwood, and Ewington 300 yards. Up to the twelfth lap, Lyall led, Topley [being close behind, and the others having fallen off. At fifteenth lap Lyall still led, Topley close to him. Great excitement. Up the hill Topley tried to pass Lyall, but the latter still kept going ahead, and on passing the post the men wore nearly level. At sixteenth lap, on the lower side Toplcy passed Lyall, the latter making a a grand effort to keep his place, but Topley gradually drew shead, and a splendid race to the post ended in favor of Topley by two yards. Time, 30m sGs.—At Ballarat, where there were some 9,000 spectators, Bird gave Don GO yards, and won as he liked by 50 yards. Time, 4min 30sec. In the four-mile walking match, Lyall received 70 yards from Topley, and the four other competitors got distances varying from 301 to 130 yards ; as at Melbourne the race was between the two first-named. Lyall led up to the 13th lap, ■when both passed the post dead level. 14th lap—Lyall again spurted but could not shake off Toplcy, who stuck to him like a leech. 15th and IGth laps--The same style of walking, the pace improved which had fallen off in the third mile. Final lap—Lyall led at great pace, Topley close up ; Topley caught Lyall half-way round ; they walked level, then Lyall spurted, thou Topley passed him, quickened the pace the last 100 yards, and finally won by two yards. Time, 32m. 4s. —A match has been arranged between Hewitt atm! »J. (J. H.urris for L.500 a side.

Sporting,—The Oumuru Races are announced to come oil on the 17th March. The following is a list of the events ; Maiden Plate, of 30 sovs,, LJ, miles ; entrance, L2 ; weight for age, for all horses that have never won an advertised race. 0.J.0. Handicap, of 70 sovs., 3miles ; nominations, L‘2, on the Ist of March, at or before 8 p.m. ; weights declared at the Royal Hotel on the 10th of March ; acceptances, with L2, on the night of the general entry. District Handicap, of 40 sovs., It miles, for all horses the bona fide proi>erty, for three months previously, of persons actually residing within 25 miles of Oamaru ; nominations and acceptances as above. Hack Race, of It) sovs,, 1 mile heats; a quarter of an hour between each heat; entrance, 10s; post

entries ; catch weights. Handicap Hurdle Race, of 35 sovs., 2 miles ; over six hurdles, 34 feet high ; nominations, LI ; weights declared same date as those of the O.J.C. Handicap ; acceptances, L2. Consolation Handicap, of 20 sovs., l.j miles ; entrance, LI, for all beaten horses during the day. Native News.—The Auckland Advertiser has a telegram from Hamilton, which states that Te Wheoro, the well-known chief, despatched by Government to the King, had just returned. Te Wheoro was sent to find out the intentions of the King Natives. Louis Hettit accompanied Te Wheoro. Tawhiao refused to see them, but they met Tamati Ngnporou and Manuhiri. The conference was most unsatisfactory. Tamati and Manuhiri either could not or would not understand the purport of Tc Whcoro’s mission. He asked whether the Kingitcs were going for us or against us. Tamati and Manuhiri answered evasively. They said, “ Why do not the Government trust us as they do other Maoris ; why do they not arm us as they have others, and then they will give us an opportunity of serving them.” To Wheoro answered that this was beside the question, that the Government wished to know on which side the Kingites were going. During the conference Tawhiao came outside the whare in which the talk was going on—at least Te Wheoro says that he recognised Tawhiao’s voice; Tawhiao threw a piece of tobacco into the whare, which Tc Wheoro (who consulted Mr Scarancke upon the matter) takes to mean that Te Kooti is in the Pakeha’s hands. The general opinion here is that Tawhiao and the Kingites mean to act their old part—sullen neutrality. They will not openly nor ostensibly assist Te Kooti, but they will give him information, and he will receive recruits from amongst them.

The Waikouaiti Election.—We {lhrahl) do not remember to have seen a poll conducted with less show of excitement than the poll on Monday last, and during the earlier part of the day no one unacquainted with the election would have imagined that a contest was being decided. The polling booth (the Court-house) was opened punctually at 9 a,in., but from that hour till twelve o’clock few electors had recorded their votes. In the afternoon, however, they gradually, but by no means in great numbers, found their way to the booth. As the day advanced speculation ran high as to the winning candidate, although the election has resulted as it was generally expected. Still, in matters of this kind, there is always a certain amount of uncertainty, and rumor, which is ordinarily busy, assisted to keep the curiosity of the public in suspense, and in some instances to doubt, when a moment’s thought would have convinced them there was no room for doubt. That Mr Mitchell would be lauded at the head of the poll, few disputed if the settlers were true to themselves and would not lose the tune to record their votes : but as it is well known that a more inopportune time could not have been fixed for the election, or one calculated to injure the prospects of the favorite candidate, than the middle of harvest, when, with the recent bad weather, minutes were of consequence to those who were engaged with machine and men gathering in their grain, it may be considered that the numbers polled is a fair index that their sympathies were enlisted, and their interests affected by the result of the election. Had the writ been issued before or after harvest we do not hesitate to say that far more votes would have been recorded, and the achievement still more significant. We do not think that any extra exertions were used by any of the candidates or their partisans. The fact of everyone being busy had almost precluded the possibility of canvassing, and in nearly every instance those who voted came and hurried away again. We noticed a few attempts on the part of the candidate whose name figures at the bottom of the poll to button-hole some of the settlers, but his attempts to gain proselytes appeared to he failures. The total number polled will show that the season of the year must have kept many settlers away. There are somewhere about 430 electors on the roll, and only 171 recorded their votes. Out of this number, Blueskin, with certainly not more than 45 electors on the roll, polled 31. This apparently large number is supposed to have been considerably swelled by the rush of electors from Dunedin, no doubt .anxious to control the destinies of the day. It was, however, as the sequel will show, but as a drop in the bucket. Waikouaiti and Shag Valley, with not less than 300 electors, only polled 140; the separate numbers being— Shag Valley, 43 ; Waikouaiti, 88. The state of the poll at Waikouaiti was unofficially declared at the close of the poll to he— Mitchell, 64 ; Thompson. 23 ; and Ure, 1. Majority for Mitchell, 41. The result was received with cheers. A few minutes after, the telegraph announced the poll at Palmerston to l>e—Mitchell, 42; Ure, 1 ; and Thompson, 0 ; giving Mitchell a majority of 83. Before the electors dispersed, Merton returns came in, at which place the poll stood—Ure, 19 ; Mitchell, 12 ; Thompson, 0. This increased Mitchell’s majority to 95. Tins evening, at eight o’clock, the concert given by the choir of St. Paul’s Church will take place in St. George’s Hall.