Untitled

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2163, 12 April 1870, Page 2

Mail Commissionership.—The offer of the appointment of mail commissioner to report upon the new San Francisco service, was made hy the Postmaster General to Mr N. Edwards, M.H.R., of Nelson, hut was declined. The Bellringers. The Masonic Hall was inconveniently crowded last evening. The programme presented was a good one, and was carried out to the evident satisfaction of the audience. Princess Theatre. —The performances at this place of amusement this evening are set apart for tbe benefit of the Young American, a very deserving member of the company ; and we hope to see a good house. Customs Revenue, The revenue collected at Greymouth, for the quarter ending 31st March, was L 14,615 13s lid; while for the corresponding quarter last year it was L 13,325 is,, showing an increase of LI3BO 2s Id. Racing.— On Thursday a match between Don Pedro and the mare Jenny, tbe winner of tbe first day’s Hack Race at the Dunedin Races, will take place for LSO a side. The race will come off on the Silverstream course, over hurdles; distance two miles. Government Land Sales. —At Hampden, on the Bth inst,, and Palmerston, on the 9th, the land purchased at the Government laud sale realised the upset price. To-day, the sale of land at at Greytown, East Taieri, took place, when quarter-acre sections realised L 5 each. Protection of Animals. —A correspondent asks if the Act of 1867 for the Protection of Animals has been repealed, and if there is any protection for Native pigeons. We are not aware that any alteration has been made in the Act, and woodpigeons may be shot in the months of May, June, and July. The Colonial Prize Firing. —lt appears that owing to the windy weather on the appointed days for the firing of the Marlborough volunteers only one is really entitled to go, Master John. Sinclair, who went last year, but representations have been made to the General Government, which it is thought will enable the three highest shots to go.

Theatrical. —Theatrically speaking things do not appear ,to be in a very prosperous condition either at the Thames or Auckland. In the chief city, the principal actors and actresses are giving separate entertainments with indifferent success, and the theatre has not of late done much business. In one of the local papers notice is given that John Proctor Hydes, John Howe, Charles Herberte, and Richard Roberts, comedians, of Grahamstown, have tiled a declaration in the Supreme Court of inability to meet engagements with their creditors. Education. —The proposition for a system of colonial education, -which is now exciting attention, does not find favor with the Honorable the Premier. In a letter to the schoolteachers of Auckland, the hou. gentleman says:—“So long as Provincial institutions exist, education seems to me to be precisely one of the subjects which ought to be administered by them ; and that, peopled as this colony has been and divided as it is, it would probably be altogether impossible to devise any scheme which would be universally acceptable, which could be administered better by the General Government than the educational institutions are now by the Provincial authorities, in several of the provinces. ” Woollen Factory.— The plant for a woollen factory to be established in Auckland has been ordered, and may be expected to arrive within six months hence, if the

arrangements now b.i.ig made are success fully carried out. We understand that it is intended to import plant that will afford employment to about fifty hands to commence with, and capable of producing 150,0001b. blankets, 150,000 to 200,000 yards tweed, and 200,000 to 300.000 yards flannel per annum. It is the intention of the projectors to run mainly on this class of goods. It is expected that the mill will be in operation before the end of the year.

A Modern Jack Sheppard. —Most people in the Colony will have heard of the notorious Frederick Flummer, whose repeated escapes from gaol have earned for him the sobriquet of the “ New Zealand Jack Sheppard,” and it seems as if no amount of punishment was sufficient to reconcile him to the interior of a gaol. Imprisoned some years ago for a trivial offence, which he would soon have expiated, he succeeded in escaping from custody, and on being recaptured his sentence was increased. In this way he has gone on until the amount of his sentence has accumulated to such an extent that he will probably never complete it, and, apparently grown utterly hardened, he still continues his attempts to regain his liberty by escaping from custody, when be might, by a few years’ good conduct, be recommended for release. His latest attempt at prison-breaking occurred on the 25tb ult. At about three o’clock in the afternoon of that day, the warder on duty noticed Plummer and another prisoner, named Jerry Shine, apparently in the act of attempting to escape, by creeping along the boundary wall of the gaol. He called upon them to stand, and they complied. It happened very fortunately that a party of police were just then approaching the spot, escorting a number of convicted drunkards, and it was tins circumstance, no doubt, that prevented Plummer and his companion making a more determined effort to escape. Shine had not been ironed, but Plummer, who had irons on his legs, had contrived to remove them by using soap in order to facilitate the slipping the rings over his feet, which are unusually small. The prisoners were sentenced each to wear irons for twelve mouths.

Sporting. —The following entries for the Turf Club Handicap at the Nelson meeting had been received up to April 2. It was expected that others would be received by mail from neighbouring provincesMr Stafford’s ch g Magenta, aged; Mr Stafford’s eh in Laeenfeed, 4 yrs ; Mr Redwood’s ch m Peeress, 4yrs ;Mr Redwood’s b f Songstress, 3 yrs. The following entries were ma le for tbe Handicap Steeplechase : —Mr Holder’s ch g Spiightly, aged ; Mr Warren’s bk g Black Doctor, aged ; Mr Worthington’s brg Toby, aged ; Mr Sellon’s eh m Quicksilver, 6 yrs ; Mr B. Lines’ b g Butcher Boy, 4 yrs; Mr Richardson’s b g Bay Middleton, 4 yrs. The weights in both cases were to have been declared on Monday last, April 4.

The half-yearly meeting of the District Committee of the M. U. 1.0.0. F. f Otago District, will be held in the Oddfellows Hall to-morrow evening, at 7 o’clock.

This evening the members of A.O.F. Court Pride of Dunedin are summoned to attend the quarterly meeting in the Courtroom, Royal George Hotel, at 8 o’clock.