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Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2194, 19 May 1870, Page 2

Acclimatisation Society. The Committee of the Acclimatisation Society met this afternoon ; Mr W. I). Murisou in the chair. Messrs Eccles, Hepburn, Turton, Kenyon, and Carrick (lion, secretary), were present. The manager reported receiving fifteen Wonga Wonga pigeons and nine Australian quail. It was resolved that the pigeons ho retained in confinement until further orders, and that the quail should be turned out in the Palmerston district. It was resolved that L 25 should he forwarded to Messrs Crossbrook, of San Francisco, to whom an order for seeds has been scut, for the purchase of Californian quail.

Waikouaiti Jetty.— The Provincial Treasurer adds insult to injury when he asks the people of this district to take a 1 present of a road steamer and give up the idea of a jetty. The fact that the proposal can be nothing more than a lugubrious joke only makes the matter worse. The whole history of the treatment of Waikouaiti in regard to its harbor improvements must rend to any distant and disinterested observer like a scries of dismal practical jokes. The ingenuity of succeeding Governments in the invention of new methods of tantalizing the people of this district would be commendable if expended upon a worthy object. It is impossible to look back upon the ineilectual efforts we have been making for so many years to obtain reasonable shipping facilities without auger ; and yet that bitter laughter which often gives the best expression to deep annoyance, is hardly to bo repressed whoa wo think over the various methods hy which we have been duped into patience. And now we arc offered a road steamer ! Arc these statesmen or mountebanks to whom “Provincial Institutions” have given the privilege of poking th ir spiteful fun at us ? Unless we are content to fold our hands in despair, unless we have all come to the conclusion that nature never intended Waikouaiti to be a port town, and has condemned a third part of the interior of the Province to drag its traffic wearily for over over the hills between here and ‘Dunedin, it is time to be up and doing. Even Provincial Governments will be found to help those who help themselves.— Herald. Salmon in Tasmania. —Upon the question of salmon or no salmon, in the Derwent, Judge Francis, of Sydney, has addressed a letter to Mr Morton Allpo t entirely confirmatory of the opinion expressed upon the subject "by Sir Jas. Fcrgusson. As our readers are aware, Dr Gunther, of the British Museum, gave Mr Youl a positive assurance that the lish submitted to bis inspection was not a sal mo salar, hut a trout, the mhno Irutta of Liunanis. And the doctor then showed his visitor a book he had published with a view to prove that the salmon never would lie established in this hemisphere. Probably, as there are none so deaf as those who will not bear, so there arc none so blind as those -who will not see ; and Dr Gunther may bud himself in the position of the Abbh JSieyos, who received information that a revolution bad overthrown the Constitution of Sweden just at the moment he had Ijiffsbcd an essay to prove that it was iudestru.qriblp. But the Abh6 adhered to his theory, in spite Jim facts ; and so, perhaps, does the erudiite cloyto,;. Against his verdict, howeverj let us ,scf .the /jquJly positive assertion of Judge Francis, who says “ I have seen in your ipuseuip. t\vo fi§h, CCffight in the salt waters of your Derw.cfft estuary, both of which, but emphatically the large*, I have no hesitation in declaring to be young salmon, fat the stage of growth between smolt and grilse—just what in some parts of England are called ‘ sprods.’ I never saw the distinctive characteristics of the true salmon more clear than in the larger of these two salinonidse. You, I believe, have arrive 1 at the same conclusion after applying all the recognised scientific tests finrays, teeth, and so forth. I profess to judge of the species merely as a sportsman, by general I appearance. But is any one to tell me that i I do pot kn ff g' a stubble quail, or a rockwallaby from y because I cannot gjvs a scientific of each? Why, when f ’resident in Kofth ty’alcs, I was familiar with iflqre than 20 varieties of the common trout, ami copUJ. distinguish each one by sight so as at mu o tq assjgp ijt to its own river, brook, or lake. Those tiff, yon may rest assured, arc young salmon aiul nothing else.” Whaling, We arc ghul to find that, through the enterprise of a Mr Charles Bradshaw, Waikouaiti is again to become a whaling station, and that three boats have been purchased in Hobart Town, which arc : fully manned and equipped, and now engaged ' hi tins pursuit of whaling. All the requisites for extrkctipg the oil have a 1 so been erected in the t the Spit, and altogether a considerable pip,lay has been gone to. Wc can only cypress a %aj: the; enterprise may prove as successful tp its i present projector as it did in days .of yore, when whale fishing was first carried on here. Mr Duncan in bis financial statement says that “ the Government arc determined to encourage all new industries,” but wc may state en pcwmnt tiiat the test of all theoretical statements is to reduce them to practice. The road to a certain place which we will pot name, is popularly said to be pavod with “gooff. intentions.” We are sorry to state that everything emanating in or from Waikouaiti, whether Having a direct or indirect bearing on its future prosperity, enejus to be snubbed rather than encouraged, anp our experiences of the past do not appear to ■ have improved much for the better, as when Mr Bradshaw endeavored recently to get a grant or lease of some otherwise useless piece of land at the Saudspit on which to erect the necessary apparatus to carry o;i his enterprise successfully, lie is either poob-puobcd or positively denied the boon a ke.l for. We would ask, Is this a specimen of the Government’s desire to encourage ami foster new industries, or welcome the revival of old ones, which is just as good? —■ Waikouaiti Jfeyald. PffHfCESS Theatre. The Garrick Club is e*tveipcfy fortunate in having been able to secure the valqabje aid of Mrs J. B. Steele. With so talented ah urljde sustaining the principal character, a piece of even such mediocrity as LIOO,OOO, could not possibly Hag. H. J. Byron has written Ufqny comedies, but none, of them affords so little scope for individual acting as the one chosen by the Garrick Club for representation Inst evening. It is a matter of extreme difficulty with prpfefffpnals to make the piece a thorough success: ,-»v/o for amateurs to bo partially successful- and what is more, to be aide to please a large 'j audience, is matter for congratulation on j their part. It seems to be the established ; rule, not to measure the efforts of amateurs hy the standard of criticism used in dealing with those who take to the stage as a profession. We have often regretted that it is <o, for we believe that amateurs may correct their faults, if pointed out. In L10l.),0l)0 as played last evening, there is much need of improvement; although we confers that the club is progressing slowly but surely, ] n the first place the piece was not so judiciously pnxt it might have been, and next, one or two q? jblio performers bad not the slightest conception iff the of tire characters they undertook. Of tiff male characters, the best played was undoubtedly that of the lawyer Fluke ; it suited the gentleman who sustained it admirably. The part of Old Barlow fell to the lofc of Mr Westropp, but in our opinion “ old

men” characters are unsuitod to him. He was too funny on the whole, but in a few scenes was tolerably successful. The parts of Gerald and Pennyhornc might have been made much more successful than they were, although we are williug to concede that the gentlemen who played them did their best. The unthankful part of Blaekshaw was fairly played, and tne unimportant flunkey—po-si-bly the least noticed—was the most carefully played of all. Of Mrs Steele’s Alice, albeit a part totally unfitted to show her to advantage, we have often had occasion to speak of in terms of praise ; and we can only say that it was rendered with that care and faithfulness for which she is noted. Her appearance on the stage was the signal for loud cheering, which was continued for some moments. Mrs Ward and Miss Willis were good in their respective parts ; but of the lady amateur, who played Arabella Paul, we a-o unable to say anything, for she was totally inaudible. In the farce of “ Alorc Blunders than One,” with which the performance concluded, Mr Henry fairly convulsed the audience as the ever blundering Irish footman. The part of Susan was creditably filled by a lady amateur, who would have been much more successful bad she but raised her voice a little. The house, in spite of the bad weather, was crowded in every part. In consequence of the bad weather the assembly ball is postponed until Tuesday next, the 24th instant. We notice by advertisement that the Christy Minstrels will give a performance this evening in aid of the funds of the masonic body of tins town. Wc heartily wish their efforts for so laudable an obj. ct will meet with the success they deserve.