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Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2224, 23 June 1870, Page 2

Arson. —After a three days’ trial Margaret Paterson and Emily Jane Williams were’ acquitted on the charge of setting fire to a restaurant in Christchurch on the 10th March last. Rain IN' THE Taiehi.—A contemporary informs us that during last year rain fell on 92 days in the Taieri plains, the rainfall being heaviest in February, April, and May. Thunder was heard on five days, and one earthquake was felt. Coal.— At the meeting of the City Council yesterday, it was stated that coal had be?u found on the Town Belt, and with such results as to lead the prospectors to ask for the extension of the time granted to them to make the necessary search. _ A month’s time was granted, and every facility is to bje given them. Dunedin Private Musical Society. —The concert of this Society will be repeated at the New Post Office Hall. Considerable changes have been ma le in the programme of the second part, and we believe that the pianoforte solo will be “ Les Hiiondelies,” which Miss Bell has consented to give in compliance with numerous requests. Princess Theatre. The lecture of Dr Carr yrijg well attended last night. His experiments were successful; and hio illustrations were perfectly satfst mtory to his audience. At the close of his lecture he invited the advocates of spiritua’ism to reply to his arguments, but there were no champions of the new faith present. Dr Carr’s lecture will bo repeated to-night, when possibly some one may be found to attempt a reply.

New Publication. The second edition of Mr Justice Johnston’s work on Justus of the Peace appears to have been very well revived. In the course of the arguments in the Supreme Court to-day reference was made to it In complimentary terms by both judge and bar. air Justice Chapman expressed the opinion that the appendices were vepy full, the indices excellent, and the hook a really useful and valuable one—move especially to ma jstrate?. There is only one fault, viz., that the cases are omitted. Magisterial. The General Government have determined to abolish the office of Resident Magistrate at -Waikouaiti, so long and worthily held by Mr J. W. Murdoch; and the .business ,of the Court over which that gentleman has presided will in future be undertaken by the Justices of Peace resident within the district. In Waikouaiti the proposed change is received with much disfavor, and a petition to the Government protesting against it is in course of signature, .

Th e ATiii cal. A m png ithe passengers by the Omeo were Mr and Mrs George Claremont. The lady ,is better 'known in the theatrical world as Miss Rp.se Evans. She came to Victoria under engagement to the lcss.es of the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, and quickly established herself as a favorite in that Colony. Her first appearance was in conjunction with Herr Bandmaun, with whom she afterwar is appeared at Ballarat. Miss Evans has also'been well spoken of by the English Press We believe it is her intention to appear here, in conjunction with her husband, in small comedies and drawingroom enteitainiuents. .Social Meeting.— On Monday evening the members of the Tonic Sol Fa Class, conducted by Mr George Brownlee, A.C., at the Hanover street Chapel, held a social meeting, w T ith a view to ascertain the progress of the class, it having about concluded its first quarter. After tea, and some introductory modulator practise, part songs were sung by the class. Mr Brownlee sang with much taste, “Love at Home” —the chorus being sung by the class. Several pupils present went through the examination for the elementary certificate; others sang glees, and the evening passed off pleasantly, with advantage as well as satisfaction to all present. The object of the class is that of improving the congregational singing.

Acclimatisation Society. The Council of the Acclimatisation Society met this afternoon at their room in the Provincial Buildings. Present—Mr Murison (President). Messrs Garrick, Eccles, and Captain Boyd. ’Several letters were read. An offer by Mr Thomas Crimley, of Lawrence, to collect subscriptions for the Society, was accepted, with thanks. It was resolved that “."is expended by the Camara Branch Society for the destruction of hawks should be repaid on tha vouchers being handed over. The chairman reported that a bevy of quail had been found within fifteen miles of Dunedin It was resolved that the manager be authorised to turn out the quail somewhere in the neighborhood of Green Island. On the motion of Mr Eccles, it was resolved that 11 ben and 3 cock pheasants be liberated on Mount Cargill. In reply to a letter from Invercargill respecting a further importation of trout ova from Tasmania, it was resolved that befpre deciding upon accepting the offer of the Southland Society to join the importation, the name of the gentlemau[|wbo

was to be dispatched shatild be given, A letter from Melbourne stated that the Victorian Society was not in a position to procure a supply of hares at present. American View op Trade with Australia. —A speaker in the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce said, with reference to the lan;e amount of trade to be done with the Australian colonies :—I had no idea that it amounted to such proportions until I came to lo .k up official statistics on the subject. We in California are accustomed to be excited over a trade with 10,000 miners. A White Pine, for instance, turns up, and we general!y proceed to build castles in the air over it. Here is a trade offered us which amounts to many White Pinos, in which we can at least participate. Last year as much as 6,000,000 dollars wore paid for first-class passengers between England and Australia. It will take but a short time to make that our own. The route via this point is so much shorter, sp:edier, healthier, and altogether so much more varied in its scenery than any other, that the putting on of a first class line of steamers will at once inaugurate a large passenger trade. In addition to the first-class passengers, there were still a large number in the intermediate, most of whom would probably come this way. Then 25,000,000 dollars bad been paid last year for freight. Another word we need hardly say in reference to the importance of this matter. Practical business men would realise the. value of such figures. This connection with Australia would bo one of the links in the great chain of commerce, which it was prophesied would result to this nation by the completion of the Great Pailroad. The Clutha Railway. —The Bruce Herald opposes the proposal that the Government shall construct the dine. Our contemporary considers “ If the railway bo committed to the Government, such committing will be death to the finances of the Province, or death to the railway. Either one or other will be made a mess of, and that we should not like to see. The only sure guarantee that we can have of having a rail„way safe for traffic, end within the limits of our financial power as a Province, is that the railway be constructed by a private company, to which shal[ be given the assurance that for monies expended up to a certain amount they shall be made secure, for a fixed period, of receiving a certain annual per centage, that per centage to be made good by the Government, making up the deficiency from traffic in the guaranteed per centage. It wfll not be good fur the general interests of the Provinces that the Government should be either the makers or the owners of the railway. Financial and political reasons many, might he given for this ; one will suffice—ts>at railways promoted by Governments have nowhere been other than more expensive in their construction, hsa advantageous in their returns, thnii railways constructed and owned by private companies. ”

Public Spirit.— -The Superintendent of Auckland has been lecturing on “Public Spirit,” and in commenting on it the Herald remarks: —“The catalogue of our deficiencies named by t]ie Superintendent in his lecture is no doubt on tip; whple correct. There is far too mucli apathy as regards jnatters lying within our own rebels, ajfd which sould be attended to without apy very great personal discomfort or loss ; and there'pan he no excuse for the want of public spirit in these purely local matters, They need cause no real loss to anyone—a little discomfort is about all the self-sacrifice demanded. There does appear a greater display of energy, of looking after personal interests, of public spirit, iu other portions of tho Colony than is to be found in Auckland, and the efficts are undoubtedly very serious. We might point to mai y "deflcietifligs under which we have long labored, and that because of our want of energetic public spirit. To quote from the lecture in reference to our losses from tho want of mergy and public spirit: • You- aflowpd ytiup land fund to slip away from yon; you have' allowed your native policy to bff controlled by the Couth,’ your native trade destroyed, your native lands absorbed, the seat of Government removed ; and ’tis but a few days ago I wondered if, through apathy, you would allow the San Francisco line to slip through your fingers too. After to-day’s meeting I have hopes of you. Your Volunteers are beaten in shooting—yoursclye? are reviled as “trading in war,” and you tamely submit to it. Oh! what will arenso you? I would that any words or deeds of mine ceuld do it—they would not bo spared ; for I am firmly convinced that unless a more active healthy public spirit be evoked iu our midst, we shall be, as we have been, a stagnant, or even a retrograde, in-tead of a progressive community. How is tiiis state of things to be remedied?’ And thp answer is given : Bv the individual cultivation of the habit of self-sacrifice for the good of others. Lot each one of you jwduttdy resolve within your own sphere to devote a portion of your timo and energies to some public object, whether benevolent, philanthropic, or political.’ ”