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Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2262, 6 August 1870, Page 2

Gaol .Return.— The following is the state of H.M. Gaol, Dunedin, for the •week ending the Gth August 1870 Awaiting trial, 5 men, 0 women ; under remand, 1 man, 0 women ; penal servitude, 93 men, 0 women; hard labor, 37 men, 19 women ; in default of hail, 2 men, 0 women ; debtors, 4 men ; total, 142 men 19 women. Received during the week, 7 men, 3 women; discharged, 8 men, 6 women. Heller’s Wonders. —The fitting-up of the Masonic Hall for Mr Heller’s enter* taimnent is being rapidly proceeded with,

and'by Monday night the hall itself will be, if not the. moat astonishing, one of Mr Heller’s most agreeable transformations. The stage will be a resplendent temple of magic, and every care will be taken to ensure the comfort of visitors to both parts of the house. A ladies’ cloak room has also been provided. Robbery or a Mistake.—To-day forty-four Chinese were conveyed by the Golden Age from Dunedin to the Queen of the Seas, at Port Chalmers, about to sail for China. One of them had charge of a box, said to contain about L6OO worth of gold, which, on the arrival of the steamer at the side of the vessel, was discovered to be missing. Detective Golder and one of the police, who were on board during the passage to the jetty at Port Chalmers, made a thorough search of the Golden Age, and discovered no trace of the missing box, which in all probability, in total ignorance of its contents, was handed on board the Queen of the Seas. We trust that it was found all right, or if stolen, that the thief will speedily be discovered. The export duty had been duly paid. Road Trustees Election. —A meeting of the ratepayers of Wakari district was held last night in the schoolhouse, Halfway Bush, for the purpose of electing a Local Board of Hoad Trustees. The following persons were duly elected : Messrs George Hepburn, Wakari; Robert Hood, Waikari ; James M‘Kerrow, Wakari; Thomas . Callender, Maori Hill ; and Colin Allan, Wakari. With the exception of Mr Callender, who succeeds Mr Benton as representative for Maori Hill the latter gentleman having declined to act—tho Board is the same ns that which was elected at the first meeting held on June 2Gth. The two gentlemen whose names appeal - last on the list will, we understand, retire on the new Road Boards Act coming into operation, they having polled the smallest number of votes.

The World’s Telegraphic System. —lt cannot fail to be interesting to our readers to be constantly informed of the progress being made in those electric bands which are 'destined ere many years pass to flash almost instantaneously the throbbings of every commercial community on the earth to any common centre ; and, while the mind contemplates the great feats already accomplished by the “wires” and the- “cable,” as a community we cannot fail to be pleased to know the giant strides that are being made by capitalists at home to bring those talc-telling wires to our own doors _ The following facts are culled from seientilic jourual3°received by the mail per s s. Wonga Wonga During the four weeks ending 30th April, the number of messages forwarded from the various telegraph stations in the United Kingdom amounted to the grand total of 070,774—an average of nearly one and a half messages in cvci y second of time in the four weeks. The service between England and India by the Indo-European and British-Indian route continues to be carried on in the most satisfactory manner, messages being received with great accuracy, and with no delay. It is to be hoped that this satisfactory state of things will long continue. The manufacture of the cable for the British Extension Telegraph Company, for submersion between India and Singapore, is being rapidly proceeded with, about 1,250 miles being finished. At present none of the cable has yet been shipped. • The last item we shall refer to on the present occasion brings the matter still closer to our islandhome. From the Mechanic's Magazine we learn that “a commencement has been made with the manufacture of the British-Austra-lian cable to connect Singapore with Australia. About fifty miles have already been completed. 'I he cable is being made by the Telegraph Construction and Mainten nee Company, at their works at Greenwich.” To span the gulf between New Zealand and Australia would be put a small undertaking for those carrying out such gigantic undertakings as those referred to. Triumph of the Ladies in the Jury-box —The Ckieaijo Leyal Npacs publishes a letter from the Hon. J. H. Howe, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, giving his opinion of the result of the experiment of placing women upon juries, which was lately tried at Cheyenne, in the court over which he presided. With all his prejudice against the policy, the Chief Justice confesses that he is obliged to say that these women acquitted themselves with such dignity, decorum, propriety of_ conduct, and intelligence as to win the admiration of every fair-minded citizen of Wyoming They were careful, painstaking, intelligent, and conscientious. After the grand jury had been in session two days, the keepers of the dancing-saloons, gamblers, and demi-monde, fled out of the city in dismay, to escape indictment from the woman grand jurors. “In short, he emphatically adds, “I have never in twenty-five years of constant experience in the courts of the country seen a more faithful, intelligent, and resolutely honest grand and petty jury than these.” The Chief Justice then goes on to contradict the report that, in a murder case tried before him by a jury of six men and six women, the men and women were locked up together for four consecutive nights. Only two nights, he explains, intervened during the trial, and on these nights the jurors by his orders were taken to a comfortable hotel, were served w’-th dinner, and then the men and women we~e taken to separate sleeping rooms, the men in charge of the sheriff, and the women of a female warder. In the second place, he states that the jury were only about twelve hours in c ming to a decision, and that every one commended the manner in which they attended to the evidence, and the verdict they delivered, “except the individual who was convicted of murder iu the second degree,” be cautiou ly a his. The presence of the ladies in the court, Mr Howe further informs us, secured the most perfect decorum and propriety of conduct, and the gentlemen of the bar and others vied with each other in their courtesies and respectful demeanour towards the ladies and the court. Nothing occurred to offend the most refined lady, if she were a sensible lady.

PR inc ess Theatre. —We are glad that Mrs Darrell’s recovery from her recent illness enabled her to resume her professional labors last evening, and we are still better pleased that her forced, temporary retirement has not had a detrimental effect on her physical and intellectual powers. It is hardly possible to do justice to the highly pleasing entertainment provided by Mr and Mrs Darrell. Unfortunately the weather was so unpleasant that only those who lived near or were weatherproof could brave the wet and mud ; but there were still a goodly number present, although there was plenty of room for more. It is only necessary to

glance at the selections andto remember Mrs Darrell’s histrionic talent, to feel certain that justice would be clone to each piece in which she was concerned ; and Mr Darrell has given such evidence of dramatic power _ as justified the expectation that he too would contribute his share to the success of the evening. Nor were the audience disappointed. ‘Delicate ground” was given with such effect as to induce a call before the curtain at the close of the piece ; and to avoid all necessary repetition we may once for all say, that this well-deserved compliment was paid to the representation of every selection. Nor was there any lack of variety. “ Delicate ground ” was followed by some of the most st iking scenes from “ Macbeth,” in which Mrs Darrell played with a force and truthfulness seldom equalled. Some snobbish . strictures on “woman” have lately soiled the columns of our daily contemporary, written, we suppose, by sonu aspirant to a snuggery in the Lunatic Asylum. But at the Princess Theatre Mr Darrell impersonates “ The Girl of the Day,” and a very charming representative he makes —rather tall—too tall for our taste —such a one, we suppose, as Don Jnan appeared in the harem —not quite so forgetful of propriety, however, as that young gentleman was inclined to be; nor so vulgarly course as the “ girl of the day” is occasionally represented in propria persona' and in print—but just a quiet,' refined, embodied criticism of her pecula ities —a picture to be amused with—to be looked at again and again : to this we hope many will feel irresistably impelled. It is needless to say that this bit of refined burlesque was one of the hits of the evening, and was received with enthusiastic applause. Mrs Darrell's reading of “The Bells” followed. Wo have not had the privilege of hearing Montgomery in this, his crack piece, but wc understand that in it Mrs Darrell preceded, and is said to equal him. ihis was followed by “The Gambler’s Wife,” and the evening’s amusement was brought to a close by some comic songs and readings by Mr Darrell, which were eagerly redcnmnded, and where possible, the request was complied with. We trust that the efforts of the sun to shine to-day will be so far successful as to pave tho way for a starlight night, when Mr and Mrs Darrell may fairly expect to be greeted with what they deserve —a bumper house. Free Trade versus Protection. — Our elder brethren in New South Wales are wiser in their generation than we are, and are rejoiced that their representatives at the Intercolonial Conference took their stmd so resolutely on the principles of free trade, “Our legitimate manufactures,” observes the well-informed correspondent of the Argus, “are quite as much helped as hindered by free trade. Our industries are growing successfully if we will only let them alone. . . There is not a single industry natural to the Colony which would be really benefited by protection; while, if their growth is somewhat slower if left to struggle with early difficulties, it will be all the healthier, and the result be the more durable.” This is the language of common sense and the lesson of universal experience. Up to the year 1864, nothing could be more solid or satisfactory than the growth of manufacturing industry in Victoria. In 1863, the last year of what may be termed the free trade regime in this Colony, we exported 72 dist net articles of local manufacture, of the aggregate va ! ue of L250,0U0. No industry w s coddled by the state, and the Government did not presume to interfere with private enterprise, and point out what manufactures ought to be established, and which were deserving of legislative cockering, But when the protectionists obtained the upper hand, they changed all that; and it is a notable fact that at the present moment the healthiest and most vigorous manufacturing industries in the Colony are those which are unprotected, and that the most sickly are those which the State has taken under its especial patronage. In view of the failure of the intercolonial Conference to bring about a Customs Union, our neighbors in New South Wales are debating tire propriety of letting us severely alone. “ The best way of making things pleasant,” observes the Sydney Mail, “ would be for New South. Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, New Zetland, and Queensland, to confer together and adjust their relationships. Victoria would then be left a’one in her glory, and after holding out a little, would be too glad to enter into the Union on any terms.”