Untitled

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2479, 26 January 1871, Page 2

Political. —Mr Alex. M‘Masfcer declines on private grounds to stand for the representation of Oamaru in the Assembly.— Mr W. Murcott has come forward for Hampden in the Provincial Council. The Oamaru Dock. —The contract for the construction of this Avork was signed a couple of days ago. The Government holds to its determination not te give any more thin LG,OOO towards the work in any one year. Fire, —Mr W. Dyer’s barn, coachhouse, and out buildings, in Tokomairiro, Avere totally destroyed by fire, on Saturday. In the barn Avere the produce of fifteen acres of oats. The cause of the fire is unknoAVn. Concert. — A scries of amateur concerts in aid of the Benevolent Institution is announced to he given. The first will take place at the AVater of Leith Drill Shed tomorroAV (Friday) evening, under the patronage of Capt. Copeland and the North Dunedin Rifles. The Mayor has consented to occupy the chair. "We have no doubt that th - benevolent intentions of the promoters of these concerts Avill be realised by the public aAvarding them substantial support. Waikouaiti Election. — The llera'd says.—As the hour of four o’clock approached, quite a crowd of people congregated near the Court House, anxious to hear the result of the day’s fight. So soon as the numbers had been made up, the Returning Officer announced to the expectant crowd outside, which numbered electors from almost every part of the district, the result’ of the voting at Waikouaiti. Immediately after, the telegraph gave the numbers at Palmerston, making Hutcheson hgve majority of 11. The Avildest excitement prevailed to know the result from Merton ; ■ and Mr Hutcheson’s friends looked jubilant. Their imaginary victory Ayas, however, but short fived, for in a very short space of time a messenger brought the state of the poll there, which gave to M‘Lean a majority of four. The result was received with loud cheering. The enthusiasm lasted for some time, a".d ended in chairing Mr M'Lean as far. as the Golden Fleece Hotel, where he was followed by a number of A rumour is being circulated that an action for bribery is likely to be instituted in connection Avith the proceedings on Monday last. The San Francisco Service. — The Wellinyton Evenimj Post is responsible for the following, which must be taken cum gram satis, seeing that the information reaches us from a source which spares no pains to run doAA'n the service because the claims of Wellington Avere not more prominently laid before the contractors by the Government, and because of Mr Vogel’s connexion with the contract: -“ We have been informed that a gentleman who arrived by the last mail from San Francisco, while in that city, had an interview with Messrs Holladay and grenham. Ihese gentlemen assured him that the large steamers intended to run to New Zealand would on no account run the additional risk of coasting ; they Avould only run to one p,</r£ jn New Zealand, and the port considered most suitable was Wellington. Going into Port a risk they had no intention of incurring. If this statement is to be relied on, Mr Yogejl and Mr Neilson must between them have deceived the people of the Colony, or else Mr Vogel has been deceived himself. But whether the attempt to run Webb’s steamers on the coast is made' or npt, it is certain to i prqA r p an abortive pue.; once over Otago bar Avith ah easterly sea on wifi, we imagine, be quite enough for the NebraskaThe Clutha —Mr John Graham is not the ,pnly prophet in the land. He has n in Mr J. W. Thomson, of the Clutha A \Ayepk ago this gentlemen was bound tp WeUqigtpn —according to his own Ayprds, he Avas certain of being sent there —nothing could .prevent such a result. Having constituted himself a representative in prospective, lie tpok advantage of the qommation at the (Jlutjha, .to give an elaborate statement of bis .ppHtieal views, and as he is an import apt pa%,of Mr Reid’s late “tail,” it will be interesting to kpovy what his views are. In tfie first place, he disapproves of the financial,sujieiuc, but despairs of getting it repealed.; the Clutha railway Avould have been begun .before this, put fpr the obstructiveness of the General Government, apd the advertisements which bad appeared in the Australian Colonies, had produced an offer AAdiich might hgye been accepted, but for Mr Vogel. These declarations Avere followed by what must be regarded as the cream of his speech, A’ijj., that the district had enjoyed a very fab’ share of prosperity, which Avastohe attributed to his (Mp Thomson) being in the Provincial Council; ergo, as he is sure to go to Wellington, the district will b,e iqofe prosperous ,in the future, With the knowledge of tips fact, and that Mr Thomson promised t■» do all in his power to relieA’e New Z e ifland of Mi Vogel, it will be base ingratitude on the part of the Clutha electors if they return any other man.

The Phess Association.—Commenting upon the misrepresentations, if not tleliberato falsehoods, tin's Association has been circulating for the last month, the Lylldloii. r l%ics remarks: —“ But an outbreak in the Waikato, and the massacre of some sixty men, women, and children in an unknown outlying district, were not cuough to satisfy the cravings of these panic-mongers among the Opposition. Something else was necessary' to speed Mr Vogel on his voyage to England and assist him in successfully carrying ojifc the financial business of the Colony, A massacre was well enough, but combined with national bankruptcy it might be considered perfect. So the wires were set to work, and the rumour spread from one end of the Colony to the other that the bank had stopped its advances to the Government. What amount of damage this may do to the Colony time alyiio can determine. But we are happy to he'able to say that the report is entirely false. As we have said, there are many people who consider everything fair in the game of politics. Yet even these may perhaps feel, on reflection, that it is unwise to spread rumors calculated to damage the credit of the Colpuy without at g,ny rate first ascertaining their truth, It was ijlfi paramount duty of the Auckland agent of the Frp|s Telegraph Association to take the trouble to inquire in the proper quarter whether the bank had stopped the

credit of the Government before circulating such a damaging rumor. Political partizanship seems now-a-days to destroy the Very essence of patriotism.”—We regret to find that, in spite of the denial hy the directors, and an authoritative contradiction by the independent, the journals subscribing to the Association see fit to repeat the statement that the bank has stopped further advances. .In reference to the report first circulate! by the Association, that Mr Vogel has taken home with him, Mr Domett, as Assistant Secretary, with salary <tc., the, Hon. A. Domett writes to the Independent: —“My son, who is alluded to, did nut go home as Assistant Secretary to Mr Vogel, nor in any capacity, connecting him in any way whatever with the Government or any member of it, nor was such a thing ever even mooted or hinted at ”

The Hokitika Tragedy —We learn from the IFest Coast Times of the 18th, that the Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court were concluded at eight o’clock the previous evening, when sentence of death was passed upon Anthony Noble, for the murder, on Inst Saturday week, of a young girl named Mary Jane Molaumby, in Sewell street, Hokitika, The trial of the prisoner occupied two days, and a large number of witnesses were examined. The evidence was circumstantial in all but the case of one witness, but it pointed with remarkable precision to the prisoner as the murderer of the unfortunate child. In addition to the evidence taken at the iiujuest, and before the Magistrate, there was other evidence of the pri-. souer having been seen iu-the vicinity of the scene of the murder, and one out of several intelligent boys who were called, had seen the convicted man, on the day of the rape and murder, speak to the girl, give her an apple, and heard him say “ Between nine and ten o’clock,” whereupon the girl had cried, and said she would tell her mother, Besides the circumstantial evidence, there was the evidence of a prisoner, John Hartley, who had been put in the same cell to see that he should not do himself any harm, and to whom he had made a confession in these words—“l only struck her three times with the tomahawk—twice with the eye, and once with the edge.” Mr South, who had been appointed by the judge to conduct the defence of the prisoner, closely crossrexamined all the witnesses, and fully stated the case for the prisoner, as against the presumption of his guilt. The jury were only a quarter of an hour in agreeing upon a verdict of Guilty, and sentence of death was pronounced in the usual form, the prisoner making no statement of any moment, though he complained of nob having had an opportunity of “putting questions,” and of relating to his counsel his “travels and troubles.” He maintained perfect coolness to the last) mid walked from the Court to the Gaol, accompanied for some distance by a crowd who, ultimately, on being expostulated with, desisted from the expressions of the feeling which has naturally prevailed in the communty since the committal of the shocking crime. His Honor referred in his charge to the energy and intelligence displayed by the police in the case, and the whole proceedings are certainly as creditable in that respect as they are remarkable for the character of the circumstantial evidence obtained, and for the rapidity with which the arrest, trial, conviction, and sentence of the prisoner have followed the fool murder, of which he has been found guilty.