The Evening Star MONDAY, MARCH 6, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2512, 6 March 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, MARCH 6, 1871.

The Governor’s Visit.—We uncleystand that his Excellency the Governor wi 1 reach Dunedin by the overland route on Thursday or Friday next; but it is uncertain on which day he will arrive. Provincial Council Elections. — The following arc the names of_ the gentlemen who have announced their intention of offering themselves for the City : —Messrs T. Birch, J. H. Harris, H. Howorth, W. H. Reynolds, J. M‘lndoe, W. Mason, J. Bathgate, G. Turnbull. G. K. Turton, G. Duncan, J. Graham, C. S. Reeves, G. E. Barton. The Government Water Works Scheme. —The Westland County Council has followed the example of Canterbury, and in anticipation of the carrying out of the water works portion of the Immigration and Public Works Bill, has recommended the construction of a large number of mining works under part three of the Act. Princess Theatre. —The repetition of Friday’s programme drew a good house to the Princess Theatre on Saturday. The performance went off with great eclat, and being the last night of the engagement of Mr Hoskins and Miss Colville, those artists evidently were determined to leave a lasting impression on their Dunedin audience, and in this they succeeded. This evening, will be played, for the first time, “ Won at Last,” a drama we have heard very well spoken of. After which will be presented the burlesque of the “ Stranger.” This being the first appearance of the company in modern burlesque, it will be regarded with much interest, and no doubt there will be a full house upon the occasion. To Correspondents. — We have received an angry letter from “The Secretary, on behalf of the Colored Troupe,” which wc will not bn unkind enough to publish. The writer mistakes if he thinks we have an 7 desire to undorva ne the services of the Troupe in our remarks. e consider that they have given very enjoyable concerts, and, in the simple music they discourse, have attained a degree of perfection that other societies have failed to reach ; but they must not be offended if we place their highest attainments at something lower in the scale of art than the more difficult compositions of Mozart, Handel, or Beethoven, and other masters ; and what we wish is that the best, not merely the easiest music should be cultivated in Dunedin.

Our Contemporary.—We publish the following from the Oamara Times for his benefit The Daily Times of the 28th publishes inter alia a very complete (?) account of social, mining, and agricultural matters for the month ; but with regard to the latter, if all its statistics arc on a par with those given for Oamaru, we can only say that they are about as near the truth as any imaginative lucubration from the pen of Andaman Islander might be supposed to be. The home readers of the Times are actually told that in the Oamaru district the following shows the approximate extent under crop ‘ Wheat. 500 acres; barley, 500 acres; oats, 1,000 acres ; grass, 2,000 acres.’ This is about the most amusing th : ng we have ever seen, the fact being thart there is fully an equal, if not a larger, area under crop in the district than in February, 1870, when the figures were: in wheat, 10,192 acres;; in oats, 9,297 acres ; in barley, 3,71*0 acres ; in hay (pasture lands not included—these amounting to thousands of acres), 1,525 acres. It is rather rich to see. the ‘ leading journal ’ sending home such paltry figures for a district winch produces fully one-third of the grain grown in ibe whole Province. Whoever our contemporary's ‘our own’ o ay be he has let him in for a blunder such as we seldom seen perpetrated ”

Extraordinary Occurrence.—Under this heading there appears a letter in the Cromwell Arum, which will henceforth be cited as a model of sensational narrative. The writer delights in the name of William Jackson Barry, and describes, in language which puts Dr. Russell into the shade altogether, a journey from Queenstown to Cromwell in charg of a boar, which had been driven mad by guustjroke. Here is a sample of his style ' The sun was hot, and the road was dusty, but 1 pushed along at a good pace, in order to get to the end of my journey as soon as possible. . . All of a sudden 1 heard an indescribable roar, the very thought of which to this moment sends the blood tingling through my veins. 1 turned, and beheld the net all torn away and the boar standing on his hind legs—with glaring eyes and frothing mouth—in the very act of rushing at me : the heat o‘ the sun had driven the brute mad. 1 sprang forward with one bound aud alighted on the ground close to the heads of the horses. By grasping the reins, I managed to keep myself from falling, and once more turned to see my enemy, or rather 1 should say not to see him, for ho had disappeared. After some time, I gained sufficient confidence to return to the cart, aud there I sa v the monster stretched dead on the bottom of the cart. A most remarkable result from this desperate affair is that whereas before it occurred the top of my head was quite bald and smooth, immediately afterwards I had hair half an an inch long where before it was barren. I earnestly hope that scientific men will examine into the circumstances, and let the fmblic know how such a result can spring rom such a cause.” Here was a case of hair standing on end,” with a vengeance. We have received from the agent (Mr R. T. Wheeler) the March number of the New Zealand Church News. It contains a continuation of the interesting tale of “ Wolfingham,” a general resume of the late General Synod’s proceedings, together wth letters and other matter which should interest every churchman.