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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2536, 3 April 1871, Page 2

The Volunteers. — The Luna, with the Volunteer representatives, was to leave Wellington for Lyttelton this afternoon. Strange Accident. — At Ballarat, one Sunday evening, just three weeks ago, a young lady dislocated her jaw in church by giving nay to a lit of yawning during the sermon.

A Sacerdotal Theft.— A curious theft was committed on the Queen’s Wharf, Nelson, a few dava ago, being nothing less than that of the Bishop of Nelson’s gown, a silk dress, and some papers. Geo. Skerry, the steward of the Malay, in whose possession the stolu articles were found, was brought up before the Resident Magistrate, and committed for trial

Born Gentlemen.—Rather rare in the Colonics we should fancy but Wanganui is the place where they appear to vegetate. A clerk there the other day was asked by his employer to wash some bottles, and fearing the natural consequences of being called bottle-washer, the clerk stoutly declined. Lifting his proud head and proci: tons proboscis, the begetter of gentlemen thereupon exclaimed— ‘‘ Why, my son , mho in a horn < cntlmnan. does not refuse to wash bottles, and docs it regularly !’’ This was all. The clerk said he wouldn’t stop. Rifle Competition.—The second competition by the Anderson’s Bay ami North-Last Harbor divisions of the Naval Brigade, for the challenge gold medal,, took place at. ill-) Anderson’s Bay Butts on Friday. The conditions are —flanges 400, 500. and COQ sards; seven shots at each range,; the medal to bo won four times —twice in suc-cession-by the same person, before, it can be claimed as his prize. The following are the two highest scores : 400 500 600 Tl. Vol. Patrick 20 25 19—64 To', (kitten 18 17 21—56 The successful scorer at the competition in December was Gunner Stewa't, who made 49 points. A New Idea of an “ Arrangejibnt. A Melbourne weekly has the following anvning bit ;—■“ There is a new euphuism for imprisonment. A criminal, who before he was .sentenced the other day for larceny was scrupulously anxious to convince the Chief Justice that he had been twice and not thrice before convicted, considered that one conviction shou A not count for anything ; it was, he sai.d, only ■ a short arrangement of a month.’ A mere snack in anticipation. His Honor’s ‘arrangements’ upon last sentencing day were of the most liberal character. Amongst thirteen prisoners ho distributed with great impartiality ninety-one years’ incarceration. .Some of these pensioners of the State did nob seem to appreciate' the future ‘ arrangements ’ made for their mmitenauco and occupation.” Bank Agencies. The Dunstnn Time*, coimnci’ting upon the facts elicited at the inquest on the late Mr Bcdhormigh, makes the following pertinent remarks : - “ We question if it is morally right that a man, singly by himself, should he left in charge of any of the Banks’ agencies. It is cruel and inhuman to require such. A lad, even for company’s sake, would not cost much, and we think that, in the interests of ilio shareholders, such should ho conceded when the agent on the goldfields is not a m irried man, as in reality bo should he. In this case the Bank has a great deal to answer for. Had assistance been at hand it is very probable that the poor agent Bedborough, who breathed out almost to his last breath untended and nncared for, might be a living man at the present time. What else might happen in a similar case it is almost impossible to conjecture. There would be nothing to prevent the whole of the property of the Bank being carried off,”

Amusing Incident. An incident cropped up in the Supreme Court at Wellington a few days ngo on the calling on of tiic case of Francis Rochoz alias Manilla, who is charged with a breach of the Arms Act. It appears the prisoner is a native of Manilla, speaks little English, but claims to speak the Spanish language pure and simple. The difficulty then appeared to be finding of an interpreter, an 1 on Mr Izard mentioning the name of Mr Lawrence for the office, his Honor inquired of Mr Izard where the gentleman named was to bo found, whereupon a sepulchral shriek, approaching that of a wail of'lamentation from a "departed spernt ” at a spiritual secanee, discovered the indispensable Mr Lawrence to be at the back of the crowd in the top gallery. A few preliminary questions from his Horn r revealed Mr Lawrence to be a native of Gascony in the south of France, and that he based his knowledge of Spanish on the fact that ho was born within s'ght of the Pyrenees, Being rather dubious of Mr Lawrence’sffituess for the task ho had undertaken with such willingness, his Honor suggested that the two should undergo a preliminary "jabber,” which they did, though not in a very satisfactory way, mutilated English having to do service in the explanatory parts, in which it appeared that Mr Manilla was just about a match for Mr Lawrence. For the moment uiicontroJablo risibility reigned around. All the witnesses in the case being, Maoris, and the prisoner a professed Spaniard, the prospect of such a Babel was not pleasant, and diis Honor confessed himself in a quandary. On his Honor notifying to Mr Lawrence that he thought he was not equal to the task, that gentleman offered to make a small bet with him that he would translate all that 'was to be said into French, Spanish, or Latin, with unerring certainty. That his Honor declined, and cut, the gordiau knot by postponing the matter.

c'Eatal resulting in the death of a man named Raines Henderson, occurred at Black’s No. 3, on . Friday, the 24th instant. The dccoased,,it' appears, was last seen' {dive about K), o’clock on the mornins of the day on which the accident occurred, mending a cradle. He sa d he was going to work some old ground, and was cautioned against doing so, as it was not safe for a man possessing so little mining experience. He disregarded the caution and went to work in the place indicated by him, about two hundred yards from the Deep Lead Company’s shaft. Deceased was missed in the evening by a man named Gifford, who perceiving there had been a fall of earth, in* quircdTor him, and ascertained he had not been seen since morning. Gifford then proceeded to where the fall of earth, had taken place, and found a tub and cradle, and with the assistance of other men removed the fallen earth, finding a pick and bucket. More assistance was then called, and the body of the unfortunate man was disinterred. Deceased was laying on his aide, with a shovel alongside of him, and a bucket at his feet, as if he had been in the act of filling Ibo bucket when the catastrophe occurred. When found, the ho ly was cold. An inquest on the remains of the unfortunate man was held at Black’s, on Monday before Vincent Pyke, Esq., when the facts above stated were elicited. Dr Niven deposed that death resulted from suffocation, caused bj r a fall of earth. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony.

Progress of Queenstown. The gosheadism of the principal township in the Lakes district may be gathered from the following paragraph : —The most noticeable fcatn.e in Queenstown is the immense building operations now being carried on. Messrs Hallensteiu and Co. are now budding a shop and warehouse in Heos street GO feet square ; the foundations are of stone, the lower and upper stories brick. This, when completed, will be the largest and most substantial erection on the goldlielis ; while it wi l also possess considerable architectural merit. Mr Hallensteiu is also erecting a large stone dwelling-house, which will cost upwards of Ll.dOO at his farm at Spear-grass Fiat. Mr M. J. Malaghan is bnildi.ig his business premises anew with stone. Mr A. Eichari.lt, of the Queen’s Arms Mote], is doing the same, commencing from the hack por ion of the premi es, and working up to the front. Mr D, Powell, our local knight of die hammer has just completed an extensive range or stables and sale yards ; while as to cottages they are going up by the score. The do niaiul for timber is so great that the two mills cannot supply sutficie it, and much delay is occasioned. The wood splitters up the bake arc equally busy, the demand for fencing timber and firewood being largely in excess of the supply. The traffic of tlie Lake has completely outstripped the powers of our local fi et of steamers, and more vessels are badly wanted. Messrs Maokay and Boult are building a screw steamer of thirty tons, which will be a little help; but there is sufficient trade on the Lake now for a couple of really first-class boa's of large cirrying capacity, with proper passenger accommodation, a matter not at all provided lor at present. It is. said that'a large Chinese linn is about starting a store in the town here. This celestial establishment is to beo.ian extensive scale, and to be well storked with every article required for the barbarians, equally with Chinese. This celestial enterprise is looked upon by consumers in a moat favorable light, for notwithstanding that every other business or service lias been cut down to the lowest, that of a storekeep. r is as profitable as ever, prices of stores being as high now as in the good all times, when, carriage was fifty and sixty pounds per ton—of course heavy goods must to a certain extent bo excluded from this category.

■The Keeps.—We take the following items of intelligence from the DuusUm Times: Our Bendigo correspondent informs usjthat the first cleaning up of the Alta Company’s Batteries yielded ninety-one ounces of gold. This is the result of a foitnight’s crushing, and is considered highly satisfactory by the shareholders. The mU is still crushing, and water being pleht fu 1 , the two batm-s are constantly at work. The announcement that the Aurora Company are williim to let their claim on tribute has attracted the attention of a number of miners to it, and I Should not be surprised, if terms can be arranged, to sec the mill at work again before very long. The prospects of Colclouulfs Company still continue good, and th ir battery of four heads is constantly at work.! From the Cromwell Company I have nothing new, but they are still pegging steadily away at what I hope will lie golden stone Quite a furore was 'rated among th. 1 men employed' in the various claims by the announcement that all the companies had determined to reduce the rate of wages per week from L 4 to L 3 10s for ten hour shifts, and to L 3 for eight hour shifts. Great dissatisfaction was expressed and strike threatened ; but, when it was seen that the companies were firm, the men (with but few exceptions) accepted the reduced rate. This reduction of wages will, we are sure, he of great benefit to the district, and will probably induce many companies, who have suspended operations, to resume working their claims. The. alluvial workings have almost dropped out of notice, but rumors of good finds being constantly in circulation, attention has been directed to these, and it is on the tapis to bring water on to ground known to he highly auriferous. The reef at Thomson's Gorge, on the Manuhcrikia slope of the Daustan Mountains is being further developed by its lucky fiudevs. It has been traced on the surface for a distance of over one hundred yards, showing a width of from two to live feet, with gold visible throughout the stone. ! On one portion of the claim, a shaft has been sunk to a depth of 16 feet, and the reef shows a decided tendency to thicken.

A General Meeting of the members of the Dunedin Gymnastic Club, and of those desirous of joining will'be held in the Lower Hall of the Atlienseum on Monday next, the 10th inst., at 8 p.m. There are, we understand, SO members now connected with the Club, The gymnasium in course of erection at the High School has been leased for the season and will be opened on Monday evening next.

A meeting of the Standard Property Investment Society for receiving subscriptions, &c., will be held at the Society’s office on Wednesday evening, between six an 1 eight; on the same evening a special general meeting of shr.: eholdcrs will be held in the Athenqeum Building, Octagon, at 8.30, to consider .the propriety of opening a Deposit branch in connection with the Society; and at the close of special meeting

an annual general mee'ing wUI bo hejgl, when the financial statement .f&r-dihc will be submitted to the shareholders;