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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2603, 21 June 1871, Page 2

Crowded Out. —Owing to pressure on our space, we are obliged to omit our report of the proceedings in the Provincial Council this afternoon. Mayor’s Court, aud other local matter.

Hansard.—The Press confirms the statement that there will be no Hansard published this session. It deprecates the change, and hints unmistakeably as to the reason. No newspaper can afford to report the debates in full, and some in their own interests will not dare to do so.

Mesmerism. —We see that Dr Carr announces his intention of visiting the Port, where lie will appear on Friday evening next. The extraordinary success which attends Dr Carr’s mesmeric manifestations will no doubt have the effect of attracting a arge audi cnee. A New way of Finding Lodgings. —One of the principal cases at the last criminal sessions at Wellington was that of a man named Wetherall which displays a marvellous resignation of all claims to the advantages or enjoyments of intercourse with the outward world, his offence having been committed with the deliberate intention of procuring the comforts of a home, so far as, conformable with prison discipline, they can ■be obtained, without having resort to the itinerancy of an up country straggler. He will now have an opportunity of gratifying his wish at the expense of the colony for three years. Seizure of an Illicit still. —On the 14th inst., Sergeant Dullon of Oamarn, accompanied by constable Keligher, and a third person went to the Lambing bush, Kakauui ranges, in search of an illicit still, supposed to be at work in that locality. After hunting through gullies, and climbing precipices, at about 3. SO on the following morning the plant was sprung, but no person was found. There was a 40 gallon still complete, and ten hogsheads, containing a small

quantity of wosfc ; also a 15 gallon boiler not erected. About 300 yards from the spot.one cask and two kegs were found, containing spirits to :the amount of eighty-two gallons Oamaru Times informs us that all the property was destroyed with the exception of the still he|ad and worm, and two. samp'e bottles of the whisky. The still was on Crown land, and as no person was in charge, no one can be punched for the offence. Intended Liberality. A good story is told of the Chief Justice of Victoria when on circuit, lately. Sir William Stawcli finished the assize business at Bccchworth, and walked into the bar of the Star 11 tel to make arrangements for horses for his next stage. One of those drowsy persons who haunt tavern hats rolled up to his Honor, and patnmisingly expressed bis approval. “Ah,” said he, “ you’re one of the right rtort !*” winding up with the hospitable “ What’ll you take to drink ?” Sir William firmly but courteously declined the proffered refreshment; but the man being s > pertinacious and so generous offering “ anything from s. dawatcr to champagne,” his Honor a .r r .-cd to.take some of the fir.it mentioned beverage. That quaffed, the judge’s do lighted'’friend added, “ You don’t know me ; my name’s Cuddiford. You gave my old ’oornau two years this morning, and, by George, you satved her right.'’ City Council. The fortnightly meeting of the Council wfts held this afternoon. Amongst the correspondence read was a letter from the Waterworks Company, submitting a copy of the r proposed now Bill ; and in connection with it the Mayor explained that from a cursory glance at the measure, he thought it advisab’ethat a commilteo should report upon it. The following were some of the proposed alterations which it was suggested were worthy of consider ;• tion ; —The provision which-provides that the company shall only charge rat s agamst houses where (lie block is entirely .surrounded by pipes, is to ha struck on 1- , and a clause inserted, giving the company uowey to charge all houses, although the pipes may only be laid down on rn-j side of the block. It is also proposed to mak° the water rates payable half-yearly and quarterly. A committee, consisting of the Mayor, Messrs tV alter, Livingstone, and Thoneraan, was appointed to consider the subject. A letter from Mr Geo. Munro complaining of the conduct of Councillor Barnes in interfering with his contract for laying kerbing in Leith Ward, led to r.n explanation by Mr Barnes, who asserted that the work was being carried out in a disgraceful manner, the specifications being totally igno ed. Councillors Walter and Cargill, while conceding to Councillor Barnes an earnest d sire to see City works faithfully carried out, deprecated the idea of any councillor interfering with contractors. On Mr Cargill’s motion the letter, together with the complaints of Mr Barnes, were referred to the Works Committee for enquiry. The reports of the various committees were adopted.

A Gigantic Scheme. —By the last mail from Melbourne, a gentleman in this city received the prospectus of a scheme that has been projected ,in Melbourne, for establishing % connection by canal between the northern and western portions of Victoria. It is to be called the Grand Victorian Northwestern canal, and the projectors they are ready to form a company for carrying it out, if the Victorian Government will promise them a subsidy in land proportioned to the magnitude and importance of the undertaking, The canal, with ail brandies, would run through the districts of Rodney, Bendigo, Gladstone, Kar-Kara, Boning and Kararook, and its entire length would be 500 miles ; it is projected to have a fa l of 9 inches per mile, to be 00 feet wide and 10 feet deep. The projectors ask the Government to give them a lease for 999 years of the land through which the canal would he formed, together with every alternate spuare mile of country on each side of the line, or else a grant on fee simple of the same quantities of of land. The projectors estimate that the land retained by Government would increase in value from lil per acre to L 5 or L 6 through the increased facililitics for settlement, given by water carriage, and also by a system of irrigation, whicli the company propose to establish, it being their intention to erect about 130 engines at different places for pumping water for land irrigation. The estimated expenditure of the company is L 3,000,000, and ii stated that the whole of the moui y has been promised in the Melbourne market.

Chime in the Colony. —ln his last address to the Grand Jury of Wellington Mr Jus! ;cc Johnston referred to this subject in the following terms He had gone very carefully into the statistics of crime both in the mother country and in this Colony, and he was sorry that the conclusion which had been forced upon him was one which did not relicct favorably upon the Colony; for, a priori, considering that to immigrants who arrived here abundance of employment was open, together with higher rates of payment for their labor, one would naturally be led to expect we would be more free fivm crime; and the more so as he believed the population of this country was, in the aggregate, far superior in point of intelligence to that of the Mother Country. Yet, possessing all these advantages and greater guarantees against crime, he was afraid the actual proportion in the Colony was considerably greater than was statistically recorded in Groat Britain. In these remarks ho was referring to such indictable offences as are tried in the Colony before t e Supreme Court or District Court, and in England before the Circuit Court or Court, of Quarter Sessions; and, on taking the annual proportions of convictions to the entire population, he found that in England, speaking in round numbers, it was about one in a thousand, a proportion considerably less than that of New Zealand. In the statistics for the United Kingdom for 1807 he found the propoitiou to be 30 to 19,450 persons, or less than two to each three,thousand of the population; whereas in New Zealand in the same year the convictions amounted to 224, a proportion considerably more than one in a thousand. In 1809, with an estimated population of 238.000, the convictions were 277. They would thus see that, while oar administration of justice was as perfect here as at home, our proportion of indictable offences was more than one in a thousand, while in England it only reached to two persons in every 3.000. This certainly was an unsatisfactory state of things ; but he merely threw it out as a fact that might induce many people to give some consideration to the matter. It was a question above all others which ought to excite the deepest interest in the public mind, as it was one of the most important and difficult with which the legislative ad-

ministration of the Colony would have to deal in the future ; and the public cnild not too soon be made aware of the exact facts ofthe case, so that they might rid themselves at once of any feeling of false security Which might arise from the fact that the calendar before them was a light one. We have been requested to state that, in consequence of the s.s. Auckland having b:en wrecked, there will ba no connecting stcamsr at Auckland to meet the City of Adelaide at Fiji. The Battery of the Dunedin Volunteer Artillery will muster to-morrow (Thusday) even’ng, at 7.30, for Adjutant’s parade ami inspection of arms. Full dress, with rifles. The annual meeting of the Acclimatisation Society will be held at the City Council Chambers to-rnorrow, at 2 p.m. We have been requested to state that applicants fur Californian seeds can obta’u them from the secretary (Mr G. K. Turton). A public meeting of the Dunedin Abstainers’ flnion will be held in the Congregational Hall, Moray place, this evening, at eight o’clock, when, the adjourned discussion on the Permissive Bill will be resumed. «