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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2637, 31 July 1871, Page 2

Resident Magistrate’s Court.— To-day the only case adjudicated upon was that of Thomson A r . Sutherland : a claim for LI 10s, for goods supplied. Judgment Avas given for the plaintiff by default.

Oamaru Mayoralty.—At the second nomination, which was necessitated by an error similar to what has occurred in connexion with our Mayoral election, Mr James Udall was elected, there being no other nomination.

Mayor’s Court.—The business transacted at this Court to-day was to deal with a few drunkards. James Dick and Henry Johnson were discharged with a caution. John Glaister and George Alexander were each fined 10s.

Princess Theatre. — “Under the Gaslight” and “The Two Kings” will be repeated this evening for the last time. Tomorrow evening Mr Martin Fordo will take a benefit, the pieces selected being “Handy Andy” and the burlesque of “Aladdin.” Mr M. Fordo has many friends iu Dunedin, and we have no doubt they will come out “strong” on the occasion. The Census. —The most noticeable part of the results of the census yet published is the remarkable increase in the female population that has taken place in the Colony between 1807 and 1871. Females have increased to the extent of 22 - 45 per cent., while the male population has only increased 13 *BS per cent. Stock Crossing the Waitaki.—ln the Canterbury Provincial Council a few days ago, it was stated that the Superintendent of Canterbury while here, had arranged that Mr Logie, chief Inspector of sheep, should report by telegraph, as soon as possible, and if in the opinion of the Inspector there was no cause why the present restriction should continue, a proclamation removing it would at once issue.

Another Sudden Death.—A very sudden death occurred at Balclutha on the evening of the 2(sth hist. A man known as Bill the butcher, but whose proper name was William Melling, had during the day been indulging pretty freely in drink, and had been engaged in catching and leading a bull about the township. Ho retired to rest on a shake-down in the Newmarket Hotel. A man in the hotel went next morning to wake him, and found him dead. At the coroner’s inquest, a verdict was returned of “Died from natural causes, accelerated by excitement,”

Death of a Maori Rura Anauru Te fine Rura, thirty of age, died in the hospital this morning ■ past one o’clock, of consumption. He' was under a sentence of seven years’ penal servitude for high treason, and was considered one of the leading and most influential men of his tribe in the late rebellion. He was a Roman Catholic, and belonged to the Ngataruinui hapu, in the Wanganui district. He has two brothers and two uncles prisoners in the gaol. He was married, and his wife i’ at present residing in Wanganui. In accordance with the Gaol Act, an inquest will be held this evening.

Journalistic. —We have received the first and second numbers of a new weekly newspaper, published in Melbourne, called the “Australian Israelite.” From the name our readers will at once understand that the periodical upholds the Jewish faith. The introductory article, which is well and temperately written, defines “the principles on which it is based, and the hopes we have of its permanent success. We gather from a paragraph in a letter signed “ Well Wisher,” that the columns will be “open to such controversy as will, without offending any, afford opportunities to those who may be desirous of gaining useful knowledge of our ancient and holy faith.” Great care has evidently been bestowed in getting up this new periodical—the typography, in particular, being unexceptionable. We heartily wish our young brother success.

The Governor. —His Excellency, as a power in the State, is thus desci ibed by Mr Gillies, the Superintendent of Auckland, in his recent speech : —The Governor is a mere cypher, bound to do what Ins ministers for the time being advise ; he is the representative of her Majesty, of the dignity and history of the monarchy ; but he is, so far as the Colony is concerned —I speak of the office, not of the individual now so worthily holding the office, and representing those ideas—an umbra, a shadow, without whose existence we would not suffer, and by whose extinction we would scarcely be gainers or losers. I wish you perfectly to understand tlvs, that the Governor in name, is not the Governor at all, in reality; that when you address indignant remonstrance to Lis Excellency to disallow this or that Act, to assent to this measure or that, to do or leave undone, any political action, you are, save when imperial interests are concerned, merely addressing the Ministry of the day, and not his Excellency in person, as a separate entity at all. He is governed by his responsible advisers. They arc Hie Governor be, but an oracular medium to the priests inspired. New Zealand and Australian Telegraphic Cable.— We extract the following passage from the address to the electors of Hobart Town, by Mr Kennerly, a leading member of the Legislative Council of Tasmania“ The approaching connection of Australia with England by the electric wire renders it necessary that Tasmania should take steps to be prepared to avail itself of the full benefits of telegraphic communication. The circuit of the globe will prp’ably, ere long, he completed by connecting Australia with India, and laying a cable across the Pacific from China to California by way of Japan and A laska. The former is in the course of completion, and it will only require that Tasmania should be made Kew ZeaVid’s point of contact with Australia when the whole of these colonies will be united. Should we be called upon to pay a portion of the cost, the advantages will be more than commensurate.

Literary. — By the incoming English mail Mr T. Birch has received for presentation to the Caledonian Society, a copy of a reproduction of the original MSS. of “Tam O’Shanter” and the “Lament of Mary Queen of Scots,” forwarded by Mr E. Fox, well-known in Dunedin. The original manuscript is reproduced by the photochromolith process ; and speaking »f the copies forwarded, the donor says “ They seemed to me to be interesting, because it may be assumed that the reproduction is minutely correct; so that the work has much greater value than any mere imitation or copy on the part of the most skilful engraver or lithographer. ” Even more forcible are the opinions expressed in the introduction to the work itself —“ To all who take an interest in nut 'graphs, these pages, with their blots, their erasures, and interlineations, are as authentic and as valuable as if every mark had actually been traced on the paper by the poet’s hand. Where he hesitated, where he erased, where he inserted lines, even where his hand faltered, may here be seen ; nor can the theorists, who undertake to determine from handwriting the character of the writer, fail to find in these specimens some support for their views ; for surely the bold, decided, and essentially legible character in which the weird story of the immortal Tam and and the tender lament of the unhappy Queen of Scots are inscribed on these pages, has something more than a fanciful affinity with the frank, generous, but rugged nature of Scotland’s greatest peasant poet.” The Educational Question. A correspondent sends us the follow ng extract from the London letter by the Birmingham Daily Post of May 6 “An instructive petition, on National Education, has been presented by Mr Wmterbotham, from citizens of Ab rdeen, signed by the Sheriffs substitute for Aberdeenshire, John Comrie Mornson and William Milligan, Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism. It sets forth that ‘ the petitioners arc deeply impressed with the value and importance of religious instruction. They are, however, of opinion that, as such instruction necessarily embraces subjects on which there exist great differences of opinion throughout the nation, any attempt, on the part of the Government, to make it a part of a national system would produce incessant struggles between religious parties, and would thus prove a fatal blot in the scheme. But, apart from this consideration, your petitioners are further satisfied that the duty of providing religious instruction would he most effectually discharged by parents and the different religious bodies. ’ This is precisely the dqctrlne of the Dutch sphool system, and it shqws a wise liberality on the part of the Scotch mind, beyond anything for which credit is usually accorded to it, that such a petition should emanate therefrom. The petitioners boldly add, that ‘ the only principle upon which any permanent system can bo based is a separation of secular and religious education.’ ”

A Characteristic Letter, Mr Charles Matthews, the celebrated comedian, writing to a friend in Auckland, gives the following amusing account of his visit to the Sandwich Islands;—“ Sailed for the Sand-

wich Islands ah two, in the Moses Taylqjrj .- familiarly—but by uo means yulgularly—ejjj* titled the ‘Rolling Moses.’ ''ReachefjyßLbnolulu, the capital of the Island ojf'Oajm, and the seat of the Government of.the Hawaian group, on Saturday the 19th ; eighteen: days, tour thousand and thirteen rttilbs and three quarters ! (accuracy again, exact as an &rchitect’s estimate, L4OOO Is Ifd.) Head winds (of course) all the way ; longest passage, (of course) over known ; and certainly the roughest. Heavy rolling seas—not a sail, a bird, or a fish sighted; the only excitement we had arising from the old novelty of two Thursdays c ming together in one week—two 9ths of February arm-in-arm. At Honolulu, one of the loveliest spots on earth, I acted one night by command, in the presence of his Majesty Kamehameha V., King of the Sandwich Islands," (not HokyPonky Wonky-Fong, as erroneously reported) and a memorable night it was. On my way to the quaint little Hawaian theatre, situated in a rural lane, in the midst of a pretty garden glowing with gaudy tropical flowers, and shaded by cocoatrees, bananas, banyans, and tamarinds, I met the play-bill of the evening. A.perambulatory Kanaka (or native black gentleman), walking between two boards (called in London figuratively a ‘sandwich man,’ but here of course literally so), carried aloft a large illuminated lighted lantern, with the announcement in the Kanaka language, to catch the attention of the colored inhabitants. I found the theatre (to use the technical expression) ‘crammed to suffocation,’ which merely means ‘ very full,’ though, from the state of the thermometer on this occasion, ‘ suffocation ’ was not so incorrect a description as usual A really elegantlooking audience (tickets 10s each), ev.ning dresses, uniforms of every cut and eve:y country. ‘ Chit ftesses ’ and ladies of every tinge, in dresses of every color, flowers and jewels in profusion, satin playbills, Dus going, windows and doors all open, an outside staircase leading straight into the dress circle, without lobby, check-taker, or moneytaker. Kanaka women in the garden below selling bananas by the glare of flaring torches on a sultry tropical moonlight night. The whole thing was nothing but a midsummer night’s dream. And was it nothitig to see a pit-full of Kanakas—black, brown, and whitey-browu all lately cannibals—showing tlio.ir white teeth, grinning and enjoying ‘ Patter v. Clatter ’ as much as a few years ago they would have enjoyed the roasting of a missionary or the baking of a baby. It was certainly a page in one’s history never to be forgotten.”

Mr W. H. Gutten intimates that he will address the Electors of Bell Ward at Mr M'Gregor’s British Hotel, this evening, at 8 o’clock. Mr. Keith Ramsay will address the Electors of High Ward at Murray’s Booms, Rattray-street, this evening, at 8 o’clock, Committee meet directly afterwards. Mr Paterson announces that he will address the Bell Ward Electors at the Oddfellow’s Hall this eA r ening at 8 o’clock. Mu Neale announces that he will address the ratepayers of Bell Ward at Shepherd’s European Hotel, George street, this evening, at 7.30. Committee meet at the close of address. Mr Gilchrist will address the electors of Bell Ward this evening at Towers’s lloyal George Hotel, at 7.30; .and at the Oddfellow’s Hall, after Mr Paterson. The annual meeting of the Otago Rifle Association, f r election of officebearers for the ensuing year, will be held at Wain’s Hotel to-morrow (Tuesday) evening at 8. A summoned meeting of the Pioneer Lodge, A.1.0.0.E., No. J, will be held at the Lodge rooms to-morrow (Tuesday evening at 8 o’clock. Mr H. J. Walter Avill address the ratepayers of High Ward in the large room of M'Cubbin’s Hotel, Princes stieet, this evening, at 8 o’clock ; after which a meeting of the committee will take place. A public meeting of the Dunedin Abstainers’ Union will be held at the Congregational Hall, Moray place, on Wednesday next, August 2nd, at 8 p.m. ; when readings, recitations, and vocal and instrumental music will be given.