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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2657, 23 August 1871, Page 2

Parliamentary Papers.—We "have to acknowledge the receipt of a batch of Parliamentary papers. The Advantages of Protection ! tinder the new Victorian tariff, the organ for the Melbourne Town Hall will pay a duty to the revenue of LIOOO, or a fourth of its value. This is protecting native industry with a vengeance.

The Tichborne Case.—A special telegram in the Vcuw of the World dated July 9 says : —The Jury in the Tichborne case privately informed the Jndge that they were convinced that the plaintiff was an imposter, and that they were ready to give a verdict to that effect, without hearing a single witness for the defence. The Judg* refused ty give his consent, and the trial will proceed. Deputation.-- -A deputation consisting of Messrs John Mackenzie, W. Hepburn, J °Brooks, and E. Menlove, waited upon the deputy Superintendent this fp enoon, to urge upon him the fulfillment of the prom sc made by the Superintendent in March last, that prison labor woii'd be replaced on the Half-way Bush road until it was c impleted His Honor informed the deputation that the works on which the prisoners were now engaged would take some time ; and at the conclusion of them it would be the deputation’s turn. At all events he would give an answer to Mr Hepburn in the course of a few days.

Government Life Assurance. It has been the fashion with some of our contemporaries to decry this institution, which, notwithstanding, is becoming more popular every day. We learn from the Commissioners’ annual report recently laid before Parliament that from the inauguration of the system in March, 1870, to June la-t, 6G7 proposals for insurance, amounting te L 295.874, have b;cn received (more than half this number were received during the last quarter), of which 418 have been accepted and taken np, an-1 policies issued amounting t> L 205,374, at an annual premium of L 5,810.

The Water Works Company’s Bill. —A meeting of representatives of the various churches in Dunedin was held at Murray’s Rooms, Rattray street, last evening, to consider the propriety of asking the Dunedin Water Works Company to insert in their Amendment Bill, now before thAssembly, a clause exempting churches, chapels- and Sabbath schools from the water assessment. Mr Jago was called to the chair. The matter wes discussed by those present; but the attendance not being very numerous, it was resolved to postpone coming to a decision on the matter. The mealing was adjourned till Friday evening next, when a fuller attendance of representatives from the several deuomiuati >ns is expected.

Prospecting. —The prospecting party from Dunedin, which left for Presorvatio Inlet sonic weeks ago, ti look after sla'e and atone quarries in that locality, returned to Invercargill on the 17th inst., bringing some excellent samples of slate obtained there, and a piece of stone from Chalky Inlet, well adapted for paving purposes. —Mr VV. Fox who claims to be the discoverer of the Arrow goldfield, but whose claim to the reward has not been rccogn sed by an impecunious and ungrateful Government, is now in Cromwell, and proposes to form a prospecting party for the purpose of opening a new goldfield within about twenty-live miles of that town. There is no doubt that the Cromwell mining district is one of the richest in the Colony, and it is no less true that it has been but imperfectly pr s pected. T'iie Hon. J. Vogel—-On the arrival of the Nevada at Wellington, Captain Fairchild had the Luna’s boat in readiness to take off a select party, consisting of Mr Fox, the Hon D. Maclean, the Hon. Mr Gisborne, the Attorney-General (Mr Preudegast), &c. A considerable number of people were waiting on the wharf, although it was nearly dark when the Nevada came into harbor. The greeting of welcome having been gone through the party returned in the Luna’s boat, the Hon. Mr Vogtl coming ashore in the Custom Hou o boat. Mr Vogel is at present suffering severely from an attack of gout, and on his landing he had to be conveyed to his residence in a cab. Mrs Vogel and Mrs Vogel’s sister remained behind at San Francisco, on account of the illness of the latter lady, but it is expected that she will have recovered sufficiently to enable the party to come on by the next steamer.

Dunedin Products at San FranCiMio —The American papers to hand by the Nevada tell us that there can be little doubt that when the New Zealand colonists and “ Friscians,” as they delight to call themselves, get better acquainted, there will be for both new openings of profitable trade discovered. The Alta California speaks of some flax rope shipped by Driver, Stewart, and Co., “ It is said to be almost equal to Manilla, after undergoing a process of steaming with chemical processes. If the shippers in New Zealand mike up their minds and will ship to the same agent here so as to prevent competition aud consequent reduction in price, probably one thousand tons of the fibre can be sold here speedily at from L 22 to L24perton.” And of Wilson and Birch’s beer, the same journal remarks: “ Although a draught ale, it is light, sparkling, aud brink, like the best English bottle beer. It is evidently much less alcoholic and heavy than most of the English draught ale, and we have no doubt would become a great favorite both for household aud general use."

Princess Theatre. Miss Jennie Nye may be congratulated on having so good a benefit last night; all parts being well attended, the house presented a very animated appearance, and as a necessary consequence, the performeis were incited to do their Iwst. The ball opened with the “ Ladies Club,” a two act comedy brought out at the Olympic forty years ago, under the management of Madame Vestris since when, it has ever kept the stage as a favorite of the public. On this occasion the burden fell upon Miss Nye, Miss Forde, Mis Matthews, Messrs Musgrave, Wolfe and Forde, who acquitted themselves with credit, and Mr Thornton, in particular, who played the part of “ Fricandeau' sufficiently well to remind us of Morris Barnett and Charles Selby. The entertainment was brought to a close with the burlesque of “Kenilworth,”

which was very fairly got up and presented ; Miss Nye being especially well received for a dance introduced by her, and a duet (Miss Fordeand Miss Nye) narrowly escaping an encore. Between the play arid the burlesque a comic song by two gentleman was encired, and a clog dance by another gentleman was well received. The performance will be repeated this evening.

A Sad Event.—lt is our painful 'duty to have to record the death of Mr Robert Miller, who has for some time back been connected with this office. For som ■ weeks Mr Mil er has complained of depression of mind, and about three weeks since wont to Dunedin, where his relatives and friends reside. He returned about a fortnight ago, and appeared somewhat better in health, °continuing to attend to his work as usual; but on Saturday muaihu, on coming to his work about eight o’clock, he brought his rifle with him, and after a few remarks to one of the boys, stopped into the pressroom, and in a second or two afterwards an exp'osion was heard, and to the utter dismay of those who happ ned to bo in the office at the time, they saw the unfortunate young man fall over a corpse. The evidence taken at-the inquest would lead to the belief that it was self-destruction, while suffering f om temporary insanity. The deceased was an excellent tradesman, alratemious, and upright in his cinluct, and respected by all who knew him, and the melancholy i vent has cast a gloom, not alene over the companions with whom he.worked so long, but over the whole community. At the coroner’s inquest the following verdict was returned Suicide, while laboring under temporary insanity. "—Oamaru Timex. Wool Cleaning.—The following is from the Victorian Economixl :—The sheepowners of th j present day are certainly more favored than their predecessors, foi scarcely a week passes bur. the public are invited to see the effects of some new de ergent, or wool-cleaning composition, by which the flocks can be brought into a condition.of cleanliness at a very trifling cost, and in a very short time. Wc attended a trial of one of the latest bleaching mixtures, and must confess that the results were highly satisfactory. The experiments were carried on at the office of the patentee, Mr Landc, Collins street, in the presence of several interested in wool and its belongings. The cost of the soapy like composition is at the rate of Gils per cwt., or L6O per ton. This appears, at first sight, rather a heavy cost, hut not so after explanation. 111 >. of the detergent will make 10 gallons water of the required strength, thus the ton will prepare 22,400 gallons ; and supposing a sheep of the ordinary size and fleece canies away with it from the first soaking pen half a gallon of the mixture, the cost per head will be only one halfpenny and a small fraction. We saw wool washed in water at the temperature of about 8J degr cs for 30 seconds ; a small lock of extremely dirty wool was immersed, and then after a moment’s rinsing in clear water, squeezed as white as sn w. In cold water the effect was apparently as good, but ratin'r slower. A sheep passing through a race in which it could float and be banff.-rubbed for a minute or a trifle moie. and then plunged into a bath of clear water, ought to go into the shearingshed in as clean a condition as is possibl . Mr Johnson, the Government Analytical Chemist, has stated that “ the samples of composition he examined, prepared by Mr Lande f..r wool-bleaching, Ac., were free from any poisonous matter, and not likely to be injulious to either sheep or fleece when us n, them.” It was state !by the patentee that the mixture, if not all used this season, could be either left in the pm or collected in casks, and would prove equally effective in a twelvemonth’s time as when first mixed.

Soiree. —The annual social gathering of the Knox Church Young Men’s Society, was held last evening in the classroom adjoining the Church. There was a full attendance, including the representatives of kindred societies, ami tho Rev. D. M. Stuart p esided. The report for the year ending tire 7th inst slated that the Committee could not offer their usual congratulations on the prosperous state of the Society. It was only too apparent that not only had no progress been made, but that le-s interest had been felt in the Society, both by the Church and by the Society itself; and, unless some vigorous measures were taken, the Society was likely tq come to an untimely end. During the year It) ad litional members bad been admitted, but this had not increased the attendance at the meetings the average attendance be’ng only fourteen as compared with fifteen last year, * With a membership of over 50 this was not satisfactory. During the latter part of the year other societies had been formed, which bad taken away some of the most active members. Tne Choral Society and the University had taken away a nnmber. During the year sixteen essays on various topics had been delivered by member.*. An evening had .also been devoted to readings on subjects selected by members. The majority of the essays had been of a high character, an I thsre was a marked improvement in the speeches made by the members. The Treasurer stated that there was a balance of L 3 17s in hand. The S iciety desired to record their sense of the great loss they had sustained in the death of the late Mr John Gillies, who had taken a warm intesest in the welfare of the society, aud occasionally attended its meetings. The Committee were desirous of impressing on the members the necessity of attending the meetings if they wished to prevent the society from collapsing altogether. They also wish to return thanks to the ladies of the congregation for the interest they had manifested in the society. The principal speaker was Mr B. B. Cargill, who while admitting that there were some grounds for the tone of despondency assumed in the report, denied that it was owing to the causes assig icd. The remedy existed amongst the members of the Church, >a there should be no necessity to go outside their own body. A great defect was that the social instinct was not sufficiently cultivated. Were the social element recognised to the extent it was intended to bo by tho constitution of the church, and so far as his observation went to the extent it wai recognised amongst other churches, the result would be alike bonetitting to the congregation and the society. Referring to the absence o] a healthy public opinion in the colony, he remarked that now comers to New Z.a'aud could not help being struck with the absence of proper social relations between largo numbers of the people. It had al \va) s app sared to him that that was an element of weakness in Colonial society which would take every effort to remove, aud th refore anything that was done to bring men together upon some common ground, with a view to,

making mutual acquaintance, and sequoia respect f<sr each other, should be strengthened to the utmost degree. . The other speakers were Mes<ns. John' Reitb, Reid, Adams, Ferguson, Grant. and Taylor. Mr A. Johnston gave a hum irons reading which was well received, and. the choir, under the leadership of Mr Francis, at intervals during the evening, rende red several glees, &c , very nicely.

The supporters of Mr Macassey’s c ndidature for the Waikari e'ection, arc requested to meet at the Presbyterian school house to-m irrow (Thursday) evening at 8 o’c ock.

The members of the A.1.0.0.F. order, in the Leith District, are requested by advertisement to attend at Krull s Caledonia Hotel on Friday evening, at 8 o’clock, to consider the advisability of purchasing ground for an Odd Fellows Hall. Members of town lodges are invited to attend. Mr M‘ludoe announces that he will address the electors of Roslyn in the schoolhouse, Mornington, on Friday evening, the 25th inst., at 8 o’clock, and at the North East Valley school, on Tuesday evening, the 29th, at 7.30.