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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2744, 2 December 1871, Page 2

Saturday Half-Holiday. The Auckland auctioneers have resolved in future to hold their weekly sales on Fridays instead of Saturdays, so as not to interfere with Saturday half-holiday, which appears to have taken a firm root there. Mayor’s Court. At this Court to-day—before his Worship the Mayor and W, H. Valpy, Esq., J. P,—Thomas White, an old offender, was fined 40s or 14 days’ imprisonment for drunkenness; and a further sum of 40s, whin the alternative of a month's imprisonment, for making use of obscene language. Judicial. Tiie Colonial Secretary has communicated with his honor the Superindent authorising him to direct the alterations in the Lawrence Court and gaol recommended by Judge Chapman to be made. When the alterations are completed, the proclamation of a circuit of the Supreme Court at Lawrence will be issued. Telegraphic.—A recent number of the New Zealand Gazelle contains a list of the telegraph stations throughout the Colony. Erom it we learn there are 70, and of these 12 are in Wellington, 12 in Auckland, 21 in Otago, 10 in Canterbury, 6 in Marlborough, 5 m Nejsop, 2 iu Westland, 3 in Taranaki, and 5 in Hawke’s Bay. Coming Events. —ln view of the approaching completion of telegraphic communication with England, it is announced that it is the intention of the proprietors of the Argus, when communication is established, to publish an evening edition, for the purpose of giving the latest telegraphic information. Another evening journal, it is stated, will make its appearance in Melbourne before that date. Caol Return. —The following is the state of H. M. Gaol, Dunedin, for the week ending 2nd Dec. : —Awaiting trial, 11 men, 1 woman ; under remand, 1 man, 0 women ; penal servitude, 84 men, 0 women ; hard labor, 3G men, 19 women; in default of bail, 2 men ; debtors, 1. Total, 13.5 men ; 20 women. Received during the week, 6 men, 4 women ; discharged, 5 men, 2 women ; admitted to bail, 1 man. The Moa-flat Sale.— According to the Tua/.eka Time* several of Mr Bradshaw’s friends, who do no view his conduct in connection with the sale of land to Mr Clarke as altogether incapable of explanation, are about to invite him to meet them at an early date with a view of correcting what they believe to be an ex parte version of his participation in the sale, at present in circulation. Princess Theatre. Owing to counter attraction and unfavorable weather there was only a moderate attendance la-t evening, when Thursday night’s programme was repeated to the entire satisfaction of the audience. The dancing of Messrs Kelly and O’Brien; Mr Clarke’s songs “Oh Scotland” and “ Happy be thy dreams” ; and the quartette “Banish, Oh Maiden” exquisitely sung received encores. A capital programme is put forward for to-night. The Opera Troupe. Cagli and Pompeis opera troupe, we are informed bos not met with the amount <f success it deserves in Auckland, The troupe will visit Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin and Mr Bennington, their agent, is now in Christchurch making the necessary arrangements of the opera. The States company

which will arrive by the Nevada, it is report cl that Miss Fannie Carandini intends joining it. The Racing Season. —Although we have headed this paragraph “ the racing season” we hardly know when racing is out of season. Up country, however, Christmas is usually the favored time, and as good racing requires good horses, we arc glad to he able to announce the arrival, in the charge of Ray and W. Prince, of Kuottingly. Flying-fish, Kildare, and Sir Tattun. These will be followed shortly by Slander, Yattcrina, Deception, Envy and Miss Flat. Others, we understand, are expected. Horticultural Society. —At a meeting of the society, last evening, it was decided to hold the tirst show of the season In the Masonic Hall, on the Sth instant, as announced in the advertisement. Although this is an unusually early date it was determined on, in order to give an opportunity to ‘ growers of roses to exhibit and to give encouragement to a branch of floriculture, which affords such abundance of rich variety. We hope the chance will not be lost, hut that growers of this general favorite will send specimens in such abundance as to make it emphatically “a rose show.” The Late Session. —The following is the schedule of business transacted by the House of Representatives during the session :—Select committees, 25 ; standing do, 10 Public Rills—received the Royal assent, 88 ; reserved for the signature of her Majesty’s pleasure, 2 ; dro ped or otherwise disposed ot, 44 Private Bills, 4. Petitions le.a ived, 275. Sittings-days of meeting, 59 ; hours of sitting, 550 hours 5 minutes ; hours of itting after midnight, CG hours 35 minutes ; daily average, 9 hours 28 minutes. There were 143 questions put to Ministers, 340 notices of motion given, and 2UB papers presented, of which number 181 were ordered to bo printed The committee on public petitions presented 183 reports ; other select committees, 48 ; and standing committees, 35,

A Useful Invention, An invention wlii eh it is intended to apply shortly to New Zealand, has been made in Sydney. Mr Alfred Edward Arnold, mechanical engineer, is the author of a new invention for utilising waste leather, and has so far secured the benefit of his discovery to himself by having applied for letters of registration or a patent. By means of the machinery to be employed he will be able to turn to a profitable account the enormous quantity of waste leather now burnt every week in this colony, which, when manufactured, will be a substance harder than leather, impervious to water, and capable of taking a beautiful polish. It c m be used to make heels and soles of boots and shoes, winkers for horses, buckets, covers of books, and a great variety of fancy and useful articles. The Stamp Duties. —The country papers complain of having received no official intimation of the change in the working of the Stamp Duties Act, which came into force yesterday ; but we have not heard of any inconvenience having arisen in town. Still there may'be persons who are unacquainted with the change, and it may be necessary to inform th m that a twopenny stamp is now required on every bank cheque, and a stamp of the same value on every receipt for sums of L2 and upwards, and that any omission involves a fine of LSO. The Act provides that adhesive stamps must be cancelled as follows Part of the signature must be written on the left side of the stamp, part on the stamp itself, and part on the right side of the stamp ; and the signature shall be written as if the stamp were part of the paper. Schoolmasters’ Association. —The Otago Schoolmasters’ Association met this day in the Heading Room of the Provincial Council. There was a full attendance of members. The Secretary drew the attention of members to the Caledonian Society’s competition for school children, to be held at the new year. It was agreed by the Association to hold a social gathering of the menjbei s and others interested, on the 29th insC Mr Russell’s criticism on Mr Montgomery’s paper on iMtifighef Education” gave rise to most interesting and instructive discussion on the usefulness of Latin and Creek. The general opinion of the members seemed to be that too much time had been occupied, more especially in the public schools of England, in the study of those languages. .Some of the members considered that, however true that might be, there was danger of the reaction being carried too far. The Evangelist. —We have received this month’s issue of the “Evangelist,” which contains a more than usual number of papers of interest, Tlje first on “Recent phases of Science,” comments unfavorably on some of the modern speculations on the origin of organic life. On this subject the simple faith of the theologian in the doctrine of separate creations of present distinct species, is quite as likely to be true as the more elaborate system imagined by the advocates of the development theory, and saves a deal of trouble on a subject that, fmm the nature of the case, can never be unravelled by human reason. There are papers on Presbyterian Union, an interesting report on Bible Circulation in Spain, another on the proceedings of the General Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church, a continuation of the narrative of Dr Geddie’s v oyage to the New Hebrides, a good sermon to the young that the young can understand, and a good digest of moral and ecclesiastical intelligence. We believe that this will be the last number issued under the present arrangements, and that next year the editor has undertaken the risk of publication, in order that any profit may be devoted to the mission fund. Those only who know the pecuniary risk incurred, the mental labor involved, and the cultivated talent required to conduct such a publication efficiently, can rightly estimate this sacrifice. We trust, therefore, that this effort on his part will be well sustained by the churches, and that the publication will be enriched and rendered more useful by contributions from men of ability, who share in so laudable a desire. Extraordinary Result of a Trial Crushing. —The Thames can certainly boast of some very rich mines but it was hardly to be expected that current coin of the real o would ever he obtained from a trial cru.ffiing of quartz from one of its mines. •>uch,’ howev r, was the fact, and the circumstances conn cted with the singular result have been narrated thus : —A trial parcel of five tons of quartz from the Sador Prince mine was crushed on Nov. 18 at the Mauukau battery. It was only completed on the morning of the 20th, and after the tables, on which no trace of gold was perceptible, had been scraped,

the stamper box was opened and cleaned out. Judge of the astonishment of the on-lookers when a sovereign was taken from the box. It was sadly bruised, and the effigy of her gracious Majesty was much defaced, but it was otherwise unbroken. Further search discovered two other whole sovereigns, one broken one, four shillings, and a sixpence. But another discovery was made, a lump of melted gold, and a piece of retorted gold were , also found in the box. The Thames Advertiser, which supplies us with the above information, remarks :—How the money got there is not accounted for. It is said that the money might have been lost amongst ihc quartz by some one Possible, certainly, but not probable ; and then, bow did the retorted and melted gold find their way into the battery box ? The result of the crushing was the subject of much “chaff” and laughable comment throughout s ho'.tlaud. It looks as if the whole thing was an attempt at “ salting.” Something Like a Joke.—The representatives of the insurance companies doing business in the City met yesterday afternoon and considered a request made by Mr Fish that they should receive a deputation from the committee appointed at the recent meeting of agitators against insurance rates. A resolution was unanimously come to that the facts relied on by Mr Fish when addressing the meeting referred to demonstrate that there is no comb nation, but rather a sharp competition amongst the offices. It was therefore deemed undesirable to grant a i intef' iew which could lead to no results. The following resolution was also passed : “That in the opinion of this meeting the rates charged by painters, glaziers, millers, brewers, and publicans are much in excess of what is fair and just, and that a committee be appointed to interview Messrs H. S, Fish, junr., George Duncan, James Wilson, and H. J. Walter, to ask them to make a reduction of, say, 25 per cent, on the prices of the articles which they respectively deal in. That, failing their agreeing to this, said Committee get an agreement signed by all citizens who will do so, undertaking to do no more paintingwith Mr H. S. Fish, jun. eat no more bread made of Duncan’s flour, drink no more ‘ Colonial ’ b ewed by Mr James Wilson, take no more nobblers at the Occidental, nor deal in any way with similar ‘ monopolist,’ but guaranteeing to support such new painters, millers, brewers, and publicans as the said committee may induce to come from the neighbouring Colonies to break down the monopoly now existing here in the above branches of business.”

A.1.0.0.F. The Star of Otago Lodge celebrated its first anniversary at the Queen’* Hotel last evening. About forty gentlemen sat down to a well-arranged and substantial supper prepared by Host White. After the cloth had been removed the chairman (M.W.G.M. Bro. B. C, Haggitt) who was supported on the right by R. W. D.G. M. Bro. London, and on the left by R.W.G. Sec, Bro. Michie, rose to propose the usual loyal toasts, which were heartily responded to. The toast of the evening, * Ihe Star of Otago Lodge” was proposed by R.W.D.G.M. Bro. London, who stated that the lodge was started under great difficulties, only four members beipg initiated on the opening night -since then, however, the lodge had taken a rapid stride, and he must congratulate the members upon its flourishing condition. According to the Secretary’s report, the lodge was opened on the Ist of December, 1870, by R.W.D.G.M, Bro. London. During the first quarter 17 were initiated ; at the end of the June quarter the members of the lodge numbered 25, at the end of the .'-eptember quarter 32, and at the present time they could muster 43 names good on the books. The funds in hand were as follow Incidental Fund, L 52 8s 9d; Widows and Orphans’ Fund, LL7 10smaking a total of L 69 18s 9d. The vice-chairman, N.G. Bro. Clifford, responded in suitable terms on behalf of the lodge. In acknowledging the toast of “ The Grand Lodge of New Zealand,” the chairman congratulated the members upon the progress they had made daring the past year. He himself had doubts as to the desirability of opening a second lodge in the Leith district, but he was pieced to find that his misgivings were without 'foundation, as the report pf the secretary would sliow. The chairman dwelt at some considerable length on the advantages of Oddfellowsbip, and the rapid progress it was making in Dunedin, and concluded by exhorting the Brotherhood to remember that, although they might be members of different lodges, they were all embarked in the same great cause—a cause which was capable of doing immense good, and of which they had just reason to be proud. Several other toasts were proposed and responded to, which together with songs and speeches made the evening pass away vepy pleasantly.

The Union Permanent Building Society’s Office will be open this evening and every Saturday evening, from 7.30 to 8 o’clock for receipt of subscriptions, Ac. We notice by advertisement in another column, that a new insurance company, entitled “ The Mutual Fire Insurance Company of New Zealand,” has been formed. It is based p«f the principle of mutual assurance, by guarantee, and the rates will be, it is said, reduced to minimum. The members will also be protected from the risks at present affecting insurance companies in New Zealand—namely, unlimited liability. Prospectuses will be issued almost immediately to the public. It is evident that the fees for licenses imposed by the recent stamp Act, will not prevent the formation of new insurance companies in our midst.