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Evening Star, Issue 2816, 27 February 1872, Page 2

The Next Parliament. —His Honor the Superintendent has received a telegram from Wellington, to the effect that the ' o vermnent have given the question of the place for the next session of the General Assembly their most earnest considerati m, and regret that they do not see their way to advising his Excellency to summon the next session at Dunedin.

The Suez Mail.—lt will be seen by our Australian telegrams that the Rangitoto did not succeed in catching the Suez mail at Melbourne this mouth. Theatrical. — Mr Morton Tuyeres the Indian actor, is playing to capital houses in Christchurch, and the local papers speak highly of his Shakespearian delineations. MoiININGTON. —The third anniversary of the Morningtou Band of Hope was celebrated by a concert in the schoolhouso last evening. Mr A. H. Ross in the chair. The programme comprised songs, dialogues, and instrumental music.

Colonial Prize Firing. Marlborough has quill.lied three representatives —Vol. Plnilpois, Pi ton volunteers, who ma !e 35 and 45 at the two sta.es; Private Sopor, Spring Creek, NT and 41 ; Private Sutton, Spring Creek, o4 and 40. Tauranga has qualified two men. So far as the returns go, there are now 09 Government, and 11

qualified representatives. The Youthful Bushranger —John Christie, who according to some of onr contemporaries has earned for himself the title with which this paragraph begins, was today tried in the Magistrate’s Court, Live - cargill, for his various misdeed*. He was sentenced to six months’ hard labor for stealing a bridle, and committed for trial on two charges of horse-stealing and robbery from the person. Provincial Scholarships. The competition for the three scholarships, offered this year by the Education Board, commenced to-day in the large hall of the University. There are twenty-seven competitors ; the High school furnishing nine ; the Middle District school, live; North Distiict school, one; Poutli District, two ; Port Chalmers grammar school, four ; Cavorsham, three ; East Taicri, one ; Blucskiii, one ; and Morningtou on 1 .

Canterbury I’oLii'i: - Tin 1 , people of Christchurch appear to he by no means satislied with the step taken by the .Provincial Government of reducing the pay of the men one shilling a day, A large meeting was held there last week, when very strong resolutions condemnatory of the action oi the Government were carried. The feeling of the meeting appeared to be greatly in favor of the abolition of the Commissionership. The recent investigation would seem then not to have improved Mr Shearman's position. Imports. —Wo arc indebted to i\lr John Grilien for samples of Warnambool potatoes, which we found on cooking to be very excellent in flavor. Many of our readers will known that the country round Warnambool is one of the richest and best farmed in Victoria, and has long been celebrated for tli'-) abundance and quality of its agricultural produce. Some of the largest potatoes appeared to have Leon grown too quickly; but, as a whole, when cooked, they were dry and mealy, and quite a treat in view of the spoiled crop of .New Zealand this year. Cricket. With reference to the match between the Graces and Gregory, the A untralasian says little is known about it, and many doubts its ever coming to anything. The Gregorys are good cricketers undoubtedly, and one of them a tine bat, but they rely principally on the bowling (if bowling it is, for hero it is considered a regular throw) of Dave Gregory, which at single wicket would assuredly be very eliective against ordinary colonial batsmen. It may be as well to add that there are three players in Victoria who can tackle the Gregory’s particularly if umpires who would put down throwing could be relied on. .Formation oe Caster Street. —We understand that the Government feel some hesitation in complying with the memorial relative to the filling in of the offensive swauips about Cumberland street, owing to

the greater portion of the ground being private property. The difficulty might be met by the owners contributing some portion of the expense, say horse hire and powder, the Government finding the labour of the prisoners and material from Bell Hill, including tram road an 1 waggons. This would, wc have no doubt, be rea lily agreed to by the owners, and as a somewhat similar course was adopted when the swamps about Great King street were filled up, the Government will have a precedent to justify the proceeding. Foresters’ Hall Company. A meeting of shareholders in this company was held iu the lower room of the Athemeum last evening ; Mr J. Hughes in the chair. The report of the provisional directory, which was read by the secretary (Mr W. S Douglas), contained very little information which is new to the public. It transpired ttiat the tenders exceeded the architect’s original estimate, whereupon the specifications, which provided for a superior class of material and a greater amount of ornamental work than was shown in the design, were altered, and fresh tenders called for. Messrs T. Allan, W. G. Oe ides, R. Haworth, Stout, Muuro, and Woodland were elected director-. It was stated that 454- shares had boon already taken up, and fully 101) more were under promise. Short Range Rifle Shooting.— The Volinili;er GurxU'; has the following re m irks :— ‘‘ When wo consider that the classtiring has been taken from results obtained at ranges varying from 100 up to i>0!) yards, and immense efforts have been by members to merge from one class to another, the highest class being those who could obtain the highest scores at the longest ranges, we have overlooked the fact that tlie first requirement demauded jby the tiring regulations this year has been that competitors should be proficient at the short ranges in order to qualify for the second stage as district representatives. This short-range firing lias been the, bug-bear, which is proved by the fact that out of above 40 competitors only nine passed the first stage. The reason is simply this : —There is too much self-satis-faction existing that a Oft x 4fk target, with a2 t x Ifc bull’s-eye, can he struck at any time and in any place, and is only tit for novices to fire at at short ranges. But our marksmen have found out to their regret that it is not the ease, for in o dcr to stand up and tiro from the shoulder at 200 yards, with a small bull's-eye and average centres, it requires practice, and a deal more practice than (iiir marksmen perhaps think necessary. Volunteers, as a rule, are too fond of lying down to “ plump one into the bull’s-eye ” or “ put one on the target,” than is consistent with the theory and practice of good rific shooting, and (hey arc not suffiekn ly alive to the fact that the standing or the kneeling positions only, are the ones best calculated to serve them at all ranges and perfect them as thorough marksmen far more speedily and effectively than shuffling about lengthways in the dust. The fact of the failure in not qualifying more than one representative this year on the part of the infantry is attributed to this lazy style of shooting, and wc conceive that it would be far more desirable for oui- marksmen to practice tiring more from the shoulder and less from the dust, and that at short ranges as well as long ones.”

Native Affairs. Our Taranaki telegram on Saturday indicated the occurrence of an event of greater importance than appears at first sight. The appearance of the celebrated William King among Europeans is an interesting and significant episode in the history of our relations with the natives The Defence ollitc has supplied the Independent with a few particulars, which are sufficiently interesting to admit of reproduction : —William King lias for many years past resolutely rejected all efforts to induce him to “come in.” Successive governors have endeavored fruitlessly to persuade him to abandon bis attitude of sullen isolation in the upper Waitava district, and native chiefs have hitherto b.en equally unsuccessful iu this direction. But at last, quite unsolicited, William King has made up his mind to sulk no longer, and we hear that he is now on his way to attend a large meeting of natives which is to be held shortly at Parailiaka. This chief has not been in New Pip mouth since the Waikato war, and his "isit is regarded by those who know the man and the circumstances of his long isolation as indicative of a desire on his prrt, as on the part of his people, to live on friendly terms with the settlers. This result has no doubt been hastened by the confidence with which the natives generally arc gaining in the peaceful, but linn policy of the (Government. Another chief, Aliitana, one of the principal chiefs against us iu the war on the West Coast, also visited New Plymouth a short time ago, with bis people, and passed on to the place of the forthcoming native meeting, at which about one hundred Waikatos, who arc now on their way, will be present, The meeting is not supposed to have any significance. It .appears to have been got up by the natives for the purpose of having a great feast, and a korero about things in general. Another large meeting is talked of as likely to occur iiqthc King country soon. The party .and the Waikatos have solicited the Native Minister to attend it, which ho will probably do, in company with the Governor, in a few weeks. Un all sides there are evidences that a wonderful change is taking place iu the attitude of the natives; and from almost every quarter olfeis of peaceful intercourse are coining in. The “native difficulty” is no longer the bugbear of New Zealand. The Annual meeting of the Permanent Building Society will be held at the office of the Society, Temple Chambers, Princes si reet, on 'iluirsday, 29th inst., at 7p m. ______________