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Evening Star, Issue 2909, 15 June 1872, Page 2

Religious. —A Wellington telegram states, on the authority of the Evening Post, that it is rumoured that a son of Mr H. Redwood, of Nelson, will probably be appointed to the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Wellington.

Pout Chalmers. —It is rumored that Constable Sullivan, who has been stationed at the Port for many years, is to be transferred to another sphere. We feel sure that the Port people will hear of the change with regret. Princess Theatre. —There was a moderately good house last night to witness the performance of “ Dearer than Life,” which was well appreciated. For to-night “The Wreckers of Pen Daenvau” is announced ; to be followed by the new farce of “ Dreadfully Alarming.” Missing Men. —On Thursday evening two seamen belonging to the barque Medea, at Port Chalmers, went on shore in the ship’s boat, but have not yet returned to the vessel. The boat has been picked up bottom up, close to Mr Harris’s residence, near the sand spit, and fears are entertained that both are drowned.

The Circus. —We notice that, in consequence of the inclement state of the weather last eveirffig, the benefit of Messrs Towers and Wills has been postponed till this (Saturday) evening. As four clowns are announced to occupy the arena this evening, and a special programme has been provided, there is little doubt there will be a large attendance.

Mining.—The promoters of the Shag Valley Quartz Reef Company took advantage of Thursday’s ho’iday to visit their property. Mr Devine’s services were secured, and the whole party were “tooled” right into the reef in a coach and six. They were engaged some time inspecting the reef, which presented a body of stone from three to four feet thick, chipped in six places, in each of which rich specimens were secured, which can be seen at the secretary’s (Mr Oram Ball) office. On arriving at Hunter’s Shag Valley Hotel the health of Mr Devine was duly proposed and heartily responded to for undertaking and successfully accomplishing one of the most difficult drives over the ridges, the like of which, we suppose, was never attempted before. Success to the reef was afterwards drunk, and the party were duly taken to town.

Interesting to Hotel-Keeping.— At Wellington, lately, Mr Urwin, the landlord of a hotel was sued by a Mr Steele, who had been residing at the hotel for Lls, the price of a watch, chain, and trinket, lost by him. The Bench gave the following decision in the case :—l. That the law holds the landlord of an hotel responsible for such a loss as that alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff, unless it can be shown that there was negligeuce on the part of the guest. 2. That leaving such articles as a watch and chain on the dressing table in a private room, under all the circumstances of the case, cannot be held to be such negligence as to relieve the landlord from liability. The Bench believe that the plaintiff lost the articles, the money value of which he seeks to recover, but the evidence as to value is not very definite. Judgment for the plaintiff for LlO and costs, L 3.

New Zealand Institute. The fourth annual volume of the transactions of the New Zealand Institutejcontains an interesting paper on “ The Whence of the Maori.” A lithograph of a ship’s bell, discovered at the Bay of Islands, accompanies this paper. The inscription on the bell (a copy of which was sent to Penang for translation) proves it to have belonged to a native Indian vessel, which must have been wrecked on the New Zealand coast some generations back, as the translation of the inscription into the native language of the present day shows a very marked change in the characters employed to give expression to the language, which it is reasonable to conclude can only have been effected through long lapse of time. Some drawings of fossil bones testify most indubitably to the great

antiquity of New Zealand. One of these is the wing-bone of a penguin, which must have stood at least five feet high. The largest of the New Zealand species now extant is three feet high. Another drawing is of portions of the anatomy of an eagle of a species at least twice the f-ize of the largest now to be found in New Zealand. The penguin fossil is imbedded in a deposit resembling that of the cretaceous period, and if we are correct in this supposition, there can be little doubt of New Zealand’s antiquity. Mr Vogel and his Detractors.— At the Nelson nomination Mr Saunders one of the candidates, brought a very grave charge against the Colonial Treasurer. The charge to which we refer was this :—“ In coming through America, he heard a great deal of the manner in which Mr Vogel had travelled, occupying j carriages which would hold twenty-eight, all to himself, and detaining steamers at the cost of thousands.” To this Mr Vogel replied in a letter which was published in the Colonist. “ 1 did not,” he said, know whether ‘ the cost of thousands ’ is meant to apply to the occupation of carriages or the detention of steamers, or to both ; iu anycasethe statement is equally untrue. I did not incur any expenditure for the detention of steamers, and in justice to the , hospitality shown to me I must add that, with the exception of a short portion of the distance, a palace car was allotted to me from ocean to ocean each way, as also a free passage for that car along the lines.” Mr Saunders, as we have said, retracted the charge, but it also ought to be stated that he did so in a pecular manner. He said that the Colonist had not reported his speech correctly, and denied that lie made use of the words we have quoted above. In reply to this, the Colonist says that it gave his pre- . ciso words, “neither more nor less,” and asserts that he made his offence against the Colonial Treasurer worse by attributing corruption. , A. meeting of tho inhabitants of , Mornington will be held in the shool-house, on Monday evening, the 17th inst,. at 8 1 o’clock, to consider the circumstances which * led to the resignation of the female teacher.