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Evening Star, Issue 3228, 25 June 1873, Page 2

A telegram was received in Christchurch on Saturday to the effect that Mr Henry Redwood, one of the oldest settlers in New Zealand, and father of the well-known breeder of racing stock, has died at Nelson. A case of personation occurred at the Kaikorai election, and the offender, a wellknown resident of Caversham, will appear at the Mayor’s Court, on Friday, to answer an information laid against him by the Returning Officer. Instructions have been sent to Collectors of Customs throughout the Colony to prevent the exportation coastwise, except as dutiable goods, of the small pieces of iron punched out of boiler plates, the authorities having reason to suppose that disaffected Natives are collecting them to serve in lieu of bullets for rifles. The following business was transacted in the Resident Magistrate’s Court to-day: Macassey v. Dingwell—claim for 21s, professional services. Mr M'Keay for plaintiff, Defendant denied employment, and the case was adjourned for further evidence. Macassey v. George Rogers—claim for L 3 Is lOd. Judgment by default. The Greymouth Star of a recent date has the following, and the Resident Magistrate’s judgment may contain a hint to the bakers here, as to there being an Act regulating their trade in existence. Our contemporary says : —ln giving judgment in one of the civil cases brought by Mr Jones, the baker, the magistrate told the plaintiff that he would nonsuit him in any future case, if he found out that the bill for bread supplied was made out hf so many loaves, instead of so many pounds weight of bread. The hint may be useful to ether bakers besides Mr Jones. Evidence of the affection entertained for the Gaelic language by Highlanders in New Zealand, is contained in a letter published m the Inverness Courier of March 6. The writer referring to cm announcement to the effect that there is every prospect of an early publication of a Gaelic translation of the Queen s Journal , says that a similar intimation was given four years ago, when a number of Highlanders in New Zealand sent to him “ cash and an order for a goodly number of copies, to supply which,” he adds, ‘‘l have troubled the publishers with more than one letter of unsuccessful inquiry.” The excuse pled for the delay, the writer states, was “ the unsatisfactory state of the translators health.” The timber trade of this port (says the Hokitika Star) is, we are glad to say, assuming vast proportions ; and in order to meet the increasing demand, Messrs Findlay and Haworth, its enterprising pioneers, and proprietors of the Westland Saw Mill, are obliged to have recourse to further appliances. They are about to place a locomotive on their tramway to bring in logs from the bosh, and it is now being constructed at the Vulcan Foundry, Dunedin. It will weigh, when ready for work, five tons, and will be capable of travelling at from seven to twelve miles an hour. It is to be ready for, and placed on the rails early in August next, and cannon fail to be a profitable speculation to the firm in question. “ The Iron Chest,” and “ Miriam's Crime,” were played at the Queen's Theatre last evening. Mr Fairclough displayed indomitable pluck, and is deserving of the greatest praise for the manner in which he enacted the part of Sir Edward Mortimer in the firstnamed piece. The attendance was anything but commensurate with the merits of the performance; but, notwithstanding that drawback, Mr. Fairclough played with as much earnestness and force as if the house bad been filled. His efforts were ably seconded by Miss Anstead, who appeared as Wilford, and Mr South, who sustained the character of Adam Winterbottom. To-night, “ Hwnlet will be repeated, and we must admit that Mr Fairplough’s impersonation of the Prince is decidedly the-best we Jiave seen in Dunedin. The engagement of Miss Sara and Mr Clifton appears to give every satisfaction to the patrons of the Princess’s. Last night there was tho best attendance there has been since the return of the company from Christchurch ; and a more enthusiastic audience could not be bad, for everything was encored. Miss Sara sings ballads with the rare merit of being thoroughly understood ; while her seriocomic songs are given with such zest that they cannot help being taking. par exempk, is bo catching that

we shall soon hear it in the streets as common as most songs of its class are. Mr Clifton’s “Sarah Walker” was of coarse encored. “The Ship on Fire” and the farce of “Up in the World” were repeated. Tonight the musical portion of the programme will be altered ; and the drama of “ Never too Late to Mend ” will bo reproduced. Westport has been washed away twice, but its residents cling tenaciously to the remaining insecure term infirma , and the sufferers by the late flood have, we hear, repa:red damages on adjacent sites that have not yet succumbed. Their tenure must however, be uncertain, judging from the following extract from a correspondent’s letter in a Greymouth contemporary :—“The lower part of the township has become a confused medley of houses in transit, houses in danger, and scattered rubbish. Moles worth street reduced to five buildings only—-Powell a, Brown’s, Hughes’s, Keid and Co.’s, and Falla’s —presents a dreary appearance. Current and tide still slowly, but surely, undermine the crumbling banks, and the distance from footpath to river brink is daily lessening. Up stream, as far as Nelson street, the same work of silent destruction is going on, and one more water flood, which none dare hope will not ensue, will make another huge gap, and leave scant trace of riverside thoroughfare.” An idea has got abroad, says the Evening Post, that one of the chief objects of the District Courts Act which the Government intends to introduce, through the Minister of Justice, to the Assembly during tile coming session, is the abolition of the Resident Magistrate’s Courts. This, however, we arc informed upon excellent authority, is an entire mistake, as those Courts will be left undisturbed, although the operation of the measure may ultimately render the maintenance of some of them unnecessary. The purpose of the Bill is to amend the present Act so as to confer larger powers upon District Courts, and to assimilate them, as much as possible, to the County Courts of England. With this view it is proposed to give the District Courts an equity jurisdiction, and to enable them to try civil cases up to L3OO, or an even larger sum. By this means the Supreme Court would be relieved of a great deal of work, and small cases lying beyond the jurisdiction of Resident Magistrates could be tried more speedily, and at a much cheaper rate than is now possible. The Judges, of course, would be trained lawyers, paid liberally, so as to give their decisions proper weight. The Bill, we believe, is in a rough state at present, and no opinion can. therefore be formed as to its merits. The following somewhat extraordinary case is reported in the Auckland papers It appears that Sarah Anh Bell, a married woman, residing in Parnell, was brought up in custody of Detective Ternahan, at the Police Court. Auckland, charged with stealing a letter containing a document valued at Ll2l 5s sd. The particulars of the case, as stated by Mr Inspector Broham, are as follows ; Letters have been frequently sent from England addressed to a Mrs A. Bell, who resides at Tapu. These letters have been delivered by the Post Office authorities to the accused, under the belief that she was the pioper party to receive them. She has on each occasion opened the letters, and finding they were not intended for her, has returned them t» the Post Office. The mail before last brought a letter stating that a remittance would be sent next mail. This letter she opened, and in due course forwarded it on as usual to its proper destination. Last mail brought the promised remittance, consisting of a draft on the Union Bank of Aust ada lor Ll2l 5s si, contained in a po?fc letter. This was, as usual, delivered to the wrong person, namely, the accused. In this instance she failed and omitted to forward the letter on, but converted the draft into cash and retained it for her own use and benefit. The expected remittance not coming to hand to Mrs Sarah A. Bell of Tapu, inquiries were instituted, and it was discovered that Mrs Sarah A. Bell, of Parnell, had appropriated P. She wis consequently arrested. A sum of LlOl odd was found in her possession. A remand was now asked for, for the purpose of bringiug up the witness—who is in bad health — from Tapu. The prosecution is instituted at the instance of the Post Office authorities. A remand was granted. The usual fortnightly meeting of the Dunedin Mutual Improvement Society was held in the Athenaeum /Hall, last evening. There was a good attendance j and Mr Bolt occupied the chair. The principal business was the reading of and discussing the critical remarks on the Dialectics Society’s report on the “ Phenomena of Spiritualism,” a paper by Mr Christie, who introduced the subject by disclaiming any identification with the religion known as Spiritualism, and directed attention solely to the phenomena. These in the mass he held to be true, and the only question was as to the cause. To deny their reality it would be necessary to deny half of all history and half the Bible, which we dare not do. Scripture contains a prediction, oft repeated, that spirit communion will be, and that prediction is as certain of fulfilment as is the truth of the record that contains it. The Society’s report proving the phenomena was read* The lecturer went pver a good deal of ground in support of them. They are based upon an outside and independent intelligence, and that intelligence must centre in what we commonly know by the term spirit. To denounce the subject and its supporters without solid, substantial reasons is absurd ; and in the pivil world it is the boast and glory of the British Constitution that no British subject shall be condemned without trial, and in the moral world is there no Habeas Corpus Act for the British subject ? Is there no moral law which shall save a man from being morally lynched, and the witnesses and all their evidence given being set aside without a bearing? Either of two things must be 5 either the Almighty has brought into operation some law which personates spirits so exactly as to defy human power to detect the counterfeit, or the phenomena afe the work of spirits. Mr Christie argued that the latter was the only tenable theory at present, and that it must be accepted until a better can be found. The half-yearly summoned meeting Iw the Loyal Dunedin Lodge will be held in the Lodge room, to-morrow (Thursday) evening, at 7.30. In answer to “ Inquirer,” who, writing from Blacks, wishes to know the actual majority Mr Macandrew had in 1871, when Mr Keid contested the Snperintendency with him, we have to state that the numbers, as officially declared, were —Macandrew, 3,270 ; Reid, 2,958. In a paragraph in yesterday’s issue, having reference to a petition which is in course of signature in the Kaitangata district, the name of the place which the railway asked for is to connect, was omitted. Correctly stated, the prayer of the petition is “ That steps may be taken at the coming session of the Provincial Council, and, if necessary, of the General Assembly, to obtain the necessary authority for the construction during the ensuing recess of the branch line to Roper’s Creek, as indicated, with a view to its being opened contemporaneously with the Southern Trunk line to Balclutha.”