The Evening Star TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1873

Evening Star, Issue 3383, 23 December 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1873

Westport has had a hospital Sunday. T he result is LM added to the funds of that institution. Mr John Martin propose# to make a gift to the City of Wellington of a drinking fountain, which is to cost LiOO. The popularity of the pautaacope shows no ' signs of diminishing. There whs again a very large attendance at the Masonic Hall last evening. The Governor will bo present at the Choral Society’s concert to-narrow evening, and attend the Tilicri Agricultural Society’s Show at Mosgiel on Boxing Day, arriving on fire ground at 11 a.m. We would remind our readers that Mr Cot-i tet ill’s benefit takes place this evening at the i Queen’s Theatre, when one of the host programmes the company has put forward will be gone through. The .examination of the Port Chalmers Grammar School commenced yesterday. There were a good attendance of parents and friends of the children present, likewise the Rev. Messrs Johnston and Maxwell. As might have been expected, Mr .1. W. Thomson, M.H.R., lias announced himself us a candidate for the representation of the Clutha in the Provincial Council, in the room of the Hon. Major Richardson resigned,

The provisional directors of the Standard Insurance Company met last night, and elected Mr Charles Kcid secretary. Up to date, 32,022 shares have been applied for in Dunedin. A considerable reduction in the rate of Intercolonial postage will come into operation on the Ist of January next. The postage to and from Australia will then be reduced from threepence to twopence, in accordance with a rcso lutiou come to at the last Intercolonial Conference. Among the special prizes offered for competition at the Hokitika Exhibition were a wedding ring for /he “best linen, shirt made by a spinsterand a china tea service to the _ servant girl who has stayed the longest time in hei place.” —The Riverton Caledonian Society state that they never contemplated holding a baby show, as has been erroneously stated. We regret to hear by a private telegram that a Herious accident happened on Saturday to Mr J. Norman, traveller for Messrs Ileymanson, Low, ami Co., of this City. It appears that while driving on the mail from Timaru to lemuka the horses bolted, and Mr Norman was thrown from the buggy, breaking bis leg just above the ancle. The latest news state that ho is progressing favorably. There was a capital attendance at the Princess’s last evening, the performances being for the benefit of Mr and Mrs Hcarle. The sensational drama, “The Woman in White” was the piece (k resistance , Miss Andrews appearing in the dual character. Mr O’Brien made a capital Count de Eosco. “ Whitebait at Greenwich ” was the announced afterpiece. The Woman in White” and “ Who Speaks First?” will constitute this evening’s programme.

Mr Edward Marryat of Tokomairiro met with an uncommon accident on Friday last. _lt appears that while climbing a hill, along with a friend, at the Blue Spur, he felt as if some one had suddenly struck him with him with a stone on the right leg, behind the knee joint, and he fell to the ground. No one, however, was near, and it turned out that one of the leading tendons had snapped. The ‘ Herald ’ says that it will be some time before he is about again. They have had a rose and pink show at Christchurch. The ‘ Press’ says:—“ The season throughout lias been one very favorable to the growth of roses, and those shown were greatly in advance in point of merit of those of last year. One particulai ly noticeahlejeaturc —and one too which is worthy of commendation—was that the exhibits in the amateur classes were unexceptionably good, and ran the gardeners very close, alike in point of merit and number of exhibits.”

The railway sub-contract of Air Grundy, between Lawrence and Waitahuna, has been knocked on the head, the contractors having refused to make the advances demanded. The local paper believes Air Grundy alleges that he lias more rock to contend against than was represented. When he took the contract, it was generally considered that he had accepted it at a price that would hardly pay him. Owing to this circumstance, a good number of men are for the time being thrown out of employment.

The Waipori correspondent of the ‘Tnapoka Times’ announces the discovery of a payable quartz lode in that district : —“ Mr Hill has been for some time prospecting for the main line of reef, on behalf of the old O.P.Q. Company. This reef he has traced to a distance of 700 yards. It varies in thickness from four to eight feet; one part is laid bare at a depth of six feet. The stone is thickly impregnated with gold. I saw a splendid specimen with several specks of gold. This specimen was the size of a man’s thumb nail. In fact, a few tons could now be raised that would yield Boz. to the ton. This reef, in my opinion, will be second to none in the Province. It is the promoters’ intention to bring water to work it.”

Our neighbors experience the dearth of female domestics equally with ourselves. The Melbourne correspondent of the ‘ Bendigo Advertiser’ writes “ Never before, perhaps, in the history of the Colony, was there so great a dearth of female domestics as at present, and I hear that the labor offices are regularly besieged by heads of families who are unable to get supplied. A friend of mine, who waited upon the master of the Model Lodging-houses for the purpose of ascertaining whether the registry of that institution contained the names of°any general servants awaiting engagement, not only received a negative reply, but was informed that good engagements for at least 500 could he foqijd within the next twenty-four hours, at average wages of L3O a-year. At the Wellington Police Court on December 9, Stephen Corrick, schoolmaster at Porirua, was charged by Dennis Ryan, police constable at Porirua, with having on the ffi-d December unlawfully assaulted and beat; a little girl named Mary Ann Hall, one of the children attending the Government school at Tawa Flat. His Worship compared the French and the English methods of school correction. In England it was customary to use corporal punishment. In the present case the question rested upon the comparative severity of the case. He did not think a girl of that size and weak constitution should have been punished by striking. The master had cleaply exceeded his duty. He would indict a fine of 40s qnd costs, or ia default forty-eight hours’ imprisonment.

The Rov. Mr Simmons’s speech at the prize distribution at Nelson College discussed the value of Greek as a component part of the school curriculum. He said while he yielded to no one in his admiration of the literature enshrined in that most noble language, he ventured to doubt the wisdom of making it a part of an education which, in most cases, is concluded at sixteen. Better far thj£ the pupil should have a more thorough trainrig in Latin, and best of all in English, How few Englishmen know their own language as it deserves to be known. Eminent classical scholars very often weia unable to write a dozen lines of grammatical English. There was one Nelson production to which failed to find any attention had been called at the Inhibition. It was the Nelson dialect of the English language. It is spoken with the mouth shut, Ah syllables, and, generally speaking, the letter H ar* left out; and pompous jyprds of Latin origin are preferred to short English words, and these words are generally wrongly used. People never begin a thing here, they always commeh/J) it, they don’t even commence doing it; they coiiimenoe to do it. They don’t help you to cabbagej tl/ey assist you to it. This vulgarising of the English language is a serious thing. Next to pur history,our language is our most precious heritage. The German language has made the German Eippirc, English is pretty nearly all that remains to keep our own together, Parents can do more than schoolmasters to secure at least a careful, clear, articulation.

Olfieers of companies a,tt6nd/;ig the levee tomorrow ate requested to appear in full-dress uniform. We notice by advertisement tfiat there will be a full choral service at All Saints’ English Church, Port Chalmers, on Christie evening. It is decided to hold the Horticultural Society’s first show in Mr J, Hyde Harris’s grounds, Albany street, on Tuesday, 30th instant. The current number of the ‘ Illustrated New Zealand Herald’ contains an engraving of Gully’s fine picture of Mount Cook, the atone pulpit and screen in the First Church, and sketches of life in Fiji. The pupils,of Mr Kevly’p dancing classes held ' & very nlcasaut reunion at »St. .George’s Hall last evening. About a hundred y/cre present, and dancing wa* spiritedly kept up Until an early hour this morning, " ' ■ Wo have received from Messrs Webb and j Fulton, the agents of the Northern Fire and i Life Assurance Co., the yearly almanac issued by the company. It is elegantly got up, and forms a useful otfice calendar, i 'fk.a examination of the children attending i Mr and Mrs Murray’s school, Port Chalmers, took place to-day- Tbeir first picnic will take place to-morrovv in jvfr Thomas Perry's paddock, kindly lent by bun fyr .tfi’6 occasion. , The following were the principal prizes in Mr j Wheeler’s Art Union, drawn last evening • “Hobson’s Bay,” No. 512; “The Parting,” No. 67; “A Falconer,” No. 360; “English Coast,” No. 236; “ Drachenfels,” No. 225; “ Painter's Helpmate,” No. 88; “Chicken Seym on,” No. 477; “ Parting,” No. 327; “Falconer,N.o, 163 ; “ Romance,” No. 18 ; ’* binging Lesson/’ No. JfiO; “Godesburg,” No. 33; “ Bride Albano,” No. JOi; “Carnival,” No,

502; “Spring,” No. 4*5; “Summer,” No. 129; “Autumn,” No. 114; “Winter,” No. 04; “Aus.sc Valiev.” No. 124 ; “Sitten,” No. 106 ; ‘‘ Laafenhurg, 5 ’ No. 400. Mr Guilin?, of Messrs Coulls ami Culling, won the first prize, Hobson’s Bay,” value L 52 10s.