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Evening Star, Issue 3423, 10 February 1874, Page 2

Mr Wm. Paiseley, C.E., has been appointed to the office vacant through the death of the late Mr Johnston, and has already entered on his duties. The Pantascope was again exhibited last evening at the Masonic Hall to an average attendance. Mr Bent not only instructed his audience but amused them infinitely with anecdote and negro eccentricities. A gushing correspondent of the Tauranga newspaper thus gives his first impressions of Rotomahana:—“ In a moment the gates of a most delicious future seemed opened. I felt that I was on the confines of supreme happiness, and the very air seemed redundant with the divine harmonies of melodious cherubim This is the irrefragable truth.” The Variety Troupe drew another large audience last _ night. The programme was faithfully earned out, if we except the part allotted to Mr O’Brien, who appeared to be incapable of performing, and should for his own credit and that of the management, have refrained from putting in an appearance. Such exhibitions cannot be tolerated. Towards the end of last week the weather in lokomauiio district whs extremely wjbrm and sultry, the thermometer sometimes risin" as high as ninety-five degrees in the shade, and 120 in the sun. During the forenoon, and also in the afternoon yesterday, a good deal of thunder was heard, although at a distance. One or two slight showers of rain fell, but only slightly moistened the surface of the soil. The ‘Bruce Herald’ understands that the blocks of land selected on Mr James Smith’s Tuapeka run, and on Messrs M‘Lean’s Bellamy run will be opened shortly, partly for sale and partly on deferred payments. It is intended that the portion to be placed under the deferred payments will be opened first, and that the land selected for that purpose will be a strip along the centre of the blocks. Some of the land to be opened is of choice quality, in the neighborhood of timber.

.The Melbourne ‘Herald,’ after narrating the circumstances connected with the wreck of the Surat, winds up ns follows “ The decision of the Court of Inquiry was to have been given on the 21st in st., so we are not anticipating what will be the thought in every man’s mind when he reads the account of this wreck, for the fulfilment of justice, when we say that punishment little short of death is too good for wretches who wantonly expose human life to the perils of a surf-bound coast, and a treacherous (sic) climate.’’

It appears that the Harbor Improvement committee have obtained reports from Messrs J. T. Thomson, Blair, Barr, and M‘Gregor, which those gentlemen have been asked to allow to be published, if the committee think it desirable to do so. Steps have also been taken to have Mr Balfour’s plan and report submitted to the engineer of the Clyde Trust, It was remitted to different members of the committee to prepare a draft digest of the various reports embodying the views of the committee; to get up statistics of the trade and requirements of Dunedin, and to frame a draft report on the financial aspects of the question and also as to the constitution of a harbor trust.

The educational battle rages 'in Queensland, where a strong effort is being made to secure an education which shall be free, secular, and compulsory. The two Bills now before the country are violently opposed by the Episcopal and Homan Catholic clergy, who make common cause; and it is feared that the denominationalists will be able to turn the scale in favor of whichever side will concede the most to their demands. Religious instruction in schools is insisted on before any concessions will bo made. The secularists, however, fight valorously. We find ’one of them, the Rev. M. M'Gavin a Presbyterian minister in Brisbane, making use of the following liberal utterances, which, as the leading Queensland journal remarks, are creditable to himself and to the body to which he belongs “He proposed for our' schools a system of pure secular education ; this, and only this, appeared suitable to ’the circumstances of the Colony. His principle, although a minister himself—was to let no clergyman enter

officially and authoritatively into the schools of the Colony. Let each and all have their religious opinions in private, but let the national schools be devoted to a national purpose. Let our children be preserved from the evils of sectarian prejudice, and let our country, by nipping the evil in the bud, be preserved from the curse—the fearful curse—of a. civil establishment of religion.” Ihe Jockey Club contemplate making improvents to tho Forbury course, which will have the effect of making the ensuing meeting the most attractive ever held under its auspices, ihe grand stand is to be improved at a cost of about Lri)o, and will afford accommodation for lully 000 more persons than at present. There arc also to bo other improvements, which, although, not on so large a scale, will be of a character equally appreciable. Among the increased attractive features agreed upon is the steeplechase, an event never before witnessed in the T orbury Park. It will be run principally upon the course proper, with as little disan angement of that portion of the ground as possible. The principal features of this event will be an ‘ in-and-out” jump opposite the grand stand, and a water jump at the west end of the course, 12ft wide, with a fence in the centre. The run is to be as near three miles as possible.

A lad, between sixteen and seventeen years °* | J 1 ’ 8 drowning in the Taieri on Wednesday. His name was Henry Rixon and he was in the employ of Mr Bell, farmer! of Meadow tank, Kast Taieri. On the morning of the 4th inst. lie left Mr Bell’s farm during the manager’s absence with one of the farm horses and one belonging to himself, and in order to get to the place where lie intended to take them, ho had to cross the Taieri. A man and woman directed him to a safe cross! ing place called Shand’s ford. The deceased must have mistaken the direction, for he appears to_ have attempted to get over the river half-a-mile before he got to the proper ford, at a place where somo cattle tracks run down to the water. These tracks probably misled him. Some hours after the deceased must have attempted to cross the river, the two horses were found wandering at large, and those who found them at once presumed that the man who had been in charge of them had been drowned. The matter was reported to Constable Strain, of West Taieri, and on Thursday the river was dragged in the vicinity the spot where the deceased was supposed to have tried to cross. The body -was not found till Sunday morning, when a man in the em ploy of Mr Milne saw it in the river, and with tho assistance of the police it was removed to the West Taieri Hotel. Dr Bruce examined the corpse, which presented a horrible sight. The head was cut and bruised terribly, as though tho horses must have kicked the deceased, and the hands were firmly clasped over the breast. The body appeared to have been disfigured by fish. Deceased, who was a native of Loudon, came to the Colony by the Allahabad, in September last, and ra.n away from that vessel. At the place where the deceased tried to cross the river the stream is full of snags. The firing by the Cadet Corps for the Colonial Government prizes and the challenge belt, announced to have taken place to-day, has been altered to Saturday next, the 14fch inst. As the time expires on the 15th, all shooting must be completed before that day ; and it will therefore, be necessary for the Cadets to be punctual in their attendance at the range.