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Evening Star, Issue 3477, 15 April 1874, Page 2

C . ity oouncil have ■ accepted the offer of the National Insurance Company for LIO.OOOof Corporation debentures. , Teachers continue very scarce. This week’s . Gazette contains advertisements for teachers in seven different schools. The Finance Committee of the City Council have recommended the increase by LSO a year of the salaries of the Town Clerk, City Surveyor, and Surveyor’s assistant, and that of the Inspector of Nuisances to L 225 a-year. . “The fate of the Turnbull-Bastings Executive is sealed. Mr Hallenstein, M.P.O. for the Lakes, has distinctly pledged himself to support no Government that is not prepared to place a free bridge at Morven Ferry. The ‘ Lyttelton Times ’ mentions an extraordmary yieid A Mr C. Young, farmer, Church Bush, threshed out 6J acres of barley on Saturday last, which yielded 522 bushels, or equal to rather over 80 bushels per acre. Tb o local population of the Wakatip electoral distnct is 4,540 in 1874, as against 4,371 in 1871. Iheso returns (remarks the ‘ Mail’) show very disappointing results. There is no actual increase, for in the numbers are included the Chinese and residents of the Nevis, which place does not really belong to this district. The Rev Dr delivered a lecture in fie Congregational Churoh last evening' on “ The life, character, and work of the Rev. John Wesley, M. A, founder of the Methodist Society.” The Rev. Mr Rigg presided, and there was a numerous attendance. The < hoir during the evening sang some selections very nicely. At a recent soiree of the Melbourne Young Mens’ Christian Association, a Mr Patterson attended in the capacity of m delegate from Dunedin, and is jrepottVd t‘o have complained of

the character of the literature of the Dunedin Athenaeum, stating that a large proportion of the books and magazines were of an infidel nature ; that danger was to be apprehended from this cause, as well as from the fact that there was a large number of unbelievers in Dunedin.

James Hayes, who was lately sentenced, at Hokitika, to two years’ hard labor for conspiracy to defraud, is the storekeeper who a year ago asserted that he had been stuck up and robbed of a quantity of gold purchased for the Bank of Aew South Wales. The Bank brought a charge of larceny, but abandoned it.

writes as follows in the ‘ Australasian’.—“From information received, I believe that a Bank, of Victorian origin, carrying on business in Colonies to the westward, is now going east for the first time. We shall soon hear of the extension of its transactions to, and the opening up of branches in Now Zealand. Its enterprise deserves success.” The Bank referred to is understood to be the National Bank of Australasia. We regret to learn that the sickness which is causing such havoc at Cromwell is spreading io Clyde on the one side and the Bannockburn and Garrick range on the other. Dr Thomson, the resident surgeon of the Dunstan hospital, who was in town in connection with the case of Regina v. Honeywell, had to leave for his post in hot haste this morning, his locum tenens haying succumbed to fever. The Rev. Mr Withers, of Cromwell, continues in a very bad state, and is not expected to recover. We saw a private telegram from a lady in Cromwell advising her husband not to bring her family from town on any account. There was another large attendance at the Queen’s Theatre last evening, when “ Grif” was repeated, and apparently met with as much favor as on its original representation. The chief characters were all well filled, especially by Misses Raymond and Towers and Messrs Burford and Glover, the latter again showing the carefulness in his acting that has been so perceptible during the past few weeks. “ Grif” will be played for thfe last time this evening, when the performance Is specially intended for the convenience of children, who will be ad niitted free, provided that they are accompanied by their parents. It is notified in the ‘Gazette’ that the Provincial Government being desirous of promoting the plantation of forests in those parts of the Province where timber is scarce, and there being in the Botanical Gardens, Dunedin, ready for transplanting, some 60,000 forest-tree plants of various kinds, it is proposed to dispose of the same at from 15s to 30s per 100, to such persons as can give satisfactory assurance that they have land properly fenced and ready for their receipt. The kinds of plants are -Pines : insignis, ponderosa, tuberculata, laricia, muricata, maritana. Cypresses : Lawsonia, macrocarpa, Biota Orientalis, English oaks : Pricus pinaster. The ‘ Australasian,’ of a recent date, says A policy holder, whose life has been for more

than 15 years insured in an important English company, is just now in narrow circumstances. He wanted to borrow a few pounds from the company wherewith to pay his premium, and although at the time this company advertised that it would, without any further or personal responsibility, lend up to surrender value, this trifling advance was positively refused ! The reason assigned was that some of the clauses of the new Act were so difficult to understand that such had been submitted to counsel. Thus, but for the kindness of a friend, a valuable interest —worth several hundred pounds—would have been forfeited through the want of a five pound note !

A meeting of the Otago Bowing Club was held last nfght at the Criterion Hotel. There was a full attendance of members, and the captain, Mr Boddington, having taken the chair, the minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed, and some routine business was disposed of. The desirability of a regatta being held on .'4th May was well discussed and ventilated, and eventually it was agreed to ask the Mayor to call a meeting of gentlemen favorable to the purpose for Tuesday evening next, to consider the matter. It is in contemplation to hold the regatta at St. Leonards, and to obtain the co-operation of the Portonians, who, it was stated, are in favor of carrying out their annual regatta as usual on that day. If this could be so managed, we have no doubt but that the regatta would pass off with greater eclat than any previously attempted, as the situation is a remarkably good one for a day’s outing, and the best reach of water the in harbor for rowing purposes is obtained.

The ‘ Thames Advertiser ’ was not complimentary to the French ballet-dancers who came to the Colony on the cheap. This is what it said of them The performance of the ‘ can-can ’ was simply a repetition of the former indecorous display of grimy drapery. The statement in the bills of an entire change of costume was a bare-faced fiction. The skirts of the fair Parisians do not appear to have made the acquaintance of a washtub since they left their native smithy. Clean and polished impropriety may be tolerated, but dirty, vulgar indecency is unbearable. If the funds of the troupe lyill not allow them to patronise our local washing industry, why Mesdames les Blacksmiths can buy & bar of soap from the future Mayor. A French dancing-master would have been a useful addition to Dr Fgatherston’s consignment of artful, but not "artistic dodgers. Their so-called dancing is a jumbledup affair of ‘ fandango,’ ‘ kiss in the ring,’ and ‘hop-scotch.’ ” The following telegram has been handed to us for publication, but we are at a loss to understand why it comes to us so late, seeing that it was forwarded to the Registrar of the University yesterday morning Wellington, April 13th, 1874. To the Superintendent of Otago, Dunedin : 1. Council of New Zealand University agrees to apply for Amended Act. 2. University to be an examining body excluejvely. 3. Committee of Council and Deputies hays been appointed to draft Amended Act after mode of London University. 4 Governing body to consist of Senate, or Council of twenty-six, members, appointed at first by the Governor in Council; apd vacancies afterwards to be filled up alternately by Governor and by Senate from nominations by graduates when they number thirty, received by examination. 5. Senate to meet in seats of chief affiliated institutions ; conditions agreed on in Council to be respected. 6. Provision to be made for securing right standard for degrees.— Wra. Johnston, Member of New Zealand University. 1 *

A Port Chalmers correspondent informs us that “it is rumored in Port Chalmers that a requisition is in the course of signature calling upon his Worship the Mayor, MrH. M‘Demid; to resign his mayoralty, in consequence of the stand he took at the last meeting of the Town Council on the Waterworks question. Two resolutions had been passed at a public meeting previously held, which were both put to the Council by Mr Councillor MTCenzie as ?'™ en “ men i ; to Mr Murray’s motion; and the Mayor gave his casting vote in favor of the motion, which in effect ignored the opinion of the ratepayers;. The meeting referred to was the largest that had been held in the Port for a very long time. One of the resolutions passed at this meeting would have to come before the Council during the next session : andthe Mayor being M.P.C. for the Port, a considerable portion of the ratepayers think their member would not be inclined to support the terms of the resolution' oh the Waterworks question, and, therefore, ought to be called upon to resign.” -

There are still jn Sydney believers in the story told by Hume, as to the fate of Leichardt’s party, and the existence of a survivor of the expemitiol{ I? the interior of the far North-West. , e Sydney Empire ’ reports a conversational discussion on the subject in the Parliament of New South Wales, in the course of which it was stated by Mr Hobertson that there were several gentlemen in the Colony who were so deeply interested in the question that were willing to raise among them a fund sufficient to equip a party to go out with Andrew Hume to the place where he says he left (Jlassan, and that these gentlemen were waiting to see whether the Government would take action in the matter, Mr Parnell, on the part of the Government, excused the delay by the fact that Hume had gone to spend a month with hi!) father, and it was not necessary to decide till bis return, whether he should be further employed in this search. The question w, says the ‘ Melbourne ArguS,’ not whether Hume is a man of indubitable veracity, but whether there is any, and if any, what degree

of probability about the allegation that a white man, the survivor of an exploring party, is living among the blacks in a place which may be reached.

This is how they manage things in QueensrS • A letter was recently published in the Brisbane Courier,’ by which it appeared that an expedition was recently made to the Palmer diggings, for the purpose of exploring a new road. The party numbered 110 persons, and consisted of a Commissioner, several surveyors and a detachment of police. The letter way in reality a diary, and it contained the following items of intelligence :—On the 3rd of Novem her the party arrived at Normauby River, starled a mob of blacks, shot four, and hunted them.” On the 6th, “ the blacks surprised us at daybreak ; all were armed. They got close to the camp before anyone heard them. Great consternation ; shot several. They ran into the waterholes for safety, where they were shot. Travelled then unmolested till we reached Kennedy River.” Whilst proceeding up the Kennedy the party camped, and “ had an. encounter with the blacks Shot several.” Anything more cold-blooded than the proceedings of the party, composed to an extent of government officials, can scarcely be conceived of. It has long been a matter of notoriety that on some of the out-stations in .Queensland the blacks are shot down on Sundays and holidays just as though they were wild animals ; but it is novel to find government officials engaging in the inhuman sport.

The Wanganui correspondent of the ‘Wellington Independent’ writes : “ Our.engineer— Millar, F.S.A.—has a good many sins of his own to answer for. Indeed, he appears to be in. the position of a man who stirs up a cage of animals with a pole. Sometimes it is the poke of high professional engineering skill, at others at the ignorance of 1 charlatans,’ unscrupulous persons,’ and so on. Tf Mr Millar has a fault, it is that of pugnacity. He has now a very pretty little quarrel as it stands with reference to the production of certain correspondence between himself and sundry manufacturers, contractors, and distinguished engineering luminaries in England. The Borough Engineer asserts that his correspondence is sacred.’ Councillors profanely reply that it is public property. The Engineer says the correspondence is of immense value, inasmuch as it contains particulars of sundry grand original concessions which he means to patent in England. Councillors retort that he has no business to become a patentee at the expense of the Council; furthermore, that he ought not to bo allowed to come to the Council and argue with Councillors. In his report on the waterworks, the Engineer indulges in some strong animadversions about the egregious failures of certain charlatans ’at Dunedin and elsewhere and here and there pats himself on the back by implication.”

Madame Blanche will take her .benefit at the Princess Theatre this evening. A meeting of Mr Wales’s supporters will be held at the Committee Booms, High street, this evening, at 7.30. An entertainment in aid of the funds of the Early Closing Association will be given in tbe Masonic Hall on Wednesday next, 22nd inst. Mr Barton will address the electors at the Peacock Hotel, Princes street south, this evening, at eight o’clock. The Committee will meet at the rooms, High street, at 7.30.

We have been shown, in the studio of Messrs Coxhead Bros., some capital photographs of the principal members of the Ailen Opera troupe, taken by Mr H. Coxhead. Those of Misses May and Lambert are life-like, and excellent specimens of the operator’s skill. The annual sports, in connection with the Dunedin Cricket Club, will be held on Saturday next in the North Dunedin Becreation Ground. We understand that the matches arranged between Messrs Muir and Bhodes will not come off. In their place three open races have been added to the programme. The Artillery Band has been engaged, and tine weather only will be needed tor an enjoyable afternoon’s sport.