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Evening Star, Issue 3507, 20 May 1874, Page 2

As one of the results of the contract for a branch line of railways up the Gave and Waireka valleys, a township is being laid off on Footscray farm. 1 he City Council had Mr Robert Gillies’s letter on the water question again under consideration last evening. A special meeting is to be held on Thursday evening, when it is expected that gentleman will be in attendance to make explanations. J} 11 H er stan<i that a well-known member of the Sock and Buskin will soon appear at the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Dunedin, charged with communicating with a brother professional who is now sojourning at Caldwell’s Hotel. The alleged offence was committed at Port Chalmers on the 13th instant. The member for Makerewa, Mr Wilson, opens his mouth very often; but it is only when he speaks oracularly that his remarks are at all audible. In the Provincial Council yesterday this self-constituted authority asserted that it was a public duty for owners of newspapers to publish from the ‘ Gazette,’ free of charge, all advertisements which concerned the public good. If the Lou. member would only attempt to “ run” a paper iu the classical district of Makerewa, the public would be able to judge how far he practises what lie preaches, A bazaar, on a small scale, was opened in the : \\ esleyan Had, Moray place, yesterday, the : trustees of the Dunedin Church having accorded to the Wesleyan ’churches pf Baldutha and I art Chalmers permission to offer the; goods they had for sale in their hall. Contrary to the expectation of the promoters of the sale, success did not attend their opening, scarcely I twenty persons having attended from the com-1

mencemont to the close. The sale will continue for two days yet, and as the assortment or articles, though small, is choice in character we hope they will all be well and profitably disposed of. The new bridge over the Island Stream is just completed. It consists of two handsome arches of Oamaru stone, and is a substantial structure, though the parapets somewhat detract from its beauty. That across the Otepopo is said by the ‘North Otago Times’ to be one of the handsomest bridges in the Province. The arches will be completed in a few days, and the bridge should be open for traffic very shortly, ihese works leave only two rivers—the Kakauui and the Shag—unspanned between Oamaru aud Dunedin, and it is hoped that funds will be provided for these during the present session of the Provincial Council. The Western district is not alone in its complaints of the thistle nuisance. Prom Oamaru now comes the cry that unless repressive measures are at once taken, a large area of valuable land will soon become useless. The local paper says that both north and south of the town thistles are becoming so numerous as in many instances to entirely usurp the place i or pasture. In the neighborhood of Kakanui aud Otepopo, particularly on the lands adjacent to the rivers so named, acres and acres are covered by dense thickets of these spiny usurpers. The sooner a Thistle Ordinance is put in force the better. The following is a summary of the immigrants (with a statement of their occupations) per ,T. N. Fleming, which sailed for Otago on February 21: 38 farm laborers, 5 gardeners, 53 general laborers, 1 ploughboy, 1 shepherd, 18 carpenters, I wheelwright, 1 woodranger, 6 blacksmiths, 1 smith’s man, 2 bricklayers, 3 plasterers, 1 stonemason, Heather-dresser, 1 shoemaker, 1 tanner, 1 baker, 1 engine-driver, 1 grainer, 1 lithographic printer, 3 painters, 1 platelayer, I post-office sorter, 1 railway laborer, 1 tailor, 1 weaver, 2 cooks, 18 general servants, 2 housemaids, 2 milliners, 2 nursemaids ; total, 172. Their nationalities are— English, 323 ; Scotch, 2 ; Irish, 39 ; French, 1; Germans, 2. There are 136 men, 91 women, 67 boys, 38 girls, and 15 children : 367 souls in all. or 299£ adults. ’ There was a fa’rly numerous attendance at the Queen’s Theatre last evening, when Mr Chapman gave another of his interesting entertainments. The various tricks were well done, and heartily applauded ; the ease with which they were executed causing much surprise. The second-sight manifestations were executed as well as anything of the kind yet seen here, several difficult items being subjected to Miss Ida Bonnifon’s. test, all of which were faultlessly told; while the Spiritualism exposure caused much amusement. A want of punctu ality was discernible in last night’s performance, for which an apology was made. Mr Chapman announced, during the entertainment, that he had, after a deal of persuasion, succeeded in the management to close the theatre this evening, in consequence of Mr Eastwood’s benefit taking place at the Princess’s, A very curious complication occurred at the Ivilmore race meeting, Victoria, on Easter Monday. It was generally expected that Victorian would be the only starter, and consequently nearly all the treble-event bets commenced with his name. It turned out that the race was a walk-over for this horse, but, as he broke his back at the first hurdle, and the judge gave it as no race, the question arose as to how the bets stood. The backers of the horse declared that as it was a walk-over, coming to the post was enough in a jumping race to claim the stakes, while on the other hand, those who gave the odds were as positive that, as Victorian had not got over the course, he had lost the race. It was urged if a horse cannot get round, how can he win a race ; but the Grand National rule, which applies also to hurdle races, is, “If a horse be weighed for, mounted, and proceed to the starting-post, and no competitor appear, he shall be considered the winner.” Therefore Victorian is a winner, although he broke his back. A curious anecdote is related in a Geelong paper in connection witli the assessment of damages by a jury empanelled at a trial that came before one of the law courts at Melbourne a few days since. _ The minority, while ad nutting that the evidence was strongly against the defendant, wanted to give the plaintiff merely nominal damages, solely on tlie ground that he was a rich man, while the defendant was a comparatively poor one. The party holding this view numbered five, and the rest of the jury being unanimously of opinion that damages ought to be not less than L 5,000. A long discussion arose, and for some time there appeared to lie little or no prospect of an understanding being arrived at. A happy thought, however, at length struck one of the jurymen, who proposed that each juror should write the amount at which he would propose to fix the damages on a slip of paper and place it in a hat, and that after ascertaining what the respective suras were an average should be struck, and the amount thus arrived at awarded to the plaintiff. This suggestion being at once adopted a brief consultation was held on the part of each of the factions into which the jury was divided, and the hat was duly brought into play. The result of the ballot showed that while the refractory minority had stuck to their original idea and had each given “ one farthin" ” the members of the majority had each specified a sufficiently large sum to bring the average to upwards of L 5,000, the exact sum for which a verdict was actually given being L 5,101. The following sketch of the newly consecrated Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington appears in one of the West Coast papers “ Francis Redwood, whose parents were among the first settlers in the Province of Nelson, and whose relatives still reside there, received the nxdirilehts of his education and his first theological instruction under the direptiqn of the Rev. Father Garin, of' Nelson, and other priests of the Society of St. Mary in New Zealand. When quite young he was sent to France to study for the Church at the College of the Mariot Fathers at St. diamond, diocese qf St. Etienne, in the Department of the Loire. After remaining there for seven or eight years, the young student proceeded to the ancient and venerable College of the Order of Mary at Dundalk, where he finished his noviciate and was ordained priest {n 1861. After performing the special clerical duties of his society under the superintendence of the General of the Order in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and on the Continent, he became connected with the new Catholic University on its establishment by the Primate and Hierarchy of Ireland. The Rev, Father Hickey, who visited the Grey Valley in 1868, on business in connection with the University, and who, it is understood, is now himself a bishop in California, is remembered to have spoken in eulogistic terms of the abilities, piety, and learning of “the young New Zealand priest,” when conversing mth other old residents’ oTNelson about Father Redwood. It is said that) with, ono exception (that of Dr Birmingham, a bishop of 'an Australian diocese, who was raised to’ the Episcopate under very special circumstances) Dr Redwood has been consecrated at an earlier age than any other bishop of the Catholic Church for several hundred years.” This afternoon a deputation from the City Council, consisting of the Mayor, Councillors Burt and Reeves, and the Town Clerk, waited on his Honor the Superintendent with reference to the Castle street Diversion Ordinance, and also respecting the Cumberland street question. Ihe Mayor said the Corporation had laid out a large sum (about L 700) on Castle street, in making it run straight through, and they thought his Honor might suggest to the Government that the reserve might be given to thera-pf course, to sell to the residents, who alone were entitled to buy it. His Honor stated in reply that tjie land really belonged to the Coi poration, and that whatever price was fetched would be refunded to them. The Ordinance was merely being put through the House at the instance of the people squatting in the neighborhood of the reserve, and a clause would be put in to the effect that the proceeds of the sale should be handed to the Corporation. With regard to Cumberland street, the Mayor said that Mr Gillies, who represented the oyuod, hact called 011 the Provincial Se :retary, and understood from him that the matter had been settled favorably for that body, and that they expected to get the corner piece of hind without giving anything for it. His , t ® or replied that'he did not think such could be the case, but that there was some misappreheiisioUj as it was a clear question of price, iho section

L 2,000, but of course the Government did not expect that amount. It would he better for the Corporation to ascertain what the Synod were prepared to give for the section. After thanking his Honor for his readiness to receive and assist the Corporation, the deputation withdrew. We have been requested to publish the following remarks (which, we may observe, were accidentally overlooked) made by Dr Cole at the presentation to Dr Sorley on Monday :—“ He did not consider the case one of either conjecture or speculation. Hunt’s leg was broken, or it was not: if it was, science ought to be able to determine the fact. What did the medical evidence adduced for the prosecution prove ? Did these witnesses prove anything? Why, one said one thing, and one another, whereas the facts proved by himself and Dr Young were incontrovertible. He would challenge Drs Bakewell, Hulme, and Hocken to prove that Hunt s leg was dislocated. In support of his view of the matter lie read, tlie following 1 extract from ‘ Taylor on Medical Jurisprudence’: tions. when cured, are of ten attended with some slight deformity of the limb, or with some impairment of its functions. This result is occasionally inevitable under the best treatment, but it is commonly set down as a sign of unskilfulness in the medical attendant, Anactionformalpractice is instituted, aud in spite of good evidence in his favor, the surgeon is sometimes heavily fined for a result which could not be avoided. There is often great injustice in these proceedings, and the mischief can only be remedied by referring the facts to a competent | medical tribunal, which alone should be emi powered to decide whether or not unskilfulness I bad really been shown in the management of a case. The system of allowing each -party to select his own medical witnesses invariably leads to a conflict of opinion and evidence.’ The course suggested by Dr Taylor was the only one that should be allowed. Out of the six medical men called in the case of Hunt v. Sorley only two of them agreed. Any layman who would profess to decide the question of unskilfulness or otherwise in such a case, after a five minutes’ deliberation, ought to be put down as a fool.” The annual meeting of the Choral Society ™ beW last evening, Mr Cargill presiding. Ihe Committee in their report congratulated the members on the prosperous condition of the society. We make the following extract from the report: “At the close of last year there were 137 honorary and seventy-three working members, and to the society’s credit L 65 11s 4s, besides music in hand of the value of L3O. During the past season there has been an increase of 111 honorary members and twentythree working memoers. The accounts show a credit balance of LBS 10s Id, and the society now owns a library worth L 49 Bs. During the present season it is contemplated to produce Sir M. Costa’s ‘ Naaraan,’ Balfe’s opera of ‘ Maritana,’ Barnett’scantata‘ParadiseandthePeri ’ and Sir William Stemdale Bennett’s ‘Woman of Samaria,’ of which the first has been put into practice for the next concert. Your Committee gladly testify to the warm interest displayed in the affairs and success of the society, both by honorary and working members; and| in conclusion, they desire to record their appreciation of Mr A. J. Towsey’s able efforts as conductor, to which, in a great measure, may be attributed the present satisfactory state of the society.” The report, with the balance-sheet accompanying it, was, after some discussion, adopted. A document, signed by a number of members, was read, which asked that the rules of the society be so altered as to provide for the Committee being elected annually. —ln the course of the discussion on the question of the mode of electing the committee, the chairman mentioned that a Society in Dunedin which existed prior to the present Choral Society, had rules like those now suggested to be adopted, and it “ flew to pieces.” After that, the present Society was formed, and the rules under which it worked were the exact rules of the Choral Society in Auckland—a Society which was one of the oldest and most successful in the Colony, The rules sought to be altered were the very rules which ensured the stability of the Society and prevented dissension. The Wellington aud Christchurch Societies were now going to adopt the rules proposed to be altered. The very existence of the Society depended on preserving these rules unaltered, and the success of the Society showed that the rules worked remarkably well. If members who wished to see improvement in the Society made practical suggestions, instead of directmg their efforts in the way of making fanciful alterations iu the rules, they would do more good. This matter had been brought up m Committee, and it was thought better to leave things as they were rather than alter. After a few observations by Mr John Eva, who alluded to the general feeling of dissatisfaction iT. 1 x committee as a, whole, and suggested that the committee should reconstruct themselves, votes of thanks were awarded to Messrs Towsey, West, and Campbell, and the proceedings terminated. .p. Tbc Artillery Band will practice at the Drill-shed on Friday evening at 7.30. aud parade at 8.30. We would remind our readers that the performance given by the Press Dramatic Club for the benefit of Mr Henry Eastwood takes place at the Princess Theatre this evening. The pieces to be produced—the comedy of “ Still Waters Run Deep,” and the farce of “ Who otole that Pocket-book ?”—have been actively rehearsed for some time past; and as the Club’s ranks acquisitions since their last entertainment, we have no hesitation in affirming that to-night’s performance will equal if not excel anything previously done here by amateurs. From the large number of tickets disposed of there is every probability of" a crowded house.