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Evening Star, Issue 3509, 22 May 1874, Page 2

Mr Chapman’s entertainment at the Queen’s wa° not over well attended last night. A chapgo or programme is announced for this evening. We understand that in future all cases occurrmrntor the Prisons Act, 1873, in connection with the prisoners working outside the gaol will be heard at the Resident Magistrate’s Courk Dunedin. Several of the officers have intimated then-retention to resign, uu'ess they are supported in the execution of their onerous duties.

W« have been requested to state that the Musenm will be closed for a few days, in consequence of some alterations being effected in the building. Due notice will be given of its reopening. We hear that the friends of Mr Barnes intend entertaining him at dinner on Monday evening, in recognition of his zeal and energy in.his capacity as member for Leith Ward in the City Council. MrJ. S. Hickson having resigned the office of Secretary to the Benevolent Institution, some changes have taken place in the management. Mr Quin, late of the police force, has been appointed master, and Mrs Quin matron of the Institution—the former also’undertaking the duties of secretary. The romancer of crime, John Morrison, with a number of aliases, who has figured so exten--81 v | ly t , iirou shout the Province for some weeks, and whose capture was alluded to in our columns yesterday, was received into the gaol this forenoon, escorted from Invercargill, per Phoebe, steamer, by police constable Ede. Prisoner is remanded till the 25th inst. at the Police Court, Dunedin. Attention was called this morning to the irregular mode of conducting proceedings in the Resident Magistrate’s Court by Mr Stout, who suggested that his Worship would be consulting the convenience of the public were he to follow the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court rules. Mr Bathgate replied that there were no rules in existence in his Court, and promised to v< L a P ro P er drawn up for the guidance of the Court and Bar.

The ‘Argus’ understands that a rather amusing correspondence has for some time been going on between the representatives of the Governor of New Zealand and the Governments of the other Australian Colonies. Sir James' Fergusson has started the idea that all correspondence between the Governments of the several Colonies should come direct from and to the Governors of the Colonies, and not through their advisers. Mr Francis does not agree with this view, and believing it to be contrary both to the theory and practice of responsible government, has declined to accede to the proposition. The Colonial Secretary of New South Wales has taken similar action. The nomination of candidates to fill the vacancy in'the City Council, caused by the resignation of Mr John Barnes, took place at noon to-day, and was a very tame affair. There were not more than five and twenty persons present, and the proceeding did not last ten minutes, nominations had been received : Mr Peter Gibson, of Great King street, proposed by Mr Davie, and seconded by Mr G. Baker; Mr William Harrop, of Albany street, proposed by Mr 1. Fogo, and seconded by Mr P. Sherwin. Mr Gibson said he had not anticipated opposition ; and Mr Harrop, that he only consented a couple of hours prior to the nomination to allow himself to be nominated. Both candidates promised to take an early opportunity of explaining their views to the ratepayers. The poll takes place at the Caledonian ground on Wednesday.

The following items of quartz intelligence are from the ‘ Cromwell Argus’ :-The Young Australian claim crushed 138 tons of stone, which yielded ,181|oz of retorted gold. The Royal Standard Company finished a crushing of forty tons of stone on the 12th instant. The yield was fifty-four ounces ef retorted gold. The Try Again had fifty-nine tons of stone crushed some time ago at the Royal Standard j* er ?’ which gave a yield of forty-five ounces and a half. The company is new busy grassing stone. The reef cut the • other day in the Star of the East tunnel is certainly to all appearances the most valuable discovery that has been made on the Garrick Range. The reef is about eighteen inches thick, and, judgins* from prospects, it ought to yield not lessjthan an ounce to the ton. The reef is cut at a good depth, and there cannot be less than three hundred feet of stone overhead. The Heart of Oak Company finished a crushing of sixty-four tons of stone on Saturday. The yield of gold is not yet known, bnt will likely be somewhere about one hundred ounces.

Two curious occurrences are reported as having happened in church recently. The Murray and Hume Times J states that not a hundred miles from the Border, as a worthy clergyman was preaching from the text, “And there shall be light at eventide,” one by one the lamps which, like those of the foolish had not been supplied with their modicum of oil—went out, leaving clergyman and congregation in all but total darkness, and t&uaing them to wish for a practical realisation of the words of the text. No light, however, came, and the congregation had to disperse to their several homes. The ‘ Talbot Leader ’ gives an incident of a different character:—“A young man. who belongs to a ‘ set ’ among whom euchre is the principal intellectual study, took a young lady to ohurch the other Sunday evening, and feU into a gentle doze before tfie iqinister had reached his ‘ thirdly. ’ He cannot explain how it happened, but just as the reverend gentleman said something about the ‘last trump,’ the young man earnestly ejaculated. ‘l’ll go alone!’ The young lady says the next time he can ‘ go alone,’ for she won’t go with him. And she left him to go home alone, too.” Bishop Colenso, it appears, has been consultf. s P u ’its, and asking for information to aidnim in his writings on antediluvian times. Judging from the following paragraph, which was published in au English journal, the Bishop did not gain anything by his resort to the inhabitants of another sphere. Writing to a friend m England, the Bishop says lam bound to say that' I have no faith whatever in the revelations of spiritualism. lam sure many good persons do believe in them, and some amongst my own friends of considerable mental power. But I have seen nothing whatever to warrant me in advising you to pay any attention to these new doctrines. I attended certain supposed manifestations of spiritual influences under very favorable circumstances. The result was that I came away more than ever satisfied that the whole _ was a delusion, quite as much so as the ecstatic delusions of the French nun which have made so much noise in France, and even in England, and which Archbishop Mannmg professes to believe in. Then the proposed revelations, so far as I have seen, are ui themselves so childish and absurd that our reason will require an amazing amount of evidence to overcome the difficulty of believing that the departed should visit us for such frivolous pur■pqses as are indicated by their alleged commuWhen I attended one seance in London theife w.ere especially present for my edification the spirits yf Moses, Aaron, and Joshua; but the only iuforjiiatiou vouchsafed to me was that 1 the first man f God,’ the letters being spelt out in the usual faEshipp. Moses ’ put the question to me; and when I' retorted that that was one of the very questions I wanted to have answered in connection with my critical labors, the above was the reply I received.’’

• A tea meeting W^l b . e Monday next, m Mr Dodson’s bonded store, Port Chalmers in aid of the building fund of' HooV '■ Church. 1 - 1 '?

- c " ri ’ number of the ‘Australasian oketcher- cpntains snipe excellent engravings, the principal of which ip a' lifc-lifce portrait of ths f*r«ipier. The letter-press is, as usual, of the most readable ikimjl. 1 ,l 1 T