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Evening Star, Issue 3640, 22 October 1874, Page 2

There Was no business of public importance transacted at the f esident Magistrate’s ourt to day, the disposal of a charge of lunacy and a few bye-lavy cases constituting the s.tting.

Volunteering in the rural districts appear -, to be in a rather backward state. Major Atkinson visited the Taieri yesterday, bat only thirteen rank and file put iu an appea • auce at his inspection parade.

At the civil sittings of the Supreme Court this morning, the case of North v. Vowed was continued. A number of witnesse« wore examined, and Mr Smith addressed the jury for the defence. Mr Macassey was replying when we went to press. A very successful concert was g'ven in the Sawyer’s Bay School-house last night, in aid of the school funds. The performers were principally from the Port, and were under Mr Belt’s leadership, while Mr Richardson presided at the piano. After the concert the room was cleared for dancing, Madame Reade, a new arrival, R , n< i fch o most recent addition to the Ox ord Combinatiba .Troupe, appeared at the Princess Theatre last evening. She evidently has a high opinion, which was not shared in by her audience, of her vocal abilities, and her manner is, to say the best of it, peculiar. One of the most important items of news brought by the Mikado is the announcement of'the anuexaionof Fiji to Great Britain Sir Hercules Robinson was not long after his arrival in bringing Thakombau to terms. On the Ist instant the documents constituting the bond of the contracting parties were signed, amid genei al rejoicing. The King has surrendered all his claims, and the annexation takes place unconditionally. ThakomUau resumes the old title of Vana Valu. An amusing point was raised in the Supreme Court at Wellington, The jury in the ease Grace v. Diver was about t > be discharged, when the question was raised as to whether they were entitled to payment, not having given a verdict. One counsel learne d in the law, and the Registrar seemed to think that, having failed to agree, the jury had not earned their honorarium, but his Honor thought that the twelve hours’ at tent ion they had given to the case fully deserved the recompense of 10s. A copy of ihs Jury Act was sent for, and it was foun 1 that service on the jury entitled to payment, and accordingly the twelve half-sovereigns were duly distributed.

Dentistry in Nelson and Marlboro agh ap pears to be associated with other and hardly congruous things. It is notable that a gen tleman of Nelson, whose business primarily is with the mouth, announces in a Maribirough newspaper his intention of visitin’ that Province, and taking with him not only a large as -ortmeut of teeth, but “a collection of new panoramic views, never before shown in New Zealand.” The many Scotchmen in Marlborough will take is as a compliment, no doubt, that these views are chiefly “ illustrative of Scotland and its scenery.” But newspaper men in Marlborough, as-well as dentists, would appear to have mere than one kind of “ fish to fry.” This is how the editor writes:—“ The proprietor of the ‘ Express’ has received a quantity of pumpkin seeds of an excellent quality from a friend in Auckland, and will Be happy to share them with any friends who care to call for them.”

The following letter from the Premier appears in the ‘Lyttelton Times)’; —“1 observe in your paper, as well as in Eome other of the papers published in New Zea land, strictures upon my approaching visit to England. A very large number of persons in isew Zealand will, I am glad to think, receive without question any personal assurance I give them. I shall feel indebted to you if you will allow me, through your columns, to eive to them the assurance that I am proceeding to England, because I entirely believe that by doing so I can beef serve the Colony. I may be permitted to observe that there can be little of personal pleasure in the very short visit I am making. I shall bo back before the commencement oi the next session. It will, I presume, be conceded that the Government are best able to judge ef the necessities of the case. Not only are the cable negotiations of the largest moment to New Zealand, but it is imperatively requisite that I should confer with the Agent-General upon the subject of immigration and upon other subjects, ”

We have been shown a private telegram 1 which states that the dividend declared by j the Bank cf New Zealand is, with bonus, I etjual to 15 per cent. | Speaking of a naval training school for ! v ew Zealand, the ‘ Southern Cross,' after after stating that the hon. Mr Reynolds and Mr Seed ..were in Auckland making arrangements in furtherance of the object, adds : Mr Reynolds deserves great credit for the persistence with which he has carried out this pet ideA of his For years he hj s cherished the project, and his enthusiasm on the subject was smiled at by some, and the scheme viewed with incredulity by others. Still, since he entered office, he has kept this scheme in view, and it is one which, if pro-, ptrly worked, will be productive of advantage to New Z aland that may not unfairly be classed with those which shall spring from the public works and immigration policy. The benefits may be less apparent, and the period for rheir full fruition may be longer, but they will, in their way, be none the less real, both in a mercantile point of view, and in the light of producing higher and better social surroundings. * So much--has been said as to the shortcomings. of the hsau Francisco mail steamers that it may be well (remarks the ‘.Times’) to' look at what the ships have actually done. r Niue complete round voyages have been made, t f the outward passages it is ruffipieut to say that the vessels invariably started to time from Sydney, and, with one exception, from - ew Zealand ; and that the delays in the delivery of the mad iii England arose almost invariably Irom faults on the American railways, or at Few Yurk >.'t Boston, or by being paced on- board- slow vessels for the Atlantic passage. The time allowed under the,contract for the,run from •san Francisco to A uckland was 615 hoars, and it was only twice exceeded—on • Ijoth occasions by the MacGregor. By the City of Melbourne the run was accomplished in SSI hours ; the Tart u-, 610; amlthe Mikado,on her last run, in 614 hours Enough has b£ei done to show that the tim .-table cau’\be kept, even with boats not built for the service. How much more easy it will bo. .to observe it when the new steamers are at work. V

- report cm the vital statistics of the boroughs, of Auckland, Thames, Wellington, elson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Hok'tika. for the month of September, has been published. The total of the birLbs was 20*2, and of the deaths 121. Wellington, \v‘e lecret to observe, figures rather unfavorably, the proportion of deathshaving le-n g eatly in ex.ess of what it was in the o’ he • boroughs named' being 3 .'ll to !,000 o* population, while iii eduistchu- ch it w;is 2 42, in -riokit ka and Nelson 1.41, iu Dune.iiu 1.40, in Auckland I 33, and at the i hatnes 0.62. It has ;o be borne in mind, however, that the comparison is uot altogether an accurate one, as in Auokland and Hokitika the hospitals a<e situated beycud he bounds of those boroughs respective y. Of the deaths in Wellington nine were of persons who were between sixty-five and seventy-eight years of age. t f local diseases the proportion in the seven boroughs was 4) 32 ; zymotic, 27.27 ; constitutional, 18 18 ; developmental, 992 ; and v olenc, 2.48. One death is recorded from sea-sick-ness. influenza bronchi is, and heart-di-sease are remarked upon as having largcl / contributed to the mortality. The occurrence of another fire at Auckland recalls the speech made by the Governor at the elson Big.ad ’s anniversary the other day :—“ in Auckland the outbreak and successful progress of fires are remarkable. I used sometimes to think that the citizens

were determined to build a town of unparalleled magnificence, and had consequently onteml into a eomhinaiit-u with other authorities that there should always be a fire, tin .Sundays the churches were frequently crap tied by the ringing of the fire-bell; at night people were constantly turned out of their 1-fds by the same sound, and pyrotechnical displays on a large scale were.common occurrences. Numbers of people would soon be present at the scene of the fire and devote their utmost energies to pumpmn upon the blazing building ; hut unfortunately, as a rule, there would be no water at the other end of the hose I have seen my friend Captain Simpson turn out with his men from the Blanch and offer to pull down- a house to prevent the spread of a fire, but there was always some objection >aised to such a proceeding, as the people appeared to prefer seeing a dozen houses burned to one removed. But it was all good for .trafe ; working men found constant employment; the insurance offices were well patronised, for no one felt safe, and nobody seemed to be hurt, whi.e pie vty of building was always going on. Indeed the arrangements for the sprfead of fires appeared to be pro ductive of all the objects that could be desired.”

The proceedings in the Supreme Court, Wellington, in the libel case of Steele v. Hutchinson, were productive of a good deal of mirth, and the examination of some of the witnesses bro ight about almost a continuous roar of laughter, in which thd Bench and the Bar joined. Some of those who gave evidence expressed most peculiar and entirely new notions respecting improper conduct on the stage and the indelicacy of the plays, and it seem d that pieces which had bean played at all the principal theatre* in Great Britain and the Colonies had to reach Wellington before they met with proper and conscientious criticism Gne witness (remarks the ‘ Tim s’) said he did not think Mr Stee’e played the character of a rollicking pirate properly, because he was rough in his manner, and spoke bad grammar ! This hypercritical critic had evidently taken hra Diavolo as bis model of an outlaw. Ihe great treat of the day, however, was the examination of the “ Dramatic Critic,” who wrote the comnlained-of libel. He was, he said, possessed of considerable experience in this branch of the literacy profession’, having gained io at —the Thames ! There he acquired that knowledge of the critic’s art which made him feel the cruelty of the young lady who so persistently turned her face from the audience—’Conduct which so overcame his sensitive and highly stung feel ings, that he hurriedly left the theatre and gave vent to his feelings in the masterly and refined production which was the cause of action. r ! ho handling which the dramatic critic of the journal whose work was called in question received from Mr Travers, in his address to the jury, should be of great use to him and others.

A meeting of the Cavarsham Cricket Club will be held in the Drill-shed to-nxorrow evening.

The inspection of Volunteers takes place tonight, and was not fixed for last evening, us stated in yesterday’s issue, A challenge from the Excelsior crew to that of the Pioneer, to row a match on the 9fch of November next, appears in our advertising columns.

■ It appears that our notice last evening that Mr Braithwaite had received ‘ Bow Bells ’ for September was an error. He has not only the September but also the October part, received by last mail. -