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Evening Star, Issue 3673, 30 November 1874, Page 2

At tha farewell parliamentary dinner given to Lord Normanby in Brisbane, thirty-three members of both House were present. As the usual courtesies were withheld from the Press, no reporters attended; but at the last moment the Speaker sent for the Government reporter, with the view, it is believed, of furnishing the inland paper and the Australian Associated Press with a report of the prooeedihgs,

c ‘^ re . J Ter ? to ; da .V obliged with a telegram 11 . 0m IT ~ r Marsh, legal manager of the Star of the East Q. M. Company, to Mr W. O. Ball, to the following effect “ Cake 175 i ozs., from 145 tons of stone. Start again Wednesday.” Messrs Logan and Brown, J.P.’s, presided at the .Resident Magistrate’s Court this morning, and fined Cbri-tian Tonsen 20.-, with the option of twenty-four hours’ imprisonment, for drunkenness. Similar charges against Charles Norman and Helen Gatelv were remanded at the rr quest of the police, both defendants being in the Hospital. The death is announced cf Sir Samuel (Jsborne Gibbes, which took placi at Wangarei. The deceased baronet had been some years m the C docy, and was formerly a member of the Legislative Council He is succeeded to the title by his eldest son. now Edward Osborne Gibbes, who, we be'ieve holds a good position in the Civil Service. Tradesmen should be on their guard against spurious coins, cf which a number are supposed to he in circulation in this City. -Ve were to-day shown a shilling, the exact facsimile in appe ;rance, and almost in weight, of the current coin of the realm, which was taken at an hotel on Saturday evening. The only way in which these couufcereits can be distinguished from ordinary coin is by the dulncss of ring when thrown on a table. Some good cricket was shown in Satnr day’s match between the A to J and K to Z elevens of the D.C.C. The latter, who were the fi/st to go to the wickets, managed to run together the rather lari-e total of !.34, of which number Tait contributed 14; Sampson, 15; Kettle, 39; and M-cdonell, 42. When the stumps were drawn at six o’clock the A to J team had made 61, with five wickets to fall. Allen getting 39, and Collinson (i.ot out) 11. “Our American Cousin” and “The Toodles constituted the programme at the Prince*s Theatre on Saturday evening, and attracted a good attendance, Mr Bates was Asa Trench;ml, and having a part to his evident liking acquitted himse’f well. Mr Steele made Dundreary a swell, whose stuttering was very intermittent. Mrs Bates was a lively Florence, and sang an introduced air very nicely. To-night “ Under the Gaslight ” will be played. The Combination Troupe under Airec’s lead reappeared at the Queen’s Theatre on Saturday evening. The attraction of the evening was the Arabian box mystery, which condsts of the disappearance of a young woman into a large travelling box, which had been previously locked, lashed with ropes, and covered with canvas, over which other ropes were tied, A ircc on the trapeze, and the duetts of Madame Montehello and Mr St. Vincent were well received. “The Evangelic section of the Church of England,” writes “ Atticns ” in the Melbourne ‘ Leader,’ “is rough on racing.” The Sev. Mr Macartney, the son of the°doan of that ilk, made a very playful allusion to the racecourse on the Sunday beforeihe meeting “To-day,” said he, alluding to the fact that it was Sacrament Sunday, “you are asked by the Lord to taste His cup ; on Thursday the devil will ask you to sec his cup.” It is only right to add that several of the congregation, with one of the judges at their head, walked out of the church. Mr J. S. Willis, scene artist to the English Opera Company, arrived last week, and in anticipation of the openiug of the season has commenced preparation for new scenery, having soc'ired part of the billiard room in the Provincial Yard as a painting room. He has with him a first-class mechanist and property master, Messrs Huntley and Brices The company open at Timaru lo night on a six-mght s engagement having complet 'd a most successful one at Christchurch, where we understand, arrangements for a new theatre are progressing satisfactorily Chapman, the w z ;rd, who recently performed lus tricks in Dune liu, seems to have been practising a feat that is not appreciated by the Avife of his b- som, i- wc may judge from the following advertisement which appeared in the ‘ Lyttelton Time*’:—“ William Adam Chapman, avoll knoAvn as a conjuror and anti-spiritist, and travelling with a person known as Miss Ida Boanifon, will you write to your Avife and child ? They have received no communication for eighteen months. Write immediately to Fmil'y Ada Cha man, Dowen \ iba, 3, Punt road, South nan a, Melbourne.” -The recent correspondence puhlhho-l in reference to the claim advanced by Sir Jamei Martin, Chief JustLe of New South Wales, to be sworn in as administrator of the Government (firing Sir Hercules Kohinson’s absence in Fiji, shoAvs that the Home Government does not much like Chief Justices as act-ng Governors Formerly the Chief Justice, as a matter of course, as mm d the office as soon as the Governor left the Colony, but it appears that the Boyal instructions and terms of the commission have recently been altered, and that now the Chuf Justice is only to be sworn in as administrator, if the Executive deem it ( necessary. The New South Wales Executive did not deem it necessary. and consequently Sir James Martin was not sworn in during the Governor’s absence in Biji. The ‘ Alelbourne Argus,’ writing on the subject, says that there is reason to believe that the Home Government contemplate the issue of such altered commissions to the Australian GoA'ernors as will enable them in case of emergency to take one another s place. As the Governor has practically little to do in the affairs of the State, except upon the occurrence of a Minis* terial crisis, the ‘ Argus’ thinks such an arrangement might do well enough as a temporary one.

The half-yearly report of the Melbourne Theatre Royal Company, recently presented, stated that the past half-year had been one of the most successful since the formation of the association, and the d'rectors were enabled to recommend a dividend for the past quai ter at the rate of ten per cent, per annum, after depositing the sum of L 1,300, carrying five per cent, interest as a reserve fund against damage or loss by fire, which would have the effect of reducing the annual premiums paid to the insurance companies, ihe directors recommended that they should be author! Ed to pay a dividend at the rate of ten per cent, per annum every three months. The report was adopted unanimo?Bly. When this company was established two years ago for the purpose of rebuilding the Theatre Royal, those who took shares in it did so more for the purpose of getting a first-class theatre in the city than Avith any idea of making a profitable investment. immediately on its completion, however, the theatre was let for a term of years on a percentage on the gross takings. The result bas been that the shareholders have leceivcd handsome dividends, and the shares are at a considerable premium. J he anti-Provincial feeling seems to have broken out in Canada. The ‘Spectator’ of August 29, commenting on the intentions of Canadian statesmen ultimately to abolish the Provinces in the Dominion, strongly supports the policy of a more complete union. Jhat design,” it pays, “ though not in accordance with English opinion, is, we believe, a wise one. These little governments are not cheap. They are apt to become corrupt. They occasionally quarrel in a very bitter and dangerous way, hating one another, as regiments sometimes do, all the more because they have not the smallest reason for so doing ; and they absorb in Provincial work the abilities which might benefit the nation at large. The first need of a State is statesmen; aad statesmen dp not grow

thick in countries Provincialism is allowed to be triumphant. Every step taken hy the Canadians towards centralisation in politics is a stop towaids the formation of a strong, rapidly-moving State—and, therefore, of that separate and effective nationality which they so greatly desire, and which ibey will secure all the more rapidly if they can draw into one governing and deliberating council all the political brains of the Dominion.” At the last meeting of the Southland Waste Land Board, a Mr Campion, occupier of section 2, No. 57. deferred payment land, Hokonui district, wrote complaining that he could nob build upon nor improve his land, owing to its being unsurveyed. It was also impossible, under the .circumstances, for him to comply with the condition; of the Act dealing with land obtained on deferred payments. It was resolved—“Thatpending the decision of the Judge of the Supreme O.sarb as to the legality of granting occupation licenses under the deferred payment clauses of the Amendment Act, 1873, the Board cannot countenance any occupation on deferred payments within licensed runs.” The quarterly meeting of the Licensed Victuallers’ Association will be held in the Fire Brigade Booms to-morrow (Tuesday) evening, at half-past seven. A meeting of the Standard Property Investment Society, for receiving subscriptions, will be held in the temporary offices. Princes street, on Wednesday, from six to eight o’clock. During the week ended 28th November, 28 patients were admitted into the Dunedin Hospital, and 26 were discharged therefrom. Five deaths occurred during the week, viz. Boot. S. Young, from internal injuries; Charles Summers, seaman, aged 27, native of England, from consumption ; Nicholas Peterson, carter, aged 29, native of Sweden, from inflammation of the liver ; Margaret Brixton, aged 24, native of England, from puerperal fever; and Mary Beatson, aged 26, native of Otago, from the same cause. The number of patients at present in the Hospital is 168, of whom 27 are females.