The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3677, 4 December 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

A “greatly abridge-l ” report of the late spe°cli of Mr John White, M.H R., to his constituents at Hokitika, occcupies about six columns of the ‘ West Coast Times.’ At the Hes dent Magistrate’s Court, Port Chalmers, before his Worship the Mayor ( Jr J. M‘Kimion). Thomas Hutchinson, for being drunk, was let off with a caution. An inquest was held last night in tho Court house, Port Chalmers, before Dr 1 -’Donoghue, district coroner, and a jury of thirteen, upon the remains of William Gibbs, who was killed yesterday morning by a fall of stones at the quarry situat d at Kilgour’s point. After hearing the evidence of Griffith Jones and William Hoskins, the jury returned a verdict of accidental death. ISir Donald M.‘Lean, at the dinner recently given him in Napier, said that it had beau alleged that the object of the Premier’s visit to England was to get an Act passed by the Imperial Parliament by which he would be empowered to abolish the Provinces. But the Imperial Act of 1868, entitled “ An Act to declare the powers of the General Assembly of New Zealand to abolish any Province that Colony l , or to withdraw from any such Province any part of the territory thereof,” gave ample power to the nbly to carry out any such changes if it thought fit ; and the Premier was not so unintelligent as to go Home to undertake a woik already accomplished. W« often hear by telegraph that the immigrants by a certain ship are of a supeiio class. Ihe latest assertion of this kind was trom Napier, and as one proof of its correctness we may state that o-ie of the families by the ship in question had amongst its Hg- a piano. This family chanced to be bound for Canterbury, although, by the ex cellent arrang meet of the Att wuey-’General s. n - with Bony otbeis similarly destined to ap'er. Woe - tiau hj |ipeo to e .in.iou by die i-angatira, tn route to ‘.yttelt-n, to. piano had to bo left behind, as tnenw,.s no room on boa d. Wo (‘ttvenim Cost’) can no 1 -nger doubt that wo are ge--ting a superior class of iree immigrants vrtmn they come thus provided; but we should really like to know whether the piano also emigrated at the expense of the Colony, and what the cost ii of immigrants (with pianos) wiio arrive at Lyttelton, via Napier. “ Richelieu ” was played for the first time this season at the Princess Theatre last evening. There was a good attendance. Any' misgivings we might have entertained as to Mr Hatt-e’s ability to give a proper representation of tiic character wero completely dm sipatod after seeing him in the first act Hhad a thoroughly goo I conception of the cha raccvr, an I the only fault that could be found was that, at tines h’S dee amation w’a too vigorous, Mrs B -tea's J die gave genera aatisfaeu- n ; while Mrs Mill, as Franp os,, p.ayecl with her usual eare and judgment. Mr >teelo as De Mauprat, although he dressed and looked the part admirably, wa*hardly animated enough. \] r Musgrave’s Joseph has been s> of on favorably noticed, that we may merely state that his impersonation last evening was equal to any former t nort. Ibe cast, on the whole, was an excellent one. “Fr m-Pmu ” will be produced to ni b ht for Mrs Bates’s benefit.

There arc some timid people ami grumblers amongst us who ,-,re afraid of the policy the Colony is pursuing, because it is bold and aims at high results, We commend to their consideration, the following ve y nuan b infi paraph front the editorial, c'oluotos ut the Melbourne 'Daily Telegraph' ‘-/The

budget has been submitted to the ''arliannuit of New Smith W des ami it wdl rather astonish the peo de who complain that Victoria is spending too much money. Mr Service’s proposal is to spend L 4 470 (100 during the current year, with a population of 560,009. Tne Victorian disbursement is 1.5 10s per hear], and that of New South Wales is 1.6 Us 6d, and New South Warns has no such item as an educational vote of 1450,0110. New South Wales claims to he our mother, and evidently we must keep our eye upon our maternal relative. Mie is sending for immigrants—she is building railways faster than ourselves” Yet the revenue of New -‘outh W des i-hows, by f e enormous increase it p esents for the last yea"—notwithstanding the reductions iu th tar If- - that the policy i f that Colony is sound.

“The Int'Tiirent Vagrant ” in the ‘ Bruce ITera’d’ writes “1 do not not know why pcoule should dislike a fortunate man who, seme fifteen or twenty years ago, bon;h fourteen acres of land for IJ, and has just sold them for L 3.455 ! And yet number* of p ople talk as if this man’s good speculations wore to their positive injury. I cannot seit. At the time the land was sold for L 7, I suppose no one except the ihen purchaser was willing to give any more for it. In all such cases as this there is, as it seesns to me, hut one fact always exemplified, namely, the mistake made by a State in parting with the fee simple of the public land. Mr Stout has been laughed at by wiseacres, lor giving this sam n opinion his countenance. Rut Mr v tout is not the first man who has been in the right, and has been laughed at. In connection with the sale of land, which I have go writing abmt, let me notice that on the authority of a New York paper, the whole i>f that citv and cou >trv was purchased for twenty-four dollars in 1625.” Concerningihe Cromwell Deep Level Company, about which the nublic has heard not a littlelately, and some strange things have been s dd concerning a dispute as to sp ice that has arisen, the ‘Cromwell Argus’ s iys “The R ncligo promoters, too fearful to believe tha- their scheme would be so well receiv d in Cromwell, gave power to Mr Thomas Logan, who, as a Bendigo miner, bel eved in it most thor Highly, to dispose of 6 OdQ shares in the company, in : lined in. " hen they found he v nture so hig dy thought of in Cromwell, Mr Doug las, the principal of the promoters, te’egraphed io Mr i.ogau, asking him to close hs Dunedin list b foe the sth November, and on that date to sen ! particulars of his sal s. To show that iu Cromwell adesire to deal fairly with Dunedin capitalists existed, and to show at the same time the fee ing of fearfulness on the part of the promoters, we may state that ~.t a meeting of Cromwell sha eholders it was propoa'd fo increase the share list of the company to 60.000, and to reserve 10,000 more for allotment in i unediu. But the pr.-moiers, bavin, receive! no word from Mr Logan, declaied it would be use ! e-s to atemptthes.de of another IO.uOJ in Dunedin - 6.000 were apparently so slow in go ng off; and so the proposal was lost. Mr Logan on the 5 hj November did telegraph to Cromwell that ho had disposed of the whole 6,00) -m his list; but he tee graphed not to Mr Douglas, the promoter, or to Mr JMarshall (who at the meeting sp 'ken f had been appointed m mager pro (cm), but to Mr C. Co dough, whom -nLogan thought to be the manager, an opinion which was strongbhe ied by the fact that Mr (lolclough. as well a.> Mr Douglas, had telegraphed to him for information <m the matter. Mr Colclough, not understanding Mr Logan’s views as to the managership, c usulered his telegram a private one, an i ma !euo mention of bis information ; Mr Loean, m tele raph.ng was convinced he had done his duty to the Dunedin appdeant ; while the promoters and manager, hearing nothing from Mr Logan, could come to to other conclusion than that Dunedin capitalists were shy < f investing in Bendigo reefs From th.-. sth of November to the 17eh things went on quietly. On the latter date, another meeting of sharcho’di-rs was held, and th n f.T the fiist time, something d>-linite became know n as to the Duneliu shareh driers ; and Mr Col clou eh innocently produced the telegram which if ic had only coum to the p mnoters or the manager, would have averted the whole dilficulty aud the misund..rscandmg which has ari-en.”

As will be seen hy ad vertisement, the Mon. Mr Reynolds will address his constituents at the Princess Theatre on Tuesday next, at o p. in. Mr Jewilt t fishmonger, opposite the Provincial buildings, received to-day the largest take of fish ever brought into Dunedin. It consisted of soles in excellent condition, aud large size the average measuring eighteen inches in length by a breadth of eight inches ; flounders in abundance, of good size aud fine condition ; guard tish and trumpeters, with other descriptions in lesser numbers. The whole arrived in excellent condition.

We request the attention of performing members of the Dunedin Choral Society to the programme of the concert to bo given on Christmas Eve, which is published in another column. We think the selection, on the whole, a good one, and are informed it was drawn up in view of the short time for practice preventing the possibility of elfectualljr preparing au oratorio or more elaborate music. Most of the pieces are, to a certain extent, familiar to performing members—than whom, none know better the advisability of frequent aud combined rehearsal. We trust, therefore, that they will unite w.tli the committee in an effort to give to tho Dunedin Choral Society the position which, from the undoubted vocal and instrumental talent among its members, it should command as the leading society in Dunedin.