The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3734, 10 February 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1875.

As the work of the Harbor Board develops, the importance of their duties manifests itself. It is not the mere deepening of the harbor that has to be provided for; that would be a comparatively trifling affair. Now that the Board are informed by the Engineer, whac the sub-committee were well aware of before last meeting, that the powerful dredge he recommends will be required, no matter where the silt is deposited, or what plan is fallowed in dredging, they have wisely authorised the contract for its construction. On this ground, therefore, no impediment need be apprehended. We have no doubt now that the machinery for dredging will be ready as soon as the plans are matured. But deepening the harbor is only a means to an end. It will provide for thoroughly utilising the vlist amount of property already in existence, in the shape of stores and warehouses, and thus give them a permanent value they would not otherwise acquire. Yet the deep water is only one link in the chain of sequences that must follow, s It would be money thrown away to dredge the harbor without wharf accommodation. This, too, has been arranged for to some extent, but probably not nearly so far as will be required almost immediately after the first vessel of large draught of water comes up to Dunedin. Concurrently with this, preparation has to be made for traffic with the interior, and a further consideration, requiring clear forethought, is intimately connected with the health of the City, and the Harbor Board are required to do nothing that will interfere with the thorough drainage of Dunedin! In arranging the plans for these various branches included in their duties, correspondence has been necessary with the Ministry and the City Corporation. The General Government, fully alive to the importance of preparing for the large railway traffic that must concentrate ou Dunedin, are already looking forward to the necessity of securing a suitable site for extended station purposes, and the Corporation have wisely decided not to place impediments in the way of access to the reclaimed ground. Tims far, the various public bodies who have control over the departments in which the operations interweave, have worked harmoniously, if we except the show of temper ou the part of the actuary of the Corporation. But we scarcely think the City Council has realised the actual position of affairs. Hitherto we have opposed the discharge of the sewerage of the City into the Bay, on the ground that such a course would be detrimental to the public health, through there being no scour to disperse and render it inocuous. But when there is a tidal scour, such as will be most probably secured by the proposed changes in the harbor, it may prove the most economical means of disposing of the drainage of the City to discharge it into the harbor. We should by no means hint at such a course, were the agricultural population sufficiently advanced in knowledge of the value of City sewage as manure to make use of it in farming \ but in a town, although surrounded by gardens and small farms, where there are difficulties in getting rid of stable manure, it is hopeless to expect any profitable application of City sewerage, it seems prooable, thei-efore, that we shall continue to take off the land its fertilising constituents, and to pay high prices for artificial manures to return them to it, until one or two more generations have passed away, when men will wonder what sort of brains their forefathers had, who could indulge in such national waste. It would be well, therefore, in view of the alterations proposed in the harbor, that the Corporation should mature some plan for the thorough drainage of the City, so that, working harmoniously with the Harbor Board, preparation may be made to carry out their plans at the smallest possible expense, for to decide now may be the saving of tens of thousands of pounds. Just as the General Government looks forward to the probable necessity for a railway site, should the City Corporation decide upon the drainage question. It will be much better if, after mature investigation, it is found the sewerage can be discharged at once into the ocean at the same expense, or even at a trifle more ; but as the main objections to pouring it into the harbor will be removed, the subject should bo at once attended to.

f ’n the Blet of December Ist C nterbury h-da credo balance of 1.502,001. Dr Copeland’s second )e tore on Kgypt aud Palestine, deliv. red last evening in tui North I'iinedii. Pre byterian Church, at tracted about two hundred hearers, who were treated to a most g'aphic aud highly niti-rea ing description of scenes in those countries. I rovatore” was repeated last evening and received with m ch favor by a numerous audience. Tonight *■ Faust” will be performed for the benefit of Mr C. H. e > plelon, whose i r ug-worthy efforts during ihe p esent se sou should be rewarded by j crowded house. About twenty men are employed in George street, Fort Chalmers, opposite Messrs Thomson Bros, ’s store, in excavating a large piece of ground, the d6bris of which is being deposited at the reclamation works between the railway pier and the old jetty, which is now being rapidly proceeded with. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court today the charge of assault against William Barkly was further remanded tiil the 15 th inst. James King, for assaulting his wife, Bridget King, was bound over for six months in his own recognizance of LlOand two sureties of L 5 each. (Several civil cases were also heard; A young man named John Harrington was received into the gaol at noon to-day, escorted by Police <'oustab-e White, of Tokomairiro, sentenced by Wm, Car Jew, R.AI., v o one mouth’d imprisonment with hard lauor, for stealing from one of the billiard room of the Criterion Hotel, Tokomair ro, one halfuovtreigu, the property of James i ’oialdson. Pheasants promise to be ere long pretty numerous in the i bimaru district ihe ioc.u L'apor mentions tha-, a fine biood of \ourn 1 onea was seen following the hen near (Jata ova last week audit has been told of seve al ■>r oris tha hj ive luen seen on the K. iuanui Kiab. ones aso appear m» be Si.ire a fine puss was st, reed a day or two ago mu fu nom • -eiJeascio, and leverets have beta k nn on he iotara estue

I lib funeral of the Maori chii-f, Hen iri i aitu took p ace at tue fvaik y ay. there being about fifty INativon presen , Tiie sei vices were conducted by L.'ha les VVesl y xud Palcroauipa. The decease i, who e a ri V >ve are given to on trstaud waj correctly stat d to be 120 years distinctly lecollectc the arrival of Captain (.ook at Preservation ulet, ana ms tilting mi boaid two atiV's The aeceased died po seated of considerab e pc perty, t e whole of which he left to ohn Wesley iaauh, agr atgrandsou. nis only near relatives now living are the chiefs i °by, Charles Wesley, and Portegue. • uuedin is not the only place in the Colony where new comers Bud it rather a difficult matter to procure house accommodation. From Auckland the same story reaches us. The ‘ r.cho,’ in its issue of the 21st instant, says:—“ The immigrants by the Dilbaree complain very much of the difficulty they experience in obtaining house accommodation. Considering the Targe profits that accrue in the form of rents, it is surprising that the investments in house building are so small. In many parts of Auckland building is active enough, hut it does not keep pace with the rapid influx of immigiants,” Tho following extract from a letter received by the mail is published in the erty papers “ When I # first came over to lieland to act as immigration agent, a gentleman < alled upon me who was under the impression that he had the secret of cleaning the rhormium and making it a most valuable article of export. He was, he said, willing and able to raise sufficient capital to start a factor , in New Zealand, and wished to know the most suitable Province for his purpose Also, whether the Government would give liberal tetms no a party of tli s sort, such as land, free pas-ages to the mill workers, tc I wrote several letters to the Agent-General m the subject, with the usual result—the letters we e eith r unanswered or elso the answer was so 1-ng decayed, and when it did come was so unsatisfactory, that the gentleman in qu. s’.ion (a Mr Kidd, who h, B been in 'ew Zealand), gave the matter up.” There are said to be 229 medical praeti tinners in the Colony, bub several of tnosiwho e names are on the regis er have oft the rolnny, and oth rs are dead Taking be total nnuiberwhose nnne- are published n the register as being. ffeotive there woe Id be one medical m m to every 1 3K) of the present population of the < olory. (>ffi fating clergymen under the Marriage Act number 393 or an average of one clergyman to every 759 members of the , opulation. Oi the 1 niied Church of SCngland and Ireland there were 165 officiating clergymen; Church of Scotland, 1 ; Roman Catholic Church, 60 • Free Church of Scotland, 43; Pr shyreriau Church of Otago and Southland, 39 ; Presbyterian Congregations, 1 ; Wesleyan Methodist Society, 51 ; Congregation Independent, 9 ; Baptists, 5 ; Primitive Methodist Society, 9 ; Lutheran Church, 3 ; Hebrew Congregations, 2; United Methodist Free Church, 5; no denomination specified, 2; toval, 395^ About 6.30 this morning the c-ew on board the ship Waitar., in the Craving Dock, were al rmed by a shower of stones which came from a blast at the radway quarry which is situated just above ths d'<ck. One of these struck the main rail of the topgallant toreca tie on the starboard side, splintering the same, carrying away the moulding and cutting the lanyards of the jibboomgny, then rebounding on to ibe stage, where fortunately at the time there were no men at work. If it bad happened a little later the consequences no doubt would have heeu serious. 'I he stone then found its wav down to the bottem of the dock. It is estimated to weigh about 501bs. A splinter of the stone went down the forecastle hatch, striking one of the crew' named John Wakeham in the face and loosening some of his frout teeth. He was at the time sick in his bunk. Another stone, about eighteen inches in came on to the main deck, fortunately doing no serious injury. It is nearly ,me Breater8 reater precautions were used at tbe different quarries, or no doubt some serious accident will be the result.

Members of A. 1.0.0 F. will hear with regret of the death, at Honolulu, of Dr John F. of California, who was on bis way to pay an official visit; to this Colony and Australia. Ho aided the organisation of Oddfellows on the east coast of his own country, and f oru 1849 to the time of hj s death was one of its most prominent memhers. In 1853 he was elected Grand Master of the Gran! Lodge of California; subsequently was elected by the Grand Lodge as its representative to the States Grand Lodge.; in 1809 went to Germany, where, as I'eputyGrand vSire, he successfully in tinted OddfolJowship. six flourishing lodges in different parts of the Kmpire being the results of his .mission. H nored with a commission as Deput. -Grand Sire, he was journeying to this Colony when he was seized by the disease which terminated in his d> ath. One of the San Francisco papers says of him that “in him the <>rder of ddfellowa has lost one of its brightest intellects ; one whos■■ deeds will ho cherished and carried down to the younger members as an example worthy of being imitated.” Further testimony to the curative properties of the sulphur sprints at the Rotorua Lakes is given by a Mr Mossman, of Queensland. a gentleman of large means, who for three years suffered from severe sp nal rheuloatuob brought oh by a h'brou MUpfc ofe

him and ijijirin.o his spinal region. 'fter t! \im, r . tn quote his own words, “everything ever heard or thought of,” such as Turkish haths, Russian baths (steam baths), packing. <v t blankets, homoeopathy, allopathy, &c., he still felt no better, and, as a last resource, was i duced to come o'er to >ew Zealand to try the effect of the waters of the Rotorua district. Mr \3ossmin, attended by a servant, built and lived in a whare for two months, bitbing three times a day in the wat'-rs of 1 ikitere and Whakarewarewa, f r which privilege he paid th> Natives lh 'sum of rive shi dugs a-week. ‘ isi ee,a a spleut d arc fa 1 «.f about fifteen feet, the watd of which is a wnitish yei ow, ciusng th skin . f er a little time to become quite dark. He spates that he drily and ptrce tib>y grew stronger and that instead of as hitherto feeling disinclined for society and “ mopish,” be rather courted it after two or threj weeks’ bathing. At the end of two months Mr Mossman left the springs perfectly restored, and, again to quote his own language, “ as strong and hearty as ever.” The annual. meeting of subscribers to the Benevolent Institution will be held in Farley’s Buildings, Princes street, to-morrow afternoon, at four o clock. Ihe shares in Dodson’s monster sweep are been rapidly taken up, and an early application is necessary for those who are desirous of obtaining tickets. We have been requested to remind drapers’ assistants that a meeting of the Early Closing Association is called for to-movx*ow evening when important business will he discussed. The Kev. Mr Bice will deliver a lecture on the Melanesian Mission in the Temperance Hall to-morrow evening, from the rev. gentleman's long residence on the islands, many interesting details may be expected, aud we have no doubt those who attend the lecture will not be disappointed. The admission is free. . Dodge Pioneer of Dunedin held its first meeting for the new term last evening, at the Tern perauce Hall. The retiring W.C.T., Bru. Neii, having been inducted mto the chair othe P.W.C. I', Bro. Pi ice, D.G.W.C. 1., assisted by his offic. rs, proceeded to install the following officers of the Lodge W.i .T. Bro. John Ala,okay, W.V.T. or, Creig, W.s! Bro! James James, \V. i: Bro. J. B. M‘Culioch, W.F.S. Bro. E. M‘Liskey jnr., \V. Chap, Bro F curing, W.M. Bro. King, W.J.G. Bro. M Pnersoii, W.O S Bio. \V. iSicliolwon W. A.S. Bro. Jack, W.D.M. Sr. L. Love| 11.H.5. Sr. James, L.H.S. Bro. Fuliarton. lh usual quarterly reports were subuioted and appioved. The newly installed W.C.T. acknow edged the honor comeried on hj in, and the thanks of the Lodge were accorded to the Grand officers for the perfect ma- ner in wh cn they had conducted the ceremonies which devolved upon them.