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Evening Star, Issue 3741, 18 February 1875, Page 2

The ‘ Australasian ’ says that Mr Geo. Robertson, the well-known Melbourne publishers is making over L 20.000 a-year by his business. Recently at Poverty Bay a settler named Bousefield repaid a debt by saving from drowning a neighbor who, some years before, had rendered him a like service. "Courtesy is a duty public servants owe to the meanest of the public.” The * Argus’ is of opinion that placards, having upon them the above-quoted words, should be hung up in the various Government offices. The Foresters of Christchurch have set an example worthy of imitation by kindred societies. They have offered to the Beard of Education of Canterbury (and their offer ha« been accepted) a scholarship valued at L 26 for competition of sons of Foresters Nine large bogie engines, for the narrow gauge lines in Canterbury, ha- e been landed at Lyttelton. With tinders attached they weigh thirty-five tons, carry enough fuel and water to last for fifty miles, and are capable of drawing fully 240 tons each. The other day a receipt was given in Christchurch for a‘sum which a wretched bankrupt had been prevailed upon to pay. The receipt ran thus : “Received of the sum of LlO for services rendered to date in trying to induce the banks to keep up his account.” Miss May Howard, the American actress, appeared in Christchurch for the fi ; a*-, time on Monday evening iu C. P. Rowe's " Geneva ■Cross, ’ There was quite a rush to the theatre on that and Hie succeeding night, and she at once established herself as a firm favorite. Baker’s Hibernicou is also in whriatchurch and doing fair business there. I.he Darrells have opened in Auckland in an Anlerican emotional drama called "Under the Ban.” Tbtf patients of the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum were entertained for a second time on Tuesday afternoon, by several members of the HligUeh Opera Company, throu the courtesy of Mr G. L. Allen. Choice music by the orchestra, and several songs by the company, together with dancing by the inmates, enabled a most enjoyable afternoon to be passed, TiSe thanks of the superintendent, on behalf rtf the patients, are tendered through us. Some ot the immigrants that occasionally find their way to Invercargill appear to delight in giving trouble to the authorities. A family named Ryan have particularly distinguished themselves. On the 15th inst. the husband was sent to gao 1 , and the next day his wife was brought beture Mr Turnbull, R. M., on three separate charges of using abusive language at the barracks. It appeared that she had been amusing herself with threatening to ran her neighbors through the kidneys, with discovering that one of her

lady friends possessed a hump back mad a gridiron fac®, a id with a free use of tho epithet which \jv Johnson innocently described as being a word of endearment atnonust sailors. She was sentenced to a fortnight’s imprisonment, and her three children were rent to gaol along with her. The Wellington Philosophical Society have elected Or Bailer * V-b ut }«••• hj suing'two yeai •. u ■ /i.otion to 1 his effect was introduce. and wai mly supported by Dr Hector, who referred generally to Dr Bailer’s fitness for the post, and more particularly to his recent work on “The Birds of New Zealand,” which is well known in New Zealand. In the course of his remarks Dr Hector said that the appointment would only be a recognition of Dr Bullet’s early efforts in the cause of science in New Zealand, and more f specially of his early connection with the looiety. . The following sample of municipal amenities occurred at Lyttelton a few days ago ; Ihe Mayor gave a notice of motion to the effect that a prize of L2O be offered for the best suggestion for supplying the town with water. A councillor inquired upon what right the Mayor presumed upon giving these notices of motion, instead of confining himself to his duty of presiding over tho debates of the Council, Another considered this remark discourteous to the chair, and moved that it be taken down by the cierir, and that the perpetrator be called upon for an apology. The delinquent said he did not go to that Council to be put down, and moved “that the previous speaker shut up.” “La Sonnambula” was performed lost evening, and on the whole went with creditable evenness, the choruses being unusually steady, Mias May was an excellent Amina, and received able assistance from Mr Hollam as Elvin®, Mr Templeton as the Count, and Mr Vemon as AUessio. Mr Hallam gained a deserved encore for " Still bo gently.” Of the few noticeable faults, we shall only make mention of Mr Wilkinson, who carried his love of burlesque so far as to make the notary a regular jackanapes. To-night “ Era Diavolo ” will be produced, and to-morrow Mr Allen takes his first benefit here. Such an attractive programme aa is put forward, comprising as it does not only the favorite ©pera of “ Martha,” with Miss May to sing three ballads, but novelt:es fer the fair scene, should be sufficient to crowd every part of the theatre. , The adjourned meeting of the Central Board of Health was held to day, whon there were present: Hia Honor the Superintendent ( n the chair), Dr Brown, and Messrs Keid, Stout, Turnbull, and Fish, The Health Officer’s report re ship Oamarn having been read, it was resolved “ That tho families affected with scarlatina be at once removed to ihe Quarantine Island ; the single men to be removed to Goat Island on Monday, and the remainder of the passenJr’ers ta be quarantined the same day, assuming that the Gareloch’s immigrants are admitted to pratique on that day. Resolved also that the immigrants on Quarantine Island among whom there has been no disease and who have been kept detached from the others, be admitted to pratique on Monday morning, if no case of fever breaks out in the meantime, and providing the beds and clothing have been thoroughly fumigated and cleansed. Resolved that the cabin passengers on the Oamaru may remain on board, the bedding and clothing to be thoroughly fumigated.” The Otago representatives at the Colonial prize-firing (with the exception ef Lieut. Wilson) returned by the Wellington yesterday, and at Pore Chalmers were met by Adjutant Atkinson and Captains Stavely and Wales, ‘the representatives have forwarded to us some returns, which serve to explain the circumstance commented unoa by us auring the firing, that the shooting this year did not equal that shown in previous contests. From the return prepared by Mr Severn it is plain that the ammunition served out to the men was anything but first-class. Mr Severn weighed eighteen ammunition balls of Ely’s, supplied by the Government to the representatives, and found their average weight to be 527.4 ; but there was a difference of not lees than 37 grains between the heaviest and lightest of the seventeen. For the sake of comparison thirteen balls were taken from a ke T issued to the Thames Scottish Volunie- e i--1870, and not picked in any wav. i , average weight wav ,T“ ; n .l .]/■ tCiU difference four prr.i i..

The Yarravillo murder 1b simply shock iug in its details. The- evidence adduced at the Coroner’s inquest showed that John Irvine, the husband of the deceased, had been seen to run into Messrs Joshua Bros.’ •sugarworks, where he was employed, with nothing on him but his shirt, shortly after the fire broke out. He subsequently dressed in his working clothes, kept at the charcoal department, and by his statements and actions tried to make it be believed that he had slept at the sugarworks. ’there were, however, too many witnesses to prove that he had been left in his house alone with the deceased woman within an hour before the fire was discovered, and it was not only shown that he had entered the works in his shirt shortly after the fire had been discovered, but that he had no business at all there on that night. His conduct otherwise had been of a very suspicious character, and the Vet diet of the jury that he had left his wife to her fate in his burning house, and hj ;d thereby bean guilty of her murder, was what might have been expected.

It isn’t often one hears of a Government getting to the windward of a railway contractor. Yet according to ‘b-Eglea " in the * Australasian,’ Tasmania has done so, and to a pretty tune—not less than L 130.000 and in this manner. The Government of that sunny little island, when it made up its mind to in go for railway construction, had a survey and estimate of cost of construction and traffic prepared. Its proposal was, that the contractor should provide all the capital, and that if the traffic didn’t produce 5 per cent, on the stipulated outlay, it would be made up to that rate from the Tasmanian Treasury. A large contracting firm sent out from England Ha mvn to mako purvey* au ! c H' ; . - i bii-i a !’>ut , iia ) which shoni; i. ul on tbc.n h' , epT. conveyed tidings o his death Hero was a dilemma. ’Mia d i‘e for tend ring was clo-e at hand, there was no time to send out another repr seniative, and the option open to the firm inclined to tender was either to accent as a correct basis the Governmfnt engineer'd estimate or to abandon the euterpiive altogether. Tte firm resolved to risk contracting on the faith of the engineer’s calculation. When a survey was male on their behalf i': v ■ - f und ;lut t in.- original estimate wai I.l.'i(),()dU le's than the work could be done for. In an article on the death of the Emperor of China, the ‘ Melbourne Telegraph’ says : —Such events are indications of a groat storm, and now that the cows of the death of the young Emperor has come, it is not unnatural to link them together. The death may have been a natural one, but few Emperors of China, like Emperors of Russia, have died peaceably. Who will succeed the Kmperor cannot be so much as conjectured. The world, so lar, has not heard of his being a father, nor does hereditary succession to the throne exist in China, 1 he Emperors exercise the right our own Tudor menaroha claimed, namely, of nominating their successors, provided they do not go beyond the members of the Royal family. The unfortunate youth, just deceased, bad four uncles—

Priace Tan, ?rince Kong, Brine® Chan, and Prince Tb, and it may be that one of them will 8 .size upon the authority. The situation in a momentous one for the immense foreign interests concerned in China, beoanae just as tho old bigots or the modern party win, the outcome may be either peace or war. Th® power of Ohiua is reviving. She has just ot mped ■ -b the Mahometan kingdom on her western frontier with fire and blood, and unive sal massacre. And her immense prepafor war have for three or four years past excited the keenest alarm in the European residents on her eastern seaboards. Coroners 5n some parts of the world have an extraordinary idea of their powers. He of Gulgong, N.S. Wales, Dr Ewington by name and a territorial magistrate, when bolding an inquest felt aggrieved because one Dr Bennett “looked or stared” at him, and thereupon ordered the offender’s removal from the court. Dr Bennett presently re* turned into the building, and was again accused by Or Ewington of “staring at him ” ihe stern magistrate may have heard the adage “ A cat may look at a king,” but if so he failed to see its application to the case, and incontinently sentenced Dr Bennett to twenty-four hours’ imprisonment for content of court. Thereupon Dr Bennett called his Worship “a impostor,” and, as the Gulgong Argus,’ whence we derive these particulars, delicately puts it—“ Although we cannot uphold Dr Bennett iu the use of the expression, yet the totally uncalled for exercise of Dr Ewington’s magistonal power made the same almost excusable/ 1 A public meeting was held to protest against the transaction, as an outrage on individual liberty. The.local journal goes so far as to declare that Dr Bennett did not oven commit the offence which so stirred the wrath of the magistrate. It declares, on the word of a gentleman “whose veracity is unimpeachable,” that Dr Bennett “ did not either stare, make faces, or in any way commit himself towards the Bench.”

A singular case affecting the liberty ofßa ibaq named Charles Wharton recently occupied the attention of a bench of magistrates at Maryborough, Victoria, and raised the painful doubt whether there are not t eaae persons in oar asylums. Wljfirton had been arrested oa a description as an escaper froln the Ararat Asylum, but showed no sign of lunacy whatever. He wished the sergeant of police to bring him before the Court, as he did not know why he had been detained, and was anxious to go to work with some mates at Chinaman’s, who were quite satisfied to take him in with them. A few questions were put by the Bench, and the answers were so sober and rational that Mr Carr, P. M. stated his belief that he was perfectly sane. Still he had escaped from legal custody, and could not be discharged. He would have to send him back, he stated, but he had no doubt that on the matter being represented to the authorities Wharton would be re leased. Wharton demurred, as he said for three years he had applied, and could only get out at last by escaping; but Mr Carr promised to specially interest himself in the case. It was proposed to detain the accused until the authorities could be communicated with, but Sergeant Fahey said he had not accommodation for the purpose, and nothing was left but to send him back to the asylum. 11 ap pears W barton was committed from Avoca some years ago, and remembers everything except his committal. The question of Pope versus Queen is being fiercely fought in the correspondence columns cf t e Nelson newspapers. One aide strongly condemns the Rev. F. C. Simmons and his friends for remaining at the Hibernian Society’s dinner there when the health of the Pope was drunk before that of the Queen; the other upholds the practice as sanctioned at public dinners given by Catholics in London and other places in the Empire. The Rev Mr Binstead .-—“ The reason for this etiquette is—That we in the first place consider ourselves Christians ; and, secondly, subjects of the temporal power under which we live. That is, as Christians we owe first, obedience to the visible head of the Church m all things pertaining to Faith and Morals only. This in no wise impairs eur full and unimpaired respect and allegiance to the temporal power.” The Rev Mr Simmonds defends himself thus Never having been at a Catholic banquet before, I had no conception o' tbo order of the toasts, and havbeen rather taken aback, I was wholly unprepaied. Had it have been otherwise! should not have been there. There, however, I told those present that “as I did not wish to sail under false colors, I must inform them that my opinions were diametrically opposed to theirs ’—though I do respect Catholics for their noble charities here and elsewhere. If persons of different countries and of creeps, however opposed, mingled more fredy, there would "be less of the odium theologicum, and of national hatred. My motives, however, for going were almost purely personal. Without wishing to impugn any one else’s loyalty, or to proclaim my own, let me assure you that there is no more loyal Englishman in the British Empire than myself. lam free, to admit however, that I made a mistake, which, on the spur of the moment, I did not know how to repair.”

The re-opening of the Wesleyan Church, Btuarb street, and the opening of the new organ were last evening celebrated by a tea meeting and a musical festival. The tea was set by ladies of the congregation in the hall below the church f and there was a very large attendance to do justice to the good things provided. After tea, the assemblage adjourned to the church, which had been tastefully decorated with ferns, and the chair was taken by the Rev. Mr Bigg, the present superintendent of the Dunedin circuit. The proceedings were opened by the singing by the congregation, without accompaniment, of the hymn * ‘ Come, let us join our cheerful songs” to the tune “French,” after which prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr Roseby. Short and appropriate addresses followed by the Revs. F. W. Isitt and J. U. Davies, and by Captain Peek. The new organ was then opened by Mr. A. J. Towsey with Mendelssohn’s “ Wedding March,” and Costa’s March from “ Eli.” Solos and concerted music by the Church choir, assisted by fr mls i-om lb ; choirs of other City im i ohc.s. intcrsp.ned with organ recitals by Mr ' oivsey, and a very interesting and aitiu ad hj - 188,011 music as au art, and its place in «ievo ional exercises, by tiie Rev. A. R. Fitohett, made up the remainder of the programme. The s iiging, on the whole, was very g':od. The solos “He was despised,” “ Resignation,” and a rendering by Miss Lindsay of the wards of King David—“ While the child was yet alive,” &c.—were beautifully sang. “I know that my Redeemer hi'ofch is one of the most trying solos in the “ Messiah,” and the young lady who sang it la t night was evidently suffering from cold, or has baen out of practice lately. We have often heard her to much better advantage. “ Comfort ye my people ” was well rendered, as was the fine sacred song “Nazareth.” Of the performances on the organ it is only necessary to say they were given by Mr. Towsey. We congratulate the congregation of Trinity Church on the excellence and suitability of their new organ, and the success of the opening celebration. Much of the latter, we believe, is fairly attributable to the unwearied efforts of Mr Fred Isitt, who also contributed “The Last Man” to the programme. Mr Alex. Hunter, ironmonger, Great TCing street? writes to say that he was not defendant mlthe case of Edmonds, Forsyth, and Co v. A. Hunter.