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Evening Star, Issue 4044, 11 February 1876, Page 2

The Tokomairiro lace meeting has been fixed for April 4 and 5. The Moderator of Synod (the Rev. Mr Alexander), being about to visit England, has been granted nine months' leave of absence by the Southland Presbytery. Thirty-four of the Corona's passengers, comprising ten married couples, sixteen single men, and eight young men, have petitioned the immigration authorities to forward them to Invercargill. The Auckland papers state that a fire brigade, consisting of twenty paid men, is to be formed to take the place of the volunteer firemen whose resignations have been accepted by the City Council. It was considered that the volunteer principle has not answered well in Auckland. Inspector Hughes will have the organisation and command of the new brigade.

At the City Police Court to-day an example was made of a young man charged with stealing apples. Mr Pyke commented on the commonness of the offence, and sent the prisoner to gaol for throe months. For the future Everett (for such was his name) will not be likely to regard stolen fruit as. the sweetest. His case will act as a caution to others.

G. H. Campbell was brought up at the Police Court to-day on the charge of forgery, and at the outset Inspector Mallard asked for a l'emand, as the prosecutor was not in the Colony. Mr Stout contended that the police had no locus standi, not being instructed. Eventually a remand till Monday was granted to enable Inspector Mallard to decide whether the police shouhUay a fresh information or proceed with the present one. Alluding to the rumor which is prevalent in Wellington, that ex-Judges Gresson and Chapman are likely to be offered seats in the Legislative Council, the 'Wellington Argus' remarks :—"Such appointments woukf be exceedingly good ones if tin* Government should break the rule it has for some time observed of not making any new appointments to the Council. It would be wiser, however, to adhere to this rule, for the question of reconstructing the Council will have to be seriously faced ere long, and it will be easier to do that if the Council itself is reduced to a minimum. Certainly no new members should be called to it except on a clear understanding that they would assist io remodel the constitution of the Council so as to bring it more into accordance with the spirit of representative government." The ' New Zealand Herald' describes a sensation on the Auckland wharf recently. Fame blew her trumpet, and at once went forth the sound that the great sea serpent had at last been captured and dragged from his slimy bed. There was a rush of ichthyologists and other 'ologists at once. They thought that at last they had the megalosaurus, or the ichthyosaurus, or the plesiosaurue, or some other sauroid reptile, and could bottle him off for future use. But when they arrived on the spot they found that a fishmonger had merely baited a silver hook and caught a uilver-bellied eel, which had left his pastures in the Orakei lagoon, ; and gone prospecting among the shrimps near the wharf. He wriggled himself into notoriety, for it is now found that he is one of a kind never found on theaa coasts, or at least never captured. An old missionary clergyman passing by the place said that during a residence of forty-two years he had never seen one like it.

The Hon. 0. J. Taylor, whose name was pretty freely mentioned last session in connection with the Piako Swamp, has resigned hia aeat in the Legislative Council, a3 he is about to proceed to England on a ■lengthened visit. •

In the 'New Zealand Times,' of the 7th inst., appears a letter from Mr Stout contradicting, emphatically a rumor alluded to in the leading columns of that paper, tfcat there is some promise or understanding that the Provincialists in Otago are to support denominational schools'.

The performance at the Queen's Theatre this evening will be for tho benefit of Miss Clara Stephenson, and this popular actress is sure to be greeted by a full house. The programmo will consist of "Medea" and " Ixion." In both the comedy and burlesque Miss Stephenson has before appeared to advantage.

The Mr Ranken to whom the papers are devoting a deal of attention just now is described by the C N. Z. Times' as being a mild gentleman of a literary turn, a native of New South Wales, it believes, who has been sojourning in Wellington for some months, and was understood to be cramming for a book on New Zealand, after the style of his " Dominion of Australia." We are glad to learn that tho lad Robert Robertson, apprentice on the Wild Deer, who was drowned on that vessel's passage out from Glasgow, is not, as has been reported, a son of Mr R. Robertson of this city. The latter has a son who is expected out from Home in one of the vessels trading to this port, but on inquiring of Captain Malcolm it Avas ascertained that the deceased's parents reside in Leith, and that he has no relatives here.

An inmate of the Nelson Lunatic Asylum named Charles Kruz, was found suspended to the ventilator in his cell on Wednesdaymorning quite dead. For some days past the deceased had been alternately violent and depressed, and on Monday he refused to take food. When the warder entered the cell, the unfortunate man was found hanging by a rope made from stripes of the counterpane belonging to his bed. An inquest was held, and the verdict was returned—" That deceased committed suicide while in a state of unsound mind."

This morning there was a slight passage-at-anns between Inspector Mallard, who prosecutes in criminal charges at the City Police Court, and Mr Pyke, who occupied the Bench. The latter, in dealing with Campbell's case, suggested to the Inspector the propriety of getting legal advice on "a law point involved, but, the latter, mistaking the tenor of his Worship's remark, retorted indignantly that if he'* was incompetent to conduct his cases he was not competent to occupy bis present position. An explanation from the Bench convinced the Inspector that he bad misconstrued his Worship's observation, which was made in good part. Noticing the manly letter Mr Steward wrote very recently in reference to the Waitakielection, the 'N. Z. Times' says :—Mr Steward is no doubt taking the right position, though he is more high-minded than some of his opponents would be under similar circumstances, and he is entitled to the credit of acting as an honorable and patriotic man, who has the fullest respect for representative institutions and bows to the will of the majority although, in his opinion, the majority is very far wrong. We believe the electors have made a mistake, and that, apart from the main question at'issue, it will be long before they are so ably and indefatigably represented as they have been for several years past by their late member. People of all shades of opinion who know how that member labored to carry every point for the benefit of his district, cannot but regard the treatment he has received from the electors as the blackest ingratitude.

The annual meeting of the Knox Church congregation last night was largely attended, and was presided over by the Rev. Dr Stuart. The report of the session, and deacon's court dealt with a variety of matters, and we make the following extracts from it:—"One hundred and forty new members had been entered on the roll during the year. The subscriptions to the new church have not flowed in so freely as wa3 expected, and consequently somewhat hampered the carrying on of the work. The ordinary receipts for the year amounted to LI, 902 14s lOd, inclusive of the sum of L9O 14s 6d raised by means of the annual soiree, the proceeds of which were devoted to the Church Building Fund. The Sustentation Fund continued to increase, having reached the sum of L6lO 10s Id, being Lll6 2sld in excess of the previous year, and nearly L2OO beyond the amount raised for 1873. The ordinary church door collections also showed an increase." Addresses were delivered by Messrs E. B. Cargill, Scoullar, Street, Hislop, Wright, Stewart, and Torrance.

From the first we have thought that the protest of Mr Mackay against Sir George Grey's return for the Thames cannot hold water. To the precedents already given may be added one furnished by Ireland during the general election of 1874, when Mr Peter Callan, having been elected for Dundalk (the borough), ran in conjunction Avith Mr Sullivan for Louth (the county) against Messrs Fortescue and Dease, whom they defeated. It has been pointed out by a correspondent of the 'N. Z. Herald' that "Callan (the twice-elected) did not for a long period state which constituency he would represent, until he had found what he thought to be—but which the county did not agree with—a suitable successor. He then announced to the Speaker of the House of Commons that he would accept the seat for Dundalk. Although that act complicated matters, not a question was or could be raised. If an objection could have been urged, the Government of Mr Gladstone would have dono their best to oust him from his seat."

At Milton yesterday before Mr Maitlaiid R.M., William Brosman was charged witb attempting to pass a colored sixpence for a half-sovereign at the Commercial Hotel. The principal evidence was given by Johnson, the barman at the Commercial, who said "one Fei'gusson ordered four drinks which were brought in. I stood waiting at the corner of the table for the money. Accused threw a coin down on the table, and threw it across the table to me. I looked at the coin, and it looked like a half-sovereign, but I saw it was Cd. It appeared to have been colored to resemble a half-sovereign, but was not so bright. The Queen's head showed white. I did not lift the coin. Mr Ferguson ordered me to bring in the drinks for the four. There were no others in the room. I pushed the coin back to the prisoner, and said, ' You don't have me; I've seen too many of them.' I have been a barman in the Colony for three years. This is the the third time I've seen this dodge tried on; twice in Tokomairiro. "When I pushed back the coin he put it in his pocket and said nothing. Mr Fergusson then paid me half-a-crown." The prisoner saia he throw down the sixpence in a joking way to pay for his own drink. Mr Maitland considered the barman's examination of the coin was so cursory that no jury would convict, as there was no prima facie of attempt to utter the eoin as a half-sovereign, and dismismissed the information, expressing that as there seemed to be a practice of attempting to paBS sixpences for bftlf-sovereigns, the case would act as a caution,

A good deal of virtuous indignation appears to have been expressed by members of the Jockey Club at their meeting last night at the conduct of the local Press in inserting the late reports as to an attempt to injure Mr Yoend's racehorses. The effect of these would be, it was said, to injure the. funds of the Club, for owners of horses in the northern Provinces would be afraid to enter and risk their valuable animals where-such malicious acts were in vogue. In our opinion the funds of the Club are more likely (if at, all) to suffer by this supposed malicious act having been proved to be merely an accident, for owners will scarcely approve of the carelessness of a Club which allows the approaches to its course to be in so dangerous a state as this bridge appear to have been.. It is amusing to notice how coolly the Club refrained from taking any blame upon itself or its servants. With respect to making the original matter public too soon, we may state that the information furnished to us was vouched for as correct by two gentlemen of as great respectability as any member of the committee of the Jockey Club, besides which the matter was in the hands of the police and therefore the Press waß quite justified in taking cognisance of it.

Bfiesel request* us to draw attention to hjs announcement th*t he is the Bole iinno:ter, dire-t from the manufacturer's Wutka,- of Farina's Eau de Cologne. ' We would direct attention to the sale to. morrow by M'Landfes-, Hepburn, and Co., of the late Mr Hawthorne's library, wh'ch comprises many rare chemical works. A match between an Eleven of the Carisbrook Cricket Club and an eqnal number from the Citizens' Club, which has been pending for t fc e list two months, will be played on the Oval rn Saturday, at half-past two sharp, and as the aides are pretty equally matched, w»ll no doubt be closely contested. Thj names of th 9 teams are as follows :—Carisbrook: F. Fulton, G. Fulton, A McNeil, H. M'Neil, H. Palpy, R. Pike, R. Rolled, B. Niven, B. Austin, A. Morris, and A. Ful'er. Citizens: WdK Pledger, Monanban, Le'tb, Buchanan, Marsden,* MWlillan, Stokes, Stephen, Rowe, Fagan, and Haskell, twelfth man. Players are requested to be on the ground srarp. The match to-morrow on the Oval will be eleven members born in Eng'and and fourteen born elsewhere. England Botambey E Yorkshire; Dixon G., Cheshire; Dod«on T., Yorkshire; Godby H. E., Kent; Godby M., Oxfordshire ; Godby A,( xfordshire; Morsha'l J. C., Middlesex; Rose H., Bucks; guHiffe W. Line shire. Emeigeccy-Oilivier This, Middlesex. The World—Allen J., New Zealand ; Brnwn R., Few Zealand; Clarke, Scotland; Fnlton F., India: Fenwick F., Denmark; Gien. New Zealand; Johnston P., Scotland; Lambert S., Aust alia; M'Farlane T., Ireland; M'Donntll. Ireland; MeaTes W. p., Sydney; Robinson G., India; Rowe T„ Sydney; Tait W., Scotfan-i EmergenciesBuckingham, Australia; Fuller, Australia • Austin, New Zealand; Morrison, Scotland Play will commence at ".15 sharp.