The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4182, 22 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1876.

The Greytown (Wellington) paper declines any longer to chronicle buggy accidents, because doing so casts a reflection on the sobriety of the drivers.

Consequent upon the promotion of Captain Stayely to the position of Major, Lieut. Smith has been elected Captain, Sub-Lieut. Grant Lieutenaut, and petty-officer Jacobs Sub-Lieutenant of the Naval Brigade. The ' Bruce Herald' hears on good authority that the Government will receive a verv large bill for "extras'' in connection with the formation of the Dunedin and Clutha rail>\ ay. The same paper states that the Round Hill tunnel will probably *bo finished in about a month, and in less than a fortnight the rails will be laid through the Glenore tunnel.

Of last evening's performance at the Princess's Theatre we can sav no more than that " Sweethearts " ami "Our Boys " went with undiminished freshness, and were received as entbusiastically as ever. The same prog ammo will be repeated tliis evening, when a late train will be run to the Port. On Tuesday a special train will be run to Mosgiel and intermediate strjftotra, returning after the performance.

At about eight o'clock last evening the firebell rang for a few minutes, and it was found that a one-roomed cottage near Moloney's Hotel, South Dunedin, was on fire. The fire was speedily extinguished.

Professor Salmond last evening delivered another of his series of lectures on "The Christian Evidences " at the Knox Church class-room. There was a numerous attendance of ladies and gentlemen, and the lecturer was well received and attentively listened to.

v The consumption of sugar in New Zealand is largely in excess of that in any European country. While in 1873 the consumption here was 6421b. per head, including the Maoris, and 74£lb excluding them, in Great Britain it was only 381b ; in the United States, 271b ; and in France, 131b.

At the Queen's Theatre last evening " Rob Roy' was repeated with a material change £ th ® .? 8t - M , r T Talbot teeing the part of 7 e TT^i e Nlcol Jame > and Mr Steele that "W-. Th ere was a good house, and Mr lalbot s impersonation of the Bailie was intensely relished. The whole piece went 7/, J,r 8 evenin g there will be a grand double bill, comprising "Richard 111., 7, and part of " The Man of the World."

There being no provision made in Municipal elections in the event of a tie, the contest for the Mayoralty, for which yesterday Messrs Reeves and Woodland polled 842 each, will have to be fought over again. We understand that Saturday next has been ~ ? n &3 nomination day, and that the poll will be taken on the Thursday following. All and sundry ratepayers are eligible for nomination, but we have not heard that any:fresh aspirants are likely to come forward. We have, however, authority for stating that Mr Walter will not again stand, but that he will offer himself as a candidate for election as councillor for High Ward.

Some amusement was created in the Wellington Supreme Court one day last week about a coat which was alleged to have been stolen from Mr Hausman, late of the Europe** H ° tel - Mr and Mr » Hausman both identifaed the coat as one which had been purchased at Mr Lewis Moss's shop some months previously. The man accused of v j g **' who exhiDit ed considerable shrewdness in his defence, requested Mr Hausman to put the coat on, whereupon the laughter in the court became general at the appearance of Mr Hausman, for whom the garment looked much too small. Although Mr Hausman had positively sworn to the coat as his, judging from his gestures he did not know himself in it. The accused was acquitted.

The Auckland 'Star' states that a novel divorce suit has cropped up in the local Supreme Court. The case is Grace v. Graoe I and another. The petitioner is a son of the Kev. Mr Graoe, the well-known missionary, and is by profession a Native interpreter. In a moment of weakness, or perhaps led by his father's teaching to regard his dusky neighbors in the same light as white people, he married a Maori lady, the daughter of a J" j But the lady has not wor thily rewarded the compliment paid to her race, for she has thought proper to indulge in pranks entirely inconsistent with her marriage 0 vows, and has capped her naughty behavior by running away with a gentleman of her own color. It is anticipated that the suit will not be opposed.

Preparations for the approaching shearing season are already being made, and we ('Bruce Herald') observe from some of our country Contemporaries that the annual struggle about wages between shearers and th ir employers is not to be lost sight of. Two station managers in the Oamaru district have thrown down the gauntlet by announcing that shearers may now enroll themselves on the lists of those to be employed at the ensuing clip, intimating at the same time that such as enter their names must be prepared to accept 17s 6d per 100, instead of 20s-the ruling price paid last season. The effort to reduce the prevailing rate of remuneration has, it appears, repeatedly been made of late years, but the shearers, objecting to be themselves shorn, have combined in defeating it. Their numbers, however, are increasing each year, and it remains to be seen whether they will continue to be able to sell their labor at the rates hitherto demanded.

Discipline is now the order of the day in the Public Works Department, a system of arbitrary fines having been introduced for the punishment of errors of omission rr commission. The Wellington 'Argus'says these fines are a terror to copying clerks, but as usual in such systems the application of the principle stops short just where it would really be useful. If some wretched clerk at Ll5O a year is fined 5s for omitting a word in some formal letter, what should an UnderSecretary be fined, who, perhaps, by a less excusable blunder, costs the Colony hundreds or even thousands of pounds. We believe, however, that the fine system only applies to the subordinate officers, and is applied by the superior ones—a very onesided arrangement. In self-protection the officers subject to the new system have started a fine fund, to which all contribute monthly, and out of which all fines inflicted on subscribers are paid. There must be something radically wrong in the departmental management of the Government office where a system of fines is necessary to ensure the correct performance of routine duties.

The Lotteries Bill, passed by the Legislative Council, forbids, under a penalty not exceeding LIOO, any "person, under any pretence, form, denomination, or description whatsoever, to sell or dispose of, or agree or promise, Avhether with or without consideration, t© sell or dispose, any lands or tenements or any estate or interest therein, or any ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to or among any person or persons whomsoever, by means of any game either of skill or chance, or of any other contrivance or device whatsoever, whereby any such lands or tenements or estate or interest therein, or any ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise, shall be sold or disposed of, or divided or allotted to or among any person or persons, by lot tery or chance, whether by the throwing or casting of any dice, or the drawing of any tickets, cards, lots, numbers, or figures, or by means of any wheel, or otherwise howsoever." The only exception is in favor of genuine art unions, held under warrant from the Attorney-General. Church bazaars are thus put an eud to. ' * The Waikato ' Times' gives an account of a rather romantic prelude to a marriage that was just about to be celebrated at the house of Mr James Harper, of Ohaupo. The bridegroom, Mr George Given, of the Pollock Settlement, had arrived at the Ohaupo to enter into the bonds of matrimony with Miss Harper, and the minister and a few friends were present to celebrate the occasion, when an unbidden guest entered, in the person of a detective, and apprehended the bridegro >m on a warrant charging him with cattle-stealing. Mr Given was at once hurried off to Hamilton, and brought before the local magistrate, and. there entered into bail to appear at Waiuku to answer the charge. returning to the house of the bride's father the marriage was celebrated, and we trust that the episode which left the charming bride lonely at the altar for a few hours, will be the only contretemps that may mar their future happiness. Mr Given has since been to town, and we hear has collected suffiojient evidence to the case to be one of

mistaken indentity. Mr Hesketh has been retained by the defendant and the case will come before the Waiuku Bench on the 6th pros.

Mr r. M Wilkinson is a candidate to represent Leith Ward in the City Counol. ¥ Mr Barnard ißaacs announces himself as a oardlclate for the Councillorship of High Mr John Grant will offer himself for reelection as a representative of the Leith Ward in the City Council. sThe lodge Pioneer of Dunedin, 1.0. G.T., will met on Tuesday evening next. Business: Eltctnn of officers. !F A mmo ?,? d , rneo!i "* of the Leith Lodge, o it i;i wIU be held m the new Oddfellows' Hail, Albany street, on Monday evening at f.OVa The second of the Beries of lectures in connection with the Dunedin Athenaeum will be delivered in the Athenseum Hall on Wednesday evening next, at 8 o'clock, by Mr John Bathgate, on " Old Dunedin, or Sketches of Edinburgh Past and Present" ■The residents of Green Tsland, Mosgiel, *c will have an opportunity of attending the Prince s's Theatre on I uesday next, arrangements having been made to run a special train on that evening, leaving Mosgiel at 7.20, and returning from Dunedin at 11.30.

The second annual tea meeting of the flune- £™ l Young Men's Christian Association is to be held in the Temperance Hall on Monday e -ening. Not the least interesting part of the service will be the sac-ed mußic by the choir connected with the Queen's Theatre Sabba hj evening services. The organ wil be presided over by Mr Little.