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Evening Star, Issue 4264, 26 October 1876, Page 2

A memorial to the Mayor of Invercargill to proclaim a general holiday on the Abolition of the Provinces coming into force is receiving numerous signatures. fc'sAt the gardeners' meeting, Mr J. Wilson, of the North east Valley, «btained the tirst prize for the best twelve pansies, Mr Begg, Water of Leith, being second. The prize for the best rose fell to Mr H. M. West, for a specimen of the "Marie van Honte." At the Res : deut Magistrate's Court, Port Chalmers, this morning, George J-'itzgomld ■was lined 40s, io. aefuulb three dajs' imprisonment, with hard labor, for drunkenness, it being his third offence. John Dale, for a simihu" offence) wa» fined 20a, with the usual alttrn»t*Tß,

The special j,urors in the case of M'Rae v. Campbell do not require to attend till eleven o'clock tc-morrow.

The Press Club's meeting, to consider the advisability of winding it up, had been further adjourned till Saturdry, in order to allow of a full attendance of members. Only seven persons were present last night. There is great excitement at Waipori about the discovery at the Nil Desperandum claim. The * Times' adds that the residents there have got quartz on the brain, and are thinking of re-naming the township " Quartzopolis."

Canterbury must indefld be prolific soil for the growth of journals, for we notice that Ashburton is to have its representative. Mr Mahony, late manager of a, paper at Kaiapoi, is announced as about to start an organ on half of the Ashburtonians.

Hospital Sunday was only partially observed in Invercargill, owing to the usual reminders not having been sent out to the clergymen till about the eleventh hour. The collections in the churches, at which special services were held, amounted to LSO.

The sitting of the Resident Magistrate's I Court this morning only occupied a few minuteß. Paxton v. Millar was a claim of LlO fora dog illegally detained. Atthe closeof the case for the prosecution the further hearing was adjourned for a week to enable a necessary witness for the defente to be in attendance. M. William Campbell v. M. W. Hawkins, a claim of LBO 16a Bd, heard last week, plaintiff was nonsuited At the Nevis, which some time since carried a vote of confidence in Mr Pyke, a memorial expressive of a continuance of that confidence has been got up. The ' Cromwell Argus ' informs us that it has received fiftyfive signatures—a large number, considering the population at Nevis is widely scattered, and the acquisition of signatures entails much trouble and loss of time. The expression may therefore be accepted as au almost unanimous one in favor of Mr Pyke, so far as the Nevis division is concerned. The cause of the testimonial being got up is thus alluded to in a letter from Mr A. Taylor, secretary to the meeting:—"At a meeting held on the Nevis, a vote of confidence in Mr Pyke was passed. As it has been termed a hole-and-corner meeting by some parties on the Nevis, and the resolution then carried otherwise cavilled at, it has been resolved to test the feelings of the district by getting those in favor of Mr Pyke's conduct to sign the memorial."

In an article on peripatetic Parliaments the ' Southland Times' expresses its affectnn for Dunedin thiswise:—"Dunedin represents nothing but Dunedin and the district immediately surrounding that city. It has long lived on the plunder of the country districts, aud there is no love lost on either side between the two." Then follows a laudation of InvercarguTs claims to be regarded favorably as the locale for Parliament: —"lf it is necessary that the seat of Government, or the session of Parliament should be transferred to some place in Otago, so that the people might become acquainted with the geography, manners, and customs of the most important provincial district in New Zealand, Invercargill would be the most suitable place. It represents Otago, which Dunedin does not. We are not bigoted, however, in favor of our own town, though it is a thriving and increasing one, has a fine climate, and excellent soil, and will probably in a few years be the capital of the South of New Zealand. Perhaps we might suggest, as a provisional compromise which ought to suit all parties concerned, that while the seat of Government should remain for a time at Wellington, we should . have an itinerant Parliament Bitting in sucI cessive years at the most important places l in the Colony, the various ports at which the mail steamers call, starting with Invercargill in 1877, and working up to Auckland in seven or eight years hence."

A meeting of shareholders in the New Zealand Titanic Steel and Iron Co. will be held at \'< atson's to-morrow eveuing at eight o'clock. By announcement in our advertising columns it will be seen that a meeting of the council of the Otago Hifle Association will be held at Mr James's office to-morrow evening, at 8 p.m. The annual meeting of the Taieri Caledonian Society will be hell in the JJrill-shed, Mosgiel. on : uesday, the 31stinst.. when the report, &c, will be presented and the election of officers take place.