NEWS OF THE DAY

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 705, 22 September 1876, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY

The San Francisco Mail. —The outward mail, consisting of eighteen bags, was sent in the City of Sydney yesterday. HA.C.B. Society. —An extraordinary meeting of the above society will be held on Thursday, September 28th, at the Lodge* room, at half-oast seven. Presbyterian. — A meeting of the residents in Papanui and surrounding districts will be held this evening, at the Papanui Library, at seven o’clock, to endeavor to establish Sunday services in the district, in connection with the Presbyterian Church. Catholic Church, —A telegram has just been received from the Most Kev Dr Kedwood, Bishop of Wellington, notifying that on account of the death of Father Petit jean, parish priest at the Cathedral, he is unavoidably prevented from coming on Sunday next to bless the Catholic Church, Barbadoes sireet.

Fish Culture.— The mail steamer City of Sydney, which left Lyttelton yesterday, took with her 400 young trout for distribution in the Wanganui streams. On the previous day Mr Redwood, who left by the Taupo, took with him 200 for Picton. The fish were supplied from the establishment of Mr Johnson. Opawa. Found Drowned. The man found drowned in the river yesterday near the Colombo bridge was subsequently identified as a baker named John Johnston, who had been missing since the 11th instant. An inquest was held this afternoon at the Hospital, and a verdict of “ Found Drowned” returned.

Loss OF the Agnes. — A few days ago, on the strength of a private telegram received by a gentleman in Christchurch from Auckland, we stated that the schooner Agnes bad never reached the Chathams, and that she must therefore have been lost with all on board. The telegram was as follows : “H. M. Nymphe spoke Sea Bird off Coast. No news Agnes, Chathams.” We are very much pleased to learn that although the Agnes has been wrecked, the passengers and crew were saved, the Sea Bird having arrived in Auckland with the welcome news of their safety. We have no particulars of the wr< ck. The Agent-Generalship. —The Melbourne Argus makes the following remarks on the appointment of Sir J. Vogel as AgentGeneral: —“It was generally anticipated when Sir Julius Vogel returned from Europe that his stay in New Zealand would not be of any long duration, and that so soon as he had put the finishing stroke in the colony to the business on which he had proceeded to the mother country, he would take up his abode in England. Late telegrams from Wellington apprise us that the Ministry of which he was so prominent a member, has formally resigned, with a view to its reconstruction. and that its composition will be unchanged, excepting that the office which he has vacated, in order to go home, will be filled up by another gentleman. Dr Featherstone's death having left the Agency-General in England open, it seems highly probable that it has been offered to Sir Julius Vogel by his late colleagues, or selected by him self—it is not very material which. His qualifications for the appointment are such as will not be disputed, and the restless energy of his character will cause him to keep the colony he will represent continually before the eyes of the English public. He has founded a policy in New Zealand which is daring to the verge of audacity, and for the success of which he will be necessarily anxious. It can only be secured, as it ap pears to us, by a continuous influx of immigrants to that country of the best stamp, and by the local Government offering every facility for their prompt settlement on the land, or ,or their absorption into other channels of employment, so that the productive powers of the colony may be adequate to the strain imposed upon them by its heavy indebtedness. This, we may fairly assume, it will be Sir Julius Vogel’s unremitting effort to promote, and the functions of the AgentGeneral of New Zealand in London promise to present a striking contrast to those fulfilled by the representative of another colony we could name.”

Communist Prisoners,—“ A few (Jays ago,” writes the Sydney Morning Herald, of August 28th, “we üblished a telegram from our telegraphic agent in Melbourne, to the effect that the Colonial Secretary hid sent a telegram to the Victorian Government sta iug that he had learned that it was the intention of the French Government to release 600 Communist prisoners from New Caledonia, andsuggestinga joint protest from all the colonies. The publication of this telegram in Sydney, ns we subsequently announced, caused some surprise in official circles, inasmuch as the telegrams from Mr Robertson were marked 1 private and confi dential.’ We have ascertained, upon inquiry the following particulars; —M. Simon, French Consul, waited upon his Excellency the Governor and informed him that the French Government would shortly have under consideration a proposal to grant free pardons to about 600 Communists. M. Simon added, however, that he felt sure the French Government would be unwilling to do anything distasteful to the Government of this colony, and would, if such a desire were expressed, take measures to divert the pardoned men from Australia. His Excellency remitted the question to the consideration of the Cabinet, and the Government resolved, after consultation, to make the other colonies aware of the proposal, with a view to joint representation to the French authorities. It was expected that upon a question of such importance secrecy would have been observed. But to insure it the telegrams sent by Mr Robertson were marked ‘ private and confidential.’ These three words, by an unfortunate inadvertence on the part of the transmitting clerk in the Sydney office, were omitted, and this officer has, we understand, been disrated in consequence.”