NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1308, 29 May 1878, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Musical Festival. — A musical festival will bo given in the Durham sti'eet Wesleyan Church on Thursday evening. The Easby. —This vessel arrived in Wellington to-day. She was detained by strong easterly winds. Vessel Missing. —We learn from Mr Aikman that the Awarua, with timber, left Invercargill for Dyttelton on May Gth, and has not since been heard of. It is feared that she is lost. Drainage Rate. —The Drainage Board announce a rate of old in the £ for the period ending 31st December, and payable on the 11th June. The rate book is open for inspection at the Board’s offices, Hereford street. Funeral or Mr Hobbs. —The respect felt for the late Mr Hobbs was testified by the large attendance at his funeral, which took place yesterday afternoon. Upwards of a hundred mourners followed his remains to the Church of England cemetery. Death in the Asylum.— A patient, named Charles Edward St. John, died yesterday at the Sunnyside lunatic asylu m. An inquest was to be held there this afternoon at 3 o’clock. Deceased, who is well known at Akaroa, was a retired naval officer, and suffered from th« effects of a sunstroke received in India.

Canteebuet Bush Mission.— The annual meeting of subscribers to the Canterbury Bush Mission was to have been held last night, in the rooms of the Young Men’s Christian Association. At the hour appointed, however, not half-a-dozen persons wore present, and the meeting therefore lapsed. Another will be called for an early date, when it is hoped that those interested in the work will attend.

Rewi and the Newspapers. —Up to the present time the Hon. Native Minister has exhibited singular backwardness in complying with the request of Rewi, supposed to have reference to a telegram in the Auckland “ Herald,” that he would “make right those words which are true, and j contradict those words which are untrue.” Some contemporaries think that this dilatoriness exhibits a remarkable absence of zeal for the truth in Mr Sheehan.

Visit of the Govebnoe.— The following telegram was received from Wellington yesterday by the Mayor of Lyttelton: —“ lam directed to inform your Worship that his Excellency the Governor proposes paying a semiofficial visit to Christchurch, and will land at Lyttelton about II o’clock on Friday morning, May 31st. (Signed) Feed. Le Patoueel, Private Secretary. The Mayor called a special meeting of the Council last night to take the above into consideration. Dinnee. —A dinner to celebrate the opening of the Cafe Franoais under the management of M. Bourgeois, took place last evening in the cafe, Cashel street. The guests were twenty-five in number, and the dinner was served in excellent style. M. Bourgeois occupied the chair, and the whole proceedings were marked with much conviviality. The toasts of the English and French nations were proposed and those of “Literature,” coupled with the Press and the Canterbury College, to which Messrs Atack, Smith, Hart, Pitchett, Hill, and Thornton responded. The other toasts proposed were the “Ladies,” to which Mr Davis responded ; “ Success to the Cafe Erancais and the art of music,” to which Herr Lund responded. The evening was spent most pleasantly throughout.

Sales of Peopeety. —Mr Charles Clark placed by private treaty yesterday, May 28th, his freehold block of unimproved land on the Waipara, containing 3400 acres for £16,225 cash. Mr Clark also held a sale by auction in his rooms, Hereford street, yesterday, of town and suburban land, at which there was a numerous attendance, and the following business done The sections adjoining the Plough Inn, Riccarton, were first offered, and after a very keen competition were placed as follows :—3 sections, fronting the West town belt, containing about 12 perches, brought £95 each j 3 sections fronting the Riccarton road, containing about 22 perches, at £lls each, and 4 sections adjoining, £IOO each. The whole of the remaining 26 back sections found purchasers, the smaller allotments at £SO each, and the larger ones at from £7O up to £92. A quarter of an acre of land and cottage in Gloucester street east, near the Town belt, sold for £420 in cash. One building allotment at Avonside xff 35 perches, sold for £240 ; another plot, containing 27 perches, £2OO. The house and land at Opawa not reaching the owner’s limit was withdrawn.

The Bishop of Newcastle’s (Will.— Considerable attention has been attracted to the statement we made (observes the Sydney “ Evening News”), to the effect that his lordship thej Bishop of Newcastle (Dr. Tyrrell) had made a will leaving the bulk of his property, valued at £250,000, to the diocese of Newcastle. The following is the most important portion of the statement in the address of his lordship, which was read at the Church of England Synod, Newcastle. We regret to hear that Dr. Tyrrell is not in good health, or he would have read the opening address himself. The following are the amounts required »nd the various funds which are to be endowedl, the Bishop’s income of £I2OO a year, £30,000; 2 and 3,_ the stipends of dignitaries (one archdeacon £SOOO, three canons and rural deans £6000), £11,000; 4, clergy stipends, £IOO,OOO ; 5, superannuated clergy, £IO,OOO ; 6, fund sick clergy, £5000; 7, new clergy, £25,000; 8, the training of future clergy, £25,000; 9, the religious education of the young, £44,000 j in all, £250,000. Inquest at Ashbueton. —An inquest on the body of a man found on the shore at Longbeach, was held at the Ashburton Hotel, on Tuesday, 28th, before Dr. Trevor, and a jury of whom Mr Donald Williamson was foreman. The jury having viewed the body, Sergeant Felton ‘ stated that from information received, he went in company with Constable Darcy, on the 27th iust., to the Ninety Mile Beach, and about a mile north of Longbeach station he found the body at high watermark, lying face downwards. He had it removed to Ashburton. There were no marks on the body, or clothing by which deceased could be identified. The body had, in his opinion, been in the water about three weeks. About a fortnight ago it was reported to the police that a small vessel was seen off Longbeach bottom up. It was evident the body had been washed up by the sea. The age of the man would be twenty-six or twenty-eight years ; height, about sft. Sin.; medium build. Constable Darcy gave corroborative evidence. The jury returned a verdict of “Found dead.”

Teachees’ Appointments. —The Otago Education Board and the Dunedin School Committee have come into collision on the subject of teachers’ appointments. The cause of the difference is explained in the following extract from the “ Star ” of Saturday The Education Board are without doubt determined to take the full benefit of the Act so far as their own privileges and patronage are concerned, and by their adoption of the reports of the Appointments and Finance Committees have expressed their determination that the School Committees shall have •no voice whatever in the appointment of teachers or in the arrangement of the scale of the staff in the schools presumed to bo under their management. We do not commit ourselves to the opinion that the proposed system of promotion and location of teachers in accordance with merit and length of service is not in principle correct so far, at all events, as merit is concerned; but the principle might well have been adopted without altogether ignoring the School Committees and passing over as a dead letter the 45th section of the Act, which, in any reasonable manner interpreted, gives, if not a power of absolute veto, at least what we may term commendatory jurisdiction to the committees. They are to recommend, and consequently can object; and we should like to know the meaning of such authority being vested in them if its exercise is -to be entirely excluded by the action of the Board.

The Heie-Appaeent op Maoeidoit The following is from the “ Auckland Star”: — Tu Tawhiao has returned to Alexandra, after having been feted by Europeans at Te Awamutu, Hamilton, and elsewhere. We learn that ho has made a most favourable impression in all quarters. He has a most prepossessing appearance, is tall, graceful, with well formed features, and that light complexion which is often met with amongst blue-blooded Maori rangitiras. He wears a slight moustache and beard, vulgarly termed a “ goatee,” and has large dark expressive .eyes. Tu Tawhiao, it should be mentioned, is not tatooed. He generally dresses well, and in European attire, looking every inch a gentleman. At the ball at Hamilton he appeared in orthodox black, and in all other respects was appropriately got up for the occasion. He evinced some shyness at first, and appeared to have considerable misgivings as to his Terpsicliorean accomplishments, but this ■was overcome, and he took his place in a “ set” with a young pakeha lady as his vis-a-vis. It is reported— but we do not vouch for the truth of the report —that both at Te Awamutu and Hamilton the young ladies vied with each other in their anxiety to dance with “the prince.” We hope none of our fair readers will be smitten from a perusal of the foregoing description of this young gentleman. A few wrecks in a Maori whare, with such fare as dried shark and potatoes, would soon rub off the romance even of being a princess ; and moreover we would warn all and sundry that polygamy is one of the royal institutions of Tawhiao’s Court, The King himself is very much married—in fact he has three wives, while several other Maori ladies are, in the language of Utah, “ sealed unto him,”

Wesleyan Chukch, Waltham. —The anniversary services of this church were held on Sunday, May 19ch, when two sermons were preached by Revs. B. Dewsbury and J. Luxford. The usual soiree was held on the Queen’s Birthday. Tea was served at 5 p.m., and followed by a public meeting. The church was crowded. The Rev. J. S. Smalley occupied the chair, and gave a brief account of tho progress of the church. ] t had cost about £7OO, and an effort was to be made that night to extinguish the debt remaining, which amounted to about £2O, After addresses by Revs. Keast, Luxford, Smith, and others, a collection was made, which still left a few pounds of debt. The collectors were then sent round a second time and the total amount required was at once subscribed, enabling the chairman to pronounce, amid applause, the church to he absolutely free of liability. Several of Sankey’s solos were sung by the Colombo road choir during the proceedings, which were throughout of an unusually interesting character. Land Tax in Yictoeia.— On a recent occasion (says the Melbourne “Argus”), we published the complete returns to date of the classification of estates under the Land Tax Act. Half the acreage which it is estimated will come under the operation of the tax has been dealt with, and the 3,046,347 acres now classified yield a revenue of £67,614. The total return indicated by these figures is £135,000 ; but, on the one hand, the richest parts of the colony have been dealt with, and, on the other, the Government, are bringing pressure to bear to secure higher valuations. In some instances the department has refused to accept the valuation of its own officers, and has sent new men to make a re-classification, and this very practical hint is not likely to be lost sight of in the future. So far, the average charge is 5d per acre, which is something between the all-round 6d per acre proposed by the Kerferd-Service Government and the 7\ per cent, on the annual value submitted by Sir James McCulloch. The lOd per acre on which Mr Berry calculated is, up to date, not realised. , The Napier Haebob. —The harbor works at Napier appear to have been scare'ly a success. The “ Telegraph ” of a late date says:—“ Something will have to be done very shortly to improve the inner harbor, so as to give increased shipping accommodation. The money that has been expended in improvements has been laid out with a view to allow vessels to enter the harbor, and now the entrance is infinitely superior to the interior. While the water on the old bar has been steadily increasing in depth, that alongside the breastwork has been decreasing, so that it would appear the time is not far distant when there will be plenty of water for a ship to come inside, bub not enough for it to moor to a wharf. Perhaps this silting up by the breastwork is due to the check the current receives by vessels being berthed alongside, and if this is the case it will be difficult to find any other remedy but to dredge. In the meantime, however, extra accommodation is urgently needed, and this might be supplied if the silted-up “Iron Pot” could he utilised. It is very evident that a great deal more money has yet to be spent, before the full advantage of that which has already been expended can be realised. Port Ahuriri is certainly a most troublesome subject to deal with; at one time our harbor was all bottle and no neck, and now it is rapidly becoming all neck and no bottle.” The Teanck Humbug Walkee. Walker, the trance medium, was lately performing at Hamilton, a Victorian up-country town, and the local paper is full of letters discussing his merits or demerits, the imposition or genuineness of his profession, Ac. The “ trance medium ” was invited to lecture at Hamilton, and in obedience to the request he journeyed thither, and took up his abode under the roof of Dr. Rohner, a noted Spiritualist of the district. On the evening following his arrival a private seance was held, and Walker was introduced to the ladies and gentlemen present by his host with the following significant words : —“ I have thoroughly gauged the depths of Mr Walker’s mind, and can assure you that he displays the most lamentable ignorance on subjects that every schoolboy ought to be acquainted with.” During one of the trance discourses Walker used the words “ supralapsamnism ” and “ infralapsarianism,” and thereupon the astute doctor asked for their meanings. The Rev, Mr Stewart, whose medium Walker professed to be, evaded the question, and failed to answer it. Dr. Rohner, after putting further tests to Walker, wrote to the Press, asserting that he was not a trance medium, but “ a designing swindler and imposter of the deepest dye.” The human vehicle for the expression of the Rev. Mr Stewart’s post mortem views on things mundane and subjects metaphysical has shaken the dust of Hamilton from off the soles of his feet, and taken his departure for “ fresh fields and pastures new.” Railway Management in the Noeth. —Our Auckland contemporary writing disconsolately of the management of the Waikato Railway says:—It is a long time since the locomotive was taken into the Waikato district, —a district where systematic farming is more extensively carried on than in any other part of this province. The cattle raised there, of course, find their way principally to the Auckland market. Yet the railway authorities have never made arrangements for conveying cattle on the railway at prices which the settlers are able to pay. Sheep, cattle, and horses are still sent down from the Waikato in droves, just as they were years before the railway was thought of. This is not very creditable to the foresight or enterprise of the Government. Over ten thousand sheep could bo yearly transported on the railway if the Government desired to obtain that trade. Besides this item of traffic, there are large droves of cattle brought down every week or so, and it is said there are no cattle trucks to contain them, even if the Government had made terms for carrying them. But despite the fact that a railway is daily running between Waikato and Auckland, the farmers find it to their interest to send their cattle and sheep by drovers along the ordinary road, preferring to bear the cost and delay by such a mode of conveyance, and the possible loss of animals, and with the certainty of a lowered condition which such a system entails, rather than pay the enormous rates which are charged for transit by railway. The Waikato settlers suffer another grievance in regard to this. Prom Mercer to Ngaruawahia the railway runs nearly parallel with the Waikato road. At several points on the line there is not room for the cattle to spread over the country when met by a train rounding some of the curves going South. At such places the frightened cattle turn, and rush back the way they came. On several occasions the men in charge of the cattle have bad the utmost difficulty to escape with their lives, and in some instances the horses they rode have been materially injured. The Yolunteee Land Sceip Difficulty. from an Auckland paper, that the polony has not yet heard the last of the Volunteer Land Scrip A meeting of the Volunteers injured by the repeal of the Volunteer Land Act, 1865, was held at the Thames on Saturday evening. Captain Murray, by request, occupied t.he chair, and stated that the Volunteer Act, IM*>, was repealed in 1876, but. the repeal took effect fro;n 1873, so that all Volunteers who joined, between the years 1873 and 1876, expecting in good faith to obtain their land scrip, were by this retrospective action of the Repeal Act debarred from land scrip, and he considered there was good ground for complumt. It bad always been a hardship on the Thames Volunteers, who had received their land scrip, that there was no land in the district on which it could be exercised, and the consequence was that the scrip was sold to speculators, often at one-third its value. Major Cooper, Captain Macdonald, and himsell had tried hard to get this remedied, both by the late Superintendent and the General Government, but without success. Lieutenant Farrell proposed —“That the officers commanding corps be asked to form a committee, and that they request their respective companies to appoint one member to assist them to draw up a petition embodying their grievances for presentation to the House of Assembly through the proper channel, and that the said petition be laid an adjourned meeting for approval on this night three weeks.” This was seconded by Mr Brownlee, aud carried.

A Caution to Chairmen. —A Northern paper states that Major Clair, Chairman of the Cambridge District Board in Auckland, has been fined 40s and costs for neglecting to furnish the County Council with particulars as to the amount of dog tax collected in Ins district. _ _ The Member fob Grey valley. — Mr Reeves, the new member for Grey Valley, does not believe in secular education. At one of his recent meetings he said, “I am a denominationalist; I have lost some, and will perhaps lose more, friends on this account, but if I were to lose the election twenty times over I wonld stick to my colors.” 1 Sly Grog Shanties at Westport old friend is as much disgusted with the leniency of the Westport magistrates as some Canterbury officers are with the encouraging fines inflicted on the owners of stray cattle here. A West Coast paper says“ Two informers named Hoskins and Vivian, have been making things unpleasant for sly grog sellers in Westport and the neghbourhood. The presiding magistrate, Mr Broad, inflicted fines varying from £1 to £5 only, notwithstanding a remark by Inspector Feast that at Kumara the penalty was fixed at £30.” Christchurch Horticultural Society, —A meeting of the committee was held at Radcliffe’s Hotel last evening, the president (Mr E. C. J. Stevens) in the chair. The other members present were Messrs S. Manning, C. Ever, J. Guntrip, E. W. Fereday, G. A. Reade, T. Allen, W. Gimblett, T. Turner, F, Harvey, F. Jones, and the secretary. It was resolved that the president, treasurer, and secretary be a sub-committee to draw up the schedule for the coming season, and that the ordinary committee meetings bo held on the first Tuesday in every month. The secretary was instructed to get early replies from members and others who were likely to be donors of extra prizes, in order to have the same inserted in the new schedules.

Commercial Treaties. —The Melbourne “ Argus” says : —A despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonics to his Excellency the Governor, enclosing a draft article applying commercial treaties to British colonics and foreign possessions, has been published in the “ Government Gazette.” The article has been approved of for insertion in future treaties of commerce concluded between Great Britain and other powers. The stipulations of the present treaty can be made applicable to any colony or foreign possession of either of the two high contracting parties, even if not included in the original treaty, upon the conclusion of a supplementary convention to that effect. The Coach Accident at the Horse Ranges. —Mr Walter Bishop, one of the passengers who were in the coach which met with the accident last week at the Horse Ranges, arrived in town yesterday. Mr Bishop was on the top of the coach when the accident occurred, and was thrown so violently from it that he was rendered insensible for some hours. The injuries he sustained were a severe scratch on his forehead and a sprained ankle. He is rapidly recovering from these, but it is a matter of surprise how he escaped so well under the circumstances. The driver Goddard is still suffering severely from the injuries received at the time of the accident. A New Minister of Public Works. — Under this heading the “ New Zealand Times” publishes the following telegram from Gisborne, dated May 23rd There is great excitement here over the utterances of that eminent barrister, W. L. Rees. He has publicly announced that if the report of Sir John Goode is favorable for a breakwater, and cost does not exceed £200,000, he will have it constructed within six months ; he has also assured the public that he will have a railway from the breakwater up the north side of the river through to Opotiki. Auckland and the University.— The interests of the North Island (says the “New Zealand Herald”) do not appear to have been attended-to in connection with the council of the University of New Zealand. At the session before last it was found that six seats were vacant from non-attendance, and these were all, we believe, filled up by gentlemen from Otago. At last session it was found that several seats had been vacated from non-attendance. We understand that the Premier has directed that these vacancies shall not be filled up until the Native Minister and himself return to Wellington, with the view of securing a fair representation of the North Island.

Gold in the North.— -The “ Napier Telegraph” of the 15th has the following;— “We were shown to-day sdwts. of a clean sample of alluvial gold, purchased by Messrs Jensen and Co., jewellers, Emerson street, from a German working man, who stated that it was the result of prospecting at the foot of the Ruahine ranges, Ruataniwha plains. The German did not mention the locality, but his statement created the impression that it had taken a considerable time and much fossicking to collect what he had got. He, however, stated that he could not find gold in such quantities as to pay for the labor of search. It is well known that gold is to be found in the bed of the Tuki Tuki river, and some few years ago Mr John Harding, of Mount Vernon, picked up a quartz pebble containing a small nugget of the precious metal. At different times prospecting parties have gone up the rivers leading from the Ruahine ranges, but beyond finding the ‘ color’ nothing satisfactory has resulted.” The Impounded Land Fund. —There are a good many queer rumors (says the “Timaru Herald ”) flying about on the subject of the non-payment of the balance of the Canterbury land fund. Some of them are too absurd to be worth notice, but others have a semblance of probability. One, which has been somewhat positively communicated to us from more than one quarter, is that the Government have bo made up the accounts as to bring Canterbury in, not a creditor by three or four hundred thousand pounds, but a debtor to the the amount of forty thousand pounds. This, we are told, is done by setting the hundred thousand pounds for the Lyttelton Harbor Works, a huge sum for arrears of survey, and a number of other items, against the amount due from land fund. Luckily, these are matters which are dealt with by law, and do not depend for their adjustment on any Treasury* juggling. We have already shown in a previous article that the balance of land fund accrued prior to the 31st December last, gmd' payable within ninety days of that date, was a nett balance, not liable to any deductions whatever. The twenty per cent, of the land revenue accrued since thatdate, was also made by law a nett payment, finder no pretence therefore, can these moneys be lawfully absorbed into general revenue, or expended on general purposes. They belong absolutely to the local bodies in Canterbury, for expenditure by them on local services ; and the detention of them by the Government cannot be justified either by law or expediency.