DUNEDIN.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 655, 31 March 1870, Page 4

DUNEDIN.

(FltOM OUIt OV'X (#KKESPOXDENT.) March 19. The five men referred to in my last as having arrived fr-um Western Australia per the barque; Nightingale, and apprehended by the police as illegally at large, Avere brought 'before the Magistrate and discharged after enquiry, there not being enough evidence to support the charge. Oa Tuesday and Wednesday of this week a charge against the police at Port Chalmers was investigated by the Bench there. Ik appeared that a new arrival, named Walter Scott, ha* l been rather {lemuustrative and noisy, for- which he wa3 checked by one of the waterrpojico, not; in uniform. Not recognising the policeman in the sailor-looking man before him, Scott retaliated, and tuld him to go to a place whgre the temperature) is supposed to be rather lnare than tropical, On this the constable seizes, the man and a struggle commenced, in which both pame to the ground, the constable's, baton being drawn and us.cd freely by' both, Other constables came on the scene, and a regular melee ensued, Scott resisting apprehension with all his pqwor. The sergeant in charge (Mallard) then came to the assistance «r the others, and put Ihe handcuffs on. Scott still continued to struggle violently, and during this he was, there can be no doubt, very much ill-used, so. much, so as to excite the sympathy of the crowd, who got quite indignant against the police, The man was ultimately carried off to the lock-up, aud brought before the Magistrate next day, wheu the cage was postponed to allow of the other charge being brought on, and also that counsel might be. engaged. So on Tuesday Mr Turton appeared for Scott, and Mr Haggit| for the police. The trial lasted two clays, and after a long and patient investigation the Bench found the case against two of the police proved, and fined Mallard L 5, and Sullivan L,2, both with, costs. Scott then fined for being drunk and disorderly.. The case created great excitement in Port Chalmers, there being a feeling prevalent that the police there have been rather ofiieiqus, of late. . The Sftsreme Ouurt has lieen engaged in the trial of jury cases, but none of them are of , much importance, and no points of public interest have been brought uufc. The competition f >r the honor of being representati\ es. in th j approaching Colonial Prige Firing is now concluded, aad has resulted in the following nine mm being returned for Otago s— lst District— Lieut. Goldie, P.Q.N.8., 44 ; Vol. Robertson, No. % 44 ; Sergt. Wilson, No. 2, 43. Sad District— Corp. M'Grogor, No. 1, 50; P. Q. Grant, D.N.8., 47 ; Corp, Treseder, No. 1, 46. 3rd District— Corp. Bucliana;n, West Taieri, 42; Sergfc. Living ton, Oamaru', 41 ; Vol. Q. L. Gillies, Bruce, 40. It will be observed that neither of the former champions figure in the. ahove list, and that mo3t of the njen ai'e new to the colonia.l competition ; it is, therefore, seeing that some <xf the other districts have mado a.3 good. acore3 as the above, not an unlikely thing tha.t the belt may not be retained in Qta.ro for this year, A determined struggle will he made for the coveted honors by some of the rv.-pre3.eu-tative3 of Northern districts. A meeting of the Qtago Institute was, held on Tuesday iu'ght iv the xjsqal room in the Provincial Buildings. There was a good attendance. A very interesting paper was read, by Mr D, Brent, on the Modern Slethods of Qaometrv. in which jie advocated the, U3e of certain improvements, in teaching the s,cien.ce of u^athejnatics, iv preference to continuing the yse of Euclid, The opinions, advanced in the essay were fully criticised by some of the members present, A paper an. the Moon and the Weather was then read by Mr *f, SL Webb, an.d a statement was Wiade by the Chairman (Mr Eccles) that it had been discovered in some old Arabic author that the existence of New Zealand waskrnown to the Arabs son^e four- or five hundred years ago, After some other business the meeting acijqurned, tq meet again in a month. St Patrick s. Day was Q.bs.erved here in the usu,al way. A band, playing the appropriate national aira, para.ded the streets till nearly two in the morning, and again for some hours in the evening, accoinpanieJ by a niotley crowd. If we have had to can\pla,in of there being no amusements in the town o| late, that complaint has this week been obviated, for- in addition to the <f - inimitable " Thatcher, we have now the Cynodrome (an exhibition of eduqate.d ;nonJceys), and Messrs Bird, Blow, and Willis' American Circus. The latter appeared in the Princess Theatre on W«4nesdciy evening, and has. bften pretty well. patronised'; while the dogs and njobkeya a.re located qu a hit of waste land in Liverpool street. On the fi.rst night of opening (Monday) there was sqch a. crush that the whole affair broke d.own, though luckily without any personal damage, and every night since then the place has been well filled. Fine weather all week.