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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 894, 16 December 1870, Page 2

The hon. the Native and Defence Minister returned to Wellington from Wanganui in the steamer of the same name on the 9th inst. The total amount of subscriptions received in Canterbury in aid of the sufferers by the late fire at Lyttelton, up to the 10th instant, was <£1,712 16s 91. At Dunedin a few days ago a deputation from the Chambers of Commerce waited on the hon. the Postmaster-Gene-ral, urging upon that gentleman the necessity of subsidising the Australian steamers for the Suez sen ice. Mr Vogel's reply was that ,£250 would be paid for the next mail, but that the Suez line would not be subsidised again. In a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr H. Hezekiah Hall writes : " I learn from a paragraph in your second elition of Thursday that Webb and Holiday and Brenham have formed a coalitioa to run a line of steamers to Australia, and that, in the event of their terms not being complied with, no connection will be formed with my line at Honolulu. In reply, I beg to state that my advices from San Francisco make no mention whatever of any such arrangement, nor can I believe it exists. I hold my contract from the 'New Zealand Government for a period of 4 years, and I also hold a contract from Messrs Holliday and Brenham that they will carry out so much of it as relates to the service between Honolulu and San Francisco, Both documents are open for your inspection." Who is entitled to the rank of an " Esquire ? " This subject came incidentally before the notice of the District Judge, when the expenses to be allowed were being assessed in the case of the Superintendent v. the Alburnia Goldmining Company—the winning side contending that one of the wituesses being an *♦ Esquire," was entitled to costs iu accordance with that designation. Mr Beckham remarked that ic was exceedingly difficult in this Colony to tell who were and who were not Esquires; nearly everyone above the rank of a mere laborer arrogating that title to himself. This is not so much to be wondered at after all, for, according to Brett, a " Captain, or a Captain's sou," is entitled to have " Esquire" tacked on to his name. Now, as everyone in Auckland in command of a fishing-boat, a coasting cutter, or even a coal barge, is a "captain," to say nothing of the legion of ci devant military men— a la Waikato Militia, and Branigan's Constabulary—it is not to be at all wonderd at that Auckland is rich in "Esquires." The point. yesterday was humourously discussed, and "the "Esquire" iras allow#Wfuli costs.—New Zealand Her&li