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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1016, 13 May 1871, Page 2

The next meeting of the Council takes place on Tuesday, at 3 p.m. The order paper will be a heavy one. In order to arrive at an average of the tiling of the Napier Eiiie Voiun ters, six of that company were chosen to tire before Colonel Harrington this afternoon. The following are their names :—Messrs. Fielder, Moore. Boyd, Sellars, Stubbs, and M'llroy.

Anxiety was recently created in Auckland bv a reported ca>e of .smallpox in that city, bus on inquiry the disease proved to be chicken-pox, or something of the kind.

It is understsod that Mr General Manager of Telegraphs, has applied for a court of inquiry to investigate the charges brought against him of acting in opposition to the regulations of his department. The Nebraska, carrying the mails, was to leave San Francisco on the sth May, direct for Sydney, N.S.W., via ii.onoi.iiti. aim Auckland. Lae passengers and freight by the latter steamer for other ports in New Zealand will be transferred at Auckland to the other connecting steamers.

A good deal of discussion is going on in Otago concerning the increasing number of Chinese who are flocking to that province. While some regard the presence of these Celestials with great disfavor, others think highly of them—the moie particularly as they make a good living where our own countrymen have failed, and contrary to the reported fact of them being hoardeis of wealth to be carried out of the cor.ntry —living only on rice—that they spend their earnings freely on. all conceivable luxuries.

A. very mysterious case of supposed suicide is reported l>y the Wellington papers. We take the following particulars from the repoit of the inquest., which occupies nearly two columns of the Evening Post. The deceased, William Bidmead, late steward of the Taranaki, had been drinking at the Nelson Ale House on Friday, the sth instant, and after dinner, being about half drunk, went upstairs and laid down. The landlady and the housemaid, who were in the room, tried to persuade him to go to bed; some " chaffing" ensued, and one of them tied his hands together with his comforter. He soon released his hands, when they tied them again. He was then in good spirits. When they left the room he had again i-eleased his hands, and the comforter was tying on the bed at his side, A quarter of an hour after he was found in a sitting posture on the floor with the comforter attached to the bedstead, and looped round his neck. He was quite dead when found. The medical evidence showed that death had been caused by strangulation. He was not short of money, and no motive can be assigned which could induce him to commit suicide. At the inquest next day, the Coroner, in leaving the case to the jury, said it appeared to him quite possible that deceased, while in a state of excitement, had been seized with a sudden desire for self-destruction, or perhaps merely a wish to try how it felt to strangle himself. It was also quite possible he had been suddenly attacked with delirium tremens. The jury, after some deliberation, returned the following verdict :—" That the deceased met his death by strangulation (while in a state of intoxication), caused by a woollen comforter being tied round his neck and attached to a bedstead, but how it became so attached, or by whom, there is not sufficient evidence to show." —The Independent says : Deceased bore a most amiable character, and was a general favorite among his friends afloat and ashore; and a* the poor fellow had a mother to whom he "Was kind and dutiful, and a number of relations, the occurrence is a painful one to them.

The "Wanganui Steam Navigation Company shows a favorable balancesheet for the half-year ending the 11th The receipts are about £SOO greater than in the previous half-year, while there is a diminished expenditure —the excess of receipts over expenditure being ,£7 35.

About two months ago a boy named Smith was committed for trial by the JBenalla JBench for se; ting tire to a hay stack belonging to a Mr M'Bean This bright youth has addressed the following laconic note to that gentleman, which deserves to be produced as an instance of cool cheek. " H.M. Gaol, Beech worth, March 21, 1871. Sir,—Would you be kind enough to send uie my money what is due to me direct to her Majesty's Gaol, Beech worth, vjls soon as convenient I remain, yourstruly, T. Smith. To R. M'Bean, Esq, Ben alia." The amount due to the young scamp was some 5s to 6*, and, considering (>-ays the Ensign) the loss he has no doubt occasioned Mr M'Bean by wantonly burning his stack, and the further loss he will be put to to convey himself and witnesses to Beech worth to have the ungrateful young rascal punished, the request, or demand, is quite unique in its way. The Melbourne Argus shows that pauperism is incieased by protection, and calls attention to the fact " that whereas the Government grant to charitable institutions in the year 1564 was limited to «£50,000, it was found necessary to increase it in 1869 to £1 12,000, notwithstanding that the mere necessaries of life were cheaper in the latter than in the former year. Thus, then, while the population has increased 17 per cent, in the interval, the number of destitute and afflicted persons had increased about 108 per cent. And this increase is likely to continue in an augmenting ratio; for it is one of the most sinister characteristicts of protection that it tends to demoralise and emasculate a people It encourages them co lean on a state for assistance, and to look at it as the mainspring of industry." The Nelson Examiner, after quoting the above, adds;—"The very danger we have so

often pointed out as the especial thing we have to fear in this Colony, with our ' progress,' and * public works,' and * assisted immigration,' &c, &c. Will the people of the country be warned in time."

The Otago Daily Times of a recenfc date says :—We give below a description of a monument proposed to bo erected to the memoiy of the late Rev. Dr Burns, in that part of the Presbyterian cemetery known as "The'Mound,*' permission to remove which in order to erect the monument has been obtained. The design of the monument is by Mr, R. A. Lawson. The style is that known as the Scottish Baronial style of architecture. The total height of the structure from the base line is to be 50 feet. Tt is to occupy a space of 13 feet square at the base. On each side will be a recessed bay, pannele/', and in to, one wjll be introduced a marble slab, bearing the inscription concerning the deceased. Each bay will be arched with, a moulded segmental arch. Appropriate. texts or mottoes will be interspersed amongst the mouldings of these arches. Surmounting each arch will be a sculpture of a burning bush, the emblem of the Free Church of Scotland. At the height of 18 feet from the base, the monument will be open throughout, angles being canied up with moulded shafts, till they meet Ihe segmental arches corresponding to those below.. The open space iu the centre,, between the angles and under the arches, is, adapted for the reception of a statue, or any other fitting emblem. Above the part where the arches and angles and arches join, there project the peculiar battlemented copings of the Scottish style, and on which are to be inscribed mottoes, and from each angle a turret in that style. Flying buttresses, with stepped* finishing, converge to the centre, a short distance below the summit, which is finished with a crown pinnacle, each face of which bears draped shields. The idea which pervades the whole of the design may be said to be that of a watch-tower. The covt, we believe, is. to be <£soo, and it is intended that surplus funds collected, if any, bhall be devoted to the foundation of a bursary, to be designated "The Burns Bursary," in the University of Otago, of which the deceased minister was the first Chancellor.

The Melbourne correspondent of a Bendigo journal, wrap:* a halo of romance around the late successful voyage of the Prima Donna, from the South Sea Islands. He states that the captain of the craft was lately wrecked on one of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, but succeeded in making his escape lo New Caledonia, and eventually arrived in Sydney. While walking the quay there he noticed the arrival of a small craft from the west coast of Australia with pearlshell, which afterwaids sold for upwards of £14,000. The shipwrecked captain, on examining this valuable cargo of shells, immediately -recognized them as the same species that he had observed in immense quantities on the uninhabited island on which he was wrecked. He kept his counsel, came to Melbourne, where he had friends, disclosed to them what a prospect there was for a fortune to be made. They believed his tale, and at an expenditure of a few hundred pounds, fitted out the Prima Donna for the venture. She has been away between three and four months, found the island, filled up with shells, and arrived at Melbourne with a cargo worth many thousands of pounds.

In the Legislative Assembly of NewSouth Wales, the Bill introduced for the purpose of reducing the salaries of future Governors to £4,000 per annum, and the salaries of Ministers to £I,OOO each per annum, has been read a second time. It. is considered likely to pass both Houses without much opposition.

The Bruce Herald records a serious. accident which occurred a tew days ago to a daughter, aged 16, of Mr William Christie,^"of Otokia, Otago. Tt appears that while a horse was being led past the girl happened to pass close behind him, whereupon he kicked and struck her upon the chin, shattering the lower jaw into bC'.ernl pieces- Dr. luglia was culled in, but he recommended her removal to the hospital. Her state is quite uncertain as yet,