Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1168, 10 November 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1871.

The European and American mails yia San .Francisco came to hand about 10.30 last night, per s.s. Keera from Auckland. Such of the news as we can jfind room for will be found elsewhere. —The mail steamer Nebraska, from Ilqnolulu, arrived at Auckland at 8.30 ja.m. on Tuesday last, Nov. 7, after a rapid passage of 14J days. We are informed that his Honor Mi* Justice Johnstqn may be expected to arrive here from Wellington on Wednesday next, l£>th insfc. In the Resident Magistrate'* Court this morning John Simmonds was prought up on the charge of having broken into Messrs Robinson & Co.'s store. It was shown that the prisoner had been discharged from the jail on the lcfth September, having then only |ls jn l)is possession. Since that time he was shown tp have bought two horses, for one of which he paid £4, and for the other £7 10s. Suspicion falling on jijm, Ije was taken into custody, and on being searched, upwards, of <£l was found upon him, in addition to two <£s notes, which he threw away, but which were picked up by the constable. He was taken to the lockup, and while confined there attempted tq break out, using, however, very inadequate tools isrg small gimlet and a penknife, which

he had managed to smuggle inside. His operations in this direction were stopped by the penknife breaking. According to another witness, Thomas Floyd, who was confined in the lock-up for drunkenness at the same time as Simmonds, the prisoner stated that, in company with a man named Adams, he had broken into the stoi*e and stolen the money, two chisels having been used in effecting an entrance. He wished he had those chisels in the lockup, for in that case he would not be confined there long.—The prisoner was remanded till 11 a.m. to-morrow. Charles Mitchell was charged by Andrew Mylan with assaulting him with a whip. The assault was not denied, but it was shown that the complainant had used grossly offensive language in reference to a disputed claim of 2s.—His Worship said the defendant had acted unjustifiably in taking the law into his own hands, but in consideration of the provocation, the Court would only inflict a nominal penalty of ss. and costs. Capt. Stewart, of the schooner Midge, which arrived at Auckland from Tahiti, on the 7th inst., reports that a great whirlwind had passed over the island, doing immense damage to property. A number of houses and trees were blown down, and the Midge had her foremast carried away. The mail brings intelligence that the health of Queen Victoria continues to cause great anxiety. At latest dates her Majesty was at Balmoral, to which place Mr Gladstone and the Prince of Wales had been summoned. With reference to the rifle match— Auckland v. Dunedin —the Auckland Evening Star, Nov. 7, says :—" The whole of the stakes, amounting to c£3oo, have now been deposited, and Mr J. W. Walker, the representative of this province, left by the last steamer for Dunedin, so as to have a week or two for practice, which is fixed to come off at the Dunedin Rifle Range on the 20th instant. At the burial of Walter Montgomery, the actor, who, it will be remembered committed suicide a short time ago, his wife knelt over his grave and dropped therein the orange flowers worn at her wedding two days before. The great armor-plated ship Cerberus, fitted out at much expense by the British Government for the protection of the port of Melbourne, and brought out to the colony at a great expense by the Victorian Government, is being discussed by some of the Melbourne press, and her usefulness altogether denied. According to these authorities the money spent upon her had better been thrown into the sea. The Cerberus is unwieldy, she can be cut down and sunk by a comparatively small ship with a steel bow running into her; if attacked by boats the low elevation of her guns would render them useless; and against a mosquito fleet of boats the huge vessel would have no defence whatever. She might be blown up by a torpedo attached to her stern or sides, while her crew could not show outside her turrets without the certainty of being picked off by ritie shots from the enemy. If only half the fears here expressed are true, the fitting out of such a vessel for the object intended was a great blunder. A plan has? been proposed for transferring steamers and ships by railway over land from one body of water to another, which has been endowed as practicable by W. Li. Hanscom, United States Naval Constructor, and others. The plan is to employ .an ordinary floating dock to raise the vessel and place-it on a cradle bed vhich stands on tracks. When the water is pumped out of rhe dock, and the whole is lifted to the proper grade, a locomotive is attached and the whole is hauled away, like any other load. The road over which this transportation is to take place is to be from forty to sixty feel wide, with eight or more rails, the road-bed to be capable of sustaining any weight, Mr Hansoom thinks such a railway, with docks, &c, thirty seven miles across the Isthmus of Panama, could be built for 22,500,000 dollars ; while a canal with the necessary locks and basins, would cost eight times that sum, or more. At first such a project seems visionary, but more improbable achievements have been accomplished—the electric telegraph, for instance.