Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1309, 26 April 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1872.

j&s the session of the General Assembly approaches, public attention is becoming directed to some of the more important of the measures that it is expected will be brought before it. Amongst these, not the least in importance is the promised Education Bill, which it may be froped will prove satisfactory to the Colony. Some fears are, however, entertained to the contrary, and it must be owned that the subject is surrounded with difficulties which threaten either to effect the further delay of a good comprehensive measure or to fix on the Colony the evils of a denominational system. The measure of last session, &nd the course taken by the Government in relation thereto, show that the Ministry is favorable, or at the least willing, to pass such a Bill; and it cannot be denied that there is a very strong party, both in and out of Parliament, determined to, fight for it. feJuch being the case, it js satisfactory to |earn that an organised opposition to such a measure is being constituted, and we trust that its efforts may be prowned with success.

By the last mail from the South we received copies of circulars issued by the association referred to, whose head quarters are in Dunedin, together •with a copy of a petition to the House of Bepresentatives which is being circulated in the Province of Otago for signature. The association earnestly invites the cooperation of the colonists throughout New Zealand in furtherance of their design. In its circular it argues that a liberal national system of education is an absolute necessity in such a community as ours, ■where practically every man has a voice in the election of legislators, because " political power can be safely wielded only by those who are actuated by moral principle guided by intelligence;" that the denominational system is cak filiated to excite and foster miserable jealousies and divisions in community ; that the failure of that system fyas been almost universal wherever tried, and that a danger exjsts of its "being made the means of diverting the •public funds to purely sectarian purposes; that the avowed intention of a section, of the community to obtain aid, 10 schools renders it necessary t&at immediate and energetic acIfoo, slion.ld be to urgent such a

measure beooming law before the public are aware of it, and to " secure the passing of an Education Act such as shall prove the bulwark of liberty, the safeguard of our political institutions, and a stimulus and guide to enlightened social advancement for generations yet to come.'' It remains for the other settlements of the Colony to follow the example of the citizens of Dunedin, and form either branch associations in connection with it, or to act in a more independent way. In either case, we doubt not the "Association for the Promotion of National Education in New Zealand' will aid any who place themselves in correspondence with it in furthering the important object it has in view.

Mails for Australia close at the Bluff ab 10.30 a.m. to-morrow.

Tenders are invited for repairs to the schooner Three Brothers. fSee advertisement.)

In the Resident Magistrates Court this morning, John Brown, for being drunk; and disorderly, was fined ss. Charles M'Mahon, for drunkenness and obscene language, and for resisting; the police, was fined iU, in. default 48 hours imprisonment. Topping v. C. Dempsey. Claim of JB2 7s 4d for goods delivered. Defendant put in a set-off of <£l 9s 3d. Items both in the account and set-off were disputed. Among the articles for which plaintiff claimed was a sausage machine, which had proved to be defective and deficient in some of its parts, and which the defendant said it had cost 15s to put in order. The plaintiff said that the defendant was aware of the imperfections when he purchased the machine. —Judgment for plaintiff, for 7s 5d ; costs ss, to be equally divided. Tuke v. Stuart.—Claim of £7 10s on a promissory note. The liability was not disputed. Judgment for amount claimed and 13s costs.

A great reform in steamboat travelling is about to be introduced by the N.Z.S.S. Company. Instead of charging unfortunate sea sick sufferers for meals, the very sight of which they loathe, the company intend in future to exact pa} T nient only for those actually consumed on board their vessels.

Kegulations respecting public petitions to be presented to the General Assembly, and insti notions respecting the way in which they should be drawn up, are published in the New Zealand Gazette for general information. It is reported that Mr Hill, the Go vernment ag»>nt at Masterton, has purchased a valuable block of land in the Wangaehu Valley, comprising about 15,000 acre.-;, at Is 6d per aero. We observe that Bay of Islands coal is selling in Auckland at 12s petton for unscreened, and 7s per ton for slack.

It is stated by a "Wellington correspondent of the New Zealand Herald that Dr Featherston has been offered knighthood by the Home Government, but declined to. accept it—in fact,,, "laughed in their faces." Victims might be supposed to have their eyes opened to "the ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," not of the Heathen Chinee, but of Auckland shareholders. When the swindle first began, gullible greenhorns with money to lose were so plentiful in the colony in all classes of society, from the Cabinet Minister to the sweep, that precautions were unnecessary. Then the bait had but to be dangled before the eyes of men and they gladly snapped at it, hook and all, and rue the consequences. Now a little more system is required, and first one and then another claim is puffed up, worked in the market till played out, and then dropped. Those who have watched the game must see that this is the dodge now. We do not wish to name any particular claims > which, have been, or are now manipulated in this fashion, but only to put our readers on their guard.—Evening Post.

The official report of the New Guinea Expedition disaster attributes the wreck of the Maria to. the captain's ignorance of navi^atioja..

Persons visiting the Island of Motu Ihi (Auckland) on the pretence of shooting rabbits have killed more than one of the deer turned out there

During the last five months a single firm at Geelong, Victoria, has expoited 276,157fts of butter. A public drinking fountain has been opened at OarghTs monument, recently removed from the Octagon to a site opposite the Custom House. A jury in Bunedin recently accorded Elizabeth Feeny .£SO damages against John Richardson, for breach of promise of marriage. The i: heathen Chinee" in Otago is showing a disposition to embrace the Christian faith. We learn from the Otago Times that (he Rev. James Kirkland, Convener of Missions Committee, has been on a visit to Tuapeka for- the purpose of baptising two Chinese, converted through the instrumentality of Paul Ah Chin, at present laboring as Presbyterian missionary in that locality. A few months ago three Chinese were baptised, thus making five in all within the comparatively short period of Paul's labors among his fellow-tounirymen in Otago.

A thanksgiving service for the recovery of the Prince of Wales was held at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, at Wellington, on the evening of Sunday last, 21st inst. On Sunday, the 14th inst., the flags of no fewer than four nationalities floated from vessels in Auckland harbor. The steamship Nevada, the ship Europa, and the barque Chattanooga, carried the. stars and stripes; the barque Ka Moi bore the Hawaiian flag at her peak; bhe schooner Nukulau floated the ensign of the newly-formed Fijian Government; while the British ensign was everywhere conspicuous. In Chlistenurch recently, his Honor Mr Justice Gresson, in Chambers, said he had heard it stated that the costs charged by the profession in Canterbury judicial district were higher than those charged in any other district in the colony, an J he hoped the Law Society would take some action in the matter, so that a fixed scale of charges might be decided on at the next sitting of the Court of Appeal.

The following is from the financial article of the Journal of Commerce, New York :—" People who sit nervously in counting houses, or behind their goods, waiting for customers to take them by storm, and making no effort to let the world know the bargains they have to otter, will find the season very unpropitious. Many of those who have spent large sums in hiring drummers and paying for other well-known appliances of trade, have effected large sales, but swallowed up too large a share of the receipts in such enormous attendant expenses. The best remuneration has been found by chose who have returned to more legitimate, old-fashioned methods of pushing their business. We say it, not simply because we are interested in this line of expenditure, but as our best advice to all who wish to be enterprising and to secure, a larger custom, there is nothing now so effective to this end a* judicious advertising. A little advertising may be like a gentle touch of the whip to poor Dobbin's horse c a mercy thrown away;* but a liberal outlay is almost certain to bring in a large return, and this will last even beyond the current season. We do not believe that anyone who has valuable service or desirable property to offer can fail of reaping a rich harvest by continuous advertising on a large scale." The Indian Government offers a prize of 1,000 rupees for the best manual of domestic medicine for India ; special regard being had to brevity and simplicity.

According fco the Newspaper Press .Directory for 1872, there are now published in the United Kingdom 1,466 newspapers, of which England owns I,lll—viz, 261 in London, and 823 in the prpvinces. There are 82 daily papers in England, % in Wales, 12 in Scotland, 19 in Ireland, and 2. in the British Isles.

"■My lord," said the foreman ®f an Irish jury, when giving in the verdict, " We Hnd the man why stole the horse n.o.t guilty."

Advices from Norfolk Island statethat great suffering had taken place-, owing to the disastrous drought, which had almost destroyed the grain crops. A case is at present before the Kaiapoi Resident Magistrate's Court* Canterbury, in which the plaintiff, Mr J. ELeetley, claims .£SOO from the General Government for damages sustained by him from the construction of the Northern Railway alongside his property. Mr Keetley is an agricultural implement maker and horse shoer, and complains that the passage of trains is likely to frighten horses while being; shod. He stated in evidence that his. business had already suffered. The case was not concluded up to latest dates*.

According to, the Wairarapa Mercury, Messrs Rockel and John Morrison have introduced some longwooled sheep, of a very superior quality, from the South Island. The rams imported, by the- former will average <£.lo a. piece*

The Australasian says :- —" One item? of the mail news deserves more notice than it has received. We allude to> thai chronicling the death of Giuseppe Mazzini. There have seldom been live* more purely, and consistently devoted; to an idea and a country—the idea republicanism, and the country his own, Italy—that of Mazzini. This cause hepursued through difficulty and danger,. through good report and evil report,, and although his end was always a nobleone and dictated by the most elevated-, motive*, it was, it must be admitted,, sometimes sought by crooked and impracticable paths. His life was mainly spent in. exile, and although he lived to, see the unification of his country, onegreat object of his hopes, his almost fanatic attachment to republican doctrines prevented him from sharing in the triumph his labors had been- so.* potent an agency in- preparing. Onemay differ widely from his beliefs, and question the desirability of some of his objects, but none could doubt the enthusiastic devotion to a principle, or the lofty, .self-sacrificing spirit of thewearied fighter who has now sunk to. rest."

The Philadelphia North American is confident that the whaling business is* ruined in consequence of the extraordinary rise in the petroleum, trade. It says:—The fact is that the- whale has. had his day, and though the era in which he flourished was a great one im distant it is by no means to. be regretted that we have found a better and more permanent reliance. Thewhale fishery may struggle on a few years longer, but its inevitable doom is. as sure as anything can be in commerce. As for the trade based upon ; it iu the Pacific, we must tax our ingenuity to substitute something else for it.

The Canterbury Press says:—A caseof death, under somewhat suspicious circumstances, occurred on Friday, the sth instant-, at Waltham. It appears that a man named Birch, residing at Hurunui, engaged a young girl, thirteen or fourteen yeai s of age, named Isabella, Thompson, whose mother reside* at Waltham, as servant. At the time of her leaving home to proceed *o the Hurunui, the girl was in perfect health,, and with no apparent signs of disease. On the 27th March, Birch came down to town with a wagon, bringing the girl with him in an almost insensible condition, and on arriving at Waltham, finding the mother of the girl away from home, he asked a Mrs Kaye, resident there, to take charge of the girl until her mother's return* when she was removed home on a hand-barrow, and Dr Campbell sent for. The girl, who continued wandering in her mind,, only had one or two lucid and complained of being starved. Suegradually sank until her death,; as. above. We understand that several, marks of ill-treatment arc visible- on} the body, but as the inquest takes place-to-day at 2. p.m., at the Waltham Arms,, we refrain from publishing any fartherparticulars at present. —From a laterissue of the Press we learn that theverdict of the jury was that, according to the medical evidence, the girl diedfrom natural causes, but they censured, Mr and Mrs Birch for their conduct towards tlie girl.