THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri FRIDAY, 10th APRIL, 1874.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1566, 10 April 1874, Page 178

THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri FRIDAY, 10th APRIL, 1874.

America is noted as a land of great and marvellous phenomena, and not the least r« markable of these is the unprecedented temperance "revival" which is now sweeping over the States, and which has afforded the excitable denizens of the new world their very latest " sensation." The long and patient labors of reformers in this direction appear to have borne fruit in a movement which is startling in the suddenness of its appearance and the swiftness of its spread. The liquor traffic has long been acknowledged to he to a great extent a woman's question, and such the American women appear to consider it; for the remarkable agitation now in progress in the States is carried on almost exclusively by females. The movement appears to have originated in San Francisco; but it has spread like wildfire through the Union. The mode of operation is simple. Bands of women parade the streets, stopping in front of every liquor saloon, where they hold an open air prayer meeting with singing. In some cases the siege has little effect, but in very many others the results have been singular the rum*seller himself has caught the spirit

of the " and surrendered at discretion, delivering up his stock-in-trade for destruction, and in some instances broaching the casks with his own hands. The enthusiasm is so great and general, that in some instances staid elderly ladies of the best families have joined in the movement, becoming almost hysterical in their excitement, A Cincinnati telegram says : —" A German paper in Dayton has come out against the temperance crusade, and advises the men to organize a regiment and appeal to arms to drive back the temperance women. It claims that the rights of man are being infringed on, and it lifts its opposing veto in holy horror. — Thirty ladies are sounding the temperance alarm in Coshocton. The saloonists are defiant, and refused all terms of compromise.. The crusaders conduct their meetings from morning until night, and eat their dinners in tue street."— Reports of defeat, however, are rare, compared with the telegrams which record the success of the crusaders. One naturally pauses to ask, " Wh;,t will be the results of this agitation?" It is, we think, too sudden, and carried out under the influence of too great an excitement for all its influences to be lasting. But when the storm of en-thus.a-m has passed over, it cannot but have made its purifying influence stron;' ly felt; and we doubt not that much permanent good will be found to have followed when the "crusade"is looked upon as a thing of the past. Such is the view taken by the Rev. Henry Ward Deecher, who, in a sermon delivered to a large congregation in New York on the 20th February, is reported to have said that ,( history would not show a parallel to the effort now being made in the West to suppress dram-dri iking, which he characterized as the scourge of the household. It was an evil that had defied legislation ; but now, under the providence of God, there had arisen a moral cyclone a perfect tempest of influence."

An article in another portion of to-day's issue, from the Daily Southern Cross, gives in detail, the account of a circumstance which is so amazing- that, were i.t not verified bj sworn testimony, it would be all but incredible. It appears that in the city of Wellington a mob of from fifty to one hundred people saw a child drown in shallow water without an effort to save it—beiug under the absurd delusion that the "curious laws" of the country were such that none out a policeman must interfere in such cases! When one of their number moved forward to render some assistance, the crowd witli one voice " yel, cd at him,'' and called him back !! A woman, whose instincts were stronger than fear of the crowd, put them to shame by plunging in and bringing out the little innocent, but too late to save its life. And a most astonishing feature of the case is that one of this infatuated mob was a gentleman who holds the Commission of the Peace. Comment on such a case is un ieoesary. We would have hitherto thought it impossible to have found fifty such stupid and ignorant persons in any community in the country as were that: day collected on Hunter's wharf, Wellington. We have received from Geelong, Victoria, a letter on the case of Wil.iam iShuker, enclosing an extract from this paper of the 13th February, cut from the Melbourne Argus. ihe writer evidently is of opinion that he has found a satisfactory method <>f sett itig the difficulty regarding the property to which JShukcr is reported to have become entitled. Me has omitted to send his name; but as his letter is a remarkable one in several respects, .we give it publication : Geelong. March 11th, 1874. Si . —Ti. the Melbourne Argus I notice the fo'l'iwiiu extract from your paper—relative •o Hi ■ ■ east- of William Shuker, sentenced to penal servitude for life for a murderous assuuli on a young woman and her mistress —by whieli it appears that the man is entitled to £10.0i) . Under lht'se eirciittwluiioes I would suggest that the miiu lie 11burnt' d at the expiration of three yews, upon the ollowiug conditions : Ist. That the Government be authorized by him to receive the money to which he is entitled. 2nd That he sanctions the payment by the Government of on • huh' the money to the young woman and her mistress. " 3rd. That the Government be recouped all expense of his trial and maintenance whilst imprisoned. 4th. That his passage bepiid to any country to which he may desire to go ; and the balance of money coming to him be paid to him upon his arrival in such country. sth. That a conditional pardon be given to him -having effect only whilst absent from Isew Zealand. Yours, air Editor, Geelong. We quote the following from the Wellington Tribune. In the light of recent events it will prove interesting to our local volunteers :—" We understand that Major Gordon, the officer in command of the competing volunteers at Napier, intimated that he intended to recommend to the Government to abolish the annual shooting competition for volunteers. As this meeting .appears to be the only, incentive our 'gallant defenders' have for attending the parades and shooting practices so necessary for efficiency, it is quite within the bounds of possibility that should the recommendation be acted upon, the Volunteer force of New Zealand will soon become a relic of the past."

Mails close for Poverty Bay, per Opotiki, at 10 a.m. this day. Mails for Auckland, Fiji Tslands, Sandwich Islands, America, United' Kingdom, and Continent of Europe, are announced to close per s.s. Mongol, this day, at 10 a.m. The Mongol was to leave Wellington last evening, and we understand that the mail will be kept open until she is sighted off the Kidnappers. Church ot England Services will he held (D.-V.) on-Sunday 12th April, at Puketapn at 11 a.m., at the Meanee Church at 3 p.m., and at Taradale at 7 p.m. Heavy rain fell yesterday morning in Napier, and continued, with more or less intermission, throughout the day. In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, Richard Barrows was charged by Mr Inspector Scully with keeping his licensed house open on Minday, the 22nd March, to persons other than lodgers or bond fide travellers. Mr Scully conducted the prosecution ; Mr Cornford appeared for the defence. The case arose out of the same circumstances as those detailed a few days before, when Joseph Wells was charged with stealing a £lO note from John M'Famine in the Commercial Hotel on the day in question. The witnesses called by Mr Scully were Jas. Scott, John M'Farlane, John Tracey, and James Barrow, the son of the defendant. The evidence of the witnesses was given in so unwilling a manner as to call forth severe animadversions j from the magistrate. It was shown that on the day in question M'Farlane (who was not a lodger) tendered a £lO note in payment for three glasses of liquor served to as many different people, and that Tracey also treated a number of persons in the house. For the defence it was asserted that Tracey was a lodger, and that the .drinks for which payment was tendered by M'Farlane were in reality called for by a lodger, who had no fnnds to pay for them. This hitter statement was made by Jas. Barrows, and the magistrate commented strongly on the fact that no mention had been made of it before, and that it was at variance with all the evidence in the previous case. Mr Cornford, in summing up, maintained that no breach of the law had been committed. He propounded the novel and extraordinary theory that a bona fide lodger might call in and treat as many friends as he thought fit during prohibited hours. This his Worsh p would not allow, as it would at once remove every restriction. The Magistrate said that the evidence in the case was most unsatisfactory, and had been given in a very equivocal manner, lie had no choice but to dismiss the present information ; but at the same time it was quite clear to him, both from the evidence in this case and in the case of Regina v. Wells, that any person could go in and drink on the day in question. The statements made by the witnesses to-day, and by the last witness in particular, were quite irreconcilable with those they had made a few days before in relation to the same circumstances. —Information dismissed.— Mr Scully said he would in future keep a sharp look-out after Sunday drinking. He was disgusted with the witnesses, any one of whom would tell a very different story out of Court. Two civil cases came before the Resident Magistrate on Friday. Latchmore v. Neal and Close.—Claim of £2 10s, alleged to have been improperly deducted from plaintiff's wages. Plaintiff was engaged by defendant's agent in Auckland to act as draper's assistant, at £2 10s per week ; defendants to pay half the passage money if plaintiff did not leave within the six months. Being dissatisfied with him, they dismissed him within that time and deducted the £2 10s, one-half of the passage money. Plaintiff maintained that not having left of his own accord, he was entitled to the £2 10s. The Magistrate thought differently, and nonsuited him. LeQuesne v. Northe Brothers.—Claim of £l4 Is 7d. The claim was admitted, the money having already been paid into Court; the only question was, who should pay costs, in evidence it was shown that plaintiff some time ago sent his little daughter for the money. She took two separate bills; the smaller of which was included in the larger, which was the complete statement of account. Mr Northe had left with his wife a cheque for the total, and the little girl receipted the bills. She then became doubtful whether the cheque was correct, as it did not represent the total of the two bills, and Mrs Northe recommended her to leave it till Mr Northe returned. She acco/dingly left both cheque and receipts. Some days passed, and the partus meetin ; in th« street, the plaintiff asked' about the money. . Defendant (R. Northe) said he could not always be carrying the cheque about. Some disagreement ensued, when he foolishly added that he held the receipt, and did not know whether he should pay or not. This was not denied.—The Magistrate said that after this statement the plaintiff was quite justified in taking out a summons. —Judgment for amount claimed, with £1 8s costs. Our Tauranga correspondent telegraphs, under date of yesterday :—The p.s. I'atersou from the South arrived this morning with a large, supply of stores for the Aravvas in anticipation of the great feast next month. She took her departure for Auckland at noon; Roberts being a i asjenger.—Mr Stewart, immigration agent, is at present engaged in visiting the districts. He expressed himself highly pleased ; but denounces the wholesale and promiscuous system of cutting up valuable blocks of land.