A Merry Chrimas !

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1640, 25 December 1874, Page 474

A Merry Chrimas !

Mails close for Wellington and Southern Provinces, per s.s. Rangatira to-morrow, Saturday, at 9 a.m. Mr Norris's property,. Karamu, was offered by auction in lots on Tuesday. It was reserved at £25 per acre, and the lots sold averaged about £27. Some of the lots were withdrawn, and others disposed of after the sale at the reserve price.

The planet Saturn is now favorably situated for telescopic observation for about two hours after sunset, but as it is rapidly approaching its conjunction with the sun, it will very shortly become invisible.

Section 280, Hastings-street, was sold by auction on Tuesday, in lots, which brought from £3 to £3 10s per foot frontage. The whole section realized £6OO, Two quarter-acre lots of section 27, Wellcsley-road, realized £SO each, and sections 31, 32, and 33, Goa Bay, £3O each.

The unfavorable weather and flooded rivers materially interfered with Mr M. It. Miller's sale of sheep last Wednesday. A few animals were sold at good rates, but the bulk were held over, and are now advertized for sale, With others, on Wednesday next. The town presented a brilliant aspect last evening - . The shops were gaily decorated, and their choicest contents temptingly displayed ; while admiring crowds were abroad in the streets to survey the scene. The local band also patrolled the town for a time, playing lively airs. The changeable weather which still continues is rather depressing. For nearly three weeks we have had short intervals of fine clear weather, alternating with heavy, sudden, and violent showers. In some of these the rain has literally descended in sheets, mingled with hail, from clouds at a great elevation. Yesterday was fine, but cloudy in the evening. The late heavy rains have interfered seriously with shearing operations, as well as rendered travelling unpleasant on account of sudden and heavy floods in the rivers. Similar weather has been experienced over nearly the whole Colony. By some it is attributed, absurdly enough, to supposed disturbing influences of the late transit of Venus.

In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, Messrs Brogden and Sons obtained a judgment for £ls Is 9d, with £1 3s costs, against J. F. Vercoe ; the debt being admitted. Six seamen of the Bebington were sent to prison for twelve weeks witli hard labor for continued refusal to do duty. Captain Knight stated that he had been forced, through their refusal to work, to employ stevedores to unload the vessel, at an expense far exceeding the wages (about £9 each) due to the men. He expressed his determination to take the men—working or idle—to the next port, whereupon one replied that if they went it would be in the capacity of ballast. Eapier seems to present wonderful attractions to English sailors. On Wednesday two drunkards—a native and a European—were each fined 5s They came from Taradale. It appears that in that locality, which is blessed with two hotels, drunkenness and disorder are rife, and have been practically unchecked until recently, when a new constable was sent to the district. About thirty Maoris were drank there on Tuesday, and on the constable attempting to make an arrest, he was set upon and very roughly handled, a fact to which his black eye and other marks on his face bore mute testimony. Efforts are being made to find the perpetrators of the assault, and the affair will probably be remembered at next licensing meeting. On the JastjOCcasion the licences Avcrc only granted after some hesitation, the Bench cautioning the applicants that unless some improvement took place they need not expect another renewal.

The annual soiree in connexion with St. Paul's Presbyterian Church took place on Tuesday evening. In consequence, no doubt, of the very unfavorable weather, the attendance was very considerably below what we have seen on previous occasions of a similar kind. An ample tea, provided by Mr Johnston, was very tastefully laid out in the schoolroom, on four tables, presided over by Mrs D. Sidey, Mrs W. Smith, Mrs J. M'Vay, and Mrs A. Grant respectively. After tea, the meeting was adjourned to the church, where the proceedings were opened by the 259th hymn, after which the Rev H. B. Redstone (United Methodist Free Church) engaged in prayer. Choir, " Vesper Hymn at Sea." The Rev D. Sidey, who occupied the chair, then gave an address, in which he reviewed the work of the past year. He expressed his deep thankfulness for the good personal health he had enjoyed during the year. In his preaching he had endeavored to introduce as much

variety as there was in the Scriptures—a range sufficiently wide. He had during the year drawn very special attention to the remarkable work of grace proceeding in (Scotland, and its wonderful results; and in a series of lectures—a form of exposition which he believed to have great and special advantages—he had drawn their attention to (the various forms of modern speculative theology, as exemplified in the rationalistic, the mystic, and the inductive systems. As to the results of his year's labors—that was a subject beyond the range of his knowledge. " The Kingdom of Heaven cometh not by observation ; " but in the course of his experience he had met with remarkable and unexpected results flowing from his past labors, sometimes after a long interval. The attendance had been good, but there was more of what was known as " half-day hearing" than could reasonably be attributed to family arrangements. The finances of the church, as the Treasurer's report would show, were flourishing.—Choir: Jackson's "Te Deum."—Mr J. W. Craig, the Treasurer, was then called on for his report, of the various items of which the following is a summary:— Receipts (from Ist Jan. to 30th Sept.) seat rents, £197 ; ordinary collections, £206 3s 6d; special collections, &c, £24 Is; total, £549 12s Id. Expenditure : £4lB 18s 4d; balance to next quarter, £l3O 13s 9d. Regarding the debt of £530 on account of the manse fund, the congregation had liberally contributed £395 towards its extinction. As Superintendent of the Sabbath School he made an urgent and eloquent appeal for more teachers. There were a staff of very efficient and diligent female teachers; but out of the large congregation of St. Paul's he had at present only one male assistant, and his effoits to increase the number had so far proved ineffectual. —Duett: "When through life's wilderness."—The Rev. A. Shepherd congratulated the church on its prosperous condition, remarking that though the Gospel was " without money and without price," churches and missions could not be carried on without funds. He spoke strongly on the subject of Sunday trains, and said that if the great firm of carriers, Messrs Julius Vogel & Co., might carry on their occupation, and cause their servants to work on the Sabbath, he did not see why Newton, Irvine, & Co., for instance, should not do the same. (Great applause.) He wondered that there had been no indignant public protest against this iniquity. —Solo :" Ye sacred priests." The Rev. H. 33. Redstone said that in reviewing the past year they would find much cause for devout thankfulness. Not only were their affairs flourishing, but their beloved pastor had been blessed with health and strength. Alluding to the great inheritance of the church in the memory of its great men who had gone before, he charged those of the present to prove themselves worthy sons of such worthy sires. He trusted they would profit by the forcible remarks of his brother who had preceded him, on Sabbath desecration. The deficiency of teachers was one they ought to remedy. In his own small congregation he believed he had ten male teachers. As Mr Craig had well said, the religious education of the young now rested with the churches, and they must not be remiss in this important duty.—Solo : "Alas! those chimes." The Chairman, in the absence (through indisposition) of the Rev. J. Campbell, moved a vote of thanks to the choir, as well as the other friends who had assisted, and the proceedings were closed with hymn 474 and the benediction.

Some interesting relics have lately been found at Pompeii. A shop, supposed to be a tanner's, has been excavated, and a number of tools used in the manipulation of leather found. These tools bear a strong resemblance to those used in the present day. We quote the following from the Otago Guardian's Auckland correspondent:—On the 13th instant Sir Osborne Gibbes, Bart.j died at Whangarei in his 71st year. Sir Osborne entered the army in early youth, having served the prescribed time as royal page to George IV. After his retirement from the service lie settled in India ; from there lie went to Australia, and ultimately made New Zealaucl his home. His funeral, which was a remarkable one for an out-of-the-way country district, is sufficiently interesting to record. There were between 200 and 300 people present (many of whom had travelled long distances) at the hour when the cortege left Osborne House for the village church. The order of procession was as follows:—-A company of old soldiers and a procession of Freemasons preceded the body; three pallbearers joined on cither side; and the chief mourners, relatives, and friends brought up the rear. Here I quote from the letter of a correspondent:—" The church was distant about half-a-niile, in traversing which reliefs of ' old settlers' and Freemasons took turn about in carrying a friend and brother to his last home. 1 may here mention that Sir Osborne Gibbes was one of the highest Masons in the colony. On arriving at the church the procession was met by his Lordship the Bishop of Auckland, who, in the usual manner, led the procession into the church, which was densely crowded. Service over, lie was borne by six ' old soldiers' to the grave. The sword and Masonic regalia of deceased were placed on the coffin, the British ensign being the pall. The old soldiers took the right of the grave in open order, the Freemasons the left; and when the words ' Dust to dust' were uttered by the Bishop, the word of command— ' Salute'—-was given, when, with a precision that the difficulties and anxieties of a bush life had failed to efface, the old veterans, many of whom showed medals of hard service on their breasts, came promptly to the graceful salute, and the Masons placed the right hand over the heart in sign of sorrow, all parties remaining thus until the close of the out-door service, and the last friend had viewed the coffin in its resting-place."

The New Zealand Times, 17th December, writes :—" We regret to learn that at the time of the departure of the coach from Masterton yesterday morning the poor barmaid, Miss Reilly, who was so severely burned on Sunday evening, was in a very precarious state. She has been most severely burned across the body, and her face also has suffered very greatly. It is now understood that she had lain down for a few minutes on her bed, in the light muslin dress she was weai-ing, and was reading a book, which she held-in one hand, by the light of a candle, which she held in the other. She had evidently become drowsy, and the candle falling from her hand, at once set fire to her dress, and her dress to the curtains, so that the whole bejl was almost at once in flames. The hotel, in fact, had a very narrow escape, and the excitement of the inmates was very great. Much sympathy is felt with the unfortunate girl."—The same paper of the 22nd, reports her as slightly better, but adding that very little hope is entertained of her recovery. " Attention has frequently been drawn in France," the Pall Mall Gazette observes, " to the murderous results of baby-farming. A book has been published in Paris in which the author describes the extent of the evil, and indicates the localities where it prevails. Mortality among babies, which is only 10 per cent, among those tended by their mothers, rises to 30 and 40 per cent, with those entrusted to professional wet-nurses. A rural mayor, the author observes, was hoard to say, that the deaths of babies sent from Paris to be suckled were so numerous, that his commune was paved with little Parisians. Over 100,000 babies are yearly sacrificed to the repugnance of mothers to take care of their children. The unfortunate custom has, it appears, demoralized many localities in Burgundy, Normandy, Nievre, and Alsace. The feminine population of entire villages find more profit in babyfarming than in manual work ; and the husbands live on their wives' earnings. This state of things may partially explain the slow increase of population in France." The Resident Magistrate (says the New Zealand Times) will be called upon in a day or two to decide a question which has frequently been before the minor courts in other colonies, but has never yet been tested here, namely, the right of property in placards posted on the city walls. The proprietors of tho American Circus have issued a summons against a man named Sliiels, a billsticker in the employ of Messrs Bates and Howard, of the Theatre Royal, who has upon several occasions during the past week damaged the circus bills by posting theatre bills over them. It is only proper to mention that Messrs Bates and Howard feel themselves as much aggrieved as the circus proprietors, so that both parties will have a good deal to say when the case comes on for hearing. The proceedings will probably be flavored by a touch of the humorous on account of an assault committed by Mr King, one of the circus proprietors, upon Mr Sliiels, the billstickcr, who heroically repelled tho attack with his paste-brush. Neither party sustained much damage in the encounter, though Mr King is said to have been severely "pasted." The investigation into the merits of the case will likely disclose some interesting features. The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes as follows: " Most readers will remember the case of Andrew Hume, a man who was released from Paramatta Gaol on the strength of a story that he was able to bring to light some relics of the Leichardt expedition, and even a survivor, wild had been living for nearly thirty years with the blacks. Ho went away with an outfit provided for him by the Government, and after hanging about some time with the transc-on-tinental telegraph parties, disappeared for a time from sight. Soon afterwards he turned up again, and returned to Brisbane, stating that he had been with Classen, Leiehardt's second in command, who was living witli a tribe of blacks, and that he had brought back some relics of the expedition, and even a manuscript dictated by Classen, giving a full account of the whole unknown history. Some of the 'relics' which hs brought were very poor matters. They mignt be relics of anything, and were declared by those who saw them and were able to judge, to be very much like relics of an old camp of the telegraph construction parties. But the manuscript, it was admitted, would settle the whole thing at once and decisively. Mr Hume brought the precious document carefully with him in a travel-ling-bag to Sydney, and a day was appointed when he was to lay it before one or two members of the Government. Unhappily when he went to take it out of the bag he discovered that the latter had been cut open on the voyage and the manuscript had been stolen. In other words, Hume was pushed up in a corner, when he could only support the credibility of all his former lies by adding another to them, which proved too much for everybody, and the universal sentence was passed that Hume was an impostor, and an exposed impostor. But I am wrong in calling this conviction universal, as to the last, and after all the exposure, there were a faithful few who believed, if not the whole story, at any rate a good deal of it, and they subscribed and sent Hume back into the interior to bring something to confirm his strange tale. We now have the denouement of the whole comedy, which has, however, a very tragic ending. The expedition of Humo and two companions came to a sad end. One man returned to the settled district to say that Hume and his other companion had perished of thirst. Strange to say, this disaster occurred while the men were within easy reach of stations, and tho perishing in this way seems to show that' if Hume was the wonderfully clover bushman some people thought, he trusted to some natural rule of thumb sort of process which at tho last pinch failed him." —A late telegram states that a search party has found Hume's body, and that a parly of native police are searching for O'Hea. Two of Hume's horses have been found dead.

Hay tablets, prepared in the following manner, have been used in France for some time, as a convenient and portable food for horses. Hay and straw, very finely cut> are well mixed with crushed oats or rye, moistened with a solution of rapeseed or linseed oil-cake, the mass well worked, and then formed into tablets under pressure.

The Auckland Star opens up a very important question, which the legislature must face' at an early date. Our contemporary says—As with the progress of public works the Government will soon be the great carrying company of the colony, it will be interesting to know what relations legally it will stand towards its customers, the public. In the course of nature, and with the best of conduct, it is possible that accidents may some time or another occur on our railways, and women will lose their husbands. If such occurred through the negligence of a private company the proprietors would of course be responsible for damages, and the widow would be awarded as much pecuniary solace as a jury of practical men would deem sufficient, and the maimed man would have his legs and arms assessed, and the company must pay the cost. But how will it be as the law now stands, should maiming or death occur through lack of diligence on the Government railways ? What will the widow> what will the orphan, what will the mangled victim of reckless driving or negligence receive ? Nothing. An action for damages cannot be brought against the Government.

Messrs Saxby and Farmers (says an English paper) deserve the unbounded praise of all railway travellers for the inventions patented by them for the safety of trains ; with a complete application of their system, it is next to impossible for an accident from collision to occur. So early as 1856, Mr Saxby patented an arrangement of points which gave comparative safety ; by subsequent additions to the patent it has been made a masterpiece of mechanical skill. The box in which the pointsman works lias a row of levers which are so connected and arranged one with the other that the levers of one lino cannot be altered until the levers of all other lines over which different tiains are expected are set free. Not only does this act well and perfectly for trains, but also for gates of roadways over which the lines pass ; a gate cannot be opened until the train has passed, and not then till a lever has been moved which puts up a danger signal. To describe or mention half the wonders of this invention would occupy too much space, but we cannot conclude without noticing the latest improvement, the " switch lock apparatus." It consists of a bar of steel placed beside the metals over which the train is to run, and so connected with the points that when in action it is utterly impossible to meve any point that controls a branch or junction passing over them. The action simply consists of a leverage caused by the flange of the wheel of the carriage separating the switch from the line ; and so long as the train is running over this switch «o long are the points held, making it impossible for the man in the signal-box to alter any lever whilst danger exists. We trust that Parliament will see ere long that the adoption of these inventions for the public safety is made compulsory with railway companies.

Every romance lias its reality and'every reality its romance, says the New York Herald, as the following will show :—John Horan went to the bar of the Tombs yesterday morning to make a charge of felouious assault and battery against his son William, a youth aged twenty years. Mr Horcn's head gave proof that he had been roughly handled. Both of his eyes were black aud his forehead was cut. He told the Judge with much deliberation that his son, at whom he looked now and then with a sort of sardonic grin, had beaten him most unmercifully, without provocation. William looked so quiet and decent that the Judge called him up to tell what he had to say. William modestly stepped up to the desk and was at first inclined to say nothing, but suddendly a thought struck him and he said, "If I let myself be brought to jail she will not be safe." "Who will not be safe?" asked the Judge. "My mother," said William, in a very low tone, as he looked towards his father. He told his story, which ran as follows:—" He whips my mother now and then when I'm. not around, and she never tells me, because she knows there would be a row in the house. But I hear it from others, and tax her with it, but she always denies it, I would have brought the case to court long ago, but my mother, although she is poor, is a lady, and would not come here. She prefeis to keep her little misfortunes to herself. This morning mother, in her meek, quiet way, asked this man, her husband, for some money for soap to wash the clothes with, or for some other household purpose. He told her she could not have ii, and made some taunting remark about her pride in keeping clean. Mother never answers him back, for she knows how cross and rough he is. He said much more to tantalize and make her reply, but she would not, and then his anger got the better of him. He hit mother in the face with his list. It was the first time ho ever dared to do it in my presence, and I was determined it should be the last. I told him a poor } weak, sickly woman was no match for him, and that he should protect himself as I intended to give him a right good thrashing. He did try to protect himself, but without success. If I havo broken the law I don't object to being punished, provided that man is put where he will not be able to whip my mother until I come back to take of her." Judge Wandell said, "Young man, I am proud to see that you love your mother and are anxious to protect her, but your violence towards your father has been of a vigorous character. Try and keep your hands oil your father; but, in any event, protect your mother from injury. Xou may go."

The annual cost of funerals in London is estimated at over a million of money. A ton of ice is used every night in cooling the air pumped into the House of Commons.,,

A new lamp has been patented for taking photographs at night, in which bisulphide of carbon is burned in peroxide of nitrogen. It is said to equal sunlight in its effects and intensity. Some idea may be formed as to the enormous extent of land required to grow trees for building and other purposes in Europe alone, when it is stated that no less than 500,000,000 acres are at present estimated to be in cultivation as woodlands. This is a very large per-centage on the whole area.

As illustrating the great want of house accommodation, we may mention, says the Wanganui Evening Herald, that a number of people have turned their fowlhouses, and in some instances even pigsties, into habitations, and let them at rentals that will prove far more remunerative than either fowls or porkers. These hovels may do for summer, but it is to be hoped that ere winter comes on something better will be found. From 1850 to 1870 the declared value of British produce and manufactures, mineral and metallic, was from about 14 millions sterling to 43£ millions, the iron and steel in the last-mentioned year being valued at £21,675,218, or four times what it was twenty years previously ; machinery and mill-work to nearly six millions; aud hardware and cutlery to nearly four. The value of coal, coke, and patent fuel exported in the same period increased from £1,284,224 to £5,638,370.

In an article on Sir George Grey's petitions, the Otago Guardian writes: —" As a matter of fact, Sir George will draw to his side all the grumblers and bilious politicians, and so reinforce the ranks of the Provincialists. We wish him joy of his recruits. Very differently has he treated the question of the Upper House. He has made out a strong case for remodelling the constitution of that Chamber. In this he will have many followers. Many will also agree with him that there is room for improving the basis of representation. The general public will perhaps feel inclined to pass a vote of thanks to the man who founded the Constitution for his past services in their behalf, and for his present well-meant effort to benefit them. With these advantages, aud the amiable recruits aforesaid, Sir George will have to rest contented. His last effort has not done much for the cause of Provincialism."

The Courrier de Mostaganem relates that an important discovery has just been made in the Plain of Chelir', where the engineer Dormoy is now executing the soundings required for the construction of a bridge on the route of lukermann to Mazouna. After having passed through a stratum of clay about twenty-one metres thick, the borer was penetrating a bed of sand, when suddenly a jet of water sprang out of the ground to a height of four yards above the bed of the river. The volume issuing from an orifice of five inches in diameter, gave from eleven to twelve litres per second, or about 1,000 cubic metres per day. Tubes are now being sunk to raise still higher the level of the ascending column. If the supply of water continues abundant, the whole of this desolate region will shortly be covered with rich cultivation. Up to this time the population has been unable to create any garden, having had to content itself with the stagnant water of the Chelif. A second sounding, made at thirty yards distance from the first, has produced a yield of twenty litres per second, without the volume of the other being perceptibly diminished.

The noble and highly aristocratic sport of horse-racing, as it was once considered in England, is in a decidedly bad way. " The Thanes fly from it." It is yet fresh in our memories that Sir Joseph Hawley, one of tlie most spirited and honorable patrons that ever gave countenence and active co-operation to " the turf," sold off his stud; and now we have another sad defection, which will bring sorrow to the bookmakers and the betting world. "The Marquis of Exeter," says the Times of the 4th August, "intimates his intention of withdrawing his subscription from the Stamford races after the season of 1874, and of devoting the stand and course to more useful purposes for the future." The ground of this determination is (as we collect from the article of which the above-quoted words from part) that horseracing in England has, from the various causes set forth, degenerated into a mere medium for gambling and demoralization, and that the old plea about the improvement of the breed of horses is at an end. Railways are said to be accountable for much of the decline, as enabling speculative turfmen to move "dark horses "about the country at pleasure, and thus to discourage the more local efforts, once common among farmers and other breeders, to raise fine stock for the local races. "Queen's plates" are proclaimed a farce, and are said to be doomed. There can bo no doubt that racing of late years has become a sport of which gentlemen are rather shy. The "horsey men" of the day are not remarkable either for refinement, education, elegance of manners and speech, or even for honesty. Their betting shops, studded throughout every large town in the country, are accountable for many a robbed till, and for many a defaulting clerk. Thus the turf has become a much more vicious thing than was the old lottery. Society is awake to the evil, and the Legislature is compelled to notice it. In the same impression of the Times which contains the account of the Marquis of Exeter's secession, is a report of somo "betting prosecutions at Birmingham," which shows, as most of such reports do, that the turf is now supported in England by a very equivocal style of patrons. " The book-makers," of course, take a deep interest in the whole subject, and under recent enactments are being rapidly mado much less happy than they were a few years back.