PUBLIC MEETING IN WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 63, 16 March 1870, Page 3

PUBLIC MEETING IN WELLINGTON.

A very large public meeting has been held in Wellington, for the purpose of considering the case of Walter Tricker, now undergoing the punishment of imprisonment for life for the murder of Mr. Rayuer, of Rangitikei, some six years ago. The Hon. John Johnston having taken the chair, the following resolutions were unanimously carried: — "That this meeting considers that the reports of the two commissions'which have enquired into the circumstances of Mr. Rayner's murder, as well as the facts which have arisen since the trial, induce grave donbts as to the justice of the sentence under which Walter Tricker is now imprisoned." " That the meeting is further of opiuion that the principal witness against Tricier at the trial, has been shown to be unworthy of belief, and that the alibi set up by the prisoner has been affirmed, and, under these circumstances, considers that Tricker's detention is an infringament on personal liberty, contrary to the spirit of the English Constitution." A committee was then formed for the purpose of taking such steps as they may deem fit to secure Tricker's liberation, nnd with a vote of thanks to the Rev. Mr. Stock for his strenuous efforts to procure Tricker's release, and another to the chairman, the meeting separated. The next session of the Marlborough Provincial Council is called by Dr Muller for Thursday 24th inst. The Carandustis are performing with great success iu Christchurch. We hope that they are gradually making their way to Nelson. The purser of the s.s. Wellington has been sued by the Postmaster at Otago, - to recover a penalty for neglecting to deliver a mail package at Lyttelton. After a lengthy hearing the defendant was fined £20, with £9 17s costs. Fraudulent Bankrupt at Christ-: cnußCii. — Judge Gresson has just delivered the following sentence on a fraudulent bankrupt : —Jonathan Earnshaw, you have been convicted of omitting property from your statement with a fraudulent intent. The jury have paid every attention to your case, and you have been ably defended by your counsel. The offence of which you have been convicted is one which I am sorry to say requires severe repression, because it is becoming frequent in this district. I feel bound, whatever the decision of tbe Court of Appeal may be, to pass a sentence upon you now that will mark my determination, so far as in me lies, to repress th.se ' frauds by bankrupts who pass through this Court. The sentence of the Court is, that you, Jonathan Earnshaw, be im- ' prisoned in'the common gaol at Lyttelton for two years, computed from the first March instant, and that you be kept at hard labor. Bail was accepted, the bankrupt in £100, and two sureties in £200 each. Earl Granville's Policy is bearing its legitimate fruit in New Zealand. Since the Colonial Office cares nothing for that group of Colonies, they are beginning to reciprocate Imperial indifference. The Secretary of Stale for the Colonies says to the New Zealanders " Fight your own battles, gentlemen." The Pakehas reply "Pay your own Governor my lord. If Great Britain abdicates her supremacy in these islands, it is unnecessary to maintain the principal symbol of that supremacy. If you cannot spare us a few troops wherewith to put down rebellion, we must decline to pay for the support of the gentleman whom you have appointed to represent her Majesty in New Zealand, and in whose hands you have ' placed a barren sceptre.' " Accordingly, a memorial to the loeal parliament is in course of signature, requesting that the Governor's salary be transferred to the Imperial account, and that the ordinary supply for that purpose be passed for six mouths only, to give the Home Government an opportunity of determining whether it will defray that item, or withdraw Sir George Bowen. In the meanwhile the principal newspapers in the United States are watching the course of events in these Colonies with tbe liveliest interest, and are speculating on the arrival of a time when they will unite themselves to tbat power, or form themselves iuto an iudependent republic. —Australasian. A Real Want! —A Rocky Mountain editor, alluding to the demand for female suffrage, female doctors, aud female clergymen, remarks that another waut presents itself —that of female women.

One of the minor celebrities of the world, "General Tom Thumb," i.e. Mr. Charles Stratton is starring it in Melbourne, where he is accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Lavinia S. Stratton, her sister Miss Warren, and "Commodore" Nutt. In fact, the troupe constitute the actors in that curious scene enacted at Grace Church, New York, February 10, 1863, when the "general," himself the most celebrated dwarf living, espoused his wife, a lady of corresponding size, seeing that at the date of her marriage, being 22 years of age, she measured 32 inches in height, and weighed 291bs. All New York crowded to witness the spectacle, the effect of which was heightened by the presence, as bridesmaid and groomsman, of Miss Warren, the bride's sister, then 17 years old. 24 inches high,' and weighing 191b5., and of " Commodore" (George Washington Morrison) Nutt, then 19 years old, standing 29 inches iu high boots, and weighing 2411b5. Since their arrival in Melbourne, the appearance of Geueral Tom Thumb's carriage, drawn by small ponies, and driven by the Commodore's eldest brother, himself a very small size, has created much excitement. Mr. Qoilp's Landlady wishes she was a sheep that she might have but one washing day in the year.