New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, May 30, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 399, 30 May 1849, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, May 30, 1849.

The disoussions in the Council yesterday were chiefly on the Estimates. The salary of the present Post Master was increased to £200 a year, and the items for mounting seven of the police struck out. The motion for increasing Mr. Hoggard's salary was made by Mr. Hickson and seconded by Mr. Hunter, and unanimously voted, every member of the Council expressing his sense of the efficiency, the unremitting attention tojhe duties of his office, and the desire uniformly shown by Mr. Hoggard to* promote the convenience of the public. In these well merited commendations his Excellency fully concurred, observing that he had recommended Mr. Hoggard to the Governor-in-Chief for the office ok Deputy Post Master General of this Province, but that the office remained vacant for the present, as instructions on this subject were expected 'from the* Home Government. This led' to a

further discussion in which Dr. Greenwood expressed a hope that this office would not be made a snug sinecure to provide for some, superanuated suitor, whose importunity it was difficult to get rid of in any other way, and concluded by moving a resolution to the effect that in the event of a head being required for this department, "long service and efficiency constitute a preferrable claim to promotion." This resolution was unanimously adopted, and will, we hope, receive due attention. If the Government expect to be well served, they ought to establish as a rule that an efficient discharge of duty constitutes a fair claim to promotion. Above all we hope that no attempt will be made, with a revenue inadequate to the expenditure of the Province, to establish any sinecures ; if such an idea was ever entertained, the strong expression of opinion on this subject by the Council will, we trust, cause it to be abandoned.

Theatricals. — On Monday evening a dramatic entertainment was given at the Barracks at Lambton-quay, in which the characters (both male and female) were sustained by some of the men belonging to Captain O'Connell's Company, 65th Regiment. The hoose was a bumper, being crowded by the soldiers of the regiment and their wives ; several of the officers also and their friends attended to witness the performance, and encourage and enjoy the praiseworthy efforts of the men in providing for themselves and their comrades an innocent and agreeable recreation. The scenery and decorations were the production of ths soldiers, and were exceedingly well got up, and the different characters were sustained with great spirit.. The first piece, the Child of Nature, in which the part of one of the heroines was represented by a grenadier, .was of rather a sentimental cast, but in the broad farce of the afterpiece, the Queen's Horse, the actors felt themselves more at ease, and evinced considerable humour in the personation of the characters ; in one of them, an Irish corporal, the actor was quite in his element, and kept the house in a roar of laughter. Several songs were sung between the pieces, which excited great merriment, and the entertainments concluded amidst the unbounded applause and enjoyment of the audience. We believe it is intended to repeat the performance.