Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4270, 26 November 1874, Page 2

The Wanganui papers state that two exten-sively-signed petitions have been forwarded to Wellington, in charge of Mr. James Eindlater of that town, for presentation to the Government. Both are respectably as well ns numerously signed, the one by Europeans and the other by natives, and both have the same prayer,—that the clemency of the Crown may bo extended, to Alexander McDonald. Those petitions have been presented to the Government, and their prayer will, no doubt, bo put before the Marquis of Normanby, when he assumes the responsibilities of office.

A meeting of the , City Council takes place this afternoon, at the usual hour—four o clock.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington, Dr. Redwood, is expected to arrive by the s.s. Albion this morning, and to land at ten o’clock.

The ■ cylinder plates and fastenings for the railway bridge’ at "Wanganui, are on hoard the barque Cordelia, which arrived yesterday from Liverpool via. Fort Chalmers.

The ‘Wangamii_ Jockey __Club are making great exertions this season to revive the sport of racing in that district. We hope they will he able to get up: a good meeting.

The New Zealand war medal has been given to Te Hapuku and Tafeha Te Moananui, two old and staunch chiefs of the East Coast, in recognition' of their services. The forthcoming social meeting of the Literary Association in connection with St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Willis-street, is fixed to take place on Tuesday evening next, the Ist of December.

An application was made to the Resident Magistrate, yesterday, by Mr. Frank Broughton, of the Criterion Hotel, for the temporary transfer of the publican's license held by him to Mr. J. R. Brown. The transfer was granted.

A singular coincidence, hut one not altogether creditable to the clan, occurred at the Resident ’ Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning. There three persons charged with drunkenness, all of whom rejoiced in the name of Williams.

The Vivian Comique Company, who have fora long time been playing in the city and province,of Auckland, have arrived in Wanganui, from whence they will, no doubt, work their way southwards. They have been very well spoken’of. Excepting the Patent Slip Company’s Perfect Cure, there was not a steamer lying in Port Nicholson yesterday, a circumstance which has not happened for many years. Today, probably, five will put in an appearance.

The wool clip for the present year is coming rapidly to hand. No fewer than 268 bales arrived yesterday from East Coast stations by the schooners Aurora, Aspasia, and Unity. The brigantine Enterprise, which is expected to arrive to-day, will probably bring about 150 bales.’

The address of Mr. Moorhouse, who has assented to the requisition lately presented to him asking him to allow himself to be placed in nomination for the Mayoralty, appears in another column. Mr. Moorhouse, we understand,' intends to address the electors of the city at a meeting to be held in each ward.

■. Complaint is made in the Wairarapa of the slowness with which the works of the Rimutaka tunnel are being prosecuted. It is said that at the present rate of progress the hill will not be pierced within the next four years, although the tunnel is only a third of a mile in length..

Before proceeding to the Ilutt yesterday, the Resident Magistrate disposed of the following cases :—Charles Cass, on a charge of vagrancy, waS remanded for a week ; Charles Williams, Janies Williams, and Thomas Williams, were dealt with in the usual maimer for having been drunk and disorderly ; and Patrick Gill, for vagrancy, was dismissed with a caution. On Monday afternoon the barometer in the North began to fall quickly, but the movement was not of so marked an extent as at first appeared probable ; gales from northwest were experienced at Auckland and Grahamstown, but the winds do not appear to have been so strong at any of the adjacent places. In the South Island the barometers remained at a low point during the , early part of the day, but towards evening a rapid increase of pressure took place, and southerly gales set in. About three o’clock yesterday morning a heavy thunderstorm, accompanied by vivid lightning and an unusual amount of ram, passed over the city, shortly after which the wind changed into the South, r«g seemod to be general throughout the colony. ■ To-day we are likely to see the unusual coincidence of the simultaneous arrival of the English'mail of the 2nd of October, via Suez, per Albion, from Melbourne, and the Californian mail, with American intelligence to the 12th of October, per Wellington, from Auckland, to which it was brought by the Wonga Wohga from Sydney, where it was delivered by the s.s. City of Melbourne. The Wellington brings no English letters, but only eight bags of American correspondence and one bag from Honolulu. The Albion is ex pccted to make a very fast run up from Lyttelton, and will probably be at the wharf in time to enable the mails to be sorted ready for delivery by business hours. The Albion has been subsidised by the Government solely to enable the merchants to reply by her to thenletters, so that a month may be saved. The Post-office authorities deserve credit for the arrangements they have made, which are all—and perhaps more than —the public could expect. . The supplementary mail for the Albion will close, as already announced, at five o’clock p.m. To enable us to give the English and foreign, and intercolonial and interpro.vinoial.news, as well as the law reports and local nows of the day, wo shall publish a supplement to-morrow morning. The disciples of Izaak Walton, who met with,.such ill success on the late Stormbird fishing excursion, will be afforded, on Saturday afternoon next, an opportunity of redeeming their reputation. As will be seen by advertisement elsewhere, Messrs. Turnbull and Co. have decided to despatch the handy little steamer. Napier on a fishing excursion to the Heads on that afternoon. The tide will commence to flow at two o’clock, and as it is well known that more fish are to be caught during the flow than during the ebb, intending excursionists .may calculate upon an afternoon of excellent sport. Three inmates of the Lunatic Asylum have been discharged cured during the present month, namely, one on the 14th, one on the 19th, and one on the 21st. The official visitors recently made a visit of inspection, and recorded having found the institution and everything connected with it in excellent order. They suggested,:in-a minute entered in the official visitors’ book, that, as the mains had reached the building, gas should be immediately laid on. With a view to economy and durability,, they also suggested that clothing and other articles necessary in the Lunatic Asylum' should bo ordered from England, several samples having been forwarded by the manufacturers to the colony for inspection. With a view to prevent the recurrence of a furze fire in the vicinity of the Lunatic Asylum, a gang of prisoners is at work on the grounds clearing the standing furze and stumps remaining from the late conflagration. The fencing appears not to be so much injured as was anticipated. Unless steps are taken by owners of adjoining property, it is feared this expenditure of labor will be almost useless, as the dispersion by the wind of the seed now ripening will make the evil as bad as before. An advertisement in another column gives the arrangements of the trains during the days of the forthcoming race meeting, on the Hutt racecourse. As it is difficult to convey an unlimited number of passengers by any one train, those who intend to bo present at the races should take advantage of the early trains; otherwise there is a‘probability of the 9.30 and 9.50 trains going, half empty, and moro than can be accommodated pretenting themselves for the 11.5 and 11.20 trains. Wo draw attention to an advertisement which will' bo found in another column of a proposed new building society, to bo known os the Second Wellington Building Society. The names of tjio directors are such as should give confidence to shareholders in such an undertaking ; the Secretary -Mr. Tribe, M.H.E.— is well-known, and the time seems to bo opportune for the launching of such an institution. An English ' trout has been taken in the river Wairoa, in the province of Auckland, that measured 17Aiu. in length and 17iu. in girth. This is a strong proof of the adaptability of English trout to Now Zealand waters.

The Rifle Association’s annual competition, we observe, takes place at the Hutt early in January. Competitors are notified that their subscriptions must be paid at Donecker’s Union Hotel on or before the last day of the present month. The three Courts of .Foresters met last night, and agreed to unite, as usual, for the purpose of holding a grand gala-day on the Basin Reserve on Boxing Day. We learn that it has been resolved to give prizes of more than usual value, and that the sports are likely to be even more attractive than ever they have been before. Intimation has been sent to England by the authorities of Hew South "Wales, we observe, to the effect that as no duty is now imposed in that colony on watches and jewelry, there is no longer any difficulty in the way of transmission of these articles through the postoffice. It appears to have given considerable satisfaction in Taranaki that two hundred immigrants, intended specially for that province, are now at sea on board the ship Achmet. They sailed in October, and will arrive at a season when there always is a good demand for labor. It is possible the Achmet may proceed directly to New Plymouth, but that is uncertain. On Friday evening the performances at the Theatre Royal will be for the benefit of Mr. Charles Massey, the well-known scene-painter. We mention this to-day, that his numerous friends may take steps to make his benefit—the first for ten years—a substantial one. Tomorrow we shall be able to say something of the bill of fare, which, we have no doubt, will be a good one. If the people of Wellington desire to keep good artists amongst them, they must reward them on such occasions as these.

Mr. Phelps, the son of the famous English tragedian, is said to have arrived in Melbourne, from London, by the Lord Warden, with the view of ascertaining whether an engagement can be made with the Theatre Royal Company for the appearance of his father on the boards of that house. Should Mr. Phelps be successful in his negotiations, he will immediately telegraph the result to his father in London. Gold, it appears, is known to the aboriginals of Central" Australia by the name of Lamarra. Some of the natives near Tennant Creek station on the telegraph line were lately shown a sovereign, and on seeing it named the mineral, and pointing to the westward made signs that there was plenty of it to be had there. The locality, however, is reported as being arid, water being very scarce. The South Australian Chronicle has the following paragraph ;—During the passage of the St. "Vincent one of the immigrants got into a most exhausted condition ; so low that it was considered almost a hopeless case, when the doctor, having studied the matter, resolved on injecting chloral. The result was highly satisfactory, inasmuch as the patient, who was supposed to be past recovery, is now in perfect health.

“Potatoes” are “potatoes” now in price if not in quality; and it is fortunate that the young crop begins to come into the market, for it would seem that it cannot depend any longer on the Hobarton market, from which considerable supplies have been derived, and to which the barque Malay was sent for another cargo some weeks ago. Erom the latest journals to hand from that city, we see that prime samples had risen to £7 10s. and £S per ton.

Writing on the changes reported by telegram as having lately occurred in the Provincial Executive of Auckland, the Thames Advertiser says :—“Some months ago it was reported that Mr. Reed desired to leave the cares of office, and thus relieve himself of the ‘ muzzle’ which had been placed upon him by his appointment as Treasurer, but the event was postponed until the proposed visit of the Superintendent and Mr. Sheehan to England brought matters tp a crisis. Mr. O'Rorke was lately taken into the Executive, but it is understood now that the object in doing that was to fill up_a plana during Mr. Williamson’s would resign his place in the Executive before the next meeting of the Council so as to preserve his situation as Speaker of that body. Mi-. Reed's resignation will be a strong reason in Mr. Williamson’s mind inducing him to forego his visit to England. Mr. Reed will do far more service to the province as a ‘free lance’ than he could ever hope to accomplish as Provincial Treasurer. Who his successor is likely to be the telegram does not state. There are several hungry members of the Council who will be in a very anxious state until the vacancy is filled up.”

It seems to be thought in Napier that there is a strong probability of the government of the Fiji Islands being offered to Sir Donald McLean. Speaking of the probable early resignation of his seat by Mr. Ormond, who desires to go to England, the Daily Telegraph of the 20th inst. writes :—“We look upon Sir Donald McLean's appointment to the governorship of Fiji as almost an accomplished fact, and any day we may be called upon to chronicle his departure from this colony. It is quite on the cards that the announcement of the retirement from the representation of Hawke’s Bay of both Sir Donald McLean and Mr. Ormond will'be made simultaneously; and this being so, we regard the omission at the recent dinner of all mention of the subject as somewhat peculiar.”

It was mentioned a short time ago that Mr. and Mrs. Bates, American artists, who have been playing successfully for some time in Australia, lately passed through Wellington, to fulfil an engagement in Dunedin with Messrs. Steele and Keogh: As they will in all probability visit Wellington before long, the public will be curious to know what is said in the South of these strangers. Noticing their performances the Dunedin Star remarks :—“ Despite an advance in prices there was a full house—the stalls and pit being crowded—at the Princess's to welcome Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Bates in “ Elizabeth,” the play in which they introduced themselves. It is new to a Dunedin audience, and Mr. Bates himself is credited with being its adapter. It abounds in highflown language, and the action is oftener melodramatic than tragic. But the. character of Elizabeth is one eminently calculated to demonstrate Mrs. Bates’s capabilities. To youth and good looks she adds undoubted dramatic ability of no mean order, and she dresses carefully and well. Her drawbacks are principally the peculiarity of pronunciation observable in American artists, and a rigid observance of stage business and mannerism. The peculiarity of intonation, though not so strongly marked in Mrs. Bates as in her husband, sounded rather disagreeable at first, but wore off considerably as the play proceeded. We liked her most in the second and fourth acts, though, judging by the increased applause, the final scene where, with the hand of death upon her, on hearing the populace announce with cheers the succession to the Crown of James of Scotland, she gathers up her remaining strength to proclaim that she is yet Queen —was the most taking with the audience. On the whole, it was a highly creditable performance, and can be seen again with pleasure. We regard Essex as about the most likely part to develop Mr. Bates’s powers." The fibre of *a wild Fijian native plant was lately cleaned and prepared for the market by Mr. Drew, of Levuka, who shipped it for London experimentally. It was sold there readily at a shilling per lb., and he has since been informed that there is a market there at the same price for as .much as ho can supply. This will be encouraging nows to those who looked forward to the probability of a large trade being done in the future with England’s now possession in the South Seas. The present price of both fat and store cattle is very high in this district, says the Waimrapa Standard. As much as 355. per hundred has been offered for prime fat cattle, and there is a good demand for store cattle. One or two buyers from Napier aro endeavoring to purchase the latter. One wants as many as 2000 head. Two months ago a small mob were driven 'from the Lower Valley to Hawke’s Bay, which cost from £3 to ii-1 per head in this district, and realised £7 when they got to the end of their journey.