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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4316, 20 January 1875, Page 2

A report of the sittings of the Supreme Court in banco yesterday is held over for a day. A public meeting will be held in a few days, to consider the position of the Corporation finances, and to invite discussion upon the new wharf arrangements. It is understood that a requisition to call a meeting will be presented to Ids Worship the Mayor to-day. Despite a great amount of ungenerous opposition the San Francisco mail line seems to be rnuch more popular than the Suez route. The statement is borne out by a comparison of the number of letters and newspapers forwarded within the last few days by the Suez and San Francisco routes respectively. The Suez mail made up for the Tararua on Saturday last contained 696 letters and 377 newspapers. The San Francisco mail despatched by the Wellington yesterday contained 3893 letters and 2790 newspapers. These figures require no comment There were several murmurs of discontent yesterday amongst merchants and other* because a supplementary Suez mail was not made up for transmission by the Albion. The expectation was somewhat unreasonable, as, although the Albion could have caught the Suez mail steamer' had she been subsidised, there was yet time to despatch letters by the San Francisco mail, which did not close till noon. The Albion, nevertheless, proved of some service by taking a supplementary mail, consisting of 300 letters, to catch the San Francisco mail boat at Nelson. Out of seven candidates from the primary schools of the province for Wellington College scholarships, session 1875, only six presented themselves for examination, of whom the successful candidate was William H. Field, of Aromoho School, near Wanganui, he being closely followed by Rowland Sinclair of Taita school. A man named Galloway, a teamster, was brought in from the Pakuratahi yesterday morning and placed in the hospital, suffering from fractured skull and otherinjuries received through falling from his waggon. It is supposed that he fell off the shaft while the team was in motion, and was trodden on by one of the horses. He was only partially conscious when received into the hospital. On and after the first of next month (February), the following rule will be observed by H.M. Customs for ascertaining the quantity for duty of pverproof spirits in bottle :—Reduce the liquid quantity per case to gills, then multiply by the strength, and divide result by 1000, rejecting fractional parts when not exceeding, and charging an additional gill when exceeding, 500. From the Ist proximo, samples will be charged by Her Majesty's Customs on entry and payment a sample duty according to the following scale :—Spirits, 2s. 15d.; "wine, Is. 6d.; tobacco, Is. 6d.; cigars and snuff, Is. 6d. But the quantities to be delivered as samples are not to exceed the following:—Spirits and wines (in case), bottle ; spirits and wines (in cask), 3 gills ; tobacco, J-lb. ; cigars and snuff, J-lb. After a prolonged search the child of the woman McCartney, who has been committed for trial for infanticide at Greytown, was found on Monday in a well near the prisoner's residence. The evidence produced before the Resident Magistrate was of itself very strong, but the discovery of the body of the child—if it can be proved to he that of the woman—makes it very much stronger. The medical testimony showed that the child was born alive, and was ill-treated. The Soukar soiree will be the most successful thing of the kind ever attempted in Wellington. In addition to other novelties the ships' 'tween-decks will be lighted with gas, proper means being of course taken to secure ventilation. This is the first time gas has been used on board ship in Wellington, and this feature will in itself prove attractive. The Artillery Band seem to have entered into the matter with a whole heart, for some new music imported by the baud is to be reserved specially for this occasion. The Seamen's Union of England is likely to receive a pleasant reminder,of the Soukar's visit to Wellington, as the soiree is sure to leave a large balance for the benefit of the Union funds. Just before nine o'clock yesterday morning the signal staff on Mount Victoria indicated three steamers as inside the reef, and shortly afterwards they all showed round Cow Bay Point almost simultaneously. The sight was a very pretty one, the morning, which was very fine, enhancing the effect. The steamers proved to be the Albion from Lyttelton, the Taranaki from Picton, and the Stormbird from Wanganui. The Albion was the first to reach the vicinity of the wharf, closely followed by the Taranaki, but over half-an-honr elapsed, owing to the quantity of shipping lying at the end, before the passengers of either boat could land. . The Stormbird in the meantime ha 1 taken a berth at an inner T. The recent dry weather, and the greatly increased consumption of water for commercial as well as domestic U3es, has led to some apprehension that the supply at the reservoir will fall far short of the requirements of the city before the expiry of the summer months. As far as the actual supply is concerned, there is not the slightest ground for alarm, but at the same time it is a palpable fact that a great quantity of water is wasted daily in private houses in the lower parts of the city, and in those mercantile establishments which employ hydraulic lifts. The effect is to diminish the force and reduce the supply to those houses in elevated positions, whence arises the apprehension. Consumers, therefore, should use the water with judgment. The Corporation cannot prevent the wasting the water without expensive surveillance, and this of course is out of the question ; but there is still another means of preventing waste, viz., to allow the water to flow through the mains at certain hours only during the day. The hydraulic lifts undoubtedly waste a great [ quantity of water, and the only way to secure economy in this direction, is to gauge the supply and make the merchants pay. As to the actual quantity of water available, it has been ascertained by actual measurement that the quantity flowing into the basin daily, is 260,000 gallons, giving upwards of ■ thirty gallons per head per diem for a population of about .8,600. The flow of water ,in the stream exceeds this, but a portion finds its way under the stony bed untrapped and is lost, but steps will shortly be taken to preprevent this escapement. It is proved to demonstration that the present supply, with proper care, is amply sufficient for all purposes, but even if it should prove to be insufficient, the large reservoir, plans and specifications, for which will be before the public in a few days, can easily be made to contain 100,000,000 gallons of water. Those who have any doubt about the matter will see that the means of preventing scarcity rests with the citizens themselves.; The remedy does not demand self-denial. All that is required is ordinary care. The value of the English exports to New Zealand for the month ending on the 4th of November, amounted to £45,900 The amount exceeded the value of the exports to Queensland, which was £35,200 ; but fell far short of the exports to Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, which amounted respectively to £592,000, £395,000, and £133,900. The exports to Tasmania are set down at £25,300. The riflo representatives from Wellington and the South sailed in tho Wellington yesterday for Auckland.

Miss Lambert, of the English Opera Company, was a passenger by the Easby from Port Chalmers for Sydney. It will be observed from an advertisement in another column, that special arrangements have been made for the running of the trains on the Hutt line on Anniversary Day. The Lower Hutt Fete will take place on Friday, the 22nd inst., when evei'7 arrangement will be made to receive friends and visitors from Wellington. An attractive programme has been prepared for the occasion. Miss May Howard and Mr. Collier, accompanied by a full company of theatricals, were passengers from Auckland to Christcburch, by the steamer Taranaki, which arrived from the North, and sailed again yesterday for the South. Several London journals, we remark, have published leaders on Air. Vogel's Polynesian scheme. The Times and Despatch are highly laudatory of his political career, but the Economist is strongly adverse to the commercial scheme. It may interest some of our readers, on the outlook for a business, to know that the Masonic Hotel, at Gisborne, Poverty Bay, is for sale. The proprietor, Mr. S. C. Caulton, finds it necessary to give his undivided attention to his large and valuable farm, Combermere, at Orrnond. We observe that since his marriage with Miss Isabella Carandini, Mr. Cotterell and his wife have ceased to be members of the Carandini Company, and they are now giving entertainments in Tasmania on their own account. They are assisted by Mr. Landergan as pianist At Launceston they were extremely well received. Mr. Andrew Young, we understand, has received ,by the barque Sunlight, from New York, large additions to his coaching plant. These include four new coaches, built by the well-known firm of Abbott, Downing, of Concord, New Hampshire, three sets extra running gear, and twelve complete sets of coach wheels (48), from the same firm, and six complete sets of harness for four, from the establishment of Hill. Victoria prosecutes her railway works vigorously. The railway to connect Maryborough with the trunk line at Castlemaine has lately been completed ; that from Ballarat through Creswick and Clunes to Maryborough is nearly finished ; the line from Melbourne to Sale has been commenced; and now a tender of £78,813 has been accepted for the construction of a line, twenty-nine miles in length, to connect Inglewood with Sandhurst. Madame Anna Bishop, who is now in Melbourne, was to give three concerts in the new Atheneeum Hall—on the 12th, 14th, and 16 h instant. Madame Bishop, it is said, ha 3 "lost nothing of that fresh and charming manner with which all the civilised world has been familiar these forty years." ; She is assisted by Signor Carmina Morley, a tenor; Mr. Beaumont Reed, a wonderful baritone ; and MrLascelles, an eccentric vocalist of rare powers. A surgical operation has recently been performed in Melbourne, says the Daily Telegraph, which, for skill and success, would do credit to any of the largest cities of Europe. The operator was Mr. J. G. Beaney, assisted by Drs. Brownless, Gillbee, Hewlett, and Teague. The patient," a lady from New Zealand, had been suffering for some years from a malignant tumour of the upper jaw, qndhad been operated upon for its removal. Soon after the operation it grew again, and that bo rapidly that in a very short time it caused a fearful deformity of the face, and the inward growth so filled up the mouth as to interfere seriously both -with the functions of mastication and speech. Having placed herself under Mr. Beaney, he decided upon removing the entire jaw, which he did in October last, assisted by the before mentioned medical gentlemen. The patient is now quiet recovered. There is no facial deformity, and her speech is perfect. Dr. Gillbee examined her a few days since, and pronounced hei cured. " A point of a good deal of interest, both to newspapers and their readers," writes the New York Nation of October 8, "will probably before long be submitted to the United States Court in this district, in the shape of an appli cation by the trustee in bankruptcy of the estate of Jay Cooke and Co., to set aside a contract made by that firm with Mr. Henry C. Bowen, the publisher and proprietor of the Independent (a religious newspaper), and to recover the consideration on which it wa* based. The contract provided that Mr. Bowen was to lend the use of his editorial columns and otherwise exert himself to promote sale of the bonds of the Northern Pacific railroad, in return for which he was to receive in bonds and stock a percentage on the amount of bonds sold through whatever channel, and he did actually thus receive 50,000d01. in bonds and 460,000d01. in stock, face value of course The trustee now repudiates this contract contra bonos mores, and asks that the bond and stock be surrendered to the estate. It possible that as between Jay Cooke and Mr. Bowen the contract would stand under the rule known to the lawyers as 'in pari delicto, potior est conditio defendentis,' which may be freely translated by saying that where there is rascality on both sides, the defendant may keep what he has got. The Court will, therefore, probably have to decide whether thf trustee stands morally in Cooke's shoes ; and. if not, whether the contract is immoral. II it decides the latter point in the affirmative, of course the bonds would have to be restored to the estate, for distribution among the creditors." .