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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4357, 8 March 1875, Page 2

The Cyphrenes—so far as we have been informed by telegraph—had not reached Auckland from San Francisco, with the mails, when the telegraph office closed yesterday. The Cyphreneß was not docked at Sydney on her last voyage, through pressure of time, and therefore she is performing her present voyage under disadvantageous circumstances. Another supplement to the Gazette of Thursday, was issued on Saturday. It contains a proclamation revoking that dated 27th of February, 1873, prohibiting the importation into New Zealand of all cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, and the carcases, skins, horns, hoofs, and every other part thereof. Another proclamation assigns the Northern district to Mr. Justice Gillies ; the Canterbury district to Mr. Justice Johnston; and the Otago and Southland district to Mr. Justice Williams.

Our own copy of the Australasian of the 20th February has not reached us, but wo understand that the editor decides in the case submitted to him, as to the late projected race between the Stella and the Dolly Varden, that the' bets go with the stakes. Those who backed the Stella are, therefore, the winners. It will be remembered that the Dolly Varden, being unable to race owing to the absence of one of her crew, forfeited the stakes to the Stella, desiring "no race"; while the Stella claimed to race,, and pulled over' the course, claiming "a race." We should like to see the case submitted to the editor of the Australasian.

As yet there are only three cases down for hearing at the criminal sittings, to commence on the sth of next month, namely, Thomas Ellis, horse-stealing; Anne Miller, concealment of birth ; and "Watson, obtaining goods under false pretences. The case against Spiller alias Halley, for forgery, to be heard this morning at the Resident Magistrate's Court, will probably add to the above list. The list for trial at the Wangauui sittings, which begin on the 26th of April, presents a more formidable array, as follows :—W. L. Warren, forgery ; T. 0. Hammond, cattlestealing ; D. S. Lyell, embezzlement; 11. Dillon, indecent assault; Owen Igoe, assault with intent to murder ; and William Billings, indecent assault.

Some very sharp practice has arisen out of the Somerville-Groves case, which has occupied a good deal of Mr. Crawford's attention during the past few weeks. The case, it will have been observed, ha 3 been fought from first to last with all the acumen which counsel on either side could bring to bear. The clients were no doubt exasperated, and determined to fight the fight to " the bitter end." Possibly no more hangs upon the issue than the honor of victory, but the lawyers appear to have become imbued with the spirit of their clients, and all the forms of law—even the ponderous machinery of the Supreme Court itself—has beeu moved to decide this eventful suit about " the social landau." While Somerville has been trying the case iu the Resident Magistrate's Court here, Groves is trying it in the District Court of Otago. But the fiat of the Supreme Court shuts the mouth of the Judge of the District Court, and directly after the decision of Mr. Crawford, oh Thursday last, Mr. Travers (for Somerville) applied to the Clerk of the Court, Tinder the 16th section of the Real Estate Act, for the issue of a certificate causing judgment to be issued out of the Supreme Court. The certificate was issued, but the action was hasty, for section 100 of the Resident Magistrates Act, 1867, allows three days within which, under certain conditions, an appeal may bo made against the decision of a Resident Magistrate. The three days in tho Somerville-Groves case do not expire till to-day, but Mr. Hutchison (for Groves) made an application on Saturday, for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, which' was granted, and thus, by cutting the ground from under Mr. Travers's feet, clearly checkmated him. What the upshot of this interesting ease may be none, not even lawyers, can tell. By the steamer Rangatira, which arrived from the East Coast yesterday morning, news is to hand concerning the wrecked steamer Pretty Jane. She had been successfully floated, and on Thursday last was towed by'the steamer Southern Cross (belonging to the same line) from the Big River to the mouth of the Turanganui stream, which she was to have entered on the following morning. About forty natives assisted in the work of digging the sand out of the vessel's hold, which was cleared in one tide. The rents in her bottom were temporarily patched with sheet-iron and sacks, but the pumps had to be kept constantly going to keep her afloat. All the vessel's iron bulwarks had been washed away, her cabin has suffered to such ' an extent as to be entirely useless, and altogether she presents, it is said, a most dilapidated appearance. , Telegraphic communication botween Wanganui and Wellington was interrupted on Saturday, last, by the breaking of the wire. Communication was restored by yesterday morning.

The addreßS of Sir George Grey to the electors of the province of Auckland, in the contest for tho Superintendency, will he found in our telegraphic columns.

" Mr. and Mrs. Bate 3 and company, after a_ successful season at Napier, returned to Wel-_ lihgton early yestejrdaymornhW, by thesteamer -Rangatira. . ! f!- j -,1 MivA shock of earthquake, iastingseveral seconds,aild said to be severe,.was : ,felt, by some residents in this city, at 5.29 yesterday morning. Others were happily unconscious of the occurrence of any such phenomenon. '• Sarah Mitchell, a vagrant of some standing (according to the records of the Court), was on Saturday sentenced at the Resident Magistrate's Court to one month's imprisonment for drunkenness and vagrancy. It is intimated, through a supplement to the Gazette, that the native title, to. the.islet near Cape Maria Van Diemen, which has now been reserved as a site for a lighthouse, and other purposes of the Government, has been extinguished. The Itev. Charles Clark left Wellington on Saturday afternoon for Canterbury in the steamer Wellington. A number of the many friends he had made during his short residence in" this city assembled on the wharf to bid him " God speed." A trial of speed between the steamers Rangatira and Southern Cross took place on Thursday last. The vessels left Poverty Bay together, but the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company's boat soon proved herself the fastest, and arrived at Napier after a passage of ten hours, beating the Cross by two hours and twenty minutes.

We are glad to see that the fund for building the proposed new Church of St. James, at the Lower Hutt, is gradually increasing. Elsewhere in our columns it will be seen that the treasurer desires to acknowledge, among other sums, the receipt of £153 Bs. 7d., the net proceeds of the late parish fete. The arrival and departure sheet-posted at the telegraph office was again on Saturday last in a pretty muddle. It was worse than useless, for it misled. The compiler had not paid the slightest regard to the sequence of dates, which followed each other on the sheet in the following order: 6th, 6th, 6th, sth. A hurried observer would naturally take the sth as being the last date which the sheet recorded, and would likely return twice or thrice before he discovered the error. The Easby, which left Napier on Saturday last, for Wellington, was not noticed.

The proprietors of the Auckland Evening Star are enterprising newspaper men. They have begun to employ females in the printing room of the Star, and though their arrangements in this respect have brought about a quarrel-with the Typographical Association, it does not seem to have affected then - intention to persevere—which is paraded somewhat loudly. But this dispute notwithstanding, they have resolved on starting a new journal on the Ohinemuri rush, to be called the Ohinemuri Times, and another at Hamilton, to be known as the Waihato Mail,

The luck of Esculapius ! Here is a start for an enterprising member of the faculty in pursuit of fortune. The Masterton people want a doctor. A practice of £IOOO a-year (probably) and .£250 as a bonuf to start with. About the £IOOO a-year it might be difficult to furnish any irrefragable data, but the £250 is in the hands of a committee of townspeople, to be handed over to the first '• duly qualified" practitioner who may chance to guide his steps that way and settle. Masterton is a busy, bustling, thriving town. It has hotels equal to those of the Empire City, it is not behind in the way of public halls, it has lots of trade, a splendid back country to support it (to which; of course, the practice -would extend), and it is now ambitious to have a doctor "all its own." How fortune smiles on science of the sawbones kind at times.

The s.s. Otago arrived in the harbor yesterday afternoon, after a smart run of about sixteen hours from Lyttelton, which Bhe left at midnight. The many friends of Captain John McLean regretted to find that his familiar face was not to be seen as the ship came alongside the wharf. The vessel, in fact, comes down in charge of Mr. Whitburn, formerly first officer. Captain McLean, we learn, found himself once more attacked, just before the sailing of the Otago, by his old enemy the gout, made more troublesome by a swelling of the legs. This was the more vexing, as, Mrs. McLean and a uai*ty of friends would htvvo accompanied Captain John. It is to be hoped that next voyage the Otago will come down with her old captain—the Commodore of the fleet—in command.

Beda had an encouraging house at the Odd Fellows' Hall on Saturday evening, and went through his various feats on the trapeze, his comic songs, dances, &c, with success. He was especially great in the bicycle racing, in which he was assisted by Mr. South, the local champion, and other amateurs, who acquitted themselves well. This evening the bicycle, riding will be made a great feature, and a prize cup of some value will be offered to the best amateur rider who comes forward. This should draw a crowded house, and afford great amusement.

Sergeant Price, of the City Police, effected another smart capture yesterday, the object of his chase on the present occasion being a young man, named John Spiller, who on Saturday succeeded in passing a cheque for £2i, drawn upon "E. W. Mills and > Co." The " and Co." addenda to the style of Mi - . Mills's well-known house would have aroused the suspicions of any tradesman to whom tho cheque might have been presented, but the prisoner presumed upon the innocence of a man named James Whithair, who was with him in Osgood's Metropolitan Hotel, and having secured the cash, immediately made his way on board the barque Zelia, which vessel he fondly hoped would get the fair wind she was waiting for to take her to Newcastle. It was Sunday morning before Sergeant Price got on his trail, and on board the barque the search was long and tedious, although the captain and officers knew the prisoner was on board, and offered every facility toward his discovery. But the crew took up the cause of the fugitive, and had stowed him away in the lazarette amongst a miscellaneous assortment of paints, old sails, oils, tar, &c, whence he was brought forth in a very perturbed state of mind. On being taken to the lock-up he stated his age to be twenty-one, and correspondence found upon him proved his name to be Halley, not Spiller. He will appear at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning. The Ilawke's Bay Herald, of the 6th instant, in noticing the last performance of the Bates company in Napier, says :—" The Bates Star Company gave their farewell performance last night, to a fair although not crowded house. The programme comprised ' The Marble Heart' and the comedietta entitled ' The Loan of a Lover,' both of which pieces were performed in a manner entirely satisfactory to the audience. The company took their departure last night by , the Rangatira for Wellington. The Star Company has rendered itself extremely popidar in Napier, and we wish its members every success in their future career."

It is a curious circumstance, remarks the Southern Oi-oss, that there has been during the past year a decrease in the gold yield of the three principal gold producing colonies of Victoria, New Zealand, and New South Wales. In New Zealand the yield of gold for last year was 376,388 ounces, or nearly 129,000 ounces less than that of the previous year. Still this reduced as it was, was about 133,000 more than the produce of New South Wales for 1874, which also exhibits a considerable decline as compared with its own former returns. The same thing is observable in Victoria, though to a less extent proportionally. While both New Zealand and New South Wales exhibit a decline of almost one-fourth in each case, Victoria, whose production is considerably larger than both, shows a falling off in the past year of only about one-eighth. It is evident that men are turning their attention more largely than hitherto to other occupations than those of gold-mining; but we do not doubt that in all the three colonies a period of revival will come ; and people are strongly hoping to behold its advent here in Ohinemuri.

The people of Waiapu are petitioning the General Government to subsidise one of the vessels of tho Auckland Steam Navigation Company, ,that she may visit their port.

.. Hapimaui, a chief of Orakei, recently fell from his horse, and so injured his spine that he : died two days after the accident.

j The first two casks of petroleum from the oil .wells of Poverty Bay have reached Gisborne.;

The next sittings of the Supreme Court at Dunedin have been postponed from the sth to the 12th of April. As the whole of the different printing offices in town, Bays the New Zealand Herald (Auckland), are engaged in printing the superintendency roll, we may fairly estimate that the work will be fully completed in the first week in April so as to enable the General Government to have the superintendency election in that month.

Mr. W. L. Kees, of Auckland, is a candidate for a seat in the Council of that province, vacated by Mr. P. A. Phillips. The Star writes of him :—Although Mr. Rees' habit of plain speaking has given him no inconsiderable number of enemies, we believe the body of the people would like to see such a man in public life, and we have no hesitation in saying that in the discussion and settlement of public questions he will not only show that fearless independence which is characteristic of him, but will make his mark on public affairs.

We regret to learn, says the Auckland Stay; that Colonel Macdonnell—who has been for the past few years negotiating land purchases in the North—leaves to-day for Wellington, with the intention of transfering his services elsewhere. Colonel Macdonnell has been very successful "in his transactions with the natives, and has been the medium of removing all difficulties in the acquisition of an immense quantity of valuable native lands in the northern part of this province by the Government. This land, owing to causes of various kinds, has not been formally transferred, but it is generally known that the whole work has been done by Colonel Macdonnell, and the work of transfer left for his successors. We are not aware to what particular duties he may be appointed elsewhere, but we know that Colonel Macdonnell bears with him the kindest and best wishes of all those with whom he has come in contact during his residence in this province. On an early day in the past week the foundation was laid of a new church for the Presbyterian congregation at Bull's, Rangitikei. The number of people who assembled on the occasion was the largest ever seen at Bull's. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. James Duncan, who for more than thirty years past has been laboring faithfully in the district as a missionary, and to whom the special work of the day must have been especially interesting. Contributions to the amount of £25 were laid upon the foundation, in aid of the building fund. A tea was afterwards given by the ladies, in the course of which a collection was made, and £25 more were contributed, making £SO for the day's work, which is considered a very satisfactory result. The Eev. Jas. Paterson, of Wellington, waa present, and took part in the interesting proceedings.