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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4383, 7 April 1875, Page 2

The Supreme Court criminal sittings were brought to a conclusion yesterday at a late hour, his Honor having used the utmost expedition throughout the two days’ proceedings, with the expressed object of economising the time of the jurymen, all of whom evinced a strong disinclination for duty, despite the munificent pay of 3s. a day awarded by the Government. The cases tried yesterday evolved no features calling for special comment, except it be that in two of them the absence of counsel on behalf of the pxisoners tried imposed a very invidious duty on his Honor, who had to watch their interests while preserving the impartiality of the Judge. But for his Honor’s intervention, the prisoner Wright would unquestionably have been found guilty, as the jury evinced an inclination in this direction by inquiring whether they could not find him guilty of a charge not laid in tiro indictment. His Honor, though he had previously expressed himself upon the gross nature of the fraud perpetrated by the prisoner, could not allow the jury to return a verdict which was bad in law, and the prisoner was acquitted, but was immediately re-arrested upon a similar charge, at the instance of Mr. W. S. Moorhouse. The other case included in the above allusion was that of Charles Cass, who was charged in the indictment with burglary. A burglary, however, can only be committed by breaking- into a dwelling house, aud as the building into which tiro prisoner had effected a forcible entry happened to be a brewery the indictment was bad. The case, notwithstanding, was allowed to go to the jury, who, having been instructed as to the Haw, returned a verdict of feloniously entering, his Honor reserving a point for the consideration of the Court of Appeal as to whether the verdict under the circumstances could be upheld, In another case a man named Win. Watson, charged with larceny, was snatched from the grasp of the law by the able advocacy of Mr. Buckley. Prisoner had been in the employ of Mr. Brown, of Ohariu, and during their connection stole a sura of 12s. from the premises of his employer. A long course of watching aud waiting culminated in the prosecutor- openly taxing tho prisoner with the theft, but tiro admission was made under such circumstances that it could not be used against

him, and this point being seized upon and argued out with much acumen by Mr. Buckley, the case may be said to have fallen to the ground. The witnesses brought forward for the prosecution were subjected to a skilful cross-examination, and Mr. Buckley, won a victory in a case tvhich, of all those.on the calendar, a conviction was most certainly counted upon. The civil sittings of the Court begin next Monday. The attention of the railway authorities has been called—and not a moment too soon—to the statf of matters in the working department of the Wellington and Maaterton railway. A few days ago a change of arrangements was announced, and we had the satisfaction of informing our readers that, on and after the first day of the present month, five trains would rim each way, and four on Sundays. But v/e believe the salisfaction of the public would have been considerably lessened if they had been informed that the extra work was not to be performed without some risk t 6 themselves and great hardship on the employes. The change simply means—for no more men are employed —that the persons in charge of the trains and the station shall be at work for not less than thirteen hours a day, without interval for rest or food, without a “ seventh day of rest,” and without any holiday or compensation for this extra amount of work. The first result of the change was that the engineer—a most reliable and competent man who had worked the line from its opening, on finding his reasonable remonstrances treated with insult, resigned ; and was at once engaged by a private firm in town. The next employed did not find matters particularly agreeable, and resigned, or was suspended—it matters little which. The result was that during Monday night there was a hunt all over the city for some one to take out the train yesterday morning; and a very few minutes before the morning train started it was very doubtful whether there would be any morning train or no. An inquiry of some sort was held into the matter yesterday, at tha station, and we have no doubt the authorities will see to it; but we may at once say, without reference to the result of the inquiry, that it is perfectly preposterous to suppose that the traffic can be safely conducted with men working thirteen and fourteen hours a day, with no intervals for meals, with no holiday, and no Sunday off, for less money than laborers can earn by day work. And the public have this further interest in the matter. The contractor has now commenced the work of filling up that portion of the harbor which is in course of reclamation. His engine and trucks run over the line at all hours from the station at which the tracks are filled witli earth from Mr. Rhodes’ property, near Kaiwarra. The trains, therefore, which will pass along the line for a mile or more from the Wellington station will be doubled or trebled for the next couple of years. For these ballast trains the line has to be signalled as well as for passenger trains. We shall not, at this moment, enter further into the matter, especially as an inquiry—with the scope of which we are at present unacquainted—is understood to be going on ; but we cannot refrain from saying, as the danger to the public is imminent, that the state of matters at the Pipitea station requires instant and sharp dealing. The' annual meeting of the Wellington Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society was held in St. Andrew’s Church, on Monday evening last. His Excellency the Governor presided. The report and balancesheet were x-ead and adopted, on the motion of the Veu. Archdeacon Stock, who delivered an able and exhaustive address, dealing with the subject of religion, and combating the views and arguments as put forth by Professor Tyndall, the author of “ Supernatural Religion,” and other sceptic writers of note. Several reverend gentlemen afterwards discoursed eloquently on the same subject. The meeting recorded its appreciation of the efforts of the several office-holders and of the lady collectors, all of whom had labored with zeal worthy of the cause., .The following officers were appointed for the ensuing twelve months ; Patron, his Excellency the Governor ; President, the Veu. Archdeacon Stock ; secretaries, Rev. W. H, West and Mr. J. G. Holdsworth ; treasurer, Mr. J. Woodward; committee. Revs. J. Paterson, C. S. Ogg, J. Moir, W. Morley, J. B. Richardson, R. Ward, Messrs. D. Lends, J. Knowles, C. D. DeCastro, Cheesman, J. Smith, D. Mclntyre, C. P. Powles, B. Smith, W. Clark, J. Edge, and P. Leary. A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, the benediction was then pronounced, and the meeting separated. A meeting of the committee of the AVellington Benevolent Institution was held last night. There were present—J. C. Crawford, Esq., (chairman), the Bishop of Wellington, the Rev. B. W. Harvey, the Rev. W. H. West, Messrs. L. Levy, D. Lewis, C. P. Powles, and the Hon. C. J. Pharazyn. The following subsqriptions and donations -were received ;—His Excellency the Governor, .£lO ; the Hon. W. B. Rhodes, £lO ; Mr. E, Toomath, £2 25.; Mr. J. G. Allan, £1 ; Mr. J. Chew, £1 Is.; Mr. Raymond, 10s.; Mr. Lucas, 10s.; the Rev. E. H. Granger, £1 ; and the Rev. B. W. Harvey, £l. Several cases were relieved.

“ Still Waters Kim Deep ” was repeated last night by the Bates-Howard Company. It was pleasant to see that the public turned out well, for a better played comedy-has not before been placed on the boards of the Theatre Royal. Mrs. Bates, as “Mrs. Sternhold,” and Mr. Bates as “ John- Mildmay,” played with rare ability ; and they were ably seconded by Mr. Burford and Mr. Hydes, as well as by _ Miss Jessie Raymond. ' Nor can we omit to mention Mr. Hesford, Mr. Thorpe, and the other members of the company who are seldom mentioned, but to whose careful and intelligent acting not a little of the general success is attributable. “Still Waters” will be repeated this evening, probably for the last time ; and those of the patrons of the drama who have not yet seen the play, as performed by the Bates-Howard Company, should not fail to bo present. '. In October, 18H (says the Thames Evening Star), there appeared in a newspaper published in London, called the New Zealand Journal, and devoted to the interests of colonisation in New Zealand, a paragraph notifying the departure from London, in the barque Brougham, for Wellington, of a son of Mr. Thomas Allom, the eminent artist, is a cadet of the New Zealand Company. Few of our readers are aware that, in these days, to Mr, Ailom’s pencil the New Zealand Company owed much of its success, and New Zealand much of its popularity as a field for. emigration. The youth referred to, then, under sixteen years of age, is the present Receiver- of Cold Revenue and Mining Registrar at' Ohinemuri; and as an. illustration of the tendency of events to repeat themselves, we have’ now much pleasure in chronicling the departure of his son, not yet fifteen years of ago, from Auckland, on Thursday Last, as a cadet of the good ship Gloulora, bound for London. >We heartily wish him “ God speed," and success in the profession ho has chosen.

Mr. S. A. King, proprietor of tlie Licensed Victuallers Gazette and Sporting Record lias commenced proceedings against the proprietors of three up-country journals—th e Bendigo Independent, Ballarat Star, and Geelonfj Advertiser—for libel. The alleged libel is contained in the letter of ,tho Melbourne correspondents of those ■ journals of the 10th instant, in which Mr. King is charged with being the admitted author of “attacks” on Messrs. Ireland and Fen-all which appeared in the Gazette, and it is assorted that Mr. W. F. King (father of the plaintiff) had to pay over £OOO for his (S. A. King’s) defence in actions brought against him on account of these “attacks." Mr. S. A. King denies the truth of those statements, and hence the actions. Damages, we believe, are ■in each instance laid at £SOO.

A meeting of the Board of Education will be held to-day, at eleven o’clock, a.m. A telegraph station has now been opened at Geraldine, in the province of Canterbury. A good tuner is an acquisition in any society. An advertisement in another column intimates that Mr. W. Simons, formerly of Broadwood and Sous’ establishment, Ijondon, has arrived iu Wellington, and will be happy to set erring instruments right.