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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4443, 16 June 1875, Page 2

His Honor the Chief Justice will sit in chambers this morning at ten o'clock, and Avail afterwards sit in banco at eleven. The cases set down for hearing are—McKenzie v. Hall and Hirst, motion for decree ; Young v. Thomson, special case ; Bangitikei HighwayBoard v. Maunder, argument on demurrer; Miller v.. the Mayor and Corporation of Wanganui, argument on demurrer; Peat v. McKenzie, motion for decree; Hughes v. Ellis, special case ; and Walker v. the Greytown Local Board, special case on appeal from the decision of the Resident Magistrate at Greytown. The following cases, in which rules nisi are made returnable at the present sitting' of the Court, will also be argued :—Somerville v. Groves, Whitlock v. Parsons, and Krull v. Knight. Yesterday an illustration was afforded of the convenience resulting from the clause in the Resident Magistrates' Act providing that evidence may be taken at one court and forwarded for ÜBe in the trial of a cause at a court in another district. Mr. G. H. Tribe is suing Mr. Watt of Wanganui, and rather than incur the expense of a trip to that town, he gave his evidence before J. C. Crawford, Esq., Resident Magistrate. Defendant had instructed hiß counsel, Mr. Travers, and that gentleman appeared to cross-examine. This arrangement, however, would prove rather inconvenient if rebutting evidence were required at the trial. The adjourned licensing meeting was held yesterday at the Resident Magistrate's Court, when those applications that had been postponed f roni the previous meeting were disposed of. The principal discussion was upon the application for a license for Messrs. Cattell and Diamond's National Hotel, the building of which ha 3 only recently been commenced. Mr. Buckley, who appeared in support of the application, quoted the action of the Christchurch Bench, as strengthening his contention that the Commissioners had the power to license an unfinished building. The Bench, however, took the opposite view, and holding the wording of the Act to be explicit on the subject, refused the application. A written expression of sympathy, emanating frem a number of gentlemen who believe Mr. Pilkington to have been harshly dealt with in the recent school case, ia to be presented to him. Amongst the signatures already appended to the letter are those of the Protestant Bishop of Wellington, the Ven. Archdeacon Stock, the Rev. B. W. Harvey, Dr. Johnston, Mr. J. E. Fitz Gerald, Mr. T. Bowden, 8.A., and Mr. J. H. Brand. The address will remain at the Athenaeum for signaturo after eleven o'clock on Thursday. We perceive from our Marlborough exchanges that the nomination for the Wairau will take place at Blenheim to-morrow, and the polling on Monday next. According to a Taranaki paper the number of summonses issued against Mr. Billing re the removal of the Paterson, iB even greater than we mentioned, being twelve, J

The funeral of Mrs. Valentine, which took place yesterday, was attended by about 150 persons, most of whom were old residents in the city, who were present as a mark of respect to the family, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine ranking amongst the pioneers of the province: A traveller by the Wairarapa coach has requested us to direct the attention of the road authorities to the very dangerous state of the bridge on the Featherston side of the Rimutaka (which bridge on a previous occasion broke down under the weight of a waggon laden with furniture). At the present time a large hole exists in the planking at the side, into which a horse might put his foot, might scare passengers and endanger lives. There was a very fair house at the Theatre Royal last evening to witness the reproduction of the comedy, " Paul Pry," and, as on the previous evening, the various characters were well played. An amusing farce, "A Dead Shot," was the concluding .piece. For this evening a great bill has been prepared—Shakspere's famous comedy, "Much Ado About Nothing." This is one of those pieces that can be sat out times out of number without leaving an impression of weariness on the mind. New points can ever be seen, and fresh beauties, in the shape of choice language, nicety of expression, and originality of thought and wit discovered in every line. The company are thoroughly well up hi their respective parts, and a first-rate exposition may be anticipated.

At a meeting of the Wellington Benevolent Society held yesterday, the members present were—Mr. J. Woodward (in the chair), the Ven. Archdeacon Stock, Rev. Mr. Morley, Rev. Mr. West, and Mr. C. P. Powles. A sum of £5, remaining over from the Cyrus Relief Fund, was paid in, as also were the following sums collected by the Ven. Archdeacon Stock : —W. and G. Turnbull and Co., £2 25.; Krull and Co., £i 45.; Mr. E. Pearce, £lO 10s.; Kirkcaldie and Stains, £1; Mr. Moeller, £1 ; the Ven. Archdeacon Stock, £1 Is. ; Mr. Jackson, Union Bank, £2 2s. Quarterly subscriptions—Mr. Tustin, 10s.; and .Mr. Sloan, 10s. A number of cases of distress were relieved, and a deputation appointed to wait upon Bishop Redwood to lay before him the claims of the society, and obtain his cooperation in furthering the objects it has in view. The work of the society being of a character in which all distinctions of creed are kept out of view, there is little doubt the support of the Roman Catholic clergy will be readily accorded. Messrs. Powles and Woodward were the gentlemen appointed to wait upon Bishop Redwood.

There are various ways of passing comment upon the actions of those whose supreme privilege it is to impose rates upon their fellowcitizens. The body politic in public meeting assembled is extravagantly clamorous in denouncing its municipal individual members of the community. Sometimes they mildly expostulate with the collector; and others, stern of will, ejaculate mentally that they won't pay, and they don't — until they are taken into court and payment becomes compulsory. A waggish ratepayer, more philosophic than the rest, yesterday made an original and forcible commentary upon the excessive rating of the city. A neatly prepared parcel, addressed "W. Hester, Esq.," awaited the arrival of the Town Clerk at his office yesterday. Upon opening it a piece of paper, upon which was the following inscription, met his gaze : —" My rates have exhausted my cash. Here's the coat off my back." The sagacious ratepayer was not a greater loser than the City Council was a gainer by the present, for the garment had seen a tolerable amount of service. But the point of the joke was there all the same. The popularity of Dr. Carr's seances was indicated by the large attendance at the Odd Fellows' Hall last evening. After an initiatory lecture, Dr. Carr manipulated the crania of a iiumber of persons, who mounted the stage for the purpose —amongst them one or two well known citizens—and detailed their personal characteristics with great, exactness. The biological portion of the seance created amusement, and brought the entertainment to a close. Jin entiroly now programme will be submitted this evening. Our contemporary, the New Zealand Herald, had a piece of original writing in its issue of the Bth instant, in which it endeavored to prove that Sir George Grey's letter to the Wairarapa Standard must have meant something altogether different from what we made it out to mean. The letter, which has obtained such wide circulation, and been so serviceable to our spirited up-country contemporary, had not then reached Auckland. We need hardly add, that as the Herald's commeuts were original they were inaccurate. We did not, in any sense, misrepresent Sir George, as Auckland readers of his now famous epistle have long since been able to judge. Our admiration of Sir George Grey is quite as great, aud our respect for his character quite as sincere, as the Herald's can possibly be, but we cannot shut our eyes to his palpable blunders.

In an unostentatious way the Acclimatisation Society is doing, good work for the province. During the past year no fewer than 800 birds of various lauds have been turned loose in different divisions of the province, and arrangements are being made for a further supply. By the last trip of the Albion the society received' six hares from Melbourne. These were forwarded up country to be turned loose, but' unfortunately three of the number died on the journey and one escaped.. The remaining two were turned out' all right, being in good condition at the time, and hopes are entertained that an increase will be noted before long. The society at its next meeting will discuss a proposal to fix a scale of rewards to be offered to persons giving evidence which, shall lead to the conviction of offenders who destroy imported game. The adoption of some ■preventative measures is an absolute necessity, as there is reason to believe.that the society's, efforts are neutralised to a'.great extent by the destruction of animals and birds imported at great expense. Active steps have nob been taken for a month or two past, in consequence of the absence of Mr. Travers at Napier, and from other causes, but offenders may rely upon it that once detected they will be punished " with the utmost rigor of the law." A well-attended meeting of those in favor of playing a cricket match with the combined Melbourne and Sydney team took place yesterday evening at the Empire Hotel. Mr. Bromley occupied the chair. A letter received from the Melbourne Cricket Club having been read and fully discussed, it was resolved, — " That it is desirable that a match be arranged to be played in Wellington with the Australian team, in accordance with the terms of the letter received." A provisional committee was formed, eonsistingof the secretaries of the various cricket clubs in Wellington, and the following gentlemen—Messrs. Buchanan, Marchant, Mason, Webb, Jackson, Knapp, Werry, Kaye, Barton, Lowe, W. Sahnon, Dees, Rous Marten, Mace, J. Salmon, Bishop, Russell, Bock, and Armitage, with power to add to their number. Mr. Werry was appointed secretary to the provisional committee. A deputation consisting of Messrs. Mace, Werry, Lowe, and Stevenson were empowered to wait on the trustees of the Cricket Ground, in order to ascertain what steps they would be prepared to take as regards the improvement of the ground in antieipation of the contemplated visit. The secretary (Mr. Werry)' was desired to at once communicate with the Christchurch, Duuedin, Auckland, and Nelson cricket clubs with a view to ascertain what action they proposed taking in the matter, and also to invite the co-operation of the various clubs in this province. The Marlborough Express says :—" We learn that Mr. Stevenson, mail contractor between Picton and Blenheim, has received notice to discontinue carrying the mails, which indicates an early completion of the line. The opening was fixed for 10th June, but owing to the late rains having done a little damage at several points, notably at the water openings between Grove Town and the Opawa, the opening has been postponed for three weeks further. Mr. Rotherham, the traffic manager, has arrived in Picton, in readiness, and the stations are being pushed forward as fast as possible. We understand that the long-looked for tenders for the extension of a line to Blenheim will be called

for in the course of the next three weeks, consequently we may yet hope to have the pleasure of riding from Blenheim to Pioton within the next twelve months,"

Mr. Robertson, of the Phcenix Foundry, Old Custom House-street, has in his yard a large Cornish boiler, recently constructed for Mr. Lawrence, MungaroaJ Saw Mills. The length of the boiler is about 20ft., and its diameter sft., flue 3ft. The boiler is fitted up with a steam dome. The complete,workmanship reflects greatj credit on our local engineers.

The ship Gleudale, from Demerara, lately entered the West India Docks, London, with a cargo of 717 hogsheads and tierces, 231 barrels, and 2298 bags of sugar, 263 puncheons of rum, 9000 cocoanuts, 330 bundles of sticks, and numerous packages of sundries. . The whole was landed within one day and a. few hours from the time the vessel passed into dock. She commenced unloading on a Tuesday afternooD at 3 o'clock, and was' finally discharged on the Wednesday following, the entire cargo being weighed, sampled, and ready for the Thursday's market. A new sisterhood in the shape of a Grass Widows' Association has been established on Woods Point (says the Walhalla Chronicle), for the purpose of protecting those who have been deserted by their worst halves, and the co-operation of deserted sisters is earnestly asked for.