OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4455, 30 June 1875, Page 3

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

(from oue own correspondent.) Auckland, June 25. Local news has been very scarce this last week, and the papers have depended on mail items for filling their columns. The political atmospher e is still full of the troubles of Auckland, Dr. Pollen and Sir George Grey forming the centres round whom all the interest revolves. The recent telegrams between these two gentlemen on the subject of the impounded capitation money have appeared in the Gazette, and been copied into the morning papers and extensively criticised. Nothing of consequence, however, is looked for till Parliament has met. With regard to Earl Carnarvon’s reply to the petitions on the Land Fund and Constitutional changes, it is thought by many here that Sir George has served a good purpose by sending them, inasmuch as he has elicited from the Secretary for. the Colonies the assertion that he has “ no intention of applying to Parliament for any legislation on the subject of the provincial institutions or the Crown lands of Now Zealand, and that no suggestion that such legislation is necessary has been made to him by or on behalf of the Government of the colony, or from any other quarter.” The telegrams re the progress of negotiations for the permanent mail service via San Francisco are eagerly looked for and perused when they arrive. By to-day’s batch we see that the Pacific Mail Company’s tender is the lowest, though that is only £SOO below the maximum sum. Presuming everything is en reyle, it may, therefore, be expected that another American company will work the line. The prospect is not at all viewed favorably in Auckland, though the claims of the Pacific Company are advocated by one section of the Press. 1 believe that it is generally allowed that the A.S.N. Company deserve some consideration for the way in which they have conducted the temporary service, and should there be anything like a close competition on the part of this company they ought to get the benefit of it. A San Francisco article, copied into the Cross, advocates the propriety of including Melbourne and excluding Fiji. The subject of street tramways is now occupying the attention of the City Council and the mercantile men of tho city. Additional prominence has been given to the discussion as to their practicability in Auckland by the arrival among us of Mr. W. E. Turner (a son of Mr. Ben Turner, an eccentric notability, and ono of our oldest settlers), who has returned from a long sojourn in San Francisco, where he became a naturalised American citizen. Mr. Turner seems to have studied tho subject of tramways in all its bearings, and pronounces very favorably of Auckland as a city where they would be a success. To tho objection that our inclines are too steep, he opposes the fact that the streets of San Francisco are- steeper than those

of Auckland, and tramways aro used in nearly all of them with safety. In Clay-street, for instance, the gradient is I in 6, and trams run as often as every two or three minutes. When Mr. Turner was relating his experience before the Council, the reporters were excluded. Why, nobody knows, as it is absurd to suppose that any harm would be done by the publication of his remarks. The Council has been terribly chaffed about it. Parodies of the examination appeared in print the next day, and then Mr. Turner, in a well-written and humorous, letter to the Star, gave what he guaranteed to be the substance of what passed. There is now a unanimous opinion that tramways, or more properly speaking street railways—the other term only applies to luggage oars according to Mr. Turner —should have a trial in Auckland. It is said that Mr. Turner is so confident of the innovation turning out a success, that he has determined to stay in Auckland with a view to talcing a prominent part in oai'rying out the scheme with Californian capital, should there ho an unwillingness on the part of our local capitalists to combine for the purpose. Since my last, we have lost the greatest man in Auckland. Mr. Thomas Macready, M.P.C., died on Sunday morning, at the ago of forty-eight, of dropsy and heart disease, and was buried on the following day, his funeral being attended by a large array of Freemasons, to which body he belonged, as well as by representatives from the Provincial Council and all our boards of local government. He was a member of the City Council, Harbor Board, Public Building Commission, Improvement Commission, and represented Newton in the Provincial Council. Everybody knew Macready. His enormous bulk—l believe he weighed nearly as much as the Tichborne claimant- -made him a proverb, while his outspoken and fearless attacks on existing abuses made him universally respected. He was a Scotchman, and landed in the colony in 1853, establishing himself as a watchmaker in Shortlaud-street. For many years he has taken a prominent part in public affairs, and several important reforms are partly duo to his exertions. In politics he was a provincialise His public zeal did not prevent him from attending to his private concerns, for at his death lie was possessed of a good deal of property. Considerable difficulty was expe-x-ienced in getting the coffin, which measured 6ft. in length by 3ft, high and 34ft. broad, into the hoarse. The funeral was witnessed by over 1000 persons. At a subsequent meeting of the City Council, a letter of condolence containing a high panegyxdc on the deceased was sent to bis relatives. Our legal record for the week does not involve much that is of colonial importance. On Tuesday Mr. Beckham settled a shipping case in the Distinct Court, which is of interest to importers genex-ally. Messrs. Ryan and Bell, merchants and importers, sued the captain of the barque Emily McLaren for £l4O, damages to some billiard-table slates brought out from England by that vessel. The plaintiffs’ receiver on the wharf said he noticed something wrong with the cases when they were sent ashore, but yet accepted delivery. Mr. Whitaker, for the defendant, put in evidence the bill of lading, which was on a form somewhat different from those generally used. By a clause in the tenns of shipment it appears that “ the ship is not liable for delays in delivery arising from inaccm-aoy, or absence of marks, numbers, or address of goods, nor for leakage, breakage, loss or damage by heat, sweat, rust, or decay, unless occasioned by improper stowage." Mr. Whitaker, therefore, claimed a verdict for the defendant, as no bad stowage was proved. The judgment was in accordance with this view of the case, with £l6 costs against the plaintiffs. It is thought that possibly the more absolute freedom of shippers from responsibility for damaged cargo may operate favorably in decreasing freights and increasing insurances. In the case of Williamson v. Pearse, in which a verdict for defendant was given at the last civil sessions, Mr. Justice Gillies has granted permission for the plaintiff to appeal to the Full Court at Wellington. The suit arises out of a misunderstanding in the terms of a lease, and is of little public interest.

The recollection of the Green Harp swindle, ■which was in everybody’s mouth three years ago was revived a few days ago by the release of Mark Sheehy, who was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for larceny of specimens in connection with the affair. He has served two years and nine months of his term,* and has had the third remitted for good conduct. The Star, following out its motto, says a good word for Sheehy. It expresses an opinion that he was merely the tool of clever rogues, who saved their own skins at his expense. Mr. Dargaville’s gum tax continues to provoke unfavorable criticism in the country distracts ; and in town it now meets with little support, owing to the facts becoming more generally recognised that the burden of the tax must in the end fall upon the digger, and that Manilla gum is fast superseding kauri gum in the American and Home markets. The Superintendent has been at the Thames all the week, receiving deputations and listening to mining grievances. Since the decision in the Tairua prospector’s case, great preparations are being made for working the ground. The latest reports are very encouraging as to the future of the field, and Auckland may receive a much-needed impetus from this quarter. The £2 shares of the Tairua Goldmining Company are at present standing at 10s. premium. A sad case occurred the other day. A poor fellow named Scott, a settler, at Pukekohe, was found in his whare in a dying state. He was brought up to the hospital, but died next day. He was pronounced by the doctors to be suffering from typhoid fever, and no inquest was held. How long the man had been ill, it is impossible to say. He was reduced to a mere skeleton when brought to town, and it is most probable he had been without food for nearly a week. In point of amusements, we are at present well supplied. Miss May Howard and the Collier troupe have just finished a successful season at the theatre, and their place is to be supplied to-morrow night by the Duvalli Company. The Wheeler and de Glorian troupe, with Lo-Lo, the flying fairy, are at the City Hall, doing- well ; while in the way of curiosities, we have the' two-headed calf and tho four-legged fowl. News from the country districts is unimportant. The floods have subsided in the North. By the bye, there is a rumor of gold having been discovered in the Mahurangi district.