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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4472, 20 July 1875, Page 2

Parliament will be opened to-day with the usual formalities. At 2 p.m. his Excellency wilt leave Government House, a royal salute being simultaneously fired from a battery to be placed on the reclaimed land. At the entrance to the House the Volunteer Artillery and the City Eifles will be drawn up as a guard of honor. Admission to the House will be by ticket only, such to be obtainable from the Speaker of the House. Information has been received by the Postoffice authorities with regard to the March San Francisco mail from New Zealand sent by the Mikado, and forwarded by the ill-fated Schiller. The bags for London and Liverpool were saved, but the whole of the mails for English country districts and for Ireland were lost. Some of the letters for Wales were put into the Liverpool bags, and therefore have been saved.

Private letters from Sir Julius Vogel have been received by the last -mail, and fully confirm the reports already received regarding his health. He was positively prohibited by his medical advisers from undertaking the return journey to New Zealand as dangerous to health and life. In the face of that warning he could not possibly be expected to leave. His physicians state that with two or three months’ rest and the German waters, he will entirely regain his health, which hard work has principally affected. The New Zealand Government despatches were saved from the wreck of the Schiller.

The inward San Francisco mail, landed ex Wellington on Sunday night, consisted of 36 bags, containing 2321 letters. The number of newspapers and of book-packets is not given.

Since Saturday the weather has been exceedingly rough and wintry. Throughout Saturday the rain descended in torrents, and though during Sunday there was an intermission at night, the fall was heavier than has been experienced for many mouths. During yesterday rain was incessant, and at night the streets were in a dreadful state, owing to the storm-water rushing violently from the adjacent hills. Many of the lower footways were totally submerged, and in numerous spots culverts were incapable of withstanding the immense force brought against them. In Te Aro Flat, Courtney-place, and similar lowlying localities, the depth of water might have been measured by the foot, and at the Adelaide-road culvert there was a great overflow, the level of the bridge at Clyde-quay and Adelaide-road being reached. A gentleman who arrived from the Hutt last evening, informed us that though the river had risen there during the day, the exaggerated reports which have appeared concerning the same were quite without foundation. The wretched weather seems general, for from all along the coast come complaints of its severity.

The annual general meeting of the Wellington Jockey Club was held last night at the Empire Hotel, Willis-street, for the purpose of electing stewards and office-bearers for the ensuing spring meeting, and for receiving the treasurer’s statement and the report of the proceedings of the past year from the retiring stewards. The following members of the club were present : —Messrs. J. It. George, J. McDowell, W. Graham, E. Warburton, W. Bromley, A. Young, P. Moeller, G. H. Jackson, and Dr. Diver. George Hunter, Esq., M.H.E., occupied the chair. The chairman having read the circular convening the meeting, called upon the acting-secretary to read the report of the retiring stewards. The report having been read and criticised by the members present, it was ultimately carried that a committee be appointed, to consist of the treasurer and Messrs. Hunter and Macdonald, for the purpose of finally revising and amending the report. The treasurer’s statement having been received by the meeting, it was unanimously agreed that it should be appended to the report in a condensed form, and that they should be printed for the use of the members. A discussion then ensued as to the respective merits of the rules of the Club, as compared with those of the Melbourne Club, and there appeared to be a strong feeling in favor of the substitution of the Melbourne rules for those now in use. The meeting then addressed itself to the concluding business of the evening—the election of stewards and office-bearers for the ensuing spring meeting. The following gentlemen were unanimously elected :—President, Hon. W. Fitzherbert ; Vice-President, Geo. Hunter, Esq., M.H E.; Judge, E. Pearce, Esq,, M.H.E.; Stewards, Messrs. A. Braithwaite, Geo. Crawford, J. Paul, W. Bromley, J. Macdowell, J. S. M. Thompson, and Dr. Diver ; Starter, Mr. Andrew Young ; Treasurer, Mr. J. E. George ; Clerk of Course, Mr. J. Prosser. A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the meeting.

Our Taita correspondent, writing under date July 19th, says :—“ At the last meeting of the committee of the Taita library, a cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Fitzherbert, M.H.R., for a very liberal donation of books he had presented to the library. With the donations of Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Horsfall, this local library now numbers some hundreds of volumes, and the perusal of the readable books helps to while away the winter evenings. The class-room of the Taita school has been recently lined by the Board of Education, and the evening school meets in it on three nights a week. There has been an intimation about a revival of the Taita Band of Hope that ceased to meet when the measles prevailed in the district, and there has also been a desire expressed to have a singing class on one evening in the week. To show you how absurd the complaints against the Board of Education are in the matter of firewood, I may mention that when the Board asked estimates to be sent in, it was found that the Te Aro and Taita schools were highest, and the Thorndon school only one-fourth of each of these. The Board, wisely as I think, decided on giving a cord for each fireplace—precisely four times as much as the Thorndon, and onehalf the Taita estimate —thus laying down as a principle that the comfort of the pupils is not beneath their notice, and avoiding such questions as the size of the room, width of the fireplace, and comparative cost of firewood in town and country, as being matters of minor importance. Those who are so ready to complain of the present arrangement should point out a better.”

The Christchurch correspondent of the Otago Guardian writes as follows :—The following notice appears in our newspapers : “Notice. —£2oo Reward.—Missed from Avondale Station, at shearing, February, 1875, 2500 sheep from a wether flock; no traces of same discovered up to date. Any person giving information that may lead to the recovery of said sheep will receive the abovementioned reward. The station ear-mark—-both ears slit ; paint brand—a circle with four points " This will, no doubt, remind old settlers of the incident which caused the Mackenzie country on the south-west of Timaru to be first opened up. About nineteen years ago the country to the west of the first range of mountains had not been penetrated, and was entirely, or considered so, term incognita. About that time a shepherd missed part of a flock ; in fact, sheep had often been missed, and wild dogs debited with the default. In this instance the shepherd had been out mustering, when he came across tracks which induced him to continue the search, and followed the trail of sheep through a pass in the mountains into a fine pastoral country. Still travelling on, he at last espied his missing flock quietly grazing, with an attendant. This man’s name was Mackenzie, and from the route he was taking it was evident that he had been in that direction before, and it was indeed afterwards ascertained, that a resident —since dead—in the south of Otago, knew something about sheep from South Canterbury. I believe, although Mackenzie was caught, that failed, perhaps partly in consideration of his misdeeds having been the means of a valuable addition being mqde to the runs of both Canterbury and

Otago. His name, however, became, and still is, attached to the district, although not many of our younger colonists may have been previously aware of the incidents attached to the discovery of the “ Mackenzie Country.” Owing to the continuous downpour of rain last night, and the consequent thin attendance, the Fakir of Oolu’s entertainment at the Odd Fellows’ Hall did not take place.

Notwithstanding the inclement weather, there was a good attendance at the meeting of the Garrick Club last night. After transacting some routine business, the meeting adjourned until Thursday night next. The barque Spirit of the South is discharging a quantity of splendid timber from Tasmania. A large proportion consists of railway sleepers, which are being transhipped for Wanganui, but the cargo consists mainly of timber for use in the construction of the new Government Buildings. The progress of this work has been delayed for some time owing to want of timber, but a fresh start will soon be made now.

By the ’Frisco mail, which arrived on Sunday night, we have replies to correspondence by the March mail, which was on board the ill-fated Schiller. A portion of the mail has been irrevocably lost, but the bulk of it has fortunately been saved. One gentleman writes to say that it is quite surprising that the letters and enclosures generally were so little damaged by their immersion in the salt water. It is gratifying to find that none of the New Zealand passengers were on board the Schiller. The Hon. Robert Campbell arrived safely in London, and other New Zealand colonists who travelled by the Mikado in March have been heard from.

It would be unnecessary on our part to give a detailed notice of “ Formosa,” the piece revived at the Theatre Royal last night. All Wellington playgoers know the Major Jorum of Mr. Hoskins and the Jenny Boker of Miss Colville. Despite the continuous downpour of rain, there was(a good attendance of the public, so good, indeed, as to indicate that had the night been fine the house would have been crowded in every part. “Formosa” will be repeated for the last time to-night ; and tomorrow Mr. Hoskins appears, by special request, as Richelieu.