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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4565, 6 November 1875, Page 2

Hia Excellency the Governor will leave in the Luna for Lyttelton to-day, in order to be present at the Canterbury Races next week. Lord Hervey Phipps, Captain Maling, and Captain Le Patourel will attend his Excellency, and the Hon. C. 0. Bowen will also accompany him. The party will probably Btay in Canterbury for a fortnight, and then return to Wellington in the Luna as she comes back from a trip to the lighthouses on the Otago coast. After a short rest, his Excellency will set out in the Luna on a visit to Invercargill and the Sounds. The Hon. Mr. Reynolds leaves for Dunedin this afternoon, and the Hon. Mr. Bowen for Canterbury, so that the only members of the Government then remaining in Wellington will be Sir Donald McLean and the Hon. Mr. Richardson.

During Thursday night the glass rose considerably in the North, but the wind continued very strong from the westward, especially at Grahamstown, where it changed from N. into N.W., accompanied with heavy squalls and thunder and lightning, the barometer falling a little. Strong gales from S.W. were also felt at Westport and Opunake. In the South the barometer rose but little until yesterday at noon, after which it commenced to move more rapidly, and the 5 p.m. telegrams show that westerly gales had already commenced. A heavy sea has again set in at Hokitika and Westport, at both of which places the gale had been blowing since about 11 a.m. At Lyttelton the sky had a threatening appearance to the S.W. all the morning, and the wind shifted suddenly at 1 p.m. from N.E. to S.W., and increased to a stiff gale within the next hour. The weather here wore a very threatening appearance about 5 p.m. yesterday, and soon after the wind changed to the south, after which the glass commenced to rise fast.

The hearing of argument of counsel in the Vice-Admiralty Court, in the case of the Young Dick, was yesterday postponed till Saturday next. The time of the Ohief Justice was occupied in Chamber business the whole of the morning, and several bankruptcy cases were held over. Mr. Moorhouse's motion for annuliug the bankruptcy of Bergor was further postponed, to enable Mr. Travors, solicitor for the trustees, to file affidavits in answer to those filed early in the week by Mr. Moorhouse. This morning the public examination in the bankruptcy of A. Mulliua and Son, of the Hutt, will be resumed. Brickmaking is one of the industries of Wellington, though a stranger visiting _ the town might not see the necessity for bricks. But house building is constantly extending, and modern houses to bo complete must have chimneys, hence tho demand for bricks. It has been noticed, however, of late that landowners in some parts of Wellington have overcome the fear of building dwelling-houses entirely of brick. In several directions this material is being used in the erection of houses; and there should be little fear of their being in danger from earthquakes, which have very much decreased in violence of late years, and are less frequent. In other parts of the colony where earthquakes were experienced in early days, the inhabitants have come to regard them as curious and interesting matters of history. Here shocks are occasionally felt, but not of sufficient importance to be dangerous, and it seems a pity that the many fine buildings of Wellington should bo built of such perishable material as wood.

A meeting of the Education Board will be held on Monday. To-morrow the new Wesleyan Church at the Hutt will be opened by special services.

The treasurer of the Wellington Benevolent Institution, J. C. Crawford, Esq., acknowledges the receipt of £lO from " Ziskar." The Rev. P. P. Agnew will preach in the Wesleyan Church, Thorndon, to-morrow morning at eleven o'clock; and in the evening at Manners-street Church, at half-past six o'clock.

A recent arrival from Palmerston, one who has been engaged for some time in survey work in the district, states that there is no truth in the rumor that gold has been discovered there. '

Tuesday next being the Prince of Wales' Birthday has been proclaimed a public holiday, and the departments of the General Government ■will be closed > accordingly, with the exception of the Customs, Postoffice, Telegraph, and Railway offices.

The return rifle match between the Volunteer Artillery and the Armed Constabulary | comes off to-day, weather permitting. The following are the teams : Artillery McCredie, Mason, Webb, Rountree, Diamond, and Grace. Armed Constabulary—Edmunds, Alcorn, Sewell, Sherwood, Stapp, and Teague. It will be remembered that on the last occasion the Artillery were the victors. An exciting race is likely to take place between the Taupo and the Wellington tonight. Both leave for Lyttelton after the arrival of the Taranaki with the San Francisco mill, probably about five o'clock, and conclusions will be tried as to which is the faster. The Taupo, it is well known, is a good boat, but nevertheless many think the Wellington, after her overhaul, is a better. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday John Collins was punished for having been drank and incapable the night previous. This was all the police business. There were seven civil cases, but these were all settled ; in two cases judgment was confessed, in the others the money was either paid into court or the contending parties came to settlement privately. A supplement to the Provincial Government Gazette was issued last night. It contains acceptances of resignations of William J. W. Hamilton as returning-officer for the district of Kaiapoi, and of William Donald as return-ing-officer for the districts of City of Christchurch East, City of Christchurch West, Avon, and Heatheote ; and the appointments of Caleb Whitefoord and George Leslie Lee to these districts respectively. There was a very good attendance at the Theatre Royal last night, when " Masks and Faces" was produced with a greater success as regards its principal parts than has yet witnessed its performance in Wellington. Mrs. DarreH's Peg Woffington does not _ need lengthened praise ; to say simply that it was complete in every respect is but to describe it. Mr. Darrell's made a capital Triplet, and in the well-known dancing scene he and Mrs. Darreli " brought down the house," as the saying is. To-night the Darrells' season closes with the ' good old Adelphi drama, " The Green Bushes." The Rev. P. P. Agnew delivered a lecture on " Freemasonry" in the Odd Fellows' Hall last night. Unfortunately the attendance was small, owing to the heavy rain which fell before and after eight o'clock. The discourse was highly interesting, and was regarded with the utmost attention by those present. He commenced by referring to the history of Freemasonry, and the opinion held by some as to its origin. Passing from opinions to facts, he said that Freemasonry was connected, -without doubt, with the building of Solomon's Temple. After dwelling for some time on the Bible history of the Temple, he directed the attention of his hearers to the introduction of Masonry into England, the foundation of the order being laid in York in the year 926, after which as a publicly recognised body it disappeared, and only existed in secret. In fact it had almost disappeared from human ken until the reign of Charles the First; but in 1717 a Masonic convention was held in London. There all the Master Masons met, and reformed their constitution, by which the Masons were regulated up to the present day. The rev. gentleman then referred to some of the great men of different ages who had been and are masons, after which he treated his hearers to a description of the interior of a properly constituted lodge; his description being very interesting and highly amusing, as it was sure to prove from the fact of his professing to explain the mysteries of the craft. A more instructive and at the same time pleasant and amusing lecture is seldom heard than that delivered by Mr. Agnew. With admirable tact he contrived to work in anecdotes of an amusing character, the scenes being laid in New South Wales. Lectures of the kind very often prove wearisome to the uninitiated, but Mr. Agnew made his subject one of the deepest interest, and engaged the earnest attention of his small audience, as he has done on every other occasion on which we have had the pleasure to hear him.

Notwithstanding the wet weather last evening there was a large attendance at the complimentary entertainment given to Mr. Carver at the Presbyterian schoolroom. The programme was a long one, comprising eighteen or nineteen items, the whole of which were satisfactorily presented. After the customary overture, which on this occasion was performed by a gentleman, a glee, " The Anglers," was snug by the whole company, some fifteen or twenty voices. Additional basses and tenors were required to fill out; but on the whole the glee went well. A gentleman gave the " White Squall" very fairly, and a piano solo by a lady, " Silvery Waves " was played very tastefully. A recitation, "The Dream," was next given by a gentleman who is well-known at this class of entertainment. A young Italian, Silvia De Bonis, then gave as a clarionet solo a fantasia from " Louisa Miller," and his beautiful rendering of it earned for him a hearty encore. He is but seventeen years of age, but is nevertheless a thorough musician. He has the instrument under complete command, and from the lowest to the highest each note is brought out with a fullness, sweetness, and exactitude that causes his playing to compare favorably with any of the clarionet players who have appeared in Wellington. Later on he performed with great success an original concerto piece composed by himself. "The Lover and the Bird," given by a lady, was heartily applauded; and a gentleman who sang a comic song on the direful effects of sneezing was deservedly encored. The style in which he rendered it was more perfect than that of professionals whom wo have heard in it. " Sing Sweet Bird," "Scenes that are Brightest," " Warblings at Eve," " The Gipsy Countess," and "Happy bo Thy Dreams," were all applauded ; and the lady who played the accompaniments to the vocal pieces so softly and with such nice touch and expression contributed much to their success. The same lady played the accompaniment to the final glee, " Good Night," which was sung by the full strength. "God Save the Queen" closed the entertainment.

Mr. James Smith held his opening sale at his new auction mart, Lambton-quay, yesterday. To celebrate tho event a recherche luncheon had been spread, to which a couple of hundred persons sat down. Mr. Smith's success was proposed by a fellow knight of the hammer, Mr. R. J. Duncan, and duly responded to by Mr. Smith. Luncheon disposed of, business commenced. There was a large attendance, and it was late before the sale was brought to a close. Results will be found in our commercial columns.

The Taranaki Herald of the 3rd inst. says : —" Yesterday the laboring men engaged on the railway had notice that their wages would be reduced from Bs. to 7s. a day. They accordingly struck, and were paid off during the afternoon. To-day fresh hands will betaken on at the reduced rate of wages." The Pleasant Creek News (Victoria), recently contained tho following telegraphic item from New Zealand :—" Tho Abolition of Providence Bill has been carried by a largo majority in the Assembly, and passed through all its stages." It is evident that Victoria has unmeasured faith in our powers of abolition.

The annual general meeting of the Wellington Rifle Association was held last night at Mr. J. Turner's shop, Willis-street. Captain Crow presided. The committee's report and the balance-sheet were unanimously adopted, and a vote of thaDks given to the hon. secretary and treasurer for their services for the past year. Capt. Thompson was re-elected hon. secretary and Lieut. Scott hon. treasurer. The following gentlemen were then elected a committee for the ensuing year:—Capt. Crowe, Lieut. Scott, Capt. Thompson, Messrs. Turner, Dixon, Lancaster, Roundtree, France, Ballinger, and Sherwood. It was resolved that the committee should meet shortly and fix the time and place for the next annual competition. A vote of thanks was given to the chairman, and the meeting separated. Yesterday afternoon a man named James Mackay got on Government House premises, and walking up to the front of the house, smashed with a stick five large squares of plate glass. Captain Maling hearing the clatter ran into one of the rooms and vaulted out of a broken window, and after a short chase caught the offender. On being asked what had caused him to act in such an inexplicable manner, he said he had done it for a wager. A member of the Armed Constabulary conveyed the man down to the police-station, and on being brought before Mr. Dransfield, J.P., he was remanded, and will be brought up at ten o'clock this morning. His Excellency the Governor it seems had a miraculous escape from injury, for shortly before the smashing commenced he had been sitting under one of the windows ; in fact, had just left his seat to call Captain Maling to attend him on some business matter. Mackay is a tailor by trade, and arrived in the colony about twelve months ago by the Star of India, since which he has been working in the Wairarapa district, and more latterly in Wellington. On Thursday evening the Wellington Mutual Improvement Association gave a tea meeting and entertainment in the schoolroom, Woodward-street. Upwards of one hundred people sat down to an excellent tea, provided by Mr. Morgan, of Lambton-quay. After justice had been done to the good things provided, the tables were cleared, and the President (Jonas Woodward, Esq.) took the chair. In his opening remarks he referred to the advantages to be derived from improvement associations, and urged the members to do their best to make every subject brought before them for consideration the means of gaining more knowledge. Readings and recitations of a comic and sentimental character were given by the members of the association in a very creditable manner. The trial scene from the " Merchant of "Venice," given by six of the members, was particularly successful, being rendered in a manner that would have done credit to an older association. Mr. Kirk, in an excellent and appropriate speech, expressed his surprise that the literary associations did notrgive more attention to the study of botany and geology. During the evening the progamme was varied with some duets and trios, which tended in a great way to the enjoyment of those present, and to the success of the entertainment. After a vote of thanks had been proposed to the ladies and gentlemen who had volunteered their services for the musical portion of the entertainment, the meeting closed with the National Anthem. The local papers are jointly and severally responsible for the following : —" Some months ago a digger by the name of Stanley was admitted to the Hokitika Hospital, where, through indisposition, he was obliged to remain for several months. When leaving, he stated that he was without funds, but he desired to pay for the medical attendance and board provided him while in the hospital, and he requested that the account for the same should be rendered to his friend and relative, the Earl of Derby. The secretary of the institute, acting upon the directions given, though not without some doubt at the time of any successful result, posted the account mentioned, which amounted to £2O ss. By the last English mail ft remittance was received for the amount, and a receipt has been forwarded to the ' cousin of the Earl,' who is at present at work in the Kanieri district."

Captain Ralls, of the City of Auckland, says a contemporary, has in his ship a curiosity in the shape of a portion of honeycomb, which was manufactured on board during the vessel's last voyage home. Bees are not in the habit 'of selecting a ship as the site of their industry, and the circumstances are therefore worth recording. The swarm settled on the boatskids a few days before the ship left here last Christmas. Then they transferred themselves to the interior of the lifeboat, where they speedily made themselves at home, and commenced building a comb. The ship sailed, but the bees stuck to their curiously selected abiding place. They displayed very few symptoms of sea-sickness, and proved useful at times in rousing sleepy sailors by stinging them in the back of the neck when they were prostrate on deck. The swarm got along firstrate till they neared the Horn, and the cold began to be felt. Then they stopped work and huddled up together for warmth, and the sailors quite missed their playful pets. An effort was made to feed them, but it turned out unsuccessful. They pined for the flowers of the field and the genial sunshine, and would not be comforted. One by one they dropped on deck lifeless, till at length the whole swarm had disappeared. It would have_ been an extraordinary event in natural history had Captain Ralls succeeded in getting them Home safely. As it is their existence on board so long is, as we have already said, worthy of remark.

I suppose the authorities are not aware (says the Maryborough correspondent of a Brisbane paper) that Kanakas are sold by auction at regular stated periods at Sandwich. Yet such a fact is openly stated here. A batch of fifty-three were the last lot thus disposed of; they realised from £3 to £5 per head. The auctioneer expatiates on the good quality of the nigger under offer, exposes his muscles, and compels him to run a distance of one hundred yards, to prove that he is sound in wind and limb. These boys are obtained by unlicensed vessels from the neighboring islands, brought into Havanna, and transferred to licensed vessels running to Fiji.

The Auckland Evening Star of Saturday last considers that the provincial banqueters at Dunedin should not have contented themselves with merely hooting when the toast of " The Press" was proposed, they should have kicked the representatives of that institution out of the room. In the same issue of the paper is a local, from which it appears that the independent journal refused to keep the name of a messenger under the Provincial Government out of its Resident Magistrate's Court report, he having been sued for a debt. Had he been an importer like Moss Levy, he might have had a chance. This is all done " for the cause that lacks assistance, for the wrong that needs resistance, &c.'

A process for the unhairing and tanning of skins in a manner which promises to effect a complete revolution in this particular branch of trade has been brought before the public, and in a place like Manchester, where something, like 15,000 raw skins per week are converted into leather, will no doubt create considerable interest. The inventor is M. de Montoison, a French chemist, resident in this city, whose patent rights have been bought by the Montoison Patent Wool and Leather Co. Under M. De Montoison's supervision the process was lately illustrated and explained to a number of gentlemen connected with the tanning and hide and skin trades, etc. A sheep was slaughtered in the presence of the whole company, and the skin having been removed, was wetted on the inside with a chemical composition. It was then allowed an hour and a half to dry. At the expiration of that time the wool was easily taken off by a gentle touch of the hand. The bare skin was subsequently soaked in a solution of lime, to neutralise the chemical wash, or, in. technical phrase, to " naturalise it ; and, after going through a succession of baths, which occupied about five minutes, was dried and made ready to be dressed either as roller or shoe leather. Not quite four hours were taken up by these operations. Under the_ old process three weeks would be a moderate time. But an additional advantage was shown to result from the Montoison process. The wool

which came off the skin was pronounced, at a fair market value, to be worth 14d. per lb., and fully equal to that sheared from the living animal; whereasunder the old process the liming reduces the value of the material by something like sd. per lb., and aids in producing no better leather, if as good, as was manufactured by this new process in a few hours. A comparison of the old and the new processes enabled a gentleman who witnessed the proceedings to state that while under the former the cost of preparing a dozen skins for the leather dresser would be 75., it would under the latter only amount to Is. 6d.; and another spectator ventured the assertion that with the use of the invention forty workmen might prepare 8000 skins per day. We are informed I that the process is proportionately efficacious in the preparation of every other kind of skin and hide.

According to the Standard, all the stations on the East Coast are now engaged in shearing operations. When the sheep are shorn in that locality the shearers will migrate to the Lower Valley, where the flocks are as a rule shorn a little later in the season than on the East Coast.

We notice by the West Coast papers that search for the body of the missing man Jamieson, who disappeared some weeks ago at Fox's River, near Brighton, has brought nothing to light. It is said by the WestpoH Times that there are some dark rumors afloat of foul play, of a midnight row and a fight, of shrieks heard near the river bank, and of hurried movements. A reward has been offered by the Provincial Government, but has been indifferently announced.