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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4570, 12 November 1875, Page 2

A New Zealand Gazette, published last night, contains:—Proclamations by Governor of new districts (Okarito and Jackson's Bay) under the Marriage Act; new districts (same) under Registration Act ; constituting Nelson District Court; extending civil and criminal jurisdiction of Nelson District Court ; extending jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate's Court of Auckland; notice of intention to purchase native land in Auckland; additional regulations under the Forest Trees Planting Encouragement Act; diseased cattle regulations ; reservation of Centre Island, off Otago coast, for a site for a lighthouse ; appointment of R. C. Bristow, Esq.,.to be a Resident Magistrate for the district of Auckland, vice T. D. D. Fenton, Esq., resigned, and J. Jackson, Esq., to be a Resident Magistrate for the districts of Papakura and Waiuku, vice R. C. Bristow, Esq., resigned ; appointment of Lowther Broad, Esq., to bo District Judge, Nelson, and H. C. S. Baddely, Esq., clerk ; notification that the rules and regulations for the competition for the General Government prize firing, 1870, are now published, and can be obtained from the officers commanding the several militia districts ; confirmation of sentence of the Court of Inquiry, held at Dunedin into the cause of the wreck of the Bruce, which suspended the certificate of the mate, William Cormack, for three months, and the certificate of the master for twelve months (the period of suspension of Frederick Jones is, however, reduced from twelve to six months) ; notices under Land Transfer Act, &c. The second concert of this season was given by the Choral Society in the Odd Fellows' Hall last night, and must be pronounced in every respect a complete success. There was a large and appreciative audience, every seat being filled ; and the various items on the programme were performed in a manner that seemed to give the utmost satisfaction. The first part consisted of selections from the " Creation ;" and the chorus showed a marked improvement on the previous concert in every respect, not among the least being in strength, its members having received evidently valuable accessions. The best of the solos given was that of "In native worth," but it is only justice to say that the rendering of some others was very fair indeed. Mr. Curry conducted for the first time ; and without prejudice to his predecessors, it may be said that he left nothingto be desired. The second part commenced with an overture by the excellent band, " Poet and Peasant." It is needless to eay that this was given in a manner fully to sustain the reputation of instrumentalists of whom Wellington may fairly be proud. A glee followed, " Fisherman's Song ;" and then a lady sang "The Blind Girl to her Harp" with great sweetness and expression, receiving deserved and hearty applause. A pianoforte solo, "The March of the Harlech Men," was a marvel of execution and touch, and the lady who played obtained an enthusiastic encore, to which she responded. The band performed selections from " Lucretia Borgia," and it will be sufficient to record the circumstance in order to make known how well the selections were rendered. The gem of the evening, so far as vocalisation was concerned, then came in the shape of "Thou art so Near," which a lady sang with so much power and expression as to be compelled to yield to an imperative encore. A solo, a part song of Sullivan's, and

one of Straus's waltzes concluded the performance, and the audience dispersed to the National Anthem.

A woman named Joanna Clark was committed to the Lunatic Asylum yesterday, having been arrested by the police on suspicion of being of unsound mind. Michael Foley, the man who was arrested at Pakuratahi Creek on a charge of rape, has been committed for trial at the Featherston Resident Magistrate's Court, and will be brought to Wellington by this day's coach. Owing to the absence of the Mayor, the Council was adjourned pro forma yesterday. When next the Council meet, the question of reducing the tax on property will be considered, and is pretty certain to evoke considerable discussion.

The following is a return of the traffic for four weeks ending 23rd October, 1875, on the Auckland and Mercer railway :—Passengers (11,326) £852 Bs. Bd.; parcels, &c, £l3 os. 4d.; season tickets, £9 7s. 4d.; freight (1510 tons) £585 lis. 9d.; total, £1460 Bs. Id. Yesterday afternaon an immense fire-balloon was sent up by a resident in Taranaki-street. It ascended a considerable height, and after describing a circuit round the city, fell into the water near the railway station. A couple of boats were manned from ships in harbor, and the balloon was picked up. At a meeting held last evening the members of the Wellington Athenoaum passed the rules prepared by the committee, with slight amendments. Since the passing of a Bill incorporating the association, the committee were virtually without power to take any decided action in the matter—in fact, as stated by Mr. Woodward, there was in reality no committee at all, and hence the Athenamm was placed in an awkward position as to its general management. But the action taken by last night's meeting has effected a temporary remedy, a code of rules having been adopted, and the old committee formally appointed to hold office until the next general meeting, which is to be held in May next. The committee are now therefore possessed of the powers necessary to take such action as may be deemed advisable for the general improvement and better working of the institution; but it is improbable that the committee will avail themselves of the privilege thus conferred upon them, as the action of the meeting last night may be regarded as being simply provisional. The Theatre Royal was poorly attended last night, owing doubtless to the counter attraction presented by the Choral Society's concert. "Roy Roy" was repeated. To-night Miss Jessie Raymond will take a benefit, and there should be a bumper housi, for Miss Raymond is a great favorite with the Wellington public. Perhaps no lady in her position has better claims to consideration. A capital programme has been provided for the occasion, and it is really to be hoped that the entertainment will result in substantial benefit to the lady on whose behalf it is specially to be given.

The Ohariu district is somewhat noted for neighbors' quarrels, which have very often culminated in court cases. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday two little old gentlemen appeared in court, each with an action against the other for assault. Both were exceedingly deaf, as also was the wife of one of them, and their evidence provoked a good deal of genuine amusement. His Worship attributed the frequency of quarrels in the Ohairu district to the general deafness of its inhabitants, which was calculated to prevent them having a good understanding of each other.

An inquest on the body of Mrs. Barnacle, who committed suicide on Wednesday, was held in the house of Mr. Barnacle, Karori, yesterday afternoon at two o'clock. Little more was disclosed in the evidence than has already been published. It appeared that the deceased had given her children one penny each to get them out of the house (in which she displayed the cunningusualwithpeople bereft of their senses), and having done so, locked herself in and cut her throat. Some neighbors got into the house through the window, and then found the deceased in her own room, as described in yesterday's issue, with her throat cut, and a knife in her hand. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased had cut her throat in a fit of temporary insanity.

James Mackay, the young man who broke the windows of Government House, was yesterday committed to take his trial at the Supreme Court. One of the witnesses examined estimated the cost of the damage done at .£35 ; and another swore that Mackay had told him it was bis intention to break the windows, and so make a name for himself. He has gained a most undesirable notoriety, poor fellow. It scarcely seems possible that a man would have committed an act of such silly wanton mischief unless temporarily insane. A singular accident occurred yesterday on the road to Evaus Bay. A man named Vernon Smith was walking along the hill not far from the tea-gardens, being at the time in a frame of mind sometimes called "happy and glorious," when of a Budden he slipped over and rolled down the hill. To a_ gentleman who was passing by at the time it appeared that the man would certainly meet with some serious injury. Not so however, for Smith only rolled, like a cat, half way down the hill, and landed crosswise on the stump of a tree, and then began to sing, in accents somewhat thick, " When sitting on the stile Mar-ree !" It is a singular fact that a drunken man seldom if over hurts himself, let him tumble about how he may.

A good story is mentioned by the M. A. Mail, the incident happening not a hundred miles from that office. Some ladies, who were desirous of imitating Royalty when it descended some of the deep mine 3 in Cornwall, betook themselves to one of our deepest mines, the descent to which may be made by a cage, the old ladders being left for any occasional emergency. After the various levels had been duly explored, the fair visitors ryed the disused ladders, and the gallant manager explained the labor and danger of the past compared to the present modes of exit from the shaft, and good-naturedly offered a new silk dress to any of the ladies present who would be dai-ing enough to reach the 200 feet level by this mode. One of the fair ones immediately accepted the offer, and was soon at the top to claim her reward, much to the chagrin of the manager, who expresses an opinion that if the offer had been capped with a new bonnet, some of the ladies would have ventured the 500 perpendicular feet. It is generally understood that whisky is considered in Scotland to be an infallible remedy for all the ills to which mankind is heir; but a kindly Scot, who writes in a recent number of the North British Agriculturist has gone a step further and imparted it " hot with" to one of his live stock. " I have a calf," he says, " which lost its faculties almost at once. It takes its milk apparently as well as before, although it is not able to rise. lam told that it has paralysis. I have been giving it whisky toddy at night, and rubbing it with a preparation of turpentine." He can, however, report no apparent improvement as yet, and adds that " a number of calves iu this quarter are similarly affected." Hero is, apparently, an opening for the Good Templars, or the Band of Hope Union, perhaps. There is a wellknown anecdote of a cow brought before a Scotch baillie charged with drinking a tubful of wort set to cool at an alehouse door, and dismissed, on the ground that as she took the draught standing at the door it was to be regarded as a doch-an-dorris, or stirrup-cup, for which payment is never asked. Perhaps this cow had acquired dissipated habits from having been dosed with toddy in her youth by a too kind master.

" A Cheshire Man," in The Times, gives a stinging reply to Cardinal Manning's lecture on Rationalism, which the High Church dignitary believes to be the natural fruit and outcome of Protestantism. The Protestant religion is, in the opinion of his Eminence, scarcely better than no religion at all, because it is the highway to scepticism and infidelity. "By their fruits ye shall know them" is a Divine text as old as Christianity itself, and "A Cheshire Man " applies it to the two creeds in Liverpool. There are 150,000 Catholics and 540,000 "heretics," or Protestants, in the

town; and according to the last prison report 13,000 persons had been in the hands of the gaolers during the preceding year, of whom 9000 were Roman Catholics and 4000 were Protestants ! Since the assizes of 1871-73 ten persons have been executed at Kirkdale for murder, of whom seven were Roman Catholics and three were Protestants. In other words, every seventeenth Roman Catholic in Liverpool is a criminal, while among Protestants the proportion is one to every 135 ! In the face of facts like these, Cardinal Manning's exaltation of the Roman Catholic faith at the expense of the Protestant, in what may be called the very centre of Catholic strength in England, was as imprudent as it was weak in argumentative force. A resident at Stawell was a good deal surprised (writes the Pleasant Creel: News) at unexpectedly striking gold while engaged in the consumption of his dinner a few days since. While disposing of some very good Bausages, Mb teeth encountered something hard. Hastily taking it from his mouth, he found it to be a small piece of quartz, and a closer inspection showed gold plainly. How the little specimen got into the chopping machine is a mystery, and although the finder at once went and purchased the entire stock of sausages—causing quite a rise in the price of that article —he has found no more.