Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4766, 1 July 1876, Page 2

The Legislative Council lost no time in passing the Wellington Rivers Bill, on the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse pointing out the urgent need of the power which the Bill gives being placed in the hands of the Board of Conservators, in order that something may be done towards preventing the destruction caused by the overflow of the Waitangi river. It was introduced into the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, read a first time, and the second reading fixed for Wednesday. Before the House proceeded to business yesterday, the Premier took the opportunity of publicly acknowledging the services which had been rendered Mm by Messrs. E. Fox (his private secretary), and 0. 0. N. Barron (phief of Hansard staff), in the preparation of his paper upon beetroot. He said had it not been for the assistance of these gentlemen he should not have been able to get the paper ready by the opening of Parliament, and he was further specially indebted to Mr. Barron for having translated many of the documents contained in the appendices. We understand, with reference to Captain Underwood’s letter, which appeared in our issue of yesterday, that it is the intention of the Government, as soon as the Luna returns, from her, present' trip, to have the rocks on which the Heversham was lost carefully surveyed, in order to set at rest the doubts which now appear to exist as to whether there are dangers extending seaward of Tom’s Rock or not. A General Government Gazette was published yesterday, containing—Order in Council, declaring digitalis (commonly known as foxglove), carbolic acid, nitric acid, sulphuric acid, chloral, and chlorodyne, to be poisons under the Sale of Poisons Act, 1871 ; Order in Council, fixing price of certain forms under the Merchant Shipping Act Adoption Act, 1869; Order in Council, defining the term “ notice” used in the Telegraph Service of Notices Act, 1872, as including all notices and other documents of every kind in the course of proceedings in the Supreme Court, which the Supreme Court or any judge thereof may by order require or permit to be served in the manner provided by the said Telegraph Service of Notices Act, 1872, and the regulations thereunder for the time being in force ; Order in Council, notifying Governor’s assent to construction of railway from Dunedin to Anderson Bay; appointment of the Bay of Plenty Times as a bankruptcy Gazette; reservation of two acres, at Ross, Westland, for school purposes; disbandment of the Turakina Cavalry Volunteers. It has been decided to increase the Hansard stoff, and the new member appointed is Mr. Geo. Downie, a pressman who has been connected with various papers in the colony for some time past, and has also been chief of the committee reporting staff. Mr. Downie has always been recognised as a very rapid shorthand writer and an accurate and careful reporter, frequently having been complimented on his work in connection with Parliamentary committee reporting. His gentlemanly demeanor and kindly disposition have made him a favorite with his brother pressmen wherever he has been, and all will be glad to hear of his promotion. A man named Thomas Michael Hemsley was arrested yesterday on a charge of burglary, taken before the magistrate, and remanded till Tuesday next. It appears that on Thursday night, or yesterday morning early, some person entered Brady’s Thistle Inn, it is supposed through one of the ground floor windows, and stole a cash-box containing money and papers. Hemsley was suspected by Detective Farrell, who arrested him as before stated. A little agitation was worked up in Willisstreet yesterday afternoon by the bolting of a horse attached to a dray. When the horse started, the driver, a man named Smith, was on foot, and he rushed to one side of his head, while a policeman named Waglan pluckily ran up and grasped the rein on the other side and held on most courageously. The driver lost his hold and was thrown to the ground, and the cart passed over one of his legs, the horse having kicked him on 'the head just previously. When he was picked up Smith was unable to speak. He was taken into the Union Hotel, where he received the necessary attendance, Dr. Doyle being present. In the meantime, the horse proceeded up Willis-street at a furious pace, and, cn route, shifted the position of a Corporation cart considerably, then turned McDowell’s corner, and bolted up Lambtonquay, where several persons endeavored to arrest his progress by rushing at him sideways with arms extended like bat’s wings, and screeching like owls. The horse did not calm down with this treatment, but quickened his pace, and did not stop until he arrived at Thorndon. Several persons who saw the accident in Willis-street, and even Smith while he was lying a sufferer on a sofa in the Union Hotel, spoke flatteringly of Constable Waglan’s attempt to stop the horse. ; In the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday, two men brought up on suspicion of lunacy were discharged, and one drunkard was punished. There was no other police business. There were a number of civil cases set down for hearing, but most of them were settled. In the following judgment was given for plaintiff for amounts claimed and costs;— Titanic Steel and Iron Company v. W. Isaacs, claim £2 ; A. H. McLean v. Heyland, claim £1 Is. Id.; E. Tolley v. J. Bowater, claim £2 17b.

_ The annual meeting of St. Paul’s parishioners is called for Monday, I Oth July. Carroll’s “Monthly Price Current and Trade Report ” for June, containing a large amount of commercial information, is to hand. Sub-Lieutenent William Scott, of the Wellington City Rifles, has been appointed to be Lieutenant. Date of commission, 18th May. A reward of £SOO has been offered for the capture of Henare Winiata,-who, at Epsom, on 27th January last, murdered Edwin Packer. “Bradshaw’s Guide” for July is issued in capital time, and quite sustains the reputation it has gained for giving in a small space information in respect of the whole of New Zealand which no other publication gives. Betters of naturalisation have been issued to Ah Tong of Palmerston North, carpenter ; Wong Chee, general dealer, Wellington; Eranz Englbert Alfrid Midler, of Wanganui, hotelkeeper. The following candidates have passed the Civil Service Examination ;—Fred. W. Frankland, of Wellington ; William Alex. Sim, of Wanganui; Ernest Gregory Pilcher, of Wellington ; Henry J. Luxford, of Wellington ; William D. Lyon, of Wellington. An inquest was held at the Morgue yesterday afternoon on the body of Mary Emma Lysaght, before Dr. Johnston, coroner. After hearing the evidence of Dr. Kemp, the jury returned a verdict of death from natural causes. Mr. Sims Reeves was recently asked to act as a, referee at a musical bee, but replied that “ he looked upon spelling bees as an amusement for idiots, and declined to have anything to do with either the one or the other.” The Grey River 'Argus reports that a most unexpected and unfortunate discovery of an infectious cattle disease has been made in the Paroa district in the case of a cow, the property of Mr. James Dillon, on his premises on the South Beach. The East Coast Election Petition Committee are—Mr. Moorhouse (chairman), and Messrs. Stout, Whitaker, Johnston, Montgomery, Curtis, and Wason. The Thames Committee are Mr. Brandon (chairman), Messrs. Stout, Whitaker, Johnston, Curtis, Stevens, and Tesohemaker. Last night Gounod’s opera of “ Faust” was repeated for the last time, being for the benefit of Madame Simonsen, who ought to have had a crowded house, for she is a favorite with everybody ; but the weather was so terrible that it no doubt kept many at home who would have attended the theatre if it had not been for the rain. The opera was given as before, with the assistance of the Volunteer band in the grand cathedral scene. Cutler and Moore’s grand organ was to have been used, but the weather was so bad that the removing of the organ from the manufactory would probably have done it great damage, and a grand’harmonium was substituted for it, Mr. Edwards performing on the harmonium. Madame Simonsen was called for at the end of the third act, and Mr. O’Shea, in a few words appropriate to the occasion, complimenting her on her great abilities as an artiste, and her well known character as a lady in every sense of the word, presented her, on behalf of a large number of her Wellington friends and admirers, with a very handsome diamond set, consisting of brooch, earrings, and bracelets. Madame Simonsen replied in a few words, thanking those ladies and gentlemen who had ventured out in such bad weather, and especially thanking the gentlemen connected with the Wellington Press for their kind notices. To-night the Opera Company perform at the Theatre for the last time, and at million prices, and on Monday and Tuesday next they appear at the Odd Fellows’ Hall, leaving after the performance on Tuesday for Napier. To-night the favorite opera of the “ Hermit’s Bell ” will be given for the last time. On Wednesday a man named John M. Johnston, a farmer, living on the Manchester block, and about ten miles from Bull’s, shot himself dead within two hundred yards of his own house. The weapon used was a Government rifle, and as the ball entered his left breast, he must have died instantaneously. Two letters were found, one addressed to be opened in the presence of two persons, and the other bearing upon it a direction that it was to be delivered to a neighbor. Deceased was known as a hardworking and industrious man ; and it is assumed that the rash act was committed in consequence of over-anxiety and disappointment in money matters. The governor of the Dunedin gaol, Mr. Caldwell, has furnished his annual report : The return shows that the earnings from the Ist day of April, 1875, to the 31st March, 1876, amounted to £12,471 10s. 4d., and the expenditure to £11,863 Is. lOid.—showing the earnings to have amounted to £6OB Bs. 5Jd. in excess of expenditure. The estimated value of the labor done outside the gaol is £11,432 135., and of that done inside the gaol £1652 3s. Mr. Caldwell concludes his report as follows : —“ It would be a matter of the grossest ingratitude were I to close this report without testifying to the excellent manner the officers and warders have discharged their very onerous and critical duties during the year ; their services, both day and night, have been unceasing, and were performed with a zea 1 , temper, and ability that merit for them every consideration. I know how a prison life will wear down one’s existence. In itself it appears nothing ; life becomes, as it were, wrapped up in it ; one day’s duties are no sooner done than on comes another. It is the stone of Sisyphus —an endless repetition of toil and constant weight upon the intellect and spirits, and demanding all the exertions of the faculties, at the same time being compelled to the severest drudgery.” A Shanghai paper states that three new ports in China are to be thrown open to foreign trade—to wit, Xchang, Wehu, and Wenchow. Ichang is situated towards the western portion of Hupeh, and may almost be said to lie' in the very centre of the Empire. Wenchow is in the province of Chekiang, half-way between Ningpo and Foochow. It is on the borders of Fokien, and is a seaport town. Wehu is a district city in the prefecture of T’ai-p’ing, in the province of Nganhui, and lies a few miles up the Yangtse, beyond Nankin. It is the centre of a somewhat extensive trade ; and, like Shanghai, and for the same reason, boasts a To-t’al for the supervision of its commerce. Not a bad story is told by an eye-witness of what is termed a “ full-blooded Maori,” who entered, in high feathers and stylish attire, Mr. Curtis’s Pacific Hotel at the Thames, and sat down at the breakfast table. He was handed the bill of fare, when, after a careful perusal, he said, sententiously, the one word “sassage.” “Sausage one,” shouted the waiter through the kitchen communication. “No Tcapai that!” cried John Maori, excitedly holding up four fingers and a thumb, “ sassage five !” and he got them. The Chinese have built a man-of-war, and christened her “ The Terror to Western Nations.” Her career, remarks the Times of India , up to the present time has not been fortunate. There was a difficulty in launching her, because the Chinese officials declined to allow sufficient grease for the “ ways.” When fitted with engines the steam would not come out properly, and she could not leave the docks for the very excellent reason that the engines could not work the screw. When the last mail left, the Chinese were wondering how they-were to get her to start on her mission of terror. The only solution the Celestials can arrive at is that the vessel is bedevilled, and that accordingly they must wait for the devils to leave her Counsel for the defence in criminal cases will notice a favorable contrast (remarks the Law Times) between our own practice and that of the Department of the Sarlhe, in France, in a case which has just occurred of a man who, being tried for a very serious offence, was asked by the presiding magistfate if he had anything to say for himself. This was asked just as the jm - y were about to retire to consider their verdict. The prisoner was about to say something, when his counsel told him in an undertone that he had better be

silent. The prisoner was eventually found guilty ; but before the proceedings terminated the Prooureur-General demanded that a “ disciplinary penalty” be inflicted on the counsel for the defence, on the ground that he had manqiii aux convenances in preventing the prisoner from telling what he termed the truth. Moreover another barrister was called to account for having whispered to the council for the defence, vous avez lien fait —that he had done well in suggesting silence to his client. Such an intolerable abuse of autho--rity on the part of an attorney-general or public prosecutor would never be sanctioned in this country, where the liberty of defence for a prisoner is protected to the highest possible degree, and the utmost license compatible with decorum permitted to counsel, nor is that license, we are glad to say, ofte% abused. The fact is, however, noteworthy, as illustrating in a marked degree the feeling of foreign courts of criminal procedure in regard to a practice which is far from being at variance with our own laws. Nature of a recent date gives a detailed account of a new and most ingenious instrument, invented by Mr. Siemens, for discovering the depth of the sea without the use of the sounding -line. This instrument has already been introduced to the notice of the Royal Society. The theory in reliance upon which it has been constructed is that the attraction of the earth varies slightly but perceptibly in various places, according to the depth to which water —which is of less than the mean density of the earth—is substituted for solid ground as a surface material. In the absence of diagrams it would be impossible to describe in detail the instrument itself, but its general principle is simple and intelligible enough. A column of mercury enclosed in a vertical steel tube suspended between two upright, delicate, spiral steel springs in such a way that its weight is balanced by them. The weight of the column of mercury is affected by the variations of gravitation, but the elasticity|of the springs is not so affected, and the movements of the spring are therefore a measure of the variations of weight, and these latter are ruled by the varying depths of the water, as explained above. The movements to be measured are so excessixely small that they have to be indicated by means of an electridal contact in connection with a micrometer screw, which is of such a pitch, and is connected with a circular plate so graduated as to be accurate within a fathom. Professor Holloway, of New Oxford-street, has, says the City Press, recently presented to his employes, in the shape of bonuses, upwards of £3OOO ; those of the recipients who had been in his employ for twenty years receiving each £2OO, or its equivalent, together with a kindly-expressed letter. Mr. Holloway has also presented to his coachman and groom £2OO each. General Garibaldi has written a letter to Signor Depretis, accepting with gratitude the donation of one hundred thousand francs presented to him by the Italian nation and the King. The General intends to employ the money in furthering the scheme for the improvement of the Tiber. Vie have been requested to call attention to a large sale of furniture arid articles coining under the head of miscellaneous to be held by Mr. I'rancis Sidey to-day.