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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4792, 1 August 1876, Page 2

Both Houses of Parliament meet at 2.30 p.m. to-day. The notice questions on either Order Paper are of no special importance. It is not probable that much will be done in the House of Representatives till the evening sitting, when Mr. Whitaker’s resolutions will be brought on. We learn that the Hon. Sir Julius Vogel has so far recovered from his recent illness that he will be able to attend in his place in the House to-day. During the month of July there were in Wellington district registered 78 births, 26 deaths ; and .25 marriage certificates were taken out. The amount of Customs revenue received at the port of Wellington during the past month was £15,877 13s. 9d. The amount collected during June was £10,020; thus there appears to have been an increase as compared with last month of £5857 Hs. sd. In tho House of Representatives on Wednesday, Mr. Barff will move for the establishment of a school of mines. Having in view the vast undeveloped mineral wealth of the colony, and the necessity of obtaining the fullest possible information concerning the metals and minerals with Avhich the country abounds, there can be no doubt about the usefulness of such an institution, and its existence iu this colony, a large portion of which has not been prospected or attracted special attention, owing to various causes, would be the means of hastening progress in the development of the country’s resources, which are well known to be immense. The members of the Choral Society Committee met in Mr. Hunter’s office yesterday afternoon. The secretary reported that the names of several additional subscribers had been added to the list. Mr. Reeves was elected a member of the committee. A letter was received from Mr. Barron, requesting to have his name removed from the Hat of members of tho committee, as he found it impossible to attend, (through his business engagements. It was intimated that Miss Black had consented to act as pianiste. A sub-committee was appointed to arrange a programme for the next concert, aud it was determined, if possible, that the band should commence practice next Tuesday, and the vocalists on Thursday week. The members of the Chess Club had their customary meeting at Mr. Hunter’s rooms last evening, and several interesting games were played.

A meeting of the Education Board will be held this morning at half-past eleven o’clock. ' A sitting of the Supreme Court in banco is fixed for to-day. At the E.M.-Court yesterday two persons were charged with drunkenness and fined, and an affiliation cage was adjourned. ' The East Coast Election Petition Committee has decided to allow parties a fortnight’s time to enable them to get more witnesses from Gisborne. ’ Down Invercargill way they are having pretty cold weather. Lumps of ice that have lain exposed to the sun’s rays for hours are still an inch and a-half thick. 1 The third of the usual , course of dinners given by the Hon. the i Speaker of the House of Representatives was held at Bellamy’s last evening. We are indebted to Mr. Monteith for the following return of patients in. the Provincial Hospital during and ending the month of July, 1876 Admitted—Males, 14 ; females, 2. Discharged—Males, 11 ; females, 3. Died— Males, 2 ; female, 1. Left in hospital—Males, 37 ; females, 6. Total remaining 43. Mr. and Mrs. Wiltshire have arrived in Wellington, and it is understood purpose making a short stay here. Mr. Wiltshire will in all probability undertake a task greater than that which he successfully performed when last in Wellington. He intends to attempt the feat of Captain Barclay, namely, to walk 1000 miles in 1000 hours. The usual quarterly meeting of the Britannia Lodge 1.0.0. F., was held at the hall last night. After the formal business of the meeting, P.P.G.M. T. McKenzie was elected to present testimonials to the Past N. G. (fourteen in number) of the Wellington lodge, and to those of the United Britannia (eighteen in number). The testimonials were presented in proper form, and received with lodge honors, suitable replies being made by the recipients. These are the largest number of emblems that have been given as a reward of merit since the establishment of the order in Wellington in 1842! The new De Murska season opens to-night at the Odd Pellows’ Hall. The concert tonight will present a most remarkable feature in the Mad Scene from “ Lucia di Lammermoor,” in which Mdlle. De Murska is said to be quite unrivalled. The “ una voce pooo fra” from “II Barbiere”too ought to present special opportunities to Mdlle. for the display of her wonderful powers. Eor the first time 1 in New Zealand too Mdlle. De Mu ska will sing Balfe’s “ I Dreamt that I Dwelt,” and she will also assist in the trie from Ernaui with Signori Boanati and Snsini. Altogether, an exceptional treat may be expected. There was a meeting of the Featherston Memorial Committee at the Provincial Hall last evening, when there [were present—His Worship the Mayor (in the chair), G. Hunter, Esq., M.H.8.; Hon. M. S. Grace, M.L.0.; Dr. Buller, Messrs. W. Seed, J. Dransfield, E. J. Duncan, George Allen, J. Woodward. The following gentlemen were added to the committee :—Colonel Gorton, Hon. W. Gisborne, Messrs. W. Beetham, C. O’Neill, 0. E Carter, W. Waring Taylor, John Knowles, T. McKenzie, B. Smith, J. H. Wallace, O. Tringham, J. G. Holdsworth, and W. S. Moorhouse. After some discussion, it was resolved that a resolution should be proposed at a public meeting to be held at the Odd Fellows’ Hall, on Monday, 7th August:— It was decided to request Mr. 0. E. Carter to act as honorary treasurer, and Mr, E. J. Duncan kindly consented to act as hon. secretary until after the public meeting. The committee having decided that subscriptions should be devoted to procuring a. marble bust of the late Dr. Featherston, on a granite pedestal, any surplus to form the nucleus of a fund to be appropriated to the erection of a Featherston Benevolent Institution, subscription lists were opened, and upwards of £4O was subscribed in the room. The committee decided, in order to enable everyone to join in the proposed testimonial, to recommend that the subscriptions be limited, for the present, to one guinea, but it was understood that any person might subscribe a g uinea for each member of his family if .he chose. Considering the bad weather last evening, there was a capital house at the Theatre Eoyal. The dress-circle was fairly patronised, and downstairs the attendance was very large. The first piece was “David Garrick”—a comedy which is certain to be a favorite. The plot we gave yesterday, and, as was anticipated, Mr. Bates made a very capital character of the title role. As the lover of Ida Ingot (or Ida Trawley, as the character is termed in the work from which the play is adapted) he played very carefully and naturally, and in the scene in which he fulfils his promises of attempting to destroy her love for him by acting as a drunkard he was appropriately repulsive. The character of Ida is one in which Mrs. Bates excels, and at times she acted the wayward impulsive girl very effectively, and was much applauded. The subsidiary characters were fairly filled. The “ Invisible Prince” formed the afterpiece. The burlesque seems to increase in popularity as it runs, and was very well received last evening. The Wellington correspondent of the Marlborough Times tells some truths more plain than personal when writing of matters political. He observes : “ The position at present is peculiar and somewhat unwonted. The House is a perfect horse-leech, not for work, but for pabulum to work upon. It has, and has had for some time, the Financial Statement, the Counties Bill, the Financial Arrangements Bill, and so on; it has two separate and independent schemes propounded by private members; but it wants tables, and it wants the Public Works Statement, and so on again, as elements of what must be, when it comes to be consumed, and, as the vulgar would call it, a ‘ mortal gorge.’ All we can wish is that good digestion may wait on appetite. Ther'e is much reason to fear that when all the elements of the feast are provided, it will bo found that many who desire to deal with matters in globo, and at one fell swoop, will be found unequal to the expectations of themselves which they themselves entertain. In many of the speeches on the abolition question last year there, were indications of the politician and the statesman. This year there are many men of inferior culture who are more cavillers than cavaliers in battle political, and the possibility is that the more magnificent the subject the moreinsignificant will they appear in their treatment of it. The scope of their conceptions, and the style of their expressions, are infinitely meaner than their pretensions. Vide Eees and other prominent, though not eminent, Oppositionists.” “ The return of a retired brigand to active professional duties,” observes the Pall Mall Gazette, “ is announced from Greece. Petko, one of the most eminent robbers of his time, who had amassed sufficient wealth to enable him to lead the life of a peaceful citizen at Athens, has become disgusted with the ennui of respectability, and has betaken himself to Thrace—the scene of his former exploits—where he is roving and plundering with great success and with all his former activity. He has lately captured a young woman, for whom he demands a heavy ransom, and has also announced his intention of murdering some intimate friends, who have in his opinion mismanaged some property he left under their care. His proceedings excite unusual interest and admiration, because they are conducted from a pure love of brigandage, and not from necessity. He is, moreover, well advanced in years, being upwards of sixty years old, an age when most brigands are glad to rest from their labors. Petko is of a highly susceptible temperament, and the other day nearly lost his life when scaling the wall of a house in which lived a lady whom he much admires. A Circassian zaptieh, seeing Petko ascending the wall, fired at the venerable thief, who, however, was happily untouched by the shot, and, sliding to the ground, took to his heels and fled with really marvellous activity. There is some talk of offering a reward for his head, but the inhabitants of the district, having before now brought in heads to the authorities and re-

ceived no remuneration for their trouble, maintain that transactions of this nature should be conducted on the principle of reward first and head afterwards.” With respect to the expedition which has left Sydney to attempt the recovery of the large quantity of gold which went down with the General Grant, off the Auckland Islands, the Mount Alexander Mail writes“ This is not the first attempt made to recover the lost treasure. A Mr. Wallace, of Winter’s Flat, Castlemaiue, essayed to get the gold. ,He left Victoria with a party of men, on board a ship he fitted up for the purpose. They neared the spot of the wreck, and Mr. Wallace put off with some of his men in a boat to observe the shores of the island, in the hope of finding the precise spot where the gold went down. His ship, and those on it, waited several days for his return, but he never was seen again. The ship with the remnant of his crew returned to Melbourne, andhis widow after some time obtained letters of administration, the Court considering him' dead. The expedition must be a highly perilous one ; and if the enterprising men who have set out to this Eldorado at the bottom of the deep, deep sea, have taken enough dynamite to blast sufficient rock to make a breakwater at the mouth of the fatal cave, no doubt many persons would prefer letting the goldestimated at half a million pounds sterling—lie undisturbed, rather than be one of this novel prospecting party.”

“ It is reported,” says the Daily News, “ that a peasant woman in the south of France pricked her finger while washing linen, and that the wound festered. Another woman looked at the sore, said that physicians were in vain, and advised a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady at Lourdes. To Lourdes the patient betook herself, said the necessary paternosters, went through all prescribed forms, and came home much worse than when she set off on her pilgrimage. When the friend who had recommended the journey heard this, she observed that nothing could be clearer—the patient was evidently bewitched, and under a spell. This is precisely the argument that would have occurred to the mind of an untutored native of India. Here is a disease for which the proper supernatural remedy has been sought, the supernatural influence has failed, therefore there must be a counteracting magical force at work. The question then arises, Who is the sorcerer ? To settle this difficulty the friend bought a calf’s heart, and gathered some herbs, and boiled the whole. She next ran pins into the calf’s heart, observing that the pins would pierce the heart of. the malignant witch whose spells prevented the patient’s wound from healing. The result would be that the witch would be the first person to enter the house where the Saga, as the peasants style the witch-finder, was busy with her herbs, pins, and other gear. All this mummery was _ just in the style of Hindoo reasoning and Hindoo ■ magic. If one cannot influence the powers above—the saints—the next step is Acheronta movere, to interrogate the powers below. The question was answered in this case by the entrance of the patient’s aunt, bringing the doctor with her. The poor aunt was set upon at once—why did she call in the mere material aid of medicine, she who was clearly the sorceress that ha I caus ed all the evil, and had been detected by her entering as soon as the calf’s heart had been properly perforated? Moreover, the aunt was a Protestant, and therefore all the more likely to be a wit oh, reasoned the family, just as the Finns reason that all Lapps are wizards. From threats the relatives of both parties came to blows, and the end of it all was that the aunt suffered as a witch, and was actually put to death by the wild justice of her enraged family. If there is any truth in this tale, it goes to prove how slowly superstitions die, and how like they are in their working, whether in France or in Hindostan, where the {more backward natives would look on the proceedings described as quite legitimate, and even necessary.” Writing about horseflesh, the Ovens and Murray _ Advertiser observes : —“ There is scarcely any doubt that we are coming back to the old strain of blood, bone, and bellows, as far as horses are concerned. Twenty years ago and over it was no wonderful feat for a horse to carry his 12st. or list. 100 miles in twenty-four hours. At that period one of every six of the police horses in this district would have done.it without a question being asked, although they were of course corn-fed and treated like children as far as kindness went. But horses dwindled away dreadfully after that time, there being little or no attention paid to breeding, and the stations being overrun with wretched chance entires and miserable weedy mares. This became so bad, however, that at last it cured itself. Of course the opening of the Indian market had much to do with it; but at all events some ten years ago, to get anything like a decent roadster, you had to go to a racing paddock, and then give a big price. How, however, decent hackneys are getting to be far more easily picked up, and there are some horses in this district which remind one of the old times both in form and performance. For instance, as we have been relating some good things done by horses, we cannot do better than relate an instance of good travelling as occurring here within the week. Mr George Dennett left the Chinese Camp, Beechworth, with a double buggy, a pair of horses, and three passengers, on Tuesday morning at half-past eleven. He went right through to the Woolshed township, on the Ovens river—say five miles beyond Bright, to be under the mark—returned, having delivered his cargo there, to Bright, stopped to grub his horses at Cathcart’s, Bright, and then came through, landing in his own stables, Ford-street, Beechworth, at two o’clock the following morning, without a hair turned ; thus doing the ninety miles—again we are under the mark —in a little over fourteen and a half hours straight on end with the one pair.” The West Coast Times of the 24th instant Bays; —“Mr. F. Manton, who has recently been appointed mining manager of the Mount Bangitoto Silver Mining Company, intends leaving to-day for the mine with several workmen, who will be fully equipped with tools and provisions, with the object of commencing operations. It is their intention, we understand, to at once commence putting in a tunnel under the present outcrop or lode of galena, and working the mine systematically. The work will be conducted with every economy until the lode is met with further in the hill, when an additional number of men will be put on. From appearances there is every reason to be sanguine that the lode will be found to thicken considerably when traced forty or fifty feet into the mountain. Mr. Manton’s lengthened experience in the management of mines in the neighboring colonies and in South America should fully enable him to determine upon the best method of working the mine, which he has already visited. He will personally superintend the work, and report to the directors as it progresses.” The Primitive Methodist Conference commenced at Newoastle-on-Tyne on June 7. The Kev. J. Dickenson, of London, was elected president, and Mr. G. Charlton, J.P., Gateshead, vice-president. The ex-president (Bev. B. Smith) stated before leaving the chair that there had been an increase of 7158 members during the past year, the largest increase since 1860, its jubilee year. This, however, represented only a small portion of the members added, for they had vacancies to fill up equal, he considered, to 25 per cent, of the whole number in the connection. Last year they had 170,000 members, and therefore 49,058 must have been added to the church membership during the year. One hundred and thirty-eight chapels had been built during the year, at a cost of £113,084, towards which £52,088 had been raised; and £43,358 had been collected for debts on chapels. One hundred and fifteen new schools had been organised, and there had been an increase of 3037 teachers and 18,006 scholars. A proposal to grant a monetary acknowledgment to Dr. S. for his services in travelling over 50,000 miles in visits to colonial stations was declined. As to lay representation the conference admitted that it is desirable to meet the demand in some way consistent with its own existing constitution and supremacy. This it appears can only be done by formin" as it were a representative house, which shall discuss matters without any power J

to legislate upon them ; and shall then send up its resolutions, to be accepted, amended, or rejected by the older and superior body. This seems to be all the popular representation which is asked, and in some form or other it will be granted. The meeting did not put its proposals in any definite form ; it merely reaffirmed the resolution of the conference held at Sheffield last year, only substituting for the words the time for lay representation in conference business is approaching, an expression of opinion that the time for a comprehensive plan for this purpose to- be. devised has now come. A passage in the new Testament says, “ And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.” The European Mail says —Leon Gambetta, the invincible Republican agitator, is said to have deliberately destroyed his left eye when he was a- boy at school, if not exactly in obedience to the divine command, yet because he disliked to study the language in which this mandate was originally written. Gambetta hated Greek, and did his utmost to get excused from studying it. But when he found that his entreaties were of no avail with his father, he threatened to destroy his vision. Gambetta phre, a stern and resolute man, who deemed it a wise father’s duty to thwart the whims of an obstinate boy, was immovable, and told Leon he could pluck out his eyes if he chose, not of course for one moment supposing the possibility of such a thing. Enraged at this whollyunexpectedanswer,young Gambetta tore his left eye from its socket, and informed his father that the right eye should go to keep company with the left if there was no other way of escape from study of the hated language. Happily for France, his father, recognising the indomitable will of his son, at once yielded the point.