New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4855, 13 October 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13.

; Copies of important documents, laid upon the table of the House last night, appear in another column, and are of the utmost ; I interest; more especially when read , in connection with a telegram which also ; appears in this day’s issue. The letter which Sir George Geby addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and , of which he was unable to send a copy to ! his Excellency the Governor in time for ■ the departure of the mail taking the same : to England, is pretty fresh in, our readers’ : minds ; and we now have the Marquis of Noemanby’b despatch on this same letter, which may simply be described as the , most convincing resume of the situation, as’ it has lately existed in New Zealand, that, has yet been offered to the public. The first idea that will strike the reader of his Excellency’s despatch is, that it has cut the ground completely from under the telegrams which Sir Gboeoe -Geby and Mr. Maoandeew have within the last few days sent to the Secretary of State. Mr. Maoandeew’s telegram, as we have noticed, will be found in the present issue ; and it will be also.noticed that whilst Sir Gboeoe Geby seems to bo unable to complete letters to the Imperial authorities in time to permit his Excellency the Governor to cover them, Mr. Maoandeew, by an inadvertence not usual in him, forgets for days to notify to her Majesty’s representative in this, ; colony that he has sent Horae a telegram, 1 of a wild and baseless’ nature. However,.

on these little eccentricities of .the Superintendents of Auckland and Otago we have no desire to comment further. The real matter to which' wd would wish to draw the attention of our readers, is the despatch of his Excellency the Governor. That despatch is brief, clear, true, and unanswerable, and with itTbefore them the Imperial authorities are in full .possession., of ,the-„ exact-position. of, . the. abolition question in New Zealand ; and, with the subsequent telegram pointing out how the Counties Bill has been carried by a large majority in the Lower ■ House and without a division in the Upper House, the Imperial Government will treat Sir George Grey’s and Mr. Macandrew’s ruses by letter and telegraph exactly as allsensible.-people, and the vast m ajority of the population of New Zealand,! treat them, namely, as efforts by any means whatever to carry, their personal' views against the wishes of the nation. That this is so will be seen, by a perusal of his Excellency’s despatch. The ultra i vires point, of which so much has beenj lately made, is traversed by the tenth: paragraph of that despatch, for there we find the-attention pf. Earl Carnarvon directly called to it. 1 Sir George Grey’s' apprehensions as to coercion andbloodshed are shown to have originated with himself. Anything more, damningly ; exposing ; of the manner in which the ex-Governor can “lobby,’’.persuade, and himself suggest that which he wishes,, to bo pronounced true, has never.been printed. . The record of Sir George’s’conversation with Mr. Daegaville suggests conclusions as to the ‘ ideas even then existent in the mind of the former that we should almost rather, for the sake of the leader of the Opposition, bury in silence. It is too plain that Sir George did not really anticipate the time when, as the Governor puts it, the Marquis ef Norm anby and the captain of a man-of-war would go mad, but did endeavor to provide for a time when he should have under his personal control a semi-armed force with which to carry out his mischievous designs. We have little desire to write more about the Governor’s despatch. It scarcely, indeed j requires comment. We simply ask everyone who takes an interest in the colony to read it, convinced that it is the most valuable contribution to our contemporaneous ’history, that has yet appeared. It is valuable, because it is written by one above party bias, dealing simply with facts. as they are, and measuring all matters by a calm and cool j udgment. 1 : : '

At the evening sitting of the Legislative Council the Public Works Bill was reported with, amendments; and ordered to be re-com-mitted ; the Wellington Debts Bill was read a second time, considered in committee, reported without amendments, read a third time, and passed ; the Attorney-General’s Bill was read a second time on a division of 14 to 9, considered in committee, reported without amendments, read a third time, and passed p the Dunedin Wharves and Quays Bill was read a third time on a division of 18 to 6 ; the Babbit Nuisance Bill was considered in committee, reported without amendment, and ordered to be read a third time next sitting day ; the Counties Bill was considered in com- . mittee, and ordered to be recommitted tomorrow; the Napier Hospital Site Bill was read a third time, and passed. The remaining orders of the day were postponed. The Council adjourned at 10 o’clock. Some members of the House of Representatives . (Opposition .members). were _ engaged yesterday afternoon in innocent and healthy i exercise at the rear of the Government build-, ings. They were playing lawn tennis, which :is no doubt a: more agreeable -pastime than listening to or taking part in a debate such’as was going on in .the House at'the. time. Suddenly there appeared outside , the Legislative : Hall a form bearing an accurate resemblance to the leader, of the Opposition in every respect save an absence of the' dignified bearing peculiar to that -honored- gentleman. - The game was interesting, but the interest in the game was ridiculously small,in comparison to that which the players very soon took in the person on the hill, whose actions were of a peculiar, not to say extraordinary, character. Wildly pantomime, he waved a handkerchief over his head and capered along: the crown," while in dumb show he beseeched the players to approach. He might have been bursting with some joyous secret that bound him to the small area in which he was performing some lately invented polka. , It suddenly dawned bn the faithful ones that there might be something up, and they left their' game. The cause of this little scene, it may be Stated, was this. A division had been called for in the House on' the motion of Mr. Burns re the Inspector of Prisons, and the Opposition members were wanted accordingly. Unfortunately for the Opposition two or three of the members arrived at the door of the House .just in time to hear the door looked in’their faces, the Speaker having given the order just previously. The Government had a majority of one only. To Opposition members—Moral: Attend to games political, and leave tennis balls alone.

A meeting of the Philosophical Society is called for to-morrow evening, and in an advertisement this morning the list of papers to be read appears. The meetings of thissociety areattracting much greater interest this course than during any previous, and no doubt there will again be a large attendance tb-morrow evening. ■lf allowed to suggest an improvement in the ’conduct of the meeting, we would say that the ladies and gentlemen who attend would be very much better pleased if the authors of papers 'would read in a more distinct clear voice, and 'when convenient, stood in place of sitting when reading. Several excellent papers have been brought before the society at recent meetings, ibut it has. been, complained by nine-tenths of those present that owing to the indistinctness of the readers they Were unable tp get but a very slight knowledge of the papers. (

There was. a fair i attendance at, the Theatre Eoyal last night, when “The, Streets of New York” was repeated with a success equal to that which attended its first performance by this company on Wednesday night. To-night, the comedy “All that Glitters is not. Gold” will be played, together with a farce, in which Miss Adelaide Stoneham and Mr. Sam Howard will appear. Mr.' Swanson ■ gave expression to a novel sentiment yesterday afternoon on the question of prison management and discipline. He said ‘he would prefer criminals, being made to do so much work rather than perform a certain terra of imprisonment, and would say to them—“ There id your pile of stones : pick away at them till you get out." ; , ' The s.s Moa will make an excursion trip on ;Saturday afternoon,, weather permitting; and she'will also leave the Queen’s wharf in the morning,proceeding to the Patent Slip.in time for the launch of the ship Waikato. ; No doubt a great many will avail themselves of this opportunity to see that fine vessel on the Slip, should the weather be favorable. These excursion trips are becoming very popular, as is natural, for a trip round the Wellington harbor on a fine day is a very; pleasant and rational style of, amusement. The police received a telegram yesterday to the effect that; a boy named Glover, sixteen years old, accidentally shot himself at Bull’s, Rangitikei, that morning, and'that no hopes were entertained of .his recovery, Eater, in the day another telegram was received announcing the death of the boy. A very serious gun accident occurred yesterday. A Mr. Underwood, brother to Mr. Underwood, baker,.of Courtenay-plaoe,. was out- shooting near Kaiwarra,- and when discharging-, his gun it burst 'close, to the,stock. One of bis hands was shattered so r badly that Dr. Doyle, who attended him, found, amputation at the wrist necessary. Mr, Underwood :only arrived in the colony by the last English iShip. ’ ' ’

His, Honor the Chief Justice will deliver judgment) in the contempt of Court case this morning.

The special jurors summoned in. the cases Mclntyre v. Capper and Mclntyre v. Mabin will not be required to attend op Monday, the cases having been settled out °f Court, Major St. Hill, who was well known in New Zealand some time ago, has accepted an appointment as.private secretary to „Mr. Weld, Governor of Tasmania. He has recently been • acting as aide-de-camp to the Cammander-in-Chief of the Madras Presidency.

The second eleven of the Star Cricket Club play their annual match with the Karori club on Saturday next, the 14th instant, at Karori, play to commence at 2 o’clock. A coach will leave the Bank of New Zealand at 1 o’clock with the Star team.

In the ploughing match for juniors at the Taita on Wednesday, Mabey won the first prize, Daysh the second, and Cooper the third. The time of the winner of the fourth prize in the men's ploughing match was 2h. 21min., and a fourth prize of a whip was awarded to E. Apps as the worst ploughman. Yesterday in the Legislative Council Mr. Robinson asked Colonel Brett if it were true that O. B. Haughton had the entree of Bellamy’s. Colonel Brett informed the hon. gentleman that Haughton’s name bad not been formally, erased ,from the list of visitors; but it had in effect. Did that person appear in the precincts of the House he would be immediately ordered off. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday the business was' as follows Two cases of drunkenness were. disposed ;of in the usual manner, and a man named Bain was fined 20s. and costs for having committed a breach of the peace. Louisa Smith was called to answer a charge of murdering a child, and after evidence had been taken the case was adjourned for a week. The daughter of the woman above mentioned was brought up on remand, charged with concealing, the birth of a child, and also remanded for a week. This concluded the business on the criminal side, and a few unimportant civil cases having been dealt with, the Court adjourned, A ghastly kind of robbery was committed on the Kumara : diggings the other day, according to a private letter. An unfortunate man, who had recently become'possessed of a new pair of boots, suddenly expired in a billiardroom. A loafing gentleman—one of a class always present on a new rush—thought this a good opportunity to improve his person. He was previously soleless in the matter of boots. He therefore took the new boots from the dead man’s feet, and put them on his own, leaving his patent ventilators (as some call them) by the side of the corpse. But he was quickly brought to justice, and punished with six months' imprisonment. The Skating Rink was well patronised last evening, and the onlookers appeared to enjoy themselves nearly, if not quite as much as the skaters themselves. Occasional falls rather improve the effect of the performance, for there is very little fear of those who tumble being hurt further than consists in a little bruising sometimes, and to those who stand in the position of spectators it is of course amusing ; in any case the natural inclination of everybody being to laugh when a person tumbles, and in this case, the effect is heightened by the difficulty experienced by novices in regaining their legs after once measuring their length on the floor, the reason being that the skates have a tendency to start off unexpectedly just as the wearer has attained an upright position, and he sits down again involuntarily. It is generally found that there is less likelihood of a person being hurt if, when he feels himself falling, he subsides quietly, without making any effort either to save himself or be graceful. •To beginners the latter feat is impossible of achievement, the legs have a tendency 1 to work out from one another in an unpleasant manner, and the arms to fly about like the handles of an agitated windlass. However, it does not take long to become proficent,'ahd skating is capital exercise.

The Chairman of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society the other day at a meeting reported that the .fish-house in the Domain had been completed. By this time next month 250,000’ salmon ova from California would probably be delivered to them, and the society' should be in readiness to deal with them. The boxes now in the society’s fish-house were capable of containing 60,000 ova for the purpose of hatching. Of the balance, 100,000 ova would have to be at once sent off to Canterbury, and, say, 40,000 ova to Wanganui. That left 110,000 ova for Auckland. The fishhouse would contain 60,000, and they proposeed to dispose of the balance’as follows:—20,000 or 25,000 to be placed in the Gratia or Swanson’s Creek, which fell into the Waitemata. It was a good plan, and £lO or £ls would be all that was required to make the necessary ; boxes, &c., to secure their successful hatching there. From the 60,000 ova in the fish-house when they hatched they proposed to supply the Wairoa, Manukau, Waikato, and other adjoining rivers, and the balance, or remaining 25,000, he proposed should be placed in the Thames river. If that were agreed to, he should be at the whole expense connected with this lot himself. One of his men had been down at Auckland, and received the necessary instructions to enable him to attend to the boxes while the ova were hatching. . That plan would fairly distribute the ova, and secure the young fish against their enemies until such time as they were able to take care of themselves. That plan, if carried ,out, would absorb the whole of the 250,000 ova. An old colonist named Ben Turner has recently died in Auckland. He was exceedingly eccentric, and months ago had his tombstone prepared with an inscription and all written upon it. The Star gives the following account of his life:—He was born in Worcester, in 1796, and was therefore already a youth when Nelson’s great naval victories were won; when Wellesley was winning his way to the final triumph at Waterloo, which overthrew a dynasty. He saw the throne of Great Britain and Ireland occupied by four sovereigns. He left his native town fifty-six years ago, and entered on the adventurous life of a whaler, in which capacity he caine to New Zealand in 1822. : The vessel was wrecked at Chalky Island, a small island close to Stewart’s Island, upon which Mr. Turner was afterwards engaged in the sealing and whaling trade for 'several years. Between 1827 and 1830 he made several trips to the North Island, and resided for a short time in Wellington, where he was engaged in the timber trade. Then he removed to Kapiti Island, where he was a spectator of the famous expeditions of the cannibal warrior, Te ’ Rauparaba. It was there that he narrowly escaped becoming a meal?for the Maoris, two of his European mates being killed and eaten. Probably it was the old man’s well-known toughness that saved him. Mr. Turner afterwards travelled overland from Wanganui to the East Coast, through the heart of the tribes then at war, and he lived for a short time in the Tauranga district. In 1832 he removed to Kororareka, where he erected sawmills/and owned vessels trading to Sydney. The lawlessness of the rude adventurers who formed the population of the Bay at this time necessitated 'the formation of a Vigilance Committee, of which ho was chairman, arid for some a species of rough-and-ready, but a very efficient, system of justice was meted out. In those days there was no overshadowing Native department, and the committee used to summarily inflict punishment upon MaOris who offended British dignity. Then the natives trusted and respected the pakeha. Mr. Turner was mainly instrumental in the capture of Manuka, the murderer of the Ilobertson family. In later years Mr. Turner prospered by supplying the troops. In 1845 his property was burned in Hoani Heke’s raid on Kororareka. Mr. Turner afterwards removed to Auckland, where ho has since: lived upon an income principally derived from rents.

In reference' to the late Father Petit Jean, the Bay of Plenty Times relates the following ; —He formerly belonged to the French Mission at the Bay of Islands, and accompanied the troops when they marched against. Heki’s pa ini 1845. As he was well-known to the he was allowed to enter the pa, and

on his return to the camp strongly advised the officer commanding the troops not to storm it. His advice was, however, disregarded, and the Rev. Father was threatened with hanging to atree. The pa was stormed, and the loss on the side of the Imperial troops was 127 men killed and wounded in seven minutes. Colonel Hulme, commanding H.M.’s 96th Regiment, father of Mr. C. F. Hulme, of this district, led the storming party, and was the last to retire, the bugle sounding three times before he left the pa. One of the storming party, John Madden, an old settler, resident at Greerton, who has kindly furnished us with these particulars, says he has never met a man who was there who can tell how the gallant colonel escaped. After the fight the dead bodies of the troops were left on the ground for three days, and were mutilated by the natives, until the venerable (late) Bishop Williams and the Rev. R. Burrows obtained leave from the natives for the bodies to be removed. What action the Government will take in the matter of the resistance offered by the natives at Omaranui to the execution of the writ of possession issued by the Supreme Court in favor of Mr Sutton will, we (Hawkes Bay Herald) hear, be made the subject of discussion at » meeting of the Colonial Executive to be held at an early date. The question presents grave difficulties. We should be the last to urge on the Government any course likely to lead to native troubles. At the same time it is not easy to acquiesce in a state of things which places Hawke’s Bay practically in the position of a disturbed district. We would rather have seen the question of enforcing the decrees of the Supreme Court fought out with reference to the Mangateretere block, or indeed any other but the Omaranui, as we are inclined to believe that, in reference to it, the natives are sincerely of opinion that their cause is the cause of justice. The Supreme Court, however, has decided otherwise, and we trust the Government may see the way. to enforce its decrees.