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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4921, 30 December 1876, Page 2

We learn that Walter Turnbull, Esq’, of W. and G. Turnbull and Co., may be expected in Wellington about the middle of; January.' He is coming to Melbourne by a steamer due early next month. The Secretary to the Post Office | announces in the Gazette that the postage on book packets and pattern parcels, whether posted for transmission within New Zealand or ;to foreign countries, will, ■ on and after the. Ist of Jana-: ary, 1877, progress atoneuniformrate for every Jrwo oupces after the first two ounces, instead of for every four ounces, a? heretofore. Authority to frank letters on public service has been extended to the Aasistant-Surveyor-General, ’ : and the Chief Surveyor in each of the "roving • sp - fl *y.X rig pe,ctors of Surveys Wellington, Gisborne, and Invercargill; First and Assistant Geodetical Surveyors, and inspectors of Police in various provinces., ' lu our report of tho regatta, meeting, in it was incorrectly stated that the [Jnion Steamship Company had presented a cup to the Regatta Committee,-to be competed for at,the- .forthcoming regatta. It is Shaw Savill and Co. who, extending the courtesy and liberality displayed by them in former years, have presented the cup referred to. We observe that the decision of the court of inquiry in : reference to the stranding of the Forest Queen on the North Spit,* at Greymouth, exonerates Captain Watohlin from all blame. • The vessel arrived in port yesterday with a cargo of coals, and her appearance here at all under the circumstances reflects the greatest credit on the captain, who undoubt- £ .acted in a very seamanlike manner ughout the whole unpleasant business; The accident has been costly to the owners, an expenditure of some £3OO having taken place. The vessel was insured in the South British and National Insurance companies ; and the cargo was insured heavily, the whole'bf which was safely landed owing to the exertions of the master.

A cricket match was played at the Lower Hutt on Wednesday between an eleven of the Te Aro school boys and a similar number of the Lower Hutt school boys, when the latter won, after, a close contest, by two runs. J. Pringle sqpred. 21 for the local team, and bowled well; as did Climie for the visitors, he being the highest scorer on that side, with 13. This was a return match, the town boys having won the first, with two wickets to spare. The conquering match will take place in town shortly. After the game prizes were* offered for foot-rabing and jumping, to enable the town and country boys to compete; but the latter were too good for the visitors. The race for 60 yards was run in heats, and finally won by J. Pringle, Aihen Te Pune close up. Thatfor2oo yards was won by Edward Lockett, Te Pune second. A hurdle race was also won by Edward Lockett, Te Pune second. The running high jump was won by George Knight, at 4ft. 3in ; and the long jump by Te Pune, at 13ft, The two teams sat down to a substantial lunch kindly provided by Major’ Clifford, whqf took occasion to express his sympathy wit? the efforts of the. master of the Hutt school to promote manly sports among the boys, as a means of developing them into hardy, enduring, and high-spirited men. Mr,, Baker, who was good enough to act as judge, congratulated the residents of the Hutt hpon having so good a master for their school. This week’s Gazette contains —Appointment of 'John Frederick Rockstrow, Esq., to be the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and also "Vaccination Inspector, for the district of Foxton, as the same is defined in proclamation of the 20th day of July, 1874, and published in the New Zealand Gazette, No. 89, of the 23rd .day of , July, 1874 ; official notification of the election of W. Hutchison, Esq., avMayor of Wellington ; acceptance by the Governor of the resignation of Lieutenant .Ai J. McTavish, Wellington Artillery ; Greytown "Local Board By-laws ; notices under Lsfa d Transfer Act, &c. ‘ ' - "The SoiUhlahd Times understands that the Rev. .Father Kelly, of Melbourne, who is generally thought the most eloquent preacher ;and lecturer of all the Roman Catholic priests in -Victoria, is about to visit New Zealand shortly. In Victoria Father Kelly draws Crowded audiendes whenever he lectures. His 'subjects are principally historical—“ George 'Washington,’’ “Mary Queen of Scots,” and , others; of the kin,d. A young man was brought from the Upper Hutt on Thursday evening," under care of Constable Lyster, and charged at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday with being a vagrant. It appeared that ho had been “loafing” round the district, and!making a nuisance , of himself, being without; means of support, 1 His defence was that he had been .earning a living by singing; upon which, however, he did not appear to thrive. His Worship, with a view to changing the young man’s occupation for a term, sentenced him to one month’s imprisonment, with hard labor.

The excessive price of bread may now to to some extent be lessened by the arrival of 1990 sacks prime flour from Adelaide last evening. ' ■ : ■ . - The pantomime at the Theatre Royal is having an excellent run. Last night again there was a capital bouse. To-night being Saturday evening, no doubt there will be a large attendance. ' A whale ran ashore at Worsen Bay yesterday morning , about a, hundred yards- to the westward of the Steeple Rock. It was soon killed and secured by the pilot’s crew, and on being measured the animal was found to be 27ft. long. ~ A scratch practice match will be played on the Basin Reserve this afternoon, commencing at half-past one o’clock. The teams will be chosen from those first on the ground. It is intended that this shall Joe the first of a series of these matches, with a view of choosing the team to play against the Englishmen. We hope therefore that our cricketers will roll up in time. There were a number of small civil cases set down for hearing at the Resident Magistrate’s Court- yesterday morning. In six of them •judgment was given for the plaintiffs, with costs. In a case, Williams v. Vincent, a claim for possession of tenement and £lO for rent, the defendant was ordered to give up possession within a fortnight, and to pay 345. and costs, £2 6d. The Inspector of Sheep for the East Coast district has cancelled the clean certificate of Mr. John Moore, Waikaraka, for his second ewe flock (about 400), frorh the 2nd December; and the Inspector for the Wellington district has cancelled the certificates' of Mr. J. G. Squires, Hutt-road, from the 6th December, 1876, and Mr. T. J. Drake, Porirua-road, from the 7th December,. 1876.

In the case against Mr. Arthur Beauchamp, for exposing horses for sale in a public thoroughfare, Mr. Crawford delivered judgment yesterday. He said that the question he had to decide was as to what constituted a public thoroughfare, and he found that a thoroughfare .was constituted by a deed of gift either direct or implied. If persons laid out a street, and sold land on both sides, on which houses were built, it was implied that such a street was meant to be a thoroughfare. That appeared to be the case in the present instance. He therefore held that Lombardstreet was a public thoroughfare. His Worship only imposed a fine of 55., and costs, as the case appeared to have been brought to test the question. The effect of .the new arrangements for street watering, although only two days in operation, is most obvious. ’ The principal thoroughfares looked as if substantial showers of rain had wetted them, and notwithstanding the gusts of wind yesterday, little dust was seen anywhere. During those two days— Thursday and Friday—about 40,000 gallons of water were used on the streets, the cost for pumping the same being Is. per 500 gallons, while the -machinery so excellently fitted up by Mr. Seager can easily supply a far larger, quantity. On the whole, we are now perfectly satisfied that’there will be no lack of water for our streets this summer. A man named John Freeman was arrested on Thursday on a charge of larceny, having been Seen to take some money from the till of the Prince of Wales Hotel on that day. He was charged with the offence at. the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, and ;pleaded not guilty.: Miss" Hayes, the barmaid, was called to give evidence as to the theft, and she deposed that prisoner had been in the hotel bar during the afternoon, and at one time, when her back was turned, the prisoner put his hand in the till. She caught him in the act, and saw him take out a handful of silver ; endeavored to take it from him, but failed ; and although some men were in the bar at the time, they did not attempt to render assistance, Miss Hayes also stated, that Freeman had no : moheyi v Evidence -was given by the proprietor of the hotel, a person who was present at the occurrence, and the : constable who awested prisoner. A clear pnma facie case having been made out, the magistrate committed prisoner to take .his trial »+ .... ■ A « ,i ft......-. '•* —»«u.o next sitting of tl- uu( , rano uourt.

The Oktgo Daily Times of December 20' publishes the subjoined letter, from which it will appear to Masons interested in the subject that the Grand Lodge of Scotland has followed the example already shown by the Grand Lodges of England and of Ireland with respect to the Grand Orient of Egypt:— “ Grand Lodge of Scotland, Grand Secretary’s Office, Freemasons’ Hall, Edinburgh, October 26, 1876. —Grand Orient of Egypt.—l have now the pleasure to inform you that the Foreign and Colonial Committee, to which the subject of recognition, or otherwise, of the Grand Orient of Egypt was remitted, have, after careful investigation and consideration, unanimously recommended Grand Lodge to accord recognition and fraternal relationship as prayed for.—l am, &c., J. Laweie, Grand Secretary.” At a recent meeting of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society the Lyttelton Times reports :—“ A leugthy.discussion took place as to what should be done with the young salmon, of which it was estimated there were about 80,000 in the hatching boxes. The curator reported that they were all quite ready for being turned out, and in reply to a question said it would be inadvisable to place too many in one river. Mr. Johnstone suggested that the society should sell as many’as possible in lots of 500 each, in order to recoup the society for the expense incurred in obtaining them. Besides this, he also advised that the assistance of persons residing in the vicinity of streams where it was intended to place salmon, should be asked, with the view of the work of liberation being carried on by interested persons, instead of by hired labor, which would be irresponsible, and therefore unsatisfactory in its results. After a long discussion it was resolved to adjourn until three o’clock on Saturday (to-day), the members of the Council to think the matter over in the meantime, and come prepared to say what course should be adopted.” Railway matters seem to be managed in a very loose manner in Auckland, judging from the following extract from the New Zealand Herald of the 25th inst. Shortly after the arrival of the 6.5 train last night—the last on the time table—from Onehunga, it was deemed advisable to send a locomotive with a number of empty carriages to Onehunga, in order to be ready for extra work at that end of the line next morning (Boxing Day). Some time was lost, in shunting carriages at the Britomart station, so that when a start was at last effected, the time for reaching Penrose in order to clear the junction: there ahead of the up Mercer train, due in Auckland at 7.2., was getting perilously short. The official in charge of the Onehunga “ empties” accordingly received instructions to push on past the intervening stations unless any passengers were waiting bti the platforms, as the train was not on the timetable. The Mercer train in due course reached Penrose, and finding the line clear pushed on for Ellerslie., Meanwhile, the Onehunga train was running down the Ellerslie gradient at the rate of fourteen or fifteen miles an hour, to meet it on the same line of rails! Fortunately, both engine-drivers were keeping a sharp look-out, and both trains Were brought up within 100 yards of each other. Here another difficulty presented itself. , As only “ Sunday" trains” were • running, the “ points” of the Ellerslie siding wore locked, so that neither the one nor the other could shunt. .After some little delay this obstacle was overcome, and both trains moved off to their respective destinations. We are informed that the Mercer morning up train is frequently twenty to twenty-five minutes behind time, owing to incidental and' unforeseen delays in taking in and putting out live stock at upcountry stations, and that the engine-drivers are not permitted, in the long reaches between Papakura and Otahuhu, and the latter station and Penrose, to pull up the lost time, and thus keep up to the waybill. The South Australian Register states that a contract has been entered into with the Netherlands-India ■ Steam Navigation Company for the establishment of a mail service between Port Adelaide, Port Darwin, and Batavia, by which the South Australian Go-

vemment and the Java 'Government have agreed to pay an annual subsidy. The arrangements would have been completed some weeks since, but a delay arose in consequence of the Java authorities having to refer the matter to the Government- in Holland. A favorable answer has now been received. The contract is for five years, terminable by two years notice on either side. Steamers of not less than 1000 tons will leave Batavia five times in the course of the year, at intervals of about seventy-three days, and call at Port Darwin,-, Sydney, and Melbourne both ways. The vessels will remain at Port Darwin two clear days, and at Port Adelaide four clear days, each time. The subsidy from the South Australian Government for each round voyage is £1666 13s,' 4d., payable on advice being received of the steamer having, reached Batavia on the return trip. A similar subsidy is to be paid by the Java,Go vemment. It was intimated by the Minister of Agriculture and Education when the subject was discussed in the Assembly, that there was a probability of Victoria and New South Wales being willing to pay a portion of the sum for which South Australia becomes responsible. It is expected that the first steamer will start from Batavia about the end of February. We are requested by Mr. George Thomas to call attention to his sale of jewellery to-day, at 2 o’clock, at the shop of Mr. Ludwig, who is retiring from the business, and hence goods will be sold at a sacrifice. .