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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4970, 26 February 1877, Page 2

Telegrams stating that the weather was unsettled and that falling barometer might be expected in about twenty-four hours were sent to Middle Island stations on Saturday, afterr noon. Late messages yesterday show that the wind had backed, and that appearances were: threatening at several places. It will be seen from an advertisement which appears in our issue to-day that Messrs. Pearce and Hunter invite the electors forthe city of Wellington to meet them next Friday evening at 8 o'clock. The place of meeting is not named in the notice, but we understand it will be at the Odd Fellows' Hall, if some alterations which are being made can be completed in time. If this cannot be managed, the meeting will be held in Mr. Palmer's large room, which has been engaged for the purpose. It is notified in the New Zealand Qazcttt that his Excellency the Governor has appointed Henry "Williamson, Esq., William Wilson, Esq., and Charles Allan Wray, Esq., R.M., to be members of the Patea Harbor Board. A man name J Owen > Cameron was sentenced to four weeks imprisonment at the E.M. Court on Saturday for having deserted from the barque Adamant.

We have received No. 2 of the "Australasian Insurance and Banking Record." •We observe that the ITawke's Bay Herald has been enlarged. An inquest will be held at the Morgue today on the bodies of Mrs. Davey and her child, who were drowned, on Saturday morning. Mr. Duncan will hold a sale of land and property at his salerooms to-day at two o'clock.

The City Surveyor calls for tenders for forming and metalling Frederick-street, between Taranaki-street and Tory-street. The Rev. Mr. Inglis is announced to deliver a lecture on teetotalism in St. John's Presbyterian Church this evening.

The Tararua's departure for Sydney, via Nelson and West Coast, has been postponed to Tuesday at 3 p.m. The trustee in the estate of Daniel O'Kane, »f Castlepoint, notifies that a dividend at the rate of ss. in the pound will be paid to all creditors.

It is with regret we have to record the death of the eldest daughter of Dr. Featherston. She died on Saturday. Miss Featherston was thirty-three years of age. The annual meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society took place on Saturday evening. After the ordinary business of the annual meeting had been disposed of a number of very interesting papers were read. The Mirror of .England attracted a large audience on Saturday afternoon, and also in the evening, the additional attraction in the way of presents to the audience of gold and silver' coin proving very successful. There will be another exhibition to-night and for a few nights longer—when the season will positively close—at which there will be another distribution of gifts. During the exhibition at the Odd Fellows Hall on Saturday night the audience were not a little startled to fiud themselves suddenly left in total darkness, the gas having gone out entirely. A general commotion ensued, but Mr. Kennedy, the lecturer, presently appeared on the stage with a candle, which had the effect of inducing quietness. He presented a weird appearance, as may be understood when it is imagined what the effect of one candle would be in a place the size of the Odd Fellows' Hall. He lectured on, nevertheless, till the gas was again lighted. In the report of the Eli Whitney catastrophe which appeared in Saturday morning's paper we stated that if the information given by the persons who went for Dr. Doyle were correct, the latter's conduct was the reverse of commendable. It was; expressly stated that the reporter wrote subject to correction as to facts. We now find that the information was incorrect, and in justice to Dr. Doyle make the fact public- It appears that the persons in question called at Dr. Doyle's former residence in Manners-street, and that he did not knpw of the accident at all.

When reporting last Friday the result of the ballot for directors of the Wellington Trust and Loan Company (Limited), we were not in a position to state the number of votes recorded for each candidate, and we now make good the omission. The numbers were— For Mr. L. Levy, 883 ; Mr. James Wallace, 823 ; Mr. W. H. Levin, 658 ; and Mr. George Allen, 300. The election excited some interest, and a large number of the shareholders supported the recommendation of the Board of Directors, which wa3 to the effect that it would be for the advantage of the company that Mr. W. H. Levin should continue to be a member of the Board.

Surely this is the accident season. We have to record another fatal occurrence following quickly on the terrible event which occurred early on Saturday morning last. Yesterday the police received a telegram from Featherston to this effect :—"Price's tunnel fell in on Saturday. Two men buried. Will bring bodieß here to-day." Subsequently another telegram was received as follows:—"Names of men buried in Price's tunnel, McCullam and Marshall. Marshall's body not yet discovered. An inquest will he held to-morrow." The time at which the latter telegram was received was 5.15 p.m. It appears that one of the men was foreman, we do not know which, and the two went into the tunnel for the purpose of ascertaining whether everything was secure; and the earth fell whilst they were in there. The tunnel is known as the incline tunnel on the northern slope of the Rimutaka.

In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday Mr. Crawford gave judgment in the '• dog case" in which Mr. Gladman Smith was defendant. The case was remanded a week ago in order that his Worship might consider a point raised on behalf of defendant by Mr. Fitzherbert, namely, whether a man could be summoned for having an unregistered dog when he had registered it before receiving the summons. The Act stated that all dogs should be registered in January, but this dog, as before stated, waa not registered till February. His Worship now ruled that, though the defendant might have been liable to prosecution for not having registered in January, yet as the registration fee had • been accepted in February, the prosecution had condoned defendant's offence. Therefore h» would dismiss, the case.

'' At the Wesleyan Church yesterday the Rev. Mr. Reid preached a sermon on the subject of " conscience," and took occasion in the course of his remarks to refer to the criticisms from the Press of clergymen who deprecated horse-racing and such sports. " The rev, gentleman said- he believed both the. Pulpit and the Press were sincere in what they advocated, and he did not for a question the bona fides of the Press. • For himself he might say that he could witness a horse race and enjoy himself, but he could not countenance the many iniquities which were accessory to the racecourse ; therefore, he abstained from visiting the' races, and thought it improper and unsafe for any professing Christian' to dp so We -can only say Mr. Reid takes a very; common sense view of the matter from the Pulpit point of view, but we may say, too, that so long as clergymen and the leaders of respectable society keep aloof from the people's amusements the. atmosphere of. the racecourse and the theatre will not become any purer.

By reference to the Theatre Royal advertisement it will be seen that a rich treat may be expected this/evening. The programme as announced is of the most attractive .character. It consists of a domestic drama entitled " Our. ,Nelly,". inVwhich- Mi - .. Hall will appear, and the burlesque of " Lurline, or the Nymphs of; the Lurleyburgh." In the character of Sir Kupert Reckless Mr. Hall is wonderfully good ; ; in fact he is supreme in this part. Wherever he has played it. he has been acknowledged to be without a peer—in America, where he played with the celebrated Ly<?ia Thompson, and in England too. Mrs. Hall will also appear, and as this lady is a capital burlesque actress, a... splendid performance may be leoked forward to) and a good house.

,i The following tenders were received by tht Public Works Department, for the construction 6f the Kopua ■ bridge 'on ' the ' Napier to Mapawatn railway, viz. r—Accepted : A. Maclfay, Waipukurau,' £1139. Declined: D. ,McLeod,' Waipukuiaiv £1255 ; Alex. Smith, Auckland, ■ £1356 ; Kavauagh and Watson; Auckland, £1430; R. Mdnne,«, Pakuratahi, £1485; J. B. Ross, Woodville, £1659; Messrs. Miller, Murray, and Watson, Waipuknraii, £1724 ;; Boelstad and Co., do, £1730 ; J. McSweeriey, Napier, £1770.; H. Monteitb, Waip'ukurau, £IBSO ; W. G. Boss, Wanganui, £260&.

-The committee of the Hutt Agricultural, Horticultural, and Pastoral Association call the attention' of intending exhibitors to the fact that th'e entries for the grand show, which will take place on the 7th March, will close on Wednesday, the ] 28th;in8tan,t,afcil0 p.m. We understand that all necessary, arrangements for the convenience of the_ public have been made, and that extra trains will be laid on, at cheap fares., ,Weanjticipate, Weather, permit-, ting, fhat the first show of this association will be a success. '.TBe cattle show will be held in a paddock adjoining'the railway station, Lower Hutt,' and the .horticultural portion in the schoolroom close by.

A Lodge of Sorrow will be held in memory of the late Sir D. McLean, K.C.M.G., Grand Master of the North Island of New Zealand. The lodge will be tyled this evening at eight o'clock.

Walter Thornly, the young man arrested in Wanganui on a charge of obtaining money under false pretences, was brought up before It. Ward, Esq., R.M., at the Resident Magistrate's Court, at Bulls, on Tuesday, when he pleaded " guilty." He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, with hard labor. The Australasian Slcetcher for February is to hand. The first engraving is that of a photograph of Lady Bowen, Lady Robinson, and Lady Musgrave. In a former issue the Sketcher gave the three Governors. The second plate is well in keeping with its predecessor. Amongst other cuts is that of the late Sir Donald McLean, a fairly good picture. On Sunday evening at St. John's Presbyterian Church the Rev. Mr. Paterson made the late dreadful accident to the Eli Whitney and loss of life the subject of a most eloquent Bermon. The rev. gentleman took his text from the fourth chapter of Amos, last clause ot the twelvth verse, in these words, " Prepare to meet thy God O Israel." He prefaced his remarks by enumerating the large number of sudden deaths that had taken place in Wellington from the time of the accident at the annual regatta down to the melancholy calamity on Saturday morning. He said: Do not these events in God's providence point out a lesson to us to prepare to meet our God." Besides these accidents, he Baid he was often called upon to witness deaths not of so sudden a nature as the ones already mentioned, but still so sudden that he felt called upon to warn his hearers that "In such an hour as ye know not the Son of Man Cometh." Many people rush to prayer meetings and to the house of God with business matters running in their heads, careless, and with levity in their hearts. This was no way to meet God. The main point of his text, he said, was whether we were prepared to meet God in judgment. Were we prepared to appear before the bar of God, clothed in all our sins, to answer for our past lives ? Can one who hasled a careless life, never asked forgiveness for his transgressions—can that one be " prepared to meet his God " in* judgment. Mr. Paterson closed a most interesting address by exhorting his hearers to seek and live a good and upright life, and to a state of repentance, so as to be prepared to meet their God. The rev. gentleman was visibly affected when referring to the los's of life on Saturday morning, and the congregation listened with marked and wrapt attention during the whole time of the speaker's address.

Mr. Wardell, R.M. for the Wairarapa> having in Court recently declared that it was no part of a policeman's duties to travel over the country in search of agricultural statistics, the News Letter reports that, " Mr. E. Jones stepped forward and said he was very glad to hear the explanation of his Worship. Whenever he wanted to shoot rubbish out of a cart he did not know where to put it, for everybody complained that it was too near his house, or where he was going to build. He was glad to hear the explanation. Mr. Wardell smiled, and said he was glad to notice that Mr. Jones knew what was meant by agricultural statistics. Just as the Court was rising Mr. Jones again claimed attention and demanded to know whether the man who was locked up for vagrancy was married or single, and this question was so interwoven with statistics that a satisfactory answer was impossible. Next a man came and wished to know how he was to register his son, the ordinary time having elapsed. He thought a great deal of the boy, and did not want his birth without record. Such are the questions a magistrate has to deal with at times."

A boat accident occurred in the harbor at about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. A boat containing several men was running a line out to the buoy where the hulk India lies, and it was capsized by the chain of the hulk while the men were making the line fast. The crew escaped; they got on the buoy, and boats from the Agnes, Clio, and others put off. The Clio's boat got some of the men on board, and one who was floating on the water was picked up by the boat belonging"' to the Agnes. : • '