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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4984, 14 March 1877, Page 2

We understand that after the meeting held last evening by Mr Hutchison several gentlemen gave in their names to act on the committee as his supporters. The list, including those whose names were already down, contains now upwards of 150 members. A special meeting of the vestry of St. Peter’s Church, Te Aro, was held last evening to consider the letter sent to the Education Board by Mr. Holmes, the head master of St. Peter’s school, Ghuznee-street, protesting against Mr. Lee’s report and the remarks of the latter thereon, Mr. Holmes’ lettei and the Inspector’s reply Having been referred to the vestry by the Education Board, with the, request for an expression of opinion on the, matter. The Ven. Archdeacon Stock presided. After full consideration of the matter, the following resolution was unanimously? agreed to “ That the vestry have read the : remarks-made by Mr. Lee, in reference to Mr. Holmes’s conduct of the Te Aro school, with , much surprise, inasmuch as during the twenty years Mr. Holmes was in charge of the school! under the vestry he always proved himself a' most valuable and efficient master, and no, complaint was ever made against him. The; vestry alw ys have had full confidence in Mr,: Holmes, and they see no reason whatever to withdraw that confidence. • They would Bug-1 gest that in any future inspection of the -Te; Aro school the vestry should be invited to be present.” The chairman was requested to 1 forward this resolution to the Education' Board.

The ordinary meeting of the Benevolent Institution was held at 3 p.m. yesterday. Present—Mr. J. C. Crawford (in the chair), the. Bishop of Wellington, Bov. Archdeacon Stock, Revs, Harvey, Ogg, Paterson, Trevett ' Redstone, and Messrs. Bunny, Woodward,, Burne, Richardson, and Holds worth. ; A subscription of £lO was received from Mr. C., J. Pharazyn. . Several cases requiring relief were dealt with. In the absence of the Rev. R. Coffey, the consideration of Mrs; Turner’s! case was postponed.' The letter from the Mayor and his published statement were read, 1 and. a general. discussion followed. It was proposed by Mr. Woodward, ' seconded by Bishop Hadfield, and carried,—That the item funerals be not entertained by the Benevolent! Institution. - It was then moved by Mr. Holdsworth, and seconded by Mr. Bunny,—That! the, proposals submitted by. the_ Mayor be given effect to for the period ending the 30th! June, on ; the understanding that should; it be necessary to ■ employ ' a relieving! officer, such officer should be appointed by! the Benevolent Institution. The meeting then resolved, en the motion of Mr. Woodward, seconded by the Rev, Mr. West,—That a letter be addressed to his Worship the Mayor, containing copies of the resolutions passed. There was no other business.

Mr. P. Moeller yesterday placed resignation of his seat in the City Council in the hands of the Mayor.

As will be seen by our advertising columns, Mr. Travers intends holding meetings in different parts of the city before polling day. During yesterday the divers, Mr. Gough and son, were engaged at the hulk Eli Whitney, and they managed to recover the two donkeyengines, valued at about £4OO. Appeals against the valuation for the Wellington Country District will be held at the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, on Thursday. A cricket match between the Upper Hutt and Taita teams, plajed on Friday last, resulted in a victory for the Taita cricketers, who scored 81 points as against the score of 15 points made by the Upper Hutt team. A deputation from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce will wait upon the Hon. the Commissioner of Customs, by appointment, at noon to-day, in the office of the department, Government Buildings.

The Licensing Court will sit on Friday next to consider the cases adjourned from last quarterly meeting. The application of Mr. Urwin for a license for the Theatre Royal Hotel is one of them.

The Stormbird on her way up to the wharf yesterday found the Minnehaha drifting off Jeruingham Point, with her rudder carried away and two men on board. The steamer took her in tow and brought her up to the wharf. We are informed that it is proposed to start a weekly paper in Wellington in connection with the temperance party, and that a conference on the subject is to take place between ttie Hon. Mr. Fox and the late editer of the Temperance Times , Dunedin.

A meeting of the committee of the Choral Society was held last evening at Mr. Hunter’s office. The business related to matters of internal management. It was resolved that the next concert should be held on the 12th of April. The Theatre Royal was fairly attended last evening, “ Old Fidelity ” being the piece produced. To-night Mr. and Mrs. Hall appear for the last time, and we hope to see the final performance of these clever artists well patronised. “The Octoroon” will be the piece of the evening.

The Odd Fellows’ Hall was well attended last evening, when the Chicago Minstrels provided an excellent entertainment. Particular attention is drawn to the fact that the Minstrels appear positively for the last time this evening, when the performance will be for the benefit of Mr. Wallace. There should be a good house. In another column it is announced that Captain Campbell Walker, F.R.G.S., will deliver a lecture in the hall at the Colonial Museum, on Saturday next, on “ The Climatic and Financial Aspect of Forest Conservancy as applicable to New Zealand.” The chair will be taken by his Excellency the Marquis of Normanby, president of the institute. The lecture will be open to the public. The Hutt County Council was again formally adjourned by the Clerk yesterday, seven days having elapsed since the last adjournment by him, and the Clerk’s power of adjournment being limited to seven days. On the 23rd of the present month a special and ordinary meeting of the Council will be held. The special meeting is to take place for the purpose of confirming the resolutions of the Council in the matter of declaring all roads within the county to be county roads. The Wellington Literary Association held its opening meeting after the summer recess last night. There was a good attendance, the business consisting of the election of officers and preparing the programme for the ensuing quarter. The following officers were elected : —President, Rev. James Paterson ; Vice-Pre-sidents, the Rev. J. Ogg and Messrs. Farmer and Scott; Committee, Messrs. Bishop, Gardner, Hullett, Murray, and Renner. Mr. Hopkirk was appointed secretary, Mr. McDonald treasurer, and Mr. R. Renner librarian. The society have purchased a large number of standard works, and will no doubt soon be in a position to increase the size of the library. The Assessment Court sat yesterday at 11 o’clock to hear objections against the valuations of the City Valuer. In twenty cases there was no appearance of the appellants, and the assessment as made was accordingly, allowed to stand ; and the valuation was sustained in the following ;—A. Wilson, Con-stable-street, .ilO ; C. J. Pharazyn, Tinakorirpad, £2OO. The fallowing cases were adjourned ;—R. Easby, Willia-street, £9O; Wi Tako Ngatata, Turnbull-street, £100; J. Higginson, Hill street, £125 ; J. Carruthers, Hillstreet, £l5O ; J. Holdsworth, Tinakori road, £175 ; and W. R. E. Brown. In the following cases the valuation was reduced :—Hughes, Adelaide-road, from £25 to £2O ; Robertson and Co., Custom House-street, from £2OO to £l5O ; W. Bodmann, Tinakori-road, from £BO to £6O ; Solomon Levy, Willis-street, from £l2O to £9O ; Mrs. Pharazyn, Hobson-street, from £IOO to £BO ; Knorpp, Hill-street, from £BS to £7O ; A. Koch, Hill-street, from £6O to £SO. .The Porirua -.Rifles fired for the district prizes on Monday. The following are the respective scores : seven shots at each range : Yds. Yds. Yds,

Nominations for the 500 yards handicap, to be contested at the swimming matches which will be held,at the Thorndon Baths on Saturday next,; will be received until eight o’clock this evening at the Pier Hotel. The handicap will be effected by giving time starts-; thus each competitor will swim the whole distance, but the. less speedy will have the advantage of a start of such a time as will place them on an equality with the more expert. As it is quite likely that the first prize may fall to one who is regarded as an outsider, those who are good swimmers, but, not very fast, should be encouraged to enter. The total prizes for this event amount to £lO, a sum higher than has been hitherto .offered here for such an event, but the members of the committee are anxious to secure the best exhibition possible of high class swimming.-. In addition to the events on the programme there will bo one of considerable interest, Mr. .Luke having kindly consented to show some of the most approved modes of rescuing from drowning a person who is unable to swim.

It'is officially notified that Sir George Alfred A.rney, ‘the Right Rev. Dr. Croke, Heavy Samuel Chapman, Esq,, the Hon. Thomas Fraser, James Hector, 'Esq,, his Honor James Macandrew, and tho Hon, Henry John Miller having ceased to be Fellows of the University of New Zealand, in consequence of their failure to attend at two consecutive annual meetings of the Senate, his Excellency the Governor! has appointed the following gentlemen to be Fellows of the University in their stead:— James Prendergast, Esq., Chief Justice; Christopher William Richmond, Esq., a Judge of the Supreme Court; the Right Rev. Francis’ Redwood, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop ; the Hon. Thomas Fraser, M.L.0.; James Hector, Esq., M.D., C.M.G., F.R.S.; James Macandrew. Esq., M.H.R.; and the Rev. David Bruce.

Writing of Miss Alice May’s debut in London at the Gaiety Theatre, the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News says:—“lf English’ opera-bouffe enter upon : a new period of prosperity, and there is every prospect of its doing so, it will be owing to the advent of Miss Alice May, Mr, R. South’s ‘discovery.’ She is •a' splendid actress and a vocalist qf unusual capability. Remembering’ how hackneyed opera-bouffe has been in London by all kinds and conditions of socalled ‘ queens of comic opera,’ the effects which she produces on jadedly critical audiences are little short of wonderful. To see her in ‘ La- Belle Helene,’ the ‘ Grand Duchess,’ and ‘ Mdme. Angot ’ is to- experience a pleasure as considerable as it is new.”

Tile consequence of appealing against the valuation of a piece of property was distressing to one gentleman yesterday. If- had been found necessary that Mr. Ames, the City Valuer, should revisit the property in question, and he went there in a cab, for the hire of which he paid 10s. The valuation was sustained, and the property holder was ordered to pay the 10s. cab hire and the court fee. Melancholy fate. The property holder on hearing about that ten shillings looked gloomy ; but gloom was nothing to the expression which his face assumed when Mr. Baker, Clerk of the Court, called out, with affable,- airy briskness, “Come and pay the costs !’’ He expressed disgust at the law which compelled one man to pay for another’s cab hire, and seemed generally to think that the liberty of the subject was being interfered with.

The story of a felon’s career is (says the Telegraph) invariably iute esting, and the confession of a criminal at the Oollingwood Police Court the other day was particularly so. A man named Isaac Standish was brought up on two separate charges of larceny—the first for stealing a hand-truck, valued at £2 10s., the property of Reece Miller, a corn-dealer in Wellington-street ; and the second for larceny as bailee of a truck valued at £3, the property of Adam Clements, a laborer in Hoddle-street. To both of these offences the prisoner pleaded guilty, and, in extenuation, recounted his misfortunes through life. He said that, one time he was iu a large way of business as a dyer; but through the infidelity of his wife he became a broken man, and, getting into trouble, became soon the occupant of a prison cell. He had lately been discharged from Pectridge, after having undergone a sen tence of about ten years’ penal servitude, cumulative upon numerous small convictions, and had since tried and obtained work at his trade as a dyer. He was a good workman, and as he gave every satisfaction his wages were quickly increased, but unfortunately shortly afterwards his former career became known to his master. He was dismissed from his employment, and, from the same cause, could never succeed in obtaining honest means of existence. He also informed the Court that he expected to receive another term of three years’ imprisonment from the General Sessions on other charges. The Bench, considering the numerous convictions recorded against the prisoner, sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment on each of the present charges. During the past quarter, ended Slat December, 1876, the Australian spring, there were registered in the city of Syduey and its nine suburbs 1467 births and 787 deaths ; giving a natural increase to the population, by the excess of births over deaths, of 680 souls. The Hawke’s Bay Herald says:—“The N.Z, Times is not far wrong in its prognostics as to the native litigation likely soon to be set on foot in this district. Seventeen writs against various settlers, it is reported, are prepared and are just about to be issued.”

400 BOO 600 T1 T. Bould 25 22 21--68 F. Greer 26 23 10--59 Corporal Harris 21 24 1868 J. Brady 19 12 21--62 S. Jones 10 16 17 62 J. Gardner 17 19 16--52 Lieutenant Walker .. 22 18 11--61 Sergeant Bell 18 13 15—46 J. Jones 21 14 9--44 W. Jones 15 , 19 8-42