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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5044, 24 May 1877, Page 2

The directors of the To Aro Theatre Company met yesterday afternoon to determine upon the tenders sent in for the erection of the theatre. There were nine in all, and the amounts varied considerably, ranging from upwards of £7OOO to £14,500. .Messrs. Lockie, S. Brown, and Ranaon wore rather close; tint the latter being the lowest, at £7300, Ids tender was accepted.

At a meeting held at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of considering the formation of a company to work tlie coalfield on the Mokihinui River, there was a very fair attendance of merchants and others. Information was given respecting the work already done aud the nature of the field, and those present announced their intention to take shares should the company bo formed. Tlie meeting then adjourned for a week.

Tlie ordinary business at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday was of no importance, and there was, as usual oa Wednesdays, no civil business. A late English telegram in an American paper says that Mr. Gladstone’s health is cans ing his family anxiety. Medical men advise him to go abroad.

J A Court of Inquiry into the charges of misconduct preferred by the Customs authorities against Captain Bonner, of the steamer Tui, in connection with the collision in the Manawatu Fiver, will be held on Friday before Mr. Crawford, R.M., and Captain Johnson, Nautical Assessor.

During the present sittings of the Supreme Court under the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act the learned Judges have constantly had to complain of the loose manner in which the cases have been presented to the Court. In Auckland, Dunedin, and Christchurch cases solicitors have presented their petitions with such irregularities that were it not for the ■substantial injury that might have been expected to accrue from such a course, the Court would have declined to adjudicate upon them. In an Auckland case yesterday, wherein the petitioner sought a rule nisi for dissolution of marriage, tire citation had been served in •such a manner that the Court found it necessary to deliberate as to whether, even giving the utmost latitude, they could recognise such service. Eventually they decided in the affirmative. Mr. Justice Johnston, however, remarked that such concessions would weaken tlie rules made by the Court, and he should set his face agaiust such cases iu the future. Stolen property is occasionally recovered under peculiar circumstances, an instance of which appeared yesterday in the Resident Magistrate’s Court, when a man named Jordan, late a steward on hoard the Ocean Mai], was charged with stealing a gold watch, the property of Mr. Mace. It appears that some considerable time ago Mr. Mace was playing in a cricket match on the Basin Reserve, and had his watch stolen from him. A description of tlie watch was given to the different jewellers and others into whose hands such articles were likely to fall, and every effort wasmade by the police to recover the timepiece, but without effect ; and nothing was heard of it until yesterday, when the police were sent for by Mr. Broadbeut, jeweller, of Mannersstreet, who gave Jordan into custody for having in his possession the stolen watch. The circumstance was most peculiar, and seems to verify the old adage that it is “an ill wind that blows good to no one.” Jordan had bad sufficient caution apparently not to dispose of the watch before going away, as detection would almost inevitably have followed ; but becoming “ hard up ” on returning to Wellington from tlie wreck, and possibly thinking that the affair had blown over, went to have the article priced, so that he might sell it. Mr. Broadbent having been supplied with a description of it by the police, and having a very good memory, at once recognised the watch, and recollected the circumstance which gave him a knowledge of its appearance, and he sent for a policeman. Jordan was then taken before the magistrate, and remanded till Friday. The Lydia Howarde company’s performance at tlie Theatre Royal last evening was one which could not fail of pleasing the most fastidious. Imprimis , the programme was decidedly the reverse of short, and tlie acting of the different members of the company—we would specially mention. Misses Howarde, Navaro, and Nye, and Messrs. Sam Howard and Power—was really excellent, whilst it would be impossible to bestow praise too liberal on the vocal and terpsichorean performances with which the piece is enlivened. Speaking generally the euteitaininent was capital. For to-night a programme of the most enticing character is announced. The performances will commence with the “ Grand Duchess,” Miss Lydia Howarde appearing as the Duchess and Mr. Baker (of Baker’s Hibernicon) as Fritz, concluding with the burlesque of the “The Three Musket Dears.” To-day is a .holiday, and there should he to-night a good attendance at this theatre. Tlie Industrial Review, which represents th e interests of labor iu Great Britain, characterise 8 as deliberate falsehoods the statements which have been put into circulation with respect to American manufactures supplanting those of England in various countries of the world. “We should like to be informed,” says that journal, “as to what part of America these goods are sent from, and by whom. The particulars also as to what kind of goods they are —kettles or cuttlery, firearms or frying-pans—-would be welcome. We are told that in the productions of Birmingham and Wolverhampton America is supplanting England in Australia, New Zealand, tlie West Indies, and Canada. When we read this we naturally ask how it is that this dangerous opponent in the markets named cannot beat our English makers in the American markets ? There is nothing more certain as a fact iu the commercial history of the present day than that there is a heavy import duty charged on the goods mentioned here when entering America. The American manufacturer who can follow us with the pots and pans, penknives and razors, saws and files, to Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, and Canada, and ‘whip us ’ in these markets, needs from 25 to 50 per cent, of an ad valorem duty to keep us from closing with him at his own factory door, and squeezing him to death. The Daily News knows this—the concoctors of these lying paragraphs know it—the manufacturers in whose interest they are invented know it—and yet they are trumped up and published. One day it is American iron iu Liverpool, another it is Belgian coal in Loudon, then Japan bricks are thrown by shiploads on our markets. Our working men may console themselves, however ; there are new importations from America that do not imply the lowering of wages, but what is far better, tile lowering of the price of beef. We are delighted that the Americans have found their way here with good fresh meat, and when they can beat us in the manufacture of pots and pans, let them do it.” According to a letterin 'The Times, written by a Mr. R. K. Douglas, dated February 28, there recently died in Chiua one of the most illustrious persons iu the world in point of pedigree, being no less than the heir of Confucius. The writer says :—“ The Duke Kung, whose death at Kiofu Heen, iu Chiua, was referred to iu The Times of yesterday, was the representative of one of the oldest families in the world. According to the geneaological tree which hangs roots upwards in the temple of Confucius at Kiofu Heen, the ducal representative of the family in the year 1754 was the 71st in lineal descent from Confucius. As the duke of that day was then past middle age, and as the late duke was but 28 at the time of his death, this latter was probably the 74th iu lineal descent from his great ancestor. The genealogical tree mentioned above traces the pedigree of the family back from Confucius (n.c. 551-478) to the Emperor Hwangte, who is said to have lived about 2687 n.c., but if we only accept the record it gives us of the successors to the , sage we have the history of a family in which there has not been wanting an heir to keep up the traditions of the house for seventy-four generations. But it the acknowledged antiquity of the family is almost unique, so also is the inherited position which its representative holds by the will of the Emperor aud the desire of the nation. By a special decree the reigning duke is an independent nobleman of the empire, and ranks next to the Imperial family. A grant of 106,650 acres of land is attached to Ids title, and Ids authority extends over tlie whole of the district in which he lives, including the city of Kiofu Heen, in which the paternal mansion is situated, and of which eight-tenths of the population are of the same stock as himself. The local officials, as iu duty bouud, pay Idm supreme reverence, and even the governor of the province prostrates himself nine times before him on entering Ids presence. It is remarkable that through all the vicissitudes aud the changes of dynasty to which the empire has been subjected since these grants were made, the rights and privileges of the representatives of the ‘ Throneless King have been strictly maintained. The late duke was of a weakly constitution, short in stature, and slightly deformed. In these particulars _he formed a melancholy contrast to Loufucius, who inherited much of tlie robust constitution and groat physical strength of Ids father, of whom it is related that when his troops were entrapped iu the city of Peyang he raised the portcullis— Which hut himself, not all the Stygian pow'rs,

Coxdd once have mov’d, and held it aloft by main strength until every man had escaped in safety.”

The Choral Society’s baud had a good practice at Mr. Hunter’s rooms last night, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. A cricket match will take place at Karon to-day between the Karori Club and the Featherston Club.

The Georgia Minstrels will arrive by the Rotorua, and open at the Theatre Royal tomorrow.

Messrs. Baker and Barren, and the members of the stock company who went with them to Napier, returned to Wellington by the Rangitira yesterday. The Supreme Court of South Australia, in the suit of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone v. Frearson Bros., to restrain the defendants from using the plaintiff’s copyright in a pamphlet on Bulgarian horrors, has granted a decree.

The meeting of the creditors of David Jones, of Palmerston North, blacksmith, which was to have been held at the Supremo Court House yesterday morning, lapsed, as no creditors attended. The liabilities arc stated to be .£ll4, and the assets £7B.

A musical and literary entertainment in connection with the Rising Star Cricket Club will be given in the Dixon-street schoolroom this evening. The chair will betaken at S p.tu. by the Rev. A. Reid, and a capital programme has been arranged. It has been frequently noticed that there is considerable danger incurred by the practice of light porters and expressmen boarding steamers before they are made fast to the wharf. Those who have authority should if possible prevent this practice. Colonel Harington, who is well known as having been connected with the military in different parts of the colony, and as an excellent officer, has, we learn, left the colony for Europe, with the intention of seeking service in the Turkish army. At about 6 o’clock last evening Constable Sullivan arrested a man on .suspicion of stealing two overcoats, and took him to the station. The prisoner, who gave his name as John Devine, became rather violent as he got to the station; and Sullivan, who was encumbered by the two coats, had to obtain the assistance of another member of the force. Subsequently the coats were identified by the manager of Mr. Smith’s drapery establishment. A correspondent in Rome writes thus to the London Daily Telegraph of Pope Pius tho Ninth’s personal appearance :—“ He leans rather heavily on his stick, and has lost to a great extent the nobly erect carriage which distinguished him but a very few years ago. In fact, he stoops now. His voice, too, is weaker, and his articulation less strikingly distinct. It is five years since I last saw him. He was then SO years old ; but at SO the Pope was as strong, vigorous, and hale as are most strong men at 65. Even now his eye is won* drously bright and keen ; his noble features change with every variation of thought ; his memory is as tenacious as ever. He remembered on what subjects he had talked five years ago. He glides from Italian into French, and from French into Italian, just as he did then, and his whole face brightened when his lips framed as of old the ready mot, in which he never, in his sorest trials, has been known to fail. The acuteness of his questions as to affairs in the East proved how strong is the interest he takes in questions of the day, and his jokes about the Conference, and especially about the Sultan, showed that beneath the jocular surface there lurked a substratum of shrewd observation.”