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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5052, 2 June 1877, Page 2

The polling for the City Auditors took place yesterday at the sideroom of the Odd Fellows’ Hall, the result of the voting being:—Stevenson, 75 J Kebbell, 67 ; Pownall, 19. Messrs. Stevenson and Kebbell are therefore elected City Auditors.

A despatch has been by his Excellency thejGovernor, acknowledging the receipt of a recommendation that Mr. E. Richardson should be permitted on his retirement from the office of Minister for Public Works to retain the title of Honorable, and informing him that her Majesty has been graciously to approve of Mr. Richardson retaining the title of Honorable within the colony of New Zealand.

The following tenders were received tor the construction of Rmgitikei Bridges ; —No. 1 (accepted), Thomas Denby, £5174, Declined—Caiman and Richardson, £6182 13s. ; Robert McGonaghy, £6490 7s. ; E. and O. Aid Corporation, £6681 ; W. G. Bassett, £7847 ; James Lockie and Co., £7200. No. 2 (accepted), E. and O. Aid Corporation, £ISBO. Declined—Caiman and Richardson, £1852 18s. 3d. ; Thomas Benby, £1939 ; Jas. Lockie and Co., £2350 ; Robert McGonaghy, £2690 ; W. G. Bassett, £7847. Return of patients in the Provincial Hospital during and ending the mouth of May, 1877 ; —Admitted —Males, 10 ; females, 2. Discharged—Males, 12 ; females, 2. Died — Males, 2 ; females, 1. Left in Hospital— Males, 36 ; females, 4. Joseph Sturgess was again brought up yesterday and charged with stealing Mr. M ace’s watch on the 24th February. The case had been remanded in order that further evidence might be produced. Jordan, head steward of the Ocean Mail, while she was afloat, deposed that prisoner said the watch was his own ; he also gave important evidence to the effect that when prisoner came to the Ocean Mail he said he had been engaged just previously in a booth on the cricket ground. Sturgess, who reserved his defence, was committed to take his trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court.

On Monday last Mr. E. Boulton, jnn., met with an accident at Pahautanui while bush falling. It appears that he was cutting a sapling, which was bent down by a fallen tree and partially twisted against the side of a standing tree. As soon as it was cut it sprang upwards and struck him in the face, completely smashing the nose. He was at once conveyed to town by Mr. James Gardner in his trap, and the services of Dr. Harding were secured for him.

Two men got quarrelling over their cups on Thursday evening in consequence of a dispute about the loss of some money. One of them, James Clark, accused the other, Thomas Marsh, of stealing the money, whereupon a fight took place, the men retiring outside the hotel in which the dispute had arisen. James Clark did not confine himself to fisticuffs, but took his knife out and stuck his opponent in the leg. Clark was charged at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday with assault, a charge 6f stabbing being abandoned, and he was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment.

The Greytown paper is responsible for the following:—“A traveller from Woodville to Masterton says that the road through the bush is nearly completed. Its metal is at present rough ; but in a few mouths it will be a splendid road.—There is a Scandinavian in Greytown who has a penchant for canine flesh. It is suggested that he should be appointed registrar of dogs, as the animals he did not register he would eat.”

The Georgia Minstrels continue to draw good houses. Last night there was a large attendance iu the pit and stalls, and the boxes, if not filled to overflowing, were certainly not empty. To-day, there will be a mid-day performance at 2 o'clock, at which we expect to see a large attendance of juveniles, for whose especial benefit prices have beeu reduced and a varied and attractive bill of fare prepared. There is on view at Mr. Myers, Lambtonquay, a water-color painting of Lake Te Anau, by Mr. E. Brandon, and to-day five or six others will also be placed on exhibition. Amongst these are paintings of Mount Erusl.w, head of Lake Wakatipu, View on Dart River. We understand these will fully maintain the prestige Mr. Brandon has secured.

It seems that Mr. Berry, the new Premier of Victoria, is to take office under one of those difficulties yclept constitutional questions which seem to have been going the rounds of the colonies recently. In this instance the constitutional point has arisen by the resignation of the McCulloch Ministry during what hits been called “ the interregnum ” between the two Parliaments. It is argued that as til ere is in Victoria no precedent for a Ministry taking office before Parliament had met after a general election, the practice of the House of Commons in such exceptional circumstances should be adhered to. In that august Assembly custom is far more binding than the written law appears to be in Victoria. There no new writs can be issued until the period during which petitions against the return of members can be presented has elapsed. That practice was strictly followed when Mr. Disraeli retired after the general election of 1868. His successor, Mr, Gladstone, formed Ida Administration on the sth December, Parliament mot on the 10th, and no member of the new Government, of course, was in the House of Commons when the Speaker was elected. After that event, and the formality of presenting him to the Sovereign was gone through, the House was adjourned to comply with the rules of Parliament, and give time for the election of the members whose seats were vacated by acceptance of office. The same course was followed after the general election of, 1874, when the voice of the country declared against the Gladstone Administration, and that right honorable gentleman resigned. As the practice of the House of Commons is the precedent our local Parliament ought to follow (says the liendiyo Advertiser), it will be therefore expedient his Excellency the Governor should open the Legislature at as early a day as possible, and after the Speaker has been elected the House of Assembly should bo adjourned for a mouth, after which period the writs for the election of the new Ministers could he issued.

A specimen of the blue heron (known to science as ardea sacra, and to the Maori as matuku) was shot at tbo Manukau last week, and, says the JVcio Zealand JJcrald , sent in to the Auckland Museum. This bird is not often seen at our inland waters, except when there has been a long course of stormy weather, driving it from the exposed sea beaches which are its usual haunts. The white crane, or white heron (there are no true cranes in New Zealaud), known as the kotuku, is a very raro bird in the North Island, and the natives have a proverb that it is only seen once in a lifetime—“He kotuku rerenga tahi.” There is only one breeding place known, somewhere near Okarito, on the west coast of the Middle Island, where there are now eighty nests. Unless, however, they are protected in some way they will be destroyed when population increases in the negbborhood, and then the white crane will be extinct in New Zealand,

We have received the “Church Chronicle for June.

The traffic receipts on the Canterbury railways during April amounted to £29,520.

Letters of naturalisation have been Issued in favor of Charles Forsberg, farmer, Mauriceville.

Richard Booth, of Foxton, has been appointed interpreter under the Native Lands Act.

A meeting of the Wellington Building Society was held last evening for the payment of subscriptions and sale of shares. We have been authorised to contradict the announcement by the Wairarapa Standard that Messrs. Hastwell and Macara intend running a coach to Castlepoint soon. The Secretary to the Post Office invites tenders for several New Zealand coastal mail service for a twelvemonth, commencing in July next. A meeting of the Board of Governors of the Wellington College will be held on Monday, 4th June, at 12 o’clock, at the office of the Education Board.

In a Gazette supplement is published a schedule of rates for the conveyance of passengers and for the conveyance, delivery, and storage of goods, parcels, See., on the New Zealand railways. An unfortunate woman named Annie Freebody, who had recently come from the country, was charged at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday with vagrancy. She pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment.

A very curious case of preserved specimens from Vavau, one of the Friendly Islands, forwarded by Mr. Parsons, has arrived at the Auckland Museum and Institute. These specimens comprise a magnificent star-fish and several Crustacea.

The Auckland Star says ; —The return of Mr. Gisborne to political life is an event that should not be passed over without notice. The worthy gentleman is one of those politicians who glide from the Cabinet to the Civil Service—from master to servant, and servant to master, with a celerity that discloses a special aptitude tor making the public serve him in return for his services to the public. It seems to be the prevailing expectation that Mr. Gisborne’s re-entry into the Assembly places one certain vote on the side of the Government. We find some difficulty in discovering upon what foundation this idea rests, for we have as yet been unable to discover that Mr. Gisborne is wedded to any particular set of views that would preclude him from ranking on either side of the House possessing a fair chance of office.

The Thames Advertiser records the following incident of the sham fight there on the Queen’s Birthday : —“During the advance of No. 3 Company at the sham fight yesterday a coincidence occurred which for a few minutes occasioned some anxiety among the immediate observers. A volunteer took deliberate aim at a mounted officer in red uniform with an asseveration more positive than polite that he would bring down the gaudy target. Bang went the rifle and down fell the target—both man and horse. Bor a moment it was thought the marksman must have used ball instead of blank ammunition, but the fears raised were dispelled when the red coat and his steed gathered themselves together, and the horse galloped off none the worse for the ugly looking coincidence.”

The following curious letter appears in the last number of the Patea Mail'. —“Sir, —Can you inform me if the extra clerk about the Court House is attached to the 11. M., or the R.M.’s clerk ; or can you inform me if this is an instalment of the economy that was to be practised under the new regime ? If you can give me the present cost, and what it was in the late R.M.'s time, you will ablige.—Yours, 30s. Pbk Week, and work hard, and pay rent.” Sir Arthur Kennedy, when opening the Queensland Parliament, alluded to the fact that a provisional agreement had been entered into between the Governments of South Australia and Queensland for the free exchange of certain articles. The South Azistrahan Register learns that “ the proposal emanated from the South Australian Government, and a provisional agreement has been come to between the authorities that all articles being the produce of Queensland or South Australia, together with commodities manufactured from them in the colony where the produce has been grown, with the exception of spirits and tobacco, shall be admitted free of duty into either province. The agreement is to be for a term of five years, and will then be terminable by either of the contracting parties giving six months’ notice of their wish to withdraw. The compact has yet to receive the ratification of the Queensland Parliament, as in that colony there is at present no Act in force authorising the Government to make such a treaty.” A consignment of five thousand ova of the “ brook trout ” has been sent by Mr. Hugh Craig, of San Francisco, acting on behalf of Mr. Thomas Russell, to the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. It is rather an unfortunate circumstance that this interesting consignment should have met with neglect. The result is that not more than about two hundred of the ova will prove . fertile. Information, however (it is stated by an Auckland paper), has been received from the same quarter that a further consignment of the same kind of fish will be forwarded by the next mail. The “ brook trout" is peculiar to the American lakes. He weighs about lib. at the first year, and at full maturity he attains a weight of from 81bs, to lOlbs. He is capital eating, and game to the last, affording the finest sport to the angler. Mr. Craig says the members of this particular family of fishes “fight like bulldogs,” and that they take almost any fly. They are in every way an acquisition, and their successful acclimatisation will be scarcely less important than that of the salmon.