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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5156, 1 October 1877, Page 2

The criminal sittings ‘of the Supreme Court will commence this morning; We have already published the calendar of prisoners for trial. The following are the civil cases-.—Before common juries : Percy v. McKay and Leach v. Johnston. Before special juries ; Donald and another v. McMillan, Peters v. Joseph and another, Gillon v. Macdonald. The police received intelligence in the course of yesterday from Wanganui that Captain Montgomery, who occupies a farm on the Wanganui Paver, had been ordered by Tamata and Takarangi, who were accompanied by fifteen other natives, to “ clear out of the place with the stock immediately, or take the consequences.” At a quarter-past 11 o’clock last evening the following telegram was received by the Inspector from the officer in charge at liVanganui - —“ So far as I can ascertain, there is no probability of any disturbances. A letter will be sent by next mail. Two settlers have brought their families into town.” The cause of charity will be benefited by the successful effort which was' made to collect funds for a tribute to the memory of the late Dr. Isaac Earl Featherston. This is fitting; for his ears, while he was with ua, were ever open to the cry of distress. The money collected for the memorial bust has a surplus of £-44, which is to be given to the orphanage fund of the Wellington Benevolent Society, unless the subscribers object to that determination, which we apprehend is not at all likely. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Saturday morning, Captain Holt and Mr. J. Dransfield, J.Ps., on the bench, Walter Wilson was charged with driving round the corner of Cuba and Manners . streets at other than a walking pace. The defendant said he had no recollection of the circumstance. He was fined ss. and 9s. costs. One inebriate was let off with a caution, it being his first appearance. Later in the day Mrs. McDermott was charged with using threatening language to Mrs. Nagle. After a lengthened hearing the Bench dismissed the case, as Mrs. McDermott had removed from the scene of the disturbance, the case having simply been a dispute between neighbors who were on bad terms. . A boy named Hawkes and another, the latter a half caste, were arrested on Saturday night and lodged in the lock-up on the charge orbeiug unlawfully in a building in a right-of-way . off Willis-street. The boys were found sleeping there, and , stated that they had no homo to go to. , Hawkes says his mother, who lives in Tory-street, turned him out of the house, as she had done on a former occasion, through no fault of his. The matter.will be investigated at the Resident Magistrate’s Court this morning. St. George’s Hall was crowded by the largest audience ever seen, inside the building on Saturday evening, numbers, being refused admission. There is not the slightest doubt but that this exhibition and entertainment have hit the public taste, more especially now that Mr. Gary, the manager,, gives away valuable prizes nightly. The entertainment on Saturday evening was of a thoroughly enjoyable character. The burlesque of “ Fair Rosamond’s Bower” pleased, as it ever does, immensely, and the variety -entertainment supplied _by .the Misses Morgan and Power and Messrs. Keeley, Cary, Gerrard, and King, not forgetting the City Rifle Band, was excellent. The prizes caused no little excitement, especially when the pig was won, amidst great laughter, by Mr. Shrimski, M.H.R., who desired Mr. Cary to give it to the Benevolent Institution. To-night the leading prize is a lady’s gold watch, and the programme will consist of Offenbach’s operetta “ The Rose of Auvergne,” and “Fair Rosamond’s Bower” for the last time. To-morrow evening “Trial by Jury” will be performed, and on Thursday “Aladdin.” Notwithstanding the general prosperity of Sydney, there must be a good deal of poverty there, judging from the. reports in the local journals of the annual meeting of the City Night Refuge and Soup Kitchen. The report showed that during the year 67,800 meals had been given, and shelter had been afforded in 31,076 instances. But, in accordance with a suggestion made some, time ago, arrangements had been effected to ascertain how many separate persons had been., assisted. The result was to show that from September, 1876, to June, 1877, inclusive, the number had been 2000, of whom 300 were women. This institution (says the Sydney Morning Herald), inasmuch as it does not encourage loafing, but gives only temporary aid, and that in cases of extremity, and further, because in numerous instances it finds employment for persons who had sunk to a - position or become involved in difficulties that almost deprived them of the hope of obtaining it for themselves, is well deserving of public support. . It is, therefore, to be regretted that during the year the subscriptions only amounted to £197, which did not meet the expenditure, and rendered it necessary to withdraw from the building fund a sum of £4O which had been placed to its credit from the general fund in the previous year, and even this left a balance, of £ll due to the treasurer. The institution has received a ‘ liberal amount of assistance in kind. A tithe of the relief it has given could not have been given if the provisions had not to a large extent been supplied gratuitously. But money is required to meet current expenses, and to provide a better building, which is needed urgently.

As to the advantages to he derived from life insurance the following incident mentioned by the Bruce Herald will testify:—“ The late Sergeant Thomson, of the local volunteers, last year made a proposal to insure his life. The insurance agent accepted the offer, adding five years extra scale rate. Unfortunately, however, for his widow, he neglected to pay the premium, which only amounted to about 365. Had he paid this small amount his family would now have to receive £100.” An Otago exchange says that it is expected that the line from .Waipahi to Clinton, a distance of ten miles, will be ready for opening about the beginning of November, by which time it is also expected that the Olutha Bridge will be finished and the trains running into Balolutha township. The line will then be completed from JDunedin to Invercargill, with the exception of the Balolutha and Clinton section, which is 22 miles in length. Mr. Wakefield, in his condemnatory speech of the Walca Maon, referred to idiotic trash written by a Maori clergyman about a tauiwha killing a girl. Is Mr. Wakefield aware that in a book detailing fully a trip of Governor Grey from Auckland to Taranaki, and published under gubernatorial authority, a tauiwha is referred to advancing on a war party “ looking, as large as a mountain, and covered with scales and spikes like a monster of the sea.” Which of the two stories is most idiotic? A local paper says that sly-grog selling has increased to such an extent in Or.maru that the local Municipal Council have felt themselves called upon to urge the authorities to take stringent measures to put down the evil. Representations are to be made to the Minister of Justice, pointing out that hitherto when proceedings have been taken against persons for breach of the Licensing Act, and where such cases have resulted in the imposition of anything like a substantial fine, it has generally happened that the convictions have been quashed on appeal ; and it is .therefore asked that the law be amended in such a way that no conviction for sly-grog selling shall be liable to be quashed for want of form, or upon any technicality, where the Court to which the appeal is carried shall be satisfied that the offence was actually committed, and that the conviction is good on the merits. There was a very good attendance at the Theatre Royal on Saturday, when “The Stranger” was very ably performed, Mr. Tavares taking the part of The 'Stranger, and Mrs. Tavares that of Mrs. Haller. To-night the popular comedy of “School” will be performed, when Mr. and Mrs. Tavares will be supported by Mr. Sam Howard, the Stonehams, and the full strength of the company.

The Hutt County Council will meet at one o’clock to-day. There will be a meeting of the Board of Education at a quarter past eleven o’clock this morning. The thoroughbred entire horse Tattler, was sold at auction on Saturday at Messrs. Betfiune 'arid Hunter’s yards for £6O. Mr. Mclntosh was the purchaser. •Mr. Stout’s lecture, to which we called attention in a previous issue, will be delivered this evening at the Congregational Church, Woodward-street. Steps have been taken for the prosecution of a man named John Jacobs, who is charged ■with netting larks, in defiarice'.of the law for the protection of acclimatised birds. Sixty-nine births and twenty-three deaths were registered at:Wellington during September, and eighteen marriage certificates were issued. Mr. Malcolm Fraser, overseer on Mr. V. Smith’s station, Hawke’s Bay, died on the passage to Wellington on board the Kiwi. He was seriously ill when he left home, and was coming here for medical advice. It is rumored that a large mercantile establishment in town is on the verge of bankruptcy. Of course the rumor may not be founded on fact, and it is to be [hoped such is the case, but the report was the talk of the town on Saturday. Since Saturday four persons have been brought into town on charges of lunacy. Two arrived from Wanganui by the Stormbird on Saturday morning ; and afterwards a man named William Mackinuon, formerly a soldier, was brought in from the Wairarapa, and another was apprehenued in the city. The second match, members of the House of Representatives v. members of the Wellington Chess Club, was resumed on Saturday evening last, when the following games were played:— Club. House. Winner. Benbow v; Busk Benbow Hullett v. Ballance Baliance This evening Mr. and Mrs. Metcalfe will take their complimentary benefit at the Odd Fellows’ Hall, on which occasion the original farce, from the pen of Mr. W. H. Metcalfe, entitled “ Beware of the Man with a White Hat,” will be performed. Mr. Tom Margetts and Mr. J. H. Marriott will take part in the : entertainment. The Melbourne Argus of the 19th September 1 says ;-—The young men who were implicated in the fight at Alphington on the 12th August ■ last, which terminated in the death of a lad : named William Scully,. were yesterday tried ,at the Central Criminal Court for the manslaughter of Scully. The prisoners’ names were Rudolph Loriot (with whom Scully had the fight), James Mullen, John Taylor, Joseph Crush, and Edward Owley, who acted as seconds for the two combatants. It was shown that Scully’s death was occasioned by the injuries he received in the fight, and the jury convicted all the prisoners. The verdict, was accompanied with a recommendation to mercy ■on the ground that Scully had provoked the fight. Loriot, Mullen, Taylor, and Crush were sentenced to 14 days’ solitary confinement. As to Owley, it appeared that he had undergone a sentence of four years for buiglary. He was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, to date from the 15th August, when he was arrested on the present charge. Th e, Timaru Herald of the 25th inst. says ; • —“ The great advantages to be derived from enlisting the sympathies of strange members in the needs of a locality instead of appyling to the local members are illustrated by one or two facts connected with the Rees-Waimate petition. The member for Auckland City East it seems received that important document in the middle of August, but never took any action with regard to it until the 18th of September. He is understood to have lost it, or forgotten all about it, during the interval, and up to the present moment, we believe, has totally ignored its prayer, the gist of which is that he should prevail on the - Minister of Justice to. remove Mr. Wobllcombe. ■lf we are rightly informed, Mr. Rees did not know that Timariv’jind Waimate were separate places, really'. believed , that the 260 scarcely legible and .very doubtful ’signatures’ to the petition., were, the autographs of the leading settlers and substantial yeomanry of South Canterbury. In fact, he was blindly ignorant of all the -.circumstances of .the case ; and though hit'.self-importance was hugely flattered no, doubt by his being preferred to Mr. Stafford and Mr. Teschemaker by those gen- . tleraini’s own constituents, did not feel disposed to plunge/in medias Rees.’ He has sine - been so terribly roasted over the affair that he has abandoned the rOle of championgeneral of wrongs and grievances.” Referring to the difficulty in administering any oath which a Chinaman will consider absolutely binding, the Oooktoion Herald writes: —“lt is a noticeable fact to an habitual attendant at our local police court that the oaths taken by Chinamen are of the most loose kind, and the merest tyro in matters of law can at once perceive that in nearly every case wherein Chinese are concerned, the most corrupt perjury is committed. In China, although there are several descriptions of oaths, there is none that is actually regarded as sacred, save the mystic decapitation of the cock. In small cases in the Chinese dominions, not involving any great causes, blowing out a match or breaking a saucer may be allowed ; but in auy case embracing any peculiar difficulties, or offering any of the conflicts of evidence so ordinary in law, the solemn, or, as we might call it, the sacrificial oath, is that invariably resorted to. Further, although a Chinaman will not dare to lie when sworn in the latter way, he owns no such obligation while under the restrictions of any other oath. Consequently, it appears that, if desirous to tell the truth, no Chinaman will object to be sworn in the solemn Chinese fashion ; but if he desires a loophole for escape through a lie, he will decidedly prefer to ‘ blow him match,’ ‘ smell him Bible,’ ‘ s’llp’s God,’ all the same, leaving the box after swearing the most atrocious lies, chuckling over the defeat of the ‘ barbarians.’ If a Chinaman chose the non-binding oaths in preference to the binding, it is simply to allow his elastic conscience the privilege of unlimited lying in the witness-box. Many of our readers will remember the farce of swearing-in, at the late Supreme Court sittings, an alien jury by Mr. Justice Sheppard, when the Chinese all decided on ‘ smell him Bible’ as the easiest and less binding oath ; but when questioned by his Honor, who, we suppose, could not but feel happy at the knowledge of so many Christian Chinese being on the jury.it was elicited that three-fourths were not aware of the contents of .the sacred volume, and ultimately preferred the match business.”