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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5268, 11 February 1878, Page 2

The Government steamer Hinemoa, with the Premier and the Hon. Mr. Fisher on board, returned from her trip to Auckland and Taranaki yesterday afternoon, after an absence of about a fortnight. The Hon: Mr. Sheehan is expected to-arrive here overland by the Beach-road, from New Plymouth to Wanganui, on or about Thursday or Friday next. Regarding future Ministerial movements, we lear« that the Premier, in response to a requisition, will probably address a public meeting in Wellington on Wednesday evening next. Sir George Grey, the Hon. Mr. Larnach, and the Hon. Mr. Macandrew will 1 proceed South early next week. The Hon. Mr. Ballance and the Hon. Mr. Fisher will remain in Wellington. ; His Excellency the Governor, accompanied by the Hon. Colonel Whitmore, will, we understand, leave oh' a' visit to Auckland in the Hinemoa: almost immediately, and will probably remain in the Northern capital until March next.

We have been requested to call attention to a notice which r appears - in our - advertising columns intimating, that the stewards of'the Wellington Jockey Club have determined not to receive any entries for the Wellington Derby for 1880. 1 We-believe that in coming to ..this decision, the stewards ; are: acting in aciffird with the views , entertained by the members of . nearly. all-the Jockey -Clubs in New Zealand. ‘ Experience has shown that it is a mistake to have a so-call«d Derby 'for Christchurch,' Dunedin, Auckland,Wellington, and other places; lone - very - good youngster comes out and proves himself or herself a flier, and drives nearly all the other competitors out of the field. Many think there should be one Derby for all New Zealand, to be run at the spring meeting in Christchurch, or other equally suitable locality, and propose that each club in the colony should contribute not less than ‘£so. This from four or five, with (he'nominations, which in all probability would be very numerous, the forfeits and acceptances, would make up a handsome stake, well worth running for, and thus encourage the breeders, of good stock.. - We venture to throw out this suggestion for the consideration of sporting men in New Zealand, a large number of whom are at present in Wellington. I A general meeting of persons interested in the Porirua races, which have been arranged to come off on Wednesday, the 13th March, will be held at Mr. McGrath's hotel, Porirua, this eveuing. At the last meeting, which was held on the 4th inst., and was numerously attended, a liberal amount of subscriptions were received, and it is expected that the affair will be heartily taken up by the settlers in the neighborhood, and that it will prove a moat successful meeting. If the day prove fine, a large number of visitors may be expected from Wellington. , | A correspondent at Pauhautanni sends us the following :—“ A public meeting, which was called by the trustees cf the Pahautanui chapel, was held in the schoolroom on Monday - evening last, to make arrangements for repairing and enlarging the chapel. About twenty of the settlers were present, and a committee was appointed to canvass .the district with subscription-lists in order to raise the necessary funds for the purpose. Mr. Francis Bradey was elected chairman, of committee and Mr. Frederick Bradey treasurer. Another full house greeted the U.S. Minstrels at the Odd Fellows’ Hall on Saturday evening. This is certainly one of the best negro troupes that has over visited Wellington, and that the public appreciate it is evinced by the large houses it draws nightly. An entirely new programme is announced for tonight. The Minstrels will only perform here for four nights longer, and those who have not already witnessed this excellent entertainment will do well not to lose the opportunity of seeing it, as it will certainly well repay a visit. The panorama of the Eusso-Turkish war, now exhibiting at St. George’s Hall, is growing in public favor. On Saturday night, despite the many counter .attractions, there was a capital house, when the panorama was shown for the third time. Th® panorama commences with a view of the Dardanelles, and follows the war right through to the fall of Plevna. A most instructive lecture is delivered by Mr. Stoaeham, who was repeatedly - applauded. On Saturday evening a number of choice gifts were distributed. The whole concluded with a grand mechanical battle scene at sea.

Mias Ad» Ward’s impersonation of Eudiga, the “Woman in Fed,” on Saturday night at the Theatre Eoyal was a fine piece of acting, whether considered as a delineation of intense feeling or a sustaining of physical power. There are few women who could endure the fatigue consequent upon so much mental and bodily exertion through four acts, teeming with sensational incidents, and requiring the most active exercise of brain, speech, and muscle to pourtray each incident as if the events were really separated by as long a space of time as the occurrences are supposed to be in the drama. Looked, at, too, as a stage mirroring of the feelings and actions of a woman subjected to such cruelties as Eudiga was a victim to, the performance was intensely artistic and natural; that is, natural according to the stage idea of being natural, which is different to human nature under such circumstances. Although fiery, and declamatic to a degree, there was no “ stageyness,” such as wo understand that term, and the denouement known as the “ sonnambula scene ” was terribly real and startling. The company were singularly good in support of Miss Ward, arid it would be invidious to select any one character for commendation. Miss'Ward, with true, womanly feeling, had substituted an excellent pair, of, field glasses-for a whip, for presentation to young Campbell, the rider of Lara, but-that juvenilo hero of the Cup was prevented by his duties in the stable from attending, arid the glasses will be given to him privately. To-night Miss Ward appears In “ East Lynne ” as Lady Isabel and Madame Vine. The version was adapted from the novel for her by Mr. John Oxenford, and Miss Ward . ;is 1 said to present a ' vriry different heroine from the one usually given. Instead of the whining, watery victim, such as Mrs. Cariylc is 'generally represented to be, she is the indignant wife,'betraying her husband to revenge her fancied wrongs, and leaving her seducer with contempt,and scorn. Several of our contemporaries'write of her version of the character in terms of the highest praise. We are requested to mention that this is the last week of the'engagement, and, that a fresh piece will be presented every, night. , Alexander Muir and Lewis Green will be brought up on remand at ; the R.M. Court today on a charge of card-sharping on the premises of Mr. F. A. Jones, hairdresser, &c., Willia-street.

An ordinary meeting' o£ the Hutt County Council will be held te-morrow (Tuesday) at 1 o'clock p.m. > An infant school in connection with Thomdou school will be opened- to-day for children between the ages of three years and seven. The education will be free of charge. We hear that the drains around Government House are in a very bad state, and that they will have to undergo a thorough cleaning process, which will be commenced in a few days. A running match came off on Saturday afternoon on the Basin Reserve between Mr. Bolton, of Marlborough, and Mr. Woods, of Wellington, for £2O. The distance was 100 yards, and Mr. Bolton was the winner by about three yards. Time, Tlsec. A meeting of creditors in the estate of W. M. Summerhayes and A. Wheeler, of Wellington, builders, was to have been held on Saturday at the Supreme Court buildings, but there not being a sufficient number of creditors present to form a quorum the proceedings lapsed. A shipment of 300 ferrets was put on board the ship Rialto on her leaving London for this port. They were intended to be sent to tba Kaikoura District to kill rabbits, which are so numerous there as to become a great nuisance. On the voyage, however, a distemper broke out amongst them, and only three or four arrived here alive. .

On Saturday, at the Star Hotel, a billiard match of 500, up, for £lO a side, was played between Messrs. Walton and Molvor. The game was excitingly contested, Molvor eventually winning by about 50 points. The sporting fraternity assembled in multitudes, and were offering odds of any description on both the players.' Ah attractive bill of fare was placed before the audience at .the Princess Thsatro on Saturday evening, consisting ,of the. celebrated nautical drama “Black-eyed Susan,” a musical melange, and a sensational drama as a wind-up. In the first piece Mr. Dillon sustained the part of William very effectively, and was well supported by the company The audience appeared to be highly satisfied with the entertainment. A: cricket match between the Star and Wellington Cricket Clubs was played on Saturday afternoon on the Basin Reserve, and resulted, after a very good match, in favor of the Star Club by 13 runs. Robinson’s and I. J. Salmon’s scores, with IS and 19 respectively, were the only double figures, Werry was the highest amongst the Wellington men with a well-played 9. The total scores were—Stars, 77 ; Wellington, 64. If money be power, says the Whitehall Review, what a force is J. ,\Y. Mackey, who thirty years since was a penniless boy in Ireland. Twenty years ago he travelled through the United States as a speculative salesman, and sixteen years ago he'was a bankrupt. Today, at the age of forty-five, Mr. Mackey owns , three-eighths of the great Bonanza, the richest silver mine that has ever been discovered, and . draws out of Nevada a yearly income of £2,750.000, which is the interest at 5 per cent, on a capital of £55,000,000. Mr. Mackey’s fortune increases £5 every minute. The question is what will he do with it ? Or, perhaps, iit would be more cautious to ask, what will it do with him ? Fortunes in the Far West often vanish as rapidly as they are acquired. ,Mr. Mackey has a magnificent hotel in Paris, where his family resides, while he passes most of his time in the neighborhood of his vast interests. Mr. and Mrs. Mackey passed the summer at Trouville, in ,the charming Villa Cordier, which stands on the. hill above the town, and overlooks the sea. The Polish Emigration Society in England has lost one of its oldest and most distinguished members in the person of Major Gielgud, who died lately at the advanced age of eighty-three. The deceased, belonged to an ancient family in Samogitia, and, having taken an active part in the Polish War of Independence against Russia in 1830-31, became sub- - sequently an exile in., this country, together with liis wife, a Polish lady, who was only married to him a few months before that struggle, and who now survives him.. He was highly respected by his countrymen, and held the office of treasurer to the .Polish Historical Society in Loudon.' His elder brother, General Gielgud, commanded a separate corps d’armee in Lithunania during the insurrection. A writer in the Nineteenth Century says : “ If Russia after the war can obtain possession of Armenia, or Bulgaria, or Roumelia, or Constantinople itself, and deems it for her interest to do so, she will most assuredly not be restrained by any lack of a precedent for annexation after conquest. There is not a great Power in existence in whose annals she could not find ample justification if she required it, and assuredly no reasonable exception could be taken to her appropriation of the fruits of victory by the power which holds Gibraltar, Malta, and India. Moreover, there is absolutely no reason why the occupation of Egypt should not he undsrtaken with the sanction and consent of Turkey herself. At the present crisis money is the most urgent need of Turkey, and there is ground to thiuk that the Porte would gladly transfer its suzerain rights over to England if she would purchase the capitalised value of the reversion of the Egyptian tribute. This tribute in round numbers amounts to £700,000 a year, and at thirty years’ purchase its value would be £21,000,000. As the.tribute, however, is already mortgaged for the payment of loans of 1854 and 1871 amounting to close upon £9,000,000, its saleable value cannot be estimated-at more than £12,000,000. For a sum of half this amount paid down in cash the Porte would be willing enough to cede to England the suzerainty of Egypt. If lam told that to give money to Turkey at this moment would be detrimental to the cause of Russia, I can only say that what we have to consider are, not the interests of Russia any more than those of Turkey, but the interests of England. The following has been mentioned' to the Ooulburn Herald as a proof of the incorrectness of the opinion sometimes advanced, that after inflicting one wound the poison, of snakes becomes for a time exhausted, and their bite consequently innocuous. A few days back Mr. Grant, of Tarlo, had his attention attracted by the continued barking of a collie slut of his that had a litter of eight pups, and going to ascertain the cause he found and despatched a brown snake. 4ft. 6iu. long amongst , the pups, of which no less than six were either dead' or dying from the effects of bites from tho venomous reptile.