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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5292, 12 March 1878, Page 2

An ordinary meeting of the Hutt County Council will be held at 1 o’clock to-day, for the transaction of general business. The Supreme Court vacation concluded yesterday, and the usual banco sittings will now be held on Tuesdays and Fridays, providing there are cases to be disposed of. Amongst the passengers telegraphed from Port Clalmers as having left there per steamer Wanaka, for Wellington, is Mr. G. E. Barton, M.H.R. The Italian Opera Company having disbanded at Canterbury, a number of them have formed themselves into a concert troupe, and will make an early visit to Wellington. : A meeting of person:? interested in the formation of a Reform Association was held at the -Queen’s Hotel last evening. There was not a very large attendance. Mr. Marks occupied the chair. Preliminaries were discussed, , and a committee was appointed to attest signatures on the registration papers, which may be seen at a stall in the Arcade on Saturday evening. Another meeting of the promoters will be held at the Mannersstreet , Fire Brigade Station on Thursday evening. .

Mr. Hunter, M.H.R., as President of the Choral, Society, waited upon the Hon. Mr. Ballanoe-yesterday, to ask permission to use the Provincial Council 1 Hall as a place for practice, until the apartment should be required by the Government. The request was granted, ■ At tfie~ Police Court yesterday, a settler living at Pahautahui, named Woodman, was fined Is. and costs for destroying a survey trig. The penalty, although light, will, it is to be hoped, act as a warning to people not to meddle with surveyor’s marks, which, as is obvious; it is of the greatest importance to keep undisturbed. The Kaiwarra Schoolroom was the scene last night of a festive gathering of the members of the Kaiwarra Rifles-and their friends, at which several ladies and gentlemen from Wai- . nuiomata were present. Songs and dances alternately engaged the’ attention of the company, who thoroughly entered into the enjoyment of the scene. The schoolroom was literally crowded, and many who were unable to t gain admission were obliged to stand outside; but in spite of the limited accommodation the fortunate couples who managed to gain the floor entered into the spirit of the evening with great zest, and kept up dancing till a late hour. - Thu Vaudeville Company, assisted by Mr. Borthwick Reid, the “ Champion Swordsman," appeared ; again last evening at the Odd Fellows’Hall to a fair audience. The company appeared in a comic drama, which was succeeded by a musical melange, in -which Miss Jennie Nye, Mr. Mack Alexander, and Miss Nelly Daley took part, who, together with Mr. Borthwick Reid, who repeated his famous sword feats, were warmly applauded by the audience. Mr. Borfchwick’s part of the performance was remarkably good. The manner in which an apple was out from Miss Bell’s heel showed wonderful skill on the part of the champion swordsman, and great nerve on the part of the lady. . i A scientific inquiry lately made by ’ Dr. Delaunay, among the hatters of Baris, offers some curious results. Accepting it as true, that the capacity of the cranium and development of the brain are proportional to the external volume of the head, also that the intelligence is proportional to the volume and weight el the brain; he shows, inter alia, that certain families develop like individuals—that is, they have a period of growth, then a stationary period, then a peried of decrease, previous to extinction. In families in the first period, the head enlarges from generation to generation. The citizens who wrought the revolution of 1789 had bigger heads than, their fathers. On the other hand, in families that are nearing extinction, the head grows smaller. The sous of the present ruling families in France have such small heads—according to the author—that they require hats specially made for them. Among certain families newly risen from the common, people the head increases from generation to generation. The wide-brimmed hats—bolivars—worn by the Republicans from 1830 to 1848 were very capacious. The quarter in which are the largest heads in Paris is that of the schools. The hatters of the Faubourg St. Germain say they only fit fine heads. The Polytechnicians have larger heads than the St. Cyrians, and the students of the normal school larger than those of St. Sulpice, Ac. The members of the clergy present a peculiar feature in these statistics. “In general,” says M. Delaunay, “men from thirty to forty years of age have larger heads than those from twenty to thirty. Not so with-ecclesiastics, for their heads cease to grow at about : twenty-five. The curds, bishops, archbishops, &e., have no larger heads than the students of the large seminaries. There: is some very plain speaking about public men in America from the pulpits of New York and Brooklyn. The following is from the report of a sermon delivered in the latter city by the famous Dr. Talraage, as given in the, New York World; —“ We find one of; the most notorious of villains nominated in New York to the office of State senator— John Morrissey !the reformer ! Wonder if , Herod the Great had better not open an infant school I John Morrissey, who has been indicted eighteen times for crime 5 ! X protest, and it is high time for the pulpits to speak out against this man. ‘ Where are fee pulpitsof New York and Brooklyn? i No one; in the United States does more to injure young men than that public villain, John Morrissey 1 In his •gambling hull, every hour, he is covered with the blood of his victims. I have intimated a wish'that he might be'washed, off the face of the'earth, but T would 'ratter wish! that he never had been born. I take a Fulton ferryboat, and as I pass to' the City-hall I am told that the political ring is broken, but find that other glorious, reformer, / Patrick Shan-: non., ;I call on people, to : shut up their placesof! business and .fight .against this outrage. Republicans and Democrats are shouting

themselves hoarse in advocating John Morrissey. If this is Democratic doctrine, may the wrath of God split it to atoms—this rinsing of the sewers which the slums of New Y ork are trying to spew into the Senate. Ido not speak as strongly as I might. I want to be prudent. . In the name of the American Church, in'the name of the men of the United States, in the name of the God of good, I denounce this villain, John Morrissey.”