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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5302, 23 March 1878, Page 2

Notice is given that the Supreme Court will sit for the trial of divorce and matrimonial causes on the 20th May next. Information was received in town yesterday from Woodville to the effect that a man named Kemp, who was one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution in the late murder case, tried at the last sitting of the Supreme Court at Napier, had shot himself on Wednesday last. An inquest was to be held immediately, the result of which will, no doubt, reach us in due course. The annual treat to the pupils attending the Terrace school took place yesterday. The young people, after enjoying themselves at various games during the ■ afternoon, were regaled with tea, cake, and other refreshments, which were provided by the local committee. Upwards of 250 children sat down to tea, and did justioe to the good things provided. Alter tea prizes were given to all who had passed in the late examination, and certificates to the successful candidates for Standards 111. and IV. Several friends were present during the afternoon, among whom we noticed Messrs. Gisborne, M.H.E., Toomath, Rev. J. Paterson, &c., together with several ladies. After the prizes were distributed the children and friends were addressed by Messrs. Dimant, Gisborne, and the chairman (Mr. J. Burns). Three cheers were given for Messrs. Gisborne, Toomath, for the local committee, the visitors, and also the teachers.

We again take the opportunity of reminding the theatre-going portion of the community that the new season at the Theatre Royal will commence this evening, when Mr. Dillon and the talented company whose services he has been so fortunate as to secure will appear in the“ Duke’s Motto.” New scenery and effects will be produced, and no effort will be spared on the part of the management to inaugurate the new, season successfully. A telegram received from Palmerston North yesterday states that criminal proceedings have been taken, under the Bankruptcy Act, against two men named respectively Fisher and Coker, for an alleged conspiracy to defraud their creditors. Both of them have been committed for trial, Fisher being admitted to bail, and Coker, who was unable to find sureties, being kept in custody.

. Tenders’are called for up to the 17th April next, for the supply of 30,000 sleepers for the Patea-Manawatu railway. A cricket match will be played this afternoon, in Mrs. Leitch’s paddock, Polhill Gully, between the Rising Star and Excelsior cl übs. I’he only police ease heard in the Resident Magistrates Court yesterday was a charge of drunkenness against John Brown. The offender was fined ss.

An allotment of laud in Haiuing-street, having a frontage of 17Aft. to that thoroughfare, by a deptli of 49-ift, with a cottage residence, was sold by Mr. 6. Thomas yesterday for £llO. The adjourned quarterly meeting of the Wellington Typographical Association will be held at the Athemeum building this evening at 7 o’clock. A full attendance is as business of importance will be decided. A telegram received yesterday from Featherston states that the body of the man William Currie, who was recently drowned at the Lake Ferry, has been found, and that an inquest was held at which a verdict of accidental death was returned.

The panorama of the Russo-Turkish War, after a very successful overland tour through the Wairarapa to Wanganui, arrived here by the Manawatu on Wednesday, under the management of Mr. Cary, who purposes taking the show to the West Coast early next week.

The Auckland Star states that “ Auckland Borough is the smallest in the colony. Its area is only 665 acres ; the area of Wellington, 1200 acres ; Nelson, 2761 acres ; Lyttelton, 2014 acres ; Christchurch, 1062 acres ; and Dunedin, 1865 acres. The consequence is that in comparison of population, Auckland always appears at a serious disadvantage. If the districts of Karangahape, Parnell, and Grafton, which are direct continuations of the city, were added to Auckland, the borough area, would still be only 1352 acres, and the population equal to that of Dunedin city—over 19,000 inhabitants." The following letter, signed by “ A Solicitor,” appeared in the Lyttdtcm Times of the 21st instant : —“ Sih, —The report in Thursday’s Times of the meeting of the Christchurch Bar is, I think, apt to mislead the public. Although no division was called for, the resolution was not carried unanimously. There are 23 barristers and solicitors now practising in Christchurch, consequently 17 is not ‘ the total within three of the whole strength of the Bar,’ as stated in the report. I may also remind your readers that the fact of such a resolution being passed does not prove that anything approaching to sympathy with Mr. Barton personally was felt, or intended to be expressed, by any single one of those who voted in favor of the resolution.”

We learn (says ■ the New Zealand Herald) that the New Zealand Land and Mortgage Company, which was announced some time ago in connection with the Broomhall settlement scheme, has, in popular parlance, “ burst up.” Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the company would not float in the London money market, and that the prospectus has been withdrawn. Various causes are assigned as the reason, the chief of which appears to be that of business jealousy on the part of certain leading commercial houses in London who trade with New Zealand. They looked upon the proposed company as one which would be likely to take some of the trade away by making advances upon wool and produce, and therefore could not be persuaded to lend it a helping hand. The London Times also gave the proposal a very unfavorable notice, and it is even said that some of those who sent Mr. Broomhall to New Zealand "were opposed to his ambitious loan company. Private letters were received recently from Mr. Broomhall explaining the reasons for the collapse of his scheme, but it does not seem clear whether he will now abandon his proposed Temperance Settlement at the Upper Thames. A correspondent sends the following to the Westport Times: —“The new Sunderland Coal Company have at last met with the success so well deserved by them. After upwards of two years' patient prospecting, carried on in defiance of the opinion expressed by some highly paid post tertiary fossils that the ground prospected is merely an immense slip containing no sound coal, the company have laid bare one seam of hard bright coal, seven feet in thickness, at an elevation of 410 feet above the level of the Waimangarea bridge, and at a further height of sixty-three feet another seam has just been struck, fourteen feet in thickness, and which, from present appearances, indicate an inexhaustible supply of magnificent coal.” Our informant is fully convinced that it is the outcrop of the sixteen-feet seam showing in Coalbrookdale lease. He also states that the overlaying rooks should be reclassed, and in honor of the Geological Department should be called “ Old Lias,” or as belonging to the “ Triassie System.” No additional length of railway line being required, the company are in great hopes of being able to ship their first cargo by the beginning of July next. The Executive of New South Wales have at length determined to liberate the prisoner Bowerman, who nine years since was sentenced to life imprisonment for an attack made upon the then Under-Colonial Secretary, Mr. Manning. Bowerman has since that time been an inmate of St. Helena Penal Establishment. Events have proved that, whatever the intentions of Bowerman were in making the fierce attack upon Mr. Manning, the bodily injury received by the latter was far less serious than was supposed at the time. Mr.' Manning has for years been a pensioner of the State, and resident in another colony, where he appears to enjoy active bodily and mental health. V

When the transit of Venus took place, in December, IST4, it was stated that the result of the observations then taken would enable astronomers to ascertain more correctly the distance of the sun from the earth. At last the calculations founded on these observations are completed ; and at a recent meeting of the Astronomical Society, Sir G. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, thus stated the result : “The conclusion which we have brought out is that the mean distance of the sun is 93,375,000 miles. Considering that the number of observers was eighteen, and that they made fifty-four observations, and considering, also, the degree of training they have had, and their zeal, and the extreme care that was taken in the choice of stations, I think there will not be anything to compete with the value which has been deduced.” Before this, Professor Newcombe, of Washington, had calculated the distance of the sun at 02,393,000 miles. A little more than twenty years ago the esti-. mated distance was over 95,000,000 miles. The difference is entirely due to the increased accuracy of observation ; there is proof that the actual distance has not been lessened.

A new arrival (says the Straits Times) is astonishing Isaac Waltonites.. It is a large fish of about 2001 b. weight, and striped similar to the Dutch flag ; hence the natives christened it Ihan hlanda. One of these was sold a few we-ks ago for ISdols., some epicurean Kliugs having clubbed to purchase the prize. Another such Dutch invasion would not be unwelcome. Schnapps, we are told, is the correct sauce to be used with the little stranger. .

The South Australian Register says that Mr. George Francis, the analytical chemist, has forwarded to the Government a supplementary and detailed report in reference to the impurity of the water in Lake Alexandrina, which he lately visited at the request of the Government. From the confervoid plant named Nodularia spumigera he procured when in a state of decomposition a remarkable blue coloring matter that is apparently quite new to science, and although somewhat like archil —a pigment obtained from a lichen by decomposition—is still distinct and marked in its chemical characters, and has a most extraordinary power of fluorescence, being blue by transmitted and blood-red by reflected light. Mr. Francis forwarded by the Stad Amsterdam a small box of sample tubes of the poisonous plant and fluid to several scientific gentlemen in London and Paris, with a request that they will be kind enough to favour him with their observations thereon.

The Newcastle Daily Pilot states that a notice from the manager of the colliery'offers IS. 3d. per hour to fifty miners. This, if they worked eight hours per diem, would bring them in £3 per week. A study of the sulphur springs of Baden, near Vienna, has shown, inter alia, that these springs, with'n the last 150 years, during which thermometic measurements are to hand, have undergone only a slight decrease of temperature, and that their specific gravity and chemical composition have remained con- ■ atant for 100 years. The following appeared in the Kolnishe Zeituny of the 12th October:—The Leipzig police issued the following regulations a few days ago;—l. All persons wearing a draggling or Aground sweeping article are forbidden the trottoirs, promenades, and footpaths, in the radius of the town, under a penalty of from five to fifty marks. 2. The police are to bring ail offenders to the police station, and a list of their names will be published weekly in the Leipzig daily papers. Two rifles of a rather novel character have recently been made by Mr. Wm. Sumners, gunmaker, of Oldhall-street, Liverpool, to the order of a native emperor in Africa. They are on the patent repeating principle, firing ■ eighteen shots without reloading; but it is for their gorgeous ornamentation that they are chiefly noticeable. The stock of each is covered with tortoiseheli and mounted in gold, and the body and all round the lock are richly inlaid with gold, elaborately chased. The New Zealand Herald gives the following description of the Auckland Working Men’s Club recently opened by the Governor :—The building to be occupied by the Working Men’s Club is most jidyantageously situated, and admirably suited Tor the purposes of the club. It is Mr. Dornwell s building, facing Queen and Darby-streets, the club occupying the two upper floors, with the entrance from Darby-street. The neces'sary alterations and fittings are now in an advanced stage towards completion, and everything will be ready for the formal opening to-morrow evening. The following brief description will give some idea of the building and its appliances : —The first floor contains the billiard:room and bar. It faces Queen and Darby-streets, is admirably lighted, and is fitted with one of Abbot and Co.’s Achme tables, a very superior article which, with the requisite fittings and appliances, cost the club £175. The bar is at the end of this room. Should it be found necessary hereafter to provide a second table, room can be provided by removing a partition, but the billiard-room at present is about 27 feet long by 18 feet wide. The reading-room- and library faces Queenstreet. This 'will be made one of the great attractions of the club. It is 18 feet by 10 feet, and will be provided with all the leading journals and papers, as well as with a good library, for ■which the committee have already a substantial nucleus, having received a large number of hooks as gifts from gentlemen taking aa interest in the club. The committee-room adjoins the reading-room. There is also a chessroom and a card-room, both well filled and having fireplaces, and a members’ room, where they can meet to arrange business, write letters, &c. The kitchen is provided with a patent stove and other necessary appliances. The dining-room is rather small, but will be sufficient for present requirements. The caterer’s room is also on this floor. The front portion of the upper floor is a large meetingroom 30ft. x 40ft., and there is another large meeting-room 24ft, x 18ft., and a third at the rear 29ft. x 14ft., so that there is ample accommodation in this respect. The water is ' laid through the building, with appliances for extinguishing fires. Closets are arranged on both floors. In fact, nothing has been left ■undone by the committee to make the premises suitable and attractive. The club has for the present a six months’ lease of the premises, with the option of taking them for seven years. The Launceston Examiner gives the following mining news ;—“ Things are looking very lively at Brady Creek just now, diggers pouring in from all directions, and all (or nearly -all) getting good wages. Though the Tasmanian Company keep their wages at 7s. and and 7s. 6d. a day, »n the diggings, Bs. to 9s. for good sluicemen is the prevailing figure. Another deeper lead of alluvial has been found running through the old Florence Nightingale; the gutter seems to be narrow, but the prospect exceeds those got on the old ground. Counting sluicemen and carters, there cannot be much less than 300 men employed on the alluvial. Of tin mining, Mr. Hunkin, writing on the 4th February, says be had sunk two prospecting shafts on the flat, the prospects obtained from each of which gave a result of lib. of ore to the dish. He considers it will take twelve months to work out this flat with four boxes.”

A small English colony, according to the Zacht, a Russian paper, exists near Archangel, which at the present time enjoys a perfect independence. This colony was formed gradually by emigrants drawn there by the establishment by an English company of some important sawmills. The colonists have raised a town the existence of which is, so to speak, unknown, as it neither figures on maps nor upon official records of real property, nor in the rate-books. The inhabitants o£ this happy place, whose numbers are not mentioned, are therefore (remarks the Pall Mall Gazette) free from rates, taxes, and all other burdens, such as weigh so heavily on British householders. They are, moreover, independent of all local authority, and, indeed, of authority of any description. This strange colony is, it is stated, not the first of the kind which has sprung up in these quarters. Not long ago an American town, established under somewhat similar conditions, was discovered in the neighborhood of the Bay of Morton, Kamstchatka. A correct list of these independent little colonies, with information as to the readiest method of reaching them, would doubtless be a boon to a large and important class of her Majesty’s subjects. The members of the Queensland Woollen Company (says the Queenslander of the 9th ■ W instant), to judge from the enthusiasm shown at their late meeting, do not require to have their spirits raised; if they did, a perusal of the half-yearly report of the Victorian Woollen and Cloth Manufacturing Company, presented to a meeting of shareholders held at Geelong on the 14th instant, should have the desired effect. During the previous six months, 143,029 yards of tweed, 189 shawls, and 1176 pairs of blankets had been manufactured; and after the usual reserves had been made, a working profit of £4668 15s. lid. remained, out of which, on the recommendation of the directors, a divident at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum was declared. The work of draining various swamps in the Waikato (says the New Zealand Herald) appears t» be carried on with great vigor, and there are probably 600 or 700 men employed by different associations, compinies, and private individuals, in the work of cutting drains alone. The largest work is of course that of the Piako Campany, whilst Messrs. Walker and Parker probably rank next. The estate of Messrs. Cox and Williamson, which was stated by a travelling correspondent of ours to be 70,000 acres, does not exceed 18,500 aerds. and already from £IO,OOO to £12,000 has been expended in cutting drains through it. The block of land in this estate, referred to as belonging to Mr. McNiccol, was brought under cultivation by Mr. Cox, and belongs to his estate, and shows what Waikato lands can be made to produce when properly cultivated. Messrs. Maclean and Co. have some 50 or 60 doublefurrow ploughs at work, whilst the smaller settlers are rapidly bringing their lands into cultivation. But there is a large area of good land still held by absentees and non-improvers tor speculative purposes, which sadly retards the progress of the country, ©n the whole, however, notwithstanding the low price of stock and the bad season, the entire Waikato district appears to be in a very prosperous condition.! We beg to direct special attentlcn to Mr. Franc! a Sldey's property aale, which takes place this afternoon at 3 o'clock in the Arcade, Manners-street. There are three valuable freeholds to be disposed of, the particulars of which will bo found In oar advertising columns.