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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5338, 7 May 1878, Page 2

Important telegrams from Europe will bo found elsewhere in this issue. It will be seen that events march, and that war clouds are rising heavily. The ’ 1 reported occupation, ■ of, Bosnia; and •' Herzegovina i points to! the conclusion that Austria ;has girded up her loins, and determined upon a, definite course of action. The concluding sentence of the telegram shows that the Turks would most likely take part should war bo renewed, and' that their spirit is not yet broken/ ' But there,' are some peaceful items. It will be seen that the Paris Exhibition opened brilliantly; and the Duke of Connaught has been betrothed to 1 a daughter of the . Imperial house of Hohenzollern.

The Supreme Court will sit in banco this morning, before his Honor the Chief Justice.; Tiie following is the list;—Peters v. Joseph and another, rule nisi ; Gillon v. Macdonald,. motion for decree; Rangi v. Sutton, demurrer;; Firth v. Brownlee, demurrer ; Bank of New Zealand v. Sosser, motion to order to convey.. In bankruptcy, in the matter of Charles Henry Gottlieb Nees, for immediate discharge; in the matter of William Morloy Summerhays, for immediate discharge, i I ; > Mr. J. Hislop, under-secretary of the;Education Department, returned on Sunday from an official, trip to Napior, and intended to leave at 12 o’clock last' night for Blenheim, whence he willjgo to Nelson,and to the West Coast, for the purpose of conferring with the various Education Boards. By adopting this course, instead of arranging matters by correspondence, muchtime will be saved; and the work more efficiently.dono, v , |, . j The .bo.re-opened- on Thursday evening for a short season, under the management of Messrs. Walton and Howard. Mrs. Fizwilliam, lately from the Haymarket Theatre, Loudon, will appear in Sheridan’s comedy “The Rivals.’ 1 , ' At the annual general meeting of , the'share; holders of the Wellington Public Hall Company, held yesterday, the report) l which announced a dividend of 10 per cent., was I adopted. ; -A report of the proceedings appears elsewhere. .

The To Aro school committee which was elected on the 29th of last month has been found to bo illegal, bn account of several of those elected not being residents, in the triot. A new election will therefore take place.: ■> ; ; ,■. i

We understand that Mr. Justice Richmond will not arrive until next Friday. The'depth of watsri.in the new reservoir 9in., and in the distributing basin 15ffc. Ilia.

The superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum begs to acknowledge the receipt of a quantity ;of periodicalsTrom Mr. Dransfield for. the use 'of the inmates. .

' .Frequently there is a most disgusting smell at the corner of Willis and Manners streets. It comes from a- grating, and indicates that some very nasty; practices are carried on by people not a long way from, the corner. The gases arising from the sewer must be extremely poisonous. Perhaps the Inspector of ,|fuisanoea..will SCO to-this. . ...... - We are requested to draw the attention of churchmen residing in St. Peter’s Parish to the notice in ouf advertising columns convening a public meeting of parishioners at 8 o’clock this evening in St. Peter’s Church, to consider certain proposals for raising the loan necessary to erect the new church, : and for paying the interest thereon. Several members-'of the Theatre Royal company are about -to make a professional tour up. the' country,, starting on Wednesday, and playing- at all: the townships from-the Lower Hutt to Masterton. Mr. Mack D. Alexander, the business and advance agent'of the troupe, i leaves to-day to arrange preliminaries.' - ■ ’ ■ •■■■ • - "

A shocking’ accident occurred a short distance from Featherston on Sunday evening to Mr. Clelland,, manager of the Bank of New Zealand in that town. He was driving along the Greyto'wn-road, when the horse, becoming startled by men riding behind, bolted, and commencing to buck, upset the buggy. Mr. Clelland' was thrown on his head,' and Mr.; Luxford, who was also in the trap, fell on top of him. 1 Mr. Luxford escaped unhurt, but Mr, Clelland was found to be unconscious. He was removed to the bank, and attended by Dr. Spratt, who ascertained that ho was suffering from concussion of the brain, and it was. feared a fracture of the base of. the skull. He continued unconscious, and as the symptoms were very alarming, including bleeding, from the ears, it was feared that there were but little hopes of recovery. From marks on the forehead it was surmised that Mr. Clelland struck the front of his head, but the fracture is at the back. After the accident the horse continued kicking until he got free freiri the buggy. The following is Dr. Hector’s report on the kerosene, sent to . him by Mr. Benzoni : “Quart bottle, containing kerosene, bearing the following label 1 The kerosene in this bottle is out of the tin from which the lamp was filled that caused the accident in my dwell-ing-house on the 18th inst.’ The flashing point of this oil is lOfi.deg, fahrenheit, but after it has been warmed to 110 deg. fahrenheit it flashes ati 100 deg. fahrenheit, or even less,. This oil is therefore petroleum, and dangerous in the meaning of the Dangerous Goods Act, 1869, and, under the 15th clause, should not be sold except in vessels marked ‘ Dangerous ; no light to;be brought near.’— James Hector.”' Mr. Duncan of the Grove showed us a great curiosity a few days ago . (says the Marlborough Express). It was a (pedal struck off to commemorate the sailing of Captain Cook’s expedition to New Zealand. It was of bronze, in size about that of the old twopenny piece, marked by fire and. corroded by weather, and was found in Tuna Bay, the S.W. island of Pelorus Sound, next the Croixelles, lying on the surface of the ground where were marks of an .old Maori clearing. , On one aide was the .inscription (‘George 111.,* King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland.” On the reverse side—“ The Resolution and Adventure” at the top, in the centre a very.good representation of the two vessels, and between them “Sailed from England, March, 1772.” It is noteworthy that Captain Cook speaks of these -medals, and states that he made a cairn on the top of The Brothers, in which he. deposited several of them, with coins and other, articles, but on his return he found the contents had been carried away, nor did he . again trace them. [A , similar medal is in the possession of one of the members of the staff of this' paper. It was found about t fifteen years ago, about eighteen miles from Dunedin], ’ A very important paper was read before the author, Dr. Forbes Watson, was unable to attend through illness, and the honorary secretary, therefore, kindly undertook to lay the Doctor’s views on “The Character of the Colonial and Indian Trade of England Contrasted with her F ore 'g n Trade,” before the meeting. The paper was very lengthy, sufficient facts and figures being given to occupy eight columns of The Times. Only a portion of the paper, therefore, was read, thb whole being reserved for insertion in the annual report of the society’s transactions, j Enough, however, was given to show. the magnitude arid importance of the trade carried on between Great Britain arid our colonies, and statistics were brought forward to prove that whereas during; the years 1069-76—the period under review—the foreign markets for bur manufactures had either declined or else remained almost stationary; the colonial and home markets for our goods had iiriprqved to a remarkable degree. Brit the ’ grave question arose, could a similar rate of progress be maintained in the future, of was it even possible to avoid a retrogression 1 The norinal annual increase which we mrist expect in the demand for food might’be put down at .£6,000,000, and how was this increment to be provided for? Dr. Watson maintained that it could be provided for only in one or all of the following ways :—(1) By a development of exports to a degree sufficient to cover the whole of the increase above estimated ; (2) by an increase in our investments abroad, so as to obtain an in, crease of the annual remittances to England from that-source'; (3) by developing our own indigenous agriculture to such an extent os to provide for the whole, or, at least, for a considerable' part of the expected annual, increment ; .and i (4) by emigration. ' Three out of the four, ways, viz., increase of our exports, in-* crease of our investments abroad, and : emigration, mainly depended upon the utilisation of the resources of our own possessions. Indeed, it was our colonial empire which would enable: England to face the grave eodnoinio problems looming ahead., An animated discussion followed, in which the wealth and power of England’s . colonial possessions were fully recog-; nised. At . the; next meeting, to be held on March 19, Sir Julius Vogel, late Premier of New Zealand, lias consented to read a Paper on “New Zealand and the South Sea Islands and 'their Relation to the Empire,” and a large attendance is; expected.