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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5397, 15 July 1878, Page 2

nThe Honi Mr. Sheehan , left' By the steamer Baugatira on'Saturday for Napier.

A resident at Foxton informs us that it is in contemplation to start a newspaper there, Buokridgd v. Wurdell is set down for hearing in the Supreme Court to-day, before a special jury. Mr. Barton is for the plaintiff, and Messrs. Izard and Beil for the defendant., r At a meeting of the Philosophical Society on Saturday evening a paper was read by Mr. Carruthera, A report of the proceedings will bo found elsewhere. ‘

; It is notified in our advertising columns that a second dividend of Is. iu the £ will be payable in Mr. James O'Shea’s estate on and after the Ist August. ‘ ■ Instructions have been given by Captain Johnston, of -the Marine Department, to have a look-out kept during the night at the Pilot Station. Hitherto there has not been a night watch. . ..

His Honor Mr. Justice Richmond's summing up in the ease of Doherty v. the Wellington Education Board will be found in another column. Some of the learned Judge’s remarks will be of great interest to teachers and to members of; education boards and school com.’mittees, as .well as worthy of careful attention by persons who are hot so intimately connected with the carrying out of our national system of education. His Worship the Mayor, the Hon. J. John* ston, and Mr. 0, J. Johnston, comprised a deputation which waited upon the Hon. Colonel Whitmore on’Saturday, calling his attention to the practice which existed of overloading the coaches on the Napier line to an extent that was dangerous to the passengers. Oolohel Whitmore undertook to refer the matter to the Government Law Officers for their opinion on the subject. . ’ ? ■ • . At the Fine Arts and Industrial Exhibition on Saturday evening.Mr._Deverill showed.a number of very beautiful dissolving views, permission to use : which has been granted by the Minister for Public Works.; We understand that Dr. Hector has taken a very groat interest in the Exhibition,, and has placed the valuable collection of views which he procured during-his ■-recent visit to Europe and the United States at the disposal of- the committee. It is intended to exhibit a number ■ of these views every evening. • ■ ■

■ The annual meeting ■of the Wellington Choral Society will be held on Thursday evening next, for the purpose of receiving the report; and balance-sheet, electing office bearers for the ensuing year, considering amendments to the rules, and to determine as to the desirability of ■ incorporating the society under the Voluntary Associations Incorporation Act.

Notwithstanding the very inclement state of the weather on Saturday, there was a fair muster of little ones at the Theatre Royal in the afternoon; and the usual entertainment in the evening was nlso.moderately well attended. Mrs. Message, tho wife of a settler residing in Thorndon, was found dead in her bed by her husband on Saturday morning last. She had been suffering . for, some time, from heart disease, and Ijad been under medical treatment. Therefore it is not considered necessary, we believe, to hold an inquest. The tenth of the present series of popular concerts at the Athenroum will be given this evening. A varied and attractive programme has been arranged, which will be found in our advertising columns. The piano accompaniments will be supplied by Madame Moller, ■and should . the .weather prove favorable a crowded house may confidently be anticipated.

The Marionettes will remain at the theatre for another week, after which they will proceed to Blenheim, Nelson, and Auckland. This evening there will bo an entire change of performance, and amongst its leading features is the war song, ‘.‘We’ve fought the,bear before,” &c., which has had an unprecedented main the old country and in Australia. We observe that the. proprietor has secured the services of Mr. J. Gardiner as agent. Information was received in town on Satur-day-that an accident, by which two horses were killed! and another was so badly injured that it had to be shot, had occurred that morning at the Upper Hutt. It appears that the three horses were being driven to the railway-station, when they bolted on to the line and got in front of a ballast engine which was in motion at the time. The engine-driver did all he could to prevent an accident, but could not bring the engine to a standstill soon enough to avoid running into the horses.

A match at football between a fifteen of the Wellington College and a team of the Union Club, played on the Basin Reserve on Saturday morning, resulted in a draw, each side getting a try, from : which neither scored a goal. For the Unions, Bidwell (captain), Vine, Sohultze, and Clelaud played well; and for the College, Field (captain), Gain, Luxford, and Barnett may be mentioned as doing good work on their side. ‘

Respecting the death of the Mess'rs. Prout, in their disastrous attempt to proceed overland to Port Darwin from the western districts of Queensland, the Darling Downs Gazelle publishes the following additional particulars : " The sight of the bodies was a sad and raournfill one.. There wore two others perished besides the Prouts, making four in all.' The two brothers were found lying close together, clasping each other’s hands., The brotherly love that had existed between them through life continued in • the. hour of death. The bodies of the other two white men lay a short distance apart. Twelve horses also lay close at hand. All had evidently perished through thirst, as rations were found in the;packsaddlebags. The party had not succeded in reaching the Port Darwin telegraph line, and they could not have travelled more than eighteen or twenty days when they had to succumb to their privations. While writing of the disaster to Messrs. Prout, we regret to state that as yet ho more news has been received of the missing men on their way to Adelaide. It is sorrowful to learn from our correspondent in the Warrego district that nearly all hope has been given up of their ever turning up. It is almost certain that they have perished.” i

, Novel writers in want of a hero may find one (says' an exchange) in a man namedLongley, who was lately sentenced .to be. hanged in Lee County, Texas. His case, it is said, excites more than ordinary interest on account of his youth, his appearance, and the nature of the crime, or rather, crimes, for which he is to suffer. Longley ■ has murdered 32 persons—not altogether, but at different times. 44 Ho is,” says the Globe Democrat, 44 scarcely yet in his twenty-fourth year, with dark hair, worn rather long, and slightly parted at the side; coal-black whiskers and beard, that shade a fine olive complexion ; a nose rather after the Greek modei ; teeth white and .beautiful as a woman’s ; eyes black as midnight, that seem* literally alive witlrexpression, which.theirjpos-' sessor seems little inclined to curb or suppress.” This unfortunate young man* (says the Pall jl{all Gazette), like a stag driven to bay, is in a' state Of mind that renders it necessary for his gaolers to be careful how they approach him. He also pines for freedom ; and extra precautions are taken to ; prevent ; his breaking out of prison. He is confined in a dungeon “as dark and dismal as any pictured in the pages of romance. A massive * iron door from the rear opens* into a corridor dimly lighted by rusty iron gratings. At the further end is the cell of the desperado, the strong iron door of which is secured by massive locks, and whose walls are also massive.” The Court of Appeal has confirmed* his sentence, and there is, it is stated, 44 no further hope for this handsome highwayman and manslayer.”! The question of whether women will be allowed to preach has been discussed by the Mehodists of the United States at their spring conferences, says an English exchange. Bishop Andrews refuses to admit their claims ; but an appeal has been taken from his decision to the General. Conference, and it is considered not improbable that woman’s aspirations to compete with man%3 a preacher will before long be successful. Another embarrassing question has also come up in nearly all the spring conferences—namely, that Of the use of tobacco. The last General Conference advised the subor-, dinate Methodist assemblies not to admit any candidate for the ministry who was'addicted to, the objectionable and pernicious, habit of smoking, A majority of the preachers seemed to'have approved of this hew departure; but there is a minority who resent it as an unjustifiable interference with personal liberty. The New England Conference; which was strongly 44 anti-tobacco;” found itself in rather an awkward dilemma when dealing with the subject. One of the most promising candidates for the ministry, the son of a presiding elder and doctor of divinity, being asked whether, he used tobacco, replied boldly that he did. . The conference, after a good deal of discussion, compromised the matter by admitting the young man, but then passed a solemn resolution that it would never admit such another. The connection between, . .the pipe and pulpit eloquence is perhaps obscure, but it is certain that many great preachers have been also great smokers. The Rev. Robert Hall was a, conspicuous example; and the late Dr. Norman McLeod was another. , ' 1 .

Prince Gortohakoff is one of the most agreeable men in Bussia (says the Pall Mall Gazette), Those who like him least acknowledge ■ that but, few who have, been brought much into contact with him have,‘failed to like him.as a man ; and those who appreciate him best are the men.who have served constantly under his orders. He was.born in 1708, and has been Prime Minister of Bussia since 1856. , He is the richest man in. Bussia, .the subject of .highest rank in it, and ruler of the Empire ; •nor could anything shake him from his post except a great national-disaster, leading l to a unanimous public .outcry against the Government. He is not a blunderer jho has ‘not had to fritter away his prestige in public speeches, as the statesmen of constitutional countries are obliged to do ; and he has kept so steadily to the policy of aggrandising his. country that, if ho failed, he would bo pitied for having been dll-served by his instruments, rather than' condemned for his patriotic ambition. ’ Prince Gortohakoff would not have prospered ns the Minister of a Parliamentary State, for the'gifts which make him supreme at the council table, in the drawing-rooms, and in the private colloquies ■ with ambassadors; would have been thrown away on popular assemblies. He hds none of the bluff petulanoy of Bismarck, nor of the smirking readiness of retort which enables Count Andrassy to manage the AustroHungarian Parliaments. Ho talks slowly, writes grandiloquently, and gives higluniuded reasons for everything he advises or does. ; Persons who might have expected him to explain Some tortuous piece of policy on cynical are staggered by his semblance of perfect good faith, and by the reassuring promises which ho makes in a tone of stately gentleness/ to which his venerable appearance gives the. stamp of wisdom and truth. His strength is patience ; bis talent lies in seizing opportunities the moment they arrive; and those opportunities come through the simplicity of the foreigners who trust him.” ... .... , Traffic will bo resumed on the Blueskin and WaikCuaiti section of the Northern Otago railway to-day. Tho Dunedin Herald understand that the Palmerston South and Warkouaiti section, of the lino will probably be completed about the middle of August. At yesterday’s meeting of tho Waste Lands Board (says the Dunedin Herald of tho 11th iust.),Mr, Bastings expressed tho opinion that the error of New Zealand land legislation lay in the perpotural tinkering which it underwent. Even if it was now bad, it would be better tolet it remain so, than-to bo perpetually meddling with it every year, as was .the custom. Wo again remind our readers that. T.-.K, Macdonald and Co.’s extensive land sale; to which wo have drawn attention In a previous Issue, will take place to-dar.' To persons desirous of investing in town or country properties this sale offers an opportunity of seeming some veiy choice lots. ‘