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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5406, 25 July 1878, Page 2

Tho Municipal Conference will commence its sittings on the 29th instant.

The names of the mover and seconder of the address in reply to the Governor’s speech have not yet been made known. In the Lower House there are many now members to choose from, no fewer than eleven having been elected during the recess." In another column we publish a complete list of members up to date. , The rumor that Mr. John Martin is’"to be called to the Upper House has.been in circulation'for sometime. Last evening the state-: ment that Mr. Martin was’ to join the Legislative Council on the opening of the coming; session of Parliament war made with so much circumstantiality that it seemed almost impossible to doubt the truth of it. , f \ At the meeting of the City Council to be held this evening Councillor Liver will move that a former resolution of the Council he rescinded* witlr the view to sanctioniag the 'cutting down of the crest of the hill in Wei-lington-terrace,;; ns ; per the City' Surveyor's plan, on.the*residents paying half of the cost, which has been estimated at £500,. . ' An inquest, was held at Masterton yesterday on the bodies of William Hawkins and John McGovern, who-f-were found drowned. The jury returned a.verdict of accidental drowning in the Ruamahunga River, with a recommendation that the Government should place a ferryman at the crossing leading to the Fortymile Bush: In the case of Doherty y. the Wellington Education Board, Mr. Allan will, on Wednesday next, move for a rule nisi calling on the plaintiff to show cause why the verdict should not he set aside and entered for the defendants. , Mr. Barton will probably, move for a cross rule. ' ,We are-glad to learn that during the forthcoming session of Parliament, effectual means will be adopted for excluding from the reporters’ gallery all persons who have no business in it, and who in former years were in the habit of intruding there, to the great annoyance of the Press representatives, for whose accommodation the gallery is still too small. The representatives of the New Zealand Times, iVczy Zealander, Post, Chronicle, and Press Agency ■uflll occupy the'front row, and the remaining space which the gallery affords will be available to newspaper correspondents. This if? precisely as it should be. The Artillery Volunteers' are. summoned to parade* on the reclaimed land to fire a salute, and. the City Rifles at St. George’s Hall at 1 o’clock to-morrow (Friday), in order to form a guard of honor to his Excellency the Governor at the opening of Parliament. A-person named Thomas McKane - saw a horse with saddle and bridle on made fast to a fence in Murphy-street on Tuesday night, but took no particular notice of-it. Yesterday morning, however, the- poor animal was still there .without an owner. It has since been taken charge of by the police. , The following tenders for 878 tons of 521 b, rails and fastenings have been received at the Public Works Office, Wellington :— Accepted: Macphersbn . and Co., Invercargill, £6424. Declined : John Duthie, Wanganui, £6608; Renshaw, Denison, and Co., Dunedin, £6614; Bright Bros., Dunedin, £6638; W. and G. Turnbull and Col, Dunedin, £6872; Mclntyre and Co.,‘ Wellington, £7062; T. and S. Morrin, Auckland, £7124 ; W. Guthrie, Dunedin, £7162 ; John O. Evd, Dunedin, £7312 ; W. Dawson and Co., Wellington, £7374 ; Topham and Angus, Invercargill, £7438; E. .W. Mills, Wellington, £7603; J. B. Blair, Mosgicl, £7700. : . . The Wairarapa Standard of the 23rd inat. says : A meeting of those interested in holding a ploughing match this year was held at the Tauherenikau. Hotel last night, when the following gentlemen were appointed a committee :—Messrs. Wilkinson (secretary), W. O. Williams (treasurer), D. Knight, Schwartz, •Mitchell, J. O. Bidwill, Duncan McMaster, O. Gundy, senior, G. K. Wakolia, J. Donald, and W. Smith, .with power to add to their number. A letter was read from Mr. Mitchell, enclosing a subscription of £3, and containing also a proposition from Mr. O. R. Bidwill that he would be willing to subscribe £5 provided that the ploughing took place on his land if the. ground was found suitable. It was agreed that-Mr. Williams and Mr. Knight wait on Mr. Bidwill, and ascertain whether the ground offered would be suitable for the ploughing match, and report at'next meeting. The secretary was instructed to write to several gentlemen to know whether they would be willing to act as judges in the ensuing match. It was agreed that the committee meet on Monday next at 2 p.m., at the Waihenga Hotel, to make final arrangements.. A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the business. ; * Mr.' J. W, Thomson, fclio hon. member for Clutha, is celebrated for, among other things, his native wit and his hatred of Wellington. When addressing his constituents recently he gave an illustration of both. He said : —“Now, there is that miserable place called’ Wellington. (Laughter.) Wellington is said to be the centre of the colony. It is a place that you can only get to and from by sea. A great number of the members of the General Assembly have lately resigned, and why is that ? -I believe it is .on account of those long sessions and the isolation of Wellington, and that they can’t afford to be burled up there. Now, I think the railways are showing that the seat of Government should be removed. We have Christchurclrthere. Well, if Christchurch was the seat of Government, members could occasionally go to their homes, and attend id some measure to their own business ; bub as the General Assembly is held at Wellington it is impossible for them to leave Wellington during the session. But I think that the time will come when this question will engage the attention of the public very much more than it does at the present time.” “A Lover of Plain Speech,” writing to the Southland Times , says : —“ A Liberal Government now seems to bo a Government which puts money from the public till very liberally into the pockets .of its members, if it is true, as alleged, that the present Government in .New Zealand started the New Zealander newspaper, and then subsidized it, or to speak more plainly, themselves, by columns of Government advertisements, to which its comparatively small circulation gave it no title whatever. Such liberality as this reminds one forcibly of the liberality of the chtlrch attendant descubed happily'by Mr. Donald Reid in a recent speech. The gentleman whoso liberality was so roused, by the sermon ho had just heard that .he emptied'all his'neighbors’ pockets into the plate.” A Chinaman whose name is unknown (says the West Coast Times J was sharp enough to get on the blind side of the Union Bank one day last week. It apppears that a small parcel of gold of an ounce or two in weight had just been sold to the bank, when “John” entered to dispose of a similar lot. The parcel first purchased was not emptied from the scales, and the gold buyer gave the second seller the benefit in weight and value of the first parcel as well as* his own. The Chinaman was too cute to point out tho eixor, hut quietly pocketed the full amount tendered him, and now Detective Browne has his own work cut out to discover his man. , It is said that the “Heathen Chinee” and his mates have since had a reunion, when poultry and fan-tan,, together with the banking facilities of the colony,-were most liberally discussed, 1 the solemn'meeting terminating on tho mutual understanding of “nosavec.” One of the Celestial brethren is reported, to have saluted the detective officer with “ Done Brown,” while another kept adding to the aggravation by playing on his banjo, “ I know a bank.” On the subject of tho drainage of Lakes Ellesmere and Forsyth (says" the Dunedin Herald of tho 17th instant), near the Akaroa Peninsula, Mr. Hardy Johnston has sent in his final report to tho trust. It appears that between 30,0.00 and 35,000 acres of land, expected to bo very valuable, will .be reclaimed, Tho total estimated cost approximately of the whole work, when completed, will amount to £88,093, ;but it will not be necessary in the first instance to expend more than what will carry out tho ! works provisionally, which will amount to £69,057, &ud which would not, oepupy jnore than two years to complete, in order to secure a permanent open channel of at. least 24ft, in depth at high water, and 18ft. at low water. Mr. Johnston adds— 1 u The estimate is a liberal one, and I have every reason to believe that in the event of the works herein recommended being,, required- to be carried put, a closer study of the subject would enable me to modify many portions of the design, by which a considerable reduction in the estimate would be effected.” 1 The President of tho French Republic and Madame la Marechale dp McMahon (says an exchange) in the course of their visit to tho British • Section of, tho Exhibition recently, stayed a few ; minutes at Mr. Riramel’s stand, to witness an experiment of hia myrogene, a now apparatus invented by, him to extract the aroma of flowers iu a fo.w seconds, The operation was juado on freshly-gathered lilacs, and ■was . perfectly successful, tho pe'rfumo produced being unusually delicate, and giving the true odour of the flower, . . A woman named Mary Chudoy was arrested at Greytowu yesterday fpr larceny, There are three charges against her.

Mr. W. B. Moorhouse, M;H.R., has been appointed to represent Christchurch at the Wellington Municipal Conference.

f, In the case of Buckridge v. War dell, counsel for. the defendant will move. for a rule nisi on Wednesday.; next, with a view to having the recent verdict set. aside. A deputation from the shipbuilding trade will wait on the City Council this evening, to urge the reservation of a part of the proposed Te Aro reclamation for engineering shops and shipyards. His Honor Mr. Justice Richmond [sat in banco yesterday. Owing to the case of Gilloh V; Macdonald (motion for a decree) coming on for argument, the other business on -the list was postponed until, Wednesday next. Those persons (says the Poverty Bay Hwald) taking an interest in agricultural matters in this district will he pleased to learn that farming operations on a -very large scale are being carried on at Messrs. Graham and Cooper’s estate, Tologa Bay. - More than 1000 acres of laud'are being broken up for wheat this season. At the present time there are four three-furrow, two double-furrow, and seven single-furrow ploughs at work. Besides preparing this large extent of country for wheat, Messrs. Graham and Cooper contemplate breaking up 300 acres for barley. In view of the crops to be harvested, the firm has ordered a patent binder and reaper, and also a powerful threshing plant. With so much grain sown this year- there should be plenty of grist to keep our local flour-mill going regularly.