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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5424, 15 August 1878, Page 2

The municipal by-law for enforcing the laying down of pavements in the city, which will be taken into consideration by the Council on the 22nd instant, is published in our advertising columns. A deputation of owners and occupiers of land abutting on the Te Aro foreshore waited upon his Worship the Mayor yesterday, when it was arranged that a meeting should be held this afternoon at 4 o’clock in the Provincial Council Chamber. At the Supreme Court in banco yesterday the case of Buckridge v. Warded—a rule nisi for new trial—was argued, and judgment reserved. In the case of Drury v. Kevell the rule was made absolute. The Court then adjourned until this morning, when the case of Doherty v. the Board of Education, a cross rule for a new trial on the ground of misdirection will, it is understood, be proceeded with. Eliza Wilson, a very old offender, was charged at the Police Court yesterday morning with drunkenness, and also with breaking a looking-glass, valued at £5, the property of John Derunge. The accused pleaded hard to be let off, and promised never to appear again before the Court. Their Worships (the Mayor and Mr. Shannon, J.P.) taking a lenient view of the case, discharged her with a caution, telling complainant that he could take civil proceedings for the recovery of the amount of damage done to the looking-glass. Three constables on duty on Lambton-quay early yesterday morning hoard a man calling out as if in distress. The voice proceeded from tho direction of the breastwork facing the reclaimed ground. On arriving there they r ound a man in tho water clinging to tho piles. After some difficulty tho officers pulled him ashore, ami subsequently ascertained that ho was a seaman belonging to tho schooner Mary Ogilvie. He stated that ho was walking along tho edge of tho breastwork with the intention of going on board his vessel, when ho missed his footing and slipped into the water. Ho had been holding on to tho piles for an hour and a half before his cries were hoard. There was very little business transacted at tho Magistrate’s Court at the Hntt yesterday. Henry Border was fined ss. for committing a breach of tho Hallway Ordinance. The only civil case was that of Mclntosh v. Bussell, for a claim of £4, balance of account fjr work done. Several witnesses were examined, and gave evidence to tho effect that tho work was not done according to contract. Judgment was given for plaintiff for £2 and costs. Mr. Hansford, E.M., was on the Bench.

The Central Fire Brigade held a hose practice last night in front of the police station. A memorandum received from the Telegraph Department last evening states that the Western Australian line is interrupted. A dinner to celebrate the opening of the new premises of the Wellington Working Men’s Club will be held this evening. The anniversary tea and public meeting in connection with the Congregational Church, Courtenay-place, will be held this evening. In a report presented to the House yesterday the Waste Lauds Committee recommended the Nelson Harbor Board Bill to be passed without amendment. The Waste Lauds Committee have recommended the Bill to make further provision for the final settlement of land claims to be passed without amendment. The Waste Lands Committee have recommended to be passed without amendment the Fllesmere and Forsyth and Alcaroa Hallway Trust Continuance Bill for the construction of a railway from Southbridge to Akaroa. A dividend for the half-year ended 31st March last, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, will be payable to shareholders in the National Bank of New Zealand on and after the 27th August inst. Weunderstaudthat the first of the Wellington Assembly balls this year is to be held on Monday, August 20, and that Mr. A. de B. Brandon, jam*., and Mr. Chaytor are acting as secretaries. The Waste Lands Committee have recommended the Milford Harbor Board Bill to be passed with the alterations, elisions, and amendments shown in the copy of the Bill annexed to their report, which was presented yesterday. Notice is given that the annual meeting of the Fidelity and Accident Guaranty Company of New Zealand will be held at 3 o’clock p.m. on the 29th inst., when the report and balancesheet for the half-year ended 30th June last will be presented. The Native Affairs Committee reported yesterday on the petitions of Hori Tauroa and four others and Henare and Aihepene Kaihau, to the effect that the war canoe having been captured by the colonial forces during the war in Waikato, the committee cannot recommend any relief or compensation to be granted to the petitioners.

The Petitions Classification Committee has reported that the petitions of G. T. Bolder.) and other residents of Maugawai and 0. Aldridge and others are irregular, and in contravention of standing orders, inasmuch as there has been an infringement of standing order No. 2/3. The Illustrated New Zealand Herald of the 13th inst., a copy of which was received by us yesterday, contains amongst other interesting cuts the following:—The native meeting at Kaiapoi; Cave Pock, Sumner (Canterbury); portrait of the D.G-.5., 1.0.0. F. (Brother J. B. Harmon), sketches of the wreck of the Loch Ard, the burial place of the victims whose bodies have been recovered from the sea, the residence of Mr. Gibson, &c. A great musical treat is anticipated on Wednesday next, when Mrs. George Cotterell’s long looked-for concert takes place. The Theatre Royal has been secure ! for the occasion, and seats, which are reserved at Mr. Bennington’s, should be secured as early as possible, as we understand they are fast being taken up. It is now nearly a year since we had the pleasure of hearing Mrs. Cotterell sing in public, and this occasion is therefore looked forward to with an unusual degree of interest. His Excellency the Governor and Lady Normanby have kindly intimated their intention of being present. Mr. J. P. E. Wright, an old resident of Wellington, being about to visit England, has determined to make a very handsome and useful present to the city with which he has been so long connected, and lias offered to place a clock in the tower of the Athenaeum building. The clock is to have three illuminated faces, and is to be superior to any other public clock in the place. The committee of the Athenaeum have accepted the gift with mauy thanks, and to tho citizens a first-rate clock placed in so conspicuous and central a position will be a great convenience. A paragraph recently appeared in our columns stating that an important witness, named Parsons, in the case of Buckridge v. Wardell, who had been reported to he dead, was alive, and had written to a friend here stating that such was the fact. At the Supreme Court yesterday Mr. Barton stated that the man in question died m the hospital in Christchurch, and that there were a number of witnesses who could prove that such was the case.

Tho concert to be given in the Princess Theatre to-night bids fair to be a very good ono. Amongst other amateurs who will take part in the performance is Mr. Brett, the Mayor of Auckland, whose fine voice and talents as a vocalist are much appreciated in his own neighborhood. The proceeds of the entertainment will be devoted to the aid of St. Mark’s organ fund. A large attendance is confidently expected. The following testimonial, accompanied by a substantial gift, has been presented to Mr. George Hobbs by the residents on the line of road—and a very rough line of road it is—between Napier and Taupo, where Mr. Hobbs has handled the ribbons with much skill, and often amidst no little difficulties, for some years, Mr. Hobbs is now employed in the Wellington District, where he will doubtless maintain his previously acquired reputation : “Testimonial to Mr. George Hobbs by the residents on the mail line of coaches from Napier to Taupo.—We, the undersigned, have the honor of presenting to Mr. George Hobbs the enclosed gift as an appreciation of his kind* ness and urbanity of manner, &c., to us while lidding the capacity as driver of tho above line, and we trust he will accept the same with our good wishes for his future prosperity and welfare.” [Here follow the signatures of 32 well-known residents of the locality.] Some of the navvies employed on the ICai Iwi railway works (says the Wanganui Chronicle of the 10th instant) are having and making very lively times there. An accident occurred on Thursday to two of these gentry, who had become somewhat excited through liquor. It seems that wishing to come into town they secured an express, in order to do the thing in style. Whether tho vehicle was top heavy or not we cannot say, but when passing through a rut, of which there are a legion on that road, it upset, aud the lately elevated lay sprawling in the mud. The driver escaped unhurt, but the navvies were pretty considerably cub about and bruised. No bones were broken however.

The Wanganui Chronicle of the 9th instant says :—“We are in receipt of private information which states that the survey of the plains is not likely to be accomplished without more trouble, and that another interruption is expected by tho surveyors, about eighty of whom are actively pushing on the work. Murmurs among the natives of tho locality have been general of late, and they express their intention of completing tho pa left in an unfinished state by Titokowaru a year ago, saying that the Government have bought the latter. A younger chief has constituted himself their loader, and is egging them on. A pound is being built on the Plains by the natives, for what purpose is not stated. It is said that To Whiti is indulging in a prophetic forecast of the future awaiting the race. Scarcely any natives have boon seen about Hawera or Normauby for some days, and this is causing uneasiness among tho Europeans, as their unwonted absence is looked upon as threatening.”—The Herald of tho same date says “Tho fact of *a member of tho con-tabnlary force having come into town to fetch Captain Marshall to the station at Waihi has given rise to certain rumors which we believo to be exceedingly exaggerated and principally incorrect. There is no doubt that tho survey party on the Waimate Plains have met with some obstruction, bub not with anything that need bo considered serious or that had not been anticipated and prepared for. We have good reason for believing that the difficulty is only a temporary and very trivial ono that will be settled without delay or trouble. It is a pity that exaggerated reports, based on the casual utterances of a subordinate in possession of tho knowledge of some of tho facts of the matter, to a friend in confidence, should bo circulated, to tho creation of anxiety and fear in those who would likely to be affected by any native disturbance in the Patoa District. Our Hawera correspondent will wire us particulars should any trouble of any consequence arise.” A merchant at the Thames, writing to a friend in New Plymouth, complains bitterly of tho manner in which butter is sent to him from this district. Ho states that in a recent shipment ono keg contained fifteen pounds of pure salt. Tho Wanganui Chronicle of the 10th instant expresses much gratification at Mr. Booth being reinstated in the various offices previously held by him.

A “ Working Men’s Association” is about to be formed in New Plymouth. What the bycicle is on land, says a writer in the S.F. Bulletin , the canoe is on water. If either has any adaptation to a'known end, it is to upset, to tantalise the highest hopes, to bring on sudden emergencies. There is a great deal of affectation about the whole business of canoing. The Indian in his birch-bark canoe is all very well. He may have done the best he could under the circumstances. But a white man in a paper canoe is not all very well. He has not done the best he could, but trifles with fate in a rude contrivance, a cockle shell, which only an expert can manage, and even then not with entire safety. Two or three amusing books have been, written about canoiu", which have served to generate a canoe fever. The Rob Roy canoe is now the model. Tliis or that individual has paddled a thousand miles in a canoe. Well, what of it ? So men have ridden a thousand miles on a backboard, but we shall never again see that vehicle in use on common roads. The bycicle has taken on another wheel after flattening the noses and bumping the heads of a whole generation ; and now as a tf trycicle” it is a nuisance. Ihe other day an English clerk received a Rob Roy canoe front England. (( It is just the thing, you know.” In that canoe he attempted to cross from Angel Island to Oakland. Of course he was drowned. But then there was the delicious excitement kept up until the last moment. At what moment will this rude contrivance upset, this thing which is an offence to Neptune and to every sea god of ancient or modern mythology ? The South Sea Islanders make the canoe a tolerably safe craft by contriving outriggers. It cannot upset, and if it did, an amphibious man takes as kindly to one element as to the other. But a landlubber in a modern canoe has taken a pretty direct way of getting across the Styx as soon as possible.