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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5469, 7 October 1878, Page 2

We do not weary of giving assistance to tho Government in the matter of official advertisements, We have in view in doing so the interests of our subscribers and readers, who have as good a right, as forming a tolerably large seotion of the people, to that kind of information about projected public works, as that seotion of tho people who read only the subsidised journals or the Ministers’ own paper. In another place there will be found some official advertisements inserted on our usual terms—" gratis,”

The steamer William McKinnon will leave Port Darwin for Batavia this (Monday) evening, and messages reaching Port Danviu before 6 p.m. will be sent on by her.

The Chamber of Commerce sent per Albion on Saturday to Mr. Mouckton Synnot, of Melbourne, samples of wool, to be forwarded by him to Japan, for submission to the Imperial Commissioners, to decide as to its suitableness for Japanese requirements. It was announced it the Anglican Churches last night that tho Synod of the Diocese of Wellington will meet on Tuesday next. The Bishop will deliver his address in the diocesan library at 3 p.m. on that day. , Service will be held on Tuesday evening, but the usual Wednesday service will be omitted. It was also stated that no class meetings would bo hold during the week. Speaking of Mr, Sheehan’s innocent proposal that every .private purchaser's title to native lands should be submitted to au “ ordeal” in the Executive Council tho Lyttelton Times says;—“ We contend that no Government should be placed in that relation to private land purchases, which would enable and require it to subject them to what Mr. Sheehan calls au “ ordeal,” and to decide whether tho Government would take each block at cost price witli interest thereon, or part of that block'on the same terms. We can scarcely conceive any position in which a Government could be placed more calculated to, destroy all public confidence in it, and to expose it to universal suspicion. Were all Ministers patterns of political purity that -fact would in itself bo an insuperable objection. They should not he led into temptation, or placed in a position which, rightly or wrongly, would inevitably cause : public scandal. But Ministers are not: infallible, and it is idle to ignore the probability that, with such functions devolving on them, and under the: influence of political pressure, instances would occur of . gross, favoritism and injustice.; Wo are astonished that Sir George Grey, who, when in opposition, so loudly declaimed against a Ministry in a" private office dealiug with private ■ land claims, should have ever consented to a reproduction of a similar system under extended and more aggravated conditions. The disposal of the Piako Swamp would bo comparatively insignificant by the side of what could and probably would bo done under such a system,: The late Mr. John Aplin’s funeral took place on Saturday last. Alarge number of the frieuds of the deceased came together'to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory. The procession left Kaiwarra at 2 o'clock, led by a sargeant and 13 rank and file, the remainder of the corps following tho remains of their deceased comrade. The Artillery Band played tho usual solemn marches 'appropriate to the occasion. The City Hides, under the command of Captain Crowe, and tho Makara 1 corps, under the command of Captain Monaghan, were also present. Captain Thompson commanded the parade. The commanding officer of the district, Major Stack, attended in person. We also noticed several honorary 1 members of the force, among others Mr. W. H. Devin. A firing party paid tho usual military honors to their deceased friend, and concluded an impressive and solemn ceremony, ; ’ ■" 1

• Notice is given in another column that a bylaw has been passed by the City Council at a .special mooting held on tho 3rd of , October.' The by-law is to enforce .the carrying of lights ,on vehicles other than hackney carriages, and will bo finally confirmed at the ordinary meeting on tho "Ist October next, Mr. and Mrs. E. Hart’s combination troupe will visit tho Wairarapa next week. Having completed n iridst successful season wt The Opera House, they intend ’ to visit Wanganui and to givo their entertainments there during the race week. En route they will probably open at Featherston on Monday next ; having played three or four nights, they will next proceed to Carterton on tho I7th or 18th. After visaing Greytoivn they propose to give some four or five entertainments! in Mastertbn,' A. couple of happy hours may bo spent by those who visit Mr. and Mrs. Hart's entertainment. A grand complimentary benefit will bo given to Miss Annie Beaumont on Friday, 11th October, at tho Princess Theatre. A number of tho most popular amateurs will give, their services upon tho occasion.- The names.of Miss’ Buby 'D'Arcy, Miss May 8011, Miss Wyatt, and of Messrs. Simpson, Augardo, McKenzie, and others,, will no doubt ensure a good attendance.

The usual amateur concert at tho Athenaeum will not he held this evening. Those who are in the habit of-.attending these concerts will have an opportunity of enjoying their usual musical treat on Friday night at the Princess Theatre at'Miss Annie Beaumont’s benefit. ' Those gentlemen who have interested themselves in the formation of the Port Nicholson Cluh/will see by advertiseineht.that a meeting has been called at the Athenaeum to-night. The meeting will be held in No. 10 room at 8 o’clock. As a rough guage of the relative importance .of the different townships in the Wairarapa wo extract from the Wairarapa Standard the following statistics respecting the revenue derived from telegrams in the district. The visitors who are going up to the opening of the railway may be glad of some reliable information on the subject of the rival townships:— Carterton, £149 ISs. 4d. ; Featherston, £241 15s, • 7d,; Greytown, £364 7s. ; Masterton, £035 16s. sd. From these figures it will be seen that the relative amount of business done at the several townships in the Wairarapa is the exact reverse of tho alphabetical order given above. Masterton stands first, then Greytown, then Featherston, and then Carterton; which we suspect gives a pretty accu-rate-idea of the relative amount of business done at each of tho four principal townships in the Wairarapa. , , Tho Assembly ball ,at the Imperial Opera House on Friday evening was a great success. The stage was used for dancing, and was tastefully decorated with flags and evergreens. The pit was partly covered in, and had a good display of ferns and evergreens ranged upon it. A great many ladies and gentlemen took advantage,of the dress-circle, as a pleasant seat, which gave them also a good view of the dancers.. All those who visited these scats were agreed that the ball-room presented a most beautiful and dazzling appearance, enhanced no doubt by the slight incline of the stage. The music left nothing to be desired, and the arrangements generally were very complete. Tho pleasant atmosphere of the room was constantly remarked as being a very rare accompaniment ; of a crowded room. Great credit is due ,to ,Mr. Cary, who superintended the whole affair, and to Messrs. Nicholson .and 00., of Cuba-Btreot,_for the stylo in which the furnishing was done. Dancing was kept up with much spirit until about 3 a.m., when a groat demand for cabs and carriages arose in consequence of a rainy night. No doubt the cabmen reaped a harvest, and congratulated themselves that the tramway folk had gone to bod., A deputation consisting of Messrs. Oliver, De Lautour, Joyce, Bastings, Henry, Driver, J. C. Brown, Gisborne, and George waited on Mr. Stout, the Attorney-General,bnSaturday,in reference to the formation of a School of Mines. Several members of the deputation spoke iu favor of such au institution. Mr. Stout said that the matter would receive his favorable consideration. ' ' The criminal sitting of the Supremo Court will be held t >-day at 10 o’clock. One of tho charges is from Foxtou, and two from Gisborne, the rest being local. The charge of manslaughter has been withdrawn against Charles H. Harnett aud Wilhelraina Wahle, the purser of the Jane Douglas and nurse, who were in charge’ of the lunatic woman who. jumped overboard from that vessel whilst being conveyed to Foxton. ; They will, however, be obliged to surrender The principal charges comprise one of murder against the two natives brought from Gisborne, in which 11 witnesses will be produced in support of the charge, one of perjury against a native woman, one of attempt to murder, and two of forgery. The following is the calendar: Jacob Hebberley, of forgery; Alfred H. McLean, forgery ; George Lorimer, larceny ; William Naylor Arnold, attempt to murder ; Charles H. Harnett and Wilhelmina Wahle, manslaughter; Eliza Broughton, Mary Ann Bradford, and Mary McGee, larceny ; Henare Pete and Pecoamimi Tawhaki, murder; Anipio Pakitahi, perjury ; and Henry Aldridge, rape. Mr. Macdonald, solicitor, late of the Thames, who has just commenced practice in Napier, made his first appearance in the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday (says the Hawlce’s . Bay Herald of the 2nd iust.) in the case of the Corporation v, Waterworth. Tbo case having been withdrawn by Mr. Sainsbury, Mr. Macdonald, in urging the claim of his client to his expenses, said he had just been informed by his learned friend (Mr. Sainsbury) that it was not the practice in that Court to grant expenses against the Corporation or other public bodies. He might say that having been an important part of a Corporation for some time, ho thought a Corporation, whether railway or municipal, was a body that could be fleeced with impunity iu' matters of that kind. - The Court, however, declined to grant expenses. Captain Stanley, R.N., has been informed by the Tasmani in Government that they have telegraphed to the Imperial authorities accepting their terms and conditions with regard to tho proposeil survey-of.their coast, and (isking that. Captain Stanley may be named as the officer to undertake the work.

It is estimated that the bridge now in course of erection by the South Australian Government on tho lower Murray will cost about £126,00(7, and will probably be completed about February, 1879. The bridge has been adapted to carry a broad gauge locomotive train,

We (Australasian, 21st instant) learn from the Electric Telegraph Department that the last interruption on the Port Darwin line was caused by natives burning down a wooden pole and placing six large, logs of wood across the wire, keeping it on the ground. , Tho difficulties of raising, loans legally under the Counties’ Act is well known. Among other business set down for the next meeting of the County Council of Wairarapa East we note the following:—“To consider the legal aspect of the special loans raised, and to arrange the course of future actions thereon. Also the question of raising special loans, over the whole country.” We understand that the course taken by the County Council in respect to loans already raised has been objected to as illegal, and that the objection has been sustained. Previous to the loan being floated the opinion of the Attorney-General was taken, but this opinion was given without due consideration of a clause contained in tho Bating Act, As the councillors are each and. all personally liable for any money illegally ! borrowed, ■ the only course that appears to be open to them is to sue the Attorney-General for damages incurred .through acting upon an opinion that seems to havo been hastily given. The honor and glory of the office may prove to have lured unsuspecting country settlers into a fearful abyss of personal debt, incurred in the public interest. , It seems, 'sitys l 'the Sxamner, that the French Anthropologists entertain .the idea of forming an album, of photographs of the most beautiful women of all countries, for the purpose of valuable scientific comparisons. Franz Pulsky, the Hungarian, has thereupon called upon Hungary for its national honor to send him tho photographs of its beautiful women, that ho might demonstrate to Paris that Hungary is not behindhand in this respect. Upon this appeal the Pother Lloyd. drily comments that Herr Pulsky will receive at least two millions of photographs, as every man in the country will consider some damsel of his acquaintance the fairest maid in Hungary. It is highly, gratifying; to think : that, if any patriotic Englishman wishes to aid the efforts of the French savants, he need not go to the ' trouble of a public appeal. All he lias to do is to enter the nearest photograph shop, where, at tho expense of a fow shillings, ho may obtain ■ the counterfeit presentments of tho chosen beauties of our land, "who, undeterred by idle and old-fashioned notions, have thus anticipated the desires of science. Tho cultivation of the ostrich feather industry in a suitable climate like that of South Australia is tho object which has .induced. Captain Wilson, for 30 years port paptaiu at Capa Town, to emigrate to Adelaide, where he arrived by the steamship Garonne last week. Ostrich farming has,proved, so successful and profitable in South Africa, that it is considered there will bo no groat difficulty in establishing it in these colonies. Captain Wilson has brought throe fine full-grown ostriches with him. ' ' Tho New Jotk . Herald of the 2nd August has a report of the successful trial of a pneumatic horse-car engine, so called by tho Herald, although no horse has anything to do: with it, tho oar being propelled by compressed air. The track on which the experiment was made was the Second Avenue Bail road Line, lyinff between Ninety-sixth and One Hundred and'r’wenty-sevcuth streets. The pneumatic engine is the invention of Messrs. Hardio and James, the first-named, driving or directing the car. Ita workings aro said to bo so simple that apy driver of a hoyso can or mighty direct it. The motive power, compressed air, is contained in air reservoirs fittpd under the floor and seats, capableof keeping in store 17,000,000 : feet pohnds of .working power. The chargein the reservoirs is capable of propelling ,a carload of ten tons eighty-five thousand feet, or sixteen milefe. ; Tbp , car , made; throe 1 trial trips, and

gave great satisfaction, running easily and with little noise or jar. It is managed and governed by two levers on the front platform, ‘ A stationary steam engine at tho terminus is I used for charging the reservoirs with compressed air, which can be done in a few minutes. It was worked up, to a speed of sixteen pr eighteen miles an hour, and Mr. Hardio says it can be'made to go twice as fast. l.v ■ ■ i;.. - Stockowners (says ; ,an exchange) will be. pleased : to learn that- the question of the efficacy of- .inoculation in the .prevention of, pleuro is now in a fair way of being set at rest by the highest veterinary authorities. It will be remembered that some time ago the Royal Agricultural Society authorised a series of experiments in inoculation to bo conducted at tho Brown Institution in London, under fho superintendence of Professors Burdon, Sanderson, and Dugnid. At a meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society held on 3rd July last, Professor Dugnid reported that the first series of experiments were completed by Ist March. Of the nine animals inoculated, one died from other causes soon after being inoculated, and .the other eight were exposed to the contagion by cohabitation with diseased animals. Of these two were sold to a butcher and the lungs examined and found healthy. Pour more were sold after being kept under observation for nearly three months after tho.exposure of the contagion. Ono was killed on account of diseased liver and injuries inflicted on stomach and lungs by a surgical needle accidentally swallowed with the food. Owing to the public holiday proclaimed on the 15th Instant, Mr. R. J, Duncan has been compelled to postpone the date of sale of a number of valuable properties. Among other postponements rendered necessary, the sale of the sections at South Kilbiruie and of some town allotments hi featherston has been postponed until the 10th.