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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5508, 21 November 1878, Page 2

We are requested to call tho attention of our readers to the fact that the mails for the United Kingdom and Australian colonies, per s.s, Arawata, close at the Bluff at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Sir George Grey left by the steamer Hinomoa yesterday afternoon tor Kawau, The Supreme Court had a short sitting in banco yesterday, when the judgments of Mr. Justice Williams and Mr. Justice Johnston in re Fishenden (a Dunedin case) were delivered. Their Honors concurred in saying that the rule must he discharged, with costs. The judgments will be found in full elsewhere. The Collector of Customs (Mr, McKellar) received the following notification yesterday;— “Government Buildings.—As fencing wire_ cannot be warehoused the Hon. the Commissioner of Customs authorises yon to allow it to be landed under deposit entry, and afterwards to be cleared by free entry as soon as exemption in the new Tariff Act becomes operative. Inform importers accordingly.—W. Seed.” We hear that at the Wanganui Pastoral and Agricultural Society’s Show the following Wairarapa residents acted as judges : —Mr. Drummond, for thoroughbred horses; Mr. Hastwell, for draught horses; Mr. H. MoMaster and Mr. D. Buchanan, for sheep; and Mr. W. Lowes, for dogs.

The decision of the Court of nautical assessors respecting the stranding of the ship City of Auckland was not delivered yesterday. Captains Holiday and Hewitt cannot agree as to their decision. Mr. Manaford oensequently adjourned the case until this morning, when he will give an independent decision. A point of law affecting the practice of the Supreme Court in its jurisdiction in divorce and matrimonial causes was raised iu the course of the hearing of. the case Jeffrey v. Jeffrey and others yesterday. Mr. Justice Johnston and a jury had heard the case at Christchurch. Evidence had been taken, and the case had gone to the jury. The question now arose whether—neither the respondent nor co-respondent having appeared at Christchurch—there was any issue to go to the jury. If not, then the Full Court could pay no attention to the finding of the jury at Christchurch. The Court decided to have the evidence taken at Christchurch read. Mr. Justice Johnston remarked, for future guidance, that hereafter he should in similar cases have the evidence taken by a commission, and it could then be produced to the Full Court. In the present state of tho law this he thought would be the wisest course. Mr. Justice Williams and Mr. Justice Gillies concurred in the remarks of Judge Johnston. It appeared to be the opinion of the Bench that it was a question whether the Legislature should not extend to a Jndge some of the powers of tho Full Court iu such cases.

We notice that Mr. Philip Moeller has been appointed agent in this city and district for the Hamburg-Magdeburg Fire Insurance Company, of Hamburg. This company, which wo understand is one of the best of continental insurance companies, is an offshoot of tho Madgeburg Fire Insurance Company, of Magdeburg, and was formed for the purpose of conducting a general insurance business in America, Asia, Afria, and the Australian colonies. The risks taken by this company are shared by the parent company and her branches, the Magdeburg Re-insurance Company and tho Magdeburg General Insurance Company, whose united capital and reserves reach the respectable total of £3,100,000. The Hamburg-Magdeburg is a proprietary company, and its liabilities are limited to a fully paid-up capital of 2,000,000 marks, or £125,000, in 5000 shares of 500 marks each.

An exchange says :—Thai longest Act passed in tho recent session was to consolidate and amend the law relating to the public health iu Ireland. There aro 294 clauses in the statute and several schedules, extending to thirty-four sheets. The Act is divided into several parts, and treats on sanitary matters and infectious diseases. Among the penalties is one of £lO for any person having a “ wake " over a person dying of an infectious disorder. The Tuapeka Times of the 13th says ; “The Wetheratones Cement Gold Mining Company fired a very successful blast of 4 owt. of powder in their claim on Friday. It had the desired effect of breaking up a large quantity of ground. Since the opening of the battery on Wednesday tho machine has been working every day, but arrangements have now been made to keep it going night and day. At present everything is being put through,and in the course of a few days the men will have a good face to work at, instead of being cramped for room as they aro at present. The plates present unmistakeablo signs of a good yield, and the expectations of the shareholders are very buoyant. The machine has worked splendidly ever since the water was turned on, and the side deliveries, which are an improvement on the spur batteries, are suiting their purpose admirably.”

Tho District Court at Invercargill met to<Jay, and the ease of the fraudulent bankruptcy of Fishcnden was further adjourned to the 21st January.

Potts, tho man who broke his leg on Friday, at Tiraaru, is progressing favorably. The Waikato Times says that it is satisfactory to loam that the Thames-Waikato railway will bo at once proceeded with, and that the sale of land in tho immediate vicinity will, it is expected, recoup the colony the cost of its construction. Wo have no doubt that the Government has not over estimated the returns when it calculates to repay tho whole cost of tho lino from tho sab of allotments in tho proposed township of Omahu, and in tho sale of small farms, the largest of which, we are informed, will bo 320 acres on the Te Aroha block.

To illustrate tho fury of the gale which raged on Friday (says the, Wairarapa Daily), we may mention that Mr. Joseph Maby, of tho Hutt, when crossing tho Rimutaka on horseback, was fairly lifted out of the saddle near Windy Point, and precipitated over tho hill side. His descent being fortunately a few feot down bo escaped without serious injury. The Paris correspondent of tho Clutlw, Times writes : “ Tho toys in the Paris Exhibition continue to ho very attractive, and also new traps in silk netting, with a spring, for catching small birds and nightingales ; a good boy mfglit be allowed to set it for sparrows and robins, provided ho liberated tho prisoners just after caressing thorn. Tho ‘ swimming dog’ is clumsy ; but tho ‘swimming bather’ is a success; there is one lady on springs, that dips on her back ; there is a goat that walks and cries equal to life,—Garibaldi might include it iu his herd ; there is a republican hen, that toddles along, and lays, en route, red, white, and bine eggs ; a little miss pushes a perambulator ; a boar, like a famous frog, goes a-wooing ; —indeed tho automatic principle is ns ingeniously as it is humorously applied. Boys will bo glad to.loam that there aro trains that run by themselves, and before stopping tho engine whistles, and a pop-gun makes a terrible noise by moans of a piece of newspaper as largo as a franc.” /

We hear that Mr. and Mrs. F. M, Bates left Lyttelton for Wellington by the Taupo yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock, A very fine draught stallion arrived by the ship Jessie Headman, from London, yesterday. The animal was landed in first-rate,condition, ■ and is to be forwarded to Mr, McLean, of Napier. Judge Mansford proceeded to Maaterton yesterday to open the District Court. It is understood tho sitting will be only formal, as there are no oases down for hearing. A criminal assault was committed on a young girl in Ffairu-street last night at about 8 o’clock. The police have some clue to the offender, and wilt enquire into the matter. Mr. Dransfield addressed a large attendance of ratepayers in the Princess Hotel, Thbrndon, last night. Mr. Dransfield spoke at some length upon municipal matters, and was listened to attentively. After his address he answered a number of questions to the satisfaction of those present. A vote of confidence in the candidate was passed. Messrs. Kelly and Leon’s Ministrells were well patronised by another enthusiastic audience last night. There was an entire change in tho programme, Tho Only Leon appeared in the opera of “ Norma,” and was vociferously applauded. To-morrow night ■Loon will take a benefit, when no doubt there ■will be a large audience. This will be the last entertainment but one.

Under the heading of “ Saved by the Cross,” the Tapanui Courier relates that a workman named Austin, while engaged painting the upper part of All Saints’ Church there, had a very narrow escape. A sudden gust of wind caught the ladder on which he was standing (some 30ft. from the ground) causing it to slip down. He, however, “ clung to the cross” until assistance was rendered.

We learn from a Melbourne paper that a very interesting trial of a new process invented by Mr. W. Paterson, late assayer for many years to the Bank of Australasia, for the recovery of gold usually lost in the crushingmills on the diggings, took place at the Vulcan Foundry, A’Beokett-street West, on the 10th ultimo. Twenty tons of tailings were passed through the machine at the rate of one ton per hour, yielding about 3cwt. of pyrites and other heavy minerals, which, on being retorted, produced about £5 worth of gold, equal to, at the very least, 50 per cent, profit on the process. Afterwards lead slime, one of the most refractory substances to retain under any process, to the extent of lOcwt., was put through tho machine, and the return of about ijewt. of finely pulverised galena ore was the result. The first box had it almost in a pure state ; in the last about 75 per cent, of pure galena (lead ore) was obtained. The process was witnessed by several practical men, who all agreed that it was highly successful; and as some 100,000 tons of tailings have already been secured on the diggings, there is little doubt that a large profit will be made by the patentee. In an article on what it aptly calls “ The Education Craze” the Pall Mall Qazette says : —“The cleverest children—those in whom mother wit has not been entirely extinguished beneath heaps of disjointed historical and scientific facts—seems to be those who, instead of answering the examiners according to their folly, dodge them humorously and reply as though they were dealing with mere propounders of conundrums. A clookmaker’s daughter called upon to explain the meaning of ‘ the devil and all his works,’ said that his ‘ works’ meant his inside. A boy »f genius, asked what ha meant by‘poor in spirit,’ replied, ‘ Them ashavelittleginlett intheir bottle.’ Conscience having been described as ‘ a binward monitor,’ the inspector called upon an intelligent pupil to say what a monitor was, when the youth replied, ‘ A hironclad.’ Such answers as ‘ Turkey is the capital of Norfolk,’ ‘ Tureen is the capital of Chiner’—due to lads who had completed a three years’ course at a metropolitan board school—would pass in a Strand burlesque as jokes. The boy, however, also a certificated three years’ student—who gave ‘Devonshire, Exeter, Littikus, Numbers, Strouomy, Jupiter, Judges, Hath, &c.,’ as the names of the books of the Old Testament was apparently in earnest. So also was that other lad who, full of what Strauss would have called ‘the stern common sense of ordinary mankind,’ said he did not know what a miracle was ; that if he saw the sun shining overhead at midnight he should call it the moon ; that if he were told it were the sun he should say it was a lie ; and that it the school examiner in person declared positively it was the snn he should say that the school examiner was ‘ werry drunk,’ ”

Among tho many magnificent blocks of land in Carterton, there is a splendid piece nearly opposite tho Catholic Church, notable for tho depth of soil and luxuriant feed which it carries. -This block of land, which is adjacent to the railway station at Carterton, is subdivided, and forms tho township of Carterton North. This township, which contains 2GS sections, containing quarter of an acre each, and having frontages to the Main-road, Charles-streot, Frederickstreet, Philhp-street, Eachel street, and Gertrudestreet, is to ho sold by public auction on Friday, 29th November, by T. Kennedy Macdonald and Co., acting under instructions from J. Nathan, Esq, Mr. Stfloy has an unusually attractive sale this day (Thursday) in tho Arcade buildings, some really superior and useful furniture, which is now on view ; also, a lot of produce, and tho stock of a lady who is retiring from business, consisting of millinery, ladies* and infants'clothing, &c. The sale commences at 2 o’clock sharp.