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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5642, 30 April 1879, Page 2

A party from the Geological. Survey Department, headed by Mr. McKay, have just come in after an exploring tour on the West Coast and the north-west of Nelson provincial district. They had been out since November last, and, the structure of the country, very in-, teresting on account of its probable futurevalue for mining purposes, has-been worked out in considerable detail, notwithstanding the great delays caused by continued wet weather and the flooded state of the rivers. The district examined is very rough in its physical features, abounding in mountains up to 6000 feet in altitude, so that the party suffered con-, siderable hardships. One result of the trip is the collection of a splendid lot of lower palaeozoic fossils, very rich in forms of life that have only been found in the oldest formations in other parts of the world. These discoveries will greatly increase the already very large stock of undeaoribed material in the possession of the department.

A most daring case of burglary is reported from Kaitoke. Mr. and Mrs. East of that township were aroused a little after three o’clock yesterday morning by a noise ; and on Mr. East getting up he found a man in the place. He at once ordered him out, but the intruder showed fight, and in a struggle managed to-strike Mrs, East, who had come into the room. Mrs. East, however, went out int® the yard and got a piece of wood, which she placed in her husband’s hands, by of which the burglar was brought to submission, and by the assistance of Messrs. Hall and Martin, neighbors, he was secured, and Constable Lyster of the Upper Hutt sent for. This officer soon arrived, and yesterday the man, whose name turned out to be Jantes Hart, was in the afternoon brought down to Wellington. . ,

During. a recent visit North, Dr. Hector obtained from White Island samples of water, with a view of determining their, exact nature. It is found that the water in Lake Hope con- ■ tains a large percentage of muriatic and sul-. phnric acids, and that the boiling springs which surround the lake contain only muriatic acid. The, sulphur works recently established seem to be abandoned, though a house had been erected, and large piles of sulphur had been got ready for shipment. However, perhaps the time may yet come when the resources of the island’s wonderful natural laboratory may be utilised, and the heat arising from the geysers taken advantage of for the purpose of concentrating the strong acid salts in a form in which they will bear carriage. There was only a short sitting of the Hoddent Magistrate’s Court' yesterday. James Carter was charged with ill-using a horse. Defendant stated he had been’ unwell, and was'not aware' that the' horse . was' badlytreated. His Worship' fined defendant 405.,and' costs. — : John Clare was charged with furious driving, and was fined 205.,’ and costs. Emily Gibbons., a newly-married woman, applied for a protection order against her husband. His Worship said that, he! thought no good would result from granting the'order, and-adjourned the-oase.for a month. , Wc are informed by the secretary of the Working Men’s Club that the Government has presented the club with a copy of all the Parliamentary papers in print at'this time,’ com, prising some two hundred volumes; all of which • are nicely bound;: We have much pleasure-in making ; the ;faot known, 7 as such a reference ready to hand will be useful to many. Good progress is being made with the’ annual volume of the New Zealand. Institute. Six hundred pages, embracing the “transactions” proper,- have been and the “ proceedings” of the various affiliated, .bodies are being got on with. If there be uo’deiay in the production of the necessary illustrations' the volume will be issued shortly; ; , Constable Cuff is very much annoyed, that he should have been reported ia ; the papers for creating a - disturbance’ in the Imperial Opera House on Saturday night.- - He called at our office last night, and said that ho tsld the ticket-taker - he. was,, a, constable, .and . wanted to enter the theatre to arrest, soma . deserters from H.M.S. Emerald,' .but that he was refused admittance .3.

A meeting of the Elocation Board will be held to-day. , I ■ The adj urned meeting of creditors of David Jaoobowitch, which was to have been held yesterday, lapsed for want of a quorum. The Chief Justice will hold a sitting; in banco to-day. There are four or five cases down for argument. Two wedding- are to be celebrated at &1‘ Paul’s Church to-day—one at eleven o’clock and the other at half-past two o’clock. We understand that Mr. G. S. Cooper, who has been for some time past seriously ill, is now entirely out of danger. An analysis, conducted at the Colonial Laboratory, of antimony from Langton’s Eeef gives about 15 dwt. of gold to the ton. By an oversight a paragraph from the IDura rapa Standard, giving the particulars of a crop of oats grown by Mr. Cookburp, was accredited by us to the Wairarapa Daily. A man named Francis Kenny was brought in charge of the police from Featherston yesterday for stealing £d ICs, from one James Hamilton.

The members of the football club playing the Rugby Union rules are requested to meet on the Basin Reserve this afternoon at 5 o’clock, when a scratch match will be played.

Captain Backstrora, late master of the schooner Ruby, lost his certificate when the vessel was wrecked. He yesterday applied for and obtained another certificate.

We understand that Dr. Von Mirbach has been appointed medical referee to the Government Life Assurance Department, and that the formal announcement of his appointment will be made in the next Government Gazette.

We have been requested to state that there is no truth in the statement that Mr. O. M. Crombie has been appointed Deputy Land Tax Commissioner for the Auckland Provincial District.

The meeting of creditors of G. T. Farmer, of Masterton and • Greytown, cabinetmaker, called for two o’clock yesterday at the Supreme Court House to assent to a deed of assignment of the debtor’s property, was adjourned until to-day at the same time and place.

We understand that Signor Pompei has returned to town, after a somewhat unfortu-

nate speculation in Auckland, and that in order to enable him to make a fresh start, a benefit by the musical amateurs in Wellington will be shortly arranged in his favor. In consequence of the Teachers’ Association meeting on Saturday, Mr. Young, the head teacher of the Terrace school, will not deliver his usual lecture. The lecture will be given next week ; subject, “ The Geology of the Coal Measures.”

It will be remembered that Messrs. George Beetharn, M.H.R., and Maxwell, 0.E., of the Public Works Office, lately ascended Mount Ruapehu. On Saturday evening Mr. Beetham will read a paper before the Wellington Philosophical Society descriptive of the trip.

We would remind our readers that the opening address to be delivered by Sir We Fitzherbert to the St. Mark’s Young Men's Society, will take place to-night in St. Mark's schoolroom. Previous to the address, some vocal and instrumental music will be rendered.

The following tenders were received at the Public Works Office, Wellington, for the Invertiel contract of the Olutha to Gatlin River railway: —Accepted : George Maokie, Dunedin, £5388. Declined : Geo. Bain, Balolatha, £5828 ; M. Morton, Balolutha, £6112 ; James Muir and Co., ICaitangata, £9563.

We are requested to announce that the usual monthly meeting of the Teachers’ Association will be held in the Thornden school on Saturday next, when Mr.'Holmes will read a paper on “ Drawing in Schools.” We are further requested to intimate that in consequence of the teachers’ drawing class meeting at eleven o’clock the association will not meet until one p.m.

That the Sydney Exhibition is attracting

considerable attention in Europe is clear from the fact that representatives of large Continental firms are already en route for New South Wales. Captain Wagemann, the representative of a German firm, is now in Wellington, with. full descriptions of some of the latest discoveries. , Amongst others may be mentioned a new explosive substance. It is composed of gun-cotton and glycerine, and may, by a skilful admixture with camphor, be reduced to a kind of gelatine if desired. It will stand exposure, to any extremes of temperature, and may be submerged in water without injury. Its explosive power is twice that of dynamite. Another new mechanical contrivance is a pumpi called a 1 “ pulsometer,” which is a machine for pumping by steam without the intervention of an engine. The

steam is forced into several chambers resembling, the human heart in formation, and by the alternate pressure of water and by the condensation of, steam, a vacuum is created in such a manner as to force water to any desired height. The pump is said to be very suitable as a mining accessory, and may be used for almost any sort of mining work. By means of it a locomotive could take up water at any creek on the line.

There was a very good attendance at the Imperial Opera House last night to witness Mr. Creswick’s grand impersonation, of “Hamlet.” We have previously expressed our opinion of this gentleman’s merits, both in this and in other Shakesperian plays. He is undoubtedly one of the most finished exponents of the classic' drama who ’have appeared in New Zealand for many 1 years. In addition to this there is no doubt-that the company is very strong, and Mr. Darrell must bo congratulated upon having collected under one head sueh a number of good men. The stage management is also well nigh perfect, and the dresses, scenery, and, surroundings are all that can be desired. It is only fair to expect that' under the circumstances large houses should be the rule, and hitherto the company have had good reason to believe that their efforts have been appreciated. To-night the “Merchant of Venice ’’ will.be performed, and we have no doubt that Mr. Creswick will; give a most life-like representation of Bbylock, and that Miss Helen Ashton's Portia will be such as will , commend -itself to, all., , The; frequent change of programme induces’those who have seen and : liked one play to go again and isten to the next, on the list. Messrs. Hallenstein and Co., of Lambtonquay, had a sewing machine stolen from their doorway yesterday afternoon. The machine was exhibited, amongst other articles for sale in the doorway. The police have been communicated with, but it is very doubtful if they will be able co arrest the offender. The person who took it was no doubt a most accomplished thief, and knew that no oue whom he chanced to meet would suspect him of stealing such a large article as a sewing machine.- r The detectives have the matter in hand, and it is to be hoped they will be able to arrest the offender/

A meeting of the Law Students’ Debating Society was held last evening, and was largely attended. The vice-president (Mr/t’M. Chapman) delivered a very able address on “The fundamental difference between the Homeand New Zealand laws,” which was listened to with great attention by those present. • After; the deh ver y of the lecture, arrangements were made for getting some of : the. legal gentlemen to'deliver lectures.--Xt was also decided that due notice should be given of the; subject chosen for the next evening’s debate, so as to. allow time-todhose who desired to take part , in the arguments to, look ;up authorities HU the, subject. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, the.lSth prox. , The Peri, .which arrived import .on Monday has brought two of Fairlie’s single boiler engines. They, run on. ten) wheels, six:, being coupled 3 feet 3 inches in. diameter ;; the: boiler, and its'appendages are carried on la steambogie, - while the tanks and-ooal bunkers, form?" ing a sort of small lender, areberne by a-trail-; ing four-wheeled bogie. The six complete wheels are placed so close together that i the wheel-base is. reduced to a minimum,! and will not exceed that of the four-coupled Avonside class. -. The cylinders are 10£ inches diameter," with an 18-inch stroke. These Bey engines' are expected greatly to facilitate the working of the heavy traffic between-Wellington and the Summit, while relievjng/he pthdr en-i gines for the pufely .passenger''traffic. The Peri brings a third engine of the same class fori Wanganui, and two more follow in the .Loch. Ken, which sailed in February,'and is due next -month.', j _ ; w

It' appears'th at rabbits,rtroublesqme as’ they ara when alive, ara ten times-more to be dreaded whon.dead,. for the, Health Officer of the Hampden Shire vCeaoeil'bsa, ; states the Hamilton officially reported that “ the outbreak of diphtheria-at. Mount Hoorat, whereby ~(seven-.,deaths , have' .already been paused;'in ..different) families is" attributable’ ■ tp the;constant,stench arising from the 'de-' composing rabbits which .have-been poisoned py suffocated, and left, to rot in their 'burrows • or above the ground,”; It; will scarcely be mecessary tb acquainted with the

science of the subject that the genesis of the diphtheritic fungus is still a matter in dispute, The preponderance of opinion is, however, opposed to the theory that it has its scources in decomposed organic matter. There is evidence to show that the disease has been most destructive in the highest and healthiest regions. The tab'es of mortality published by Dr. Farrell in 1875 di-close the curious fact that more persons die of diphtheria in the healthy districts of than in those where the general mortality is higher, ior instance, in the healtliv .districts out -of 100,900 persons born 1029 die of diphtheria; while in the less healthy districts—such as. Liverpool —the deaths from diphtheria only amount to 441. On the-other-hand, the deaths from scarlet fever in the healthy districts number 2140, while in Liverpool -they,are 3830 of every 100,000 born. ■ Mr. Thomas-C. Scott writes to The -Tii/i-rs ; —The numerous, returns, 394 in number, collected by thte Mark-Lane Express of the actual and estimated yield of last year s wheat crop, and published ,in its columns on the 6th instant, appear to me to afford the best data that have yet been obtained for forming an approximate estimate of the aggregate produce of the county. Seventy-nine of these returns report a crop over an average and 122 under ; this gives a balance of ,43 under an average, and taken in relation to the 394 returns obtained, is equal to 18 per cent, or 3 ,3-10 bushels under an average crop of 30 bushels, leaving a product of 26 7-10 bushels per acre. The area returned as under wheat in the United Kingdom in 1878 was 3,382,000 acres. An animated discussion took place in the Legislative Assembly last week under a motion of adjournment concerning the baptism of children of whose parentage little or nothing is' known, those little waifs who find nurture and the training necessary to fit them for the hard battle of life in our B-nevolent Asylum. It will be new to many to hear that in regard to

these unfortunate babies, sectarianism has so successfully blinded justice that their religious training has been meted oiit with mathematical precision and impartiality. Every third infant for whom shelter was found in the institution was by an arbitrary rule baptized in ,the Roman Catholic faith, the alternate two receiving the sioraments and training of the Church of England. Lately, according to an answer given by the Colonial Secretary, this rule has been abrogated, and the directors have resolved that for the future all foundling children shall be christened and brought up as Protestants, and according to the rites of .the Church of England. And thus what Mr, O'Gounor described as the “ enlightened and harmonious manner in which this institution has been governed,” has given place to ‘‘ some of the most nefarious practices ever carried on in this country.” Under such a state of it was (says the Herald l, perhaps, not to .be' wondered at that the juui hon. member for West Sydney should move the adjournment of the House, and call upon the Colonial Secretary to “come down at once and sweep out the nest of vipers who were doing their best to ruin this noble institution, and to bring the Parliament and country into contempt. ’ tVe remind our readers of Mr. J. H. Wallace s sal© this day of valuable freeholds iu the Adelaide-read,