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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5706, 14 July 1879, Page 2

We cannot be expected to be so much behind the scenes in respect to the Ministerial doings as some of our contemporaries. We believe, however, that we are correct in saying that both Mr. Oliver and Mr. Thomson declined to take office under Sir G-. Grey. It is not stated that any direct, offer was made to them, but that they were simply asked to signify whether, if the offer were made them, they would accept it. It is strange that they should have refused, seeing that the great and gallant colonel is said to have asserted that half-an-hour a day was all the time it took him to fulfill the arduous duties of his office. If this be so, it must he confessed that he is very well paid for his time. Persons of'a mathematical turn of mind might undertake to calculate how much an hour he receives as Colonial Secretary. : Things at the Barracks remain pretty much the same as they were, and every precaution has been taken to prevent any danger of an outbreak. Whakawiria has tacitly submitted to hisfate, but is still very sullen. It has been resolved to place a strong palisade fence at the upper end of the Barracks, and also one near the guards’ room, so that the men can take

their exercise without any fear of escaping. At present there are 60 of the friendly natives confined in one portion of the Barracks—or prison, as it may now really be called—and 29 of the rebellious ones in another. Of these 60 soma 11 are to be classed with the rebels, and will be removed over to their side of the gaol. With 17 who are expected to arrive today or to-morrow this will make 57 rebellious natives imprisoned, as against 49 friendlies. To guard these there are nearly 90 of the Armed Constabulary, and should anything like an outbreak occur it will very quickly be quelled. And though the rebels appear to be quiet enough now—though somewhat sullen—there is a suspicion in certain quarters that they may rise upon their warders at any moment. The Barracks having been proclaimed a gaol, prison regulations are enforced, and will continue to be, so far as is known at present. The Native Commissioner, Mr. Maokay, spends a considerable amount of time at the Barracks daily, and his long experience in native matters is at the present time invaluable. The work of constructing the palisades will be commenced to-day. A story is current that arrangements were almost completed by the Government with the Union Steamship Company, by which an extra boat should be run by the company every week during the session, to Southern ports, for the convenience of members. At the last moment the negotiations fell through ; the subsidy to be given was set down at £IOOO. It is but fair to say that the company deny the truth of the report ; however, even if false, it deserves mention, as it is a very skilful fabrication, arid one that does credit to the ingenuity of the author. Si non i vero i hen trovata.

Everyone, except the cabmen -and lodginghouse keepers, are growling about the waste of time which has been incurred by Parliament being opened on Friday without the Governor’s sp-ech being read. It will be Friday next before anything can be done, and thus more than a week will be absolutely wasted. Tomorrow the speech will be read, Wednesday and Thursday being private members’ days will probably be blank, and the Address in Reply will not come on till the end of the week.

We regret that through pressure upon our space we were compelled to hold over our notice of Friday’s Supreme Court proceedings, which should have appeared in Saturday’s issue. From the report which we publish today it will be seen that the trial of Sarah Phillips for arson resulted in the acquittal of the prisoner, and a nolle pi oseqtii \v as then entered in the case against her brother for perjury.

About one o'clock on Saturday afternoon the engine of one of the street trams got off the rails at the corner of Willis-street and Lambton-quay, the thoroughfare being obstructed for the best part of an hour. A large crowd assembled, great interest being manifested in the various means which were vainly resorted to in the endeavor to replace the locomotive. Ultimately another engine was brought to the scene, by means of which the runaway was dragged bodily on the rails. In several of the Auckland papers a story has been circulating about a scandal which has occurred in private life, but which seriously affects the character of a magistrate in that provincial district. Somehow or other the particulars have been made public, and though the name of the person has not transpired, we expect to hear daily that the office hitherto held by the gentleman referred to will become vacant. Cheating at cards when playing for money is said to have been plainly proved against the gentleman. We should not have referred to the matter unless we had heard from a reliable source that the guilty person had admitted his guilt when called upon to refute the charge, and that he will probably be instructed to resign his post immediately.

The first of a course of seven lectures, in connection with the Wellington Young Men’s Christian Association, will be delivered tomorrow evening, in the large hall of the Athenaeum, by Professor Salmond, of the Otago University. The subject will be, “ Samson ; Lessons of Warning for Young Men.” Tickets for the entire coarse can be obtained for the moderate sum of half-a-crown.

We are given to understand that a meeting of the various football clubs will be held in a short time to consider the advisability of sending a representative team to Christchurch. Hitherto it has been customary, we believe, for the players to bear all the brunt of the expenditure entailed by these matches. This should hardly be the case, as the members are, generally speaking, young men who are not in receipt of very large salaries. Doubtless, if the. public were asked to contribute, the expenses of the team could be easily got. There was another capital attendance at the Theatre Royal on Saturday evening, the lower part of the house being crowded, and the dresscircle very fairly patronised for a Saturday, which, as is well known, is not a favorite night for theatre-going among those who patronise this part of the house. The opera of “ The Grand Duchess” was repeated, and passed off very well. It would, however, have been better but for the “local” allusions introduced, which might have been advantageously dispensed with. This evening the company will appear in the opera of “ The Bohmenian Girl,” which is by many persons considered the best of all English operas. It has been in rehearsal for several days, and no doubt will prove as successful as anything that has preceded it. The part of Arline will, of course, be taken by Madame LeCouteur. For to-morrow “ Martha ” is announced, and the latest London novelty, “ H. M S. Pinafore,” will be produced on Wednesday ; so that the management cannot be accused of not ’trying to thoroughly cater for the public. There was a very good attendance at St. George’s Hall on Saturday evening, when Professor Baldwin made his last appearance, and according to promise explained many of the manifestations, which by the more credulous of his audience had been attributed to spiritualistic agency. The wine trick, the handcuff trick, the release of Mrs. Baldwin from the pillory, the Katie King mystery, and many other matters which had before appeared to be inexplicable, were each disposed of in a very few minutes, and the wonder of the audience was that they should have failed to see for themselves how the things ware done, as, when explained, they appeared to be so very simple. To-nigbt St. George’s Hall will be occupied by the Mammoth Minstrels.- ’ The Mammoth Minstrel Company left Lyttelton yesterday in the s.s. Eingarboma, and will make their first appearance in this city at St. George's Hall this evening. They are said to number in all some six and twenty performers, the whole being the pick of the best minstrel troupes that have visited the Australias for several years past. Many of them, however, are well known in New Zealand, having been in the colony on former occasions. Among these are Messrs. Cheevers and Kennedy, whose Dutch, Irish, and negro eccentricities gained for them such favor during their last visit to this city. Then is that intensely “ funny ” man and delineator of negro comicalities, Mr. Horace, or, as he is better knovyn, “ Billy” Bent. Messrs. Brown and Newland are strangers to this part of the world, but it may be stated that in the comedy sketches which they give, and which may really be said tube “side-splitting,” they are unapproachable. In Dunedin and Christchurch these sketches provoked roars of laughter. Then among the singers are Amery, Hawkins, Vernon Reid, and others well known in the world of minstrelsy as bright and shining lights. One of the great features of the entertainment is that the old nigger farces and - 1 gogs ”. which have been for so long a time the stock-in* trade of these companies, have been sent to the right about, and have been replaced by novelties of a -decidedly superior character. Mr, Thomas Kennedy, who was agent tor the well known Kennedy Family, and afterwards filled the same position in regard to the “ Panorama of the Thames,” which visited New Zealand a short time ago, is piloting the minstrels through the colony as agent.

While summing up iu the case of Sarah .Phillips in the small hours of Saturday his Honor the Chief Justice took occasion to express his disapprobation of the course pursued by the insurance companies in offering a standing reward for convictions for arson. His Honor thought this practice had a demoralising tendency, and it would be as well to discountenance anything calculated to subvert the ends of justice ; but in saying this he did not intend to attribute any mercenary motives to the witnesses in the case in question. The race of mean men does not seem likely soon to become as extinct as the moa or the dodo. One of the species on a recent Sunday at a city church, after being much edified by a presumably good sermon, stole a prayer-book on leaving the sacred edifice; and now visitors to the Athenaeum will see two conspicuous placards on one of the tables, bearing the following legends “ Canterbury Times of Ist July—Stolen.” “ Weekly Press of Ist July— Stolen.” Where are the missionaries and the police?

Yesterday evening the usual evangelistic service, held under the auspices of the Wellington Young Men’s Christian Association, took place in the large hall of the Athenieum. Previously the services were held in one of the rooms upstairs, belonging to the association, and the hall downstairs was engaged, as a kind of experiment, for "the first time last night. The hall was crowded, about 400 people being present, and great interest was manifested in the proceedings. The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Relf, Jackson, and 11 old-worth. These services are of an entirely undenominational character, and are intended to benefit those who are not connected with any particular Church. A great amount of good is already believed to have resulted from them, and it is to he hoped that the expectations of the association, in inaugurating the services, will be fully realised. The Adelaide-road, especially that portion of it which goes from Howell’s store to the Newtown Hotel, has been in a dreadful state for some time past. The residents have good cause for grumbling, but it was a pity that they almost forced the City Council to do a lot of work which should have been either commenced much sooner, or left until after the winter season was over. The high wind prevailing had the effect of making the streets clean and dry about town yesterday, and had the effect of inducing a good many to take a walk round the rocks, and back by the Ade-laide-road. Before the tramway terminus was reached, many of the seekers after fresh air and exercise were heard passing anything but complimentary allusions to the City Council and its officials, and some of the pedestrians looked more like denizens of an alluvial goldfield than residents of a well-paved city. We trust that no time will be lost in placing the road in something like a passable condition. The serenity of the audience at the Theatre Royal was on Saturday ruffled to an unusual extent by disturbing elements arising from the stalls. In the first act a lady of the native race, evidently impressed with the warlike qualities of General Boom, kept up a running commentary of admiration on what she no doubt considered to be the pride and ornament of the “pakeha” army ; and in such aloud tone of voice was this admiration expressed that it most seriously interfered with the enjoyment of the whole house. In vain did Mr. Cary, the lessee, “ are mai ” the lady, and the officer on duty assisted him in his most blandishing manner. She refused to abate one jot in the expression of her gratification until the time when the general became discomfited, and Fritz received his position and his feathers. Then, indeed, she ceased her ejaculatory adulations, and after a sigh of dissatisfaction at his downfall, remained quiet for the rest of the evening. And then the running was taken up by a gentleman of Bacchanalian tendencies in the pit. But however much the audience might have borne with the Maori lady, they showed no inclination to do so with the intoxicated pittite, and ho was incontinently run out by Sergeant Anderson, who was at the time enjoying the opera in plain clothes. The names of Messrs. Thomson, Kelly, Hamlin, and Bunny, have been all mentioned as the outsiders in the race for the Chairmanship of Committees. The betting is said to be 5 to 1 aigainst Hamlin, 7 to 1 against Thomson, 10 to 1 against Kelly, and 29 to 1 against Bunny.

Democratic Ministers when elected to high office are apt to become martyrs to aristocratic illness. Mr. Berry was troubled with gout when on his embassy to England, and now we learn that one of the present Government is laid up with the same complaint. Hungry place-seekers aver that this is another sign of the effete and demoralised condition of the present Ministry. In many respects the Minister afflicted with the aristocratic malady is the least democratic of the lot.

The opening services of the United Methodist Free Church, Courtenay-place, were continued yesterday, good congregations assembling in the spacious church which has recently been completed. The Rev. D. Dutton preached in the morning, the Rev. W. Kirk in the afternoon, and the Rev. H. B. Redstone in the evening, a prayer meeting being held after the evening service. Collections on behalf of the building fund were made at the conclusion of each service.

We learn that the ferry at the Upper Mana. vvatu, in the Forty-Mile Bush, is very badly managed, and that the coach people and the public are constantly making complaints about the manner in which things are conducted. The natives, who have charge of the punts, appear to be totally unfit to take charge of the lives which have to be entrusted to their tender •mercies. Besides, the punts are far too short. On one occasion the punt would have been carried away, had it not been for a horse that slipped over, and pulled the punt ashore with it. The wire had not been replaced up to Wednesday last, although it had been carried away nearly a fortnight since, and the coach is now frequently detained for two hours at the ferry. The natives at Mangatinoako seldom do anything, and were it not for a roadman at the place, named Manns, it would be an impossibility for the coaches to get across.

There were large congregations yesterday at the morning and evening services held in the Arcade in connection with the Wesleyan Church.

A meeting of the Royal Oi’ange Lodge was held on Saturday evening in the Foresters’ Hall, at the back of St. George’s Hall, Lambton-quay. A convivial meeting took place afterwards in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, but as we received no intimation from the secretary -we are unable to furnish any particulars of the celebration.

“ Captain ” Barry has been “ lecturing ’’ in England, and a good many wilt be interested in the following particulars, which we take from the Cambridge Express :—“ On Tuesday, April Bth, last, an audience was entertained in the lecture hall by Captain W. J. Barry, on his recounting his thirty years’ experience of colonial life in New South Wales and New Zealand. The lecture detailed much personal adventure of Captain Barry in the early history of colonisation amongst the convict settlements of New South Wales, and the early periods of New Zealand goldfields enterprise, and the lecture being delivered in a plain, unvarnished manner, made it no doubt the more reliable to the audience. To summarise the bcture we find the captain shipwrecked in 1838 on the coast of New Holland, and afterwards in the hands of the notorious bushrangers, the bold Jack D nghue and Jackey Jaokey ; and then he experiences some early whaling life, and tells us what he saw on the Cannibal Islands of the New Hebrides, and the rescue of the emigrants in the Modoc Pass, California ; and then we have his arrival in New Zealand with horses, and then his four years' Mayoralty in Cromwell. He then dilates on the advantage of the colonies as a field for emigration to the rising generation of this country, and finally the captain gives an outline of his new book which he is about to publish on the colonies, and which he hopes to place in the hands of his subscribers (5800 of which he has obtained in New Zealand, 150 he obtained on his voyage to England, and about 50 on the night of his lecture here) in the course of about three months, and the price of which will be about 3s. 6d. each in England, and the title wilt be ‘ Tips and Downs of Captain J. W. Barry's Fifty Years’ Colonial Life, New South Wales, New Zealand, California, and Queensland.’ ” Natives of Tasmania have the reputation of being remarkably “ clannish,” and this character is fully borne out by the following, which we take from the Hobarton Mercury of a recent date :—“ Mr. Pike mentioned last night in his address at the City School Athletic Club entertainment that he had learned from a letter he had just received that on a recent date a Tasmanian dinner was held in New Zealand in imitation of the Tasmanian dinner annually held in London. Twenty-one young men, natives of Tasmania, dined together on the occasion. All but one hailed from the South of the island, and five were old City School boys. All, too, were in prosperous circumstancesj doing well in their respective business careers —all, save one, who was suffering from consumption, and was thus precluded from following his occupation. The other 20, to their credit be it sai J, did not separate until they had taken advantage of the opportunity by subscribing together to render the position of the invalid pecuniarily, secure until he would be able to resume work, or until the sad end came. The announcement was received with loud cheering, which will find an echo in Tasmanian hearts throughout the length and breadth of the colony. Long may Tasmanian dinners thrive if they haye .this truly noble influence, and gain such effective ends.” The result of' the conference between the A.J.O. and V.R.C. Clubs has been published, namely, a new scale of weights for age, which, however, requires yet to be adopted. “ Augur,” of the Australasian, speaking of it says : “It differs materially frem the old scale, the two and three year olds having been raised considerably throughout. As an example, take the two-year-olds for August in races of six

furlongs and under, they are raised nearly a stone. The threes are raised 31b., the four-year-olds remain at 9st., at which weight the five, six, and aged also run, A good deal of alteration has been made in the three miles scale. For the month of January, when the Champion Stakes is decided, the three-year-olds have been raided 51b., the fours remain at 9st., and the five, six, and aged are at 9st. 61b. or 31b. less than before. This ought to render the great 'weight-for-age race much more interesting than usual, and as the Champion Stakes on New Year’s Day will be decided according to the new scale, if adopted, Chester, First King, and others above three years old should have a fair chauce of success against the best of the three-year-olds. To Mr. J. A. Scirr, the popular handicapper of the A.J.0., is due the credit of framing the revised weight-for-age scale, and the thanks of the racing community are due to him. With him it was a labor of love, and he has succeeded in providing a scale of weights for age which should be adopted throughout Australasia. To Mr. Scarr we are also indebted for taking the first step to introduce a rule giving the A. J. O. Committee discretionary power in deciding cases of error where it can be proved that they were made without any fraudulent intent, and I believe the V.R.C. will follow suit. Racing rules should be liberally construed, and it is gratifying to know that the petty objections which have often jeopardised an owner's chance of gaining the stake after his horse has won are to be swept away.”

So far as the Tiehborne estates are concerned, it would appear that there is another colonial claimant. At the Melbourne Police Court an aged, and decidedly disreputablelooking party, giving the name of Bernard Rogers, alias Sir Roger Tiehborne, was brought up by Senior-constable McCormick, of the South Yarra Poli ;e-station, charged with being a vagrant. The arresting officer deposed that the prisoner was a confirmed vagrant, his sole occupation apparently being the solicitation of alms. His idiosyncrasy for soma years past has consisted of his asserting that he is the only genuine claimant to the Tiehborne titles and estates. He stated that he was a thorough hard-working man, his chief means of subsistence being the picking of oakum and the cracking of road metal for the benefit of the committee of the Immigrants’ Aid Society. The Bench decided to give the old fellow an opportunity of testing his peculiar talents in the Melbourne gaol for three months.